Keeper League Goalie Ranks

The NHL is going to be starting up soon, so its time to think fantasy again. These rankings are for roto style keeper leagues with a limited number of keepers (not one year pools or dynasty leagues). For one year leagues, just bump up the veteran players a bit and bump down the youngsters and prospects. For dynasty leagues you could probably bump up the youngsters and bump up top prospects, since it makes way more sense to own Tuukka Rask than it does to own Ty Conklin (unless you're an Osgood owner).

Tier 1

Henrik Lundqvist
Roberto Luongo

Young? Yes. Talented? Yes. These are the top two goalies you want to have in any keeper league. They're pretty much neck and neck, Luongo being the more talented one but Lundqvist being on a better team, in a better situation. I would have Luongo number one if I thought the Canucks organization was headed in a better direction.

Tier 2

Carey Price
Marc Andre Fleury
Martin Brodeur
Evgeni Nabokov
Marty Turco
J.S. Giguere
Miikka Kiprusoff

Price could very easily slide into the first tier after this season (even number one overall) but he stays in Tier 2 until he's proven himself a second time around. Fleury is up this high because he is young and he's going to have a hard time not getting wins over the next 5-10 years. Brodeur is probably the top goalie for one year pools but only has a few years left, limiting his value in keeper leagues. Nabokov, Turco, Giguere and Kiprusoff are all top level goalies in or around their primes playing on pretty good teams.

Tier 3

Ryan Miller
Niklas Backstrom
Cam Ward
Ilya Bryzgalov
Chris Osgood
Kari Lehtonen
Martin Biron
Jose Theodore
Rick DiPietro
Pascal Leclaire
Cristobal Huet

Miller and Lehtonen are probably the most talented of this group. Lehtonen would be much higher if he didn't play on such a bad team. Backstrom's value, to me, is dependent on him remaining with the Wild and their defensive system. Ward is still quite young, but I don't think he'll ever become an elite goaltender. Osgood is getting old, but will have one or two very good seasons in him in Detroit. Bryzgalov, Biron and Theodore are solid veterans playing on decent (or fast improving) teams. DiPietro and Leclaire are talented youngsters, but both have dealt with a lot of injury problems. Huet always seems to be threatened by a platoon situation wherever he goes and its no different this year in Chicago.

Tier 4

Manny Legace
Martin Gerber
Peter Budaj
Vesa Toskala
Dan Ellis
Tim Thomas
Tomas Vokoun
Ty Conklin
Josh Harding
Jonathan Bernier
Mathieu Garon
Nikolai Khabibulin
Mike Smith
Olaf Kolzig
Chris Mason
Erik Ersberg
Manny Fernandez

Legace and Mason will probably form some sort of platoon, along with Kolzig and Smith. The Senators never seem to happy with Gerber, while Budaj got in the doghouse last year in Colorado and still hasn't entirely gotten out. Toskala is a talented goalie...but he plays with the pathetic Maple Leafs. Ellis is riding on one hot stretch from last year and not much else. Tim Thomas has every factor working against him in keeping his job but he has earned it so far. Conklin would be huge if Osgood got hurt. Harding could still wrestle the job away from Backstrom, which would be a plum gig. Bernier is probably the top goalie prospect and will continue climbing this list. Ersberg is probably going to start for the Kings, but his stats won't be too pretty and he'll have a short leash. Expect Boston to give Fernandez another shot to start at some point.

Tier 5

Anterro Niittymaki
Jaroslav Halak
Andrew Raycroft
Pekka Rinne
Dwayne Roloson
Tuukka Rask
Jimmy Howard
Jason LaBarbera
Michael Leighton
Ondrej Pavelec
Semen Varlamov
Alex Auld

Niittymaki and Halak would be more than serviceable options if the guys in front of them got injured or if they were traded. Raycroft used to be a pretty solid goalie and could revive his career in Colorado, ala Jose Theodore, especially since Budaj has struggled. Rinne could overtake Ellis sooner than later. Roloson is now a back-up, but a decent one likely to play more than others. Tuukka Rask is a top prospect but behind two solid NHLers right now. Howard is another prospect that could step into a very plum gig in a year or two. LaBarbera could end up the starter in LA, while Leighton was probably the best goalie in the AHL last year. Pavelec and Varlamov are top prospects that probably won't have a starting spot open for them for a couple more years. Auld could always force a goalie controversy in Ottawa....where there always seems to be a goalie controversy.