Fantasy Hockey Head-to-Head Primer: Add Raanta and Jarnkrok

Welcome to 2023. Week 13 kicks off with the annual Winter Classic, where the Bruins host the Penguins at Fenway Park. It’ll be the highlight for Monday, which features two other games.

The quirk with this week’s schedule will be during the weekend. Saturday features a slightly lighter slate than usual, with nine games, while Sunday’s busier than usual, with eight games. It’ll give fantasy managers plenty of chances to catch up if they fall behind in the matchup early.

Seven teams will play a league-high four games this week, and the Ducks have the cushiest schedule – their own play notwithstanding – with all four games at home and no back-to-backs. They managed to win their 10th game of the season last week, and now only the Blackhawks have failed to reach double-digit wins. 

Chicago has three games on the slate, two against fairly strong teams in the Lightning and Flames and another that punches well above its weight in the Coyotes. It might be another week until the Blackhawks win their 10th game. They’re still on pace to be the worst team in the cap era.

Legend:
P% = season points percentage
Opp. P% = opponents’ season points percentage
Diff. = difference between P% and Opp. P%

Pick players from teams at the top of the schedule matrix to maximize games and matchups. Green is good. Red is bad. All advanced stats courtesy naturalstatrick.com. All positions and rostered percentages are courtesy of Yahoo fantasy.

Raanta has started the past five games, all of which have been wins, while Kochetkov has remained the backup due to a suspected minor injury. It’s been a week since Kochetkov last saw action, and it’s starting to be a little nerve-wracking waiting for the latest injury update. Things are fine in Caniac land, but you keep wondering about a) the severity of Kochetkov’s injury and b) Frederik Andersen’s potential return. So grab Raanta if he’s still available in your league.

Interestingly, the Wings opted to start Hellberg over Alex Nedeljkovic in Ville Husso’s absence. This might be a short-term experiment to see what they have in their third string since Husso’s not expected to be out for very long, and throughout a season-and-half, we’ve seen Nedeljkovic struggle. The Wings won three of their past four after a six-game slide, but they’ve clawed from behind for a few of those wins, and that type of strategy is difficult to sustain. Hellberg’s an option for streaming starts, but Husso’s the only goalie to target on the Wings.

Copley was essentially the Kings’ Christmas gift, a goalie who literally hails from a place called the North Pole and, fitting for his name, has helped their goaltending emerge from the deepest depths of mediocrity. As it stands, Copley will be their starter going forward, and he deserves it. How long he keeps this up is a legitimate question. He’s an unproven starter at the NHL level, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see the Kings go after some goaltending help. But until that happens, Copley’s worth rostering immediately. The Kings have a roster capable of making the playoffs, and plenty of good matchups should be available in the awful Pacific.

Blackwood got a chance to show his wares against the Hurricanes on Sunday, and it wasn’t pretty, especially after Vanecek limited the Pens to just two goals in the previous game. Going to Blackwood after a win shows the Devils are pretty eager to establish an equitable rotation, or it might just be a short-term plan to split the starts with a back-to-back coming up Jan. 4 and 5. Regardless, Blackwood’s been given the opportunity but hasn’t been able to wrestle the starting job from Vanecek, who is still the more valuable goalie in fantasy. It’s a situation worth monitoring, and the money’s still on Vanecek at this point.

Carter Hart is out with a concussion, and I would also question your mental well-being if you’re even considering either of these guys. Of course, after this is published, Ersson will probably go on an inexplicable winning run…

Zacha’s been a fixture on the second line next to David Krejci and David Pastrnak, and it’s bore fruit with four points in his past four games. Zacha’s offensive ceiling is low, but playing with an elite offensive player like Pastrnak certainly raises his profile. It’s an easy schedule for the B’s following the Winter Classic with a road trip to California, where they will face two of the league’s worst teams.

No word on when Jack Eichel will return, who has been out since Dec. 9. That means Amadio remains an excellent hold while he continues to fill in on the top line. He’s scored four goals and eight points in his past six games. And because he’s not afraid to shoot the puck, he can provide some fantasy value even when he’s not scoring.

Getting the hang of the Jackets’ lineup is hard because they’ve had numerous injuries. Other than knowing Johnny Gaudreau plays on the top line, the rest of it can be challenging to figure out. With Patrik Laine out due to COVID-19 protocol, the flavor of the week has been Marchenko, an immensely talented goal-scoring winger who has five goals in 12 games this season. His ice time has also spiked as high as 16:26, against the Flyers, and his excellent production lately might make that permanent going forward.

Laughton’s put together a pretty solid campaign amidst a nightmare season for the Flyers. He’s scored 18 points in 30 games, is on pace to set career highs across the board and adds a steady diet of faceoff wins and hits for banger leagues. He’s been like a Travis Konecny-lite, and in deeper leagues, Laughton might end up being more of a mid-term hold.

Jarnkrok might be more than just a mid-term hold. Like Michael Bunting, Jarnkrok’s fantasy value spikes when he’s playing with elite forwards. In his case, it’s with John Tavares and Mitch Marner on the second line. Jarnkrok scored six points in his past five games, the last three of which saw him play more minutes thanks to more power-play time. If Jarnkrok can stick in that spot, he will have fantasy value all season. Jarnkrok is already starting to attract some attention in deeper leagues emphasizing points.

The Caps’ power-play QB in John Carlson’s absence has already seen his rostered percentage go up beyond 50 percent. Still, it’s worth mentioning that Gustafsson’s been very effective in that role. There’s no return date for Carlson, who took a puck to the head and is out indefinitely. Anyone feeding pucks to Alex Ovechkin on the power play is bound to be valuable in fantasy.