Chris Nichols

­Chris Nichols is Sportsnet.ca's fantasy hockey writer.

That's a wrap for today, but Q&A will return on Monday.

Have you got a brief fantasy hockey question? Drop a line to chris.nichols@sportsnet.rogers.com within 24 hours or so of any Q&A (to keep your league info relevant) and your email may be included in the blog, which will begin live at 3pm et/ 12pm pt on Mondays and Thursdays. One per person, please. Don't forget to include your first name and hometown to represent!

Video: Just a little patience...

Posted at 3:41pm et
BYE WEEK PREPS
T in Van
"Hey Chris,
Thanks for the help earlier in the year, i managed to finish in first, while grabbing a bye in the first playoff week. Now that the regular season is out of the way, I need a little advice for the playoffs.

I have Cammalleri on IR (picked him up after reading your reply), and I heard he might be coming back last week of March, wondering how much truth there is to that rumour. To make space for Camm, I'll have to drop a player to activate him, and my candidates are Raymond, Myers, Bourque, Backes

I'm looking at Raymond since he was dropped from the 2nd line, or Myers since the rest of my D is respectable... my potential opponent next week has Luongo, Kesler and D Sedin, and has made an attempt for Raymond before, wondering if it's a good idea to hold on to Raymond a little longer, or maybe it shouldn't matter if he picks up Raymond on waivers. Most of my positions are pretty set so it's just minor tweaks (I hope). I'm also thinking of picking up Paul Martin if i drop Myers, let me know what you think

My opponents team:
Kesler, Laich (C,LW), Teows
Nash, D Sedin, Fleischmann(LW, RW)
Hornqvist
Timonen, Carle, Robidas, Giordano
Bench: Sturm, Stajan

Quick, Luongo, Hiller

My Team:
Malkin, H sedin, Sharp(C,LW,RW)
Stewart, Ryan(LW,RW), Backes
Heatley, Bourque, Raymond
Lidstrom, Keith, Pronger, Myers(for now)
IR Cammalleri

Vokoun, Howard, C Mason

Thanks!!"

Chris
Congrats on the regular season win and good luck in the playoffs. I'd agree with dropping Raymond (for the L3 assignment reason you mentioned) for Cammalleri if and when Cammalleri comes back. From what I've read, he hopes to practice with the team next week and then just go from there. He'd be a great boost for your roster.

If Martin's an upgrade on Myers, it'd be a slight one at best. Martin is just a so-so fantasy guy, but maybe the addition of Ilya Kovalchuk to this team will boost Martin's PP worth if he sticks on the other point. Kovalchuk actually never seems to leave the ice on the PP at all, so that's good for all Jersey special teams guys.

The other option that a lot of H2H owners play with each season is just dropping your fourth D altogether and rolling with an extra FA winger/ C that'll likely end up with more points in a two or three games than your extra D would get in four games. Food for thought anyway, depending on the quality of FA available.

Posted at 3:34pm et
FANTASY FIX
Pete from DC
"Chris,
My Commish decided to add one more roster spot for each team, and this will be my last move of the season. I'm curious to see, with the following stats, which forward from this group you think will be the best bet for the remainder of the season.

Stats: Power Play Points 1, Goals 1, Assists 1, Game Winning Goals 2, Short Handed Goals 1, +/- 1.

Guerin, Morrow, Hedjuk, Pominville, Bergeron, Brunette, Stoll, O. Jokinen and Mueller.

Personally, I'm leaning with Mueller or Hejduk, but there are definitely some solid options available and with one move left and an added roster spot, I figured to make it count. What do you think? Thanks again for a great season man."

Chris
Thank you and stick around for the playoffs and summer, of course. The blogs never stop.

I don't think there's a clear favourite in that group, but if I had to choose one I'd probably lean toward Hejduk or Bergeron. Mueller has been really enticing and if Hejduk produces then Mueller likely will too on that line, but the others have a track record on which we can draw. I absolutely LOVE what Mueller has done since the trade though. Fantastic. I'm really happy for him after the trials and tribulations he had trying to gain some consistency in his game for Phoenix.

Posted at 3:26pm et
BYE WEEK TRAIN WRECK!
John from Calgary (Go Oilers Go!)
"Aren't bye weeks supposed to be a blessing in the first round of H2H playoffs? I was thinking it would be a time to get healthy but it's turned into a train wreck with Samuelsson who had been red hot going down and now Seabrook going down as well (haven't heard anything about his status though?) Now with only two moves left and limited talent available via FA I'm trying to reload for the playoffs. Cats are G, A, PPP, SHP, +/-, PIM and GWG. We keep three LW, RW, C and 4D and with Hossa, Boyes, Horton (hopefully back in action for next week), Hornqvist and Giroux Samuelsson would likely not have been a keeper anyways so if he doesn't get IR designation I can probably drop him to add another player and with Keith, Kaberle, Streit, Goligoski and Edler as my other D Seabrook had an outside chance at being a keeper but could still be dropped if his injury is anything longer term.

Notable FA - Brouwer, Bertuzzi (LW/RW), Pitkanen, Foster, Giordano, Stempniak, Holmstrom, Ian White, Miettinen, Fehr, Recchi, Ryder, Salo. Should I replace Samuelsson and/or Seabrook with any of these options to use my last couple moves to be ready for the semis next week or would Samuelsson and/or Seabrook be likely keepers for me at their positions and worth holding onto if they don't get IR designation by Sunday night? Thanks again for your help and I'm glad they finally fixed the issues with posting your blogs onto the main Sportsnet page the last couple of days."

