It's my favorite day of the year! It's the NHL Trade Deadline, and I'll be updating this post throughout the day with instant analysis on every single move. I'm starting this post now with moves over the weekend and will start up again around noon EST and be here through the hour after the trade deadline. Let's get to it!
Hey guys! Over the next month, I will be taking a look at each team’s players to watch out for going into the 2019-20 fantasy hockey season. This analysis features everything from surefire studs, to sleepers, to streamers, deeper league holds, even to rookie-eligible prospects that may make an appearance at some point this season. Please let me know if you guys enjoy this type of material! Reminder that the stat totals are from last season.
Last year my previews went alphabetically, but this year we’re going to go division-by-division, starting with the top team. On our 22nd stop on the 31 in 31 tour, we’re headed right to the Michigan/Ontario border – Detroit Rock City baby! The wings have former players such as Stevie Y at the helm, and boy is this team going to be young and skilled. We saw glimpses of what some of these kids can do last season, will they bring it this season?
As a companion to my Top 200, this post is going to cover the big preseason news from the last few weeks, along with the players that I'm targeting at the end of drafts in standard 12 man leagues. In 12'ers, the waiver wire isn't a complete wasteland, so my goal is to shoot for the moon and hope that our late picks break out in a big way. Last season, my favorite target was Elias Lindholm and we all know how that worked out. We're barely over a week away from the season starting so it's time to buckle down and adjust our board wherever necessary. Let's break down what I've been looking at:
On January 3rd, the St. Louis Blues were in last place of the entire NHL. Here we are six weeks later and they're safely in a playoff position. The Blues have matched the longest winning streak in the NHL this season at 10, winning two games this weekend in convincing fashion. First, Jake Allen shutout the Avalanche, then Jordan Binnington shut out the Wild on a back to back. Right now, Binnington is as hot as it gets in the league. I don't expect this to continue, but for now, he's a must start every time out. I still view Allen as somewhat of a desperation play, but with how well the team is playing in front of him, I'm fine with streaming him for the time being. Looks like a coaching change was what they needed to right the ship. Let's take a look at what else happened over the weekend:
Hi, everyone, it’s LackeyDrinksOnMe!
It’s been a crazy application season with a ton of great kids deciding to apply early decision. Unfortunately this means I’ve been busy even on weekends, but things are finally slowing down a little bit and I can get back to a weekly long-run streamer column. These pickups are meant for filling more than just a single spot start, looking at days that have fewer games being played so you can gain an additional three or four starts a week from a single skater.
Not a lot of truly slow games this week, but Monday, Wednesday, and Friday all have only ten games, so there’s a few teams we can take advantage of.
Hey guys! Sven here back with another Buy/Sell/Hold. I will simply be looking at what these particular players have done performance-wise so far this season, and what I anticipate. Let me know if you guys like this type of content!
There wasn't a ton of goal scoring over the last two nights, but the most notable performance came from the reigning MVP. Taylor Hall won the game against the Penguins virtually by himself, scoring two goals and two assists with six shots in the 4-2 win. That brings Hall up to 5+14 in 16 games with over 3.5 shots per game. Can we expect a repeat of last season? That would be a stretch. Hall shot 14% last season while for the majority of the rest of his career, he's been in the 8-11% range. This year he's at 8.6, a little low but not an outlier. I would say 25-30 goals seems likely, but a new career high in assists (54) is certainly within range. Let's take a look at what else happened over the last two nights:
Hey guys, Sven again with our stop in the Motor City for 31 in 31! Over the next month, I will be taking a look at each team’s players to watch out for going into the 2018-19 fantasy hockey season: The 31 in 31 daily segment. This analysis features everything from surefire studs, to sleepers, to prospects that may make an appearance at some point this season. Please let me know if you guys enjoy this type of material! Reminder that the stat totals are from last season.
It’s at the point of the season where I start off posts with guys who aren’t trivial holds and can make a difference down the stretch run. I’ve always been enamored with Nick Bjugstad‘s potential, especially after his 24 goal season three seasons ago. Please, blog, may I have some more?
Instead of my usual Monday daily notes, I am going to update my list of holds and streams for every NHL team. This should help everyone out quite a bit in companion with my Playoff Schedule Manifesto. I will also add in some notes where I feel like they're necessary, either to explain myself, or some quick thoughts on a player. Let's get right to it!
It's Christmas in February! I'm going to hit on all of the trades that I haven't discussed to this point and then update this post with every trade that takes place today. These are all my instant thoughts from both a real life and fantasy perspective. Let's get right to it!
Gretzky, Lemieux, Forsberg, LaFontaine. That's the list of players in the last 30 seasons to have multiple five assist games in one season. Add Mathew Barzal to the list after Friday night. Barzal became the first rookie in 100 years to have three five point games in one season dishing five assists in the 7-6 win over the Red Wings. That puts Barzal over a point per game on the season and makes him the prohibitive favorite for the Calder (sorry Boeser). Our second podcast ever, which took place before last season, saw Reid and I hype up Barzal for dynasties. Regardless, he's blown away my expectations this season. Now, it's not all rosy for fantasy. The penalty minutes are low, but more importantly the shot rate is barely over two per game. On the other hand, he's 20 years old and is over a point per game, so it's hard to complain. There's a top 20 fantasy player in Barzal's future if he can get that shot rate up. Regardless, he'll be a borderline top 50 player next year solely for the points, and it's only going to get better from there. Let's take a look at what else happened over the weekend:
