Risers and Fallers: Windy City's Knight Rises

This article was writtien by Chris Liggio

The month of October is about to end with Dan Vladar and Jake Allen being top performers between the pipes so far. Tell me how many of you would’ve thought those’d be the names emanating from your mouth when discussing best performers in the early going.

There are countless fantasy managers out there watching the premium names they paid high draft prices on providing unacceptable returns thus far. And while it gets harder with each passing week to remain patient, your options are more than likely limited on the wire. The time isn’t here yet to start pondering trades though as it’s still only the first month.

Remain steadfast for the time being in hopes of improved play. If mid-November rolls around and feel you’re in danger of being out of contention, then by all means pursue a deal.

Risers

Jakub Dobes

If the 24-year-old Czech keeps performing like this Sam Montembeault will go from workhorse to pine rider extraordinaire. Only one other goalie with at least five starts has posted better GAA and SV% statistics than the former fifth-rounder and that’s Logan Thompson.

Despite starting 60 games and winning 31 last season, Montembeault can no longer be considered the unquestioned starter. Things can change as the season progresses but for now the Montreal crease needs to be at the very least considered a 60/40 split if not 70/30 in Dobes favor.

Spencer Knight

Nobody can expect much from a Windy City netminder with the Blackhawks still very much in a rebuild. The former Florida Panther however says otherwise. A top ten perhaps five goalie to this point makes him the zero-goalie strategy poster boy right now.

You may have forgotten he’s a former first round pick and is only just starting to come into his own at 24-years-old. While I would expect some pullback from these elite ratios as the campaign continues, perhaps Chicago will be better than expected with Frank Nazar taking flight.

Arturs Silovs

I mentioned him in my first piece of the season regarding potential upcoming value and the young Latvian is already delivering. The Steel City’s Penguins have performed beyond expectations and a big reason for that lies in the fact that both goalies are delivering.

When it comes to netminding as it relates to fantasy, the golden rule is “follow the contract.” Unfortunately, that leads to Tristan Jarry. So, until he falters consider him the de facto starter. Regardless, Silovs is showcasing his capability. And like Knight above, at only 24-years-old, the former Vancouver Canuck may continue to improve.

Fallers

Dustin Wolf

Not all seventh rounders are Henrik Lundqvist. I can only ponder how many fantasy managers may have over drafted the hype on the Calgary netminder. It’s not to say he isn’t promising but the performance through the season’s opening month has been ugly.

It’s not all on him though as the Flames seem destined for lottery contention. His stats I’m sure would look far better if he was on a contending squad, but the fact is he isn’t. And should the Flames continue as bottom-dwellers, his ceiling will be limited until they improve.

Anthony Stolarz

Maybe losing Mitch Marner leads to more defensive dominoes falling than offensive as he was a solid two-way player. Keep in mind that on top of elite scoring he also killed penalties.

Even after a successful campaign last year, the 31-year-old has never endured a true starter workload, having maxed out with 33 starts in ’24-’25. The Buds are off to a sluggish start collectively that’ll need to improve by leaps and bounds to ascend the Atlantic standings.

Ilya Sorokin

What happened to this guy? For the first three seasons of his career, he looked to be yet another phenomenal Russian goaltender here to set the precedent for the next decade. However, the 30-year-old has been trending down since the ’22-’23 campaign.

Whilst ’24-’25 was solid but not exceptional, ’25-’26 is so far looking like it’ll be his worst as he currently sits at a .868 SV%. One can hope for improvement, but he’s been middling for long enough now that he may need to be viewed as league average rather than elite.

Other Thoughts

• What happened to Andrei Svechnikov?

• Emile Heineman seems to be liking the New York glacial deposit he now calls home.

• Rangers need to trade Artemi Panarin to kickstart the much needed retool on the fly.

• The Yzerman rebuild is finally producing in the Motor City.

• For those riding the Crosby/Malkin stack, enjoy maybe for the last time.

• Adrian Kempe’s ’25 playoffs performance was in fact the establishment of a new gear.

• John Klingberg has returned to play and is immediately back on San Jose PP1.

• Jesper Bratt is still brutally underappreciated.

• Apparently unsustainable shooting percentages mean nothing to Aliaksei Protas.

• Dmitri Voronkov should not be on waiver wires; go grab him.

• Put Carter Hart on your watch list.