The Goalie Report: Risers & Fallers

There's been no shortage of drama when it comes to goaltending in the 2023-24 season, and it's going to stretch until the very last day of the regular season.

With one-and-half weeks to go, playoff seeds and positioning are still to be decided. More importantly, to this column, anyway, are some brewing goalie controversies:

Do the Penguins go with Alex Nedeljkovic for the rest of the season after wrestling the starting job away from Tristan Jarry?

Does Patrick Roy go with Semyon Varlamov, his goalie back in Colorado, even with Ilya Sorokin starting to win games again?

How long is Alexandar Georgiev's leash, with Justus Annunen posting far better statistics?

When will the Kraken go back to Joey Daccord?

The rest of the season will certainly be telling, and even set the stage for some interesting decisions for Game 1 when the playoffs begin next Saturday.

Here's the final Goalie Report for the regular season. Next week's column will focus on goalies for selection in playoff pools.

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Alex Nedeljkovic, Penguins (Since March 26: 6-0-1, .926 Sv%, 2.26 GAA)

Nedeljkovic has arguably been the league's best goalie since March 26 and carried the Pens back into the thick of the playoff race. With the way he's been playing, it's hard to see a situation where Tristan Jarry sees any playing time unless Nedeljkovic implodes. The Pens do not have any back-to-backs the rest of the season, which means Nedeljkovic could start all of the remaining five games. If the Pens make the playoffs, Nedeljkovic will surely be their Game 1 starter.

Semyon Varlamov, Islanders (Since March 23: 5-1-0, .938 Sv%, 2.20 GAA)

To be fair to Ilya Sorokin, he has been winning games lately. However, over the past couple of weeks, Varlamov's been the more reliable option. It bears mentioning that Varlamov's best seasons with the Avs came with Patrick Roy behind the bench, so there's a ton of familiarity there. I think the Isles will give Sorokin a chance to win back the net, but it'll depend on who fares better. At worst, Varlamov should get a few more looks even though the Isles do not have any back-to-backs remaining.

Justus Annunen, Avalanche (7-4-1, .931 Sv%, 2.24 GAA)

The case for Annunen is his sparkling stats, but keep in mind Annunen's small sample size and the fact that he's faced some weaker teams in his starts, including the Blackhawks twice. True, Annunen did shut them out, but Georgiev has won a lot of games this season, and the Avs opted to start Georgiev in a key divisional matchup against the Stars on Sunday. If Annunen takes over the starting job for any stretch of time, he becomes a very valuable asset in fantasy.

Jesper Wallstedt, Wild (24 of 24 saves, shutout win Sunday vs. Blackhawks)

Wallstedt scared off a few fantasy managers because his season debut was so poor, but he remains one of the league's top prospects in net. He proved as much with a shutout win against the Hawks, and the Wild will be eager to give him additional looks as they audition and groom him for next season. It's created a bit of a logjam in the crease, but Wallstedt should get at least one more look before the end of the season, most likely during the Wild's back-to-back on Friday and Saturday.

Jet Greaves, Blue Jackets (2-3-0, .924 Sv%, 2.82 GAA)

Greaves will be the Jackets' preferred starter with Elvis Merzlikins and Daniil Tarasov unavailable. He had a brilliant performance against the Flyers, stopping 37 of 39 shots to play the spoiler to the Flyers' playoff hopes, and overall he's posted some good numbers. It will be very difficult to sustain because the Jackets don't provide good goal support and they're definitely not very strong defensively, but if you're looking for volume of starts, Greaves is an option worth considering.

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Charlie Lindgren, Capitals (Since April 1: 0-2-1, .840 Sv%, 4.35 GAA)

Lindgren has struggled so much the Caps might consider going back to Darcy Kuemper. You have to think fatigue is a factor; Lindgren has never played this much at this level, and the Caps offense is suddenly struggling to score. The slump couldn't have come at a worse time; they've now lost six straight and are in danger of falling out of the playoff race yet again. The schedule could also prove challenging with three of their next five games on the road, and they'll have to host the Lightning and the Bruins at home. I'd be wary of starting Lindgren the rest of the way, if you haven't benched him already.

Casey DeSmith, Canucks (Past two starts: 0-2-0, .797 Sv%, 6.00 GAA)

Thatcher Demko cannot come back soon enough. The Canucks look a little out of sync without him and Elias Lindholm on the roster, and DeSmith has also struggled with six goals allowed in each of his past two games. They were tough opponents – the Kings and Knights – but it wasn't even good enough to keep the Canucks in the games. The rest of the schedule is not easy; the Canucks face the Knights again on Monday and then face the Oilers and Jets later in the week. The right play would be to bench DeSmith until Demko returns, or perhaps stream top goalie prospect Arturs Silovs if he gets additional looks.

Samuel Ersson and Ivan Fedotov, Flyers (Since March 24: 0-4-2, .814 Sv%, 4.60 GAA)

If the Flyers miss the playoffs, goaltending will be a big reason why. Both Ersson and Fedotov have struggled during the Flyers' seven-game losing streak (the other loss was suffered by Felix Sandstrom) even though the Flyers have continuously outplayed the opposition. They've dominated puck possession and the shot differential, but if Ersson and Fedotov can't make routine saves, it's hard to win games. It may be time to fade the Flyers for the rest of the season even though they've been one of the league's biggest surprises this season based on how competitive they've been.

Joey Daccord, Kraken (Zero appearances last week)

Not sure what's going on in Seattle, but it was rather strange Daccord didn't get a single start this past week. Based on their rotation, after Philipp Grubauer started and won on Monday, it was Daccord's turn to start against the Kings on Wednesday. When Grubauer started instead, that raised eyebrows, and when he ended up losing, the logical decision would've been to start Daccord on Friday. That didn't happen, either, even though Daccord was named the team's Masterton nominee for dedication and perseverance to hockey earlier that day.

It would've been a nice way to cap off the honor, but Grubauer started for the third straight time. It's difficult to gauge what their rotation will look like going forward, especially since Daccord had been the stronger goalie all season. Until we get more clarity on the situation, assume that the Kraken will continue to prefer Grubauer over Daccord going forward.