Now that the 2014/15 NHL season is underway and we have gotten passed the Canadian Thanksgiving long weekend; I can get back on track with my game plan. I have a weekly plan I am hoping to follow in which will keep everyone up to date as best as possible.
For starters, ever Monday I will lay out how many games each team is playing; this way you have reference to which teams are playing more games than other teams. It surely helps when you are setting up your team for HBSL or if you are planning on picking up a free agent for the week and were hoping to get as many games played out of a player as possible. Injuries will also be posted each Monday to help with that week going forward fantasy wise.
More often than not Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday are the big hockey nights…I will do my best to get a blog up each of those days to let you know which goalies will be starting; on top of that which backup goalie I feel has the best odds of securing you a win that night. Of course along the way I will be going over which players are hot/cold, but just as important if not more…which young players, or possible free agents are turning it up a notch and may be worth scooping up if you need some firepower.
Something that is very important early in the season…
HOLD your cards, or your players in this case; James Neal is a good example right now…he is off to a slow start and is a proven capable goal scorer. No need to panic and trade off or drop players who either take a bit of time (slow starters) or are just in a new environment and haven’t got their game up to par quite yet…Some players are slow starters and heat up as the season goes on. With that being said, don’t be afraid to suck it up for a few weeks and reassess at a later date.
Lundqvist is a great example of a goalie who STINKS in October but always pulls it together as the season goes on; whatever you do...DO NOT drop him. If you do trade him, make sure you get back an excellent deal as he will only get better; this happens yearly for the 'King'.
On the other hand, if you have a player on your team that you feel is producing way more than they will all season and you feel you could sell this player on the ‘high’…Take the risk if you want…move them for a player who is struggling, just maybe someone will bite. Sometimes these deals can blow up in your face and sometimes they can turn out fantastic. Feel free to ask any questions on players in the comments section and I will give you my two cents.
A few standouts in the early going that may be available on the wire:
Tyler Toffoli - 4GP = 2 goals, 3 assists +8
Tanner Pearson – 4GP = 4 goals, 2 assists, +6
Ryan Strome – 3GP = 4 assists, +4
Brock Nelson – 3GP = 4 goals, 3 assists +3
Andrew Shaw – 3GP = 1 goal, 3 assists, +-0 (playing second line center for hawks right now between Kane + Saad + 1st line powerplay)
Tommy Wingles – 3GP = 3 goals, 1 assist, +3
(D) Sami Vatanen – 4GP = 3 assists, -1
Mikkel Boedker – 3GP = 5 goals, 1 assist, +3
(G) Darcy Kuemper – 2GP = 2 shutout wins (looks to be starter for Wild)
(G) Alex Stalock – 1GP = 1 shutout win (back up for San Jose)
(D) TJ Brodie – 5GP = 2 goals, 3 assists, +4
Cam Atkinson – 3GP = 3 goals, 1 assist, +3
Eric Nystrom – 3GP = 2 goals, 2 assists, +5
Starting Goalies:
I will highlight the goalie in bold if they are a lock to start I will highlight the goalie in italics if the are probable to start
***(will update throughout the day)***
(SJ) Stalock VS (NYI) Halak (DAL) Lehtonen VS (PIT) Fleury (NJ) Schneider VS (WSH) Holtby (CAR) Khudobin VS (NYR) Lundqvist (BOS) Niklas Svedberg (Rask played last night) VS (MTL) Price (COL) Berra VS (OTT) Anderson (STL) Elliott VS (LA) Quick
Even though the Islanders are off to an 3-0 start I would say Stalock has a good chance of getting you a win.
REMINDER: Be sure to have your HBSL teams picked before the first game each Monday!!
Enjoy tonight’s games and best of luck in your fantasy hockey this week!
Thanks for reading.