It’s safe to say Jake Allen and Samuel Montembeault should be off-limits as streaming options for the foreseeable future.
The Montreal Canadiens tandem has allowed 25 goals over their past four starts, as the team is free-falling in the standings. Right now, it’s the Canadiens struggling, but you can be sure, more teams are going to start down a similar path. If you watched any of Connor Bedard at the World Juniors you can see why. It’s definitely the year to be at the bottom of the standings for the best chance at winning the draft lottery if you aren’t strong enough to compete for a Stanley Cup.
This brings up an important consideration for fantasy, as those rostering goalies on weaker teams are going to quickly find quality starts hard to come by. It’s also going to make grabbing goalies off waivers for spot starts more challenging, since, before long, anyone available is rarely going to have a good matchup as more and more teams start to embrace tanking.
It’s hard to blame them, though. Bedard really is that special.
On to your questions:
What do you think the fantasy play here is with Vrana? Obviously, depends on what happens with his claim but should he be rostered in anticipation of a scoring boost? Thanks Mike!
Now that he’s cleared waivers, I would definitely hang onto Jakub Vrana if you can. Since joining the Detroit Red Wings, Jakub Vrana has scored 22 goals in 39 games, which works out to be 46 goals over an 82-game pace.
Tyler Bertuzzi should be back soon as well, giving Detroit a full complement of top-six players for hopefully an extended period for the first time this season. Vrana has been excellent when in the lineup and if he can play the final 40 games or so with any combination of the likes of Bertuzzi, Dylan Larkin, David Perron, Lucas Raymond and company, there’s a chance he can be very productive with around 30-plus points, and really help your fantasy team for a playoff push.
My advice to everyone right now asking about the Carolina Hurricanes goaltending situation is to wait it out. It could go in any number of different directions and giving up on any of the goalies could prove costly. I’m not as convinced as I once was that the Canes will trade Antti Raanta, though I don’t think they’ll send down Pyotr Kochetkov either. They may roll with three goalies for a while, too. Anyone in the Hurricanes crease has value, so take advantage of it as long as you can.
It’s been a disappointing year for the Florida Panthers on a number of fronts and Aaron Ekblad certainly qualifies as one. Ekblad doesn’t have a point in seven games and hasn’t scored since late November. Sometimes when a team has as much roster turnover as the Panthers had in the offseason, it’s tough to get back to being as strong of a team as you were the year prior.
Florida averaged more than four goals a game in 2021-22, but lost Jonathan Huberdeau, MacKenzie Weegar, Mason Marchment, and Claude Giroux, and have seen Aleksander Barkov and Anthony Duclair miss significant time with injuries this season. Things aren’t coming as easy to the Panthers and Ekblad this season.
So, this is a tricky one. I agree that Jordan Binnington’s stock is falling quickly, as he and the St. Louis Blues have been very inconsistent this season and the team is now dealing with a bunch of key injuries. That said, if volume is important in your league, you may want to keep him around for now.
Eric Comrie should be back shortly and it remains to be seen what the Buffalo Sabres do in goal when all three goalies are healthy. I don’t see them moving on from Craig Anderson and Comrie’s contract likely gets him back into the lineup, meaning Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen could be sent back down. If he stays up with the Sabres, though, and keeps starting, I’d definitely rather have Luukkonen over Binnington.
Conor Sheary, with eight points in his past six games, is on a great run and having a good season, but be careful about giving up a key player for him. Keep in mind, the returns of Nicklas Backstrom and Tom Wilson to the Washington Capitals are on the horizon, which could bump Sheary down the lineup and away from Alexander Ovechkin. I’d probably wait to see where Sheary slots in when those two return before doing anything drastic.
If it’s a deep league with faceoff wins you could consider both of them, but I might lean more towards Nick Bjugstad. I’d be a bit concerned about Michael Rasmussen falling down the lineup when the Wings get all their key players back and I think Bjugstad would probably outperform Rasmussen when it comes to things like goals, shots, and plus/minus.
Personally, I’d rather have the Toronto Maple Leafs tandem. I know Ilya Samsonov is struggling a bit right now, but both he and Matt Murray have been very good this season and the team defense in front of them has been excellent. Marc-Andre Fleury is losing some starts to Filip Gustavsson and I’m not holding my breath on Casey DeSmith going on a big run, though anything is possible.
When it comes to goaltending, I tend to bet on the team in front of them more than the goalie himself. We’ve seen in Carolina they’ve been able to plug in three different goalies in with great success. The Leafs seem to be in a similar situation. I’m not saying it won’t work out for you, I just think Murray and Samsonov are a safer bet.
I’d sell high for a couple of reasons. First, Filip Hronek has never been a huge scorer and he wasn’t going to keep up the pace he was on earlier in the year forever. Not to mention he’s shooting at nearly 9% so far this year, which is almost twice as much as his career average. That’s certainly going to come down.
Secondly, Hronek is now being paired with Ben Chiarot, which I imagine is going to mean his defensive zone starts are going to rise. Hronek is currently sitting at 54.5 per cent offensive zone starts this season, a career-high. He’d never been over 50 per cent in any season prior.
I’d bet we’ve seen the best of Hronek offensively this year, so get what you still can for him.
We have a roster of 3 C/LW/RW. Currently have Ovi, Panarin, Lee with LW only and Thompson, Eichel, Scheifele with C only. What would you do when Landeskog and Norris come back? Trade either Lee or Norris I guess?
