A quick reminder that the NHL has a three-day Christmas break this week. There will be no games played on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Despite that, the next seven days are considered a week in fantasy hockey. That has serious goaltender implications because most leagues have a minimum number of starts per week. Some fantasy owners – particularly Carey Price owners, seeing as Montreal has just one game this week – may be struggling for starts. There is a list of goalies to look for at the bottom of this column for a likely much-needed spot start.
This is a look back at the week that was in fantasy hockey, including injuries, hot performances and other little tidbits. The goalie streamers will follow.
Injuries
Boone Jenner (Columbus – Left Wing) – Out 1-2 months with a stress fracture
The hits just keep on coming for the Columbus Blue Jackets. After acquiring Jeremy Morin for some offensive depth, Jenner was announced to have a stress fracture in his back and will be out for a while. Morin is the waiver-add from Columbus, as he’s now skating on the Blue Jackets’ top line with Ryan Johansen and Nick Foligno.
Christian Ehrhoff and Paul Martin (Pittsburgh – Defence) – Lower-body/Undisclosed.
Not sure when the NHL started allowing teams to just put players on the injured reserve list with an "undisclosed" injury, but the Penguins are doing just that with Paul Martin. With Ehrhoff on the shelf and Olli Maatta testing positive for mumps, Scott Harrington might make a nice short-term waiver addition, though it’s Derrick Pouliot getting second unit power play time.
Jaden Schwartz (St. Louis – Left Wing) – Broken foot
Schwartz blocked a shot in a game last week against Los Angeles and ended up with a broken foot. The ensuing lineup shuffle saw Alex Steen moved in his spot beside Jori Lehtera and Joakim Lindstrom moved to the "top" line with David Backes and T.J. Oshie.
Jimmy Howard (Detroit – Goalie) – Groin Injury
While Howard isn’t expected to miss much more time with a groin injury, fantasy owners have already played that game this year with groin injuries and goaltenders (ahem, Semyon Varlamov). With Jonas Gustavsson out and a short fantasy week ahead, it would be a good idea for Howard owners (and non-Howard owners alike) to add Petr Mrazek just in case.
Top Performers from last week
Anze Kopitar (Los Angeles – Centre) – 1 goal, 8 assists, 6 power play points.
The Los Angeles Kings went 6-for-17 on the power play as a team this past week, with Anze Kopitar getting in on every single one of those goals. It has been a disappointing season for Kopitar, at least in the fantasy game, so hopefully this is the start of some sort of turnaround for the all-world centre.
Patrick Kane (Chicago – Right Wing) – 2 goals, 5 assists, plus-5
Patrick Kane had a very slow start to the season, for him, with just seven points in 10 October games. Since then, Kane has 29 points in 24 games, and is now a top-10 forward in ESPN roto leagues. With Patrick Sharp recently joining he and Kris Versteeg, it makes for a more prolific second line and you should continue to expect much of the same from Kane.
Don’t forget to submit picks for this week on Sportsnet’s Fantasy Hockey Pool. It’s a salary cap-style game and there are weekly prizes as well as a grand prize. Chicago has games against a defensively-crippled Winnipeg team and a bad Colorado team. Kane is at maximum cost, but those are two very good games for him.
Jakub Voracek (Philadelphia – Right Wing) – 3 goals, 4 assists, plus-6
Statistically speaking, there were other forwards who had a better week than Jakub Voracek. I wanted to include him because as of today, Voracek is among the top-three forwards in ESPN roto leagues. While he was always a very good player, I think this is surprising, even for his most optimistic supporters. With the way he and Claude Giroux are playing, it might be worth looking at Michael Raffl for the time being.
Dougie Hamilton (Boston – Defence) – 2 goals, 1 assist, 12 shots on goal
It’s been a breakout year for the Bruins’ blue liner, with 20 points in 34 games to date (he had 25 points in 64 games last year). He’s now a top-25 defenceman in fantasy roto leagues. What’s even more impressive – and this is a small sample size alert – is that possession-wise, Hamilton’s been better playing away from Zdeno Chara than Chara has been playing away from Hamilton.
Marc-Andre Fleury (Pittsburgh – Goalie) – 3 wins, 0.99 goals against average, .971 save percentage
The runaway goalies in fantasy so far this year have been Pekka Rinne and Marc-Andre Fleury. It shouldn’t be a huge surprise fantasy owners, as Fleury has consistently been more valuable in the fantasy game than he has been in reality. If Fleury stays close to his current marks, it would make for by far his best season of his career.
The first set of players were released today for Sportsnet’s Pick ‘n Play here on Sportsnet.ca. It is a matchup-based game featuring players facing off the following Saturday. Players from the Detroit/Ottawa game were released today. With Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg reuniting on the top line and Ottawa’s Bobby Ryan and Kyle Turris on separate lines, I would take the two Detroit forwards.
Goalie Streams
Devan Dubnyk (Arizona)
While recommending an Arizona goalie is usually terrible advice, the Coyotes do start the week with back-to-back games in Vancouver and Edmonton. If Mike Smith is confirmed against Vancouver tonight, picking up Dubnyk for tomorrow’s game against Edmonton isn’t a bad idea.
Justin Peters (Washington)
The Capitals have already confirmed Braden Holtby to start tonight against the Ottawa Senators, meaning Peters is likely to get the game tomorrow night against the New York Rangers.
Carter Hutton (Nashville)
With the assumption that Rinne gets the start tonight in Columbus, it would likely be Carter Hutton in net tomorrow in Boston. It’s not a fantastic spot, but options are limited this week.
Ilya Bryzgalov (Anaheim)
The Ducks finish the week with back to back games against Arizona and Vancouver. Bryzgalov should get one of those games but it’s really a last resort. He’s only to be used for owners that truly have no other options.
*Some stats and information courtesy of Hockey Analysis, Hockey Reference, NHL.com, ESPN, Yahoo, Left Wing Lock, and Rotoworld.
