RADIO
Now that the dust from the NHL trade deadline has settled, daily fantasy hockey owners can now adjust the values of the players that changed teams.
We have had a game or two to see what roles traded players have on their new squads. Third-line centers have become second-line centers. Starting goalies have become backup goalies. Forwards skating with minus-teammates are now on lines with plus-players. So before the DFS prices are adjusted on sites, smart DFS players can take full advantage of using players with underrated values.
Here are this week’s DFS fantasy hockey buys and don’t buys:
Week 23 NHL DFS Buys
Mikkel Boedker - RW, COL
Boedker is a thorny name to bring up to fantasy owners. He is a slick skater who gets a lot of scoring opportunities, but the problem is that not enough of them translate into goals. His finishing skills rank right up there with the worst real estate agents and care salesmen. That is why the former first-rounder is in his eighth NHL season and has yet to record a 20-goal season. His unbelievably awful minus-30 rating this season has also not endeared him to fantasy hockey owners, either.
Getting Boedker out of Arizona and onto a Colorado Avalanche team loaded with talented forwards will ratchet his fantasy value up about 20 notches, though. Boedker has gone from anchoring the top line and first power-play unit while being surrounding by a horde of subpar players to skating with Nathan MacKinnon and Gabriel Landeskog at even strength and sharing spots with Jarome Iginla and Matt Duchene on the power play. Boedker’s poor plus-minus and lack of penalty minutes and goals has kept his price more than reasonable in DFS leagues, but using him this week when Colorado hosts his old Arizona team and Anaheim would be wise.
Eric Staal - C, NYR
Fantasy hockey owners have wanted to see Staal busted out of the jail that is the Carolina Hurricanes for several years. Once regarded as a point-per-game player who was one of the best centers to own in fantasy hockey, Staal’s value has consistently declined in recent seasons thanks to terrible teammates that tanked his plus-minus and scoring totals. Now Staal has arrived with the Rangers as a 31-year-old at the lowest point of his storied career. His 35 points in 67 games represent the worst season he has had other than his rookie campaign over a decade ago.
Yet Staal is now playing on one of the better teams in hockey and playing with another one of his brothers. Only time will tell if playing with defenseman Marc helps Eric more than playing alongside than fellow forward Jordan, but what will certainly help is playing with some young wingers who can skate like the wind and have stepped up in the absence of the injured Rick Nash. Staal started slow with the Blueshirts, going pointless in his first three games, but he had a goal and an assist in last game so he looks like he is picking up the system and finding chemistry with his new teammates. Staal is still a good DFS buy even if sites bumped his price up a couple dollars after he was sent to NY.
Week 23 NHL DFS Don’t Buys
Dylan Larkin - C, DET
The rookie wall seems to be slamming Larkin into the boards harder than Dion Phaneuf could. Larkin has been a top contender for the Calder trophy throughout the season and had been blessing fantasy owners with a superb plus-minus along with 0.8 points-per-game there for the bulk of the season. But the last three weeks have been kinder to Ben Carson than they have for Larkin.
Larkin has not scored a point in his last five games and has just one point over his 10 outings. Worse, he has been a minus-8 in those 10 games, so he has faltered badly in his best fantasy category. With his price tag still relatively high in many DFS formats, Larkin needs to be avoided like the Zika virus until he catches a second wind.
Lee Stempniak - RW, BOS
When the NHL trade deadline comes around every year, you know two things are going to happen: The New York Rangers will trade a couple high draft picks and a prospect for a veteran scorer, and Stempniak will be traded. Stempniak has been dealt at the deadline four times over the last six years! He is on his way to becoming the Mike Morgan of the NHL with all the different teams he has suited up for over his interesting career. So when Boston needed to acquire a top-six forward for their scoring lines, guess who they traded for?
Stempniak has been a solid scorer this season. With the offensively-challenged New Jersey Devils he somehow managed to score 16 goals and add 25 assists in 63 contests, above his career points-per-game average. But while on paper you would think going to Boston would be beneficial to Stempniak’s fantasy worth as he will play with premier playmakers like Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci, the problem is his ice time is diminishing. He used to play 18-20 minutes per game with New Jersey due to the Devils’ lack of skilled forwards. He is now playing 15-16 minutes a night in Boston’s well-rounded offense. I do not like plucking bucks down on Stempniak during Boston’s upcoming four-game week.
