Cloutier out, Mathieu Garon... is he worth a pickup?

Scanning the newswires I read that Dan Cloutier is likely out for the season after hip surgery today. This makes Mathieu Garon an interesting Fantasy Hockey pick-up.

For most of the season Garon has been the backup on a team looking at the playoff picture from the outside. This makes it likely that many fantasy leagues will see him available on the waiver wire.

I know he is available in my Yahoo Private League and with the way Tim Thomas is playing right now I am seriousely considering dropping Thomas as my third string keeper and replacing him with a starting Garon.

I wouldn't recommend him as a primary starter, but I can see his value over goalies like Norrena, Khabibulin, Budaj, Holmqvist etc. And once Phoenix remembers who they are he is also more valuable than their tandem of Curtis Joseph and Mikael Tellqvist.

If you have one of these guys as your second or third goaltender, I would suggest you make the swap before someone else beats you to it.