Mandatory Credit: Marilyn Indahl-USA TODAY Sports
Best NHL Team That Money Can Buy: Goalies
I really wanted to have Carey Price. However, thanks to my heavy spending, that wasn’t a possibility. I figured that it wasn’t worth it to make my dream NHL team weaker just to have the best goalie in the league.
Starting Goalie: Devan Dubnyk
Is it risky to assume that Dubnyk can repeat his stats with the Wild? Probably. However, that’s a risk I’m willing to take because of the potential value I could get for him. With a cap hit of $4.33 million, he was worth 20.38 GAR (third most among all goalies). With my defense and offense, I wouldn’t need him to be outstanding. I’d just need him to be good. I’m very confident he can be that. I could’ve gone really cheap and gone with Craig Anderson, but I figured I might as well invest my money in Dubnyk.
Backup Goalie: Scott Darling
I needed a dirt cheap goalie. Darling’s $570,000 cap hit was perfect. He’s also a pretty good backup goalie, with a GAR of 9.58. Not to mention he’s a pretty awesome guy who I have a ton of respect for as well. Hey, personality does count for something! Plus, if Dubnyk regresses, Darling has all the tools to be an above average goaltender (which is pretty much all this team needs anyway).
I came up just under the salary cap. In fact, I had just a tad bit over $100,000 left! Woo! I highly recommend that you try doing this yourself and post your rosters. This was honestly a lot of fun to do. If you decide to, I recommend trying different things. Maybe a cheap goaltender allows you to spend more on the team around them. Maybe you want Carey Price because you want the best. That’s the beauty of this exercise – it’s your team! And I’d love to hear yours!
All stats unless noted are courtesy of War-On-Ice
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