Deep Dive Part 2 (2015)

Doran Libin

2015-01-26

Dmitrij.Jaskin

 

A look at some more depth players who can help with the other categories

 

The second part of the 'Deep Dive' series again looks at some depth players who provide value by contributing hits, blocks or penalty minutes. There are a few exceptions based on missed games, situational opportunity or team strategy. For the most part these players are owned in no more than 30% of Fantrax leagues. There is a good chance that these players can be found on the waiver wire or can be had as sneaky values in deeper multi-category leagues. Depth, especially in deep leagues, can make or break a season. As goals and assists tend to be the stats that poolies have to pay through the nose for these players could mean cheaply acquired and productive depth in the right leagues.

Brenden Dillon (Fantrax – 28% owned) – Dillon is another player who excels at hits, blocks and penalty minutes. He places top 50 in penalty minutes and just outside the top 50 in blocks. Dillon will not provide much in the way of points as he is on pace for about 15 points this year. He has played six more games in San Jose than he did in Dallas but has more than twice as many hits and 55% more blocks. At this pace Dillon would be top 30 in hits and top 40 in blocks to go along with his top 50 penalty minute pace.

 

Matt Nieto (Fantrax – 28% owned) –Matt Nieto's name has come up here before as the next guy in line for a top six spot in San Jose. Nieto does not fit the mold of the other players featured in this series. He is not going to provide value in peripheral categories and he has not missed a ton of time this year. Nieto comes up because of the opportunity that arises with the injury to Tommy Wingels. Wingels and Nieto play a similar number of minutes but Wingels plays with Marleau and Couture whereas Nieto is on the third line. With Tomas Hertl  playing center currently Nieto looks to have the inside line on a top six spot, in fact he got it when Wingels went out mid game. With Wingels expected to be out 'weeks' look for Nieto to go from .25 points per game to over .5 points per game.

 

 

St Louis

 

Ryan Reaves (Fantrax – 14% owned) – The second goon to appear in this series after Cody McLeod appeared in part one Ryan Reaves excels in two areas. The first is fighting, and the penalty minutes that come along with that endeavor. Reaves' proclivity for fighting has him averaging 1.67 penalty minutes per game through 45 games this year. The second area Reaves excels in is hitting where he is averaging over three hits per game. This has him ranked 11th in the league in penalty minutes and ninth in the league in hits.

 

Dmitrij Jaskin (Fantrax – 31% owned) – Jaskin has only played 19 games this year and has produced at a decent pace for a third line forward averaging 12:50 minutes per game. Jaskin does not play on a traditional third line as he skates with Paul Stastny and Patrik Berglund. This means that Jaskin is well positioned to keep producing at something close to his second quarter pace of .6 points per game. Jaskin is not just a point producer as he provides value in other areas as well. Jaskin is averaging 2.75 hits per game, a pace that would place him close to the top 50 in the league. Jaskin also picks up 1.5 penalty minutes per game, a pace that would also put him in the top 50 in the league. Jaskin has the makings of multi category beast. 

 

 

Vancouver

 

Derek Dorsett (Fantrax – 29% owned) – Dorsett is on pace to set a career high in points this season. As modest as his career high would be, about 25 points, this spike in scoring is a significant bump to Dorsett's value. Dorsett's 95 penalty minutes have him ranked second in the league in penalty minutes. Dorsett is on pace to finish with something close to 25 points, 200 penalty minutes and 200 hits. There is not another player in the league who is on such a pace. Dorsett does not require the sacrifice in points that other high penalty minute and hit producers such as Reaves, McLeod, and Zac Rinaldo.

 

Brad Richardson (Fantrax – 13% owned) – Richardson gets about 12.5 minutes per game at even strength and starts less than 50% of his shifts in the offensive zone. Despite this he is on a nearly 40 point pace based on averaging 1.8 points per 60 minutes played. Richardson complements this decent rate of production with 1.25 hits per game and .75 penalty minutes per game. Richardson does not contribute a ton of value through peripheral stats but has a nice all round game. One thing to watch out for is that Richardson has missed his last two games with a mysterious lower body injury but it does not appear serious.

 

 

Winnipeg

 

Mark Stuart (Fantrax – 26% owned) – Like almost every one who has played defense for the Jets Mark Stuart has an injury. Stuart is day-to-day and should not be out of the lineup for an extended period of time. Stuart is a stay at home defenseman who plays 19 minutes per game with 3.5 of those minutes coming shorthanded. In those 19 minutes per game Stuart averages two hits and two blocks per game as well as one penalty minute per game. If that is not enough Stuart is also on pace for close to 25 points per game. These numbers are at the very least the norm for Stuart and there is reason to believe that he is capable of providing hits at an even greater pace.

 

Jay Harrison (Fantrax – 15% owned) – There is a danger to picking up Harrison as there is a chance that he will become a healthy scratch as the Jets defense gets healthy. With everyone is healthy the Jets will have at minimum eight legitimate NHL defensemen as it looks increasingly unlikely that Byfuglien moves back to forward so someone will have to miss games. Harrison does not provide any offense but he averages 1.8 blocks, 1.7 hits and 1.6 penalty minutes per game each of which put him on pace over 82 games to finish with more 130 in each category. Only four players last year finished with over 100 in each category and only two finished over 130 in each category. Only Phaneuf, Hamonic and Borowiecki are on similar a pace this year over an 82 game season.

 

Deep Dive Part 1 (2015)      
Wild West: Goalie Gripes      
Western Conference Over-Achievers (2014-15)      

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