Monday Morning Ramblings: Value Picks Ft. Vejmelka, Demko, Montembeault And More

Good morning everyone and welcome to the Monday Morning Ramblings. My name is Mike Ouellet and I am thrilled to be working once again with the phenomenal team here at the Goalie Post. This year I will be bringing you your weekly dose of the Monday Morning Ramblings as well as resurrecting the Weekend Waiver Wire (available every Friday morning) where I will be offering fantasy managers some sound advice as it pertains to goaltenders currently on…….you guessed it, the waiver wire.

So, with the introductions and pleasantries out of the way, let’s get to some goaltenders who may not be a part of the elite tier but offer some intriguing upside as we inch ever closer to the start of the 2025-2026 NHL season.

Vejmelka’s Gets Big Boost

One netminder who seems to be getting a fair bit of love going into the 2025-2026 season (and rightfully so!) is the Utah Mammoth’s newly signed #1 Karel Vejmelka.

Now armed with a new five-year contract with a $4.75M AAV, the Czechia native is now firmly entrenched as the Mammoth’s go-to netminder moving forward. In reality, Vejmelka began laying down that foundation during the 2024-2025 season with fellow teammate Connor Ingram placing himself in the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program due to the passing of his mother which occurred in late 2024.

This of course led to the organization leaning heavily on Vejmelka, who started a career high of 55 games played to go along with career highs in wins (26), goals against average (2.48) and save percentage (.904). One can only assume that with the addition of scoring winger JJ Peterka as well as the teams internal growth that Vejmelka’s win total as well as his peripheral numbers may very well be even better at the conclusion of the upcoming season.

With a current Average Draft Position (ADP) of 133.0 on Yahoo, Vejmelka offers some pretty solid value with the team's outlook clearly on the upswing. If you miss out on one of the league's elite or simply adopt the Zero G strategy, you may well find yourself with a diamond in the rough once the dust settles on the 2025-2026 NHL fantasy season.

Montembeault Massive For Montreal

Quite frankly it was a coming out party for the Montreal Canadiens #1 netminder as he shattered just about every conceivable metric last year as it pertains to his career totals.

Samuel Montembeault set career highs in games started (60), wins (31), goals against average (2.82) while just missing out on his career high save percentage of .903 (he finished with a .902 save percentage in 2024-2025). Those who went out on a limb and drafted the undervalued Montreal netminder were soundly rewarded with his play over the course of last season.

With addition of Ivan Demidov as well as Zachary Bolduc from an offensive standpoint, plus the blockbuster deal which landed Montreal the services of talented blueliner Noah Dobson, Montembeault may not take fantasy managers by surprise, however, he still offers incredible value when it comes to volume of starts as well as expected improvements to his overall peripheral numbers simply due to team growth/experience particularity when it comes to that Montreal defense corps.

The hope is that your competition will sleep on the Habs #1 netminder and from the looks of it over at Yahoo it seems like that is exactly what is transpiring as Montembeault currently sits with an ADP of 109.0, as the nineteenth goaltender off the board, which of course offers you some pretty insane value in my personal opinion. Sam Montembeault could be one of the sneakiest plays league wide this year, let alone at the goaltending position. Hop on board and reap the rewards!

Demko Revenge Tour?

Thatcher Demko's last four seasons must have felt like a bit of a roller coaster posting great numbers in both 2021-2022 and 2023-2024 while falling quite short of expectations in the 2022-2023 and 2024-2025 seasons. Injuries played a major part in that which could be to the benefit of many a fantasy manager with yet another number one goaltender who seems to be slightly undervalued.

We all saw the mess that was the Vancouver Canucks last year, so with JT Miller now on the opposite coast in New York, the expectation is that star center Elias Pettersson will get back to his scoring ways. The re-signing of scoring winger Brock Boeser along with what is a very serviceable defense led by the uber-talented Quinn Hughes should provide Demko with the necessary support for a successful campaign………..provided he can stay healthy!

Much like Montembeault, Demko seems to be a bit undervalued as he is currently the 16th goaltender off the board with an ADP of 95.2 (I know what most of you are saying “But Mike, the injuries!”) I hear you, however, if Demko truly is past his recent injuries you could find yourself with another later round selection that gives you a solid 30+ win season with decent peripheral numbers to boot.

Saros’ Sneaky Value

I know, the Nashville Predators season was an absolute disaster last year, as was the season of Juuse Saros who posted the worst numbers of his nine-year career. That being said, Saros is another great value pick when it comes to the goaltending position.

The Finnish native is currently holding down an ADP of 101.6 as the 18th goaltender of the board. Now, I know the Predators struggled mightily last year but this team is not devoid of talent with the likes of Forsberg, Stamkos, Marchessault and of course their pillar on the back end Roman Josi, who was limited to 53 games played in 2024-2025.

It’s not ideal of course, however, with a year of adjustment now behind them the hope is that the chemistry between the team's top players will improve greatly while Saros himself returns to some numbers that we are all a bit more familiar with. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not here saying that Nashville is all of a sudden going to make the playoffs but a push for a 30 win season is not out of the question for the diminutive goaltender which again would provide managers with some solid value.

There you have it folks, a look into some of the goaltenders who are offering up some intriguing value as it relates to team situation as well as their current ADP.

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See you all again next Monday!