Chris
Sorry for any inconvenience there John. If the issue pops up again, know that you can always access that night's live game blog by pulling up an old one and then just subbing in the new date in the old url. That also works for the Q&As too.

That's too bad about Samuelsson for you and I haven't heard anything definitive on Seabrook as I write this. I can't see Seabrook being a keeper for you, so adding Pitkanen for him would be an option. That -11 rating is a bit deceiving and he's been decent there in the second half.

I'm not crazy about any of those wing options, but I'd put my faith in old man Holmstrom and drop Samuelsson. Samuelsson could potentially be a keeper for you, but you've got to win now and it's not like he's a fantasy stud. Good, but not great. Stempniak has been hot too, but he's Stempniak.

Posted at 3:18pm et
ROOKIE DRAFT
Blair
"Hey Chris,
I had a pretty rough fantasy season in one of my pools this year highlighted by the stupidest move I have ever done in trading away Tavares. So anyways I finished in the basement and I have secured the 2nd overall pick. We have pretty standard stats with no PIMs and it's 12 teams H2H. My Roster is:
C - Bergeron, Laich, Zetterberg, Mueller
LW - Penner, Booth, Frolov
RW - Afinogenov, Backes, Latendresse, Okposo
D -Edler, Visinovsky, Bouwmeester, Foster, Pietrangelo
G - Smith, Rinne, Fleury
We keep all players.

My question is who would be my ideal 2nd overall pick. Hall will likely be first but you never know, people are saying Seguin may be the best prospect. And are there any guys I should look for late in the draft? ( besides my 2nd overall I have 2 2nd rounders, 1 3rd , 1 4th, 1 5th)
Thanks for the help."

Chris
Blair, your ideal second pick is really just going to be whichever of Hall or Seguin falls to you. It's out of your control, so there's not much to do here but happily take whichever of those two isn't taken first. I'll have some draft content closer to the draft itself, but in the meantime you can read the junior hockey content here on Sportsnet.ca from the writers that get to watch these players on a nightly basis and you'll likely glean some insight for potential sleepers that way. One focus I try to have each summer when I write about the prospects is tackling what each organization says they've got in mind for their picks, which can help us chart a developmental path in fantasy terms.

Posted at 3:09pm et
ROSTER EVAL
Lisa
"Hi Chris, would like a roster eval for the final 3 weeks. 14 team H2H single season league with points for G, A, +/-, PPG, PPP, GWG, PiMs, W, SHO, SV% & GAA. Start 2C, 2LW, 2RW, 4D, 1 Utility & 2G with 6BN & 2IR. C - Connolly, Gomez, Backstrom, Briere (also RW); LW - Kovalchuk, Comeau, Cooke, Fleischmann (also RW); RW - Kessel, Stempniak, Holmstrom; D - Myers, Salo, Yandle, Lidstrom, Martin (IR), Vlasic (IR); G = Miller, Howard, Leighton, Boucher.

I recently added Cooke for the expected Thursday PIMs vs. Boston and will drop him right after and replace with Martin. Still need more PIMs in my lineup, I think, but if I punt that category and win the other 10, no biggie. If Leighton goes on IR, I can replace Vlasic with him and use the slot to pick up one FA. Also would like another LW (Kariya, Galiardi, Fedotenko?) since I'd be down to 3. Whatcha think?"

Chris
We should know more about Leighton's high ankle sprain once the results of today's MRI are known. He's expected to miss at least a few weeks though and since you're in an H2H league where every night counts, I'd be more inclined to not wait around for an IR designation and just drop him.

In terms of which LW to add, I'd actually favour them in the order you've got them listed now: Kariya, Galiardi and then Fedotenko.

Comeau has been hot, but I wouldn't hesitate to swap him out with a better option at the first sign of him going cold. Hopefully Fleischmann can keep an L2 slot upon Ovechkin's return, rather than L3. He's been up and down in the line-up recently, although they do still seem to like him on the PP.

Posted at 3pm et
JVR AND MUELLER
Kelly in Calgary, AB
"Hi Chris
The trade deadline for our league is midnight tonight and so I'm trying to make a few last minute moves.
There are 12 GM's in the league. We keep 9 players. Our stat categories are: G, A, +/-, PIM, PPP, SHP, GWG, SOG and for Goalies Wins, GAA, Sv% and Shots Against.

My team is:
C - Backstrom, Spezza, Duchene
LW - Kovalchuk, Hartnell, Latendresse (RW)
RW - Gaborik, Pavelski (C), Mueller (C)
D - Phaneuf, Myers, E. Johnson, Karlsson
G - Howard
Bench - Huet, Price, Stajan, Leighton
IR - Bieksa

My 9 Keepers will be Backstrom, Spezza, Duchene, Kovalchuk, Gaborik, Phaneuf, Myers, E. Johsnon, Howard.
Another GM just dropped James Van Riemsdyk and I wanted to see if you thought he would be a good pick-up and who would I drop? I feel like Centre and Defence are where I am deepest - but also feel like those are the easier positions to fill. After Kovalchuk and Gaborik I don't have very strong wingers. Mueller is starting to warrant some consideration as well. If I don't get them now, I expect someone else will grab JVR and I can try to re-acquire Mueller at the draft. Thoughts? Thanks!"

Chris
If this is a roto league and you don't need Stajan nightly (you're set at centre, but in H2H you could still squeeze him in), then I'd drop him to add JVR. JVR is still probably a bubble boy in terms of being a keeper for your situation, but he'd give you more options. You'll also want to see what happens with Price/ Halak this summer because an argument could be made to keep Price over one of your D.

You own a few guys already who are making strong cases for fringe positions (Latendresse, Mueller), but I think you've pretty much nailed it in terms of who should be kept as things stand today.