Each week I’ll be fielding fantasy hockey questions sent by you through Twitter. Every Wednesday and Thursday, @Sportsnet will solicit questions from you. And every Friday I’ll answer those Q’s right here. Follow me on Twitter @DobberHockey for more fantasy hockey insight.
First, the Ryan Getzlaf section:
https://twitter.com/RyanLitt07/status/661951952855674885
Getzlaf will get back on track, don’t worry. In the past five years, his worst output was 57 points if you pro-rate the lockout season. So at worst he’ll finish in the mid-50s, which means 55 points in the 65-odd games that he’ll play the rest of the way. His 5on5 shooting percentage is a paltry 1.69 per cent, meaning that his teammates are shooting at a clip that is far, far below the norm for an NHL player when he’s on the ice. That will correct itself over time.
As for a Getzlaf–David Krejci trade, that’s something I would not do unless points carried over. Krejci has a nice little cushion over Getzlaf right now so I’d take those points for sure. But if points don’t carry over then Getzlaf all the way.
And Joey – I would trade Niklas Kronwall for Victor Hedman in a heartbeat.
And now, the Connor McDavid section:
https://twitter.com/tylermikla/status/662058447563722752
Nail Yakupov, I’m convinced, was on his way to flirting with 60 points this year. Without McDavid for 40 games or so, I still think he flirts with 50 points. If that’s worth keeping, then you should keep him. Especially if you have limited transactions.
McDavid waiver wire replacements – looking at under 30 per cent owned I like Vincent Trocheck. A young player with some upside, he could flirt with 50 points this season. Over the course of the next 35 games he could get you 20 points or more. Not the greatest solution, but there is no perfect solution. Another good one is Leon Draisaitl, though he carries some risk. He’s already been in the AHL this year and if he hits a prolonged slump (always a risk with young players) he could head back there. Calgary’s Sam Bennett is heating up right now and is a safer guy to pick up. He is probably my favourite here of the three.
Moving on to to your miscellaneous fantasy hockey questions:
https://twitter.com/nyisles3/status/661935096216297472
Hossa is day-to-day with an injury right now, but I wouldn’t drop him for Mike Hoffman. Maybe if your league is shallow enough and Hossas and Hoffmans are all over the waiver wire. But if this is just your typical roto league then I’d keep the proven guy.
As for Weise, he’s been pretty tempting this week, but I’m still not there yet. Much depends on who you would drop for him and what other options are out there. If Hoffman is on the wire, then I’m guessing there are better or at least safer options available.
For this season, I would go with Ryan Murray and Cam Fowler. If it’s for keeper leagues, I would prefer Jacob Trouba and Fowler. This is because Murray is injury prone, Ristolainen has too low of a ceiling on offence, and Maatta’s injury history scares me even though they’re not entirely his fault.
For a complicated trade like this I would need to see the situation – league, depth, roster rules, categories, type (keeper or one-year), etc. But at a glance, I don’t like this deal for you because in my books John Klingberg is a higher-valued defenceman than Steven Stamkos is as a centreman. And while I appreciate the upgrade from Talbot to Anderson between the pipes, you can’t trust Anderson’s health, which is another point against making this move. On top of all that, Mark Giordano isn’t exactly Johnny Ironman himself.
Jones will probably emerge as the No. 1 goalie for San Jose. The coach really seems to favour him and that goes a long way in terms of letting him play through his slumps, getting the important games, etc. Before the season began, I thought Alex Stalock was just as good and would get just as much of a chance as Talbot. Perhaps he is as good, but I don’t think we’ll get to see it. It’s looking like they’ll ride Talbot for at least 55 games this campaign.
Hey Seraj, it looks like you have a pretty solid group of five defencemen. I’m guessing that you dress four and are wondering if you should replace your extra one (Jason Demers) for either Kevin Klein or forward depth. No, I would rather have a spare defenceman than a spare forward because defencemen are more difficult to acquire from the waiver wire. And Klein is an over-achieving 15-point player coming off a strong game.
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