The many holidays of this time of year are upon us, and what’s at the top of your wish list? A winning fantasy hockey team, that’s what (new winter coats are overrated.  That’s what duct tape is for).  Hop aboard the sleigh my fellow fantasy GMs. 

Goalie Round-Up

Goalies are an important part of any team.  You can have a bunch of scoring talent, but it won’t matter for squat if you don’t have a decent goalie keeping the pucks out of the net.  The same is true of any successful fantasy hockey team: you gotta have at least one great goalie (ideally two or three). 

Problem is, there aren’t that many elite goalies in the league, leaving the rest of us to fight over the scraps or to take a chance on a back-up goalie that might only play 20 games or so (if that much). 

Let’s see how some of the league’s goalies have performed so far this season (in no particular order). 

Martin Brodeur (New Jersey) – Marty has been a solid pick for…well, probably ever.  He already has 20 wins this season (out of 28 starts) and he’s usually good for at least 40 wins.  How much longer can he keep this up? Who knows?  At 37 he’s still a force between the pipes.  Oh and he just tied Terry Sawchuk’s shutout record of 103.

Ryan Miller (Buffalo) – Clearly, it is Miller Time in Buffalo.  Miller has 18 wins on the season and as of Sunday afternoon, a 1.83 GAA.  He ended last season with his career best GAA so far (2.53).  Miller’s GAA has became lower and lower each season, so it appears that he is starting to hit his prime.   Another stat:  he had 36 wins in ’07-’08 and 34 in ’08-’09—the interesting part is he had nearly twenty more starts in ’07-’08 than last season. 

And if your fantasy league gives points for the best Yo’ Mama jokes, then Ryan is a sure thing.

Ilya Bryzgalov (Phoenix) – After being cast aside by the Anaheim Ducks, Bryzgalov has risen to the challenge in Phoenix.  He’s putting up some great numbers this season (18 wins, 1.95 GAA) considering he’s playing on a fairly weak team with an uncertain future  He already has 4 shutouts this season and he’s never topped 3 in the past.

Jonathan Quick (Los Angles) – Another surprise in net out-west is the King’s Jonathan Quick.  As of Sunday, he’s racked up 19 wins (second behind Brodeur) and has started a league high 31 games.

Craig Anderson (Colorado) – This seems to be the season of surprising goalies.  Anderson hit the ground running in October, winning 10 out of 14 starts.  He’s cooled down a bit as of late, but there’s a chance he could bounce back. 

Marc-Andre Fleury (Pittsburgh) – His save percentage of .905% might not be the stuff of legends, but Fleury is getting the wins (18 out of 27 starts).   Anyone playing behind Crosby and Malkin is sure to win at least a few games here and there. 

Miikka Kiprusoff (Calgary) – Yep, this is the guy that led the league last season with 45.  He’s doing pretty well this season with 17 wins out of 28 starts, and year after year it is Kiprusoff that keeps the Flames alive.  He’s also got a great GAA so far, 2.15. 

Evgeni Nabokov (San Jose) – He’s coming off back-to-back 40+ win seasons and putting up good numbers for far (16 wins in 29 starts, 2.39 GAA, .921 SV%).  He’s second behind Quick with 29 starts so far this season. 

Tuukka Rask (Boston) – Rask has put up some awesome numbers as of late, 1.97 GAA and a .932 SV%.  The only problem is that he doesn’t start too many games, but his record is 9-2-2 out of 13 starts.  He’s worth picking up if you need extra help here and there, but don’t count on him for a lot of games—at least not yet. 

Fantasy News Around the NHL

The Good:

Jose Theodore (G, Washington) has returned from a leave of absence due to personal reasons and he’s 3-1 since November 30^th.  

That’s just what the Caps need, another goal scorer:

Alex Ovechkin (LW, Washington) and Daniel Sedin (LW, Vancouver) both have 7 points in the past week.  And speaking of lucky number seven, Marc Savard (C) signed a 7 year contract extension with the Bruins. 

Alexander Semin (RW, Washington), who returned to the Caps lineup on December 3^rd, has 11 points so far this month. Kyle Okposo (RW, NYI) has four multi assist games in December, including three in a row.  Todd Bertuzzi (RW, Detroit) is on a two game goal scoring streak with back-to-back 2 goal games—better still, he’s had the game winner in the past two games for the Wings (both in OT no less). 

The Bad:

Brendan Witt (D, NYI) was hit by a car last Tuesday…but he still managed to still play that night in a loss against the Flyers.  Talk about tough.  The Rodney Dangerfield of the NHL, the Detroit Red Wings, have lost another player—Danny Cleary.  A separated shoulder will keep Cleary off the ice for a month.  He joins fellow injured wings, Johan Franzen, Valtteri Filppula, Jason Williams and Niklas Kronwall. 

Tampa Bay Lightning forwards Steven Stamkos and Ryan Malone both “day to day,” but their injuries are not thought to be serious. 

The Ugly:

Ray Emery (G, Philadelphia) needs surgery to fix an abdominal tear and will be out six weeks. Ed “JovoCop” Jovanovski (D, Phoenix) was suspended for two-games for his hit on Andrew Ebbett.  He’ll be back in action Monday night vs. the Red Wings. 

Young Guns

Let’s see check in on this past summer’s draft class and see how they are doing: 

Tavares is living up to the hype so far,  considering he’s playing on a fairly weak Islanders team (31 points in 32 games, 10^th in the East).  Last year’s top pick is on pace for a 38 goal season—not bad at all.  As of Sunday afternoon, he currently leads all NHL rookies in scoring.  

It isn’t too fair to compare Tavares to Hedman, as Hedman is a defenseman.  But, Hedman’s +/- is even, which ain’t bad considering the team’s top two scorers (Stamkos and St. Louis) are both -3.  Duchene and Kane are both contributing too.  They sit at third and fourth in rookie goal scoring respectively. 

That’s it for this week gang, make sure to come back next Monday for more fantasy hockey news.