I'm pretty confident in Mrazek and Koskinen to get 50+ just because there aren't really other comparable options in Carolina and Edmonton, respectively. Other than that, I can't say for any of the others for sure.
Robin Lehner
Corey Crawford
Cory Schneider
Mackenizie Blackwood
David Rittich
Cam Talbot
Petr Mrazek
James Reimer
Semyon Varlamov
Thomas Greiss
Mikko Koskinen
Mike Smith
Pekka Rinne
Juuse Saros
Henrik Lundqvist
Alexander Georgiev
Carter Hutton
Linus Ullmark
None of the above
Like many of you, I’ve been diving deep into the DobberHockey Fantasy Guide (available here: https://dobbersports.com/shop/) since its release a couple of weeks ago. In doing so I noticed there were nine teams where Dobber had a confidence level of 80% or less of one goalie being “the starter,” and figured what better situation to turn into one of my monthly polls?
In this poll I’ve included the 18 goalies from those nine teams (the goalies will be presented as voting choices alphabetically by team name). Your task is to vote for the goalie(s) you think will end up starting 50+ games despite what is projected to likely be a goalie share situation.
As far as rules, you can vote for as many goalies - or as few - as you want, provided you think each netminder for whom you cast a vote will, in fact, start 50+ games this coming season. I’ve also included a “none of the above” choice in case you think none of the 18 netminders ends up starting 50+ games in 2019-20. As always, although these polls are meant to be enjoyable, vote objectively so fellow Dobberites can look to the results to help shape decisions they’ll be making in terms of keepers, on draft day, or as early free agent grabs for 2019-20.
Also, please chime in with a post explaining who you voted for - or didn't vote for - and why. Added insight beyond just votes is always helpful, plus can spur on a debate about the topic.
DobberHockey Senior Writer (columnist since 2012)
Click here to read my weekly "Roos Lets Loose" columns, going live every Wednesday morning and consisting of a rotating schedule of a "forum buzz" column, a fantasy hockey mailbag, a tournament/poll, and an edition of Goldipucks and the Three Skaters: https://dobberhockey.com/category/ho...key-rick-roos/
I'm pretty confident in Mrazek and Koskinen to get 50+ just because there aren't really other comparable options in Carolina and Edmonton, respectively. Other than that, I can't say for any of the others for sure.
MounD - Double Threat FHL (18-19 champs)
10-Team Yahoo daily H2H Dynasty
3C, 3LW, 3RW, 6D, 2G, 7Bn (IR)
G, A, +/-, PPP, SHP, SOG, FW, HIT, BLK // W, Sv, GAA, Sv%, SHO
C: Bergeron, Barkov, Aho, Point, Kadri
LW: Marchand, Landeskog, Hertl, Marchessault
RW: Stamkos, Tarasenko, Laine, Palmieri
D: Carlson, Letang, Dumba, Weber, Pietrangelo, Ristolainen, Byfuglien*
G: Bobrovsky, Holtby, Lehner, Greiss-Varlamov
Farm: Turcotte, Cozens, Denisenko, Newhook // Sandin, Jokiharju, Dobson, K'Andre // Shesterkin
The only guy I'm really comfortable with voting for is Mrazek.
Lehner/Crawford/other and Schneider/Blackwood seem like too much of injury risks to bet on the "incumbent" starter to give them 50+, but also the non-incumbent could get there if things break right.
Buffalo, Calgary, Edmonton, and the 2 New York teams are hard to predict.
Nashville looks like a fairly even split to me, I think both are around 40 this year.
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Wow - I’m the outlier here so far. I chose Cory Schneider - as long as Jersey starts well, they’ll be 55/27;
Carter Hutton - again, he’ll get first crack at the crease, and the team IS better, especially on defense. His GAA will earn him those 50;
and David Rittich, who I believe will be the breakout STAR for Calgary. He was fantastic for the first half last year.
Am i nuts?
FROZEN TUNDRA, 2023-24 league champions, Canadian Hockey Eh
12-team Yahoo league, 10th year. H2H. Keep 15
Aho, Monahan, Coyle, Kadri
Jarvis, Fiala, Slafkovsky, Byfield, Verhaeghe
Josi, Morrissey, Montour
Oettinger, Ullmark, Brossoit
And, Nedeljkovic could well be Carolina’s starter by January 1st.
FROZEN TUNDRA, 2023-24 league champions, Canadian Hockey Eh
12-team Yahoo league, 10th year. H2H. Keep 15
Aho, Monahan, Coyle, Kadri
Jarvis, Fiala, Slafkovsky, Byfield, Verhaeghe
Josi, Morrissey, Montour
Oettinger, Ullmark, Brossoit
Not necessarily nuts, but I normally see GAA as a team stat, barring crazy circumstances, and Hutton isn't a guy who is a defense all by himself like a young Price or a Hasek, so circumstances don't have me trusting him nearly as much.
I do think Rittich makes sense somewhat, I think he's likely the starter, but I'm not sure enough to vote on it.
I agree that if Schneider is healthy & good he an get there, but again, I'm just not comfy predicting that, although he's second in polling.
