My fantasy teams this season have had a particular need in net as of late. Because of that I have been paying a bit closer attention to goalies and trying to grab some replacements when there have been injuries etc. I looked at my teams this week and I realized that every single one of my goalies is either hurt or a backup taking over the starter's job. So I started ticking off teams in my head – and they all had injured goalies.

So I wanted to take a quick survey of the current state of the league's netminders. The below list will include only those who are currently injured, though I will certainly note several other situations to keep an eye on.

For process, we will be using the depth chart over on Frozen Tools to review the team's options in net and then using the player profile to give an update on their stats.

(Note: stats are up to and including Wednesday’s games)

Anaheim

Season Starter: John Gibson

Current Netminder: Ryan Miller, Anthony Stolarz

Gibson is currently listed as day-to-day on Yahoo and has been out since Sunday. Prior to that, he missed six games with a lower-body injury. Currently, there is not an update on his timeline. Gibson was struggling enough in Anaheim that it was likely a relief for managers to be able to put in in the IR.

In his absence, Miller has gotten seven of eight starts. He has lost six of them with a save percentage of .877 and three quality starts. If Gibson wasn't worth owning, Miller has been even worse so don't look to Anaheim right now if you need help in net.

Recently acquired Stolarz has gotten into two games, one a start and one in relief. His start went well with a win and only two goals against, but we are going to need a bigger sample size to get interested in him.

Arizona

Season Starter: Darcy Kuemper

Current Netminder: Adin Hill

Kuemper hasn't played since March 8 and is still looking like he will be out long term. In his absence, Antti Raanta came in and played a few games, got hurt, came back, and then got hurt again and is now looking to be out long term as well. That leaves us with Adin Hill.

Hill saw time in seven of the last ten Arizona games (because of the brief return of Raanta). Over that span, he had put up a save percentage of .918 and had reeled off three straight wins including a 34-save shutout. Then he ran into Colorado on Wednesday and let in four goals on ten shots. That drops him down to a .902 save percentage over that same time period. Ivan Prosvetov came in in relief and allowed a further five goals so it is doubtful this game will shake up Hill's hold on the job for now.

Boston

Season Starter: Tuukka Rask

Current Netminder: Jaroslav Halak

Rask and Halak have split time the last two seasons, but Rask getting the slightly larger portion of the split. Rask is still listed as day-to-day and while there have been rumblings about him coming back, he didn't practice Monday or play on Tuesday. He hasn't played a full game since March 7.

In his absence, Halak has played eight games, with four quality starts and a save percentage of .919. He is definitely worth owning while Rask is out. For what it is worth Dan Vladar has been the backup, has gotten two starts and two wins during this time period.

Carolina

Season Starter: Petr Mrazek

Current Netminder: Alex Nedeljkovic, James Reimer

Mrazek hasn't played since January 30 when he broke his thumb. He is currently listed as day-to-day and has been rumored to almost be ready for weeks. The next news update could be that he is game-ready, or it could still be a while. Carolina is in no rush to bring him back, as Nedeljkovic has made their life a little more complicated (though in a good way). He started alternating starts with Reimer at the beginning of February but seems to be playing his way into the 1a in that relationship starting two in a row last week for the first time. Overall he has eight wins in 13 starts and a .927 save percentage. Reimer has played 12 games over that same span with eight wins and a save percentage of .917. Reimer might just end up being the odd man out though with either the return of Mrazek or as a trade chip to free up space at the deadline.

Columbus

Season Starter: Joonas Korpisalo

Current Netminder: Elvis Merzlikins

Going into the season it wasn't clear how exactly this tandem would play out. Because of injuries, Korpisalo had taken the lion's share of the workload to date, but it is now his turn to be on the IR. He is technically day-to-day at the moment and played his last game on March 25. There isn't a specific timeline for his return stated.

In three starts since the injury to Korpisalo, Merzlikins has one win but a save percentage of .939. And since returning from his own injury in late March, he has a .941 save percentage. Prior to that, he was sporting a .908. This recent body of work is definitely what anyone drafting or owning Merzlikins was hoping for. With Korpisalo injured, now is definitely the time to own Merzlikins and enjoy the hot run.

Detroit

Season Starter: Jonathan Bernier

Current Netminder: Calvin Pickard, Thomas Greiss

It looked to be a timeshare going into the season, but Greiss' poor performance and Bernier's career one had Bernier running away with the job until he got injured. He last played on March 18 and may be close to returning. He was on the ice on Monday, though not with the full team, we don't have an update since then.

In his absence, Griess got the first crack at starts, getting four consecutive starts, until he blew it against Detroit and sat out both sides of a back-to-back. Overall he has seen five starts and has a .906 in Bernier's absence. Pickard came in in relief, then got the back-to-back over the weekend, but then got pulled on Monday leaving Greiss to finish the game. His four starts and .871 save percentage don't really inspire confidence either. Neither option seems great at this point, so hopefully, Bernier will be back ASAP.

Ottawa

Season Starter: Matt Murray

Current Netminder: Filip Gustavsson

Murray has been out since March 12 but was on the ice for practice on Monday. There is no exact timetable stated, but it could be soon. Anyone who owned Murray at the point he was injured was really only in it for the saves. Everything else about Murray's season has been pretty disastrous (as his .880 season save percentage can attest).

Joey Daccord got the starts in the immediate aftermath (and had actually been stealing starts prior). During his little stint of relevance, he started five times with a save percentage of .893 but did have two quality starts in there. He too unfortunately went down to injury which led to acquisition Gustavsson getting three consecutive starts where he has put up two wins and a .973 save percentage. My take on Gustavsson hasn't really changed since last week, but I suppose if you are desperate for starts, go for it.

Pittsburgh

Season Starter: Tristan Jarry

Current Netminder: Casey DeSmith

Jarry almost lost the job to DeSmith earlier in the season but had seemed to regain his form recently until getting hurt on Monday of this week. The current update is day to day with an upper-body injury without a specific timeline for a return.

DeSmith will play his first game without Jarry on Thursday, but has six quality starts over his last seven games and a .969 save percentage over six starts in March. He might have been worth a spot start before the injury, but is definitely worth an add now just in case Jarry is out for more than a game or two.

Toronto

Season Starter: Frederik Andersen

Current Netminder: Jack Campbell

Andersen went down on March 19 and is currently listed as day-to-day with a lower-body injury. The original projection was seven to ten days, which has already passed. He is scheduled to be evaluated further on Thursday, so there may be more information available by the time this article is posted.

In the meantime, Jack Campbell has himself returned from injury and did so in impressive form with a 31-save shutout to bookend his injury with shutouts. He also has six quality starts in his last seven games (though that spans almost a month of injured time), but has four wins in his last four games with three quality starts and a save percentage of .945. Like with DeSmith, there is no reason not to own Campbell right now. It may be a short-term add depending on Andersen's injury, but given Andersen's poor performance this year there is no guarantee he takes back his full number one duties anyway.

That leaves us with nine current teams that have injured starters. And just for all those keeping track at home, this list does not include, Linus Ullmark, Jonathan Quick, Igor Shesterkin, or Robin Lehner who just returned from injury, Carter Hart who was just healthy scratched, or Ben Bishop who had offseason surgery and is on track to play sometime this season.

That is all for this week. Thanks for reading. Stay safe out there.

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