Fantasy Hockey Fridays Week #3

Welcome to Week 3 of Fantasy Hockey Fridays.  This has been an eventful week, that’s for sure.  With rookies performing surprisingly (or in some cases not so surprising) well, it’s important for all fantasy owners to be paying attention to those up-and-coming stars.  It has also been a disappointing week for many teams, such as the Washington Capitals, who just can’t seem to win a game.  The lockout hurts goalies the most, because it’s hard to stay in game-shape while taking practice shots from teammates.  Jonathan Quick and Ryan Miller have struggled majorly in the recent past, but is it time to let these Stanley Cup/Olympic silver medalists go?

Injury Update:

Injuries are still plaguing the league and giving many teams a severe disadvantage.  The plethora of groin injuries is still a direct result of the shortened training camp, but this does open the door to rookies in the American Hockey League to step in and contribute.  Here are some injuries that may affect your team short-term and long-term:

Jason Spezza (F-OTT) – Long-Term – will be undergoing back surgery to fix a herniated disk.  He will miss most of the season recovering.

Miikka Kiprusoff (G-CGY) – Short-Term – ‘Kipper’ is listed as day-to-day after he left the game early against Detroit early this week (lower-body).  Calgary has a decent backup in Leland Irving.

Gabriel Landeskog (F-COL) – Unknown – Gabriel is still on injured reserve, and a return date is not known.

James Wisniewski (D-CLS) – Short-Term – Long-Term – Wisniewski might have a concussion, but he is currently listed as day-to-day.

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (F-EDM) – Short-Term – Currently listed as day-to-day (shoulder injury), but might play Saturday.

Scott Hartnell (F-PHI) – Long-Term – Hartnell (foot) might be skating next week according to the Philadelphia Daily News.

Wayne Simmonds (F-PHI) – Short-Term –Long-Term – Simmonds could be out longer, if the concussion is serious.  He is listed as day-to-day.

Jaroslav Halak (G-STL) – Unknown – Halak is out with a groin injury, return date is uncertain.

Dustin Byfuglien (D-WPG) – Short-Term – ‘Big Buff’ (lower back injury) is currently listed as day-to-day.

Who’s Still Out There

1. Jiri Hudler – CGY (41.9% owned in ESPN leagues)

is one of the best forwards that is still widely available in many leagues.  He has 7 points in 5 games (2G 5A)  and is playing on a line with Roman Cervenka and Matt Stajan.  The second powerplay unit, which consists of Hudler, Lee Stempniak, and Curtis Glencross is a great combination.

2. Saku Koivu – ANA (85.5%) plays on the third line in Anaheim, and has managed 3 goals and 8 assists playing with Daniel Winnik and Andrew Cogliano.  Anaheim is on a roll right now, which is always good for +/-.  Koivu is a +8.

3. Pascal Dupuis – PIT (57.2%) plays on a line with Sidney Crosby and Chris Kunitz.  Need I say more?  4 goals, 4 assists, +6, 17 minutes of ice time, shoots the puck often.  This is one of the best lines in the league right now, don’t hesitate to pick him up.

4. Matt Frattin – TOR (9.8%) is in his second year in the league, and currently has 6 goals and 2 assists, playing just 12 minutes per game on average.  He definitely makes good use of his 3^rd line minutes.

The Goalie Market

1. Viktor Fasth – ANA  (72.4%) –

has been unbelievable of late.  He has 4 wins in 4 games and he has played Craig Anderson-like.  Jonas Hiller will be giving up a lot of starts to accommodate this rookie call-up.  His last game at Colorado resulted in a shutout.  GAA – 0.98   SP – .962

2. Petr Mrazek – DET (0.6%) – will be getting some starts, sharing the net with Jimmy Howard, while Jonas Gustavsson remains on the sidelines injured.  He started against the strong St. Louis Blues last night in St. Louis (the same arena that the Blues embarrassed the Red Wings 6-0 on opening night) and won the game in impressive fashion, surrendering just one goal, while saving 25 of 26 shots.  GAA – 1.00   SP – .963

3. Dan Ellis – CAR (5.3%) – has been a reliable backup to workhorse Cam Ward so far.  Every season Ward is forced to start too many games because of the lack of a good goalie tandem.  Ellis’s stats are impressive so far on a defensively weak Hurricanes team.  GAA – 1.99   SP – .939

Goalies – Keep or Drop

1. Jonathan Quick – LA (100%): Keep

– Quick was the Conn Smythe winner of the Stanley Cup Finals last season, but his stats have taken a huge drop this season.  His .889 SP and 2.66 GAA are embarrassing, while playing behind basically the exact same team that just won the Stanley Cup.  There are no major injuries on the roster, so there isn’t a good excuse.  But I think he will rebound (pun intended) as the season progresses.

