Pittsburgh Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury (29) lies on the ice after allowing a goal to Philadelphia Flyers' Vincent Lecavalier (40) in the first period of an NHL hockey game in Pittsburgh Wednesday, April 1, 2015. The Flyers won 4-1. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Dobber Hockey launched in 2005 and Dobber and his staff have hitched their wagons to Puck Daddy to preach fantasy hockey to the Yahoo! masses since 2009.

As in real hockey, goaltending is the most important position in fantasy hockey. In many formats, goalies make up close 10 percent of your roster but account for 40 percent to 50 percent of your categories. If you get stuck with a below average group your chances of success are slim.

I’ve been using a tiered system for years and most of the time goaltending has been an asset to my team. Sure, there are some years where injuries kill me and that just can't be helped (thanks Craig Anderson). But if you employ a tier system and come away with three reasonably strong goaltenders, you can protect yourself against that.

The main thing to remember when setting up your 'Tiers' is that it's not just about skill and production. Often, it’s about opportunity and team strength. Jonathan Bernier is a talented goalie, but splitting starts with James Reimer on a team that will struggle for even 30 wins makes him next to fantasy useless.

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Never start drafting goaltenders until there is a chance that you will miss out on all of your Tier 1 goalies. Then make sure you get one. After that, go back to forwards and defensemen until there is a chance that the Tier 2 goalies will be scooped up. Whatever happens - make sure you have at least one from Tier 1 and one from your Tier 2 (or a second from Tier 1 if one of them falls too far). Or if you really want to protect yourself as I should have last year, get one Tier 1 goalie and two from the second tier.

Tier 1

The cream of the crop. Posting 35-40 wins should be in the cards for this group as well as some great GAA and SV% totals. Unless something happens like a major injury, or they get traded to Arizona.

Pekka Rinne, Nashville Predators - Between his health (hip surgery) and a new coach, fantasy owners were wary of Rinne last summer. He played 64 games last season, tied for second most in his career, so those fears were definitely laid to rest. A safe bet for 35 wins and a good bet for 40.

Jaroslav Halak, New York Islanders - After so many years of sharing the net in Montreal and St. Louis, Halak has emerged as the undisputed No.1 starter - and for a team that is now quickly moving up among the elite. If he can stay healthy, he'll start close to 70 games. But he can't, so bank on 60 (which could still mean 40 wins).

Carey Price, Montreal Canadiens- The cream of the crop. The one goalie who is so good that you may want to break the 'tier' strategy above and just go ahead and draft him in the first round before anyone else can.

Marc-Andre Fleury, Pittsburgh Penguins - Despite the Cup ring, Fleury is still trying to find his way in the postseason. That's not the case in the regular season where he has 34 or more wins in seven seasons, and added 10 shutouts in 2014-15.

Braden Holtby, Washington Capitals - The magic of Barry Trotz continues on this new team as he's created another 40-win elite fantasy goaltender. Bank on Holtby to repeat, barring injury - it's Trotz's M.O.

Ben Bishop, Tampa Bay Lightning - As a starting goaltender Bishop has averaged 62.5 starts and 38.5 wins per season over two years. That kind of success ensures that he'll continue to be 'the guy' no matter how great the wunderkind (Andrei Vasilevskiy) is.

Frederik Andersen, Anaheim Ducks - The Ducks removed any lingering doubt about Andersen's status by acquiring Anton Khudobin. It essentially puts the star prospect John Gibson in the AHL for a full season so Andersen can do his thing.

Tier 2

Many goalies from my Tier 2 could jump to Tier 1 if they can stay healthy. By the same token, it wouldn't take much for them to slide down to Tier 3 either.

Tuukka Rask, Boston Bruins - A former Tier 1 - hell a former elite - goalie, Rask takes a bit of a tumble. A little of this is due to his subpar season. But the bigger part is due to Boston's non-playoff season and subsequent offseason moves.

Corey Crawford, Chicago Blackhawks - Crawford should be a shoe-in as a Tier 1 guy because Chicago is awesome and he's the No.1 goalie. But backup Scott Darling was good enough to not only chase Antti Raanta out of town, but also steal a couple of playoff starts from Crawford. The concern here is how much Darling will cannibalize Crawford's starts.

Story continues