This article is part of our The Goalie Report series.
This week we're going to look at the duos who are expected to have equal shares of the netminding duties for their respective teams this season. They will be vying for ultimate control of the crease, but the combination of their track records and current status don't reveal a clear lead dog. Admittedly, they generally represent a third class of goalie situations around the league.
This doesn't mean they won't have value in season-long fantasy leagues. In fact, you can look at the quality of some of their teams and determine that it might be wise to draft two goalies from the same club as part of your goalie depth. If an injury occurs, one will be in position to take on an unexpectedly larger role. If not, the win probability, as part of strong team, is what can make the goalie handcuff a good strategy.
Calgary: Dustin Wolf and Dan Vladar
The Flames have developed this pair to take the reins from a dominant predecessor in Jacob Markstrom. Vladar enters this season with 4 years of NHL experience and has carved out decent stats behind a Flames club that is showing signs of being more competitive so far. Wolf has excelled in the minors, with a heavy workload in the last three seasons, buoyed by the knowledge that the club has tabbed him as their starting goalie of the future. He will get his first significant goalie share in the NHL this season, with the expectation that this
This week we're going to look at the duos who are expected to have equal shares of the netminding duties for their respective teams this season. They will be vying for ultimate control of the crease, but the combination of their track records and current status don't reveal a clear lead dog. Admittedly, they generally represent a third class of goalie situations around the league.
This doesn't mean they won't have value in season-long fantasy leagues. In fact, you can look at the quality of some of their teams and determine that it might be wise to draft two goalies from the same club as part of your goalie depth. If an injury occurs, one will be in position to take on an unexpectedly larger role. If not, the win probability, as part of strong team, is what can make the goalie handcuff a good strategy.
Calgary: Dustin Wolf and Dan Vladar
The Flames have developed this pair to take the reins from a dominant predecessor in Jacob Markstrom. Vladar enters this season with 4 years of NHL experience and has carved out decent stats behind a Flames club that is showing signs of being more competitive so far. Wolf has excelled in the minors, with a heavy workload in the last three seasons, buoyed by the knowledge that the club has tabbed him as their starting goalie of the future. He will get his first significant goalie share in the NHL this season, with the expectation that this opportunity will be a closely-monitored step in that direction.
Detroit: Alex Lyon and Cam Talbot
Wings GM Steve Yzerman signed Talbot (37 years old) as a free agent after he completed a strong season (54 GP, 2.50 GAA, .913 Sv%) with the Kings. He's expecting to share the net with Lyon, who was the busiest Detroit goalie last season (44 GP, 3.05 GAA, .904 Sv%). The Wings are counting on this pair to help them close the gap on the top tier of the Atlantic Division. So far this season, they've both appeared in six games, and that trend is likely to continue.
LA Kings: Darcy Kuemper and David Rittich
Both goalies are in their early thirties and they've had injury issues recently, seeing their usage decline in recent years. While they've both been presumptive starters earlier in their careers, the expectation in that they will be counting on the defensive structure of the Kings to assist them in carrying the load equally and more comfortably here. Kuemper has the better career resume but only appeared in 33 games last season for the Kings. As the slightly younger goalie, Rittich will be counted on to take a more significant share of the net than he has in the last four seasons. This tandem is probably the weakest one that appears in this class.
NY Islanders: Ilya Sorokin and Semyon Varlamov
Sorokin has appeared in 118 games over the last two seasons, but there were offseason indications that team management wanted to cut down his usage a bit to keep him fresh in anticipation of a playoff run. During his career, Varlamov has topped 45 appearances seven times. However, he's only been used in 51 games over the last two years. I would expect him to get about 30 starts this season. Through 12 games, Sorokin has seven starts and Varlamov has five. That's in line with my prediction so far.
Seattle: Joey Daccord and Philipp Grubauer
Daccord took a giant step up to 50 appearances last season, as the Kraken were hamstrung by injuries in goal. He had never played more than eight NHL games in a season prior to that breakout campaign, but he put up solid numbers (2.46 GAA, .915 Sv%). Grubauer was selected from the Avalanche roster in Seattle's expansion season and was the unchallenged top goalie on the depth chart until last year. The club has big financial commitments to both players for the next few seasons. Thus far, Daccord has appeared in eight of their 13 games played.
St Louis: Jordan Binnington and Joel Hofer
Binnington has been one of the busiest goalies in the league for the last two seasons, appearing in 118 games. However, Hofer actually outperformed him (2.65 vs 2.87 GAA) in his 30-game sample last season. As Binnington is in his age 32 campaign, there is some thought to reducing his workload, given that Hofer has proven capable as his understudy. The Blues look like they will be in a battle for a playoff spot, so this could be a situation of "win and you stay in" with respect to goalie usage.
Toronto: Anthony Stolarz and Joseph Woll
The Leafs are tied for the longest current streak of qualifying for postseason play (seven years) and that makes the this tandem very attractive because of the likelihood that they will top 100 points once again. Neither goalie has played 30 games during any season in their careers to date, but that's expected to change for both players this year. They are both big and very agile, having shown positive tendencies that have them well-positioned to thrive with the Leafs. Last season, Stolarz's numbers were actually better than Bobrovsky's in Florida, while Woll outshined his former partner, Ilya Samsonov, by season's end in Toronto.
Washington: Charlie Lindgren and Logan Thompson
No pair of goalies may be more even on this list than the Caps backstops. Lindgren made good on a chance to play regularly with the Caps last season. Lindgren enjoyed a breakout campaign with the Caps last year, posting a 2.70 GAA and .898 Sv% in 50 appearances. He will face a serious challenge from Thompson, who has appeared in 83 games over his last two seasons in an even goalie share situation for the Golden Knights. They have alternated starts through the Caps' first 11 games and so far their stats are very similar.
Vancouver: Thatcher Demko and Kevin Lankinen
This wasn't expected to be a 50/50 share situation, but a long-term injury to Demko, which occurred last year, has given Lankinen the chance to take advantage of the vacancy in the Canucks crease. Clearly, this is not your classic goalie share situation. Demko, who has played in 64 and 53 games, respectively, in two of the last three seasons, is expected to return before Christmas (probably even sooner), but at the end of the season, they may wind up having started a similar number of games.
Next week, we'll begin highlighting the risers and fallers, on a weekly basis, which longtime readers have come to expect with this in-season goalie report.
