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Goalie Sleepers and Busts

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Just like we did for the forwards and defense, we’re trying to identify players that will far exceed expectations of the general fantasy community line of thinking (sleepers), and also those that will crash and burn from unreasonably high expectations (busts). Here are those picks for this year’s crop of fantasy goalies.

Sleepers

Ray Emery, PHI – The attitude problems and his overall resume might scare people away. The talent is there though, and he should be the go-to guy for a strong Flyers team.

Mike Smith, TB – Smith is one person who can’t be blamed for the Bolts’ struggles last year. He’s fully recovered from the concussion that ended his 08/09 campaign, and has a much improved defense in front of him.

Cristobal Huet, CHI – Huet is coming off a year in which he managed to lose his job as the Hawks number 1 goalie. Chicago is a team on the rise though, and Huet is their go-to guy this year.

Jonas Hiller, ANA – Hiller was great as he battled for playing time last season, and he was superb in the playoffs. He should see more starts this season, so an increase in wins, saves, and shutouts are sure to follow.

Jonathan Quick, LA – His start total should increase from 44 last year, and the young Kings will be an exciting and improved team this season.

Honourable mentions: Carey Price, Nikolai Khabibulin.

Busts

Dwayne Roloson, NYI – Roloson bounced back with a 28 win season last year, posting a .915 save percentage. And then he signed with the Islanders.

Pekka Rinne, NAS – Dan Ellis will give him steady competition, and Nashville’s situation should be interesting given that both goaltenders are in contract years. He might not get enough starts to warrant serious consideration as a starter in anything but the deepest leagues.

Vesa Toskala, TOR – Sure the Toronto defense has improved, but Toskala is going to be on a short leash this year. Even if he plays reasonably well, he isn’t likely to get much more than 50 starts as the Leafs bring Jonas Gustavsson into the fold.

Chris Osgood, DET – Some will overvalue him based on a strong playoff, but he was downright awful in the regular season, and isn’t getting any younger.

Chris Mason, STL – The last time he entered the season as the number one guy he was less than stellar. Dan Ellis ended up starting a good chunk of the Preds’ games, and Mason was sent to the Blues in the off-season. Ty Conklin should start a decent number of games for the Blues this year.

Stanley Cup, Free Agency and KHL

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Though they dominated puck possession and scoring opportunities Tuesday night, the Detroit Red Wings were unable to deliver the three-game-up knockout punch to Sidney Crosby and his Pittsburgh Penguins. The Pens will have a chance to even up the series tonight in Pittsburgh and, once again, expect Evgeni Malkin to be the deciding factor. The Wings have had last year’s Conn Smythe Trophy winner, Henrik Zetterberg, shadow Crosby during the series, and the attention Sid’s garnered should leave Malkin with enough breathing room to do something spectacular, as we have grown to expect of him. Detroit’s game strategy will be to stay out of the sin bin, where they were burned twice last game for powerplay markers by the talented Pens.

As for the playoff pool, things have really tightened up. At the top of the five-man battle, schrader45 and gvn2fly are engaged in a Pens vs Wings battle to decide our winner. Imagine the excitement of a potential game seven to decide the $341 difference between first and second place! Go Pens/Kunitz…

With NHL free agency less than a month away, rumors are running rampant over “who’s-seeking-who”. Apparently the Philadelphia Flyers were unsatisfied with the play of their goaltending tandem this year, Martin Biron and Antero Niittymaki, and have been in contact with Ray Emery. Remember him? The former Ottawa Senator played in the Russian KHL this past season, where he had a very solid season leading his team to a third place finish, while posting some impressive stats. Fellow KHLer Jaromir Jagr has been rumored to be interested in making a return to the NHL, but insists that he will finish out his current contract in Omsk, and that at earliest, he will return to NHL action in 2010. Jagr has always enjoyed the limelight playing in North America, and barring a serious injury, I think we can expect to see Jaromir back on NHL ice surfaces in two years.