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The panelists are divided on the prospects for Craig Anderson for the remainder of the season.
Is Craig Anderson Vezina Trophy material, or is he nothing more than fool’s gold for the rest of the season?
Craig Anderson is a deserving winner of the NHL’s Player of the Month in October, and he has propelled many a fantasy team to the top of their league. The signs were there for a possible fast start, as Anderson was able to compete with Tomas Vokoun for playing time last season in Florida thanks to a .924 SV%.
Anderson will be a solid goalie for the rest of the season, but there are a couple points that I should make that would suggest that his statistics are due for a regression. First, the Avalanche have given up a league-leading 526 shots on goal this season. All the more reason that Anderson’s start has been impressive, but there is no way that the Avalanche will continue to win at the pace they have if they continue to give up 30 shots per game. Second, Anderson has never played more than 31 games in an NHL season, which only escalates the possibility that the increased workload will wear him down.
Take my advice: Sell high on Craig Anderson. One fantasy owner in my league tried to do so on me, which I of course politely declined.
Ian Gooding, fantasyhockey.com
Craig Anderson is definitely the real deal. His numbers in Colorado this season have been stunning, but if you look at his track record in Florida, you can’t help but be impressed. Last season he had a .924 save percentage in 31 games and in 17 games in 2007-07, he had a .935 save percentage and 2.25 goals against.
Basically, Anderson has been a solid goalie stuck on some awful teams for the past few seasons. Now, with the sudden resurgence of Colorado, he’s a solid goalie playing behind a hot team.
So not only is Anderson the real deal, he’s been the real deal for quite a while. We just couldn’t tell.
Steven Ovadia, RotoRob.com
Craig Anderson’s start has been one of the biggest surprises of the season but the party is about to end and now is the time to sell high on this Cinderella story. Not only will Anderson not win the Vezina trophy I don’t see him being one of the finalists.
These are strong words for a goalie that has been the best goalie so far this season but we are not even 15 games into the season for most teams and with Budaj playing well in his first start I wouldn’t be surprised to see Anderson splitting time with Budaj come January.
Marcus Schalle, Dobberhockey.com
There is no question that savvy poolies view Anderson as a ’sell-high’ candidate because his performance this season is suddenly so much better than his history (although his history isn’t one of a forgettable goalie either…last year he put up some amazing numbers) in Florida.
That said, it’s worth considering some facts before arguing one extreme or the other as to the case of Anderson’s worth.
Fact 1: Colorado currently is giving up 32.9 shots per game (25th overall).
So clearly Anderson is having to do a lot of work, he isn’t getting by on a defence-focused team (a la some critics of Scott Clemmensen’s solid work in New Jersey last year). Of course, others wonder whether this high shot count will eventually wear Anderson down.
Fact 2: Colorado is currently giving up 2.06 goals/game (2nd overall), but scoring 3.00 goals/game.
Unlike some of the other teams with stingy goals against averages in the league, like New Jersey (with a minuscule .07 goal difference) or Phoenix (with a medicore .31 goal difference), Colorado has a healthy .94 goal difference between their goals for and against. Many experts point to this ratio as a good predictor of team success over a season.
All that glitters may not be gold, but it ain’t all tinfoil either.
To my eye, there is more to Anderson than just his hot start.
Brent Lemon, DobberHockey.com
I think it’s obvious that Anderson is a good goalie, but I doubt that he’s going to continue to produce at this level. He likes to stay active in his goal and fall on a lot of pucks. After watching him play my Blackhawks last night, he seemed to make a lot of acrobatic saves, rather than just making the save and it could come back to hurt him. He’s got a shot at making Team USA, but it’s doubtful that he’ll beat out Ryan Miller for the starting role.
Kevin Orris, fantasypros911.com
Related Posts
- Fantasy Hockey Roundtable 01/09/2010
- Fantasy Hockey Roundtable 12/19/2009
- Fantasy Hockey Roundtable – Time To Trade 12/12/2009
- Fantasy Hockey Roundtable 11/28/2009
- Fantasy Hockey Roundtable 11/21/2009
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