To put it bluntly, this has not been a good season for your goalies.

With a couple of exceptions, many struggled this season, either with injuries, in a timeshare or they just plain sucked. We may wind up with only six netminders to start 60 games. For comparison, the last three full seasons before Covid, we had eight, nine and 11 goalies start a minimum of 60 games.

It’s enough to further the support for the zero-goalie strategy. While this strategy varies based on league settings, the number of teams, the number of goalie starts, etc., the basic premise is that you don’t take a netminder before a certain round. Normally, it’s round 10. The theory is that since the top goalies fluctuate from season to season, you’re better off using high picks on elite forwards and defensemen and waiting to select your first netminder.

That strategy can work, but it does involve luck and smart drafting. If you’re going to use this strategy, you need to be cognizant of the best goalies left on the board, and not necessarily shoot for the sexy, sleeper picks. On average, this season, you could have drafted Tristan Jarry or Sergei Bobrovsky in round 10 and Jacob Markstrom in round 11. That is how you win championships. Of course, you also could have drafted MacKenzie Blackwood in round 10 and Mike Smith or Jake Allen in round 11.

Below are the top goalies that were disappointing this year that may have cost you a chance at a championship.

10. John Gibson

Gibson and #9 have both been pretty awful this season, but Gibson is slightly higher on this list as he was drafted about nine rounds behind the next guy on this list. Their numbers are close to identical, but no one should be surprised about Gibson’s season. The Ducks goalie tends to start with a bunch of wins early in the season and then slow down as the season moves along, and this year was no exception. In the first month of the season, he was 9-2-2 with a 2.33 GAA and a 0.925 SV%. Since then (from November 17), he is 8-22-8 with a 3.48 GAA and a 0.896 SV%. For future years, it might be smarter to draft Gibson and sell high after a month.

9. Philipp Grubauer

The saga of Grubauer has made me, and probably many other fantasy GMs, a little wary. A year ago, Grubauer was part of a major trade in my points-only keeper league, with the hope he would re-sign in Colorado. Instead, he went to Seattle and somehow forgot how to tend net. His record of 16-29-5 is awful (the 29 wins are the worst in the league), and his 3.12 GAA and 0.891 SV% are significantly below league average. It’s this poor performance that made me a little gun shy on acquiring Darcy Kuemper when he was offered to me at the trade deadline in my points-only pool, and I wonder if others felt the same.

8. Mackenzie Blackwood

It’s definitely been an off-year for Blackwood. He came to training camp unvaccinated with no plans to take the jab, which put it in doubt whether he could play games in Canada. He wound up taking the vaccine, but has spent most of the season on the IR, appearing in only 23 games. As a whole, he has a record of 9-9-3 with two shutouts, a 3.29 GAA and a 0.894 SV%. He’s been dealing with heel injuries all season, but some Devils fans believe it’s time to go with a new goaler in New Jersey, which will put in doubt his future as a number one guy.

7. Jordan Binnington

From Stanley Cup winner to back-up within a few years, I’m not sure if there’s ever been a goalie who has risen and fallen as quickly as Binnington. His stats have declined each season since that magical run:

2018-19: 25-5-1, five shutouts, 1.89 GAA, 0.927 SV%

2019-20: 30-13-7, three shutouts, 2.56 GAA, 0.912 SV%

2020-21: 18-14-8. zero shutouts, 2.65 GAA, 0.910 SV%

2021-22: 14-13-4, two shutouts, 3.18 GAA, 0.901 SV%

At this point, he’s a borderline keeper in fantasy, and he will be a bottom-of-the-pile draft pick next year. The Blues already traded away one goalie (Jake Allen) who was a threat to Binnington, they probably won’t do the same to Ville Husso.

6. Carey Price

The Habs netminder was taken on average in the sixth round in Yahoo pools, the 15th goalie drafted overall. That’s a high pick on a player that hasn’t seen a second of ice time this year and may not see any until October. That average was higher earlier in the preseason before we knew his issues and how serious his injury was. Of course, the latter should have been foreseen, as Montreal had a tendency in the Marc Bergevin era to not disclose how serious injuries were (we went through this with Price a few years back).

5. Spencer Knight

Many fantasy general managers were hopeful that Knight was going to usurp Sergei Bobrovsky this season. After all, he was given the starting reins in the postseason last year. While he still managed to do okay this year (17-8-3 with one shutout, 2.83 GAA and .906 SV%), it wasn’t what many wanted to see. Knight also spent time in the AHL, and aside from a couple of stretches when Bob was injured, wasn’t worth the hype. Remember, he was drafted on average in the seventh round, three rounds and seven goalie spots higher than Bobrovsky. (By the way, for those curious, you will not find Bob on this list. With a record of 34-6-3, he’s been someone you can count on for a victory when he starts. Going into Sunday, his 34 wins were tied for second).

4. Marc-Andre Fleury

Remember back in the preseason when some experts had the Blackhawks as being a playoff contender? Then the season began and the Hawks were awful. To be fair, Fleury had a poor first month of the season. Since then, his numbers have been better but inconsistent. From October 13 to November 5, Fleury was 1-7 with a 4.11 GAA and 0.881 SV% with no shutouts. Since then, he is 22-15-5 with a 2.69 GAA and 0.915 SV% with four shutouts. However, he’s allowed at least five goals in 10 games this year, and four goals on another nine occasions.

3. Semyon Varlamov

Varlamov has been much better recently, but it’s only the injury to Ilya Sorokin that has turned Varlamov into a fantasy option. It’s easy to forget now, but there were a lot of hopes pinned on Varlamov. He was the eighth-goalie taken on average in Yahoo pools, slightly ahead of Sorokin, Varlamov spent the first few weeks of the season out with an undisclosed injury. Then he wasn’t great when he was healthy, losing his first six games. He didn’t win his first game until December 16 and has only nine wins on the season.

2. Robin Lehner

It’s been a frustrating season for Lehner owners. He’s been on the IR several times, and when he was in the lineup, didn’t perform as well as expected. While he’s not great for shutouts, just having one on the season has been disappointing, and his 23 wins in 41 games just aren’t good enough. Considering that Vegas was a sexy preseason pick to contend for the Pacific division crown, Lehner was selected as the second netminder in many leagues. He was considered a sure thing, but he’s definitely made fantasy GMs a little gun shy for future drafts.

1. Andrei Vasilevskiy

Going into the season, Vas was seen as the only sure thing netminder and was usually drafted in the first round (on average, fifth overall). However, while he has been better than everyone else on this list (and most in the league), he was not worth the first-round pick. His 35 wins are great, but his 16 losses are one off his career worst, and his two shutouts are his lowest since 2016-17 when he first took over the starter’s crease. He hasn’t been great since the calendar flipped to 2022, but his numbers since March 3 have been gross (15 games, 6-8-1 record, 0 shutouts, 2.95 GAA, 0.906 SV%). He hasn’t been there in the fantasy playoffs and cost many a chance at a fantasy title. Maybe the zero-goalie strategy isn’t such a bad idea.