Monday Morning Ramblings ft. Dobes, Vladar, Schmid and More

Welcome fantasy managers to another week of the Monday Morning Ramblings. There’s a fair bit to sift through this week with plenty of news and notes as it pertains to the goaltending position. So, without further delay…….

Let’s get to it!

I’ll preface this by saying that I may be a bit biassed here but the Montreal Canadiens have been an absolute wagon to start the 2025-2026 season as one of the most exciting teams in hockey. Several players are enjoying phenomenal starts to their respective season, none more than backup Jakub Dobes.

Dobes has had an incredible run to begin the campaign fashioning a spectacular 5-0 record along with a miniscule 1.77 goals against and .940 save percentage as the Habs find themselves atop the Atlantic division ten games into the season. The 6’4” 215lbs native of Czechia has soundly outplayed incumbent Samuel Montembeault so far this year and if the latter cannot find his game in short order, the young backstop will continue to steal starts as coach Martin St-Louis has not hesitated to go to the hot hand early this season. A situation to monitor over the coming weeks.

Philadelphia Flyers netminder Dan Vladar has made quite the impression so far this year as he has given this Flyers team some much needed stability in goal. All Vladar has done is give his team a chance to win on a nightly basis as he has put together a solid 3-2 record with a superb 1.81 goals against and .932 save percentage while adding a calming presence to a young and exciting roster.

New coach Rick Toccett has turned to the former Calgary Flame as his de facto number one to begin the year having clearly outplayed last year's number one Sam Ersson by a wide margin up to this point in the season. If Vladar can continue to maintain this current level of play (or close to it), he will most certainly crush his previous high in games played (30 games started in 2024-2025) while providing some immense value both in the wins column as well as his peripheral numbers.

Joey Daccord is good at hockey, the Seattle Kraken’s number one netminder is on fire to start the season and by extension so is his team with the Kraken holding down second place in the Pacific division. Seattle has been quite stingy on the defensive end to begin the year with Daccord taking full advantage going 5-1-1 with a solid 2.48 goals against and .915 save percentage along with one shutout and a big reason for the Kraken’s strong start.

Daccord should see a high volume of starts this year with band-aid boy Matt Murray serving as the team's backup and with some of the team youth looking like they are ready to take the next step, it could be a rather fruitful year both in terms of wins and peripheral numbers for Seattle’s number one………Enjoy!

This is certainly not the start to the season that we all expected out of Filip Gustavsson, or the Minnesota Wild for that matter. The Wild stumbled out of the gate having put together a rather pedestrian 3-5-1 placing them last in the Central division while Gustavsson has not looked good so far going 2-5 with a bloated 3.34 goals against and .897 save percentage.

The team looks rather leaky on the defensive side of things to begin the year, however, with Jonas Brodin making his way back from injury and the continued growth as well as development from some of the teams young rearguards (Buium/Jiricek) could go a long way in helping Gustavsson level things off a bit here. All that being said, I do believe in the player’s talent as well as the team righting the ship in short order over the next handful of games. No time to panic at this point but continue to keep tabs on both the Wild and Gustavsson’s play.

The Vegas Golden Knights crease seems to be an ever revolving door doesn't it? The new Golden Boy (pun intended) is none other than Akira Schmid, he of New Jersey Devils fame back in 2022-2023 when he burst onto the scene going 9-5-2 with an excellent 2.14 goals against and .922 save percentage.

Fast forward to 2025-2026 and Schmid finds himself as the Knights number one while incumbent Adin Hill deals with a lower body injury and new signee Carter Hart gets acclimated to his new team. To say that Schmid has taken the ball and run with it would be an understatement as Schmid has fashioned a 4-1 record accompanied by a 2.67 goals against and .896 save percentage. I know his peripheral numbers may not jump off the page but if your league is weighted more towards wins, jump on boards and enjoy the ride as it may take Hart some time to regain his form as well as Adin Hill being week-to-week.

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Thanks for reading and feel free to follow me on X @mikeouellet9 or BlueSky @mikeouellet9.bsky.social

See you all again next Monday!