The Boston Bruins got a huge boost Thursday night, and so did those rostering Brad Marchand.
Boston’s star forward returned from offseason hip surgery ahead of schedule, albeit with a caveat. Marchand won’t be playing back-to-back games for the time being and his minutes will be limited, meaning he won’t be in the lineup Friday against the Columbus Blue Jackets.
That brought up an interesting decision this week if you were stashing Marchand. Do you activate him for just the one game? Or keep him on injured reserve temporarily and use someone who still plays two or three more times?
Activating him next week is a no-brainer, as the Bruins don’t have another back-to-back until Nov. 12-13. To insert him into your lineup this week, you’d have to weigh whether one game of Marchand is better than a couple from a likely less talented player. Spoiler if you missed Thursday’s game ... it was.
Still, not an easy decision.
We haven’t seen much load management in the NHL compared to the NBA or MLB, and while this case is related to Marchand’s injury specifically, if it becomes more commonplace, it’s going to add another wrinkle to consider in fantasy.
Time for your questions:
You’re going to have to roster Sabres goalie Eric Comrie when the opportunity and schedule works in his favour. Even though he’s had mixed results this week, late last week made a lot of sense to grab him considering he was playing so well and the Sabres had a very friendly schedule coming up. It’s important to keep in mind that while the Sabres appear to be much improved, they’ll still likely go through a lot of peaks and valleys this season, and Comrie will do the same.
Adin Hill and Logan Thompson have both played very well, so I’d imagine Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy’s plan for playing time is to not lean too heavily on one guy, much like he did with the Bruins. Thompson has received five of Vegas’ eight starts up to this point, so a 55/45 split in favour of Thompson should be what to expect going forward. Given how strong Vegas has looked, Hill is certainly worth rostering if he’s going to get 35 starts or so.
So, at the moment, I’d say it’s Hill. He’s getting more of a share of the net and although Thompson is playing well, he doesn’t look to have the No. 1 job as firmly cemented as Linus Ullmark does. Plus, as mentioned, history tells us Cassidy prefers to rotate his goalies regularly. Jim Montgomery may not be as generous with his rotation with the Bruins.
You have to hope that he will and Thursday’s performance was a good sign. Most waiver wires are fairly thin when it comes to goalies, so the idea of moving on from someone like Nashville Predators goalie Juuse Saros isn’t a wise plan. He’s probably going to end up playing as much as anyone in the league and three out of four of those bad games came against tough opponents.
The Predators as a whole have started off slow, with other key names such as Roman Josi also struggling to produce until Thursday. Perhaps the early-season trip to Europe has thrown off their rhythm, but I wouldn’t panic where Saros is concerned just yet.
There are a number of high-profile fantasy players struggling out of the gates, and Timo Meier is particularly concerning because his first goal of the season didn't come until Thursday night. The main worry here is the San Jose Sharks don’t look to be very good at all and we know that can sink certain players depending on the situation. San Jose is dead last in goals for, averaging a measly 1.89 per game, so don’t expect Meier to get a spark offensively from his teammates.
The good news is, Meier is still providing strong hits and shot numbers. The offence will come eventually, but you can only wait so long before making a move if Meier’s play is digging you too big of a hole.
As tempting as it is to add the Hurricanes' Teuvo Teravainen, I wouldn’t at the expense of one of other two you mentioned. Vincent Trocheck is off to a good start playing with Artemi Panarin and on the New York Rangers top power-play unit, while Anze Kopitar is one of the most consistent fantasy options you will find. Sure, there’s a chance Teravainen finds his game and starts producing solid offensive numbers again, but why risk finding out if you don’t have to.
I wouldn’t say last season was a fluke, but Ryan Hartman certainly benefitted from playing with Kirill Kaprizov for the majority of the season. This season, he’s been shuffled off that line more regularly and the Minnesota Wild started off slow, so if you add those things up, it’s going to lead to Hartman producing fewer points.
With Hartman, though, points should really be viewed as a nice bonus for a player whose real value revolves around shots, face-off wins and penalty minutes. If you’re in a strictly points league, Hartman is going to have to work his way back to the top line quickly in order for you to get a return on your investment.
