In traditional Internet journalistic fashion here’s a top-11 countdown of next year’s fantasy goalies in the Western Conference. Your opinions will vary. There are others wholly worth mentioning, but we’ll save those for a future column on sleepers, bargain buys and prospects so I can pick them up myself before my Dobber Prospects League opponents get them. It’s too late for that actually, even for most of those taken in last month’s Entry Draft. Probably even for those in Pee-Wee. 

Starters with Upside

11) Antti Raanta – Arizona Coyotes

The first number one gig for a career backup stud (47-23-9, 2.32, .917 in 94 contests), he’ll have a bit more defensive protection in front of him than recent Arizona netminders. Niklas Hjalmarsson joins a hopefully healthy Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Alex Goligoski, Luke Schenn, Jakob Chychrun and perhaps upcoming Kyle Wood as defensive support. That’s no Nashville, but it is getting better than the crew that allowed the third-most goals in the NHL, and 28-year-old Raanta should eventually benefit. Possibly a 60-start year, with backup Louis Domingue serviceable but not a challenge for the number one spot unless Raanta bombs or gets hurt.

10) Mike Smith – Calgary Flames

I know Calgary is much better than recent incarnations of the Coyotes, especially on defense, but Smith’s stats over the past few years are just so painful to look at you have to somewhat doubt that the 35-year-old will post better than average fantasy production. I’m betting he’ll be solid on a Flames team with a promising present and future, I’m just not going to back up the truck to get him in a trade. I am monitoring Eddie Lack and Jon Gillies closely just in case.

Honorable Mentions

9) Ben Bishop – Dallas Stars

Though employing another pricy veteran with 2016-17 stats hampered by injury (18-15-5, 2.54, .910 in 39 contests) understandably worries some Stars fans, they had to try something, and ex-Vezina finalist Bishop brings hope. It’s always the chicken and egg thing when determining how much goalie performance is influenced by defensive quality, and Dallas’ reputation isn’t the best there especially after allowing the second-most goals in the league (260), so we’ll see how it all plays out. With defense-minded Ken Hitchcock at the helm, as well as vet Mark Methot joining their developing blue line crew, Dallas is hoping to help Bishop by squelching opponents’ abundance of quality shot opportunities. Much-maligned incumbent Kari Lehtonen will get his share of relief starts to lighten the load.

8) Pekka Rinne – Nashville Predators

Rinne’s demise is not entirely upon us. We saw what he had left during the Predators’ long postseason run, but at 35 years old shortly after 2017-18 begins, age will likely begin taking a greater toll. Luckily effective backup Juuse Saros just turned 22, and has loads of promise that fellow Finn Rinne is helping mentor. Expect the younger to increasingly steal starts. He’ll transition from backup to at least 1B status as Rinne approaches UFA status in 2019. In the short term, Rinne’s 61-game, 31-19-9, 2.42, .918 year represented respectable poolie stats, and improvements in goals-against and save percentage (2.48 and .908 in 66 contests during 2015-16). With that top-flight defense expect more decent numbers with a few less starts next year.  

7) John Gibson – Anaheim Ducks

After a highly effective (25-16-9, 2.22, .924) but injury-marred campaign, 23-year-old Gibson will be highly sought-after in pools. His save percentage was best in the West among netminders playing at least 35 contests, and goals-against ranked only behind Peter Budaj’s 2.12. While he’s gaining a reputation as being brittle in his young career, with Ryan Miller’s arrival cushioning against overwork that could dissipate. His minutes-independent numbers remain outstanding. Still, with last year’s 53 contests a high after his debut as the clear number one, Gibson has yet to have an ironman campaign that racks up tons of wins. That pushes him just outside the West’s fantasy top five. While the Ducks have interesting reinforcements, recent shoulder surgeries for Hampus Lindhom and Sami Vatanen may make the early going dicier on defense than usual in Orange County.

6) Jake Allen – St. Louis Blues

Allen struggled pre-Mike Yeo and mostly impressed after the head coach switch resulting in a 33-20-5, 2.42, .915 line. The Blues will look to build on his post-All Star Game 16-7-2, 1.85, and .938 stats with a focused offseason, continued emphasis on defense, and a solid backup in Carter Hutton. With Colton Parayko landing his long term deal and continuing to develop with the St. Louis’ solid blue line, Allen should be in for another busy, hopefully more consistent campaign that sees those overall save percentage and goals-against numbers improve.

