Josh Hutchinson (@JustJoshin41)
We may finally be able to close the book on the Oilers goaltending conversation (at least for now), not only because Stuart Skinner is now more than 50% rostered in Yahoo leagues and has graduated from the #ZeroG power rankings, but also because he’s started 3 straight games. With the price tag and term attached to Jack Campbell, he will eventually get another shot, but Jay Woodcroft has made it clear that he wants to give Campbell more time to find his game. It seems that for the time being Skinner is the guy and Yahoo fantasy managers are adjusting accordingly.
Marc-Andre Fleury has been placed on the IR with an upper body injury. That means it’s very likely that Filip Gustavsson could get three starts next week. Minnesota has had a rocky start to the year with an 8-8-2 record out of the gate. They’re also 27th in the league in team shooting percentage so I imagine some puck luck should be coming their way. Gustavsson’s totals on the year aren’t stellar so far but in his last 5 games, he only has one start where he posted a save percentage lower than .920. He’s an excellent streaming option going into next week.
Philipp Grubauer is healthy again! It’s going to take a lot for him to earn the starting role back from Martin Jones who has played excellently in Grubauer’s absence. However due to the injury to Grubauer and the severe lack of goaltending depth in the Kraken organization, Jones has started 7 games in a row and 11 of the last 12 games with the only game he missed being due to a family matter. The Kraken are likely going to give Jones a rest now that Grubauer is back although it’s unclear how much they will share the net going forward. I predict that Grubauer will get at least one start this week to at least give Jones a breather.
Week 7 #ZeroG Power Rankings:
- Karel Vejmelka (34% Rostered) – Arizona
- James Reimer (42%) – San Jose
- Filip Gustavsson (20%) – Minnesota
- John Gibson (43%) – Anaheim
- Pyotr Kochetkov (28%) – Carolina
- Antti Raanta (43%) – Carolina
- Jake Allen (38%) – Montreal
- Joonas Korpisalo (13%) – Columbus
- Petr Mrazek (7%) – Chicago
- Philipp Grubauer (15%) – Seattle
Karel Vejmelka
I’ve been waiting a whole week to talk about the 8th ranked fantasy hockey goaltender using KKUPFL scoring (S: 0.3, W: 2, SO: 2, GA: -1.5). Arizona only had one game last week so Karel Vejmelka didn’t make the week 6 power rankings. Unfortunately, he allowed 4 goals against Vegas in that one game so his season totals took a slight hit. Regardless, a .909 save percentage on a team that’s actively tanking is incredibly impressive. Before his last two games against New Jersey and Vegas (two of the best teams in the league who should destroy the Coyotes regularly), in his previous 6 games he posted a save percentage above .914 in 5 of them. In 3 of those games he posted a save percentage of .970 or better including a shutout against the Islanders.
According to moneypuck.com, Vejmelka is 6th in the league in GSAx with +8.1. He is singlehandedly keeping the Coyotes competitive. He also has the 3rd most saves in the league which typically means you play a lot and your team stinks at defense. Both of these points are true. If the Coyotes are serious about their tank, they should probably consider giving Connor Ingram more starts (ranked 66th out of 73 goalies in GSAx) but until that starts happening, Vejmelka is a serious #ZeroG option. The Coyotes play 4 games this week with 0 back-to-backs. There is strong potential for Vejmelka to start all 4. Vejmelka is an easy choice for number 1 in the power rankings this week.
Jake Allen
Jake Allen has battled hard this year. Montreal has been off to a surprisingly respectable 9-8-1 start. Allen’s play has dipped a little bit in the last couple of weeks but he’s still starting 2 of 3 games on average with Sam Montembault getting the rest. This week is an excellent week to take a chance on Jake Allen. The Canadiens only play 3 games, but they might have the weakest schedule in terms of strength of opponents this week. They play the Buffalo Sabres (have lost 8 straight), the Columbus Blue Jackets (3-6-1 in their last 10 and half of their roster is injured) and the Chicago Blackhawks (quietly 2-5-3 in their last 10). Allen will get two of these starts and they should be as close to 2 easy wins as you can get.
Pyotr Kochetkov/Antti Raanta
I was wrong about Antti Raanta last week. The Carolina Hurricanes have decided to evenly alternate between Kochetkov and Raanta with Andersen on the IR. According to Yahoo, Rod Brind’Amour has said that Andersen is not close to return and they will continue to use Raanta and Kochetkov. This means they should each get two games this week if the Hurricanes continue with this trend.
Why did I rank Kochetkov higher than Raanta? Kochetkov has performed better than Raanta this year albeit in a small sample size. He has a .943 save percentage through 3 games and actually has the highest GSAx/60 in the NHL. Raanta has only posted a save percentage above .900 in 3 of his 7 games started this year. Also, if they continue to alternate they way they have been this week, Raanta would face Winnipeg and Boston both on the road and Kochetkov would face Arizona and Calgary both at home. If this ends up being the case, I prefer Kochetkov based on recent performance and strength of upcoming matchups.
If you have any questions or concerns about my power ranking choices, hit me up on Twitter @justjoshin41 or in the Apples & Ginos Discord Server. Happy streaming everyone!
Stats and player information gathered from:
- moneypuck.com
- hockey-reference.com
- naturalstattrick.com
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