2. Ryan Miller – BUF (100%): Drop – Miller, on the other hand is playing on a team with much less defensive depth than Los Angeles.  In 5, count ‘em 5 straight games, he has let in 4 goals in each of them.  Miller’s a world-class netminder, but I don’t recommend keeping him on your roster.  His 3.19 GAA and .902 SP simply aren’t good enough.

Part 2:

Here are the 12 writers and their initials:

BD – Bob Duggan (Buffalo Sabres)

AC – Alvin Cho (Winnipeg Jets)

AW – Andrew Williams (Carolina Hurricanes)

KC – Kevin Cawthra (Vancouver Canucks)

SA – Steve Auld (Toronto Maple Leafs)

JB – Josh Beneteau (Team Canada/Various NHL news)

IB – Igor Burdetskiy (Founder and Editor-in-Chief of HOHM)

MK – Mike Kluxdal (Minnesota Wild)

DD – Dawson Drolet (Calgary Flames)

KS – Kevin Sporka (Detroit Red Wings)

AB – Adam Bernard (New York Rangers)

KW – Kayla Winsett (Nashville Predators)

HOHM Roster Transactions (in chronological order since last week)

2/1:

SA – Dropped Colin Greening and Added Chris Neil

KC – Dropped Jake Gardiner and Added Tom Gilbert

2/2:

BD – Dropped Chad Johnson and Added Joel Ward

JB – Dropped Carl Hagelin and Added Brian Boyle

AC – Dropped Ryan Kesler (IR) and Added Alexei Emelin

2/3:

AB – Dropped Antoine Vermette and Added Jamie McGinn

AC – Dropped Brent Burns and Added Derek Morris

2/4:

SA – Dropped Jakub Voracek and Added Derek Morris

BD – Added James Reimer

2/5:

AC – Dropped Kyle Okposo and Added Max Pacioretty

AC – Dropped Brooks Orpik and Added Brenden Dillon

2/6:

AC – Dropped Jakob Silfverberg and Added Viktor Fasth

KS – Dropped Anton Khudobin and Added Dan Ellis

2/7:

KS – Dropped Dan Ellis and Added Petr Mrazek

SA – Dropped Andy McDonald and Added Ryan Kesler (IR)

2/8:

AW – Dropped Ray Whitney and Added Ales Hemsky

Updated Rosters

Bob Duggan

Steven Stamkos, Jason Spezza, Jordan Eberle, Bobby Ryan, Joe Thornton, Mike Smith, Jaroslav Halak, Alex Burrows, Dany Heatley, Paul Stastny, Justin Williams, Semyon Varlamov, Blake Wheeler, Cody Hodgson, Alex Galchenyuk, Victor Hedman, John Carlson, Travis Hamonic, Brendan Smith, Kyle Brodziak, Raphael Diaz, Zack Kassian, Chad Johnson, Joel Ward, James Reimer

Alvin Cho

Evgeni Malkin, Patrick Sharp, Zdeno Chara, Alex Pietrangelo, Ryan Miller, Jamie Benn, Marian Hossa, Ryan Getzlaf, Dan Hamhuis, Miikka Kiprusoff, Milan Michalek, Drew Stafford, Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Ryan McDonagh, Shane Doan, Kyle Okposo, David Desharnais, Brooks Orpik, Brayden Schenn, Brent Burns, Ryan Kesler, Alexei Emelin, Derek Morris, Jakub Silfverberg, Max Pacioretty, Brenden Dillon, Viktor Fasth

Andrew Williams

Claude Giroux, Scott Hartnell, Eric Staal, Gabriel Landeskog, Brian Campbell, Kari Lehtonen, P.A. Parenteau, Ray Whitney, Joni Pitkanen, David Clarkson, Devan Dubnyk, Tyler Ennis, Andrew Ladd, Marek Zidlicky, Dmitry Kulikov, Tomas Plekanec, Brandon Saad, Josh Harding, Adam Larsson, Tyler Myers, Mike Cammalleri, Steve Sullivan, Patrik Berglund, Ales Hemsky

Kevin Cawthra

Sidney Crosby, Phil Kessel, Jimmy Howard, Roberto Luongo, Jarome Iginla, Patrick Marleau, Michael Del Zotto, Joe Pavelski, Matt Duchene, Johan Franzen, Brad Marchand, Danny Briere, Mark Streit, Jason Garrison, Cam Fowler, John-Michael Liles, Sam Gagner, Filip Kuba, Jake Gardiner, Tom Gilbert

