Top-100 prospects rankings

[mister_mcgoo]

In a league where I can start 2/day, I am currently wrather full in the Goaltending department, albeit with a fe ?'s

Anchored by Bryz (Will he ever regain his elite status)
Halak (great 1st game...horrible 2nd)
Backstrom (always an injury concern and challenged by Harding)

I also have, who I feel is, one of the best back up tenders in the Game on the best team in Vokoun.

Before the start of the season (before I figured there would be a season) I picked up Hackett (after the Harding MS talk and Backstrom ankle injury) and Bachman (looked good last year behind once oft injured Lehtonen.

As the season is 3 days in and Hacket and Bachman returned to their AHL affiliates, I'm wondering if I should wait on either/both of these guys or cut ties. I'm a little iffy with my 3 #1's, although hope they will assume their usual load and consistency. But with these guys working in the minors, they're serving me no purpose here.

Do I make a move (perhaps pick up a Turris/McDonald/Erat/Kadri Holmqvist ...all currently available) or stand pat expecting Bachman to get the call up and resume his back up role (Hackett would require an injury which those 2 are quite capable of).

Others potential goalie replacements are:
Lehner
Biron
Lack
Nilstorp
Clemmenson
S. Mason

I don't envision any of these guys to be keepers at years end (unless a starting role is likely)?

I suspect you can drop them without much worry of anyone picking them up as their fantasy value is effectively nil at the moment. And as you note, there are valid options out there on FA that you could pick up that would help your team NOW so the best move is probably to do that but to keep a very careful eye on those starters because they certainly have that potential to get injured.

I dunno, I don't use twitter myself but I know GMs who swear by it for fantasy news...if you can find a reliable source in MIN and DAL you can get notified the minute someone gets hurt and grab the guy off FA before anyone else does

[havanablast21]

I suspect you can drop them without much worry of anyone picking them up as their fantasy value is effectively nil at the moment. And as you note, there are valid options out there on FA that you could pick up that would help your team NOW so the best move is probably to do that but to keep a very careful eye on those starters because they certainly have that potential to get injured.

I dunno, I don't use twitter myself but I know GMs who swear by it for fantasy news...if you can find a reliable source in MIN and DAL you can get notified the minute someone gets hurt and grab the guy off FA before anyone else does

Yeah Thanks man. I'm not a twitter user either. Can't see myself adding yet another distraction to my day!

Lehner is intriguing to me, but Anderson I expect, is fully aware of that and plans on having a GREAT season, thereby preventing Lehner's fantasy growth.

I don't really like any of that other potential tenders available over the guys I presently have. And as for the forwards, I'm stupid right now over McDonald...but don't want to throw away 1 of my 3 remaining waivers this early into the season. Turris has caused me to raise the Spockean eyebrow too.

The prudent move is probably to atleast watch 10 games before jumping again.

[GoalieGuild]

Top-100 Prospects Rankings updated for March! GoaliePost and McKeen's subscribers can download the full release. Top-25 free download here:

http://www.thegoalieguild.com/top100prospects

Enjoy!

[GoalieGuild]

Will keep this short and sweet for now (crazy day ahead), but I've done a major revamp of the Top-100 Prospects Rankings with more of a focus on the long-term future.

Past rankings have been a CURRENT reflection of the top prospects. So you would see all NHL goalies with less than 25 starts at the top, the top AHL prospects in the second tier, then top junior goalies in the next tier, then all the real long shots in the bottom.

Now it's more of a long-term projection, which is more beneficial for those in keeper leagues. I took an entire extra week to work on this, holding off until today to post the rankings that usually come out on the 20th. I got feedback from some of the top guys over at McKeen's as well, as they have years and years of experience ranking prospects (albeit not goalies only). I also listened to feedback from users and readers.

Clearly the value for a ranking like this is not to give a current snapshot of the goalies closest to making the NHL, but the ones that have the most potential to be a long-term starter. I am confident the revamped rankings will reflect that in a much more valuable manner.

Thanks guys! Should have it posted in the next few hours. Top-25 available for free, or GoaliePost/McKeen's subscribers get the full release.

[GoalieGuild]

Here you go!

http://www.thegoalieguild.com/top100prospects/

[GoalieGuild]

Here is the updated Top-25 for May!

http://www.thegoalieguild.com/top100prospects/

[Zorro]

1)Who is the best guy to go after for a keeper league team?? Have time to wait..

Khudobin
Lack
Andersen
Svedberg
Hellberg
Hackett
Vasilevski
Stalock

2) Who is the goalie of the future for the Islanders?? Is it Poulin or Nilsson?? Or do they go out and grab a Miller??

[GoalieGuild]

Due to my new position with USA Hockey, the Top-100 Prospects Rankings has seen its final days. I really appreciate everyone who has checked out the updates every month.

The one thing I've learned from ranking and updating prospects over the years is that the whole process is one of the most futile, insane, frustrating, and dare I say worthless things ever. It's honestly a good way to lose your mind.

My advice? Assess talent on your own. Do your own rankings. You know what to look for, trust your ability to gauge a goalie's upside like you would any other player, and keep an eye on opportunity (Mrazek in DET) and politics (Brodeur in NJD). The rest is unattainable chaos that will forever remain as chaos.

Over the summer, I had the cool experience of an ECHL goalie staying at my house for a few weeks during off-season training. I showed him everything I had been doing over the years...inside and out. He helped me realize that, to have one "catch-all" ranking is faulty. There is simply way too many elements to consider and way too many unknown factors that can't be quantified. Trust me, I've tried so many different formulas. I've spent countless hours not only evaluating talent, but evaluating methods.

At the end of the day, its's faulty to rank goalies that are 21-24 in the AHL against prospects that are 17-20 playing in Juniors. It's too cloudy and inconsistent. Each goalie is already so different in how they play and how they develop, and different age groups put into the same ranking is just asking for trouble.

If I could go back and do it all over again, the best way to do a goalie ranking is to separate everyone into tiers or levels. Rank all of the AHL prospects together. Rank all of the ECHL prospects together (there's only a few). Rank all of the CHL prospects together, then rank all of the Euro prospects together. At least that way you are comparing green apples with red apples...and not mangos with pineapples and bananas with strawberries.

I'm also learning every day that there is a wealth of talent out there. Kristers Gudlevsksis came out of absolute NOWHERE and is going to be a very good pro goalie. He has all of the tools and I had no clue who he was when he was drafted. Tampa Bay is loaded.

Good goalies aren't hard to find...but great goalies take a really lot of time to develop. And that process of development is insanely fragile and delicate.

Remember: The average age of a starting goalie in the NHL is close to the 27-year-old range. Keep that in mind. Guys like Holtby and Lehner are above the norm.

I may find time to at least do a Top-25 Prospects update every month, but I am not sure on that yet.

For those of you who have GoaliePost e-mail updates, you'll continue to get reports and notes on prospects and "lesser-knowns" and if you have my personal e-mail address, hit me up anytime.

~Justin