2020 had no room to breathe. Another week, another coaching change in the NHL; the sixth of the season. If only Peter Laviolette had known about Pekka Rinne’s scoring abilities sooner, he may have been able to salvage his job.
Notorious for possessing patience and calmness, Nashville Predators general manager David Poile had no choice. He had to rock the boat, especially after that inexcusable collapse at the Cotton Bowl versus the Stars in the Winter Classic.
Enter John Hynes, who remarkably enough, became just the third head coach in franchise history (1998). To this point – including Nashville after two games under Hynes – NHL teams are an accumulative 48-28-9 after firing their bench boss.
From a fantasy perspective, it’s fair to expect a boost across the board from the coaching change. Even in the tough Central Division, Nashville is a much better team than they’ve led on so far this season. With that in mind, it might be a good time to go back to the Music City well in daily fantasy and the Sportsnet Fantasy Hockey Pool.
| Wins | Shutouts | SN Fantasy Hockey Pool Value | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pekka Rinne | 15 | 3 | 4 |
| Juuse Saros | 5 | 0 | 3 |
| Points | SN Fantasy Hockey Pool Value | |
|---|---|---|
| Roman Josi | 46 | 2 |
| Filip Forsberg | 31 | 2 |
| Matt Duchene | 30 | 3 |
| Calle Jarnkrok | 27 | 1 |
| Ryan Johansen | 26 | 2 |
| Viktor Arvidsson | 19 | 2 |
| Mikael Granlund | 15 | 2 |
Now to your questions:
To be honest, Johansen’s game has never fully translated well to the fantasy world. He won’t provide you with much category coverage. He’s strictly a playmaker.
Because there’s so much depth at the centre ice position, I view Johansen as strictly a streaming option at this point. That said, if the JOFA line regains steam, you need to be on top of those developments. Johansen has had flashes of fantasy brilliance in his career, just don’t expect long-term gains. He’s an apple tree.
In general, a new voice behind the bench should pay huge dividends. Just look at St. Louis, who went from worst to first after hiring Craig Berube. Yes, temper your expectations, but I expect Nashville to improve drastically over the course of the second half.
In what’s being coined ‘the Mike Fisher’, Justin Williams has inked on for the remainder of the season with the Carolina Hurricanes. Similar to what I advised with Kovalchuk, wait to see how it plays out before potentially taking a flier.
Don’t get me wrong, I love Williams as much as the next person. Time stands still for no person. He’s 38. The rest of his peers have half a season under their belts; they’re finding their strides. How much does Williams have left in the tank? Can he get his game back in order quickly?
We’ll see. Just monitor closely, for now.
From the beginning, the Edmonton Oilers made it abundantly clear that the game plan in between the pipes was to implement a timeshare system to keep both goalies fresh. Thus far, they’ve pretty much stuck to their plan.
While there’s no question Mike Smith has stepped up large lately, Mikko Koskinen will see plenty of opportunities to gain back leverage again. Any way you slice it, the Oilers will need strong goaltending from both netminders if they have any hope of returning to the postseason.
While it stinks to own a goalie who’s not playing right now, just sit tight. Koskinen has demonstrated the ability over the past couple of seasons to get hot. Be patient.
Yup, nothing wrong with owning a tandem. In fact, I’d argue it’s a strong strategy.
Just look at Boston’s crease, where Tuukka Rask and Jaroslav Halak carry almost the same weight in fantasy value because they basically split games down the middle. At the end of the day, you’re merely looking for the best value possible, who cares where you find it. If that comes in the form of a tandem pairing, don’t shy away! Do it!
Even though I’ve done it multiple times – because I despise landing the first overall pick – trading Connor McDavid in fantasy hockey is always difficult. Sometimes, you got to do what you got to do. I like the Panarin and Stone side more, here.
As I always make a point of emphasizing, it’s all about extracting the most value possible. Panarin and Stone will provide more category coverage than McDavid and Smith. It’s that simple. Don’t overthink it.
Last word on McDavid – if you do own him, always ask for the moon and then some if you dangle him on the trade market. There’s always someone that has the itch to land fantasy hockey’s biggest fish. Take advantage of that excitement, baby!
Good question. Assuming New York Rangers blue chip goalie Igor Shesterkin has already been scooped up, I’d target Grigori Denisenko (FLA), Bowen Byram (COL) and Kirill Kaprizov (MIN). Just keep in mind that it’s always difficult for NHL teams to lure Russian players from the KHL.
Fingers crossed.
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