As we all expected there was not a ton of action in terms of trading on deadline day. Many of the trades were complete before the deadline day approached, which of course makes for a painful day if there is nothing for the insiders to discuss. Lots of the trades made sense to me, a few additions were great and a few were so minor that it makes zero impact in the wonderful world of fantasy hockey.
Deadline day is always a traders market for the bottom dwelling teams, this year was no different. Many teams seem to go into draft day with a few different plans of attack…plan A, B, C and so on. It’s likely a whirlwind effect or domino effect as we like to refer to here at Hockeybuzz, or what I like to call “the buzz…. Where one player gets traded and then ten other General Managers scratch off one of their plans and move onto the next. There are only so many hours in the day and sometimes time runs out on a deal that was on the brink of completion.
What players being traded made an impact for fantasy?
Keith Yandle:
Yandle is great on the powerplay and was quite productive with the Coyotes in his tenor. He produced 65 goals, 245 assists in 557 games total; not too shabby for a struggling team like the Coyotes. I’d imagine he will thrive in New York and his production should not only increase, but his penalty minutes should decrease as the puck won’t be in his teams zone for the majority of the game. In just about every fantasy hockey pool Yandle is already on someone’s roster so it’s not as if you will be able to pick him up. But with that being said; if trading is still a viable option in your pool…maybe you can pick up Yandle from someone for a fair price before he starts to shine in the big city.
Chris Stewart:
He’s been on the decline for a few seasons now…what happened? Well, being comfortable and confident back when he was on the Avalanche was a big part of the reason as to why he was playing so well. Scoring 28 goals and 64 points in his first full NHL season it looked like Stewart was going to be a gamer. He’s the type of player who gets penalty minutes and scores goals…Something I like when choosing my players for fantasy. This year on Buffalo Stewart has scored 11 goals in 61 games and has 63 penalty minutes. Nothing special, that’s for sure…After he was traded to Minnesota the other day I thought to myself, “hey if Stewy ends up on the second line he may be able to chip in some points and make an impact, especially the way the Wild have been playing lately…. Sure enough, he had a decent first game for the Wild and chipped in an assist. A good start for Stewart; if you need a player who likely won’t get much powerplay time, but should be able to get a few points here and there with some penalty minutes; Chris is your guy. He would be a good replacement for Evander Kane who is done for the season.
James Wisniewski:
A great trade for the Ducks if you ask me…he’s exactly what they needed with Vatanen being hurt. I’m almost positive that James will have an impact for Anaheim as soon as he laces them up. It looks as if he will miss a week or so with a bruised foot, and will then be in control of the powerplay from the point. If he is available to pick up off the free agency list and you have an IR spot open, I’d take a chance on him. Put him on the IR until he is back in action and pick up someone else to fill the void until then. Perhaps one of the defensemen for Dallas who have been chipping in somewhat consistently: Klingberg or Daley. I have faith Wisniewski will make a big difference for the Ducks as long as he is able to stay healthy for the remainder of the season/playoffs.
Thanks for reading and enjoy tonight’s action.