Risers and Fallers; Demko trending up

*This article was written by Chris Liggio

The performances to this point by certain pedigree goaltending names speaks volumes to how finicky drafting the position is for fantasy purposes. Some of my fallers this week are goalies you more than likely spent a high draft pick on so I apologize for further compounding your frustrations.
Do not bail on any of the forthcoming immediately but now two weeks into the season you need to at least acknowledge trends. Slow starts, however frustrating, can easily be rectified in time. A perfect example of premature dropping is last year when I drafted Sam Montembeault who I cast off after a mediocre first month or so. He then went on to start 60 games while winning 31 of them. There is still considerable time to right the respective ships in your crease(s).

Risers

Igor Shesterkin

Doubting the Russian netminder after but one subpar season in an otherwise phenomenal career to this point is crazy to me. Prior to last year, he had a career save percentage of .920! Currently his ratios are reminiscent of when I would look at his KHL statistics prior to crossing the pond, which are/were outlandishly good.
This is arguably the best goaltender in the league with the highest upside. So far, he is living up to said ability. Unfortunately, the Rangers cannot score goals to save their lives right now so wins may be hard to come by.

Karel Vejmelka

Dobber hyped him coming into the season and the 29-year-old Czech is showing why. On an up-and-coming Utah squad, he is the clear workhorse for what could very well be a playoff team.
The former Nashville fifth rounder started his upward ascent in the second half last season and has picked up where he left off. Sporting a 3-1 record with a .912 SV% and 2.00 GAA so far, this will be the last season where he flies under the radar as far as value perception.

Thatcher Demko

Could he finally be over his laundry list of health woes? For me he’ll always be one sneeze away from catastrophe but there’s no denying his talent when available. Currently sporting a 3-1 record with a .922 SV% as well as a perfect quality start rate, you can’t ask for much more. Kevin Lankinen presents an ever-constant threat to step in should he falter but Thatcher’s clearly the workhorse in the early going.

Jake Allen

With Jacob Markstrom out long-term this means #1 volume for the veteran backup. That in and of itself warrants a pickup if you need a goalie while he serves in the primary role on a competitive team.

Fallers

Andrei Vasilevskiy

Last year I got Andrei in round four of my 12-team redraft league, and he rewarded me with one of the best goaltending performances of the season. This year you probably couldn’t wait that late in your draft(s) and he has not lived up to the price yet.
Let’s look at some harsh facts. He’s started 238 games in the past four seasons. He’s also on the wrong side of 30. Fatigue might finally become a factor here. Despite the early hardship I am still treating this as an early going blip on the radar.

Darcy Kuemper

Recency bias can really mess things up for fantasy owners. Last season, the Kings netminder was phenomenal with 30-plus wins and a stellar .921 SV%. The key part though was that he stayed healthy, which is an all too well-known problem for him.
Only a couple of games had to transpire for his band-aid boy status to rear its ugly head unfortunately. It may have been a needed early reset as he was 0-2-1 with not a single game above a .900 SV%.
This defense is not as good collectively with the loss of Vladislav Gavrikov. Cody Ceci and Brian Dumoulin cannot compensate for his loss and to a lesser extent, Jordan Spence. Overall, I expect a step back from last year, but Darcy should still be above average when healthy. I would not count on replication of the prior campaign’s performance though.

Filip Gustavsson

Last week you may recall I touched on Jesper Wallstedt’s potential value as the season progressed. It was versed in the fact that after one elite season, many seem to believe Filip Gustavsson would just repeat that because he got paid.
That has not been the case thus far with the 27-year-old Swede flailing out of the gate to a 2-3 start with subpar ratios. Wallstedt meanwhile in his two starts has been solid. Should the trend continue Jesper will be knocking on the door harder and harder.

Lukas Dostal

After years of potentially being dealt, John Gibson was finally sent off to the Motor City allowing for the young Czech goalie to become the unquestioned starter. Many anticipated a great season ahead as despite playing on a struggling squad in ’24-‘25 he performed admirably.
‘25-‘26 has not seen the same level of play from the 25-year-old though, sporting a 1-2-1 record in four starts with an .898 SV%. The Anaheim brain trust is hoping they didn’t make a mistake dealing the veteran Gibson. I feel things will improve for Dostal, making the former third rounder a great buy-low candidate.

Other Thoughts

• Patrick Kane’s successful return from hip resurfacing never ceases to amaze me.

• Jake Neighbours scores 30 goals this year. Great waiver add if you need help.

• Jason Zucker continues to be an underappreciated fantasy player. PP1 lock and can challenge for 60 points.

• Dmitri Voronkov showing the capability he had last campaign, hope for no repeat falloff.

• Troy Terry will probably score 60-65 points and sit on many wires.

• Doubling down on Anaheim, Leo Carlsson shouldn’t be available, and Chris Kreider looks reborn.

• Maybe I was wrong about Evgeni Malkin last week; contract years can work wonders.

• Perhaps Frank Nazar was worth his contract.

• K’Andre Miller in line for great deployment if Shayne Gostisbehere goes down long-term.