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Sean Allen, Special to ESPN.comJan 3, 2024, 11:44 AM ET
CloseSean Allen is a fantasy analyst for ESPN.com. He was the 2008 and 2009 Fantasy Sports Writers Association Hockey Writer of the Year. You can tweet him @seanard.
Martin Jones earning a shutout against the Los Angeles Kings on Tuesday is its own fresh twist in the Toronto Maple Leafs crease, which can be classified as a tragic drama this season. But I want to talk about the goaltender who was backing him up. It is not a lock that we see Dennis Hildeby make his NHL debut on Wednesday as the Leafs compete in the back half of consecutive games against the Anaheim Ducks.
But either way, with Ilya Samsonov waived, Joseph Woll still injured and largely unproven, and Jones only so reliable as a veteran we know, Hildeby needs to be on any and all fantasy radars. It’s unlikely he conjures the ghost of Andrew Hammond and/or Jordan Binnington (“Hammington,” henceforth), which means an third-or-more-string goaltender running the table in the second half of a season. But when that happens, the fantasy manager that starts riding the wave first can often do so all the way to a championship.
You may even be just fine for fantasy goaltending and have little to no interest in adding another one. That shouldn’t matter, as the pure value from a Hammington-type run can be parlayed into trade well before the deadline.
The 22-year-old Hildeby stands six-foot-seven, so almost appears as a total eclipse of the net. Though the Leafs may be loath to use him, circumstances have come about that could propel him to the top of this ever-changing depth chart in the coming weeks. For context: Hildeby is dominating the AHL this season, with the second-best goals-against average (2.20), seventh-best save percentage (.919) and a 7-5-3 record despite the Toronto Marlies middling record. And despite his own youth, he was fifth in both ratio categories in Sweden’s SHL last season.
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Source link : https://www.espn.com/fantasy/hockey/story/_/id/39234715/fantasy-hockey-stock-watch-waiver-wire-picks-starting-goalies-toronto-maple-leafs
Author : Sean Allen
Publish date : 2024-01-03 16:50:05
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