Fantasy Hockey Mailbag: Is Stuart Skinner the answer to your goaltending problems?

Sometimes your best asset in fantasy hockey is patience.

After Marc-Andre Fleury’s dreadful first couple of starts, there were plenty of questions asking whether it was time to move on from the Minnesota Wild goaltender. They were fair questions. The soon-to-be 38-year-old is going to regress at some point and there’s only so long you can tolerate bad goaltending before it sinks your team.

Still, it was just two games and it’s important not to make rash decisions early in a season. Fleury quickly found his game and since his rough start, he’s 5-1-1 with a .919 save percentage. If you held on to him, you’re in great shape between the pipes.

It’s a marathon, not a sprint.

On to your questions:

It’s a tough situation in Florida because Sergei Bobrovsky is probably going to lose more and more starts to Spencer Knight, but there also likely isn’t a better option to replace him with on your waiver wire. Even if his starts do drop, Bobrovsky is still part of a tandem on a strong team, which makes him valuable to a certain degree. You’ll have to hope that, even in a worst-case scenario, Bobrovsky will still get around half of the starts.

He should, but his shot volume is a bit concerning. One reason I think the Capitals' Evgeny Kuznetsov had a bounceback season last year is he set a career high in shots. More shots typically lead to more points, if not with goals, then assists off rebounds and deflections. Kuznetsov is nowhere near a pace to get him over 200 shots again. He’s also been moved off the top line with Alexander Ovechkin here and there in favour of Dylan Strome.

With all of that said, Kuznetsov is probably better to hold because there likely won’t be many options with his talent on your waiver wire. Unless ...

Gabriel Vilardi is someone I would consider replacing Kuznetsov with. He’s up to eight goals and averaging nearly a point per game, with no signs of slowing down. Plus, Vilardi has worked his way up to the top line for the Los Angeles Kings. I really believe Vilardi could be this year’s Troy Terry.

I wouldn’t touch Kris Letang, Rasmus Dahlin or Erik Karlsson, so it’s between Moritz Seider and John Carlson. It could be tied to what categories your league has – if you have hits and blocks for example, Seider may end up being more valuable. If it’s strictly a points league, Carlson is the better bet.

Seider, though, is off to a very slow start points-wise for the Red Wings and may struggle to hit the 50 he posted as a rookie. That’s probably why I would lean slightly toward Carlson, as the long as Capitals defender’s injury doesn’t keep him out long term.

Frédérick Gaudreau would be the one I’d target, as he’s holding down the top centre spot on the Wild next to Kirill Kaprizov. He’s averaging well over two shots a game and he’s great on faceoffs as well. Plus, the Wild play four times next week, so you’ll get plenty of usage out of him as a streamer. With Ryan Hartman sidelined, I don’t really see Gaudreau losing that spot for the time being and as long as he’s with Kaprizov, he should start seeing a jump in points, too.

It’s tough to say at this point with each having so little NHL experience, though I would lean toward the Kings' Quinton Byfield. I know he’s had some early injury issues, but I’ll take my chances on a six-foot-five centre every time. He’s got a very high ceiling.

There are pros and cons to rostering the Wild's Calen Addison. He seems to have claimed the top power-play job from Jared Spurgeon, as five of his seven points on the man advantage would attest. That said, the defensive part of his game isn’t great yet, and his minus-8 and three hits aren’t going to help you with category coverage. I’d say, in shallower leagues, he’s probably not someone to roster, but in deeper leagues without plus/minus, Addison could be an asset.

It’s a pretty shocking turn of events for a Blues team that started 3-0-0 and looked good right out of the gate. Torey Krug’s lack of offense is concerning, but more so his plus/minus. He’s minus-11 and Ryan O’Reilly is minus-12 with just a single point. Those numbers will really hurt you if you have that category. The Blues are also struggling in goal, with Jordan Binnington having a bunch of rough outings in a row.

One thing I wonder about is their schedule. They played one game in the first week, just two in the second, then four the following week, and back to two this week. That’s a bit sporadic for getting into a rhythm. If they don’t turn it around fast, you’re going to have to start strongly considering dropping some names you would normally rely on in St. Louis.

It’s Adin Hill, if he’s available. He’s 4-0-0 with a .940 save percentage for the Golden Knights and starting to play more regularly. Vegas looks really good and Bruce Cassidy is a very goalie-friendly coach. Stuart Skinner has looked good, too, and would be a close second. He has a lot of upside.

