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Fantasy Hockey Weekly Newsletter: Week 17 Hello everyone. Welcome to the seventeenth edition of JOT This Down! Keep the questions, comments, and concerns coming. I’ll be here all week to answer any and everything you may have. The schedule is quite wonky this week. Multiple teams only play 1 or two games and the Sharks do not have a game. After this week, the schedule goes back to normal for a while. Keep tabs on your rosters as there will be many off days, and decisions will need to be made regarding whether or not to hang on to fringe players.
Towards the 2020 NHL trade deadline, the Maple Leafs acquired Campbell and Clifford for the Kings for two draft picks and a former undrafted player who looked like a AAAA player.  He was coming off a big season for the Marlies, but was struggling at the NHL level.  That player was Trevor Moore.  Now, he's a top six player on one of the best teams in the league.  Moore scored two goals on five shots against the Coyotes on Monday.  That brings him up to 9+6 on the season with a shot rate pushing towards three per game.  Moore is certainly on the fringe, but right now, I'm leaning towards holding.  The big reason is that Kevin Fiala moved onto a line with Moore and Phillip Danault (1+1).  Moore and Danault are both good play drivers, but Fiala is right there with them with an elite skill set.  Albeit in a short sample, this line is generating opportunities at a rate as high as any in the league.  They also get the bonus of going against weaker competition because of the Kopitar line.  While this start looks like an outlier based on Moore's previous stats, the underlying numbers suggest that he should continue to produce.  Let's take a look at what else happened Monday night:
Another big domino fell in the trade market on Thursday with Vladimir Tarasenko joining the Russian contingent in Manhattan.  The Rangers also received Niko Mikkola, while giving up Sammy Blais, Hunter Skinner, a first round pick in 2023, and a conditional fourth round pick in 2024 that will almost certainly turn into a third (the Rangers need to make the playoffs for that to happen).  The first round pick that the Blues get will be the lesser of the New York and Dallas first round picks.  I'm a big fan of this move for the Rangers.  A late round first for a quality rental is a solid price, they get to dump Blais in the deal, Skinner isn't much of a prospect, and they get some blueline depth with Mikkola.  Tarasenko gets a boost in this trade, and potentially a big one.  He'll almost certainly go on the opposite wing of Panarin, and if Zibanejad stays at center with Panarin, that's a great spot to be in.  The big question is whether Tarasenko goes on the vaunted first power play unit in Trocheck's place.  It's a different position than he's used to playing on the power play, but Trocheck isn't exactly lighting the world on fire.  Trocheck would be a big loser if Tarasenko does take that spot.  We should get an answer on that tonight.  Let's take a look at what else happened over the last two nights:
It's no secret in these parts that I'm from Buffalo and root for the local teams.  I've seen plenty of devastating injuries over the years, from hockey players being severely cut, Pronger's collapse on the ice, soccer players collapsing like Eriksen in 2021, and I was at the Bills game when Kevin Everett was paralyzed.  Damar Hamlin's cardiac arrest was the first time that it felt like "life or death" on the football field.  It seemed like an eternity between first responders helping him, getting him to the hospital, and waiting for any update.  I can only imagine how it was for his family, friends, and teammates.  Here's to hoping that Hamlin continues to progress in his battle towards recovery.  The Sabres played in Washington on Tuesday night, with the entire team wearing "Love For Three" t-shirts for their Buffalo brethren.  The Sabres won the game 5-4 in the most fitting way possible.  Tage Thompson scored his third goal of the game, completing his third hat trick of the season, exactly three minutes into overtime, playing three on three, bringing him to 30 on the season, which is three off the league lead.  You can't write a better ending than that.  Let's take a look at what else happened over the last two nights while we keep Damar in our thoughts:
I hope everyone had a great Holiday Season!  Hopefully you weren't stuck in your house like I was in Buffalo with this blizzard.  Still haven't left my house since Thursday.  Anyways, it's time for an updated hold/stream list since it's been about six weeks.  For a refresher course of what I'm doing this year, instead of two separate categories, I’m going to do three now: hold, on the fringe between bottom end hold and elite streamer, and any level of streamer.  This is for 12 team leagues.  I will only make comments on certain players that I deem noteworthy, otherwise this will be purely a list.  Assume that every starting goalie is worth holding unless noted otherwise, mostly by them being in the streaming category.  Let’s get to it!
