This is my 2021 Week Six 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 your best options among those who are more likely to be available in your league as opposed to the universally owned players. There are 10 recommendations in total, 2 goalies, 2 defensemen, and 6 forwards.
Best Standard League
Adds (25% to 65% Yahoo ownership):
1) Sam Reinhart, Buf, (43% Yahoo ownership): News Alert! If you haven’t already heard, Reinhart is back on the top line, top power play with Jack Eichel, and the Sabres (hopefully) have a busy schedule ahead. Now is a good time to buy up all the Sam Reinhart stock you can find, but do so knowing that he becomes droppable if he gets demoted to line 2, so be careful not to spend too much. Over his last 4 GP, Sam has averaged over 20 minutes per game of ice, scoring 4 PTS (3 on the PP) with 11 shots. That’s very encouraging.
2) Jack Hughes, NJ, (62% Yahoo ownership): Hughes was 80% owned at the end of January, but was dropped in a number of leagues after the Devils postponed several games. After a disappointing 2020, Jack has been a different player in 2021, scoring 10 PTS in 12 GP with 26 shots. He reported having some difficulty with the Covid virus, so there is some concern that it could affect him negatively going forward. The good news, he has scored 2 PTS in 3 GP since his return. They’ll start the week facing Buffalo twice.
3) Ondrej Palat, TB, (61% Yahoo ownership): The Lightning will (hopefully) play 4 games this week, 3 of those against the Hurricanes. Carolina has been winning games, but have been outscoring some defensive problems with Petr Mrazek on the shelf. Yes, the Canes 3rd string goalie miraculously shutout the Bolts last night, but I’ll write that off as a fluke. Palat has scored 6 PTS in his last 6 GP (with 11 hits) playing on the top line and top power play with Stamkos and Point. That’s a great place to be going forward.
4) Chris Driedger, Fla, (52% Yahoo ownership): Chris Driedger has been the best goalie on a good Florida team, posting a .926 SV% on the season and winning 6 of 8 starts. They will play 4 games this week, 3 of them against a struggling Dallas team who had lost 5-straight before getting snowed in for the last 7 days. Sergei Bobrovsky will continue to siphon starts because he’s too expensive to be stapled to the bench, but Driedger should see a majority of the action while he continues to stop more pucks than his back-up.
5) Ty Smith,
NJ, (37% Yahoo ownership): Ty Smith had been one of the hottest waiver wire
additions prior to New Jersey getting shut down for Covid, scoring at nearly a
point per game pace. My biggest concern about Smith early in the season was his
low ice time, but ever since the Devils returned from lockdown, Smith has
averaged 23:19 minutes. Sure, he hasn’t scored any PTS in those 3 games, but he’s
still getting plenty of opportunity and is incredibly talented. I’d especially love
to own Ty Smith stock in a dynasty league.
Honorable Mentions: Kyle Palmieri, Clayton Keller, Rasmus Andersson, Dustin Brown, Linus Ullmark
Last Week: Zach Hyman, Cam
Atkinson, Jack Roslovic, Ryan Pulock, James Reimer
Best Deep League Adds
(under 25% ownership):
1) Damon Severson, NJ, (10% Yahoo ownership): Damon Severson is among the most underrated defensemen in Fantasy Hockey, flying under the radar last season when he scored 31 PTS in 69 GP but never saw his ownership climb much above 25%. He’s scoring at a 45-point pace in 2021, and deserves to be much more than 10% owned. Ty Smith is currently quarterbacking PP1 and is my first choice among Devils D-men, but Severson is still getting decent minutes on PP2 and a quality option in deeper leagues.
2) Alex Wennberg, Fla, (3% Yahoo ownership): Wennberg may have arrived in Florida as a reclamation project, but now finds himself centering the 2nd line with a red-hot Jonathan Huberdeau, scoring 7 PTS in his last 8 GP. Pretty good for a player who is available in 97% of Yahoo leagues. The downside is that you won’t get too many shots or hits, but there’s plenty of scoring upside. He is also centering the 2nd power play unit. It’s worth pointing out that he has scored 5 goals on his last 10 shots, which is unsustainable in the long-term.
3) Pekka Rinne, Nsh, (21% Yahoo ownership): It’s been a rough season for the Predators, but more so for the alleged goalie of the future Juuse Saros. The goalie of the past has actually been the better option with a .915 SV% over his last 5 games. They will face an anemic Red Wings offense twice to start the week, then follow that up with a pair of games against Columbus. I’ll be taking Pekka for a spin myself in a 12-team standard league. I’m not a big believer in the Preds, but don’t mind picking them against weaker teams.
4) Andrew Mangiapane, Cgy, (7% Yahoo ownership): The Calgary Flames (hopefully) have a 4-game week ahead, and 2 of those games will be against the Ottawa Senators. The Sens may not be as bad as we thought at the end of January, but they’re still at high risk of a blowout any given night. Over his last 7 GP, Mangiapane has scored 4 goals while averaging 19:22 of ice time playing on a line with Tkachuk and Backlund (2/3 of that line are widely available in Fantasy).
5) Pius Suter,
Chi, (17% Yahoo ownership): While Suter has only scored 3 PTS in his last 7 GP,
he has been averaging 17:42 of ice time over that span and currently finds
himself centering the top line with Kane and DeBrincat. There have not been
many hits, but the shot totals are high. The Blackhawks (hopefully) have a
juicy schedule coming up with Columbus and Detroit twice each. Unfortunately,
there is not much worth owning on that roster outside of the top line.
Honorable Mentions: Adrian Kempe, Mikael Backlund, Calvin Petersen, Brett Pesce, Robby Fabbri
Last Week: Nino Niederreiter, Rasmus
Andersson, Pekka Rinne, Ilya Mikheyev, Brock McGinn
No comments:
Post a Comment