It's worth noting that scoring is up yet again. Teams are averaging 3.32 goals per game, up from 3.14 last season, and save percentage is down to .902, the lowest since the first year of the cap era when offense suddenly exploded because you could no longer clutch and grab.
A few goalies have become a victim of this and started off the season very poorly, but also remember that scoring tends to dip after the first couple of months. It's only October, and with goalies you try not to have any knee-jerk reactions. Here's a few to watch in the coming weeks.
Trending Up
Carter Hart, Flyers (3-0-0, .943 Sv%, 2.00 GAA)
Hart is now rostered in 71 percent of Yahoo leagues heading into Saturday's games after being merely an afterthought before the season. It may not be surprising that Hart is playing better because the team in front of his is playing better, but the extent to which Hart has improved is quite the turnaround. Hart's 5v5 GSAA/60 and total 5v5 GSAA both rank second in the league, trailing only Tristan Jarry among goalies with at least two starts.
At the very least, Hart is worth a bench stash just in case he ends up being a top-20 fantasy goalie — you may snicker, but you never really know with goalies.
Eric Comrie, Sabres (2-1-0, .930 Sv%, 3.01 GAA)
Comrie's raw numbers basically tell the entire story; he wins games and his save percentage is high,
It's worth noting that scoring is up yet again. Teams are averaging 3.32 goals per game, up from 3.14 last season, and save percentage is down to .902, the lowest since the first year of the cap era when offense suddenly exploded because you could no longer clutch and grab.
A few goalies have become a victim of this and started off the season very poorly, but also remember that scoring tends to dip after the first couple of months. It's only October, and with goalies you try not to have any knee-jerk reactions. Here's a few to watch in the coming weeks.
Trending Up
Carter Hart, Flyers (3-0-0, .943 Sv%, 2.00 GAA)
Hart is now rostered in 71 percent of Yahoo leagues heading into Saturday's games after being merely an afterthought before the season. It may not be surprising that Hart is playing better because the team in front of his is playing better, but the extent to which Hart has improved is quite the turnaround. Hart's 5v5 GSAA/60 and total 5v5 GSAA both rank second in the league, trailing only Tristan Jarry among goalies with at least two starts.
At the very least, Hart is worth a bench stash just in case he ends up being a top-20 fantasy goalie — you may snicker, but you never really know with goalies.
Eric Comrie, Sabres (2-1-0, .930 Sv%, 3.01 GAA)
Comrie's raw numbers basically tell the entire story; he wins games and his save percentage is high, but a high GAA also means he faces a ton of shots. Few goalies are perfect in fantasy, but if you get tick off two of three boxes, you'll have value. After going with Craig Anderson in the season opener, the Sabres have started Comrie for three consecutive games, and he'll likely draw the start Saturday against the Canucks. He has a good chance to extend his winning streak to three games against the league's worst team.
The Sabres are sneaky good with a very talented young core. Up-and-down play will be the norm, but Don Granato has done an excellent job and they've continued where they left off. In leagues where goaltending options are scarce, Comrie is immediately worth rostering as a low-end starter with some upside since the Sabres look like a dark-horse playoff team.
Mackenzie Blackwood, Devils (2-1-0, .885 Sv%, 2.37 GAA)
It was a tough start for Blackwood, who opened the season with a 5-2 loss to the Flyers, but he's bounced back with two straight wins and three goals allowed. The Devils have been really good this season even if their record doesn't show it; in Blackwood's two wins, the Devils outshot the Ducks, 41-20, and the Islanders, 43-17. If the Devils keep playing like this, it really doesn't matter if they put Blackwood or Vitek Vanecek in net. As long as neither of them screw up too badly, the Devils will have a good chance to win games.
In fact, the Devils rank first in both 5v5 CF% and 5v5 xGF%, according to naturalstattrick.com, which suggests that not only have the Devils good, they've actually been excellent. Blackwood looks like he has the edge in the current timeshare and should be rostered ahead of Vanecek, but the real takeaway is that Devils goalies might have some long-term fantasy value after being a complete debacle last season. Let's wait and see.
Trending Down
Thatcher Demko, Canucks (0-3-1, .861 Sv%, 4.30 GAA)
The Canucks remain the league's only team without a win, and it's completely tanked Demko's fantasy value after he entered the season as a borderline top-five goalie. He's not doing himself any favors, though, ranking 34th out of 63 goalies in total GSAA this season. There's a real fear that the Canucks may not turn this thing around quickly; they have no cap room to address their shoddy defense, and their best player from the previous season, J.T. Miller, has often looked like their worst this year.
Demko is a hold at the moment because his fantasy value has taken such a huge hit that dealing him now may not net a good return. He's still a workhorse, as backup Spencer Martin didn't look particularly sharp in his start, either, and much of his fantasy value will come from saves. Last season, only 12 goalies won at least 30 games. Demko ranked ninth with 33, but he might have difficulty winning even 30 this season.
Jonathan Quick and Cal Petersen (combined: 3-3-0, .870 Sv%, 4.31 GAA)
It wouldn't be this much of a headache if the Kings were winning. Quick and Petersen have both disappointed in a season where the Kings were expected to take another step, and instead they sit in third place in a horrific Pacific Division. It's shaping up to be a timeshare yet again, and there shouldn't be that much of a disparity in percentage rostered between Quick (76% rostered) and Petersen (17% rostered). Despite this pair's inclusion on the "trending down" list, however, fantasy managers who have room on their bench should roster both, because the Kings still have the potential to be a good team.
