We wrap up my goaltending rankings with tiers four and below. Not all 64 goalies that project to be in the NHL will be ranked. For the really bad teams, I will mention their starters but won’t mention their backups. I also won’t be ranking goalies I have no interest in streaming to start the season, or if the backup goaltending situation is unclear like with Reimer and Levi in Buffalo. If you missed part one, you can check the first three tiers and top 18 goalies here. Let’s get to it!
Tier Four: Could Be A #1, Could Be A #3. Does That Make A 2?
19) Darcy Kuemper – The only goalies who played 20+ games last season that were worse than Kuemper were Johansson, Allen, Blackwood, Kahkonen, and Gibson. So obviously I have him ranked as a top 20 goalie this year! And yes, I’m completely sober. Anyways, Kuemper is the perfect example for this tier. Yes, last season was a disaster for him. The guy whose spot he’s taking in Los Angeles, Talbot, was just the #5 goalie in fantasy last season, and he was as bad as Kuemper was in 2023-24. I was all in on Talbot last season and I’m going to be all in on Kuemper. He’s the perfect target as your #3 goalie because of undeniable upside. The only concern is that Rittich could work into an even split or more. We’ll get a clearer picture in camp as to whether or not Kuemper is the #1 as expected, because even as a 1A, he should pay off handsomely. The Kings system is that good. In roto leagues, pairing the Kings duo is an excellent option.
20) Filip Gustavsson – Gustavsson went from being one of the best goalies in the league to one of the worst last season. Yay goalies! MAF is still there, but he’s not going to get a big workload in what is his last season. The Wild dealt with so many injuries last year that I’m discrediting Gustavsson’s struggles a bit. I couldn’t get him in tier two because the question marks are much bigger than those guys, but his upside is in that range. He’s still only 26, so I’m expecting him to get his career back on track and settle in between the last two seasons.
21) Jordan Binnington – Binnington had an excellent bounce back season with a .913 save percentage, the best since his rookie season. Of all the guys here, Binnington is the safest. The volume is good enough that even with a below average GAA and average-ish wins, he should be a#2. I can’t see the Blues being good enough for better than that.
22) Cam Talbot – As much as I was all in on Talbot last season, he’s not a guy I’m looking to target this year. Lyon is still there, and the change in systems will be drastic. Talbot is 37 years old, and Detroit hasn’t been able to take the next step, especially defensively. Now, they did give Talbot a two year deal despite his age so I’m expecting him to get first crack at being the #1. That plus Detroit being a respectable team is enough to slide him into this tier.
23) Charlie Lindgren – This might be a bit disrespectful for Lindgren, who had an excellent season, sneaking the Capitals into the playoffs. Washington did add some capable defensemen in Roy and Chychrun. My problem with Lindgren is two fold. One, he’s a 30 year old who was shaping up to be a career AHL’er before two seasons ago, where he put up horrible numbers for the Caps over 31 games. Should we really buy this level of play? And two, I really like Logan Thompson. There’s no way to bet on this, but I favor Thompson to be the #1 by the end of the season, and probably by midseason. Personally, I won’t be drafting him at all because I’d rather draft Thompson, but he did do enough to slide into this tier.
24) Joey Daccord – Daccord was shockingly a top ten goalie last season despite winning only 19 of 50 appearances (11 OTL is absurd). He’s similar to Lindgren in that I have a hard time buying into this being the real Daccord. Seattle did make a couple big additions in Stephenson and Montour, but Montour hasn’t been great defensively, and we don’t really know who Stephenson is (his numbers last season were atrocious when he wasn’t with Eichel or Stone). Grubauer has been a mess for three straight years, so I don’t really see him being the #1 unless things really turn around with Disco Dan at coach. Daccord will get his chance, but I’m just too skeptical to invest. Seattle feels like the lesser version of the Kings, so I’d rather just target the Kings goalie(s).
25) Tristan Jarry – I feel even less likely to draft Jarry than Daccord. Jarry should be the #1, but Pitt is trending in the wrong direction in terms of talent on the team plus the aging curve. Jarry’s GAA the last two seasons were 2.90 and 2.91, which is bordering on horrific. The save percentage has been above .900 every year which keeps him in this tier, but I can’t really see a path for him to be a #1 in 12’ers. The other guys I can squint and at least see an unlikely path, but Jarry just doesn’t have that ceiling.
Tier Five: You Feeling Lucky?
26) Connor Ingram – I wouldn’t be surprised at all if Utah makes the playoffs this year. The thing is that I still believe in Vejmelka and expect the season to start with an even split. It can go either way from there. Ingram has had a respectable .907 sv% each of the last two seasons which puts him at the top of this tier.
27) Dustin Wolf – Wolf has top end upside in the long term, and he should be the #1 this season ahead of Vladar. The problem is that I don’t expect Calgary to be very good. They have a lot of respectable veterans so they won’t be a dumpster fire, but it’s hard to imagine them in the playoffs. You’re banking on Wolf taking the league by storm and I have a hard time seeing it. The volume gets him in this range.
