Goalies to buy or sell

Special to Yahoo Sports

Fantasy hockey veterans will know that there’s inherently a ton of randomness in a game played on ice with blades of steel strapped to the players’ feet while blasting around a piece of vulcanized rubber at over 100 mph. Player performance can be tough to predict, but none more so than goaltending, especially this season.

Goalies are, by far, the most frustrating part of the experience, which is why they’re part of the focus of this week’s Trade Targets column. Players featured on this list must be rostered in over 50% of Yahoo leagues — otherwise, you can just pick them up from the player pool — but note that Carolina’s Pyotr Kochetkov (29% rostered) and Vancouver’s Spencer Martin (18%) are noteworthy trade targets if they’re already rostered in your league.

Trade For

Joel Eriksson Ek, C, Wild (51% rostered)

The center position on the Wild continues to be in flux, and there’s still no return date set for Ryan Hartman (upper body), who has been the team’s preferred pivot between Kirill Kaprizov and Mats Zuccarello over the past couple of seasons. Right now, Sam Steel is playing in that coveted spot, but he hasn’t done much in the role.

The big boon from playing with Kaprizov will come on the power play, anyway, and this is where Eriksson Ek has some hidden fantasy value because he’s the pivot on Minnesota’s top unit. He’s scored five points on the power play already and, despite playing on the third line at even strength, has scored 17 points in 21 games this season. He’s currently on a five-point, three-game heater.

Andrei Kuzmenko, LW, Canucks (49% rostered)

We’re cheating the rules a little bit because Kuzmenko is just shy of being rostered in half of all Yahoo leagues, but fantasy managers looking for excellent point production should look no further. Last week, I highlighted Elias Pettersson as a trade target because he’s taken his play to the next level, and riding on his coattails is Kuzmenko, who has 21 points in 22 games and carried…