This is my week three fantasy hockey report for those competing in head
to head categories or rotisserie leagues. There are both standard and deep
league acquisition targets. This is more of a “waiver wire” report, looking for
those who are more likely to be available in your league as opposed to the
universally owned players. I also do not recommend any players who play 2 games
or less over the next 7 days (Monday to Sunday), with a preference for those
with 4 or more games.
Best Standard League Adds (20% to 60% Yahoo ownership):
1) Jaden Schwartz, Stl, (28% Yahoo ownership): Schwartz has a low
ownership total considering that he plays on a great first line in St. Louis
with Schenn and Tarasenko. The Blues play 4 games this upcoming week, with both
LA (Thu) and Detroit (Sun) on the slate. Great streaming value here. You can even
skip the Monday Colorado game and add him on Wednesday. If you need to stream some hits, you may also want to
consider his teammate Sammy Blais.
2) Paul Stastny, LV, (36% Yahoo ownership): When Cody Glass won
the center job on the Knights stacked 2nd line to start the season,
the biggest loser was Stastny. It did not take long for the veteran to win his
job back and he’s now scored 6 PTS in the last 4 games. They play Monday Tuesday
Friday Sunday, so despite his center designation, it should be easy to stream
him into your line-up. Teammate Reilly Smith is available in 45% of leagues,
and he’s another good goal scoring streaming option.
3) Dustin Brown, LA, (49% Yahoo ownership): Even when he was struggling
to score PTS, Brown never stopped putting up good shot and hit totals. Over the
last two seasons Brown has scored at a 60-point pace, after 5 straight seasons
in the 30-point range. The Brownaissance has continued into 2019, despite the
team’s struggles, with Dusty putting up 6 PTS, 21 shots, and 22 hits in 8 GP
thus far. LA’s first 2 games are on busy Tuesday and Thursday nights, but Brown
makes a great weekend streamer with Minnesota and Chicago on the schedule.
4) Corey Crawford, Chi, (46% Yahoo ownership): If you need a
goalie this week, the Hawks play 4 games and both their goalies can be found on
a bunch of waiver wires (with Crawford being slightly more available). It’s
hard to own either goalie in a shallow league because of the time share, but
when the Hawks have a full slate, both are ownable in any format where you need
help in goal. Crawford is not off to a great start (3.40 GAA, .900 SV%), but if
he were, he would not be this widely available.
5) Filip Hronek, Det, (22% Yahoo ownership): Hronek was a trendy
sleeper heading into the season, but his value took a hit when Cholowski was
named to the top power play unit. That has changed, with Hronek now being
slotted into that top spot. His 3 PTS in 8 GP hasn’t exactly been exciting, but
he’s logging heavy minutes and has some upside as his power play deployment
increases. The best thing about the Red Wings this week is the schedule, with 4
games mostly on off-nights, including Ottawa on Wednesday.
Last Week: Oscar Klefbom, Roope Hintz, J.T Miller, Tomas Tatar, Mike Smith
Best Deep League Adds (under 20% ownership):
1) Jack Campbell, G, LA, (7% Yahoo ownership): The glory days of
Jonathan Quick are in the rear-view mirror (despite a big win against Calgary
last night), which has been leading to a greater time share for Campbell in the
King net. LA might be a bad team, there just aren’t a lot of deep league goaltending
streaming options next week, unless you’d be more comfortable with Jonathan
Bernier or Craig Anderson. Campbell has not been impressive thus far (2.77 GAA,
.897 SV%), but he put up solid numbers as a rookie last season with a 2.30 GAA
and .928 SV% in 31 GP.
2) Ilya Kovalchuk, W, LA, (11% Yahoo ownership): Last season was
a disaster for the Russian sniper with 34 PTS in 64 GP, often watching games from
the press box as a healthy scratch. Ilya did score 14 of those PTS in the first
14 GP, and is once again off to a good start with 7 PTS in 8 GP. If history
repeats itself, he’ll drop off significantly after Nov 6. In the meantime, he’s
got streaming value this week. As with Dustin Brown, you may want to wait until
the weekend.
3) Cam Fowler, D, Ana, (18% Yahoo ownership): It doesn’t make much
sense how a defenseman who quarterbacks a power play and has 5 PTS in 8 GP is
only 18% owned. Injuries have limited his production over the previous 2
seasons, but he’s still managed to score at close to a 40-point pace over the
last 3 years. You can do far worse in fantasy. The Ducks play 4 games this week.
I might even take Fowler instead of Hronek in a shallow league, he just fell
into this category because 20% owned is my deep league cut-off.
4) Jakob Silfverberg, W, Ana, (23% Yahoo ownership): Silfverberg was
17% owned when I started writing this on Saturday afternoon, and is up to 23%
on Sunday morning. The Ducks top line of Rakell, Henrique, and Silfverberg has
been producing goals, with all 3 also playing on the top power play unit. Jakob
has scored 7 PTS in 8 GP with a +9. Henrique is also widely available and came
close to making this list, but his center designation makes him harder to
start.
5) Alex Kerfoot, W, Tor, (16% Yahoo ownership): John Tavares is
injured, and Kerfoot looks to take his place on the Marner line. The Leafs play
4 games this week, which makes Kerfoot an interesting target in the short-term,
even if his start hasn’t been great (5 PTS in 9 GP). Ilya Mikheyev is also
slated to play on that line, so he also carries increased value while that
lasts. Marner did get some time with Auston Matthews on Saturday night, and if
that become permanent, Kerfoot loses some of that short-term value.
Last Week: Zach Kassian, Colin Miller, Ondrej Kase, Tanner Pearson, Mikko
Koskinen
The 1% (best adds 1% owned or less):
1) Ivan Barbashev, W, Stl: Barbashev is not off to a roaring
start, having scored just 2 PTS in 8 GP while averaging 13:33 in ice time, but
he does have 15 hits, 26 faceoff wins, and a really appealing schedule this
week (4 games including LA and Detroit). If you play in one of those really deep
leagues where most players on the waiver wire are 1% owned or less, it can be
hard to find good streamers.
2) Conor Garland, W, Ari: Garland’s deployment has been low to
start the season, but he was up on the 2nd line Saturday and scored
2 PTS, giving him 4 goals and 5 PTS in 7 GP. The kid has upside in deep formats,
where he is more of a long-term target than a short-term streamer.
3) Nick Holden, D, LV: Don’t expect Holden to get you PTS, having
scored just 1 in his first 9 GP. He has
been getting good deployment with Nate Schmidt injured, averaging almost 21
minutes on the season, which has helped him put up 19 hits and 15 blocks.
Those categories need to count in your league to consider adding Holden, and if
so, he’s got a good schedule.
Last Week: Brad Hunt, Marcus Foligno, Alex Iafallo
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