Goalie watch: What we learned from a subpar 2024 season

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Sean Allen, Special to ESPN.comMar 26, 2024, 02:47 PM ET

CloseSean Allen is a fantasy analyst for ESPN.com. He was the 2008 and 2009 Fantasy Sports Writers Association Hockey Writer of the Year. You can tweet him @seanard.

It has been a rough few weeks for reliable goaltending in the fantasy realm. In fact, it’s been a pretty topsy-turvy season when it comes to the crease.

Juuse Saros and Igor Shesterkin have made late-season charges in value, but prior to February it was Connor Hellebuyck all alone that could be described as elite, expected (was top 10 in ADP back in October) and reliable fantasy goaltending.

With only a dozen or so games left in the season for most teams, only Hellebuyck and Thatcher Demko have a real chance to earn 200 fantasy points this season. Demko is still sidelined and Hellebuyck is mired in a slump with negative points in five of his past eight. So there is a possibility we might not have a goaltender with 200 fantasy points this season.

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That helps paint the picture of how much the position has been a struggle this season. Last season there were five goaltenders with 200 fantasy points; there were four the season prior to that; Andrei Vasilevskiy almost got there in 2020-21 despite the season being just 56 games … you get the picture.

Fantasy stats are down in the crease this season — but it goes beyond that.

2016-17: 6,394.6 total goalie fantasy points
2017-18: 6,366.8 total goalie fantasy points
2018-19: 5,950.2 total goalie fantasy points
2019-20: 4,977.4 total goalie fantasy points (season cut short)
2020-21: 3,885.0 total goalie fantasy points (56-game season)
2021-22: 5,565.6 total goalie fantasy points
2022-23: 5,026.0 total goalie fantasy points
2023-24: 4,306.4 total goalie fantasy points (so far, 86.5% of season)

It’s pretty clear to see the downward trend even around the COVID-19 shortened campaigns. And yes, as you might expect, the fantasy points by skaters is on the opposite trajectory. Back in 2016-17, all…

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Source link : https://www.espn.com/fantasy/hockey/story/_/id/39814167/fantasy-hockey-goalie-watch-learned-subpar-2024-season-connor-hellebuyck

Author : Sean Allen

Publish date : 2024-03-26 19:53:22

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