With many teams using a goalie split, Sean picks which ones you should be drafting, monitoring or passing on. Between 2009-10 and 2017-18, almost one in four goaltenders maintained a crease share of greater than 75%. From 2018-19 to 2025-26, that dropped to roughly one in 16. Last season, there was only one. The true ironman went the way of the complete game in baseball. So, if the ironman is dead, what buried him? A job-share.

The modern crease is a 1A starting 45-ish and a 1B starting 30-plus, and the gap narrows every season -- teams figured out a rested goalie in March beats a gassed one in April. Everyone still drafts goalies like it's 2013, as in reach for "the starter" and hope for 65 games. But a crease that splits on a good team doesn't kill value, it copies it.

Last season's top 12 fantasy goalies averaged a 63.6% crease share. That's not a workhorse number, that's a strong-side-of-a-tandem number. Only 10 goalies cleared 65%, and exactly one (Vejmelka) cleared 75. A top-24 fantasy goalie played just 56.55% of his team's crease last season, so the other share is landing on a second goalie. And, on a good team, that second goalie is rosterable too.

So the math flips. Reaching up for a "starter" buys you a 63% crease at a premium price. Or you spend less draft capital, grab both halves of a good tandem, and bank two goalies with winnable matchups and rest-sharpened rate stats. Don't pay up for volume that no longer exists. Buy the split.