Bruins' Tuukka Rask is being drafted too high in fantasy hockey
The lasting image many hockey fans have of Tuukka Rask is seeing the goaltender absolutely dominate during the Stanley Cup playoffs. He backstopped the Boston Bruins to the brink of glory, with a sterling .934 save percentage and a 2.02 goals-against average.
For as impressive as that was, and as talented as the goaltender is, Rask’s current situation isn’t the most appealing for fantasy hockey players. One common trend among fantasy hockey’s elite netminders is large volumes of workload. The Bruins goalie, who already admitted to liking his rather light number of games last season, will probably get the same treatment this year.
Rask played in 46 games for Boston in 2018-19, and although his numbers can be improved upon (.912 SV%, 2.48 GAA), he only finished 19th among goaltenders last year in a standard scoring league.
With a sub-50 game workload, Rask would have to finish the 2019-20 season as a favourite to take home the Vezina Trophy in order to be within the top-5 at the position. And that’s where he’s currently being drafted, according to his ADP. In Yahoo drafts, he’s being selected as the fifth goalie off the board.
When you compare him to his goaltender teammate, Jaroslav Halak, drafting the latter actually makes more sense considering the backup’s ADP. Halak finished with the 21st most fantasy points among goalies last season and is currently being selected about 140 picks after Rask in drafts.
Yes, Rask may start a few more games and post improved numbers, but his workload will prevent him from returning value at his third-round ADP.
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