Wild West: 2019-20 Goalie Round-Up Part 2

Chris Kane

2019-12-02

 

Last week we took a tour of the Central Division, looking at the status of each team’s goalie performances and tandems. We return this week for our second installment, and this time we move on to the Pacific Division.

 

One quick note to follow up: In the Nashville section I claimed there was a goalie controversy on with Juuse Saros finally putting in a bid for the starting gig. That controversy is in full effect as he has now started four of Nashville’s last five games. The bad news is he has a save percentage below .900 in his last two outings and Pekka Rinne got a shutout in his one start.

 

Now on to the Pacific:

 

Edmonton

 

Name

GP

W

L

OTL

SO

GAA

SV%

QUAL%

RBS%

Mikko Koskinen

16

10

2

2

1

2.52

0.921

56.3

0

Mike Smith

15

7

7

1

1

2.83

0.907

53.3

26.7

 

Somehow, incredibly, the Oilers are decent so far this year. That likely has a lot to do with Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. Also noteworthy is that Edmonton is not a place where goalies go to die this season. Koskinen and Smith have been splitting most of the starts, and generally be doing mostly O.K. I would put Koskinen as the 1A for the moment, he has the extra game, has played six of the last ten, and has the better numbers, but Smith has been pleasantly average. There doesn’t seem to be a reason to expect Edmonton to change their strategy as of yet so expect the duties to continue to be split

 

Arizona

 

Name

GP

W

L

OTL

SO

GAA

SV%

QUAL%

RBS%

Darcy Kuemper

18

10

6

2

2

1.97

0.935

88.9

5.6

Antti Raanta

10

5

3

2

1

2.66

0.924

60

0

 

Arizona is the place to be for goalies at the moment. As a team the protect their goalies well both of their netminders are providing excellent value when in the net. Incredibly, there is only one bad start between the pair of them all season. Kuemper in particular is having an amazing start. During the preseason, it was not clear whether Raanta, back from injury, would take the reins and run with the starting gig. He has been good, but he just can’t win any concessions from Kuemper. With 89% of his starts producing quality starts he has been giving the Coyotes reason to continue playing him. Anyone who drafted Kuemper is loving life right now, and will likely continue to enjoy production from him.

 

San Jose

 

Name

GP

W

L

OTL

SO

GAA

SV%

QUAL%

RBS%

Martin Jones

22

12

8

1

0

3.03

0.896

31.8

22.7

Aaron Dell

8

3

4

0

0

3.42

0.89

37.5

50

 

If there was a more dramatic difference between goalie tandems than Arizona and San Jose we would be hard pressed to find it. Looking at Jones’ stat line we might wonder how this guy is still a starting goalie for any team, but then we see Dell’s numbers. There isn’t a ton to say here actually, Jones is the go-to guy in San Jose, and will continue to get the lion’s share of the starts (he has seen eight of the last ten). That means he helps your wins and saves categories, but will absolutely blow up your goals against average or your save percentage categories.

 

Calgary

 

Name

GP

W

L

OTL

SO

GAA

SV%

QUAL%

RBS%

David Rittich

23

12

7

4

2

2.68

0.915

60.9

13

Cam Talbot

7

1

5

0

0

3.23

0.893

28.6

14.3

 

There was some preseason debate as to who would be the top goalie in Calgary this season. Talbot was coming off of a couple of terrible seasons, but had more experience as a number one than did Dave Rittich. 30 games into the season though it is pretty clear who Calgary currently views as their number one. Rittich is on pace to play 63 games and has played in eight of Calgary’s last ten games. Calgary doesn’t have as many wins as most managers expected, but Rittich has been putting up decent numbers even so. The take-away here is pretty clear. The goalie you want in Calgary is Rittich. This is one to watch though as Rittich did have his moments in 2018-19 and Mike Smith did take the number one job back be the end of the season.

 

Vancouver

 

Name

GP

W

L

OTL

SO

GAA

SV%

QUAL%

RBS%

Jacob Markstrom

18

8

7

3

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0

2.7

0.913

66.7

11.1

Thatcher Demko

10

5

4

1

0

2.92

0.907

80

20

 

Demko got his first chance to step in in Vancouver back in October when Markstrom was out of the lineup and did not have a save percentage below .920 in his first five starts. Since then he has cooled rather markedly with two of his last three starts falling into the really bad category. Markstrom was the de facto starter coming into the season with 60 starts to his name in 2018-19 and 2017-18. He has been a strong fantasy play more often than not, but Demko is certainly eating into value. In Vancouver’s last ten, Markstrom has gotten the nod only six times. The overall news is not great for Markstrom. If you drafted him for his workload, that appears to be diminishing. If you have been enjoying his reasonable save percentage, it appears that may be a touch too high as he has been getting a bit lucky on the penalty kill. His trade value is probably lower than he might be worth with other managers so owners are a bit stuck. Likely the best move is to hang tight for a bit and see if Demko’s recent rut means more starts for Markstrom.

