At the beginning of this past week 110 NHL regulars (or 18% of NHLers) were either on IR or are sick enough to be missing games. Leading to constant talk about, what seems to be a dramatic rise in injuries to start this first month of the season. With almost 1 in 5 players out of their lineups, that means most NHL teams have at least a few players effected in some way.
In fantasy terms, this means your own team could be limping badly. With so many players out, even shallow leagues must be feeling it too. With that in mind, now is the time to jump on good available free agents since they probably won't last long.
Find some players to sure up you team, after the break:
Tomas Fleischmann, LW/RW, Wash (17% owned): Fleischmann's a player who looked last season that he was just starting to come into his own. Getting a late start to the season, while recovering from off-season surgery, Fleischmann came back just in time for Ovechkin's injury. Taking over the top line LW duties for now, he has 5 goals and 2 assists in his first 6 games back. In most leagues Fleischmann is also now LW/RW qualified. I expected Fleischmann to end up being recommended on the Waiver Wire Report at some point this season and taking over Ovechkin's slot on the 1st line, just makes it sooner rather than later. He should add some good depth production from the 2nd or 3rd line, once Ovechkin returns. Replacing Ovechkin for the next week or two makes him a great injury pick up, but he has some real long-term potential as well.
David Clarkson, RW, NJ (43% owned): In Clarkson's 2nd full season, last year, he established himself good fantasy PIMs guy with his 2nd straight 160+ PIMs year. He also proved he could be more than that, by adding 17 goals and 15 assists. This year he's begun the season with 4 goals, 8 assists, 27 PIMs and 5 PP points in 15 games, while splitting time between the 2nd and 3rd lines. With Elias's return, Clarkson appears to be headed back to the 3rd line and will likely find himself playing with either Zubrus, Bergfors, Rolston or Elias. All of whom are either very skilled or Clarkson's played well with before. Clarkson has also been getting a consistent 2 minutes of PP time, which doesn't look like it will change. Clarkson's offense might slip slightly but i expect him to maintain good PIMs and provide steady 2nd tier scoring.
Nicklas Bergfors, RW, NJ (6% owned): If there's one thing we know about Coach Lemaire (other than defense) is he won't move a player up in his line combinations unless they earn it. Bergfors has found himself a 2nd line regular the last 3 weeks and looks good to stay there even as the Devils get healthier. He's looking more confident with even game since scoring his first of the year, as well as getting 7 point in his last 8 games (4 goals and 3 assists). Bergfors is also getting a solid 2 minutes of PP time on the 2nd PP unit, in which he has 5 PP points. The Devils envision Bergfors as an offensive player and seem to be giving him plenty of opportunity to grow into that.
Ryan Clowe, LW, SJ (45% owned): Clowe was a late round favorite for many fantasy hockey drafters this season. And why not? Coming off a breakout 22 goal, 30 assist, 24 PP point year, while playing with San Jose's top 6 (mostly on the 2nd line). Though I am a fan of staying patient of slow starting players, Clowe made it awfully tough with just 1 assist his first 10 games. With a numbers of injures recently for the Sharks, Clowe has found himself on the top line with Heatley and Thornton. He's responded with 1 goal and 4 assists in the last 5 games. Clowe claimed all along, he just needed to get going and he'd be fine, now he starting to look like it. Even as San Jose gets healthier, Clowe's recent play should keep him in the Sharks top 6 forwards. If he looses the 1st line when Setoguchi returns, he'll end up with Pavelski and Marleau where he did most of his damage last year.
Nik Antropov, C/RW, Atl (51% owned): Antropov is slightly above the usual 50% or less owned marker for the Waiver Report, but I was surprised enough that his ownership was even that low, I had to include him this week. Antropov has been very slow to produce as originally expected of him when he was drafted in 1998. It took until his 8th season to break the 20 goal mark. In the last 2 years, Antropov had 26 and 28 goals along with 55 total assists. Finally using his size and speed to it's fullest potential. Add on top of that, his move to Atlanta where he's centering Kovalchuk and you have some high end potential. It didn't hurt at all, that Kovalchuk and Antropov trained all off-season together and have developed a great chemistry. However, some fantasy owners were also frightened off by Kovalchuk's injury recently. Well, Antropov has 13 points (all assists) in 14 games to far, with no drop off in production with or without Kovalchuk next to him. Grab him now before Kovalchuk returns, because he won't be nearly as available once he does.
