Oliver Kylington was on the free agent market longer than he should have been considering that a $1.05 million AAV was all it took to get him signed. In Colorado there is a log-jam of defencemen, with Cale Makar, Devon Toews, Josh Manson, and Samuel Girard taking up the top-four spots, and Kylington joining a cast of Sam Mlinski, Erik Brannstrom, and Calvin De Haan fighting for two spots on the bottom pair.

As the last to join the group, Kylington could be on the outside looking in at the beginning, but by the end of the season (or even mid-season) I would expect him to separate himself as the best option of that set. When he was with the Flames he was put in a position to succeed, and had a period scoring at a 35-point pace. With the Avalanche, Kylington could get some favourable deployment to go with an excellent crop of forwards that he can facilitate moving the puck to. Despite the crowd, it’s nearly an ideal landing spot for him.

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I wanted to run through some goalie thoughts for a moment. There has been a lot of ink spilled on Jacob Markstrom and Linus Ullmark being traded to different teams, and Ian covered some of the bigger names on the goaltending market in his July 6^th Ramblings. Let's dive into some of the others here.

Detroit Red Wings

Ian did already cover Cam Talbot, and I agree with his assessment that Talbot will likely be the opening night starter. After that though, Ville Husso will likely either be on LTIR or be traded, as it seems like he has fallen out of favour in Detroit and the cap hit could be better allocated elsewhere. Alex Lyon would fit well as Talbot's backup for 30-35 games, meaning Jack Campbell on his league-minimum deal is likely set to be put on waivers. Whether he gets claimed likely depends on if there is a major injury or two to other goalies across the league in training camp.

Los Angeles Kings

Moving on to LA where Talbot leaves David Rittich as one half of the previous year's timeshare, with Rittich sporting the better numbers. He had a better win percentage, save percentage, and goals against average, while the quality start percentage was hovering very close to 60% for both. The biggest difference though lies in the really-bad-start percentage, where Rittich's 4.2% was more three times better than Talbot's 14.8%. Out of 24 starts, Rittich had a single "really bad" game last year, which is all the Kings needed out of their goalie on a lot of nights.

Los Angeles made a big splash this summer for their replacement, bringing in Darcy Kuemper in a deal that was likely more about dumping Pierre-Luc Dubois than it was about filling the goalie hole. Kuemper's numbers were worse than Talbot's last season, and he still carries three more years at $5.25 million left on his contract. That contract will likely get him the opening night start, and a bit of a longer leash than Rittich and his $1.0 million cap hit, but by the end of the year I expect Rittich to have the better numbers again. Phoenix Copley should make it through waivers and end up down at the AHL level.

Washington Capitals

Taking Kuemper's place in Washington will be Logan Thompson, after Charlie Lindgren stole the starter's role last year, even garnering a Hart and Vezina vote. Lindgren is 30 years old, and his 50 games last season make up 44% of his career NHL games to date. Regardless, he had three superb quarters out of four, while posting a very solid quality-start to really-bad-start ratio. There's no reason he can't put up similar numbers behind an improved Washington squad this year.

All that to say, we could realistically see a reduction in games from Thompson as he is the one coming in and will need to adjust to the team, giving Lindgren and his contract the upper hand. Still, 30 games with a .910 save percentage on a playoff bubble team has some value for Thompson, though the Wins will be tougher to come by than they were through his Vegas career.

This is hands down the most economical tandem in the league based on cap hits though, finishing one and two in value on my latest cap rankings list.

Winnipeg Jets

Eric Comrie and Kaapo Kahkonen in Winnipeg likely means one of them is on waivers prior to game one, and the fact that Kahkonen both had more games last year, and signed the slightly bigger contract this summer, implies that he should be the backup behind Hellebuyck. Laurent Brossoit has had incredible success in that role, so Kahkonen could be a sneaky add in leagues where ratios are more important than volume.

Dallas Stars

Casey DeSmith takes over from Scott Wedgewood in Dallas, for a little less ($1 million) than what Wedgewood got in Nashville ($1.5 million). I like DeSmith's value here a little more than Wedgewood's behind Saros (and in front of Yaroslav Askarov), in part because Dallas is maybe the best team in the Western Conference, but also because Saros is a bit more of a horse than Jake Oettinger, which should mean more games for DeSmith. That three-year term for Dallas is also just gravy on this one.

Quick Hits

Calvin Pickard and Alex Nedeljkovic are both re-signing into solid spots to retain their value – Ned for the volume and Pickard for the ratios. Marc-Andre Fleury's re-signing in Minnesota has me flummoxed though, as I was sure that would lead to a Filip Gustavsson trade, but there haven't even been rumours about it. Is Minnesota really going to push Jesper Wallstedt back to the minors again (just like Askarov, and Dustin Wolf in prior years) even though he has shown that he is ready?

Kevin Lankinen bears watching as well, and I'm surprised he remains unsigned. He's a top-35 goalie in the league by my estimation, so there are plenty of teams that could use him and would be able to provide a solid role for him once he's signed.

One last goalie name who I think is being overlooked is Jake Allen. Still on a very reasonable deal, and playing for his next UFA contract, he has more experience behind the Devils' defence than Markstrom does and is a starter-level goalie in his own right. It wouldn't surprise me to see the volume lean closer to 50/50 by the end of the year than many expect.

Otherwise, number three goalies on depth charts that bear watching (not including the most obvious one in Jesper Wallstadt) include Brandon Bussi, Akira Schmid, Chris Driedger, Kevin Mandolese, Alexei Kolosov, Nico Daws, and Mads Sogaard.

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The best spot to get all of your goalie information in one place? Dobber's run down of each team's crease situation in the Dobber guide. Complete with projections, analysis, and odds of the estimated starter maintaining that role.

Still lots of time before drafts, but with all the information in it, you're best off buying it early and giving yourself time to take it all in.

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One other thing I noted in running through goalies, is just how many the St Louis system has produced over the last number of years. It feels like more than your average NHL team. Running down the list, you have St. Louis products in Jordan Binnington, Joel Hofer, Charlie Lindgren, Ville Husso, Jake Allen, Phoenix Copley still currently on NHL rosters. Not exactly actionable, but interesting nonetheless.

Are there any other NHL teams with more of their former farm-team goalies from the last decade floating around?

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See you next Wednesday for Bubble keeper week, and if you want to keep up with it you can find me on Twitter/X here, or BlueSky here if you have any fantasy hockey questions or comments.