Goalies can be the back bone of a fantasy hockey team, and now that we are in Week 4, fantasy hockey goalies should be analyzed. Just over ten percent of the NHL season has been played, and there have been interesting developments surrounding some goalies. With this in mind, fantasy managers may need to adjust their original strategies to deploy the best goalies for their success. Let’s take a look at goalies you should be starting, streaming, dropping, or trading in Week 4.
Darcy Kuemper is a Goalie You Want to Start
There are goalies that you know you want to start and stick with. Andrei Vasilevskiy, Jeremy Swayman, and Connor Hellebuyck to name a few. These are goalies rostered in virtually every fantasy league. While Darcy Kuemper is not in the same tier as these goalies, he will still be a volume starter this season.
The Stanley Cup winning goaltender was traded from Washington to his former team in Los Angeles in the off season. He started the season with two solid performances before being shelled for eight goals against the Senators.
Kuemper had a brief absence dealing with a lower-body injury, but has since returned to the lineup, winning consecutive games. It is expected that he will be the number one goalie for the Kings this season, with David Rittich backing him up. This means a high volume of games for Kuemper this season, which spells value in fantasy hockey.
The Kings have been a solid defensive team in recent years, finishing sixth in goals against last season. Kuemper struggled in Washington last season, playing only 33 games and posting a save percentage of .890. He has a .914 SV% in his career with four seasons above a .920 SV% since 2017-18.
In Week 4, fantasy hockey goalies who are volume starters are hard to find. At 80% rostered on Fantrax, and 71% rostered on Yahoo, you may be able to get him in free agency or at a reasonable price through a trade.
Keep an Eye Open for Alex Lyon as a Streamer
31-year old goaltender Alex Lyon is coming off a career season in Detroit. Lyon has under 90 games played in his career, with 44 of them played with the Red Wings last season. He was great through stretches last season, and has had an okay start to this year as well with 2 quality starts so far.
In six appearances, Lyon has a .916 SV% and 2.78 GAA. Because of his timeshare situation with Cam Talbot and Ville Husso, who was placed on waivers at the start of the season, Lyon likely won’t see the majority of games. However, his performance so far this year has proven that he can be a valuable goalie to stream when he gets the nod.
At under 50% rostered on Fantrax and Yahoo, Lyon is available in free agency in most leagues. In some formats, he can be as high as a top 20 goalie at this point in the season. He is worth adding to your watch list and streaming when he starts.
Joseph Woll is a Strong Trading Chip
Heading into the season, there was excitement around Toronto’s new goalie tandem. Joseph Woll has played important games for the Toronto Maple Leafs in the playoffs and shined. Anthony Stolarz was statistically one of the best goalies in the league last season with 20.1 goals saved above expected. All signs indicated a significant improvement over last year.
An injury prevented Woll from starting the season and changed the outlook of this tandem going forward. What many expected to be a 2:1 start ratio in favour of Woll, has likely become a 50/50 tandem. Because of this, Woll’s volume goes away, and with it a lot of his fantasy value.
Woll will still play a good number of games for Toronto, and could potentially outplay Stolarz for more starts. At this point in the season, however, you can’t bank on that happening. There is also the threat of injury, which has plagued Woll throughout his young career.
Being rostered as high as 91% on Fantrax can carry weight in a trade negotiation. However, managers are starting to take notice of Woll’s deployment, and his rostered percentage is falling. Try to trade Joseph Woll in the coming weeks after a few good starts.
Week 4 Fantasy Hockey Goalies in Free Agency Will Outperform Alexandar Geogriev
Alexandar Georgiev has not had a good start to the 2024-25 campaign. He was pulled for Justus Annunen in back-to-back games to kick off the year, and still has not been able to find his footing.
In six games played, Georgiev has an .822 SV% and 4.62 GAA, recording just one win. On Fantrax, Georgiev is still 87% rostered, despite the apparent transition to a three goalie system with Annunen and Kaapo Kähkönen. For the foreseeable future, it is likely that Georgiev sees only one of every three games at most as the Avalanche will continue to cycle through their goalies.
For whatever reason, I don’t think Jared Bednar is fully confident in Justus Annunen. https://t.co/Nb0asjOuRX
— Michael Amato (@amato_mike) October 30, 2024
A goalie with this volume of starts is not one you want on your roster and not valuable in fantasy hockey. In most leagues, there are better goalie options available in free agency that are worth streaming. Doing so will be more effective than having Georgiev fill a roster spot on your team.
Main Photo: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