Steve Auld

Alex Ovechkin, Corey Perry, Tuukka Rask, Taylor Hall, Ilya Bryzgalov, Nicklas Backstrom (F), Alexander Semin, Dan Boyle, Justin Schultz, Vladimir Tarasenko, Antti Niemi, Teddy Purcell, Alex Goligoski, Chris Stewart, Sheldon Souray, Jakub Voracek, Andy McDonald, Nazem Kadri, Ryan Malone, Colin Greening, Kevin Shattenkirk, Mikkel Boedker, Chris Neil, Matt Frattin, Ryan Kesler

Josh Beneteau

Henrik Lundqvist, Ilya Kovalchuk, Henrik Zetterberg, Kris Letang, Jeff Skinner, Thomas Vanek, Loui Eriksson, Mike Richards, Jason Pominville, Niklas Kronwall, Tobias Enstrom, David Krejci, Jonas Hiller, Tomas Fleischmann, Andrei Markov, Nathan Horton, Damien Brunner, Slava Voynov, Adam Henrique, Jose Theodore, Carl Hagelin, Brian Boyle

Igor Burdetskiy

Daniel Sedin, Tyler Seguin, Martin St. Louis, Cam Ward, Shea Weber, Brian Elliott, Patrik Elias, Evander Kane, Michael Ryder, Dennis Wideman, Brent Seabrook, Justin Faulk, Nick Leddy, Evgeni Nabokov, Mikhail Grabovski, David Legwand, Dustin Penner, Bryan Little, Fedor Tyutin, Sami Salo, Daniel Winnik, Saku Koivu

Mike Kluxdal

Zach Parise, Anze Kopitar, Patrick Kane, Pavel Datsyuk, Drew Doughty, Duncan Keith, Mikko Koivu, T.J. Oshie, Jack Johnson, Vincent Lecavalier, Niklas Backstrom, Mikael Granlund, Ryane Clower, Matt Carle, Erik Johnson, Jonathan Huberdeau, Cal Clutterbuck, Tomas Vokoun, Dougie Hamilton

Dawson Drolet

John Tavares, Henrik Sedin, Marc-Andre Fleury, Cory Schneider, Brad Richards, Marian Gaborik, Matt Moulson, Patrice Bergeron, Joffrey Lupul, Radim Vrbata, Sven Baertschi, Martin Havlat, Christian Ehrhoff, Mark Giordano, Ryan Whitney, Steve Ott, Ryan O’ Reilly, Derek Dorsett, Sergei Bobrovsky, Jay Bouwmeester, Marc-Edouard Vlasic, Mike Kostka

Kevin Sporka

Jonathan Quick, Erik Karlsson, Jonathan Toews, Dustin Brown, Dustin Byfuglien, Ryan Suter, Craig Anderson, Wayne Simmonds, Teemu Selanne, Dion Phaneuf, Chris Kunitz, Daniel Alfredsson, Pascal Dupuis, Kevin Bieksa, Derek Stepan, Jaromir Jagr, Alex Steen, Curtis Glencross, Jordin Tootoo, Travis Zajac, Anton Khudobin, Dan Ellis, Petr Mrazek

Adam Bernard

Pekka Rinne, James Neal, Milan Lucic, David Backes, Logan Couture, Carey Price, Alexander Edler, Jordan Staal, Keith Yandle, Ryan Callahan, Mike Ribeiro, Mike Green, Jeff Carter, Corey Crawford, Dan Girardi, Kyle Turris, Luke Schenn, James Wisniewski, Michael Grabner, James van Riemsdyk, Matt Read, Antoine Vermette, Jamie McGinn

Kayla Winsett

Rick Nash, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Patric Hornqvist, Nail Yakupov, P.K. Subban, Roman Josi, Braden Holtby, Martin Brodeur, Chris Mason, Valtteri Filppula, Kimmo Timonen, Stephen Weiss, Mike Fisher, Olli Jokinen, Sergei Gonchar, Martin Erat, Ryan Smyth, Anders Lindback, Paul Martin, Sergei Kostitsyn

(Stats used are from Hockeydb.com, ESPN.com, and dailyfaceoff.com)

Follow me on Twitter @yungspork

Questions about your fantasy team?  Contact me on Twitter or by email at KSporka@HOHmag.com

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Kevin Sporka

Kevin Sporka is the Senior Media Analyst and Detroit Red Wings beat writer at HOHM. He is also the author of the Fantasy Hockey Fridays, In Retrospect, Milestone Monday, and Legends By the Number segments.

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