Seismic trades shake up divisions. Unpack how fantasy values shift for new Wild and Oilers, plus crucial Week 11 pickups.
No doubt following the blockbuster trade on Friday that sent Canucks captain Quinn Hughes to the Wild represented a seismic shift in the balance of power. The Central is now unquestionably the league’s toughest division, with the Pacific becoming its weakest.
In summary, the Wild’s power play and offense is expected to improve, while Zeev Buium and Marco Rossi’s fantasy value will increase despite going to a lesser team because they will play bigger roles with their new club. Buium, by the way, scored his first assist on the power play with the Canucks just 1:01 into his debut, and then added a power-play goal shortly after.
It overshadowed another major move with the Oilers and Penguins swapping goalies, and in a twist of fate will meet each other Tuesday. Stuart Skinner is sorting out visa issues, but we may see a showdown against Tristan Jarry after being traded for each other.
The Pens win this trade for getting out of Jarry’s contract and getting extra pieces along with Skinner. Their respective fantasy values, however, are a little more difficult to parse. Jarry’s having a stronger-than-expected season, but he’s also going to a team that has a turnover problem, and no goalie can be successful if giveaways keep happening in the slot.
Skinner, on the other hand, may benefit from a team that’s been surprisingly good defensively, and there have been stretches where he has been good. Jarry will likely win more games, but Skinner is also in a position where his save percentage and goals-against average could significantly improve.
It’ll be an interesting Week 11 with the Pens-Oilers matchup, a tough test for Hughes and the Wild when they face the Oilers and Avalanche at home, and a couple back-to-back, home-and-home series.
The takeaway for Week 11 is the Rangers have a rare five-game week but with plenty of travel, including a Sunday road game to Nashville for the second half of a back-to-back. Based on quantity, the Rangers have the advantage over everyone else, and no team plays fewer than three games in Week 11.
All positions and rostered percentages are courtesy of Yahoo Fantasy.
Schedule
Pick players from teams at the top of the schedule matrix to maximize games and matchups. Green is good. Red is bad. Points percentages are as of Sunday morning.
Season-long adds (< 50% rostered on Yahoo)]
Rickard Rakell, C/LW/RW, PIT (61% rostered)
Rakell was rostered in 51 percent of Yahoo leagues on Friday and if he’s available in your league, be sure to pick him up. Rakell returns from a hand injury and was immediately back on the top line with Bryan Rust and Sidney Crosby. Though he didn’t score a point, he played 22:13 on Saturday against the Sharks. Rakell’s three-position eligibility and deployment puts him in a very good position to score points.
Patrick Kane, RW, DET (49% rostered)
The caveat with Kane is that there will be a point in this season where he may sit due to load management, or the odd chance that the Wings offense goes ice-cold. But, generally, he’s been an excellent scorer all season approaching point-per-game territory. It’s taken a while for the fantasy community to warm up to an aging Kane as an everyday fantasy player, but the proof is right there.
Darren Raddysh, D, TB (66% rostered)
Raddysh will pick up a lot of steam in fantasy with news that Victor Hedman will be out until February with an elbow injury. He was dropped upon news of Hedman’s return, but even with the Lightning easing Hedman back into the lineup, Raddysh maintained his PP1 role and will secure it for the foreseeable future. Raddysh will play plenty of minutes on the top pair and on the power play as he builds on what is clearly a career-best season.
Zeev Buium, D, VAN (46% rostered)
Buium saw his ice time drop since the start of the season and the reality is there weren’t enough minutes to go around at even strength given the depth of the Wild’s blue line. On the Canucks, however, there will be no such restrictions. He played 8:10 in the first period and scored two power-play points in his debut Sunday against the Devils. Look for Buium to play 20 minutes on a regular basis and anchor the top power play that still has plenty of good finishes in Brock Boeser, Jake DeBrusk and Elias Pettersson.
Mid-term holds (< 50% rostered on Yahoo)
Steven Stamkos, C/LW/RW, NSH (43% rostered)
Do I think the Preds offense is still pretty bad? Yes. Do I think Stamkos can somehow find a way to score 30 goals and be worth rostering for the rest of the season? Also yes. Vibes are much better for the Preds lately, and even if this is just a hot streak, Stamkos is a proven performer. He scored just two points in 12 games in October but has since scored 13 points in 19 games.
William Eklund, LW/RW, SJ (32% rostered)
An injury to Will Smith may open the door for Eklund to play more minutes, who played 22:29 against the Pens on Saturday and scored four points in four games. He is one of the Sharks’ most reliable forwards even though he tends to move around the lineup, but at least shares the ice on PP1.
Marco Rossi, C, VAN (21% rostered)
Relative to Buium, Rossi won’t see as much of an increase in fantasy value, but it’s highly unlikely that he’ll play fourth-line minutes as he did late last season with the Wild. The Canucks desperately needed a scoring center and Pettersson is on IR, which means Rossi will be their top playmaking center for the time being. Once Pettersson returns, look for Rossi to slot in as their 2C and play PP2. There’s some value to be realized here because Rossi could potentially play more minutes and a bigger role on offense with the Canucks than he did with the Wild.
Jake DeBrusk, LW/RW, VAN (20% rostered)
DeBrusk is as streaky as they come, and a power-play goal Sunday gives him three points in four games. He’s one of those players who finds his way to score 25 goals by the end of the season, but the production comes in spurts. With the distraction of a potential Hughes trade gone, the Canucks might be able to settle down a little bit and find some sort of rhythm.
Boone Jenner, C/LW, CBJ (18% rostered)
It may have flown under the radar but note Jenner is back in the lineup and historically has been a valuable player in multi-category leagues. His return have forced the Jackets to rejig their lines, and now Jenner has replaced Dmitri Voronkov on the top line with Adam Fantilli and Kirill Marchenko and playing PP2.
John Klingberg, D, SJ (8% rostered)
Klingberg is channelling his prime Stars form with seven points in his past four games. The plan was always for him to be the PP QB when they signed him, and finally Klingberg is showing what he’s capable of. He’s very inconsistent so don’t expect this to last, but there’s certainly some immediate fantasy value here.
Short-term streamers (< 50% rostered on Yahoo)
Collin Graf, RW, SJ (1% rostered)
Graf has been featured in some of the daily articles, and as I’ve noted previously that any player playing with Macklin Celebrini and Smith will have fantasy value. Graf was moved off L1 and replaced by Philipp Kurashev, but both Kurashev and Smith suffered injuries on Saturday and their status will be updated later. Regardless, the Sharks have a viable third triplet in Graf for their top line, an undrafted but a proven scorer at the NCAA and AHL levels. Graf’s notched five points in five games, including a three-game goal streak, and played 19:17, his second-highest total of the season, in a 6-5 comeback win against the Pens on Saturday.
Vladislav Gavrikov, D, NYR (10% rostered)
Given the Rangers’ depleted blue line and their five-game schedule, Gavrikov is good pickup for Week 11 if you’re looking for an extra game. He does not offer much offensively, though he does play PP2, and he plays a ton of minutes and blocks a fair amount of shots.
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