Welcome fantasy managers to another edition of the Eastern Edge. This week it's Part Three of a three-part series (prior editions can be read here) where we take a look at the Eastern Conference's top five goaltenders – Olympic Edition. So, without further delay, here are the East's top five goaltenders who participated in this year's Olympic Winter Games along with their respective outlooks for the remainder of the current campaign. (Sidenote: It sure was slim pickings in the East compared to the Western Conference!)

Let's get to it!

Jeremy Swayman – U.S.A.

It has been an encouraging bounce back season for the American Olympian as Swayman has the Bruins positioned rather well for a potential postseason berth. The 27-year-old netminder has fashioned an impressive 22-12-3 record accompanied by a 2.89 goals against average, .903 save percentage, and 23.24 goals saved above expected, ranking him fourth league-wide.

Since the turn of the calendar to 2026, Swayman play has generated a tidy 7-2-1 record, albeit with an elevated 3.14 goals against and .900 save percentage in the lead up to the Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics. The way in which the Bruins have been supplying offensive support this year (ranked sixth offensively at 3.39 GF/GP) in combination with Swayman's level of consistent play should produce solid win totals. However, if your league counts peripheral stats, it may be a little hit and miss the remainder of the season.

Logan Thompson – Canada  

The Washington Capitals netminder continues to solidify his place amongst the game's very best with some excellent play this year. Thompson is currently sporting a 19-16-4 record accompanied by a 2.45 goals against average, .912 save percentage, and 30.74 goals saved above expected, ranking Thompson second league-wide.

The Capitals are in a dogfight within the Eastern Conference playoff race and should lean heavily on Thompson from here on out with the Canadian Olympian remaining a decent source of wins while providing excellent peripheral for his fantasy owners.

Dan Vladar – Czechia  

The native of Czechia sure is making the most of his opportunity in Philadelphia as the 28-year-old is having himself a career year. Vladar has been excellent for the Flyers with a solid 17-8-6 record to go along with a 2.47 goals against average, .904 save percentage, and 11.82 goals saved above expected, ranking him inside the league’s top 20 goalies, ahead of such names as Connor Hellebuyck, Jake Oettinger, Scott Wedgewood, and Joey Daccord.

The Flyers are yet another team on the outside looking in at the NHL playoff picture and I would fully expect coach Rick Tocchet to ride Vladar to give his group its best chance at making it to the big dance. He is a solid streamer the remainder of the season with decent peripheral numbers to boot.

Jacob Markstrom – Sweden     

It has been a rather challenging year for both the New Jersey Devils and their number one netminder Jacob Markstrom. Markstrom is currently sporting a 15-13-1 record accompanied by a bloated 3.20 goals against, .882 save percentage, and -8.19 goals saved above expected for a Devils team that has been anything but consistent.

Over his 10 games played before heading to the Olympic games, Markstrom had put together a 6-4 record with a 2.99 goals against and .879 save percentage which doesn't offer much confidence for a fantasy manager such as myself.

Markstrom's outlook for the remainder of the current campaign should fall into the category of a potential streaming option in spot starts against favorable opponents (of which there are very few). Hopefully both Markstrom and the Devils can get things back on track in preparation for the 2026-2027 NHL season.

Elvis Merzlikins – Latvia

Quite simply, it has been a tale of two seasons for the Latvian native. Part one is Merzlikin’s level of play before the hiring of hockey lifer Rick Bowness as coach, where the 31-year old netminder fashioned a 6-7-1 record accompanied a 4.03 goals against average and .877 save percentage including a quality start rate of 40.0%.

Part two is Merzlikin’s level of play once Bowness was hired, as the eccentric netminder has put together a rather impressive 5-1 record accompanied by a tidy 2.03 goals against and solid .924 save percentage with four of those starts being quality starts.

The defensive structure implemented by coach Bowness should go a long way in increasing Merzlikins value to a solid streaming option with the potential for some excellent peripheral numbers. Keeping in mind that it is a small sample size since the coaching change.

That's it for this week folks, I hope that everyone enjoyed the incredible level of play we saw at the Olympics….it was a long time coming. Be sure to keep an eye out for the Weekend Waiver Wire over at the Goalie Post each and every Friday morning for potential streaming options heading into the weekend.

Thanks for reading and feel free to follow me on X @mikeouellet9 or BlueSky @mikeouellet9.bsky.social

(All stats courtesy of: Dobber's Frozen Tools / MoneyPuck)

See you all again next Tuesday!