Free Agency! Trades! Draft!

What a week for hockey fans! NHL draft, trades, start of free agency - there is goalie news galore, so let’s dive in!

While there was no keepers taken in the first round, the NHL draft saw a whopping 32 goalies drafted overall! Because goalies typically take a long time to develop, they can be a finicky lot for fantasy managers to gamble on, but some notable names to know in fantasy include - Brady Knowling (San Jose Sharks), Yegor Rybkin (Los Angeles Kings), Dmitri Borichev (Nashville Predators), and Tobias Trejbal (Calgary Flames).

The Utah Mammoth made a move for the future in acquiring goalie prospect Sebastian Cossa from the Detroit Red Wings in exchange for a 1st round pick. Cossa comes with pedigree and it looks like Utah is hoping to create a tandem akin to Gustavsson and Wallstedt in Minnesota. Cossa’s fantasy outlook improves by going to a Utah Mammoth club that is on the rise and, in it’s young tenure, committed itself to a winning culture. They are, also, not shy about starting a good goalie for 60 games. For Vejmelka, however, it takes away some of his security, which was always built on volume. After setting a career high of 38 wins in a league leading 64 games played this past season, Veggie may end up with fewer starts and see that win total drop closer to 30.

The Edmonton Oilers did their best to make their captain happy by signing Stanley Cup champion Frederik Andersen, who was just 3 or 4 good games away from winning the Conn Smythe trophy as playoff MVP. And while his playoff performance surely earned him a spot with the perennial contenders, his regular season play does not bode well for an Edmonton team that is notorious for stumbling out of the gate and prone to some stinky streaks. Unless your league heavily values wins, the poor peripheral stats will be too much to overcome in most setups. Let someone else roster the 36 year old headache.

The Oilers, though, did do the future of their goaltending a solid by acquiring 24 year old Devon Levi from the Buffalo Sabres. Once highly touted, Levi was supposed to take the reigns one day in Buffalo, but has struggled to live up to expectations so far at the NHL level (39 GP, 17 Wins, 3.29 GAA, .894 SV%). For Edmonton the upside will be worth the risk, as they have been unable to find stability in net during the glory days of McDavid and Draisaitl.

Hopefully Samuel Ersson didn’t bother to unpack his things in Toronto. Just 10 days after being acquired from the Philadelphia Flyers he was traded yet again, this time to the Ottawa Senators. In Ottawa, he will compete with Leevi Merilainen for back up duties to Linus Ullmark. Ersson should have the inside track on this job after Merilainen stumbled with the role last year and eventually surrendered the position to the long toothed James Reimer. The 23 year old Finnish net minder gave up 7 goals in his season debut and never really found his game in 2025, finishing with a 3.51 GAA and .860 SV% in 20 games played. At just 23 years of age, Merilainen still may have a long career in front of him, so those in keeper and dynasty leagues may just have to be patient with his development. Assuming Ersson takes over as the #2 keeper in Ottawa, his new digs will offer much of the same: 15-20 wins in 35 or so games played, with a GAA around 3.00 and a SV % around .890.

The Florida Panthers have doubled down on their goalie makeover this offseason, acquiring 2 new goaltenders to replace the departed Bobrovsky and Tarasov from seasons past. The 26 year old Akira Schmid (16 wins, 2.59 GAA, .893 SV% with VGK) was brought in alongside the 37 year old Jacob Markstrom (23 wins, 3.07 GAA, .883 SV%) to form a new dynamic duo of defense. Doubts abound about the quality of goaltending the Cats may get from an unproven Schmid (82 career games played) and the over-proofed Markstrom, but the hype is there to take advantage of if you are willing to sell high. For Markstrom and Schmid, their value has never been higher and prudent managers may want to strike while the iron is hot.

Sergei Bobrovsky has joined the Maple Leaf makeover in Toronto. He was brought in to be the starting goalie on a team that, also, recently acquired defenseman Darren Raddysh and the #1 overall pick of the 2026 draft Gavin McKenna. The new look Leafs look better on paper, but it remains to be seen if last year’s last place finish in the Atlantic was a fluke or a sign of deeper issues to come. Bobrovsky is coming off career lows in GAA and SV% and at 37 years old it is fair to wonder if he still has enough left in the tank to lead Toronto to the Promise Land. Fantasy managers be warned, the hype may just be hype here.

Toronto, who has just been incredibly active in the goalie market, also, sent Dennis Hildeby to their Atlantic Division foe the Tampa Bay Lightning in a trade that saw them net forward Nick Paul. Hildeby will be the back up to last season’s Vezina winner Andrei Vasilevskiy and should be penciled in for about 25 games with overall solid, if unspectacular, metrics, providing fantasy practicality for managers in deeper leagues and for spot starts in leagues that value wins.

Stuart Skinner is now a member of the Winnipeg Jets! The takeaway here is that this signing hints towards the Jets moving 3-time Vezina winner Connor Hellebuyck. While it doesn’t guarantee the 2024 Hart winner will be traded, it seems like a smart insurance policy for Winnipeg, should they eventually find the right deal. Skinner had mixed results as a member of the Penguins, but he had a stretch from the end of December through January that saw him win 8 of 9 while allowing just 1 goal in 5 of those games.

Daniil Tarasov signed with the Detroit Red Wings to be the back up tender to John Gibson. At 27 years of age, Tarasov still has a shot at taking on tandem duties sooner than later. With Gibson under contract for just 1 more season and prospect Trey Augustine waiting in the wings, Tarasov could be the 1B for the duration of the transition.

Eric Comrie signed into a crowded San Jose Sharks crease. He will compete with Alex Nedeljkovic for Askarov’s leftovers. Vitek Vanecek joined Calder Trophy winner Matthew Schaefer in Long Island and will be in a similar situation behind incumbent backup Semyon Varlamov. At age 37, its likely that Varlamov secedes the #2 duties to the newly acquired Vanecek, who is coming off back to back 5 win seasons. His win total will return to the double digits, provided he lands the job.

That’s all for this week, thanks for reading! My name is Garrett Finlay and you can follow me on X @garrett_fi51284 and on Bluesky @garrettfinlay.bsky.social where I am often talking goalies and fantasy hockey. I’ll be back here next Thursday, so until then - Happy Hockeying and good luck out there!