Back up Goalies likely to become Starters this Season.

[Wonko]

Looking for a list of 'back up' goalies that have the potential to take over the reigns as the starter this season. Obviously Reimer comes to mind in Florida. Who else do we think has a chance to grab the job this season and why?

[MasterByte]

Saros --> only in the event of a Rinne injury
Chad Johnson --> Lehner has had ALOT of time to emerge as a dominant starter, not sure how long his leash will be if they get off to a bad start, and Johnson has already shown he can take over last year in Calgary.
Scott Darling --> if you don't already view him as the starter with Cam Ward being resigned to 2yr deal, I think he will be by the end of the season.
Michal Neuvirth --> Elliot can't/shouldn't start more than 40 games IMO.
Budaj --> I still think he is going to start ~30 games.

Hellebuyk - hard to feel confident about the Winnipeg crease, whoever starts the other will take over at some point

[The Bottlenecker]

My first thought was Reimer too.

Does Hellebuyck count as a backup? If he does, then Mason has to be on his A game not to lose his role as the starter in Winnipeg.

An injury to Rinne could allow Saros to shine, but he remains the backup otherwise.

[Eskimo Brother]

Bernier is my best bet after Reimer.
Varlamov is shaky, injury prone, and just nothing seems to go right for him. Colorado has nothing to lose by giving Bernier a shot.

[RizzeeDizzee]

Neuvirth, but if he does become the starter he'll just get hurt too. Bernier, but on a lousy team.

[Pengwin7]

I, too, like Jon Bernier as the most likely. He's shown enough to supplant Varly.
I've always been a Chad Johnson fan. I don't think he's a long-term Buffalo solution, but I can see him starting 42+ gp, whether by injury or hot streak.
Reimer, yes, by end of year - he should be seeing 2 of 3... especially since Lu's declining actual salary suggests either summer of 2018 or summer of 2019 (more likely) will be his last.
My sleeper pick is Louis Domingue. Antti Raanta has had a nice season or two, but he's UFA... so perhaps ARI still has more future tied to letting him go at summer's end, which could be advantage Louis.
Domingue is more familar with the Yotes style - and some goalies have hiccups in new locations.

[ericdaoust]

Hellebuyck
Reimer
Halak
Neuvirth

[MasterByte]

I, too, like Jon Bernier as the most likely. He's shown enough to supplant Varly.
I've always been a Chad Johnson fan. I don't think he's a long-term Buffalo solution, but I can see him starting 42+ gp, whether by injury or hot streak.
Reimer, yes, by end of year - he should be seeing 2 of 3... especially since Lu's declining actual salary suggests either summer of 2018 or summer of 2019 (more likely) will be his last.
My sleeper pick is Louis Domingue. Antti Raanta has had a nice season or two, but he's UFA... so perhaps ARI still has more future tied to letting him go at summer's end, which could be advantage Louis.
Domingue is more familar with the Yotes style - and some goalies have hiccups in new locations.

Wow, Domingue over Raanta? That one got me by surprise, I like the varying opinions though!

[Pengwin7]

Domingue is just included as my "sleeper pick"... meaning a deep stash, in deep leagues.
Realistically, he's probably going to be the 55-60th picked NHL goalie if a league drafted all 62 rostered NHL goalies.
[He'll be picked among goalies like Kinkaid, Stalock, Montoya, McElhinney... but those guys have 0% chance of "winning" the #1 gig... I think Domingue has 20% chance.]

[pmorrow]

Decent to strong chance:
Mrazek
Hellebuyck
Reimer
Neuvirth
Halak
Bernier
Nilsson

Small chance/darkhorses:
Domingue
Condon
Johnson
Ward
Lack
Saros
Miller
Pickard

[RizzeeDizzee]

I forgot Nilsson in my initial reply - him too, but like Bernier, for a bad team.

[chuckcouples]

Ville Husso is my deep sleeper pick. I have never been a big fan of Jake Allen.

[Axeman33]

Al Montoya, once Price goes down with his season ending injury.

[The Black Panther]

Al Montoya, once Price goes down with his season ending injury.

No connections to Bondon I hope?