RADIO
Whether you are in a season-long league or a DFS league, buying low on players still helps you win in fantasy hockey!
We are now taking this column in a slightly different direction! Instead of focusing on buy-low, sell-high players in season-long fantasy hockey leagues, now the focus will be on good buys and high-priced players to steer clear from in DFS leagues. Getting bargain-basement buys in DFS helps you spend more money on superstars you know you can have multi-point games or goalies who can post shutouts.
Here are this week’s DFS fantasy hockey buys and don’t buys:
Week 20 DFS Fantasy Hockey Buys
Dion Phaneuf - D, OTT
Phaneuf has never turned into the Chris Pronger-like stalwart many hockey experts and fantasy owners thought he would. He has been an above-average defenseman, although he was more on the average side during his past six seasons with the Toronto Maple Leafs. Phaneuf has not had a 50-point season in eight years and is minus-40 over that span, and his play has definitely regressed after his four years in the NHL when he looked like he would become one of the top defensemen in hockey.
A change of scenery normally does a fantasy player’s value good. Just ask Anaheim’s David Perron and Pittsburgh’s Carl Hagelin, whose points-per-game averages have skyrocketed since they were traded for one another a month ago. The same should happen for Phaneuf as Ottawa will be better for his scoring opportunities and plus-minus than Toronto was the past half-dozen years. Phaneuf is going to be priced lower in DFS leagues until he starts scoring a bit in Ottawa, so feel free to get him on the cheap over the next week. He is primed to get a second fantasy wind now that he is on a team with playoff hopes.
Ondrej Pavelec - G, WPG
Pavelec has had a season to forget, just like most of the female contestants on The Bachelor. He was 5-6-1 with a 2.82 GAA and .906 save percentage to start the season, then missed almost two months with a major knee injury that rendered him useless while upstart Connor Hellebuyck stepped in and became a fantasy dynamo in Pavelec’s absence. So DFS players might not be overly enthused that Pavelec has been activated off the injured reserve and Hellebuyck has been sent back down to the minors.
But when you play DFS and can get a starting goalie for a startling low price, especially when he has an attractive matchup, his prior numbers can only matter so much. You have to take his track record into account, too. Pavelec is the highest-paid goalie on Winnipeg’s roster and was a workhorse for them for six seasons. He has every right to start and play a lot over the next few weeks, and with Hellebuyck in the minors, the starting netminder spot is Pavelec’s to lose. So keep an eye on Pavelec’s price tag and his upcoming games (like on 2/16 against Carolina) and consider using him while he’s still extra-affordable so you can allocate more money to other positions.
Week 20 DFS Fantasy Hockey Don't Buys
Roberto Luongo - G, FLA
Luongo has been one of the most surprising stories and most valuable players in fantasy hockey this season. Approaching his 37th birthday, Luongo currently is ranked in the top 13 among goalies in wins, goals against average and save percentage, the holy trinity of fantasy hockey. Instead of going back to Florida to end his storied career and being a veteran netminder who keeps the crease warm for some youngster to take over when the Panthers got good, Luongo is playing as well as he did a decade ago.
But Luongo is showing some small signs of wearing down as the season stretches on. In five February starts he has allowed 18 goals and has a save percentage of .879. Are Luongo and his Panthers cracking under the pressure of trying to make the playoffs for the first time since the Ice Age? Could be. Father Time could also be slashing at Luongo’s legs. Luongo will be high-priced in DFS leagues because of his superb numbers, but you may want to wait on using him until he gets out of this February funk.
Taylor Hall - LW, EDM
The first overall pick of the 2010 NHL draft has had a wonderful bounce-back season after having his 2014-15 campaign by injuries and subpar play. With 18 goals, 32 assists and 44 penalty minutes in 57 contests, Hall is on track to have the second-best fantasy year of his young and productive career. I am happier than Don Cherry when he gets a new suit that I traded Tampa Bay’s Ondrej Palat for Hall in the offseason of my season-long fantasy league!
But a scoring shift has happened in Edmonton since this year’s first overall pick, Connor McDavid, returned from missing months with a broken clavicle. While McDavid and winger Jordan Eberle have been racking up points, Hall has slumped with his center, Leon Draisaitl. Hall has no goals and only two assists over his last seven games, his worst stretch of the season. I had predicted Draisaitl’s numbers would tail off in a previous post, and his scoring drought has lowered Hall’s stats and fantasy worth. Do not sign up Hall for your DFS squad until he breaks out of his funk and/or is placed on a different line with a different centerman, preferably McDavid.
