Goalie Gamble or Play it safe

[dougi]

just curious to see what others think or would do.

it's a 13 team league with 18 keepers and you dress 9F, 4D, and 1G (wins and shutouts), so the draft is thin for forwards. I'm going into the draft with no goalie and don't pick till in the 30's. It's a salary cap league based on annual cap hit.

here are the main affordable goalies available:
Niemi 3.8 million
Mason 4.1 million
C. Anderson 3.2 million
Pavelec 3.9 million
F.Andersen 1.15 million
Kuemper 1.2 million
Khubodin 2.25 million
Backstrom 3.5 million

So i'm considering drafting (if i can) f. andersen and kuemper which would then give me more cap space to draft another forward like a matt read as opposed to picking a goalie like niemi or mason and then using a guy like downie as a starting forward.

Basically if i get 4 million dollar goalie i've got to use downie or forsberg as my final forward or take a gamble on a potential backup/starter that cost 1-2 million and then get a 3-4 million dollar forward that can produce (more available).

what do you think?....oh and i'm trying to go for the win this year too.

[Magicstew]

depending on scoring stats, you need to draft a goalie. Are you contending this year?
I would grab Mason, you need a goalie - he may be gone at 30.
I like idea of Anderson and Kuemper, if anything they will have some trade value.
Another cheap sleeper may be M Hutchinson in Wpg - they play quite a few B2B this year.

[DrakeZero]

While the idea of a Andersen and Kuemper combo is sweet IF both were 100% starter on their respected teams. Neither one is at the moment especially Kuemper considering the way the wild use their goaltenders in the past.

I suggest grabbing Mason as soon as you can as he is 100% the starter on the flyers and with the second pick go with Andersen or Khudobin. That way you have a guarantee starter and one risky goalie. But if Mason does go before you can draft him then yes its worth going for the Andersen/Kuemper model. Khudobin should also be on your list just in case.

[The Bottlenecker]

Of all your choices, the only one, I think, who will start and end the year as the #1 guy for his team is Mason. Question marks follow both Anderson and Niemi into this season, and a guy like Khudobin or Kuemper isn't guaranteed the same number of games that Mason should get barring injury, of course.

[chuckcouples]

In a Wins and shutouts league, you want to draft goalies strictly on number of starts on a great hockey team. For this reason, Antti Niemi is the first choice out this group by far. Over the past 3 seasons, he would likely have been the #1 goalie in your league. Even last year when he had a "bad year" he would have been top 5 in this type of league. At $3.8M, his fantasy points/$ spent would be through the roof. He should definitely be your first choice. Because you only start one goalie, I would try to draft his handcuff in Alex Stalock late in the season to protect yourself in case of an injury to Niemi. San Jose is actually looking like a better team this year than they were last year and they were 5th in the NHL in wins last year while having 6 shutouts.