NHL 2017 Week 6 Fantasy Hockey Report

Players to watch, all formats:

1) Jason Zucker, Minnesota, (43% Yahoo ownership): He’s scored 7 PTS in his last 4 GP and is the most added player in Yahoo fantasy today. He’s certainly ownable in all leagues while this hot streak continues.

2) Charlie Lindgren, Montreal, (36% Yahoo ownership): If you lost Carey Price and picked up his replacement, you might actually be doing better than before. He’s 3-1 with a 1.24 GAA and .964 SV% in 4 GP. He should probably be owned by 100% of Carey Price owners, even if only on a temporary basis until Price returns.

3) Pavel Buchnevich, Rangers, (46% Yahoo ownership): He’s scored 11 PTS in his last 10 GP. He takes lots of shots and picks up a bunch of power play points. He has become standard league relevant.

4) Kyle Palmieri, New Jersey, (60% Yahoo ownership): He recently missed 6 games with a foot injury. If he was dropped in your league, go pick him up. He’s got some talented offensive players to play with, something I didn’t think I’d be saying about the Devils before the season.

5) Hampus Lindholm, Anaheim, (25% Yahoo ownership): He returned from injury 10 games ago and has put up 5 PTS. Coaches have been slowly increasing his ice time, to now where it’s been over 25 minutes the last 2 games. Guys like this who play this much will eventually start scoring in bunches.

Going Deep: players to add in deeper leagues:

1) Alex Kerfoot, Colorado, (9% Yahoo ownership): He’s at 9% owned as of the moment I’m writing this, but that should be rising quickly after scoring 7 PTS in his last 5 GP.

2) Alex Debrincat, Chicago, (9% Yahoo ownership): I’m not keen to buy stock in the Blackhawks right now, but Debrincat anyway has 7 PTS in his last 7 GP. A few analysts liked him as a rookie of the year candidate prior to the season.

3) William Karlsson, Vegas, (9% Yahoo ownership): Karlsson was 0% owned at the beginning of the season but suddenly has 12 PTS in his last 12 GP while playing top line minutes. He’s a borderline player in standard leagues, but a must add in deep leagues.

4) Tanner Pearson, LA, (8% Yahoo ownership): After a terrible start to the season Pearson now has 6 PTS in his last 6 GP. He was dropped in many leagues and may be available in yours. If he continues to produce at this rate he’ll soon be addable in standard leagues.

5) Derek Grant, Anaheim, (1% Yahoo ownership): He recently had a 5-game point streak and has been getting more playing time after the Getzlaf injury. Ride the wave while it lasts. Once he’s back down to 12 minutes or so per game, that’s the time to drop him.

Sell High:

1) Blake Wheeler, Winnipeg, (99% Yahoo ownership): I’m sure there aren’t many Wheeler owners thinking they need to get rid of this player who has scored 15 PTS in his last 7 GP. That pace will eventually slow down, so if you can leverage him to get a higher tier player, there’s no better time than right now.

2) Sean Couturier, Philly, (78% Yahoo ownership): It has been a surprisingly great season so far for Couturier who has 19 PTS in 17 GP. But don’t expect an 80-point season. There will be some regression to the mean coming soon. This is a great time to flip him for a more valuable asset.

3) Patrick Marleau, Toronto (72% Yahoo ownership): He’s got 6 PTS in his last 7 GP at 38 years old. There’s at least one Leafs fan in every fantasy league, and you might be surprised what they’d give you for Marleau…unless you are the Leafs fan in your league who owns him…

4) David Perron, Vegas, (29% Yahoo ownership): He’s got 14 PTS on the season including 9 in his last 8 GP. He’s returning good value for where you drafted him, but still is a piece you can comfortably throw into a trade offer to boost the value.

5) Will Butcher, New Jersey, (67% Yahoo ownership): His scoring has started to cool down and his ice time is lower than most good point producing defensemen. His ownership is too high and he’s borderline ownable in standard leagues. In deeper leagues where he still needs to be owned, now might be the best time to package him into trade offers.

Buy Low:

1) Jack Eichel, Buffalo, (99% Yahoo ownership): The sharp shooting young gun has hit a bit of a cold spell with 3 PTS in his last 8 GP. Now might be a good time to make an offer to the Eichel owner.

2) Dougie Hamilton, Calgary, (94% Yahoo ownership): With just 1 point in his last 7 GP, now might be a good time to make an offer for this kid.

3) Artemi Panarin, Columbus, (99% Yahoo ownership): He has scored 3 PTS in his last 9 GP. I’m not sure if he had a 9-game stretch with that few points the entire time he played with Patrick Kane. There may be reasons to be concerned, but the price to get him in a trade has to have dropped significantly.

4) Matt Murray, Pittsburgh, (100% Yahoo ownership): Over his last 6 starts he is 2-4 with 16 goals against. On the season he’s got a 2.90 GAA with a .906 SV%. He’s a better goalie than that. The Penguins have been struggling over the past few weeks without much offense from Crosby.

5) Colton Parayko, St. Louis, (77% Yahoo ownership): With 2 PTS in his last 10 GP, he’s barely ownable in a standard league. But for those in deep leagues, it might be a good time to buy.

Be concerned:

1) Brent Burns, San Jose, (100% Yahoo Ownership): Not even a year has passed since Burns name was being discussed as a contender to win the scoring title. That’ll never happen again. He had a renaissance around his 30^th birthday and now he’s 32 years old. He’s not returning the value of where you drafted him and his ADP (average draft position) will drop significantly next season.

2) Craig Anderson, Ottawa, (81% Yahoo ownership): He’s given up 19 goals in his last 5 starts. He has aged better than most players, but at age 36, time may be starting to catch up with him. If he were my #1 goalie in a keeper league, I’d be desperately trying to trade him.

3) Nicklas Backstrom, Washington, (99% Yahoo ownership): He was featured in my “buy low” section last week, but has been upgraded to “be concerned”. He’s got just one point in Washington’s last 10 games, which has to be bothering his owners who no doubt drafted him very high.

4) Brandon Saad, Chicago, (94% Yahoo ownership): He started the season on fire after being reunited with Jonathon Toews, but now has just 2 PTS in his last 12 GP. That’s not what you drafted him to be. He may be worth dropping in standard leagues.

5) Duncan Keith, Chicago, (97% Yahoo ownership): It looks like all the miles on his odometer are starting to catch up with him. We’re almost ¼ way into the season and he still has not scored a goal. In his last 9 GP he’s got just one assist. I don’t see his future getting brighter anytime soon.