The middle of the season has arrived and the Predators and the Ducks both sit at the top of the NHL rankings with 60 points each. At the top of the Eastern Conference you have the Lightning leading the pack with 58 points. Don’t count the Islanders out of the equation for a shot at taking over the top ranked spot in the East as they have 57 points but have played one less game than Tampa Bay.
With that in mind; if you see any players in your fantasy that have worth who are on one of these 4 teams…it may not be a bad idea to pick one of their quality players up through the free agency if available, or through trade. Keep an eye on which teams are really picking up the slack and stepping their game up to the next level. In the Eastern Conference the Bruins, Panthers, Rangers and Capitals have all been hot as of late after having mediocre starts to the season. Perhaps you have had your eye on a player from one of these teams? If so, now may be the time to pursue one of them to your roster to make a push down the second half of the season. Everyone should have a player or maybe two on their team who they have been thinking of ditching for an upgrade, make it happen before someone else grabs the player you want or before it’s too late and you are outside of a playoff spot with too little time to catch up.
If you are in a keeper pool and feel you have absolutely no chance of making the playoffs and or winning the season now may be the time to go into sell mode. Don’t blow your stack and gift wrap the win for someone at the top; look at making a deal with someone who will give you a decent draft pick or two next season. Likely whoever is near the top is going to have a higher draft pick in the first round; you want to get yourself a nice first round pick to build up for seasons to come…so unless you are given a deal you can refuse I would suggest trying to wheel and deal with someone in the middle of the pack. I’m assuming most of the people at the bottom of your pool will have the same idea in mind trying to draft a top ranked player like McDavid or Eichel.
There are a large number of games this week so be sure to check out how your week pans out. There is no point in adding in a forward with one of your ‘weekly moves’ if you won’t have a spot for them on your roster. Sometimes adding in an extra defenseman or goalie for the week when it’s so heavy is the best bet. For myself, I have added Dan Boyle this week and because of a trade I made I had an extra defense slot and I also picked up Tyson Barrie. Both players have four games this week; here is the breakdown of the week so you get an idea of who plays how many games and which players are suitable for your fantasy lineup this week.
Here is a list of which teams have how many games going forward this week:
(2) Games: Calgary – Chicago – New Jersey
(3) Games: Anaheim – Boston – Carolina – Columbus – Edmonton – Florida – Los Angeles – Minnesota – Montreal – Nashville – New York Islanders – Ottawa – Pittsburgh – St. Louis – San Jose - Vancouver
(4) Games: Arizona – Buffalo – Colorado – Dallas – Detroit – New York Rangers – Philadelphia – Tampa Bay – Toronto – Washington – Winnipeg
Trades:
I’ve had success in making lots of trades this season and feel that most of them have benefited me and my fantasy team going forward. I was running with Rinne and Andersen up until this morning between the pipes; and felt a small shakeup may be in order as we get down to the nitty-gritty here in the last 40 games or so. The top end talent ion my team is not going anywhere; Perry, P. Kane, Benn and Pavelski.
So after letting my trading partner know that none of these players were available and some back and forth we came up with a trade that worked for both of us. A true Blockbuster it turned out to be…
Andersen + D. Sedin + O’Reilly + McDonagh
For
Quick + Tarasenko + J. Neal
Here is how I see this deal working out for me…Quick and Los Angeles have been struggling; last week was a gong show for Quick; which is possibly a reason why my trading partner finally gave up on him and pulled the trigger. The way I see it; the Kings will get back on track and make a quality end season push to make the playoffs…that’s what I am banking on at least. Tarasenko is right at the top of the ranks right now in the world of fantasy; why wouldn’t I want him? Especially now that St. Louis seems to be heating up and scoring on command; I just hope he keeps it up. Neal is coming off a small injury and should be back sometime this week it looks as of now. He is a natural sniper; and you can never have enough goals…or game winners for that matter. Nashville has been hot all season; so I am hoping Neal gets back sooner than later and starts chipping in again. With Hornqvist still on my IR I have no problem moving the extra player and filling the void with some free agent pickups until he returns. After making this blockbuster trade here is my roster going forward:
Corey Perry Patrick Kane Joe Pavelski Jamie Benn Vladimir Tarasenko David Krecji Kyle Okposo Gabriel Landeskog Mike Ribeiro Evander Kane Jori Lehtera Jordan Staal Duncan Keith Alex Pietrangelo Aaron Ekblad Tyson Barrie Dan Boyle
Patric Hornqvist (IR) James Neal (IR)
Pekka Rinne Jonathan Quick
So as you can see my team is shaping up quite nicely as I would likely remove Lehtera, Staal or one of my defensemen when Hornqvist and Neal return from IR.
Perhaps you have made some glorious deals as of late or have some on the horizon. I’d love to hear about them and how your roster shapes up going forward.
There are only three games tonight:
(TBL) Nabokov VS (PHI) Zepp (COL) Varlamov VS (WSH) Holtby (TOR) Bernier VS (LA) Jones
HBSL:
With 5 weeks remaining in regular season its crunch time! Those of you sitting at the top of your divisions must hold onto your spot as we come down the final stretch of weeks…and those just behind looking to have a chance at making the playoffs; choose your players wisely! With a lot of teams playing 4 games this week there should be a wide variety of players picked from each team which should result in some high quality scores and maybe a dud from one of the top ranked players. Good luck!
Thanks for reading and enjoy this heavy week of hockey!