LA Kings Acquire Marian Gaborik
Dobber Sports
2014-03-05
Fantasy Impact: The Los Angeles Kings have acquired Marian Gaborik from the Columbus Blue Jackets for Matt Frattin and two draft picks.
The Kings get: an injury-prone forward with a lot of skill – but with 41 points in his last 69 games…he’s not the player he once was (despite being only 32). On a defensive team, those numbers may not improve despite possibly playing with Anze Kopitar.
The Blue Jackets get: a similar return that Hemsky brought the Oilers – two draft picks and they also got a hustling forward with second-line upside. So maybe I was hard on the Oilers. The Jackets also ate a big portion of Gaborik’s salary.
Fantasy Players Impacted: Gaborik goes to a team that needs him, but I’m not sure his numbers will pop. Perhaps the first couple of games you’ll see a splash, but I’m thinking over 20 games he still gets 15 points – similar to what he would do had he stayed with Columbus. His arrival will push Tyler Toffoli down the depth chart, but he wasn’t really getting significant responsibility anyway.
Gaborik will be an unrestricted free agent in the summer, and so Toffoli will not be affected in the future. This could help the likes of Mike Richards, depending on who he ends up playing with (perhaps Jeff Carter, perhaps Gaborik)
Frattin will get a fresh start in Columbus, but it won’t be on a scoring line and so he holds no fantasy value. However, Cam Atkinson gets back onto a scoring line with Gaborik gone – so look for his numbers to get back up to that 50-point pace that he was on in January/December.
Fantasy Players this helps, in order:
1. Richards
2. Atkinson
3. Frattin
Fantasy Players this hurts, in order:
1. Toffoli