Week 18: Fantasy top 25 goalie rankings for 2016-17

All season long, NHL.com will rank the top 25 goalies for standard Yahoo leagues (wins, goals-against average, save percentage, shutouts). Players with long-term injuries have been removed from this list.
These rankings are based on expectations for the rest of the season. Value is quantified by projected starts, peripheral category coverage, time-share situations, team defenses, past performance and overall upside in standard leagues. It is important to note that our rankings reflect sheer fantasy value, not necessarily the most talented goalies in order.

You might be surprised to hear Montreal Canadiens goalie Carey Price has the most losses League-wide this calendar year.
Since Jan. 1, Price is 6-9-1. He has one more loss than Calvin Pickard of the last-place Colorado Avalanche, who out-dueled Price and the Canadiens in a 4-0 win on Feb. 7. Price has shaky peripherals in the span (3.12 GAA, .898 SV%) and has dropped to 100th overall (15th among goalies) in Yahoo's performance-based rankings.
FANTASY COVERAGE:
TOP 100 'F'
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TOP 50 'D'
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DFS PICKS: FEB. 16
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PROJ. GOALIES
This is not the performance fantasy owners have grown accustomed to seeing from Price through the years. He helped Team Canada win the World Cup of Hockey 2016 and came into the season as a consensus top five fantasy goalie. He won the Vezina Trophy and Hart Trophy in 2014-15, and was outstanding in 2015-16 prior to his season-ending injury.

He was 54-18-6 with a 1.98 GAA and .934 save percentage in the past two seasons combined and still has a strong record this season (24-14-5), but has taken a step back in GAA (2.46) and SV% (.917). He hasn't gotten much help from the defense in front of him lately.
The Atlantic Division-leading Canadiens have lost six of seven games this month, and have made a coaching change in an attempt to get their season back on track. They fired coach Michel Therrien on Tuesday and replaced him with Claude Julien, who was fired by the Boston Bruins on Feb. 7. Julien coached Montreal from 2002-03 to 2005-06.
Julien, who won the Stanley Cup with Boston in 2011, hasn't had a strong defense to work with in recent years with the Bruins. That said, his former goalie, Tuukka Rask, has had plenty of success under his watch, including this season. Julien's structured system will likely help Price and the Canadiens improve down the stretch.
But, because Price has been struggling for more than a month, fantasy owners have a chance to obtain him via trade for a lower-than-normal price. With the fantasy playoffs on the horizon, investing in Price could have you along for the ride in the event of a bounce-back under Julien.

TRENDING UP

Despite allowing two goals on 22 shots in a 2-1 loss at the Calgary Flames on Wednesday, Michal Neuvirth is clearly the hot hand for the Philadelphia Flyers. He had allowed two goals or fewer in six straight games. Neuvirth (38 percent owned) has started five of the past six for Philadelphia and will be in net again at the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday. Neuvirth has outperformed teammate Steve Mason (2.90) in terms of GAA (2.63). Mason (44 percent owned) has allowed eight goals in his past two starts and has started once this month. Each Flyers goalie has struggled with consistency, and it hasn't helped that the offense has been held to eight goals in the past seven games.

TRENDING DOWN

Carolina Hurricanes goalie Cam Ward has started six of their past seven games and 20 of the past 22. He's allowed a combined nine goals in his past two games and at least four in six of his past nine. Ward (58 percent owned) is still the No. 1, but has regressed after a strong start. What began as a career rebirth has now turned into an average season (2.62 GAA, .905 SV%) by his standards (2.69, .909). The Hurricanes, currently on their five-day break, begin a five-game homestand against the Colorado Avalanche on Friday. That's good news for Ward, who's 15-5-1 with a 2.27 GAA and .919 SV% at home. But outside of this homestand, there may be better streaming options in many fantasy leagues the rest of the way.

WORTH NOTING

-- Carter Hutton (14 percent owned) of the St. Louis Blues had his second straight shutout with 25 saves against the Detroit Red Wings on Wednesday. He made 26 saves in a 2-0 win against the Flyers on Feb. 6. Jake Allen has also responded after the Blues replaced Ken Hitchcock with Mike Yeo on Feb. 1; the starter is 4-1-0 with a .953 SV% and one shutout in the span. If you own Allen, you might want to add Hutton as an insurance policy and reap the benefits of this emerging tandem.
-- Craig Anderson (personal leave) returned for the Senators on Saturday after missing more than two months. In his first game back, he made 33 saves in a 3-0 shutout against the New York Islanders. He followed that up allowing three goals on 25 shots in a 3-2 loss to the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday. Anderson (78 percent owned) has a 2.37 GAA, .926 SV% and four shutouts this season and should get the bulk of the starts for Ottawa. As a result, Mike Condon (43 percent owned) moves to the backup role and will likely only see occasional starts the rest of the way.
-- Roberto Luongo left the Florida Panthers' 6-5 overtime win against the San Jose Sharks on Wednesday late in the third period. Panthers coach Tom Rowe said Luongo "cramped up" and is fine. But a growing concern is that Luongo, 37, has allowed at least three goals in seven of his past eight games. Backup James Reimer (29 percent owned) replaced Luongo, earning his third win in four games. Monitor this situation, especially with the Panthers offense igniting for 24 goals in five games since the return of forwards Aleksander Barkov and Jonathan Huberdeau.

TOP 25 FANTASY GOALIES

These rankings were last updated Feb. 16
1. Braden Holtby, WSH (SAME)
2. Devan Dubnyk, MIN (SAME)
3. Matt Murray, PIT (+2)
4. Sergei Bobrovsky, CBJ (SAME)
5. Carey Price, MTL (-2)
6. Martin Jones, SJS (SAME)
7. Tuukka Rask, BOS (+2)
8. Pekka Rinne, NSH (-1)
9. Cam Talbot, EDM (-1)
10. Corey Crawford, CHI (SAME)
11. Henrik Lundqvist, NYR (SAME)
12. John Gibson, ANA (SAME)
13. Ben Bishop, TBL (SAME)
14. Frederik Andersen, TOR (SAME)
15. Jake Allen, STL (+4)
16. Craig Anderson, OTT (+4)
17. Peter Budaj, LAK (SAME)
18. Cory Schneider, NJD (SAME)
19. Thomas Greiss, NYI (-4)
20. Roberto Luongo, FLA (-4)
21. Jimmy Howard, DET (NR - INJ.)
22. Robin Lehner, BUF (+1)
23. Michal Neuvirth, PHI (NEW)
24. Connor Hellebuyck, WPG (NEW)
25. Cam Ward, CAR (-4)
*NR - INJ. - Not ranked last week because of injury
Dropped out: Mike Condon (OTT), James Reimer (FLA), Petr Mrazek (DET)
Key injuries:Jonathan Quick (LAK), Ondrej Pavelec (WPG), Semyon Varlamov (COL)
READ: Last week's Top 25 goalie rankings