NHL Fantasy: Ovechkin primed for monster season

Looking for some value picks for this week's Sportsnet Fantasy Hockey Pool? Check out these guys you can plug in on the cheap who are poised for a big week.

Hopefully it was another successful week in fantasy hockey, both season-long and in daily, for the readers out there. The big news from the past week is the ongoing mumps issue the NHL is struggling with. Notably, Sidney Crosby missed both games on the weekend with what was suspected as, and then confirmed to be, the mumps.

On that note, it’s probably best to start by looking at injuries from the past week.

Injuries

Derick Brassard (NY Rangers – C) – Brassard missed New York’s most recent game with the mumps. It seems no team is immune to this, as there have been cases from the Northeast, to the Southwest, and everywhere in between. His spot between Rick Nash and Mats Zuccarello was filled by J.T. Miller.

Ondrej Palat (Tampa Bay – LW) – Palat was a surprise scratch on Thursday night, missing that game and then Saturday night’s game with a lower-body injury. There is no definitive timeline right now. The loss of Palat has moved Alex Killorn to the second line, and Valtteri Filppula back to the top line with Steven Stamkos.

Jiri Tlusty (Carolina – LW) – Tlusty leads the Hurricanes in scoring with 10 goals; no one else on the team has more than seven. Tlusty doesn’t have a timeline, either, though he should be back sooner rather than later. There is not a waiver wire add that is worth it in his stead.

Semyon Varlamov (Colorado – G) – The hard-luck season continues for Varlamov, who had been in and out of the lineup with a groin problem. This flared up again and it looks like he may be out until after Christmas. Calvin Pickard has been getting the starts of late, though he’s a spot-starter. I wouldn’t want to rely on him for more than that.

Scott Hartnell (Columbus – LW) – As soon as Columbus starts to get healthy, they lose another player. Hartnell, too, will probably be out until after Christmas, though he has a broken finger. In Columbus’ last game, Kerby Rychel took his spot with Brian Gibbons and Nick Foligno.

Don’t forget to submit picks today for the week for Sportnet’s Fantasy Hockey Pool. It’s a salary cap-style game that has weekly as well as grand prizes. Rene Bourque is pretty cheap, and as long as he stays on the top line in Anaheim, which includes top power play time, he’s worth the risk at his cost.

Top Performers

Here are some players that carried fantasy hockey owners in head-to-head matchups last week. These players are selected using standard rotisserie league parameters.

James van Riemsdyk (Toronto – LW) – 3 G, 2 A, 3 PPP, 14 SOG

With Phil Kessel seemingly hobbled by some sort of injury (or injuries), the slack was picked up last week by van Riemsdyk (and Tyler Bozak, too). This outburst put van Riemsdyk on pace for 35 goals and 35 assists, both of which would be career high marks.

Alex Ovechkin (Washington – LW/RW) – 2 G, 2 A, plus-4, 23 SOG

Ovechkin had 23 shots on goal over the last seven days, and only one other player had more than 15 (Patrick Sharp – 18). Ovechkin leads the NHL in shots on goal with 135, and the next-closest are Tyler Seguin and Erik Karlsson at 118. If his shooting percentage starts to climb a bit, this could be a monster final two-thirds of the season for Ovechkin in fantasy hockey.
Speaking of Karlsson, the first set of matchups for Sportnet’s Pick ‘n Play here on Sportsnet.ca was released today. Karlsson is matched up against P.K. Subban in anticipation of Saturday’s showdown. Because of the shot component, Karlsson looks to have the edge in that pairing.

Steve Downie (Pittsburgh – LW/RW) – 1 G, 2 A, plus-3, 31 PIMs

Downie got on the score sheet early last week when he was thrust into a top-six role because of Pittsburgh’s injuries to their wingers. On Saturday, though, is when the value came, as Downie managed two 10-minute misconducts against Columbus. Downie leads the NHL in penalty minutes with 114; the next-closest is Cody McLeod at 71.

Claude Giroux (Philadelphia – C) – 5 A, plus-3, 3 PPP

Giroux didn’t tally a goal, but was still a top-10 player last week. Mostly, I wanted to include Giroux because of this: there are two players tied for the NHL lead in power play points this year, Claude Giroux and Kevin Shattenkirk of St. Louis. That’s a bit surprising, to say the least (and one area of regression for Shattenkirk).

Dion Phaneuf (Toronto – D) – 3 A, plus-3, 6 PIM, 2 PPP

It was another stellar week for Toronto’s captain, who is now a top-10 defenceman on the season in fantasy hockey. Though the plus/minus he is sporting (plus-14) will tail off, there’s room for improvement in the goals department (he’s shooting 1.9 per cent).

Pekka Rinne (Nashville – G) – 2 W, 0.67 GAA, .978 save percentage

It was another banner week for the Nashville goalie, who could have won all three games if his team could have managed at least one goal on Saturday night against San Jose. After an injury-riddled season last year, Rinne is the top fantasy goalie so far this year.

Honourable mentions: Nicklas Backstrom, Jakub Voracek, Drew Doughty, Henrik Lundqvist, Jhonas Enroth

Goalie Streams

For those in head-to-head leagues, goalie streaming can be very important. It’s a way to get an extra start or two, and hopefully an extra win or two. Here are some goalies to look at this week:

Niklas Svedberg (Boston) – The Bruins’ first two games this week are back-to-back games against Nashville and Minnesota. If Svedberg gets the Wild, I would stream him then.

Cam Talbot (NY Rangers) – The Rangers have back-to-back games on the weekend against Carolina. It’s safe to assume Talbot gets one of those games.

Evgeni Nabokov (Tampa Bay) – Nabokov should only be used by fantasy owners who are extremely concerned about getting enough starts this week. Tampa Bay, though, has two different sets of back-to-back games this week. It could be a two-start week for the backup.

*Some stats and information courtesy of Yahoo!, Rotoworld, Hockey Reference, and Left Wing Lock.

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