Goalie Announcements (Oct 5)

The early returns on the goaltenders have been very good to start the 2019 regular season, as we've played 14 NHL games and thanks to some overtime in a handful of games, we're seeing an average of 119 goalie minutes collected per game, pretty well getting two full goalie games in each start.

Unfortunately, that comes to a crashing halt tonight, thanks to Grant's decision to move keepers in the preseason Waiver Draft and I will touch on that here right away.

Curtis McElhinney (N/A) versus Sergei Bobrovsky (Kristy & Don)
Both the Hurricanes and Blue Jackets are on back-to-back nights and the Jackets are having their home opener tonight, so they saved their number one goalie for their fans, while the Hurricanes played their current number one last night.  Kristy & Don have opened the season well, picking up 11 points in the opening two nights, ranking 5th in the standings.  A goalie start for the powerful Jackets should certainly help their cause tonight.

Curtis McElhinney was a late round pick for Grant at the draft in September, but the axe fell on him in Toronto, as the team placed him on waivers for the purpose of reassignment and that was enough for eligibility in the preseason Waiver Draft, so Grant dropped him for the current Toronto backup, Garret Sparks.  Grant currently sits in 25th with 1 point.

Martin Jones (Brenda & Seward) versus Jonathan Quick (Derek B.)
Only two games on a Friday night?  Is the NHL mad?  Nah, with 12 games on Saturday, they will certainly make up for the quiet night in a hurry.  In the late, late game, the Sharks and Kings go head-to-head in the opener in Los Angeles and it promises to be a pretty good goalie match-up, with Jones taking on Quick.

It's still early days in the season, but this is already a basement battle, where the 24th place team belonging to the pool's second duo, takes on Derek's number one goalie for his 20th place team.  Derek has a 5-2 lead over the duo in points, neither team are very far from the top, so a big result one way or the other can certainly relieve some early stresses.