NHL Fantasy Rankings: Goalies

During the two weeks the NHL has off, it’s a great time to reevaluate your fantasy hockey roster and make the necessary changes to be ready for the stretch run.

In the net, most of your top net-minders are going to be taken on rosters already. Some teams, like Nashville, Boston and Chicago, will probably be flipping between goalies for a majority of the last six weeks of the season as well.

If you’re fortunate enough to have depth on your roster in net, but want to make sure you’re not wasting a spot on a guy that doesn’t end up starting, you should check out DailyFaceoff.com . It’s a great resource that updates the starting goalies, with confirmation, very quickly.

As we look toward the final six weeks, the rankings can, and should, be based on a number of factors. First, how has the goalie performed so far this year? Secondly, how has that goalie’s team performed in front of him? And third, how does the goalie project down the stretch?

There are few surprises at the top of the list, including Chicago’s Antti Niemi. Niemi hasn’t started many games this year, but appears to be ready to assume the top spot on the Blackhawks’ depth chart. In the last four games of the first half, three of which were won in a shootout, Niemi was superb.

Yes, he allowed roughly three goals per game over the four contests, but he boasted a save percentage of .920 and won all four contests. Considering that Niemi is owned in only 26.8 percent of ESPN leagues, he is without question someone you should grab off waivers immediately if he’s available.

Here are the Olympic Break rankings for goalies:

1. Ryan Miller, Buffalo – 30-14-7  2.16 GAA  .930 SV%

2. Roberto Luongo, Vancouver – 31-17-2  2.35  .919

3. Evgeni Nabokov, San Jose – 34-9-9  2.26  .928

4. Antti Niemi , Chicago – 17-4-1  .216  .913

5. Tuukka Rask, Boston – 14-7-4  2.08  .928

6. Martin Brodeur, New Jersey – 34-20-3  2.32  .915

7. Craig Anderson, Colorado – 31-16-5  2.42  .924

8. Ilya Bryzgalov, Phoenix – 32-17-4  2.30  .920

9. Jonathan Quick, Los Angeles – 35-17-3  2.53  .907

10. Tomas Vokoun, Florida – 19-21-10  2.36  .931

11. Jimmy Howard, Detroit – 21-1-8  2.28  .927

12. Miikka Kipprusoff, Calgary – 27-19-9  2.18  .925

13. Jonas Hiller, Anaheim – 26-17-2  2.70  .919

14. Marc-Andre Fleury, Pittsburgh – 29-16-4  2.65  .908

15. Henrik Lundqvist, New York Rangers – 25-22-6  2.41  .920

16. Jaroslav Halak, Montreal – 17-10-2  2.56  .923

17. Jean-Sebastian Giguere, Toronto – 6-10-5  2.90  .907

18. Chris Mason, St. Louis - 20-17-8  2.53  .907

19. Dan Ellis, Nashville – 13-11-1  2.59  .913

20. Michael Leighton, Philadelphia – 13-7-1  2.73  .905

21. Niklas Backstrom, Minnesota – 23-18-4  2.74   .901

22. Pekka Rinne, Nashville – 20-12-4  2.80   .902

23. Brian Elliott, Ottawa – 22-13-2  2.59   .910

24. Kari Lehtonen, Dallas – N/A

25. Marty Turco, Dallas – 19-15-9  2.63   .915