Your thoughts?

[Enapai]

Justin -

Since discovering your site, it has become one of my top reads. Keep up the great work with the twits as well.

Really enjoyed the goalie write ups this year in the prospect reports as well.

So my goal in my dynasty league was to build back some depth on my farm as I have moved the likes of Schneider and Markstrom over the last couple of seasons to improve in other places, leaving me with Koistinen and Sateri.

I did not have a pick until the 3rd round. I knew I had no shot at Campbell, and guys like Stalock, Rynnas, and Hackett were snagged before my first pick. I ended up drafting Eriksson, Holtby, and Janus. I don't have any more picks, but the draft is still on-going and I could potentially snag another pick or two. I took Janus ahead of Bobrovsky and Cheverie as Calvin Pickard was grabbed just ahead of my last pick.

It seems that Holtby and Janus have a stacked lineup ahead of them and I wonder if I would have been better served grabbing a Wesslau who seemingly has less competition in the depth chart. Should I be less focused on depth charts at this point if guys are getting regular time and more focused on skills?

Also, I am interested in your thoughts on Climie. Angus was raving about him during the Calder Cup finals and talking about him being an NHL backup in 2010 in his ramblings, yet I see Climie pretty far down in the rankings. How do you see Climie's skills?
Before DAL drafted Campbell, their goalie pipeline was as threadbare as PHX. Does his move to PHX help him at all?

Thanks as always for your thoughts.

[GoalieGuild]

Enapai,

Good to hear from you and thanks for the kind comments on TGG!

First of all I am guessing where you said Koistinen you meant Koskinen and Sateri??

Should I be less focused on depth charts at this point if guys are getting regular time and more focused on skills?

This is an interesting question. Specifically for your goalies, I would say considering you missed out on the top guys, you still acquired three great prospects in Eriksson Holtby and Janus. Break them down by "NHL ETA" and you have three different levels, a blossoming Swede in his first SEL season, a sophomore AHL goalie that benefits from Neuvirth graduation and a guy that will still be considered an AHL rookie (Janus no longer jr. eligible).

For your specific goalies, you should be more concerned about depth charts because their skills are all very high for their specific situation. It is more about them obtaining a bigger responsibility within the organization and then playing more and more AHL games. Obviously Eriksson is still a few years away from that, so you know where he stands.

Janus and Holtby are plenty skilled and that will not be what holds them back from being an NHL goaltender. It will simply come down to their mental toughness, durability and opportunity. So be less concerned with skill and more concerned with where they are at in their development w/in the organization.

Holtby and Janus are probably going to start the season as #4 goalies but depending on how they compete, could push Sabourin and Tokarski for more starts. That's what you'll want to hope for. games, games games.

As far as Climie is concerned, I think he was the odd man out in Dallas. From talking with Valley a lot, it looks as if the organization is really high on Brent Krahn...and they should be. They took care of business by signing a cheap veteran to patch up injury holes and Climie was able to find a similar situation in PHX, but with some more upside.

Basically this entire year is going to be a huge dogfight between he and Montoya for the backup role in 2011-12. All 4 goalies are signed for one more year. Bryz and LaBarbera are UFA's come July 1, 2011 and Montoya and Climie were signed to one-year deals. So the Coyotes depth chart is super intriguing right now.

Personally I'm confident the Coyotes re-sign Bryzgalov. He's at the prime age and ability and he's a fan favorite and plays well in Tippett's system. LaBarbera will probably be moved, as the Coyotes realize they have great depth in goal now. That means either Montoya or Climie will have a chance to be Bryz's backup...and they will both be considered NHL ready. Montoya has higher expectations, better size, but fewer NHL games experience.

The whole year is going to be "Climie vs. Montoya" and that's awesome. If Montoya suffers an injury again, Climie has the inside track and nothing leads me to believe he would lose it from there. He's a quality smaller goalie with good upside but at his age he's not going to be ranked higher than 30 or 40 in my Top-100 Keeper Rankings. But he's a very serviceable NHL backup and might stretch that into a small starter role. I like him a lot and I know a lot of his mannerisms ... he's a winner and a battler and one of those goalies you root for.