 |
Fantasy Hockey |
|
February 22, 2013 | 11:37am ET
|
|
|
|
|
Party like it's 2009
By Tab Bamford, TheFourthPeriod.com
One of the great aspects of daily fantasy at DraftKings.com is
that you can draft a different team every time you want to
play. You can stack the lineup of your favorite team, or draft
based on match-ups and trends. And remember, you can
play for free or as little as $1.
 With
that in mind, for this week's fantasy forecast we're going to
party like it's 2009... at least from a draft perspective.
There are a lot of players that are trending hot this week,
and a lot of them happen to have been drafted in 2009.
Here are some studs to consider for your fantasy team this
year, all of whom were part of that same memorable draft. The
names are followed by their overall selection number.
Forwards
The Superstar: John Tavares, New York Islanders (#1
overall)
Tavares has emerged as a bona fide superstar, and had a
five-game point streak interrupted by three straight
point-free contests. He'll try to get his team and his
personal point production back on track with home games
against Carolina, Boston and Toronto this week.
The Big Score: Matt Duchene, Colorado Avalanche (3)
Duchene's been hot lately, posting back-to-back three-point
games against Edmonton and Nashville before getting shut out
by the Blues on Wednesday night. The Avs travel to Anaheim and
San Jose before hosting Calgary this week.
The Sleeper: Brayden Schenn, Philadelphia Flyers (5)
Schenn is quietly enjoying a solid season with the Flyers, who
scored 13 goals in two road games earlier this week. Philly
will be at home for the Leafs, Caps and Senators this week; if
the Flyers' trend continues, these games will be high-scoring.
The Darkhorse: Chris Kreider, New York Rangers (19)
The Rangers only have two games this week, home contests
against the Jets and Bolts (both of whom have had issues in
net this year). If Rick Nash misses any extended time, Kreider
could get an opportunity to shine.
Some other forwards from the 2009 Draft to watch this week
include Winnipeg's Evander Kane (4), Toronto's Nazem Kadri
(7), Los Angeles' Kyle Clifford (35), Dallas' Cody Eakin (85)
and Chicago's Marcus Kruger (149)
Defense
The Superstar: Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Phoenix Coyotes
Somehow, in a lockout-shortened season, the Coyotes didn't
have a game between Monday, Feb. 18 and Saturday, Feb. 23. But
that means next week they're on the ice four times, and have
some intriguing matchups. Ekman-Larsson is averaging over two
minutes per game more ice time than Keith Yandle this year and
has more goals on the young season.
The Big Score: Nick Leddy, Chicago Blackhawks
How about this for a schedule: the Hawks have home games
against Columbus (twice) and Edmonton and a trip to St. Louis
coming up. Leddy's ice time has been cut back this year, but
it's worked; half of his points have come on the powerplay,
where he's become a primary weapon for Joel Quenneville.
The Sleeper: Ryan Ellis, Nashville Predators
Ellis has quietly been productive (six points) on the
offensively-challenged Predators, who might have the most
fascinating schedule in the league this week. On Wednesday and
Saturday they travel to the Ducks and Sharks, against whom
they have played four games that all went to overtime (three
of the four to shootouts). They also host the Stars on Monday
night.
The Darkhorse: Tyson Barrie, Colorado Avalanche
We already looked at the upcoming Avs' schedule when talking
about Duchene, but Barrie's been a really nice addition to the
blue line in Denver this year. He has four points in his last
four games, with two coming on the powerplay.
A few other defensemen to consider from the 2009 Draft are
Tampa's Victor Hedman (2) and Pittsburgh's Simon Despres (30).
Goaltenders
This is where our exercise celebrating the 2009 Draft falls apart; there are no goalies with fantasy value from that class. So here are a couple netminders to keep an eye on in the coming week.
The Big Money: Ben Scrivens, Toronto Maple Leafs (undrafted)
Let's talk for a moment about Mr. Scrivens, shall we? Through his 31-save victory on Thursday night, he now has a ridiculous .947 save percentage (197/208) in February.
The Sleeper: Corey Crawford, Chicago Blackhawks
Last week we pumped the tires of his back-up, Ray Emery, and Crawford ended up missing the entire week with an upper-body injury. He could return this week and, with two games home games against Columbus on the calendar for the red-hot Blackhawks, he could get back into the action.
Before we go, here's how our picks performed last week (all stats are Sunday-Thursday).
Patrick Kane, CHI -- 2 games, 1 assist, plus-2
James van Riemsdyk, TOR -- 3 games, 3 goals, 1 assist, plus-1
Chris Stewart, STL -- 3 games, 2 assists, minus-1
Ryan Kesler, VAN -- 3 games, 1 goal, 1 assist, minus-2
Brian Campbell, FL -- 2 games, 0 points, Even
Kevin Shattenkirk, STL -- 3 games, 0 points, minus-2
Lubomir Visnovsky, NYI -- 3 games, 1 assist, minus-3
Jay Bouwmeester, CGY -- 3 games, 1 assist, minus-1
Pekka Rinne, NSH -- 2 games (1 start), 1-0-0, 3 goals against, .923 save percentage
Ray Emery, CHI -- 2 games, 2-0-0, 5 goals against, .915 save percentage
Be sure to stop by our friends at DraftKings.com for fantastic
daily games starting as low as $1, and they're offering a great
100% Deposit Bonus if you sign up today.
Tab
Bamford is a Columnist for The
Fourth Period Magazine. Be sure to follow him on Twitter.
|
|