28) Logan Thompson – Thompson leaves a clearly better system for goalies in Vegas to Washington. That said, I’m a big believer in his talent and as mentioned above, he could end up being the #1. It’s a gamble I’d like to take.
29) David Rittich – At the least, Rittich will be an elite streamer. He could also end up a 1B, or even the #1 if Kuemper turns out to be completely washed. Rittich was shockingly good in 22 games last season so to repeat what I said above, I love targeting the Kings duo late in roto leagues if you punt goaltending. You could easily take both Carolina goalies and Los Angeles goalies and do just fine.
30) Ilya Samsonov – If you want to look glass half full, you can say Hill hasn’t been able to stay healthy and that Vegas is a place where goalies thrive. If you want to look glass half empty, you can say that if Hill goes down, you can’t rule out Schmid being the #1, even if he’s playing in Henderson. Without factoring in injuries, Samsonov’s volume is safer than the guys in the tier below him, which slides him here.
31) Justus Annunen – This is a tier where it comes down to personal preference and team needs. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if Annunen ends up being the #1 in Colorado for this season and beyond. Georgiev will get the first chance, but if he’s anywhere nearly as bad as last season, Annunen will get every chance. If you want to take the highest upside in this range, Annunen is your guy.
32) Anthony Stolarz – Stolarz has a career .915 save percentage in 108 games. He’s behind a goalie who hasn’t been able to stay healthy throughout his career. On the other hand, Stolarz has never played more than 28 games either, so it’s hard to say what he’s capable of. There’s a real chance Stolarz surprises. There’s also a chance he’s a generic backup.
33) Arturs Silovs – Silovs could slide up these rankings if Demko misses the start of the season and he’s healthy. Silovs had knee ligament inflammation a month ago which caused him to miss the Olympic qualifying tournament. My concern is that even in the playoffs, which is a more defensive style, Silovs only had a .898 save percentage. Granted, part of that was Nashville playing extremely defensively, but it’s still not ideal. Silovs would have to move up because the wins alone would be very good, but I don’t see massive upside here.
34) Karel Vejmelka – I can’t quit Vejmelka. Last season was a complete disaster, but he’s had stretches of playing elite hockey. The additions of Sergachev and Marino should help Utah tremendously, and I think we see a first year in a new city boost for their team. There’s no distractions about where the team is going to be, etc. I still think Vejmelka will end up being the better goalie this season despite last season’s results.
35) Alex Lyon – The season after saving Florida’s season, Lyon kept the Red Wings alive until the last day of the season. The problem is that his .904 sv% brought a 3.05 GAA. If anything, they’re going to be even worse defensively with Kane and Tarasenko, two of the most one-dimensional players in the league. Additionally, he has Talbot in his way now and Husso is still lurking. I don’t see myself having any Lyon stock, but there’s still some upside here.
36) Samuel Montembault – The last full time starter on the list, I see Montreal as a step above the bottom of the barrel, and there’s a chance they take another step forward, which puts Montembault here. In deeper leagues, his value increases because of the volume.
Tier Six: Guys I’d Stream Regularly
Joonas Korpisalo, Casey DeSmith, Semyon Varlamov, Spencer Knight, Jonathan Quick, Calvin Pickard, Jake Allen, Kaapo Kahkonen
These guys, along with the people in tier seven, aren’t in any particular order. Varly and Allen don’t fit cleanly into this tier as they should play more than the other guys, but I would still use them in every start. The rest of them are backups on great teams which makes them worth starting in almost every matchup. Korpisalo should be just fine in Boston, DeSmith should do well in Dallas, Quick in New York, and Pickard in Edmonton. Knight is a bit riskier given his limited action lately, but the team is so good around him and his upside is undeniable. Kahkonen did look promising a couple years ago before the Sharks tanked his performance. He steps into Winnipeg now and should be usable again.
Tier Seven: For This Year, No Thanks
John Gibson, Lukas Dostal, Petr Mrazek, Laurent Brossoit, Elvis Merzlikins, Daniil Tarasov, Samuel Ersson, Ivan Fedotov, Mackenzie Blackwood, Yaroslav Askarov
This covers the goalies of five teams, all of which I expect to be bad. The only team that has a chance to be okay is the Flyers, so Ersson would be my preferred guy for 12’ers if I had to take one. The only other one I’d consider as a late round dart throw in shallow leagues is Askarov on the chance he’s that good right away, but I just can’t see the Sharks being good enough in front of him. Long term, Askarov and Dostal project to be future top ten goalies, so if you don’t care about this season, they’re excellent targets.
And with that, goaltenders and this massive post are finished. I’ll move up the ice starting next week with defensemen. I also hope to get my Top 200 out by the end of next weekend for people to have in their drafts. As always, feel free to ask any questions, leave any comments, or give any suggestions below. Thanks for reading, take care!
