Fantasy Hockey Waiver Wire Targets: Under-owned Netminders
With Carter Hart landing on IR on Wednesday, he joins Pavel Francouz and Semyon Varlamov as the most recent goalies to get hurt. While it doesn’t sound like Hart will miss an extended period of time, and both Francouz and Varlamov are day-to-day, let’s look at the waiver wire to find some goalies that can help you in both the short and long term.
Filip Gustavsson (MIN) – 33% Rostered
- 2022/23 season: 8-5-1, 2.34 GAA, .920 SV%
Gustavsson was brought to Minnesota in a one-for-one trade for Cam Talbot, which was supposed to cement him as the Wild’s backup behind Marc-Andre Fleury. Instead, the 24-year-old has done everything in his might to steal starts from the struggling veteran, leading to him getting a more significant portion of the timeshare than initially planned. When Gustavsson does take the crease, he has been a fantasy stud and must start, with his 8-5-1 record, 2.34 GAA and .920 SV%. Gustavsson has started five of the Wilds’ last eight games and is 7-1-0 with a .936 SV% in his previous eight starts. The Wild are among the best defensive teams in the NHL, ranking third in xGA/60 (2.69), so Gustavsson will continue to be well protected whenever he takes the crease. He’s worked himself into a split with Fleury and is great No.3 fantasy option that you can rely on in almost any matchup.
Higher Owned Players to Drop: (Jake Allen – 34% Rostered), (Martin Jones – 46% Rostered)
Phoenix Copley (LAK) – 32% Rostered
- 2022/23 season: 7-1-0, 2.43 GAA, .912 SV%
Copley was not in the NHL at the start of December, but the Alaskan native has taken the Kings’ starting job and sprinted away with it. Copley currently finds himself amid a five-game winning streak and is flying up the recently added board with each strong outing. He holds an impressive 7-1-0 record, with a .912 SV% and 2.43 GAA and should have a handle on the starters’ gig with Jonathan Quick still struggling (.867 SV% in December). We’ve been talking about Copley for weeks, as he consistently grades as one of the best spot-start options in our Daily Fantasy Goalie Rankings and has earned long-term consideration over the last few weeks. The Kings are sixth in the NHL in xGA/60 (2.75), so they are playing great defence in front of Copley, which should allow him to maintain his terrific splits.
Higher Owned Players to Drop: (Jonathan Quick – 57% Rostered), (Jack Campbell – 54% Rostered)
Philipp Grubauer (SEA) – 15% Rostered
- 2022/23 season: 3-6-1, 3.28 GAA, .889 SV%
Grubauer’s numbers since he joined the Kraken have been horrendous, yet he continues to receive the bulk of Seattle’s starts due to their overall lack of goaltending depth and his aggressively large contract. Since returning from injury at the beginning of the month, he has started seven of Kraken’s last 11 games while finishing with an SV% above .913 in four of those starts and gaining a small edge on Jones for the Kraken’s No.1 job.
Like last year, the Kraken are a strong defensive team, ranking 11th in xGA/60 (2.92), but this year they have a little more offensive punch, and are providing their goalies with more goal support. Grubauer has a career of .913 SV% across 11 NHL seasons, so if he can return anywhere close to form, he should continue to demand more starts, and at 85 percent available, he could be a difference-maker as we head into the second half of our fantasy seasons. Martin Jones originally looked like he may hold down the starters’ job, but he has come back down to earth with his glaringly bad .888 SV% and 2.99 GAA. Grubauer stopped 41 of 44 shots in a loss to the Flames last night, hopefully, that’s an outing that he can build off of.
Higher Owned Players to Drop: (Spencer Martin – 21% Rostered) (Elvis Merzlikins – 17% Rostered)