ESPN

Despite the NHL's renewed focus on offense the past year-plus, there still isn't any more important position to get consistent success from in fantasy hockey than your goaltenders. Many people seemed to suggest the idea of "punting" goalies this year, with so few trustworthy top options, but I'd argue in a year where the top tier was so thin, all that does is make getting a No. 1 goalie much more important.

Take a look through seven weeks, and only Martin Brodeur, Miikka Kiprusoff, Marty Turco, Dominik Hasek, Roberto Luongo and Tomas Vokoun strike me as clear-cut No. 1 goalies you can absolutely trust for every game the remainder of the season, and even then, Hasek is one of the game's most notorious injury risks. A few others are close, but with some of those who are close at risk to get hurt and others on teams that have a top-quality backup likely to keep pressing them for the starting role all season, there's no guarantee your guy will be the go-to one for his team all season.

With such instability in the nets, let's take a look at nine teams whose goalie situations today are very much up in the air. Will any of these somewhat-risky options step up as reliable fantasy plays, or will those who have already keep up their torrid starts?

To continue reading this article you must be an Insider