{"id":456672,"date":"2024-11-23T09:55:20","date_gmt":"2024-11-23T14:55:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/?p=456672"},"modified":"2024-11-23T09:55:20","modified_gmt":"2024-11-23T14:55:20","slug":"2024-week-7-forwards-to-drop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2024\/11\/23\/2024-week-7-forwards-to-drop\/","title":{"rendered":"Fantasy Hockey Week 7: Forwards to Drop"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Last week we explored <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2024\/11\/17\/fantasy-hockey-week-6-defencemen-to-drop\/\" target=\"_self\">defencemen to drop<\/a> in Week 6. Now it&#8217;s time to look at 2024 Week 7 forwards to drop in fantasy hockey. Replacing forwards can be easier than replacing defencemen. Cutting a player you drafted can be difficult because of your initial expectations, but you should not let a player sink your team and prevent you from winning your match-up. Keep in mind that this is all dependent on your league&#8217;s scoring settings and size. Let&#8217;s take a closer look at some underperforming forwards that should be dropped this week in fantasy hockey.<\/p>\n<h2>Fantasy Hockey Forwards to Drop: Week 7<\/h2>\n<h3><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/k\/kanepa01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-11-21_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Patrick Kane<\/a> and the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2024\/11\/18\/nhl-predictions-nov-18-san-jose-sharks-vs-detroit-red-wings\/\" target=\"_self\">Detroit Red Wings<\/a> are Struggling<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This one may hurt some long-time fantasy hockey managers, but Patrick Kane is just not doing enough to be a rostered fantasy hockey player right now. The 36-year-old came back from <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2023\/06\/01\/patrick-kane-receives-hip-surgery-4-6-month-recovery-timeline\/\" target=\"_self\">hip surgery<\/a> last season and put up great numbers at just under a point per game pace. In Kane\u2019s 18 games played this season, he has only registered three goals and ten points.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What\u2019s alarming for Kane owners are his underlying numbers. He currently has the lowest 5 on 5 S%, SOG\/60, PTS\/60, and IPP of his career. Kane also has the <a  href=\"https:\/\/frozenpool.dobbersports.com\/players\/patrick-kane\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">lowest xGF\/60<\/a> in his last five seasons.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Kane is also driving play less, indicated by the highest secondary assist percentage in his career, though he only has seven total assists this season. He is still over 83% rostered on <a  href=\"http:\/\/www.fantrax.com\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Fantrax<\/a>, a steep drop from the 95% of leagues he was drafted in. This number will continue to drop if Kane\u2019s struggles continue. For now, he is playing at a replaceable level, making him one of the 2024 Week 7 forwards to drop.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/b\/buchnpa01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-11-21_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Pavel Buchnevich<\/a> is Not Producing Enough<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2024\/11\/21\/nhl-predictions-november-21-with-st-louis-blues-vs-san-jose-sharks\/\" target=\"_self\">St. Louis Blues<\/a> are not off to a great start this season. In their 20 games played, they are ranked 30th in shots per game and 29th in goals for per game. Buchnevich\u2019s stock in fantasy hockey is falling because of this.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A fixture in the Blues\u2019 top six, Buchnevich has not been producing offence at his normal rate. The Russian forward currently sits with five goals and 12 points in 20 games played. With 35 shots so far, he has the <a  href=\"https:\/\/frozenpool.dobbersports.com\/players\/pavel-buchnevich\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">lowest SOG\/60<\/a> in his career<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. His shooting percentage is on par with his career average, but his xGF\/60 is the lowest it has been since 2020-21.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Part of Buchnevich\u2019s struggles could be due to linemate <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/t\/thomaro01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-11-21_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Robert Thomas<\/a>\u2019 injury absence. With Thomas <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2024\/11\/19\/all-star-centre-returning-to-the-st-louis-blues-lineup-tonight\/\" target=\"_self\">returning<\/a> this week, Buchnevich could see an increase to his career-low PTS\/60. However, with the fantasy value Buchnevich has brought to the table so far, he should be owned in far less than 82% of <em>Fantrax<\/em> leagues. Unless you are in a deep league, consider dropping Buchnevich.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/b\/byfiequ01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-11-21_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Quinton Byfield<\/a> Has Steps to Take Before Fantasy Relevance<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Byfield seems to have <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2020\/04\/15\/quinton-byfield-scouting-report-2020-nhl-draft-2\/\" target=\"_self\">the tools<\/a> to be a star in this league for the<a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2024\/11\/20\/nhl-predictions-nov-20-w-buffalo-sabres-vs-los-angeles-kings\/\" target=\"_self\"> Los Angeles Kings.<\/a> He is a big body, a strong skater and possess smooth hands. He has shown glimpses of why he was the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2020\/10\/16\/quinton-byfield-signs-entry-level\/\" target=\"_self\">2nd overall<\/a> pick in the 2020 draft but has not put it all together yet.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The 22-year-old took strides last season, posting a career high 55 points in 80 games. Many fantasy managers believed his development would continue and his fantasy value would sky rocket this season. Unfortunately to the 75% of <em>Fantrax<\/em> managers who drafted Byfield, that has not happened.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For being gifted with a large frame, he does not use it. He average a hit less than once a game to this point in the season. Limited to third line minutes, his average TOI is below 18 minutes. He is getting PP1 playing time, but has yet to register a power play point. Byfield\u2019s shooting percentage is below his career average, so it is possible we see some positive regression in his efficiency in the coming months.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It can take longer for bigger players to climatize to the NHL after dominating in junior and minor hockey. Byfield\u2019s time may still come, but it is not here yet in fantasy hockey.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em>Main photo by: Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Last week we explored defencemen to drop in Week 6. Now it&#8217;s time to look at 2024 Week 7 forwards to drop in fantasy hockey. Replacing forwards can be easier than replacing defencemen. Cutting a player you drafted can be difficult because of your initial expectations, but you should not let a player sink your [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5356,"featured_media":446956,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2498,2,4547],"tags":[299,2366,3184],"class_list":["post-456672","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fantasy-hockey","category-featured","category-hockey","tag-patrick-kane","tag-pavel-buchnevich","tag-quinton-byfield"],"modified_by":"Dan Mount, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/456672","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5356"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=456672"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/456672\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/446956"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=456672"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=456672"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=456672"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}