Halak had a tough year with injuries and poor play in 2012-13. He went 6-5-1 with a 2.14 (the good) and a .899 SV% (the bad). In 2013-14 he will once again share starts with Brain Elliott and if he struggles, Jake Allen is waiting in the wings. That being said the Blues are a great team, especially defensively. When he starts, he is usually a good option.
Brodeur enters his 21st season in the NHL and what a career it has been for the 41-year-old. He was 13-9-7 with a 2.22 GAA and .901 SV% last year, in what was an injury plagued season. He is healthy to start 2013-14 and will share starts with the much younger Cory Schneider. Despite his age, he still has the ability to put up fantasy worth splits.
Schneider leaves a goaltending platoon in Vancouver to join one in New Jersey. He will get the opening night start over Martin Brodeur, while Brodeur starts the home opener on Friday. He went 17-9-4 with a 2.11 GAA and .927 SV% last year. He is a great goalie, he just has not been given the reigns of the crease just yet.
In his first NHL season, Fasth was great. He started the season off 8-0-0 start last season that earned him a two-year contract extension. He finished the year 15-6-2 with a 2.18 GAA and .921 SV%, which were very similar to his competition/teammate Jonas HIller. He will start the season opener because of a strong preseason, but these two are likely going to see an even split in starts.
Hamilton almost made the roster cut down to 23 but has now been sent down to Worcester where he had 13 goals and 13 assists in 76 games last season. He is a former fifth round pick who is two years removed from 35 goals and 51 assists (86 points) in 61 games in the OHL.
Pelech appeared in two games with the Sharks last season, recording no points and seven penalty minutes.
Forsberg unlikely to play in the Predators first two games. Still day-to-day.
He was called up incase Jakob Silfverberg was unable to play today, which evidently is not the case.
If Morrow can't play tomorrow, Magnus Paajarvi slides into the lineup. He'd play on 4th line. Vladimir Sobotka would move up with Derek Roy and Chris Stewart.
Monitor Neal's status prior to tomorrow's game.
Niemi does not look pretty doing it, but it all looks the same on your fantasy team. He was outstanding last year going 24-12-6 with a 2.16 GAA, .924 SV% and four shutouts. In 2013-14 expect much of the same. The Sharks are a perennial playoff team and Niemi will help guide them there with some ugly, but great play.
Rinne followed a spectacular 2011-12 up with a forgetful shortened season. He finished with a sub .500 record for the first time in his career (15-16-8) along with his worst SV% (.910) and second worst GAA (2.43). In 2013-14 he will look to bounce back to becoming on of fantasy's elite backstops.
In his fourth year in Dallas, Lehtonen went 15-14-3 with a 2.66 GAA and .916 SV%. Those numbers were disappointing after a 2.33//.921 in 2011-12. In his fifth season in Dallas, the team has a fresh new look and will lean on him to win a lot of games for them. He is a high-end number-2 fantasy option to start the season.
Colburne was acquired by the Flames last week, but will be a healthy scratch tomorrow. With the lack of centre depth in Calgary, Colburne will get into the lineup soon enough.
Jordan Caron will take Soderberg's spot on the Bruins third line in tomorrow's tilt with Tampa Bay.
Elias is expected to open the season as the first line centre with Damian Brunner and Ryane Clowe on his wings. Even at 37-years-old he is one of fantasy's most durable and consistent forwards. He has only missed two games in the last three seasons and would have been on pace for his third consecutive 60-plus point season last year, had it been an 82-game schedule. Deploy Elias as you would.
"Nothing major, but could be something that keeps him out on the weekend," said head coach Todd Richards. This would be a big blow to the Blue Jackets blueline and some fantasy lineups. Monitor his status prior to Friday's season opener.
Bergenheim missed all of last season with the groin injury and underwent surgery in the offseason. He is still on IR, so he will obviously miss the season opener tomorrow, but is on the right track to returning to the lineup. The 29-year-old has a career high of 29 points (TB - 2010-11) so he is not expected to have a fantasy impact.
The 25-year-old Varlamov struggled in his second season in Colorado, going 11-21-3 with a 3.02 GAA and .903 SV%. He now has one of the greatest goalies of all-time, Patrick Roy as his new head coach so that should certainly help him in 2013-14.
“Well, Dwight King was arguably the best player in training camp, so he gets to play with Anze Kopitar, who is our best player," Kings head coach Darryl Sutter said. "I know how everybody outside falls in love with numbers and names, but it’s based on performance." The move may be temporary while Dustin Brown gets back up-to-speed after missing the preseason.
