Frederik Andersen

Andersen has long been one of the league's better goaltenders when healthy, but he's been plagued by injuries through much of his career and last season was no exception. Andersen missed Carolina's final six regular-season games and the team's entire playoff run due to a torn MCL. There were several reports he was improving and potentially closing in on a return during the playoffs, but the Hurricanes couldn't survive long enough to make it a reality. Andersen's 35 wins, 2.17 GAA and .922 save percentage from 2021-22 highlight the fact he's a legitimate No. 1 option -- both in real life and from a fantasy perspective -- but those who draft Andersen better have a solid backup plan in place given the netminder's past injury woes.

Andersen had high expectations as the workhorse netminder for a Maple Leafs team that had high Stanley Cup aspirations in 2020-21. After a promising start, Andersen was beset by injuries, creating the perfect conditions for backup Jack Campbell to shine and usurp the lead spot in Toronto's goaltender tandem. Finishing with a meager 2.96 GAA and .895 save percentage, Andersen's tenure with the Maple Leafs came to an end after signing a two-year, $9 million contract with Carolina in July. The 31-year-old Dane goes from one Stanley Cup contender to another, and while he will share the crease with Anti Raanta in Raleigh, Andersen is expected to take the lead role with his new club so long as he can stay healthy. Andersen is line for 50-60 starts behind a talented roster, which gives him the potential to be one of the top fantasy netminders in 2021-22.

Andersen's 29 wins last season were good enough for fourth in the NHL. But his once-steady save percentage dipped to .909, the worst of his career, and his 2.85 GAA was also the highest of his career. Both were outside the league's top 30. Gulp. Load management was once again a problem and we can't help but think his dip in performance was due to overuse. A full season of Jack Campbell should afford Andersen with some much-needed rest in 2020-21. And the arrival of T.J. Brodie, along with a healthy Jake Muzzin, should theoretically make the defensive zone less of an adventure. A fresh Freddie should deliver better numbers overall, but not enough to catapult him into the role of a number one goalie. Draft the Great Dane as a solid two.

Andersen is a strong and steady fantasy goaltender. He ranked third in wins (36) and second in saves (1,796) in 2018-19, and he's incredibly consistent -- just look at his save percentages over the last four campaigns (.919, .918, .918 and .917). But Anderson's workload is unusually high in today's NHL. He's started at least 60 games for three straight seasons -- a heavy workload which ultimately hurt his game, and yours, last year. For two-straight seasons, the Great Dane's game dropped off in the second half. Sure, a .911 save percentage in the second half last year is respectable, but it pales in comparison to the Vezina-like .923 of the first half. The Leafs need to do something about load management with this guy or we'll just see him get fatigued again in 2019-20. Unfortunately, the Leafs just don't have confidence in their backups, so you should seriously consider leveraging Andersen in a trade shortly after Christmas.

Andersen was the busiest twinetender in the NHL last season. He faced 2,211 shots and finished fourth in the NHL in wins (38). But for all those wins, Andersen's counting stats didn't improve like we'd hoped. His GAA (2.81) and save percentage (.918) weren't exactly studly. That GAA was actually outside the top-30 for goalies with at least 20 starts, and his save percentage was 18th for guys with the same number of starts. Andersen is capable of topping 40 wins this season, but he'll still face a lot of pucks. He'll be drafted as a top-10 goalie, though the counting stats need to improve for Andersen to deliver on that draft position. It's certainly possible. If he can pull his save rate (and maybe even his GAA) into the top 10, Andersen could hear his name mentioned for a Vezina Trophy this year or next.

A queasy start to Andersen's Toronto career had loyal fans feeling nauseous in the first couple weeks of the 2016-17 season, but it didn't take long for the Dane to become a beloved mainstay for this storied franchise. Andersen was one of the busiest netminders in the NHL last season -- only Edmonton's Cam Talbot faced more shots. He only finished top-10 in one category (wins), but his .918 save percentage tied him with Corey Crawford and Pekka Rinne for 15th overall. All of Andersen's counting stats should improve as the Leafs improve defensively and gain experience (remember, they were the NHL's second youngest team last year), and that should solidify him as a top-10 fantasy goalie for years to come.

Andersen is a big (6-foot-4), athletic twinetender who arrived in Toronto in a pre-draft trade this past June and was promptly inked to a long-term contract extension (five years and $25 million). The deal was a bit of a gamble – sure, Andersen has played No. 1 minutes, but in just one of his three seasons in the NHL. And he struggled, relatively speaking, in that year compared to his other two. Now, the Great Dane did start 37 games with the Ducks last season (and played in 43), going 22-9-7 with a .919 save percentage. And he absolutely sizzled in five postseason starts (.947 save percentage). Andersen is an upgrade from Jonathan Bernier and he will have 25 million reasons to develop alongside an improving roster. But short term, he'll face more pucks than is ideal and his D won't be nearly as stable as it was in Quackerland. Expect league-average production in 2016-17 with better results in the future.

Andersen benefits greatly from playing on a stacked Ducks team. His 2.38 GAA in 2014-15 was solid but nothing special, yet he still finished eighth in the NHL with 35 wins despite a modest workload that saw him appear in only 54 games. Anaheim should be very good once again, but Andersen’s outlook is a bit unclear heading into this season. The Danish netminder still sits atop the depth chart at the moment, but talented 22-year-old John Gibson will be looking for an expanded role after seeing action in 23 games last season, and the team also brought in veteran Anton Khudobin in an offseason trade with the Hurricanes. If Andersen can hold those two off and start about two-thirds of Anaheim’s games, he should approach the top 10 in wins once again, but there’s a strong chance he finds himself locked in a frustrating timeshare.

This past season saw Andersen go from third-string goalie to the starter for the Ducks. Now with both Jonas Hiller and Viktor Fasth gone, Andersen will start the season in a timeshare with uber-prospect John Gibson that could extend through most of the season. Ultimately, Gibson may win the job as the top dog, but that probably won’t come until 2015-16. Handcuff the two goalies together in daily leagues, but let someone else take the bait in weekly formats. Goalie platoons can destroy your categories in that situation, particularly if you make the wrong activation at the wrong time.