This article is part of our Darryl's Dispatch series.
Goalie Forecast StrategyThe end of a free trial to NHL Center Ice on October 25th marks the beginning of the true competition in fantasy leagues. Up until that day, everybody in your league has had the same opportunity to watch the games for themselves. Once October 26th dawns, the advantage will fall to league members who pony up and pay for either Center Ice or the NHL Game Center. Nothing beats watching your goalies, game in and game out. You should never miss a start or, failing that, at a minimum you should go back and catch a game on replay. The information you pick up by actively watching and listening to these broadcasts is invaluable and well worth the expense if you take your NHL Fantasy Hockey work seriously.
October 25th is also important because it marks the day when the teams have settled into their lines and routines and the real season play begins. Oh, I know, the official start of the season is weeks earlier, but we all know those first weeks are more equivalent to exhibition play than anybody in the NHL would care to admit. What it means to Fantasy Hockey players is simple – don't overreact to anything you see during these opening weeks. Have faith in your goalies and your decision to choose them in the first place. Let them have their early losses and just ride it out. The only thing you should keep a watch out for is any sign of injury or a change of job description.
If you followed my advice and drafted the back up for your number one goalie, you should be sitting pretty for this stage of the season. If you didn't, it's time to do so before someone else reads my work and takes them off the waiver wire.
Let's take a quick look back at the top tandems from that article. A quick reminder of the color key: Tier I is green. Tier II is yellow, Tier III is blue and Tier IV (formerly red) is now colorless (no matter the color, these are not the goalies you seek). To help you find your first goalie's backup a little quicker, you will find that all backups share the same color as their team's starter. (For example, since Rask is green all other Boston goalies will be green as well.) Here are the 50 goalies who have played the most.
Goalie Stats to Date:
| PLAYER | TEAM | GP | W | L | OT | SO |
| Frederik Andersen | Ana | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Carey Price | Mtl | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Sergei Bobrovsky | CBJ | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Cory Schneider | NJ | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Jonathan Quick | LA | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Henrik Lundqvist | NYR | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| Tuukka Rask | Bos | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| Ondrej Pavelec | Wpg | 5 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| Jhonas Enroth | Buf | 5 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| Pekka Rinne | Nas | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Ben Bishop | TB | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Jaroslav Halak | NYI | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Corey Crawford | Chi | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Marc-Andre Fleury | Pit | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Jonas Hiller | Cgy | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Jimmy Howard | Det | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Braden Holtby | Wsh | 4 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Kari Lehtonen | Dal | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Brian Elliott | StL | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| Roberto Luongo | Fla | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| Ben Scrivens | Edm | 4 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| Steve Mason | Phi | 4 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| Jonathan Bernier | Tor | 4 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| Ryan Miller | Van | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Antti Niemi | SJ | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Darcy Kuemper | Min | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| James Reimer | Tor | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Karri Ramo | Cgy | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Craig Anderson | Ott | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Alex Stalock | SJ | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Reto Berra | Col | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Niklas Svedberg | Bos | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Mike Smith | Ari | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Semyon Varlamov | Col | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| Robin Lehner | Ott | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Ray Emery | Phi | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Dustin Tokarski | Mtl | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Martin Jones | LA | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Justin Peters | Wsh | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Cam Ward | Car | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
Here is a forecast of the remaining games in the month of October. This chart goes pretty far out so remember to use the watch list feature of your RotoWire profile to track the day-to-day changes that will no doubt occur. (As part of your membership you can have updates sent directly from RotoWire to your email.) This tool is critical for those in daily leagues but, as the season continues, you will find that this handy forecast will be pretty accurate. In the coming weeks, more detailed goalie analysis will be added to the forecast but this is what you need for now. Until then, remember watch those out-of-town broadcasts. You can be certain that your league's leaders are.
