Morgan Rielly was probably the last person on your fantasy roster you were worried about losing to a lengthy suspension.
Up until mid-January, Rielly hadn’t even been penalized this season and was being mentioned in Lady Byng conversations. Now he’s out of your lineup for five games. The worst part is Rielly has an NA designation, meaning you can’t even stash him on IR in your league if that’s your only option. He’s going to be occupying a roster you can’t use for almost two head-to-head matchups.
You could have also been on the other side of the Rielly suspension. For instance, in my league last week my opponent had Rielly and we were in a very tight matchup. One of the categories that was hanging in the balance late into the week was penalty minutes. We were essentially tied before Rielly’s 15 minutes against the Ottawa Senators shifted things in my opponent’s favour. I didn’t see it coming and lost the category and matchup 7-5.
That’s one of the reasons I love fantasy hockey. You never know what’s around the next corner and your fortunes can turn in the blink of an eye. It’s a rollercoaster.
Time for your questions:
You could make an argument Tage Thompson has been the most disappointing player in fantasy this season. He’s on pace for 55 points after a 94-point and near 50-goal campaign, and there really isn’t any obvious reasons why. Thompson’s shooting percentage is down a little from his career average, but not enough to justify this kind of dropoff. His shot volume is also not far off from last year and his ice time is very similar as well.
The one thing to point out is that Thompson, Jeff Skinner and Alex Tuch have all dealt with some minor injuries this year and have missed some time. That can ruin the continuity of a line and they also haven’t played together as much as last season. Thompson, Tuch and Skinner played more than 50% of their minutes together at even strength in 2022-23, but this season they are only sitting around 25%.
It’s a really tough predicament if you have Thompson. In a keeper league he’s probably worth hanging onto with the hope this year is an anomaly and he bounces back and if you’re in a one-year league, he isn’t worth trading since his value is so low. Ideally, he picks it up down the stretch and at least recoups some of his value the rest of the way.
A lot of Jeff Skinner’s struggles are probably tied to the previous answer about Thompson and the fact that line just hasn’t been clicking and playing together as much as last year. Still, if it isn’t really costing you anything other than a waiver add, Skinner might be a good buy low option going forward. I don’t think Skinner and Thompson will be this cold forever. It’s a good low risk, high-reward move.
Good question and Adam Henrique is a great example. I’m not sure how many more there would be on waivers, though. Players like Jake Guentzel, Boone Jenner or Jacob Markstrom that have been subject to trade speculation are likely already rostered. Then guys like Nic Dowd or Nick Bjugstad probably won’t have much fantasy value if dealt. I wonder if someone like Nick Robertson could be an option, however. It’s possible the Toronto Maple Leafs deal him as part of a package for a bigger piece and maybe he gets a top six role on a lesser team that leads to more production.
If you’re in a one-year league that isn’t too deep, I think Brandon Montour is droppable. He just isn’t scoring enough despite continuing to get big minutes and good opportunities. Part of the reason I think Montour isn’t finding the scoresheet as much is the Florida Panthers are playing a little more structured now and he isn’t roving like he used to. Plus, your other defencemen look solid and adding Artturi Lehkonen is a wise move.
Someone like Pavel Mintyukov may be worth a look. His rostered percentage has really dropped since he was injured and he had a really good start to the season. It wouldn’t be crazy to see him get back onto power play one and the Anaheim Ducks do have a lot of young offensive talent around him.
If Markstrom gets traded I think almost certainly the net would shift to Dustin Wolf. Now the Calgary Flames may not be in the best shape at that point for Wolf to take over, especially if Chris Tanev and Noah Hanifin are also shipped out, but he would definitely be a good keeper option with long-term value.
A lot depends on where Markstrom goes obviously as it relates to his outlook. There’s been lots of talk about the New Jersey Devils, but I’m not sure that helps him that much. The Devils aren’t necessarily that strong defensively and rank in the bottom third of the league when it comes to high danger shots against. Maybe if the Devils get on a run Markstrom’s win totals could improve, but right now I don’t see much difference between the Flames and Devils overall and Calgary is probably better defensively.
The most ideal fantasy scenario I think for Markstrom is to just keep things status quo because he’s playing so well, though that seems unlikely to happen. Even if Markstrom doesn’t get moved, the heart of his defence seems destined to, which would make things less than ideal for the Flames netminder come fantasy playoff time.
I’d go with Pyotr Kochetkov, Stuart Skinner and then Joey Daccord. Kochetkov is on the best defensive team of the bunch in my opinion and Stuart Skinner is on an Edmonton Oilers squadthat should be in a great position for the next few years. Daccord has been excellent, but it’s going to be hard for him to get as many wins as the other two on a Seattle Kraken team moving forward.
There’s no one here that really jumps off the page at me. That said, if you could get Ilya Samsonov I would and maybe keep an eye on Nico Daws. If the Devils can make a run and Daws is able to claim the net, he’d likely be an upgrade over Connor Ingram.
I would definitely go for Samsonov just for insurance. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen has been great but it wouldn’t be shocking to see him stumble here and there given how inconsistent the Sabres have been. Plus, Luukkonen is also now injured. Adding Samsonov would give you some security down the stretch.
I don’t think they’ll be all in based on how inconsistent the team has been, but I do think the Leafs will try to add a defenceman and a forward. I know the major concern from everyone is the blue line and they will add there, though I always think a lack of secondary scoring has cost them more in the postseason. The Leafs actually went seven games in a row in the playoffs last year without scoring more than two goals. My guess is they try to add someone that could play centre but also has some offensive upside.
It’s certainly possible. The Kraken actually have a number of wingers they could move up if they decided to shift Jared McCann to centre and moving Alex Wennberg and Yanni Gourde down would make them deeper. Perhaps they are more comfortable with McCann at wing from a defensive standpoint, but I could see him eventually getting another shot down the middle at some point.
It’s a tough call where Wyatt Johnston is concerned. He had a big game Thursday but it’s hard to count on that regularly with his current deployment. I might hold him for another game or two just in case the Dallas Stars bring him back up because he was really valuable on the top line.
I think I’d go with Mattias Ekholm on the blue line. He’ll have decent value for blocks and shots and may be able to take advantage of an extra point or two when he’s on the ice with someone like Connor McDavid or Leon Draisaitl.
I don’t see the Detroit Red Wings trading Patrick Kane after he handpicked them this season. It’s important to remember it’s unlikely that these lines will be set in stone for the rest of the year and if Kane starts to struggle, I’d bet the Wings shuffle things around to get him going. I wouldn’t get overly concerned with his deployment at the moment and just hang onto him.
