Week 7: Fantasy top 25 goalie rankings for 2016-17

All season long, NHL.com's David Satriano 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.

It's pretty rare to see a quality starting goalie owned in fewer than half of fantasy leagues past the quarter-mark of the season, but that's the situation with Mike Smith of the Arizona Coyotes right now.
Smith played the first two games of the season for the Coyotes before sustaining a leg injury which kept him out of the lineup for almost a month. He allowed six goals in the two games, so It's not surprising he wasn't prioritized in fantasy during his injury absence. The Coyotes offense started slower than expected, and Smith had 29 wins in 94 games over the past two seasons, along with a GAA of 2.63 or higher in each of the past three seasons.
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However, since returning from injury, Smith has been playing at a much higher level. He's started six games, allowing two or fewer goals in five of them. True, he allowed four goals on 17 shots and was pulled in a 4-1 loss to the Vancouver Canucks on Nov. 23, but Smith made at least 34 saves in four of the five other games, including three games with at least 40 saves (2-0-1).
Smith (41 percent owned) is 4-1-2 and has his save percentage up to .928. If healthy (and that's a big "if"), he could replicate his strong peripherals of 2011-12; he went 38-18-10 with a 2.21 GAA, .930 SV% and eight shutouts that season.
Coyotes backup Louis Domingue (4 percent owned) has not started since Nov. 17, and has struggled so far this season (4-8-1, 3.21 GAA, .904 SV%). Smith has the starting job to himself until further notice and cracks the top 25 fantasy rankings at his position for good reason.

TRENDING UP

The Toronto Maple Leafs were hoping Frederik Andersen would become their franchise goalie when they acquired him in a trade with the Anaheim Ducks on June 20 and signed him to a five-year contract. It remains to be seen if that bold move will pay off long-term, but Andersen has rebounded nicely after a rocky start with two goals allowed or fewer in six straight games (4-2-0). Backup Jhonas Enroth, winless on the season (0-3-1), allowed three goals on 29 shots faced in a 3-0 loss to the Calgary Flames on Wednesday, so Andersen has a firm grasp on the No. 1 duties. Andersen, who should be back in goal for Toronto on Saturday against the Vancouver Canucks, has 10 wins in 19 games and should further improve his peripherals (2.92 GAA, .912 SV%) behind a young, talented Maple Leafs offense (3.04 goals per game, fourth in NHL).

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TRENDING DOWN

New Jersey Devils goalie Cory Schneider has impressive career marks in GAA (2.19) and SV% (.924). In each of his first three seasons in New Jersey, his GAA was below 2.30 and his SV% was above .920. He started off the season well but has allowed at least three goals in each of his past five starts -- very out of the ordinary for him. In 58 games last season, Schneider allowed three or more goals 17 times and four or more goals seven times. Just past the quarter-mark of this season, he's allowed three or more goals nine times and four or more goals four times. Schneider has an 8-6-3 record with a 2.56 GAA and .914 SV%, and has had a SV% under .900 in each of his past five games. He's the first to admit that, when the Devils score three goals, he should be able to stop enough pucks for the win, but that hasn't been the case lately. The Devils have lost six of their past seven, and Schneider has been in goal for four of the losses.

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WORTH NOTING

• Chad Johnson (46 percent owned) stopped all 39 shots faced against the Maple Leafs on Wednesday for his third shutout of the season. He's 8-4-1 with a 2.06 GAA and .930 SV% and has started eight of the past 10 games for the Flames, pushing the struggling Brian Elliott into the backup role for now.
  - Ottawa Senators backup goalie Mike Condon (13 percent owned) will start Thursday against the Philadelphia Flyers. Starter Craig Anderson took an indefinite leave of absence from the Senators to be with his wife, who began cancer treatment Wednesday. Condon is 2-1-0 this season with a .939 SV% and one shutout.
  - Calvin Pickard (17 percent owned) has started each of the past two games for the Colorado Avalanche and has allowed a combined seven goals in the span. He does have better numbers than Semyon Varlamov (61 percent owned), but it's hard to trust either in fantasy. Pickard (4-2-1, 2.44 GAA, .920 SV, one SO) has started seven games, and Varlamov (5-9-0, 3.08 GAA, .904 SV%, one SO) has started 14.

TOP 25 FANTASY GOALIES

These rankings were last updated Dec. 1
1. Carey Price, MTL (SAME)
2. Tuukka Rask, BOS (SAME)
3. Devan Dubnyk, MIN (SAME)
4. Matt Murray, PIT (+1)
5. Braden Holtby, WSH (-1)
6. Pekka Rinne, NSH (+1)
7. Martin Jones, SJS (+1)
8. Jake Allen, STL (+4)
9. Henrik Lundqvist, NYR (SAME)
10. Sergei Bobrovsky, CBJ (SAME)
11. Corey Crawford, CHI (SAME)
12. Roberto Luongo, FLA (+1)
13. Cory Schneider, NJD (-6)
14. Chad Johnson, CGY (+7)
15. Craig Anderson, OTT (DTD, personal)
16. Andrei Vasilevskiy, TBL (SAME)
17. John Gibson, ANA (+5)
18. Cam Talbot, EDM (SAME)
19. Ben Bishop, TBL (-4)
20. Cam Ward, CAR (-3)
21. Frederik Andersen, TOR (NEW)
22. Petr Mrazek, DET (NEW)
23. Peter Budaj, LAK (SAME)
24. Marc-Andre Fleury, PIT (-4)
25. Mike Smith, ARI (NEW)
Dropped out: Jaroslav Halak (NYI), Jonathan Bernier (ANA)
Just missed:Connor Hellebuyck (WPG), Steve Mason (PHI), Thomas Greiss (NYI), Antti Niemi (DAL), Mike Condon (OTT)
Key injuries: Jonathan Quick (LAK), Jimmy Howard (DET), Michal Neuvirth (PHI), Robin Lehner (BUF)
READ: Last week's Top 25 goalie rankings