Panthers defenceman Radko Gudas is fairly one-dimensional when it comes to fantasy, so if he isn’t hitting at a decent rate, you could certainly move on. Stars' Jani Hakanpaa or Canadiens' Arber Xhekaj would be good options to consider because they are off to a strong start in the PIMs category, too. Try to find players at the bottom of your roster who give you as much category coverage as possible.
Somewhat surprisingly, Dominik Kubalik, and not Lucas Raymond, has stepped up in the absence of Tyler Bertuzzi and Jakub Vrana, swallowing up the all points and finding himself on the Detroit Red Wings' first power-play unit. Kubalik hasn’t ever really been able to sustain this type of production, though, so I imagine Raymond will get his opportunities again soon. Perhaps it’s a sophomore slump or bad luck, but Raymond certainly has been one of the more disappointing players this season. I’d hold him for a bit longer if you can, to see if Kubalik cools down.
It sounds like Cam Talbot is still a few weeks away from returning and he should have decent value when he gets back. Anton Forsberg has played a ton and he’s never really dealt with a starter’s workload before. The Ottawa Senators, who have looked pretty good after a shaky start, will probably start working Talbot into a decent share of the net and at some point, they should settle in around a 50/50 split.
Goalies like Comrie may have some short-term value but probably aren’t the answer to a problem in the crease. We mentioned Hill earlier, who is probably the best option if you’re looking for quality starts.
As far as Elvis Merzlikins goes, I’m a little concerned. The Columbus Blue Jackets look out of sorts and don’t appear to be a team that’s going to prop up a goalie in any way, shape or form.
One strategy might be to buy low on someone like Jeremy Swayman, who had a strong showing Thursday. As good as Ullmark has looked, Swayman is probably going to get another chance at some point on a really strong team. You might see Swayman getting dropped in a few more leagues because of his start or maybe you can try to offer something small to acquire him. Worst case, it doesn’t work out and it really didn’t cost you much, or best case, he works his way back into more starts and you’ve got a huge boost in net.
Shane Pinto of the Senators is a great add. He had a streak of goals in five straight games and was already playing well before Josh Norris got injured. Derick Brassard got the first chance at replacing Norris, but he was on a PTO only weeks ago. I’m sure Pinto is going to get a shot in the top six over Derick Brassard at some point and even if he doesn’t, he is producing fine where he is. What do you have to lose?
As mentioned above, I’m not as high on Brassard as I am Pinto when it comes to filling in for Norris long-term. Brassard did score in his first game on the second line, so there is some value there in the immediate future, but I would look at him as more of a streaming option. If you need offence heading into the weekend to try to steal a category or two, he might be worth a shot. When looking further down the road, Pinto should be the better bet.
As slow as John Klingberg has started, there doesn’t really seem to be any suitable replacements on your waiver wire. You could always try grabbing an Adam Larsson or Connor Murphy to be a bit of a category specialist in blocked shots, if your league counts those, but I probably wouldn’t go down that road just yet. Klingberg is on a one-year prove-it type deal with the Anaheim Ducks in hopes of securing a long-term contract, so you’ll have to hope that motivates him to turn things around soon.
I can’t say I see Red Wings centre Michael Rasmussen continuing on this pace long-term, as more than half his points this season came in one game. Also, he’s currently slotted on the third line, and with Vrana and Bertuzzi out of the lineup, it’s only going make Rasmussen’s unit thinner.
He could be a good bet for the future, just keep in mind, Detroit has been stockpiling young talent up front and locked up Andrew Copp and David Perron to multi-year deals this summer. Rasmussen will have plenty of competition to try to earn time in the top six.
That isn’t really what I would call buying low. There’s nothing wrong with trying to acquire Thatcher Demko with the hopes that he and the Vancouver Canucks bounce back, but giving up Winnipeg Jets' Connor Hellebuyck is way too much. A better idea would be to try to move another struggling player or maybe a draft pick that isn’t too high to try to bring him in. You’d be taking on too much risk if you move Hellebuyck and things continue trending in the wrong direction for Demko.
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