Fantasy hockey general managers never feel sorry for their fellow GM's who suddenly lose players after the All Star Break. It is just a fact of life. Whether the loss is big or small, it is significant. However, when it is a top line player, that changes so much. Those changes really do have ripple effects that can become far reaching. Then the length of the injury adds to it.
No one gets more frustrated than I do to see a ton of questions for the old what to do since Player X is injured for Y amount of time. That is especially even more so when I own the player too. Let's be honest. Even the "expert" has to sit there sometimes and go oh crap, what is next. This is just human nature.
The time is now to get down to business and lament the fallen? Okay, we may have gone too far there.
Fantasy Hockey Mailbag
With Kyle Okposo out for at least the next 6-8 weeks with an upper body injury, what are my Islander options?
Because the New York Islanders have more depth than most teams offensively, this is not as much of an issue as one would think. Mikhail Grabovski can make a fine fill in for say 15-25 games. He did it before with Alex Ovechkin in Washington and then yes things went south but Grabovski is normally a solid plus possession player and just has a knack for getting points in bursts. Playing with John Tavares and Josh Bailey will increase his chances as he rides the confidence wave.
Then there was this goal seen here.
Again there will be a few questions. Can he play 18 minutes a night consistently on this line? That answer is no. Could he play 16 minutes or a hair more? That is more plausible. Josh Bailey becomes more of an option if he is still out there and even Frans Nielsen possibly. The other three or four minutes are going to go elsewhere.
It does seem Grabovski will be on the second power play unit, at least for now. Even Ryan Strome and Brock Nelson will still see first unit power play time. Nothing is set in stone here. One game snapshots can be dangerous but the plan worked masterfully so expect it at least for now.
Was Wednesday Night the most predictable DFS hockey night in a long time?
The answer is absolutely! Monitoring daily fantasy hockey patterns has become a fun hobby that has taken some roots. However, it was well known Cory Schneider was going to win but he had to do it in a shootout (now that part was not in the script) but he did have 29 saves. He had been projected to face more rubber and sure enough he did. Our choice B was Braden Holtby, who posted a shutout against the Pittsburgh Penguins. While we figured he might give up a goal maybe two, he would still manage a win. It looked like the earlier blanking of Pittsburgh was almost exactly how this one went. Yes Pittsburgh is missing Evgeni Malkin and Olli Maatta among a few others but they are more healthy than they had been. This was a huge win for Washington considering how they had looked losing four straight.
Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom both had multiple point night along with Mike Green. That was not even that surprising. Then the highest scoring of the night poetically ended with a 4-3 win by the Los Angeles Kings. Jonathan Quick basically outlasted Corey Crawford in net as Tyler Toffoli and Jake Muzzin scored huge goals to buoy the two points for LA. Jeff Carter had three points and Anze Kopitar had two assists. That does not even include what Chicago did. Patrick Kane had a goal and assist with three shots and Patrick Sharp also nabbed a goal and assist. The goalies both were under a .900 save percentage which cuts in on daily fantasy points. It just seemed like everything was too easy.
Short slates can be like that. They can be all or nothing and every so often many shades of weird.
Finally, what is your take on Lawson Crouse?
This has been asked so many ways. He is on a rather bad team. That is an obvious take. He has upside, plays big, and does have nice hands, and a pretty good shot. His biggest asset is Crouse forechecks very well. The one thing the forward will have to learn is how to establish position in front of the net at the NHL level. That will come with time. He is not a first year hop into the league type of player but could be a year two candidate. Lawson Crouse will need seasoning and maybe even another year in Junior plus some AHL time before the jump.
He really could be drafted anywhere from 5th-12th. Insider thinking tends to be more in the 5th-8th range. It all hinges on the team and the needs they have. More defensive players like Crouse can take time but sometimes they break out suddenly and put it all together. Time will tell. There is more season right now to go as they say.
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See you next week everyone and keep those questions coming.