Jarrett Stoll, C, LA (23% owned): Recommend a month back on the Waiver Wire Report, Stoll has continued to put up numbers. Especially with all the recent injuries I'm surprised to see him still less than 25% owned. Stoll has 4 goals, 10 assists and 5 PP points in 18 games, while flip-flopping between the 2nd and 3rd lines with the Kings. The line movement has not effected his production and he has not gone more than 1 game between putting up numbers yet this year. Along the way, he's been paired with rookie Scott Parse as they've clicked quite well together. Stoll and Parse are now playing with Dustin Brown on the 2nd line and Brown always seem to play with effective offensive lines. Even without the injuries around the league Stoll has been producing like a solid #3 fantasy center so far this season.
Mason Raymond, LW, Van (13% owned): Raymond is using his tremendous speed with his new found confidence in his shot and willingness to drive into traffic. Having been given a few brief auditions as a winger on the 2 top lines last year, Raymond seems to be taking advantage of his opportunity this time. He's now playing with Kesler and Samuelsson on the 2nd line. With just 1 goal his first 9 games, Raymond now has 6 goals and 2 assists the last 9 games. Raymond is a perfect injury replacement for the next few weeks. It will be just enough time to ride his hot streak and see if Raymond is the last piece to the 2nd line puzzle in Vancouver.
Derick Brassard, C, Clb (18% owned): Brassard was another late round fantasy draft favorite. He looked like a budding example of the answer to the Blue Jacket's #1 center questions. Last year, he played well with Nash and had 25 points in 31 games, before losing his season to injury. Brassard began the season with some shaky play as the 1st line center and found himself dropped to the 4th line. Brassard has started to come around and his improved play of late has him centering the 2nd line with the emerging Voracek. Brassard has 10 points in 15 games but has 5 point (2 goals/3 assists) in his last 5 games. It appears Brassard just needed some extra time to shake off the rust from not playing for 8 months. If you're in need of a center, Brassard could be a long-term solution.
Anton Stralman, D, Clb, (2% owned): Stralman has emerged as the Blue Jackets offensive threat from the backline, so far this season. Stralman has 1 goal, 7 assists and 5 PP points in 14 games. He is also getting the most PP minutes of any Columbus Defensemen with 3:38 per game. Stralman is playing very steady on both ends of the ice and is worth Watch Listing. As he doesn't have any other highly skilled Defensemen to compete with in Columbus, if he continues to play steadily, he's in a good position to be a handy #4 fantasy D.
Tyler Myers, D, Buff (14% owned): Myers had a very impression training camp, eventually making the Buffalo team out of camp. There was then much debate about whether he should be sent back to juniors before playing his 10th NHL game, negating the chance to play juniors. It was all about what was best for developing the 2008, 12th overall pick. Well, Myers has played so well, there wasn't much of a debate at all. He's proving he belongs in the NHL and is also starting to show some fantasy worthy numbers as well. Myers has 3 goals and 5 assists in 14 games. He should be Watch Listed in shallower leagues but in deep leagues or with injury concerns, Myers warrants a good long look.
BucketofPucks PIMs Player of the Week:
Matt Carkner, RW/D, Ott (10% owned): Carkner is carve out a permanent roster spot with is fists. In 14 games, Carkner has dropped the gloves 7 times. That puts him on a pace for 41 fights this season equaling 205 PIM on fighting alone. Now that's the kind of PIMs production you're looking for, from a player not expected to produce much else. I believe he will ease off on his high fight rate but he's still looking good for at least 150+ PIMs total. He also has the added benefit of being multi-positional, as a RW and D.
Comments