The trade deadline is this Friday, but we saw a few trades on Saturday, one of which carries some big fantasy ramifications. The Panthers made their annual big swing, acquiring Seth Jones from the Chicago Blackhawks in exchange for Spencer Knight and a first round pick, almost certainly in 2026. Even with Chicago retaining salary, Jones will cost the Panthers seven million a year for the next five years. Long time Razzballers know that I have never been a fan of Jones in real life compared to his reputation. I wouldn’t want to commit to him for the next five years at $7m for free, let alone giving up a first round pick and Knight. That said, it will certainly help him stepping onto the defending Cup champions. So what can we expect for fantasy?
This season, the main thing the stands out to me with Jones’ numbers is his shot rate is in the dumps. He had an above average shot rate for most of his career, but this season, he’s below two shots per game. His plus-minus was awful per usual, but he has done quite well on the power play. Well, Jones could step right onto Florida’s top power play unit. They clearly don’t want Ekblad in that role, as they’ve tried so many different players in that spot following Montour’s departure. Maybe it doesn’t happen immediately, but I have to think Jones goes there sooner than later. In fantasy, the opportunity means more than the talent. Matheson was great in Montreal for a couple years because he played insane minutes. Now, Hutson took his role and Matheson is nearly useless. Jones is clearly must own now and should end up being a solid #3 for the rest of the season. The upside is there for him to be a #2, but the shot rate has to get back to previous levels. Long term, this is a massive win for his fantasy value. Chicago was still years away, but now he has a clear spot to play with Tkachuk, Barkov and Reinhart.
For Chicago, this was an absolute no brainer. Jones wanted to be traded, has a boat anchor of a contract, and they received two valuable pieces. Knight can be a home run if he gets his career back on track. The crazy thing is that Knight is still only 23 years old. His career has been a roller coaster to this point, but most goalies don’t even sniff the NHL until they’re 24-25 years old. Getting traded so he can restart his career should be a good thing. In the short term, it’s a huge blow to his value. Going from one of the best teams to one of the worst leaves Knight nearly useless outside of deep leagues. In the long term though, if Knight gets back on track, he should be peaking once Chicago finally starts trying to win again. If I was in a dynasty and my team was currently bad, I would try to target Knight.
The Panthers put Matthew Tkachuk on LTIR following the Jones trade. That shows a real chance that Tkachuk isn’t back until the playoffs. Thank you NHL for not changing this bullshit rule. Anyways, if you own Tkachuk in redrafts, I would just cut bait if you need the IR spot.
The Avalanche also acquired Ryan Lindgren and Jimmy Vesey from the Rangers for two draft picks, Jusso Parssinen and Calvin de Haan. Can’t really see any of these guys making a fantasy impact. The Wild received Gustav Nyquist from Nashville for a second round pick. With all of Minnesota’s injuries, Nyquist should go right into the top six and probably the first power play unit. It won’t last, and he’s looked quite bad for Nashville this season, but it’s a small upgrade to his streaming value going to a better team. Let’s take a look at what else happened over the weekend:
Ross Colton had two goals and an assist with five shots for Colorado on Friday against Minnesota, but he played just over 10 minutes and one goal was an empty netter up 4-2. His value is down to a middling streamer with that limited ice time.
The top line for Dallas destroyed the Kings, with Roope Hintz dishing four assists and Jason Robertson tallying a goal and two assists with five shots. And yet, neither played 15 minutes in the game. Their fantasy values would be so much higher on literally any other team, even Carolina.
I say this, and then Hintz has another four point game on Sunday, scoring a goal and three assists. Wyatt Johnston scored a hat trick against the Blues. Johnston is the one Star forward who gets big minutes consistently, but obviously Hintz and Robertson are still clear holds. I was merely pointing out that both could be top 25 guys if they had Bednar or Knoblauch instead of DeBoer.
Ilya Sorokin was credited with a goal on Saturday as Nashville scored into their own net with the goalie pulled. Sorokin got the win, but his numbers were rough once again. We still can only keep rolling him out there and hoping for the best.
Brock Nelson has been great since the break, with six points in four games, including 2+1 against the Preds. He’s still on the fringe depending on team needs.
Sergei Bobrovsky – 23 save shutout in the 3-0 win over Calgary. Bob should get an even bigger workload down the stretch, although I should have mentioned above that Chris Driedger will be the new backup in Knight’s place. If somehow Florida ends up locked into a spot early, then Driedger could end up being a valuable streamer in the fantasy hockey playoffs in head to head leagues.
It was a very entertaining outdoor game at The Horseshoe, with Columbus ending up on top 5-3 thanks to Elvis Merzlikins saving 43 out of 46 shots. Elvis is still fringy even with the volume. He’s fine for wins but hurts elsewhere. Boone Jenner had another two assist game, and has made a real case to be hold right away after missing over 50 games this season. Great games from Patrick Kane and Alex DeBrincat in the loss.
Great game from Calvin Pickard making 35 saves in the 3-1 win over Carolina. Pickard also has a case to be held, especially in roto leagues, because of the great win rate. Obviously the volume is very up and down depending on how Skinner has been doing.
Jordan Binnington has carried over his good play for Four Nations to the Blues, allowing four goals over his past three games combined. He was already a hold, but perhaps there’s more upside down the stretch than I anticipated.
Shane Wright is really starting to come into his own. He had two more assists on Saturday, giving him 20 points in 23 games since January 1st. The problem is that his shot rate is downright dreadful. If your league doesn’t have shots on goal, there’s a real case to hold Wright. Almost all leagues do, so in those, he’s a top end streamer. Remember, Wright is still only 21, so there’s a ton of potential here.
Ryan Donato has had a shockingly good season for Chicago, and that continued on Saturday, scoring two goals and an assist against the Ducks. I would assume the Blackhawks just keep him, which leaves Donato in solid to elite streamer territory. A trade would almost certainly hurt his value.
Great performance from Filip Gustavsson on Sunday to get the slumping Wild a 1-0 win over Boston. Gustavsson made 28 saves, and while he’s a long way off from being the #2 overall goalie like he was for a couple months, we’d have taken his overall numbers before the season in a heartbeat.
The Rangers are holding Reilly Smith out for trade purposes. He’s looked cooked all season. Maybe a trade reinvigorates him and brings some fantasy value back, but I wouldn’t bet on it.
Streamer of the Week under 50% owned – Kyle Palmieri comes in just under the threshold, and he’s played well lately with five points in last five. The Islanders schedule is extremely conducive to streaming as they have a back to back to open the week, and a back to back to close the week. The back to back to close the week is against the Sharks and Ducks as well, making it close to a dream spot.
Streamer of the Week under 10% owned – Jiri Kulich is under 1% owned, but is still centering the first line for the Sabres. They start off the week with a back to back against Montreal and the Sharks, a great spot to take advantage of. They do have two more games later in the week, although they’re against the Florida teams. You can pick up Kulich for the next two days and then decide from there whether or not you want to keep him.
Three Point Challenge: We will do the Three Point Challenge for Tuesday’s games. You can’t select MacKinnon, Kucherov, McDavid, Draisaitl, Marner, Pastrnak, Connor, Rantanen, Eichel, or J. Hughes. Since I’m going to this abortion of a game, give me Tage against the Sharks.
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!
Edit: my notes will be out Wednesday, but a bit later than usual. Sorry for delay.
