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The season is no longer fresh and you should be starting to comb over your rosters with a keen eye on who is worth keeping and who may end up being a bust. Guys like Kopitar and Skinner are off to slow starts for example…don’t drop them or trade them at their lowest value. You have survived the first few weeks with them on your roster and they should eventually start to tickle the twine and light the lamp. What I’m talking more specifically about are guys who float around the 45-55 point mark. Some of your middle and lower picks may not pan out how you wanted; that’s fine…I’ve compiled a list of players I feel who are worth mentioning. If you like them take a chance and pick them up, if you don’t; maybe put them on your radar for the near future.
I enjoy moving players around and taking some risks on the free agency market. My latest trade was a bit on the risky side for both parties. I moved the red hot Tyler Toffoli in exchange for Jason Spezza. I feel I got the better player, but he has to perform…and if Toffoli keeps up this production I just may lose the deal at the end of the year; time will tell.
At the start of this week I had a huge goalie problem; both Andersen and Gibson are hurt…brutal! I have Rinne as my other goalie; so obviously I needed to pick up a goalie for at least one game for the week (as we have a minimum of three goalie games per week). When the season began I had Mason, I dropped him earlier because I felt confident in my three goalies. With that being said, he was available and I picked him up to play versus Edmonton because I felt that was a good matchup. With a 4-1 victory on Monday; I felt that was a great pickup. With Andersen on the IR+ spot and Gibson on the IR spot, I was left with two slots to fill. As I mentioned, Mason was one of them and Derek Brassard was the other pickup. That sure panned out nice as he has been electric this week and has tallied a spectacular game winning goal last night and 3 assists and 2 power play points. You can’t ask for much more from a free agent pickup; I just may have to find a home for Brassard as he looks to be gelling well with Nash and St. Louis.
Keep in mind that any player you drop, keep an eye on them…if you see them start to rack up points in a couple games in a row…you may have given up too quickly. Don’t be afraid to realize you have made a mistake; it happens…pick that player back up and take a deep breath after that nobody else was brave enough to scoop him up after you dropped him! I’ve got some great players that people have dropped in the past…no risk, no reward!
Free Agents: (to ensure a more in depth list I will give names + points)
Forwards:
Derek Brassard: 11 points Mike Ribeiro: 10 points Carl Soderberg: 10 points Jiri Hudler: 10 points Antoine Vermette: 9 points Sean Monahan: 8 points John Gaudreau: 8 points Mikkel Boedker: 8 points Troy Brouwer: 8 points Joel Ward: 8 points Marcus Johansson: 8 points Andre Burakovsky: 8 points Riley Nash: 8 points Blake Comeau: 7 points Martin Hanzal: 7 points Daniel Winnik: 7 points Ryan Strome: 7 points Mikhail Grabovski: 6 points (9 games)
Defense:
Lubomir Visnovsky: 3 points (6 games) Tobias Enstrom: 8 points Kris Russell: 7 points Alexander Edler: 6 points Marek Zidlicky: 6 points Ryan Ellis: 6 points Nick Leddy: 6 points Zack Bogosian: 5 points Marco Scandella: 4 points
Starting Goalies:
(EDM) Scrivens VS (BOS) Rask (FLA) Luongo VS (PHI) Mason (MIN) Backstrom VS (OTT) Anderson (CLG) Hiller VS (TBL) Bishop (PIT) Fleury VS (WPG) Pavelec (NJ) Schneider VS (STL) Allen (NSH) Rinne VS (DAL) Lehtonen (TOR) Bernier VS (COL) Berra (NYI) Johnson VS (LA) Quick (VAN) Miller VS (SJ) Niemi
Injuries:
Joffrey Lupul (hand) – end of November / early December Victor Hedman (hand) – December T.J. Oshie (concussion) – Unknown Paul Stastny (shoulder) – DTD (apparently back tonight) Olli Maatta (neck) – DTD Michael Raffl (lower body) – December Ryan McDonagh (shoulder) – early December Derek Stepan (leg) – DTD Josh Bailey (hand) – DTD Michael Cammalleri (face) – DTD Zach Parise (concussion) – Unknown Josh Harding (foot) – Unknown Justin Williams (eye) – DTD Aleksander Barkov (knee) – DTD Taylor Hall (knee) – late November Jonas Gustavsson (shoulder) – DTD James Wisniewski (finger) – November Sergei Bobrovsky (finger) – DTD Brandon Dubinsky (abdomen) – late November Patrick Sharp (lower body) – Unknown Jiri Tlusty (head) – DTD Jordan Staal (leg) – January Mason Raymond (shoulder) – early/mid November David Krejci (undisclosed) – DTD Torey Krug (finger) – DTD Zdeno Chara (knee) – early December John Gibson (groin) – mid December
Feel free to post in the comments section any questions or thoughts going forward.
Thanks for reading and best of luck in your fantasy hockey!