I think Tim Stutzle's start has something to do with preparing all summer/preseason to play with Claude Giroux and Alex DeBrincat, and then being moved last-minute to a line with Brady Tkachuk and Josh Norris. Stutzle doesn’t seem to be adjusting that well to that unit and I think his skillset is better suited to play with DeBrincat and Giroux. With Norris’ injury, though, Stutzle got a shot with his original linemates Thursday night and had a strong outing. Let’s hope that sticks and the production continues.

I think if there are names like Hill and Knight available you could make a switch. Or if you roster allows, you could grab them both alongside Fredrik Andersen. I think carrying three goalies is optimal and that trio would give you a lot of flexibility to target quality starts.

I definitely would for either option. Both Skinner and Hill will play more than Scott Wedgewood when Jake Oettinger is healthy and should give you better numbers. As for Tage Thompson and Oliver Wahlstrom, I think Thompson has more upside and he is starting to reach his potential as we speak. With eight points in two games this week, Thompson is quickly becoming a dynamic scorer on a Buffalo Sabres team full of fantasy relevant players.

I’m not too worried about Jack Campbell’s contract where Skinner is concerned. I think the Edmonton Oilers will still play Skinner quite a bit because Campbell has never really had a starter’s workload and has proven to be inconsistent. Also, while the New Jersey Devils are off to a great start, I’m more confident in the strength of the Oilers long term. For those reasons, I would go with Skinner. He could be this year’s Ville Husso and help stabilize your goaltending.

I’d give a slight edge to the Thompson/Hill tandem, simply because Cassidy is arguably the best defensive coach in the league. His Boston Bruins teams finished in the top five in goals against in all his five full seasons behind the bench there. Vegas has allowed two goals or fewer in eight of their 12 games this season.

I’m sure a Kyle Connor breakout is coming soon and there were signs of it Thursday, but I wouldn’t give up Brad Marchand for him. Marchand covers a lot of categories and is a more versatile player than Connor. Having too many players on one team is less of a problem now since we don’t figure to see too many game cancellations or postponements, but it still can be an issue if you get a week where the Bruins only play twice, let’s say. I’d try to move out another Boston player besides Marchand.

The only thing I would consider doing is moving on from Tyler Toffoli and buying low on Elias Lindholm. Toffoli has only exceeded 50 points in a season once and I can’t imagine come the midway point of the year Lindholm won’t be the more coveted player. The only question is can you wait until Lindholm starts picking up his production? It’s surely going to happen but Toffoli is off to the better start, so if you are desperate to stay in the race in your league you may just want to stand pat.

At this point, I probably wouldn’t. The Hurricanes' Sebastian Aho is off to a much better start and Connor would really have to go on a torrid pace the rest of the way to produce a significantly higher amount of points than Aho. Sure, it’s possible he does that, but what’s a realistic number of points for Connor this season, given his start in a best-case scenario? 90? Aho is likely going to cruise to 80 or so and he’s already clicking at a good rate.

If you’re deep enough on defense, I’d probably drop the Flyers' Ivan Provorov based on your categories. Provorov is a good asset in most leagues, but since you don’t have hits or blocks, his offensive numbers aren’t going to help you as much as the others.

That’s probably a good option at this point. Columbus is really struggling and Eric Comrie with the right matchups will give you more value. When the Sabres have a tough schedule, you can always move off Comrie and bring in another short-term solution who is playing well.

I would give Owen Power a shot if all it’s costing you is a waiver-wire add. Buffalo is the second-highest scoring team in the league and Power has three points in his past two games. He’s a low-risk, high-reward addition who could pay off big-time.

If Valeri Nichushkin returns to the Avalanche, I don’t see Evan Rodrigues playing on the first power-play unit, though he should stick in the top six as long as captain Gabriel Landeskog is sidelined. Rodrigues has decent shot volume, but he’s a streaky scorer. He’s probably best used as a streamer, even with all the talent the Avs boast up front.

Cam Talbot returned to the Senators Thursday and looked sharp in relief of Anton Forsberg, so I think he could get a couple of games right off the bat to see what he can do. I’d imagine at some point they’d get close to a 50/50 rotation, as Talbot is 35 and Forsberg has never really dealt with a starter’s workload before. It would help keep both goalies fresh and competing with one another.

For some of the reasons listed above about Cassidy, I’ll say Thompson. If Thompson signs a longer-term deal with Vegas and Cassidy is the head coach for the foreseeable future, it could be a match made in heaven. Plus, the Bruins core is aging and it’s going to be tougher for them to stay competitive and keep Jeremy Swayman’s value up over the next few years.