Welcome fantasy managers to another week of the Monday Ramblings. With many leagues hitting the mid way point of their respective season, I figured it was high time to check in on a little goaltender fantasy draft that Logan Clarkson (co-writer of the Monday Ranblings as well as 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 sixteen selections each. So without further delay, here are the results to this point in the season (games up to and including Jan. 11/25). Let’s get to it!

Logan’s Team

Shesterkin: 13 W / 1 SO = 29PTS Saros: 9 W / 4 SO = 30PTS
Skinner: 16 W / 1 SO = 35PTS Bobrovsky: 18 W / 1 SO = 39PTS
Sorokin: 13 W / 2 SO = 32PTS Woll: 14W / 1 SO = 31PTS
Demko: 2W / 0 SO = 4PTS Hill: 17 W / 2 SO = 40PTS
Jarry: 8 W / 0 SO = 16PTS Ingram: 6 W / 0 SO = 12PTS
Silovs: 1 W / 0 SO = 2PTS Andersen: 3 W / 0 SO = 6PTS
Montembeault: 15 W / 3 SO = 39PTS Kuemper: 12 W / 2 SO = 30PTS
Ullmark: 12 W / 3 SO = 33PTS Wallstedt: 0 W / 0 SO = 0PTS

TOTAL = 378 PTS

Mike’s Team

Hellebuyck: 26 W / 6 SO = 70PTS Oettinger: 21 W / 1 S0 = 45PTS
Vasilevskiy: 18 W / 2 SO = 42PTS Swayman: 14W / 2 SO = 34PTS
Georgiev: 9 W / 0 SO = 18PTS Markstrom: 21 W / 3 SO = 51PTS
Kochetkov: 16 W / 1 SO = 35PTS Luukkonen: 13 W / 2 SO = 32PTS
Binnington: 11 W / 3SO = 31PTS Wolf: 14 W / 2 SO = 34PTS
D’Accord: 13 W / 1 SO = 29PTS Gustavsson: 18 W / 3 SO = 45PTS
Ersson: 10 W / 2 SO = 26PTS Annunen: 9 W / 0 SO = 18PTS
Stolarz: 9 W / 1 SO = 21PTS Knight: 7 W / 1 SO = 17PTS

TOTAL: 548 PTS

So, with a little context I thought we could dive into some of the more interesting results as it relates to our fantasy draft. It really does start with each of our first two selections as Logan had the first pick and chose Igor Shesterkin followed by Juuse Saros third overall while I took Connor Hellebuyck with the second overall pick following that up with Jake Oettinger at fourth overall.

The Shesterkin / Saros looked to be quite a formidable duo with both the New York Rangers and Nashville Predators having rather high expectations going into their respective 2024-2025 NHL seasons. Shesterkin and the Rangers had a rather positive start to the year, however, things have plummeted since then as the team finds itself sixth in the Metro division. In addition, Saros and the Predators have been mired in a season-long slump which started out with the team losing its first five games of the year to put themselves a step behind right out of the gate.

Meanwhile, Hellebuyck and the Winnipeg Jets have found themselves near or at the top of the leagues standing all season long with Hellebuyck putting together another Vezina worthy season in the process. Oettinger has been no slouch himself as one of only three goaltenders to have posted twenty wins this season along with the aforementioned Hellebuyck and New Jersey Devils netminder Jacob Markstrom.

Speaking of Markstrom, he has certainly been a pleasant addition to a Devils organization lacking a true number one goaltender. Having drafted him in the fifth out of sixteen rounds, I would say that he has outplayed his average draft position (ADP) in spades. Two other netminders I wanted to discuss are my ninth and eleventh rounds selection in Dustin Wolf and Filip Gustavsson. Both goaltenders are yet another reason for my roster's dominant first half, as each are severely outplaying their respective draft positions with Gustavsson making my top three as Minnesota has been one of the league top teams all year. Wolf’s level of play at such an extremely young age has only solidified what the organization thought of him before making the move to trade the previously mentioned Markstrom……..their goaltender of the future.

Off the top we talked about the struggles both Shesterkin / Saros have dealt with this year and how that put Logan’s roster behind the 8-ball a little. However, it certainly doesn’t help when you lose several players to injury or to the minors throughout the course of a season as Logan’s roster has with Sorokin, Shesterkin, Demko, Ullmark, Jarry (AHL), Ingram, Silovs (AHL), Andersen, Wallstedt (AHL) all missing time to varying degrees.

Lastly I wanted to touch on a trio of netminders that have given Logan’s roster some great value as all three were selected after the fifth round. The first one is Joseph Woll who continues to cement his place as the Leafs number one albeit with shaky history as it pertains to injuries. Woll has been limited to only twenty games played yet has recorded fourteen wins this season behind an improved defensive system in Toronto.

The next two goaltenders will be representing Canada at the upcoming 4-nations Cup, let’s start with Montreal Canadien Sam Montembeault. The Habs starting netminder is having himself a solid if unspectacular season as his play this year has allowed this young team to learn and find it footing as they battle for a wild card spot at the NHL’s halfway point. He finds himself as one of Logan’s top three point producers and continues to build his confidence which is only further cemented by his selection to Team Canada.

The second is Vegas Golden Knight and Stanley Cup Champion Adin Hill. Hill is having a strong season as are the Golden Knights as they have been one of the league's top teams all year. In fact he is the top point producer on Logan’s roster and if he can remain healthy, there is no reason to think that he would relinquish that from now until season end.

I hope you have enjoyed this fun and interesting look into a goalie fantasy draft between co-writers. We’ll take one last look at our team's results at season's end!

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

See you all again next Monday!