Two weeks into the season, the fantasy goaltending picture already looks nothing like it did on draft day. Igor Shesterkin is on injured reserve, and the New York Rangers crease now belongs to Dylan Garand, who is still available in 58% of ESPN leagues even though New York leads the NHL in goalie fantasy points. In Carolina, Pyotr Kochetkov has delivered a good start in all three of his outings while splitting the crease evenly with Brandon Bussi. In Vancouver, Kevin Lankinen's .786 save percentage has left him at -33.4 fantasy points.
Don't panic. Early goalie standings are mostly noise. Of the top 12 fantasy goalies through the first 90 games of last season, only four finished in the top 12. Cam Talbot ranked fourth in that stretch and finished 63rd, while Ilya Sorokin went the other way, from 58th to fifth. Andrei Vasilevskiy, last season's top fantasy goalie, ranks 20th this year, though a year ago at this point he ranked 51st.
So don't overreact to the starters you drafted, but do chase the openings that injuries and timeshares create. Shesterkin's injury is the kind that reshapes a season, and much of the value from these early shakeups is still sitting on waiver wires.
Garand ranks second among all goalies in fantasy points per 60 minutes, and with Joonas Korpisalo also on IR until at least Nov. 9 and the Rangers playing five times in the next 10 days, nothing stands between Garand and the bulk of the work. In Carolina, Kochetkov will see plenty of work with five games in the next 10 days and belongs on rosters wherever Bussi is. Montreal's Jacob Fowler is a must-add, ranking fifth in fantasy points per 60 minutes.
Source: ESPN NHL · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing