I Advise Fantasy Hockey Mangers To Wave The White Flag On Thatcher Demko
I might be undefeated in fantasy hockey but I’m not undefeated in all my calls this year. Only about 98.7% of them. If you were with me on the Thatcher Demko train, I advise you to hop off. I already have numerous days ago. I apologize for not writing the blog sooner; I’m here telling you now. Get off the train.
Sometimes it’s ok to wave the white flag. It’s better than doubling down on a mistake. I advise people to do the same if they’re in need of a new goalie. I advise positive results if you follow me on this journey early in the season.
Fantasy and real-life success don’t always translate. I love Thatcher Demko the real-life goalie which is why I was in initially. Fantasy goalie? Nope, can’t do it and it’s not his fault. This Canucks ship is a sinking ship. It’s not getting any better, at least this year.
The blue line depth is terrible. There is no team defense here. The Oliver Ekman-Larsson trade is as bad as it gets. We can do this for an eternity. The long story short is when your first line right d man is Luke Schenn, you’re going to struggle with goal prevention. I thought the Canucks could overcome it because they were hot to end the year after the switch to Bruce Boudreau but it turned out to be more like an outlier stretch.
Through eight games, Demko has a 1-6 record with a 4.06 GAA, and an .876 SV%. In fantasy, that tanks you quite literally. Through those eight starts, Demko is goalie 67 in fantasy averaging -1.7 points per start. Yes, you are reading that correctly. NEGATIVE 1.7 per game. Thus far you have been better off starting nobody instead of Demko. Trust me, I know from experience. It’s a dead dog loser call by me. The good news is there is a way to save your season.
Stuart Skinner (13.2% owned up 8.1 in the last week) and Adin Hill (16.5 & +10.9) are both great pickups right now on the waiver wire. Only the real people paying attention have caught these great early season additions but you most likely still can too. For the record, I have Jack Campbell and Logan Thompson on my team too.
Keep up and pay attention. Jack Campbell isn’t going to start every game. No goalie ever does. In the early season window, Skinner is just flat outplaying him. Through four starts, Skinner has stopped 128 out of a possible 134 on net. He’s a young goalie who has promise and it’s shining right now.
Hill isn’t quite brick wall status but he’s playing really well as most goalies do under Bruce Cassidy. Four starts in, Hill has a 1.72 GAA and .940 SV%. The guy is 6-foot-6 after all. He doesn’t really have to move in order to blockade the net, to begin with.
The larger point here is both Skinner and Hill are goalies who play for teams that are going to produce wins. The Oilers and Knights are going to be at or near the top of the Western Conference by the end of the year. Connor McDavid is a hungry dog running trying to get that Rocket Richard and Vegas looks fantastic notching 18 out of a possible 22 points to start the year. When you can pocket four points for every win, your goalie becomes pretty hard to top.
Other options I like if you’re looking for goalie replacements for Demko include Craig Anderson, Jonathan Quick, Antti Raanta, and Vitek Vanecek.
The point here remains the same. We’ve gotten a lot right on the fantasy hockey blogs including the call of the year in Logan Thompson. There is no point in banging your head against the wall waiting for the Canucks to turn this thing around. You’re just going to suffer a dirty shower of negative points in any given start. Through ten games, Vancouver has already given up at least five goals in four of the contests. Good luck surviving that when you need points the most.
Drop Demko or pay for it later. It’s only going to get worse when Bo Horvat gets traded at the deadline.
