Hoping Justin (The Goalie Expert) can weigh in on this.

[The Good Sir]

I was wondering what you guys think of my goalie situation. I'm in a 12 team h2h league where we keep 7 players. Goalie Cats are W,Sv%,GAA, and SHO. We also have a 3 man Farm team where we can keep prospects under a certain number of NHL Games played (Skaters<150; Goalies<50). My team (so far) can be found in my signature. Our draft isn't until the end of Sept. My main concern is how Price will bounce back (if he does), and how Rinne will fair in his sophomore season. I plan on bringing Quick up as my third goalie at the start of the season as we have a 5 games played/week requirement. Anyone else feel free to chime in as well. Thanks for the help. I’m looking forward to the guide in 4 days!

[JHM]

It's your wingers that have me concerned. If you have any decent wingers you're giving up, you might want to reconsider having so many centres. I love your centres, but....

Imagine a team having
Brodeur
Luongo
Nabby
Kipper
Price
Ward
Fleury
Lundy
Mason
Miller

3 - 40 point centres
6 - point point wingers
4 - 25 point D-men

It would be a great collection of talent, but it would never win anything...

[The Good Sir]

Yea I hear you on my Centers. I'm planning on moving one when the season starts. As it is these are my keepers from this past season. So my team cannot be changed until we begin drafting, which isn't until the end of Sept. I was more focused on my goaltending and wondering if what I have will be be good enough the compete for the title. I came in 2nd two years ago, and last year barely made the playoffs due to off years of Vinny and Price, plus injuries.

[metaldude26]

My instinct is that your goalies won't be good enough next year. But it's tough not knowing what others have. As it stands, I don't think you'll do very well in the wins column, which is the one category you can really count on. GAA average and Sv% should be decent. Shutouts are a crapshoot but I wouldn't count on any from Quick. Price should be decent for some and so should Rinne, but then again who knows.

It's a nice collection for the future but next season, I don't see one of those guys being top 5 in goalie talent, and they may not even break into the top 10.

[The Good Sir]

Yea I was also afraid of my not really competing next year. I think my future looks good, depending on how Price and Rinne progress, though. I'm sure I'll know a little more in 4 days when Dobber's guide comes out

[GoalieGuild]

Hey sorry about the delayed response here ... I got food poisoning yesterday from SUBWAY!!! I eat there like twice a week for years and have never had problems...oh well one of those freak things I hope. So time to play some catch-up.

Basically you just want to know what I think about Price and Rinne next season...both of them are going to be very good and both have different obstacles to overcome if they want to be at their best:

PRICE - There's only a few other goalies in the NHL that is being watched as closely as Carey Price. He’s in a a very pressure-filled market, coming off a "shaky" season, and he’s being pushed by a formidable backup in Jaroslav Halak. My biggest question regarding his season is how he will handle a few bad games or a few bad goals against. Will a two-game losing streak push his confidence into the ground, thus leading to a 4-5-6 game losing streak? Or can he nip it in the bud and turn it into a 2-3-4 game winning streak? No goalie at his age is flawless, but he’ll need to develop a thicker skin if he expects to be more consistent than last year. If not, Halak is good enough to take over the crease for weeks at a time. I think Price is going to struggle at times but still post the type of statistics that makes him a solid first goalie to have. I also want to say he's going to have a higher comfort level if he doesn't change leg pads 4-5 times over the course of one season ... he did that last year and I don't know how he ever could get into a solid rhythm that way. Steve Mason wore one pair of pads last year...big difference in that regards.

RINNE - He will play the bulk of the games next season and have a mini-break out of sorts. Of course that happened last year, but I think instead of wowing people with his crazy quick and active hands and athleticism, you will see more mental strength, better positioning, more confidence, etc. He will improve in other areas that will make him even more of a complete goalie. I stress again the value and importance of Mitch Korn, the goalie coach. He's one of the best around and very silently develops goalies at a very quick pace. But don't underestimate Dan Ellis, who was cast under Rinne’s shadow, even though he actually played much better than people realize. Both will be excellent again next year as the Predators will once again be one of those teams right on the cusp of making the playoffs. I see Rinne playing like 55 games and maybe breaking the 60 barrier.

I think if you have PRICE, RINNE and QUICK, you have three young, inexperienced goalies at the NHL level...but all three of them have ONE thing ... POTENTIAL. You are loaded up with potential, a little bit of guarantee with Price and Rinne. For your league, I think you have a pretty solid situation. Be confident with Rinne and ride him!!! Be a little more careful with Price and keep an eye on his confidence level in losses.

[The Good Sir]

Hey sorry about the delayed response here ... I got food poisoning yesterday from SUBWAY!!! I eat there like twice a week for years and have never had problems...oh well one of those freak things I hope. So time to play some catch-up.

Basically you just want to know what I think about Price and Rinne next season...both of them are going to be very good and both have different obstacles to overcome if they want to be at their best:

PRICE - There's only a few other goalies in the NHL that is being watched as closely as Carey Price. He’s in a a very pressure-filled market, coming off a "shaky" season, and he’s being pushed by a formidable backup in Jaroslav Halak. My biggest question regarding his season is how he will handle a few bad games or a few bad goals against. Will a two-game losing streak push his confidence into the ground, thus leading to a 4-5-6 game losing streak? Or can he nip it in the bud and turn it into a 2-3-4 game winning streak? No goalie at his age is flawless, but he’ll need to develop a thicker skin if he expects to be more consistent than last year. If not, Halak is good enough to take over the crease for weeks at a time. I think Price is going to struggle at times but still post the type of statistics that makes him a solid first goalie to have. I also want to say he's going to have a higher comfort level if he doesn't change leg pads 4-5 times over the course of one season ... he did that last year and I don't know how he ever could get into a solid rhythm that way. Steve Mason wore one pair of pads last year...big difference in that regards.

RINNE - He will play the bulk of the games next season and have a mini-break out of sorts. Of course that happened last year, but I think instead of wowing people with his crazy quick and active hands and athleticism, you will see more mental strength, better positioning, more confidence, etc. He will improve in other areas that will make him even more of a complete goalie. I stress again the value and importance of Mitch Korn, the goalie coach. He's one of the best around and very silently develops goalies at a very quick pace. But don't underestimate Dan Ellis, who was cast under Rinne’s shadow, even though he actually played much better than people realize. Both will be excellent again next year as the Predators will once again be one of those teams right on the cusp of making the playoffs. I see Rinne playing like 55 games and maybe breaking the 60 barrier.

I think if you have PRICE, RINNE and QUICK, you have three young, inexperienced goalies at the NHL level...but all three of them have ONE thing ... POTENTIAL. You are loaded up with potential, a little bit of guarantee with Price and Rinne. For your league, I think you have a pretty solid situation. Be confident with Rinne and ride him!!! Be a little more careful with Price and keep an eye on his confidence level in losses.

Wow, this is a much more in depth answer than I was expecting. Sorry to hear about the food poisoning from subway, I know food poisoning can be hell. Anyway, I really appreciate you taking the time to analyze this situation much better than I could ever dream of doing. Fantasy goaltending knowledge has always been something that I have wanted to improve. I feel a lot better about my situation and hopefully Rinne can continue to improve on his game from last year, and Price can find the confidence he so desperately needs. Thanks again Justin!