After last week’s intense NHL week things get back to normal this week with a number of teams playing only a couple games and just four teams playing four times. Of course this has some positives as you won’t be benching guys as often and should have your lineups rolling nicely. It’s actually somewhat humorous to me that in one of my pools I literally have seem to get an injury per week or a mumps victim…my roster is always being tweaked as I try to sub in my guys as they get better and of course find a new free agent or two during the week to slot in. For blogging purposes this is great, I’ve been able to keep a keen eye on who is hot, heating up and of course who’s been putrid.
Before I list off who has how many games next week I wanted to drive home a point that now is the time…if you are fumbling around at the bottom of the rankings in a head to head or rotisserie based fantasy pool it’s time to make a splash. Don’t be shy to trade away one of your top ranked players in order to get 2 or even three good players…work some deals before it’s too late. In many cases you may be so far behind first place you have no chance to catch them; but you are only a few solid weeks away from catching the person who is just barely in the playoff picture. Remove the worst player or players on your team by trading the best player(s); and get yourself on track for a huge comeback. Odds are, whoever is in first or second place in your pool has a lot of depth on their team; hopefully enough depth they can move you two players for one or three players for 2…whatever tickles you’re fancy. Just don’t be gun shy and watch the season get away from you; take a risk and go for it. Just like any sport all you have to do is make the playoffs and anything can happen!
Here is a list of which teams have how many games going forward this week:
(2) Games: Anaheim – Los Angeles – Montreal – Pittsburgh – Tampa Bay - Toronto
(3) Games: Arizona – Boston – Buffalo – Calgary – Carolina – Colorado – Columbus – Dallas – Detroit – Edmonton – Florida – Nashville – New Jersey – New York Islanders – New York Rangers – Ottawa – Philadelphia – St. Louis – Vancouver - Washington
(4) Games: Chicago – Minnesota – San Jose – Winnipeg
After David Perron was traded from Edmonton to Pittsburgh his fantasy value sure went up. He scored in his first game with the Penguins and I expect he will be much more successful in their system as it seemed he was really struggling this year; especially at the start. The Pens roster is kind of like one of my fantasy teams; full of talent but constantly beat up and plugging away at filling the voids!
Injuries:
Evander Kane – February Jacob Trouba – February Joffrey Lupul – February Nazem Kadri – DTD Radko Gudas – DTD Joe Thornton – DTD (maybe tonight) Patric Hornqvist – week to week (January) Claude Giroux – DTD James Neal – DTD P.A. Parenteau – DTD Mikael Granlund – February Valeri Nichushkin – March Cam Atkinson – DTD Kris Versteeg – February Alexander Semin – DTD
Trade High Candidates:
Tyler Johnson – 43 points +26 Nikita Kucherov – 39 points +26 Jiri Hudler – 38 points +14 Filip Forsberg – 37 points +22 Nick Foligno – 35 points +2 Andrew Ladd – 31 points +8 Johnny Gaudreau – 31 points +11 Derick Brassard – 30 points +3 Ondrej Palat – 30 points +22 Jaden Schwartz – 29 points +11
Risky? Of course it’s risky…these guys are all having huge seasons as of now. The big thing here is; there is still just over half the season to go and the big question is will these players be able to keep up their rate of production over the final stretch of the season…
Weigh your options; don’t be crazy and trade them for a couple plugs…but if you can find a trading partner and acquire a couple players you like who think will get better as the season goes. Beautiful…that’s what you are looking for.
There are three big hockey games tonight:
(SJ) Niemi VS (WPG) Hutchinson
This San Jose team should be doing much better than they are…whereas this Jets team is red hot coming into this game. They will host the Sharks and Michael Hutchinson will get the green light between the pipes yet again; he has won the starting job it looks and has won 4 of his last 5 starts. Niemi has been battling the puck this season, last game he was pulled against the Blues as he got lit up for 6 goals against.
The Bronze medal game will be between Slovakia and Sweden in the IIHF World Junior Championships.
The Gold medal game will be between Russia and Canada who hosts the tournament both this year and the next. Enjoy!!
HBSL:
Last week there was some huge numbers put up; I saw some high 500’s and some 600’s even…impressive. Keep at it and make sure you put a bit more thought into your picks as each point can be vital in winning the week. Be sure to check over injured players before you make your choices..
Best of luck this week going forward in your fantasy!
Any questions or trade idea’s you have, feel free to ask in the comments section.
Thanks for reading.