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MounD - Double Threat FHL (18-19 champs)
10-Team Yahoo daily H2H Dynasty
3C, 3LW, 3RW, 6D, 2G, 7Bn (IR)
G, A, +/-, PPP, SHP, SOG, FW, HIT, BLK // W, Sv, GAA, Sv%, SHO
C: Bergeron, Barkov, Aho, Point, Kadri
LW: Marchand, Landeskog, Hertl, Marchessault
RW: Stamkos, Tarasenko, Laine, Palmieri
D: Carlson, Letang, Dumba, Weber, Pietrangelo, Ristolainen, Byfuglien*
G: Bobrovsky, Holtby, Lehner, Greiss-Varlamov
Farm: Turcotte, Cozens, Denisenko, Newhook // Sandin, Jokiharju, Dobson, K'Andre // Shesterkin
I completely agree with you. Actually, I was tempted to check Saros as a 50-start possibility! Rinne lasts through the season without a 20+ game gap???
FROZEN TUNDRA, 2023-24 league champions, Canadian Hockey Eh
12-team Yahoo league, 10th year. H2H. Keep 15
Aho, Monahan, Coyle, Kadri
Jarvis, Fiala, Slafkovsky, Byfield, Verhaeghe
Josi, Morrissey, Montour
Oettinger, Ullmark, Brossoit
I agree on Schneider I think blackwood will be overseafted like crazy. The timeline for his injury has him getting truly healthy for the first time this season, the team is much improved, and he has fantastic pedigree.
I'm HOPING for Hutton but not nearly confident. I do think he gets another solid chance out the gate on a better team.
It's funny I'd vote Calgary because I think Talbot is going to run away with the starting gig.
Saros might be a better bet for 50 in Nashville especially with age related injuries as a concern.
I think king Henrik might have one miracle season left in him where he takes the team a round or two deep. He'll likely still need more rest than your average workhorse but I could see 50ish...
With Rinne leading the poll at this point, I just want to point out Saros' GP over the past three seasons: 21, 26, 31. This was pointed out by Dobber himself earlier in the summer and it really looks like a team with a committment to a plan for their net transition.
A few more points:
Mrazek has never made 50 starts in his career.
Hutton made 48 starts last year after a career high of 40 GP (34 starts) several years back in NSH. If Buffalo was managing his workload increase last year by using Ullmark, Hutton could get there this year.
Lehner is one year removed from two consecutive 50 start seasons while Crawford is two years removed from four consecutive 50+ seasons. Both can handle the workload if healthy.
10-Team, Custom Keeper. In this league GMs sign their own contracts at an auction for a specified price and term up to 4 years.
Points
G(3) A(2.5) +/- (0.5) SOG(0.1) FOW/FOL (0.05) HTS(0.1) BKS (0.1)
2C - McDavid, Pettersson, Barkov, Kopitar,
2RW - Lindholm, Perron, Reinhart, Killorn
2LW - Draisaitl, Svechnikov, Schenn
3FWD From above FWDs
6D - Karlsson, Dahlin, Gustafsson, Theodore, Edler
2G - Varlamov, Greisss, Murray, Mrazek
IR - Hamilton
6FARM - Kakko, Mittelstadt, Francouz, Borgstrom
Those were his appearances, not starts, which were actually 19, 23 and 27. The reason I mention is that this thread is about starts and Rinne had 55 last year. Not sure about minutes in those other games though. I have Rinne for 50 starts and Saros for 32 starts, so it's still a shift towards Saros but not increasing it too much just yet.
10-Team, Custom Keeper. In this league GMs sign their own contracts at an auction for a specified price and term up to 4 years.
Points
G(3) A(2.5) +/- (0.5) SOG(0.1) FOW/FOL (0.05) HTS(0.1) BKS (0.1)
2C - McDavid, Pettersson, Barkov, Kopitar,
2RW - Lindholm, Perron, Reinhart, Killorn
2LW - Draisaitl, Svechnikov, Schenn
3FWD From above FWDs
6D - Karlsson, Dahlin, Gustafsson, Theodore, Edler
2G - Varlamov, Greisss, Murray, Mrazek
IR - Hamilton
6FARM - Kakko, Mittelstadt, Francouz, Borgstrom
I feel confident that Mrazek and Schneider will win the #1 jobs. Mrazek came into the league with promise, has been trending upwards and posted great numbers last year, while Reimer seems to be trending downwards. Schneider is just a hunch - that he will be afforded more leash than Blackwood.
I think Ullmark deserves a chance and if given, would run with it, but not so sure if Buffalo will give him one. And the Rangers should have moved on from Lundqvist a couple of years ago but continue to show him loyalty.
Interesting results thus far, most notably the low and close totals for the Buffalo and Calgary tandems, indicating a strong belief those will indeed be 1A/1B situations. I too am surprised by Rinne leading this, due to the trends plus him being older and thus - at least on paper - more prone to injury. I'm also a bit surprised to see Smith with more votes than Crawford, Greiss, and either of the Buffalo netminders. I really think despite comments made by Tippett the Oilers will do all they can to see Koskinen grab the reins, especially since as I noted in the column Tippett has been known to really lean on one starter a lot both when he was behind the bench in Dallas (Turco) and Arizona (Bryzgalov and, ironically, Smith). Yes, Koskinen isn't in the same league as those three were in their prime, but he's still signed for a couple more years and should stand to get the breaks, I think.
DobberHockey Senior Writer (columnist since 2012)
Click here to read my weekly "Roos Lets Loose" columns, going live every Wednesday morning and consisting of a rotating schedule of a "forum buzz" column, a fantasy hockey mailbag, a tournament/poll, and an edition of Goldipucks and the Three Skaters: https://dobberhockey.com/category/ho...key-rick-roos/