What’s that?
Evander Kane was traded?
But was it in our fantasy league?
Than why do I care?
Fantasy Impact of Buffalo Sabres and Winnipeg Jets Trade
We’ve all had those moments where real life trades don’t phase us, but the fantasy implications really matter to our mental health and wellbeing. Often a trade like today’s blockbuster between the Winnipeg Jets and Buffalo Sabres means a lot to the fans of those particular fan bases but not a lot to the rest of the hockey community unless we have fantasy players that get moved. Many of us are more emotionally invested in our fantasy players than our real life team’s players.
The fantasy impact of today’s trade is marginal at best for this season. Evander Kane had shoulder surgery last week and is out for 4-6 months, ending his season. Zach Bogosian has been a healthy scratch at times and has only 13 points in 41 games. Only one of those points coming on the power play.
Tyler Myers and Drew Stafford will have their fantasy value rise slightly as they move from a team with the worst offense and power play in the league, to a team that’s slightly below average in both areas. It’s not like they’re moving to Chicago or Anaheim and will suddenly start putting up big numbers. Myers will probably be slotted into the Jets’ second power play unit, but it’s unlikely at this time that Stafford will get a crack on either power play line.
The long term fantasy impact of this trade could be massive for Kane if Buffalo continues to dwell in the league cellar this season. The Sabres are in the driver’s seat of the Connor McDavid / Jack Eichel tank right now. Should Buffalo draft one of those two highly touted centers in this year’s draft it’s expected Kane would be on the top line with them and possibly 2014 first-round pick Sam Reinhart. If you’re in a dynasty or keeper league, things are looking bright for Kane in the future. He’s still only 23 and has plenty of time to get even better.
Forwards Joel Armia and Brendan Lemieux are the two Buffalo prospects that got moved to Winnipeg in this deal, while goalie Jason Kasdorf went to the Sabres. None of these players will make much of an impact for fantasy owners this season. Nor is it likely they do much next season either. Armia is the most NHL ready, but he’s only cracked the Sabres roster once this season. Only in an extremely deep dynasty league would I even consider grabbing Armia at this point. Watch to see how Armia performs in training camp next season though as he is a former first-round pick with decent skill.
Believe it or not, there was stuff going on in the NHL this week that didn’t involve Evander Kane! From a fantasy perspective, probably the biggest news this week is that Frederik Andersen and Steve Mason both went down with injuries. Goalies are the hardest fantasy position to lose. Luckily for Andersen owners it looks like his condition is only day-to-day and hopefully he’ll return as soon as the 18th. However, if you have him on your roster and haven’t scooped up John Gibson yet, I would do so now. We never know how long concussions can linger and mental health is always important for goaltenders. For Mason owners, it’s hard to say you want to pick up Ray Emery as his numbers have been awful this season. If you can find another goalie in your league it might be better than picking up a guy with a sub .900 SV% and GAA of 3.25. Grab Emery as a last resort.
Ben Scrivens is another goaltender who’s out right now, but if you’re already starting an Oilers goalie, you don’t need me to tell you your fantasy goaltenders could use an upgrade.
Of course late last week New York Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist also went down, and pretty much every competitive fantasy league had backup goaltender Cam Talbot picked up before the official diagnosis of a vascular injury.
In other news, Ryan Murphy of the Carolina Hurricanes is out four weeks with a leg injury. Also, Ryan Murray of the Columbus Blue Jackets is out four weeks with an ankle injury. Nothing of fantasy value was lost here.
Alec Martinez of the Los Angeles Kings will be out indefinitely with concussion like symptoms after getting bulldozed by Tampa Bay Lightning forward Cedric Paquette, who is himself out now with an upper-body injury. Martinez isn’t a huge offensive contributor but his 17 points season aren’t bad for a defenseman. Similarly, Marc-Edouard Vlasic of the San Jose Sharks has 17 points this season and just went on IR with an upper-body injury.
So, who are we targeting to replace these guys this week?
Morgan Rielly, Tor D (Owned %, ESPN 5%, Yahoo 8%)
Admittedly the Maple Leafs are pretty horrible of late. However, captain Dion Phaneuf is out right now and Cody Franson might be dealt before the tradeline, which means more playing time for Rielly, who has three goals in the last two games.
Seth Jones, Nsh D (ESPN 26%, Yahoo 26%)
Obviously playing on the top team in the league doesn’t hurt your fantasy value, but Jones’ has increased recently since he moved from the third line to the second line. Teammate Ryan Ellis is still out with an injury and until he returns Jones will be playing more minutes both 5v5 and on the team’s second power play unit.
Andrej Sekera, Car D (ESPN 16.4%, Yahoo 13%)
Much like Rielly, Sekera plays on a bad team. However, unlike Rielly, Sekera plays on his team’s top defensive pairing and gets lots of minutes. There has been much speculation this season that Sekera could be moved at the trade deadline, which means his numbers could potentially improve if he moves to a team with more offensive weapons he can feed the puck to.
John Gibson, Ana G (ESPN 11.7%, Yahoo 37%)
Gibson is trending on Yahoo right now, so it would be wise to grab him as soon as possible. While the Ducks have a backup to Andersen in Ilya Bryzgalov, we’ve all seen his numbers and the general consensus is that Gibson will get at least one start in net before Andersen can return on the 18th, if not more.
Alex Stalock, SJ G (ESPN 3.5%, Yahoo 10%)
Stalock is not the starter in San Jose, but with the way Antti Niemi has been playing it might make sense to give him more chances in net. Niemi has a .897 SV% in January and has only upped it to .907 this month. There have also been rumors about Niemi possibly being on the trading block, which would open the door for Stalock as the starter.
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