Best in the West

5) Jonathan Quick – Los Angeles Kings

While their verbalized commitment to offense in Los Angeles may improve things in the long run, I’m not sure it will be enough to land them a playoff berth or winning record next year. Although they locked up Tyler Toffoli, Tanner Pearson, Andy Andreoff and Nick Shore for the next few campaigns, the salary cap-strapped Kings’ only offseason addition has been 35-year-old Mike Cammalleri. There’s no doubt 31-year-old Jonathan Quick is one of the top goaltenders in the West (and NHL) but with a high rate of victories unlikely, the potential for groin injury to linger, and skepticism about his backup Darcy Kuemper (or some rumors have Jack Campbell surpassing Jeff Zatkoff on the org chart and challenging for the job) providing the quality needed for adequate rest, his fantasy value diminishes. He was solid after a late season return from injury, approaching his goals against average (2.26) and save percentage (.917) from the previous two years, and will continue benefiting from LA’s stingy blue line.

4) Martin Jones – San Jose Sharks

Martin Jones again was a workhorse in net. Amongst NHL goalies playing at least 41 contests he finished seventh in wins (35) and ninth in goals against average (2.40), but just 21st in save percentage (.912). Those numbers were good for third, fifth, and tenth respectively in the West. Playing in 89 games total including the playoffs, on the heels of a Stanley Cup Finals run, Jones registered predictably declining stats in the second half of the year. His postseason work was again very good however, featuring a 1.75 GAA and .935 save percentage. Expect effective number-2 goalie Aaron Dell (11-6-1, 2.00, .931) to spell 27-year-old Jones a bit more often, but like many West teams a Shark decline could come. As with us all, they continue to age and haven’t made any significant offseason additions. A promising and plentiful stable of prospects including Meier, Heed, Sorensen, Labanc, Carpenter, O-Regan and others are positioned to eventually replace the old growth, but likely need more NHL experience before doing so effectively. And who knows how franchise icon Patrick Marleau’s move to Toronto will influence things? Jones’ new six-year extension should help him feel more secure in the long-run. Not sure that will help his stats or your fantasy team though, although the extra rest and recuperation after an early postseason ouster may.

3) Corey Crawford – Chicago Blackhawks

Crawford was on fire early last year, sporting a .927 save percentage in his first 20 games prior to appendicitis. He was a more human .914 the rest of the year as 18-5-5, 2.38, .924 Scott Darling tended net while he was away and effectively provided needed starts. Darling’s gone now to finally dethrone Cam Ward in Carolina. Monitor Crawford carefully as he should still excel, but entering his eighth campaign at age 32 might show signs of wear and tear. His workload may nonetheless increase, as the new backup Anton Forsberg/Jean-Francois Berube tandem with merely 31 NHL games of experience aren’t the most reassuring rest/injury-replacement options. Expect at least initial uncertainty in Chicago as well after the departure of Niklas Hjalmarsson, Artemi Panarin, Trevor van Riemsdyk, Brian Campbell, Marcus Kruger, Darling, Marian Hossa and Tyler Motte and an influx of new (but with Saad and Sharp some familiar) faces.

2) Cam Talbot – Edmonton Oilers

Cam Talbot proved ridiculously durable last year, dropping his GAA from 2.55 to 2.39 despite logging over a thousand more minutes and twenty more starts (73 total) than in 2015-16. He also nudged his save percentage from .917 to .919, and passed Grant Fuhr for most Oiler wins (now 42, was 40) in a single season. Were it not for Andrej Sekera’s leg injury and a less-than-deep blue line, I’d be tempted to put now 30-year-old Talbot at the number one slot. He’s a serious challenger while backstopping an Oiler club that could take the Western Conference title, if not the Cup. Soon Edmonton may want to consider giving him more rest, and it seems Laurent Broissoit is up to the task, but with merely 14 games of NHL experience he has yet to prove beyond a reasonable doubt he’ll be stellar in doing so.

1) Devan Dubnyk – Minnesota Wild

Despite his late-season slow-down, now 31-year-old Devan Dubnyk is top dog in the West. Demonstrating how stingy his first two-thirds of the season was, even after a 7-8-2, 2.86, .897 post-February plunge he landed just short of the West’s save percentage title, trailing Gibson by less than 0.0007 while playing 13 more games. While Dubnyk’s ultimate 2.25 goals-against was among the best, his pre-All Star break 1.88 GAA makes us think how much better things could have been if he had the opportunity for a little more rest. In all his 40-18-5 record with five shutouts and .923 save percentage rounded out a nearly Vezina-worthy effort. We’ll see if Coach Boudreau can get him under the 65 total 2016-17 games he backstopped, although the Alex Stalock/Niklas Svedberg combo doesn’t jump out as a better relief option than now-King Darcy Kuemper. We’ll also see if Marco Scandella’s departure to Buffalo will weaken their defense, or if free agent signee Kyle Quincey, incoming Ryan Murphy, or prospects like Gustav Olofsson and Mike Reilly can effectively fill the void.

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