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Rattling Around The Dome: Struggling fantasy tenders
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- Rattling Around The Dome: Struggling fantasy tenders
Where oh where have thy gone, sweet play of big-name NHL goaltenders?
Of course, you'll find some of the usual suspects sprinkled across the upper tier of the goalie stats categories through the first month of the NHL season, as guys like Pekka Rinne , Devan Dubnyk , John Gibson and Andrei Vasilevskiy has gotten off to wicked-good starts.
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But when you see other names up there like David Rittich (huh?), Semyon Varlomov (what?), Jaroslav Halak (pardon?) and the Islanders tandem of Robin Lehner and Thomas Greiss (how?), it begins to make you re-think a bit of what you thought you knew about NHL goaltending — which is very little in the first place, FYI.
It's early, yes, we all know how to read a calendar, for the most part, but a few of the widely-drafted, big guns that were expected to make a big time fantasy impact during the first month of the season simply haven't produced.
So what gives with these tenders' early-season performance so far?
Keep The Faith
Winnipeg Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck has all the upside in the world. (Trevor Hagan/CP)
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Last year's Vezina Trophy finalist already showed the first signs of rebounding from his slow start with a real solid 36-save performance on Thursday against the Panthers, vaulting his save percentage to .912 after starting the day with a sub-.900 Sv% and a GAA above three.
As I blurted out during the recent NHL Fantasy Spin, Hellebuyck's physical attributes and pure talent level alone are obvious enough to warrant keeping faith in the Jets netminder, and the team he plays behind — one expected to be battling for a Western Conference crown, will also ensure Helle's numbers are where they should be as the season matures.
Don't look now (or do, I'm not your dad) but Jaroslav Halak is 4-0 with an sizzling .947 save percentage, while the Bruins ' supposed No. 1 is boasting a .500 record and a Sv% hovering right at .900. Rask has typically had slow starts to the season, and Halak has had hot ones, so I wouldn't put much stock in this situation playing out like this for that much longer.
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The fiery Bruins tender has never finished an NHL season with a save percentage below .915 and has averaged 1,588 saves per campaign since 2013-14, which ranks in the top third of the league. He's a legit top-flight tendy and Halak is not, so expect the script to flip at some point and count on Rask to start throwing up some W's and goose eggs on the board.
Brayden Holtby
Something, something, Stanley Cup hangover, something, something. Holts has been pretty – make that very – shaky in allowing 30 goals through his first nine starts this season and has a basement-dwelling save percentage hovering somewhere around zero, which is not ideal, but slamming Miller Lites and eating rib-eyes out of the bowl of the Stanley Cup certainly isn't the most ideal way to prep for an NHL hockey season, so give the man some time, would ya?
After a so-so regular season in 2017-18, Holtby was an absolute wall during Washington's run to the Cup, and put up elite, top-five numbers in the three seasons before last — averaging seven shutouts, 44 wins and 1,703 saves from 2015 – 2017. Give a few more weeks for that hangover to subside and he'll be just fine.
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Cut The Cord
Sergei Bobrovsky has fallen off a cliff of late. (Josie Lepe/AP)
Since essentially going public in training camp and making it pretty damn clear that he plans to head to free agency as a UFA next summer, there's been a weird lingering cloud over the two-time Vezina winner's head, and his performance on the ice so hasn't done anything to clear the tension.
Blue Jackets head coach John Tortorella is clearly a savage and didn't hesitate to shove Bobrovsky firmly into his dog house on a couple different occasions already — opting to start backup Joonas Korpisalo on the opening night of the season and recently for three straight contests while a healthy Bob rode a heavy dosing of pine. When you put it all together, and add in that Columbus isn't a great team, it's hard to imagine the Jackets netminder bouncing back and regaining his value this season.
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We may be nearing the end of the road for Marc-Andre Fleury's elite labelling (sobs uncontrollably), as a trip back to Earth on both his part and that of his team has plagued the soon-to-be 34-year-old through the early goings of 2018-19 and, as much as I want it deep within my bones, it's hard to see this turning around for the better anytime soon.
Coming off a career season in the saves and goals-against categories, Fleury doesn't have nearly the same magic surrounding him so far this season — and that includes his team which is looking more and more like a non-playoff squad every time they play.
Mike Smith
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He's great at playing the puck! Yeah, that's all I got. Smith can steal the odd game, but he's just not good at stopping biscuits on a consistent basis which is, well, not ideal for a goalie. He's a bottom-five starter league-wide (could be the worst), that is if he remains a starter for much longer.
Calgary loves young backup David Rittich and it's very conceivable that his strong play, combined with Smith's decline, could thrust him into the No. 1 role very, very soon.
