Chris Driedger

A torn right ACL kept Driedger off the ice for the first four months of the 2022-23 campaign, and he didn't get into an NHL game last year. He was just alright with AHL Coachella Valley, posting a 9-4-0 record, a 2.61 GAA and a .908 save percentage over 14 appearances. The Kraken have an opening for the backup goalie job behind Philipp Grubauer, and it'll likely come down to Driedger or Joey Daccord. Fantasy managers can wait to see how the battle plays out in training camp before investing a pick on Driedger, who could still see some NHL action in 2023-24 given Grubauer's shaky numbers and Daccord's inexperience.

Driedger was a lifesaver for the Panthers this past season, appearing in 23 games for the club and posting a 14-6-3 record, a 2.07 GAA, a .927 save percentage and three shutouts. The Kraken were so impressed by his performance that they opted to select Driedger in the expansion draft and immediately gave him a new three-year, $10.5 million contract to presumably be their No. 1 goaltender. Things changed exactly a week later when Seattle inked reigning Vezina Trophy finalist Philipp Grubauer to a six-year, $35.4 million deal. The contracts the two netminders signed indicate Grubauer is going to be the starter with Driedger serving as his backup, limiting the latter's fantasy value.

Driedger came out of nowhere last season, taking over as Sergei Bobrovsky's primary backup after being promoted to the big club in late November and finishing the campaign with a 7-2-1 record and a highly impressive 2.05 GAA and .938 save percentage in 12 appearances. It wouldn't be wise to expect the 26-year-old backstop to perform at that level over a presumably larger sample size in 2020-21, and Bobrovsky will obviously still start a large majority of the Panthers' games, but Driedger should still be able to post a winning record with solid GAA and save percentage figures while giving Bob the occasional night off. Still, he likely won't see enough action to be worth a roster spot in most fantasy formats, but Driedger should remain a solid streaming option in a pinch.

Driedger, a third-round selection by the Senators in 2012, spent the majority of last season at ECHL Evansville, logging an ugly .885 save percentage in 40 games. Despite those poor numbers, injuries eventually paved the way for him to climb all the way to the NHL level, where he made one relief appearance while Craig Anderson and Robin Lehner were sidelined. Lehner has since been traded to Buffalo, but the late-season emergence of Andrew Hammond along with the signing of top college prospect Matt O’Connor appears to leave Driedger no better than fourth on the Sens' organizational goalie depth chart.

Driedger played most of last season in the WHL, but did make one appearance with AHL Binghamton, allowing two goals on 22 shots in a relief effort. With Craig Anderson and Robin Lehner entrenched in the NHL, it would take a couple serious injuries to even make Driedger a relevant backup netminder next season.