Monday Morning Ramblings: Final Results Of Our Fantasy Draft (Goaltender Edition)

Welcome fantasy managers to another week of the Monday Ramblings. With fantasy leagues anointing their respective champions last week, I figured it was time for our final check in on a goaltender fantasy draft that Logan Clarkson (former co-writer of the Monday Ranblings and current writer of the Injury Ward) and I did at the start of the year. The scoring system was quite simply two points for a win, with an additional three points per shoutout as we made a total of 16 selections each. So without further delay, here are the final results . Let’s get to it!

Logan’s Team

Shesterkin: 27 W / 6 SO = 72PTS Saros: 20 W / 4 SO = 52PTS
Skinner: 26 W / 3 SO = 61PTS Bobrovsky: 33 W / 5 SO = 81PTS
Sorokin: 30 W / 4 SO = 72PTS Woll: 27 W / 1 SO = 57PTS
Demko: 10 W / 1 SO = 23PTS Hill: 32 W / 4 SO = 76PTS
Jarry: 16 W / 2 SO = 38PTS Ingram: 9 W / 0 SO = 18PTS
Silovs: 2 W / 0 SO = 4PTS Andersen: 13 W / 1 SO = 29PTS
Montembeault: 31 W / 4 SO = 74PTS Kuemper: 31 W / 5 SO = 77PTS
Ullmark: 25 W / 4 SO = 62PTS Wallstedt: 0 W / 0 SO = 0PTS

TOTAL = 796 PTS

Mike’s Team

Hellebuyck: 47 W / 8 SO = 118PTS Oettinger: 36 W / 2 S0 = 78PTS
Vasilevskiy: 38 W / 6 SO = 94PTS Swayman: 22 W / 4 SO = 56PTS
Georgiev: 15 W / 0 SO = 30PTS Markstrom: 26 W / 4 SO = 64PTS
Kochetkov: 27 W / 2 SO = 60PTS Luukkonen: 24 W / 2 SO = 54PTS
Binnington: 28 W / 3 SO = 65PTS Wolf: 29 W / 3 SO = 67PTS
D’Accord: 27 W / 2 SO = 60PTS Gustavsson: 31 W / 5 SO = 77PTS
Ersson: 22 W / 2 SO = 50PTS Annunen: 15 W / 0 SO = 30PTS
Stolarz: 21 W / 4 SO = 54PTS Knight: 17 W / 2 SO = 40PTS

TOTAL: 997 PTS

Quite simply, each of our first two selections would set the tone for how things ultimately played out in our goaltender fantasy draft. Logan, as you remember, had the first selection drafting Igor Shesterkin followed by Juuse Saros third overall, while I nabbed Connor Hellebuyck second overall followed by Jake Oettinger in the four spot. By referring to the final totals above we can plainly see the successful seasons enjoyed by both Hellebuyck as well as Oettinger where both Shesterkin and to a greater extent Saros fell well below expectations as it pertains to win totals.

The trio of Andrei Vasilevskiy, Filip Gustavsson and Calder candidate Dustin Wolf only helped to widen the gap further in regard to the final point total. Vasilevskiy reminded us all of his Stanley Cup winning pedigree, Gustavsson returned to his elite form and Wolf demonstrated why the Calgary Flames see the young netminder as their goaltender of the future. Meanwhile, Logan was able to counter that with a solid trio of his own including top point producer Sergei Bobrovsky, potential comeback player of the year Darcy Kuemper and Vegas Golden Knights number one Adin Hill, with all three having consistent production throughout the year as well as attaining the 30 win barrier.

Our next grouping of masked men each had success to varying degrees throughout the season with some playing a big part in their teams success, or lack thereof.

Let’s start off with some notable performances from Logan’s roster, Ilya Sorokin had his struggles this year yet still managed to come away with 30 wins, while Montreal Canadien Samuel Montembeault severely outlayed his average draft position (ADP) to also eclipse the 30-win plateau. Linus Ullmark, Stuart Skinner and Joseph Woll each enjoyed 25 win seasons with all three being a consistently solid source of wins for fantasy managers over the course of the year.

Shifting over to my (Mike’s) roster, New Jersey Devil Jacob Markstrom had a very solid start to the season before succumbing to injury but did give Devils brass a look at the teams full potential with him as their new number one. Meanwhile, Four Nations Face-Off champion Jordan Binnington and his St. Louis Blues rode a hot streak reminiscent of their 2019 second half run this year, with Binnington’s play being a catalyst during the teams surge. Seattle Kraken Joey Daccord and Carolina Hurricane Pyotr Kochetkov each had themselves a 27-win season, as both netminders try to solidify their grip on their respective team number one spot. All the while, Anthony Stolarz amassed 21 wins in a season where he only dressed as the starter 33 times.

Injuries as well as lack of NHL playing time certainly took their toll on Logan’s team with Thatcher Demko, Tristan Jarry, Conner Ingram, Arturs Silovs, Freddie Andersen and Jesper Wallstedt all falling into one of the aforementioned categories. As Logan dealt with a litany of injuries, my squad remained relatively healthy with decent if unspectacular contributions from the likes of Jeremy Swayman, Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, Sam Ersson, Justus Annunen and Spencer Knight to varying degrees.

In the end, the combination of the Shesterkin / Saros duo failing to meet lofty expectations plus injuries / demotions to the AHL set Logan back, while some shrewd late-round selections in addition to my own top duo (Hellebuyck / Oettinger) having hugely successful campaigns, created to large of a gap for Logan to overcome.

I hope you have enjoyed this fun and interesting look into a goalie fantasy draft between former co-writers.

With our season wrapping up here at the Monday Morning Ramblings, this will be my last article for the 2024-2025 fantasy hockey season. I wanted to take a moment to thank you all for your continued support and engagement over the course of the season. I hope that I was able to bring some sound advice to the table when it came to the leagues goaltenders while playing a small part in your fantasy teams success.

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Thanks for reading and feel free to follow me on X @mikeouellet9

See you all again this fall!