The Goalie Report: Risers & Fallers

As they say, patience is a virtue. It's been a strange season so far with teams going on uncharacteristically long winning and losing streaks. The toughest part in any fantasy league is knowing when to pick up goalies when they're getting hot and when to drop them when they're getting ice cold.

Here's your goalie rundown for this week.

Trending Up

Matt Murray, Maple Leafs (1-1-1, .903 Sv%, 3.01 GAA)

Take away Murray's start in the season opener and he's allowed just five goals on 70 shots (.929 Sv%) since returning from injury. Rostered in just 61 percent of Yahoo leagues, Murray should be picked up right away as the starter on a very good team.

Ilya Samsonov could return on Monday from a knee injury, but this has always been a planned timeshare from the beginning, and it remains to be seen if Samsonov can maintain his 6-2-0/.921/2.23 pace. Both goalies carry a ton of question marks, but Murray is ahead on the depth chart for now and should have plenty of value going forward. Even if Murray and Samsonov split the starts, which seems like the most likely scenario, there are plenty of wins to be had in upcoming games against the Sabres, Isles, Wild, Penguins, Wings and Sharks.

Jordan Binnington, Blues (Past 4: 4-0-0, .936 Sv%, 2.25 GAA)
Juuse Saros, Predators (Past 5: 4-1-0, .914 Sv%, 2.98 GAA)
Thatcher Demko, Canucks (Last start: 1 GA on 38 shots vs. Kings)

Good on you if you've been patient and held on these three struggling goalies. Coming into the season, Saros and Demko were two of the highest rated fantasy goalies, while Binnington was on the heels of an excellent playoff performance. All three of them have struggled mightily this season, but talented goalies are never bad for too long.

For Binnington, the Blues' improved play, especially with Jordan Kyrou and Ryan O'Reilly scoring again, has helped keep the puck out of his end and provided some goal support. Of the three goalies, he certainly has the most value because the Blues are the best team. Binnington remains streaky, but when he's good, he's really good. If managers can stomach the occasional bad stretch, Binnington should be able to be a solid second option in most 10-team leagues.

Saros might be the best of the trio, but the team in front of him has not been good. The arrival of Juuso Parssinen has sparked Nashville's offense and provided some more goal support, and top defenseman Roman Josi is finally starting to pick it up. There's little chance Josi can replicate what he accomplished last season, but for now, John Hynes has found a lineup that seems to be working.

Demko had a strong performance against the Kings on Friday, but there were still some instances where his puck tracking wasn't particularly strong, and it certainly was a closer game than the 4-1 score indicated. Goal support isn't a problem for the Canucks, but their defense definitely is. Demko is still on shaky ground and until he can string together games, fantasy managers should still be selective about his starts. With Vegas and Colorado coming up, it's best to wait and see.

Pyotr Kochetkov, Hurricanes (2-0-0, .959 Sv%, 1.00 GAA)

The Russian rookie made a splash in last season's playoffs and has now been pressed into action again due to an injury to Frederik Andersen. Kochetkov and Antti Raanta are now splitting the starts, and this arrangement will likely continue as long as Kochetkov performs well. The upside to Kochetkov's fantasy value is that the Canes are a very strong team, one of the top five in the league, and on most nights will give Kochetkov a really good chance to earn the win. Andersen's injury is not believed to be short-term, which means Kochetkov is worth picking up even if just for spot starts.

Filip Gustavsson, Wild (1-4-1, .901 Sv%, 3.20 GAA)

Marc-Andre Fleury is injured, which thrusts Gustavsson into the starting role with Zane McIntyre serving as the backup. With Fleury being placed on injured reserve on Wednesday, he will be out until next week, which means Gustavsson will handle the next few starts. The games to target, should Fleury not return by then would be Nov. 23 against the Jets at home and Nov. 27 against the Coyotes.

McIntyre, a sixth-round pick in 2010, has appeared in eight NHL games in his career, five of them in relief, and all of them during the 2016-17 season with Boston. He's unlikely to get much playing time, if any.

Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, Sabres (Career: 3-8-2, .917 Sv%, 2.74 GAA)

UPL is the Sabres' prized prospect in net and gets the call-up after Eric Comrie suffered what seems to be a long-term injury. Craig Anderson will be the starter, but the league's oldest goalie can only make so many starts before his body starts to slow down, which means it's more than likely that we will see Luukkonen at some point. He's been in the minors honing his game and biding his time, and overall his numbers have been pretty good despite the losing record, which is a reflection of the Sabres' futility rather than his individual play.

Trending Down

Tristan Jarry, Penguins (Past 6: 1-3-2, .865 Sv%, 4.65 GAA)

For most of the past month, Jarry has been awful enough that the Penguins have elected to split his starts with backup Casey DeSmith. The Pens have no shortage of talent and their blue line is usually stout, but Jarry has been allowing some bad goals, giving them no other recourse than to turn to DeSmith. Jarry's woes should right themselves over time, but for now, he should be stapled to the bench until he turns it around. There's no sense in trading Jarry right now when his value is at an all-time low.

Carter Hart, Flyers (Past 4: 0-3-1, .873 Sv%, 3.74 GAA)

You can only push a team with limited talent for so long. Kudos to John Tortorella for squeezing a lot out of a very ordinary roster at the beginning of the season, but the Flyers' poor goal support and even poorer defense are starting to catch up to them. After starting the season on fire, Hart has really struggled lately. Over the past few seasons, Hart has been a fixture on the waiver wire except for the occasional spot start, and the fear is that the Flyers' tumble down the standings will lead to all sorts of déjà vu. Patient fantasy managers should hang on to Hart because he's playing much better, but those in more shallow leagues where goalies are aplenty on the waiver wire can start looking elsewhere for better options.