Fantasy Hockey Analysis

Fantasy Hockey Scouts: The Fantasy Five - Week 7

#1 Give 'em a Look

Andy McDonald put up 85 & 78 point seasons in Anaheim the first two years out of the lockout and while he’s never come close to that prior or since, it shows that he has the potential to put up some big numbers. Over the past three years of so with St.Louis he’s scored at .78 points-per-game, which is solid production for a guy who doesn’t get a lot of recognition. He’s a nice add as he comes with C/LW eligibility in some leagues and is on a hot streak right now with 4+6=10 over his last seven games.

Others worth a look: Andreas Nodl (Phi – RW), Wojtek Wolski (Phx - LW), Kevin Shattenkirk (Col – D) and Ondrej Pavelec (Atl – G)

We used to think that Travis Zajac was really just riding on Zach Parise’s coattails but after two years of solid production, we started to come around and think that maybe this guy was a player… well now that Parise is out and we’ve had a look at Zajac on his own, we’d like to revert back to our original opinion. Granted the Devils are awful and Zajac only had 1+3=4 in 12 games with Parise this year but he’s now 1+4=5 in 10 games since Parise was hurt and only has one assist and four shots over his last five games.

Others worth a boot: Alex Steen (StL – LW), Jiri Hudler (Det – W), Valtteri Filppula (Det – C) and Michael Del Zotto (NYR – D)

Marty Brodeur bruised his elbow back on November 3rd but returned a few games later and looked like he would be able to shake it off. Well he re-aggravated it on November 18th and has now been told by the doctor that he should rest it for at least 10 days. This is obviously a little more serious than the team originally let on and should be a little concerning for fantasy GMs that are invested in him heavily.

Neither of these guys is going very well lately but Ottawa is a playoff-caliber team and so there are wins to be had here… Pascal Leclaire started the first four games of the year before going down with his standard injury. Brian Elliott stepped in and went on a run where he won nine of 13 games and looked to have a tight grasp on the #1 job. But then Elliott gave up 14 goals over three straight losses and that opened the door for Leclaire to get back-to-back starts this week and he posted his first win of the season. We still like Elliott over the long-term here, partly cause Leclaire can’t stay healthy and partly cause he’s just plain better.

TSN’s fantasy hockey expert, Scott Cullen, with a pair of articles looking at two trends that we pay close attention to… players that are scoring at a clip that is unsustainable or guys that are getting the chances and will eventually start filling the net.