 

Vegas

 

Name

GP

W

L

OTL

SO

GAA

SV%

QUAL%

RBS%

Marc-Andre Fleury

20

11

6

2

2

2.54

0.919

55

15

Malcolm Subban

8

2

4

2

0

3.09

0.901

37.5

25

Garret Sparks

1

0

0

0

0

4.38

0.857

0

0

Oscar Dansk

1

0

1

0

0

6

0.838

0

100

 

There isn’t a ton to say about the Vegas goaltending situation at the moment. Up until last week Fleury was starting most of the games (seven of ten before being out). He was out last week dealing with personal issues, but is expected to rejoin the team this week. In his absence Subban has gotten the majority of the starts with Dansk getting one ill-fated outing. Fleury has been an incredibly valuable goalie since joining the Golden Knights. They appear to be struggling a little bit to put up the win totals of the last couple of seasons, but barring more time out, Fleury should still put up excellent value this season.

 

Anaheim

 

Name

GP

W

L

OTL

SO

GAA

SV%

QUAL%

RBS%

John Gibson

20

8

10

2

1

2.86

0.911

50

20

Ryan Miller

7

3

1

2

0

3.14

0.899

57.1

28.6

 

Again, there isn’t much to discuss here. Gibson is getting most of the starts on the season (and eight of Anaheim’s last ten), and is performing reasonably well. Miller isn’t likely to challenge at this point in his career. There was some optimism that Anaheim would be a better team this season and get Gibson more wins, but that hasn’t really materialized at this point. If you own Gibson you likely knew what you were getting into and this is basically it.

 

L.A.

 

Name

GP

W

L

OTL

SO

GAA

SV%

QUAL%

RBS%

Jonathan Quick

18

7

10

1

0

3.36

0.882

38.9

27.8

Jack Campbell

9

4

4

1

0

2.86

0.898

33.3

11.1

 

There was a moment at the start of the season where it looked like Campbell was going to start gunning for Quick’s job. Quick has been struggling the last couple of seasons, and Campbell has looked at times like he was capable of taking over the duties. That potential controversy has been put to bed for the moment. Neither goalie has been particularly strong, neither has been getting much support in the wins column, but Quick is getting the starts. He has the advantage in season totals, but has also played in eight of L.A.’s last ten. Like with Jones, Quick is going to help in saves as as long as he can continue to get starts, but every other category is going to be a challenge.

 

Wild West Weekly Streamers:

Jeff Carter:

Carter may be off his 65-point pace, but this week might be an opportunity to give him a chance. He has been shooting 4+ shots a game over his last three and is still getting about 50% of his team’s power-play time. He has been lining up with Tyler Toffoli, who he has had some measure of success with in the past.

 

Christian Dvorak:

Dvorak is on a three-game point streak and has seven points in his last seven. Over the last two weeks he has seen about 17 minutes of total time on ice, and about 60% of Arizona’s power-play time. He has been lining up with Nick Schmaltz and Conor Garland at even strength and joining Phil Kessel and Clayton Keller on the power play.

 

Last Week’s Streamers

Radek Faksa:

Unfortunately Faksa did not pan out last week (as I am acutely aware of because I put my money where my mouth was and picked him up). His shot pace dried up, and he put up zero points over the four games.

 

Zach Parise:

Parise on the other hand came through in spades. He put up four goals, one assist, three power-play points, and 12 shots. Hopefully you grabbed both recommendations as he definitely made up for Faksa’s lack.

 

Thanks for reading.

 

 

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UPCOMING GAMES

Mar 28 - 19:03 OTT vs CHI
Mar 28 - 19:03 TOR vs WSH
Mar 28 - 19:03 MTL vs PHI
Mar 28 - 19:03 PIT vs CBJ
Mar 28 - 19:03 FLA vs NYI
Mar 28 - 19:03 CAR vs DET
Mar 28 - 20:03 MIN vs S.J
Mar 28 - 20:03 STL vs CGY
Mar 28 - 20:03 WPG vs VGK
Mar 28 - 21:03 EDM vs L.A
Mar 28 - 21:03 COL vs NYR
Mar 28 - 22:03 SEA vs ANA
Mar 28 - 22:03 VAN vs DAL
Mar 28 - 22:03 ARI vs NSH

Starting Goalies

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TAGE THOMPSON BUF
JJ PETERKA BUF
ANTHONY DUCLAIR T.B
JORDAN GREENWAY BUF
JURAJ SLAFKOVSKY MTL

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ALEKSEI KOLOSOV PHI
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LINE COMBOS

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20.5 NINO NIEDERREITER ADAM LOWRY MASON APPLETON
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13.4 MARK SCHEIFELE VLADISLAV NAMESTNIKOV KYLE CONNOR

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