With a strange schedule this week due to Thanksgiving in the United States, I'm going to be back on Tuesday recapping tonight's action.  I know it's been a bit for daily notes, but managing through this snowstorm in Buffalo has taken up a lot of time.  As a result, I'm going to change things up and talk about one player on each team that is changing my opinion about them for fantasy, for better or worse.  Let me know in the comments section if you like this type of post (or if you don't, speak the truth) so I know going forward.  Let's get to it! Things couldn't be going worse for John Klingberg with the Ducks. The team signed him in order to help out in the early part of the season and probably trade him at the deadline for assets.  Instead, he hasn't helped at all, and is even off the first power play unit now.  The shot rate is dreadful, as is the plus-minus.  You can still hold for upside later in the year, but he's no longer must-own in 12'ers and even 10'ers.
What's poppin, Razzpimples? Ya boi JKJ is back for another year of fantasy hockey content here at Razzball! Going a different route this time around, though. I'm gonna be your D daddy! No, no, not that kind of D, ya silly goose! Defenders. All the defenders. I don't exactly know why, but I've taken a real liking to that position. If you're familiar with my baseball work, I handle all the RP business. Taken a liking to relievers in baseball, and in hockey it's the defenders.
We move through more defensemen today going through my Top 40.  For those that didn't see my Top 20, you can check that out here.  I have some good news before I get going with these rankings.  JKJ is going to be back!  He's going to shift his focus this season towards defensemen, similar to what he does on the baseball side of things with relief pitchers.  Look for him to be writing again in the near future, with a rebuttal to my defenseman rankings the first thing coming.  And now, let's get to it!
It wasn't that long ago that Vladimir Tarasenko requested a trade from the Blues. It wasn't that long ago that Tarasenko could have went to Seattle in the expansion draft.  Now, St. Louis has to be thanking their lucky stars that he's still on the roster.  Tarasenko had his biggest game of the season on Thursday, scoring a hat trick on four shots and adding two more assists in the 6-2 win over the Sabres.  Tarasenko now has 31+41 in 67 games, with a great chance of setting a career high in points.  It's a remarkable turnaround for the Russian who is certainly a top 100 player for drafts next season.  I don't see him cracking the top 50, but it's great to see Tarasenko playing great hockey again.  Let's take a look at what else happened over the last two nights:
I'm going to do the second half of the Playoff Manifesto today.  If you missed Part One, you can check it out here.  Let's get right to it! NASHVILLE PREDATORS (4,4,3,3) This schedule is right up there for best in the league.  Fourteen games is as good as it gets.  They close each week with a back-to-back.  The only nitpick is that there are no games on light days, but few things are perfect.  Josi and Forsberg can both push for best player in the fantasy playoffs if things break right.  Ryan Johansen and Tanner Jeannot are both elite streamers in the stretches where Nashville has three games in four nights.
Who would have thought that a seven point game wouldn't get the opening?  It would take something extravagant and that's what happened, with Jason Robertson scoring back-to-back hat tricks. R0bertson carried the Stars to victory on Friday scoring three on seven shots, including the overtime winner.  He capped it off with an empty netter to seal the game against Minnesota on Sunday, totaling six shots and two PIM with his hat trick.  That brings Robertson to a whopping 29+25 in 47 games and three shots per game.  Robertson seemingly came out of nowhere last season to earn a second place finish in the Calder race.  Now, the sky appears to be the limit.  Robertson is still only 22 years old and has his center of the present and future already with him.  It looks like the Stars have their new Benn and Seguin.  They can only hope Hintz and Robertson reach that level, but it's not out of the realm of possibility.  I don't think Robertson quite cracks the top 20 for the rest of the season and next year, but he's a slam dunk top 50 player.  Let's take a look at what else happened over the weekend: