Goalie Prospects

[GavinC]

Dynasty league in sig, I'm currently running with just one goalie (Andersen), which is a bit risky obviously, but currently allows me to keep one more forward rostered for daily starts. It's been working out ok, even with Andersen's brutal play lately, I'm still second in points since beginning of December. There's a couple teams in the league who actually shipped off their NHL starters for upgrades at F/D, and are just dressing AHL/Euro goalies... it's a points only league, so goalies don't hold much value unless you have a proper upper tier starter.

So while I'm hesitant to waste another roster spot on a goalie (and it would be fairly expensive to acquire one anyway), I do have an empty spot on my minor squad. Based on the fall goalie prospect ranking, there's a few who I could grab. At some point Andersen will have to pass the torch, and if I can get out ahead of it, might as well. Curious if any of these guys would be worth a minor spot as a potential successor to Andersen (ranked in order of the fall rankings):

Daniil Tarasov (having a horrible year in Liiga, and CBJ's situation in goal seems pretty set for quite a while)
Collin Delia (don't know what to think about CHI)
Kasmir Kaskisuo (seems like a fairly logical choice, having a decent year in the AHL and has had a callup already to TOR)
Artyom Zagidulin (CGY)
Justus Annunen (having an amazing year in Liiga after a pretty awesome WJC, COL)

Thanks!

[CaptainCally]

Tarasov or Annunen. I'd say Tarasov. Since he is drafted he takes another step in his development every year. Went from MHL to VHL then Liiga. But with goalies you never know.

[Dennis]

Since you say only upper tier goalies hold value I'd take a home run swing at Justus Annunen, who I'd argue has the highest potential of the bunch. At 19 he has size (Elite Prospects lists him at 6'4" 207 lbs) and and has shown movement & athleticism of a smaller man. He also he recently recorded the longest shutout streak in Finnish Liiga history at 302 minutes and five seconds, beating the previous record by about 42 minutes. At 19.

He's splitting starts with Patrick Rybar though and Karpat is a top Liiga team so his impressive numbers should have some context applied but still, impressive. There are also much worse organisations to be a future piece of than the Avalanche.

[stevegamer]

I'd go with Kaskisuo.

Toronto's style leads to lots of shots against, and saves are good in your format. Plus it gives you the guy who is most likely to be a starter moving forward on what should be a team that wins pretty often. Plus you have Andersen, and he's the guy with the shortest wait.

[GavinC]

Gotta admit Justus Annunen has my interest piqued.

Steve you think Woll'spresence mean Kaskisuo at best is gonna be a placeholder? I know Kaskisuo is playing better in the AHL, but Woll sounds like he's got higher upside.

****ing goalies. Anyway, I realized with no games for 4 days, I can run an illegal roster for a while, so I'm just gonna grab them all and figure it out on Sunday :P

[lucafen4]

I would take Annunen and then Tarasov.

Annunen holds the most trade value. With goalie prospects 60% of their value is in their name. You wouldn't be able to trade anyone other than these two.

[lucafen4]

I'd go with Kaskisuo.

Toronto's style leads to lots of shots against, and saves are good in your format. Plus it gives you the guy who is most likely to be a starter moving forward on what should be a team that wins pretty often. Plus you have Andersen, and he's the guy with the shortest wait.

I doubt he ever becomes a regular NHL back up TBH. Tor will trade for a vet G back up which will smother Kaskisuo's chances & bide time for Woll/Scott to develop

[stevegamer]

Gotta admit Justus Annunen has my interest piqued.

Steve you think Woll'spresence mean Kaskisuo at best is gonna be a placeholder? I know Kaskisuo is playing better in the AHL, but Woll sounds like he's got higher upside.

****ing goalies. Anyway, I realized with no games for 4 days, I can run an illegal roster for a while, so I'm just gonna grab them all and figure it out on Sunday :P

I honestly don't know. I think we know the following things:

1. Toronto's preferred option at backup goalie, Hutchinson has been a failure. Also, they are good at failing to address this spot.
2. They have little cap room. CapFriendly has them at $0 projected right now. So if they trade for a guy, he needs to be cheap, morelikley to better than in-house options and they have to move somebody out to do it.
3. With this many options, it makes sense to take the guy who is able to be the backup to your starter as soon as needed.
4. If the Leafs do something else to nullify his value, you can just grab a different one.

I admit that's a play to give you an immediate response to "oh crap, Andersen is hurt" than a long-term ranking. Others make a good point about goalie name value being important.

[lucafen4]

Gotta admit Justus Annunen has my interest piqued.

Steve you think Woll'spresence mean Kaskisuo at best is gonna be a placeholder? I know Kaskisuo is playing better in the AHL, but Woll sounds like he's got higher upside.

****ing goalies. Anyway, I realized with no games for 4 days, I can run an illegal roster for a while, so I'm just gonna grab them all and figure it out on Sunday :P

Being on the USA U20WJ team two years in a row certainly influences his stock. (Woll)
He came into BC as Demko left and put up comparable numbers by his 3rd season.
It's not the AHL start he wanted... but well, Demko didn't start great in Utica either.
Ian Scott has season ending hip surgery - so his development/expectations are delayed

Kaskisuo is 26 and has only started 30 AHL games once in his career. Garrett Sparks was the undisputed starter on the Marlies when they played together - look where that got him.
Only reason he has started as many games as he has this year is because the Marlies are running into a similar back up problem as the Leafs.

As it stands the future of the Leafs net is between Woll & Scott.
Kaskisuo is a warm body. A placeholder. Just forget about owning him.

The Leafs will find a way to upgrade their back up. It will be an UPGRADE - Kaskisuo is not that.

One name I saw last week, a new name was Jack Campbell in LA. Interesting is all I can say.

The back up I'd like to see the Leafs target is Stalock in MINN.
Signed for 2 more years after this at $785k.
Budget control and a clear upgrade on Hutch (who was brought in as an emergency goaltender by the Leafs last year due to injuries and no one thought would get another NHL kick at the can)


OP.
To carry a non-playing prospect on your roster (which I think needs to be large to do so) you need to carry prospects with name value. Name value = Trade value. If they can't produce stats then you need them to provide some level of value.

Compare:
A 26yr old platoon AHL goalie vs. a 19yr old goalie who stole the WJC show?