Weekend Outlook: Gustavsson a strong Saturday option

Happy Friday everyone! With the smaller slate tonight there’s only four goaltenders to add and start, but looking at this weekend we have another massive slate tomorrow with a couple goaltenders that will be in good spots. With that, let’s dive in!

Filip Gustavsson, Minnesota Wild (Rostered in 23% of ESPN leagues, 55% Fantrax, 50% Yahoo) 17 starts, 11 wins, 1 OTL, 2.16 GA/G, .926Sv%, 1 SO

Very quietly Filip Gustavsson has had a good month winning three of his last four starts in net, and stopping 53 of 56 shots in his past two contests. He’s still available in most leagues for a roster addition and I think the hesitation here has to do with the Minnesota Wild starting Marc-Andre Fleury and Gustavsson as a tandem. While this can be harder to navigate, we have confirmation from the Wild that Gustavsson will start tomorrow and that gives us a great opportunity for a weekend add.

The Wild will travel to Florida this weekend and play a Panthers team that has the 10th ranked offense in the league but make no mistake that this is a club that can put volume on the net if given ample power play chances. The positive here is that Minnesota doesn’t really take a sizeable number of penalties per game and their team defense of late has been outstanding. They have the lowest goals against his month and that not only falls on goaltending but how good the team defense has been in front of them as well. The Wild have also excelled at not allowing high danger chances, with only four chances conceded since January first.

I think in DFS and Fantasy, Gustavsson makes a strong case in net and he might be one to hold onto for a week or so if the Wild begin to lean more on him for starts in net.

Sam Montembeault, Montreal Canadiens (Rostered in 5% of ESPN leagues, 27% Fantrax, 16% Yahoo) 19 starts, 9 wins, 2 OTL, 3.21 GA/G, .909Sv%, 1 SO

Maybe a harder sell here after last night’s game against the Panthers where Sam Montembeault allowed five goals, but looking at his advanced stats it’s clear he’s not getting much help. Montreal has the highest expected goals against since Christmas and Montembeault has been left on an island of his own somewhat, but has done well with the 3rd best goals against average over that time span.

It is Montreal, their forward defense and blueline aren’t particularly strong but I still think that Montembeault makes an interesting option this weekend. With primary starter Jake Allen currently out of the lineup, it’s likely that Montembeault starts tomorrow against the Toronto Maple Leafs. For fantasy and DFS that means one thing, volume.

If Montembeault sees 35-40 shots on net without giving up too much he’ll be an excellent lower priced option in DFS to help get unique. In fantasy, for those in leagues that start more than one goaltender it’s realistic to think that you probably have at least one starter in place for tomorrow given the size of the slate, but if you need another lower rostered option, Montembeault could be just that.

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