I agree and I think I’d probably try to trade Anders Lee if your league doesn’t count hits. Josh Norris has more upside in my opinion if he can stay healthy in the Ottawa Senators top six. If your league does have hits then it becomes more of a debate and you could probably consider trading whoever brings you the best return.
When you have a goalie on a run like Pheonix Copley, you just enjoy it for as long as it lasts. It’s a similar situation to Kochetkov, where grabbing someone like Copley can potentially save your season if you drafted a goalie like Thatcher Demko, Jack Campbell, or Jonathan Quick. The Los Angeles Kings are a strong team and don’t have many challengers to the crease at the moment, so hopefully, Copley can keep this going.
I’d probably put Kevin Fiala slightly ahead of Johnny Gaudreau, just because he’s on a stronger team which puts him a better spot for plus/minus and shots. Then I’d say Carter Verhaeghe because he’s been on a great goal pace this season. Jake DeBrusk would be higher on my list, but his injury makes his value a bit uncertain. I like Calle Jarnkrok as an option as long as he’s on the second line with Mitch Marner and John Tavares.
He’s not a legit first-liner, but Michael Amadio is definitely proving he can play with good players, to the tune of nine points in his past eight games. Fortunately, if you’re rostering Amadio, he’s still on the first line even after Jack Eichel’s return, though it’s going to be more challenging for him to keep that spot now. When Jonathan Marchessault comes back, it’s going to be even tougher. Selling high would probably be a good idea or just ride this out as long as you can.
Great now I lose DeBrusk … is Nick Schmaltz good enough to elevate from streaming status (12 team deep roster)
Nick Schmaltz is definitely worth rostering in a league that deep. The Arizona Coyotes forward has 77 points in his past 84 regular season games and has never been short on offense. He’s just a little overlooked because of the team he’s on.
Currently have 4 Cs, with Cozens and Ek my two weakest.. with one occupying my utility spot... in a bangers league with fw... who would you drop? Or keep both? It's nice being able to rotate the utility.. but both of them have been good.. (14 team league, not many options on FA)
If you can keep both, that’s what I would recommend. Dylan Cozens is the gift that keeps on giving off the waiver wire and he’s up to eight multi-point games this season. Meanwhile, Joel Eriksson Ek is great for faceoffs and covers a lot of categories. You probably won’t find a better option on waivers given how deep your league is.
If you have that many keepers, why not? It’s anyone’s guess if Robin Lehner can return from that injury and Logan Thompson looks like he’s taking over the net for Vegas on a very team-friendly contract, but it seems like a good gamble for you if you can keep that many players. Maybe there will be an update on Lehner in the summer that can help inform your decision as well.
I’m not sure either Cam Talbot or Anton Forsberg are going to completely run away with the job for the Ottawa Senators unless one of them goes on a tremendous heater. The Sens will probably rotate goalies and play whoever is hot at the moment. I think Talbot is a fine option in deep leagues as a third goalie. If he’s your number one netminder then you may run into some problems eventually.
There’s always a chance Bryan Rust could turn things around when you look at his linemates. He’s spent most of his time this season with either Evgeni Malkin or Sidney Crosby at centre, so you can’t ask for much more than that. Still, Rust is scoring at a much lower pace than year and you can only wait so long for him to turn it around. If you’re fighting for a playoff spot you may have no choice but to drop him.
It’s a tricky one because it sounds like Vladimir Tarasenko is going to miss the next month as well. I suppose if Tarasenko comes back well before John Carlson and maybe gets dealt to a contender, you may have made a shrewd move. Unfortunately, I don’t think we’ll know who got the best of this trade until much later in the season.
Carlson very well could be. We are probably eight or nine weeks out from fantasy playoffs and unless you have a postseason spot locked up, it’s tough to carry someone that doesn’t have any certainty of actually helping you at some point down the line.
I have Matthews and Point as centres and Stephenson for FW category. Would this be a good trade if I trade Forsberg and receive Kadri?
I actually think this is a very even trade, with Nazem Kadri maybe having a bit more upside if he can recapture some of last year’s form in the second half of the season. My only consideration would be you are adding another centre only player and depending how many you can start at each position, you might incur challenges with having to bench someone every now and again. Roster flexibility is always important, so just keep that in mind.
As much as I like Alex Tuch, I think you have to make the deal because Anton Lundell and Lucas Raymond have very bright futures. I don’t think Alex Barabanov compares to either of them and you’ll probably come out ahead in the long run if you acquire those two.
I would definitely take a chance on Nicklas Backstrom with the hope he lands back on Alexander Ovechkin’s line. TJ Oshie is a solid player, but he just has too much difficult staying healthy. Backstrom is coming off a significant injury of his own, though his ceiling is much higher than Oshie’s. He’s worth the risk.
Patrick Kane is too valuable to drop. I’d either hold him and bank on him getting dealt to a contender or try to trade him closer to the deadline. If Kane ends up on a team pushing for a Stanley Cup, he’ll have major value in the fantasy hockey playoffs.
Sebastian Aho is a very good player, but not elite in fantasy. He’s essentially been as close to a point per game player as you can get over the past five seasons and is continuing that trend this year with 30 in 32 games. So typically, 80 points is a reasonable projection for him and players with similar production are what you should eye in a trade. Try and get someone with more upside, though, that may break out, as we already have a pretty good idea of what Aho’s ceiling is. Tim Stutzle is one on a similar point pace but still hasn’t reached his full potential. That may end up being a steal.
