Everything looks minor compared to the Luka Doncic trade, but there were four hockey trades over the weekend that were all notable. Two have fairly big fantasy repercussions, one gives some potential upside with changes of scenery, and the other could have some tertiary impact. For the second time because of trades, I had to scrap my hold/stream list. I’m going to hold off on that until the Four Nations break now. I also plan to have my Playoff Manifesto come out over that time. For today, let’s talk about those trades in the order they occurred:
The Calgary Flames acquire Joel Farabee and Morgan Frost from the Philadelphia Flyers for Andrei Kuzmenko, Jakob Pelletier, a second round pick and a seventh round pick.
I always love when a token seventh round pick gets added to a trade. This is definitely more interesting from our perspective from the Flames side. Both guys stepped into pretty big roles right away. Farabee skated on the top line with Kadri and Huberdeau on Sunday, having 3 SOG playing over 17 minutes. Frost centered the third line, but played on the first PP unit, finishing with 18 minutes of ice time. Frost scored his first goal with the Flames on five shots against the Kraken. Frost undeniably has 50-55 point potential, so perhaps we can get that in Calgary. Since Torts jerked him around and it looks like the Flames have no intention of that, I’m bumping Frost to a solid streamer with upside of becoming an elite one. I would have Farabee a step below him, even though he has already had the 50 point season. I simply prefer the power play time.
We haven’t seen where Kuzmenko and Pelletier are slotting into the Philly lineup yet. We’ve seen Kuzmenko’s potential, and he did play with Michkov in Russia before. It will be interesting to see if Kuz plays with Michkov or not. The worry is Torts would end up hating that line regularly. I’d bump Kuzmenko up to a bottom end streamer instead of off the radar just for the chance we get something worthwhile. It’s a change of scenery for Pelletier. His size is always going to be an impediment, but I see him as a long term middle sixer who coaches like because of his motor. For now, I’m not considering him, but perhaps he gets a big role than anticipated. I’ll be sure to touch on both Philly guys once they get in the lineup.
The New York Rangers acquire J.T. Miller and organizational depth from the Vancouver Canucks for Filip Chytil, Victor Mancini, and a first round pick.
Well, the Canucks settled on which center was moving during the season. Miller returns to the Rangers after seven years on the Lightning and Canucks. He immediately went onto the first line, centering Panarin and Zibanejad. In his first two games, Miller totaled two goals and two assists with eight shots. It’s safe to say that this trade isn’t going to hurt Miller’s value. It is going to hurt Chris Kreider, who lost his spot on PP1 to Miller. I don’t understand why it would be Kreider and not Zibanejad, but that’s what they’re going with for now. Kreider played on the third line and only got 12 minutes of ice time against Vegas. He’s deserves a drop down to a middling streamer.
Chytil slid onto the Canucks second line with Garland and Joshua. He had a goal on three shots playing 20 minutes on Sunday against the Red Wings. He’s always a massive injury risk with hist history of concussions, but it looks like Chytil is getting a much bigger role for the Canucks, and frankly, one he deserved from the Rangers. He’s blocked from PP1 and I don’t really see a path for him to work his way there, so I’d have Chytil in the solid streamer range, but I could see him getting to the level of the most elite streamers. Mancini profiles as a third pairing stay-at-home defenseman. For those of you in dynasty banger leagues, I can see a path to him having some good value there. He doesn’t profile as a big PIM guy, but he should be decent enough there, and should be good in blocks and hits.
The Canucks also acquired Marcus Pettersson and Drew O’Connor from the Pittsburgh Penguins for Danton Heinen, Vincent Desharnais, a prospect (Melvin Fernstrom), and a conditional first round pick. Pettersson’s fantasy value usually comes in improving his partner’s ability to get involved offensively. The problem is that the Canucks don’t have an offensive defenseman for him to benefit from Pettersson’s arrival. He slotted in with Myers on Sunday, so for now, nothing to see here. If anything, it could marginally hurt Letang. O’Connor went onto the third line so it’s hard to see much of an impact outside of deep leagues.
For the Pens, this was mostly about the draft pick. Heinen returns to the Pens again. Perhaps he can work his way into being a bottom end to middling streamer, but I have my doubts. Desharnais could get back to being a streamer for deep leagues for those who need hits, blocks, and PIM, but he is atrocious offensively and was just bad in Vancouver. Fernstrom was just a third round pick and there could be something there long term, but he’s a long way away from sniffing the NHL, so for now, I wouldn’t really think about him for dynasties.
The Dallas Stars acquire Mikael Granlund and Cody Ceci from the San Jose Sharks for a first round pick and a conditional fourth round pick that turns into a third if the Stars make the Cup finals.
I’ve been dreading a potential Granlund trade because it could crater his value. He went to an elite team though which does help his cause. Granlund has faced incredibly difficult minutes in San Jose, and that certainly won’t happen for the Stars. Granlund slotted onto the third line with Benn and Dadonov, and had an assist with two shots in his Dallas debut. He played 16:40 which seems like the range he’s going to be in with them, a massive drop from where he was with San Jose. I think I have to drop him all the way to a solid streamer from the fringe. I can see elite streamer status, but he won’t be getting PP1 time either, so this hurts quite a bit. Ceci is nearly useless for fantasy.
For the Sharks, Wennberg moved up the lineup, but I’m not interested in him at all even with a move up to PP1 as well. My hope is that we see a continued increase in time for Will Smith and his value continues to rise.
Three Point Challenge: We will do Tuesday’s games per usual. You can’t select MacKinnon, Draisaitl, Kucherov, Marner, McDavid, Connor, Eichel, Rantanen, Pastrnak, Scheifele, or J. Hughes. I’ll go with Jason Robertson against the Ducks.
That’s all for now guys. I’ll be back on Wednesday recapping the action from the next two nights. As always, feel free to ask any questions, leave any comments, or give any suggestions below. Thanks for reading, take care!
