Edmundson missed the Blues preseason finale with a groin injury and it doesn’t appear as if he will play in their season opener either. If Edmundson is unable to play, look for Chris Butler to get into the Blues lineup.
Price was once revered as the best goalie in the NHL and one of the first goalies drafted in fantasy. He is coming off of the worst season of his career, posting a 3.11 GAA and .900 SV% across 49 games and the team in front of him only got worse this summer. Price will be a No.2 starting option throughout the season, but he is a very risky start against a high-powered Maple Leafs attack.
Tkachuk’s NHL debut will be put on hold because of a mild groin strain, but he shouldn’t be sidelined for too long. With Tkahuck out, Colin White will move up to centre the second line with Zack Smith and Mark Stone.
Andersen put a rough October behind him last year and ended up finishing the season with 38 wins in 66 starts while posting a 2.81 GAA, .918 SV% and five shutouts. Andersen draws a fantastic opening night matchup vs. a torn down Montreal team that he was 3-0 with a 1.66 GAA, .950 SV% and one shutout against last season.
During the 2017-18 season, Markstrom started a career-high 57 games and went 23-26-7 with a 2.71 GAA, .912 SV% and two shutouts. The Sedin Twins are gone, but the Canucks have some young blood that could provide Markstrom with a decent amount of goal support this year. Tonight he faces a Flames team that he was 1-2-0 while allowing 13 goals on 78 shots (.833 SV%) against last year.
With Virtanen leaving practice on Tuesday, Brendan Leipsic played in his spot on the power-play and Tyler Motte drew in on the third line. The former No.6 overall pick is questionable for tomorrow’s game vs. the Flames, but doesn’t carry a lot of fantasy upside thanks to a limited offensive role in the Canucks’ lineup.
Varlamov enjoyed a strong 2018 season, winning 24 of his 51 games with a 2.68 GAA, .920 SV% and two shutouts. He will be pushed harder for starts this year with Philipp Grubauer in town, but that could help push the Russian netminder. Varlamov won both of his starts while only allowing two goals on 66 shots (.970 SV%) against the Wild last year.
There is no word on when Tkachuk suffered the injury, but it looks like his NHL debut will be put on hold fo now. This summer’s fourth overall pick had 31 points (8G / 23A) in 40 games at Boston University and is expected to skate on the second line with Mark Stone and Zack Smith when he is healthy.
Ward spent the first 13 seasons of his NHL career in Carolina, where he had a 2.70 GAA and .909 SV% across 668 games. This summer he signed with the Blackhawks, where he projects to be Corey Crawford’s backup when Crawford gets healthy. He will be a very risky option over the course of the season, but if you can’t trust him vs. the Senators, you’ll never be able to trust him.
Mrazek enjoyed a breakout season during the 2016 season, but has tied for the league’s worst qualified SV% (.901) in 89 games since. With Scott Darling out to start the regular season, Mrazek will get a shot as the Hurricanes’ No.1 right away. He will be playing behind one of the best possession teams in hockey, so he should see less shots than he became accustom to in Detroit.
Holtby struggled during the 2017-18 regular season, posting a 2.99 GAA and .907 SV% in 54 starts. He ended up sitting to start the postseason, but took over in Game 3 of Round 1 and never looked back. The 29-year-old went 16-7 with a 2.16 GAA, .922 SV% and two shutouts in 22 starts to lead the Capitals to the Stanley Cup. He will look to get 2018-19 started on the right foot against a Bruins team that he was 3-0 against last year.
Halak replaced Tuukka Rask in the Bruins 7-0 loss to the Capitals on Wednesday. Halak entered the game when it was 5-0 and ended up stopping 16 of 18 shots (.889 SV%) in his Bruins debut. Halak was originally scheduled to start on Thursday, but Bruce Cassidy wouldn’t say who would start after Wednesday’s game, since both goalies played vs. Washington.
Rask started 60-plus games from 2015-to-2017 but was limited to just 53 starts in 2018. Despite a few less starts for the ageing netminder, Rask won 34 games with a 2.36 GAA, .917 SV% and three shutouts. Playing behind one of the strongest teams in the NHL, Rask should be in-line for a lot of wins in 2019, but draws a tough matchup out of the gate. Rask was 13-8-2 with a 2.51 GAA, .915 SV% and three shutouts on the road last year.
