Top 10 Trade Candidates (2015)

Tom Collins

2015-02-23

KeithYandle

The Top 10 players in trade rumors who would have the biggest fantasy hockey impact

We're a week away from one of the most exciting time of the year for fantasy hockey fans: trade deadline day.

Many hockey pools have their trade deadlines around this time as well, in order for GMs to cash in on recently-traded players (note: those traded players rarely live up to their billing). Dobber and his staff will be on hand to make sure you get the impact of all the fantasy-relevant trades.

But in the meantime, I thought it would be fun to look at who are the top 10 players who are rumoured to be traded, based on their fantasy significance.

It would be too tough for this column to gauge what the impact a traded player might be on a new team, because I have no idea where they are going (the only thing I do know is that Montreal is the new Toronto when it comes to a player being traded: everyone is going to Montreal, it seems). Someone being traded to Pittsburgh to play a top-six role would have way more value than that same player being traded to Montreal or Florida.

I also decided not to include most of the Leafs, despite everyone being available, as guys like Phil Kessel and Dion Phaneuf are unlikely to be traded within the next week.

So here are the top 10 players that may have a new address next week.

10. Chris Stewart

This is a player who both NHL GMs and fantasy GMs fall in love with, thinking he's about to break through at any moment. And then there's the level of disappointment when he can't live up to his hype (I call it the Dustin Penner effect). He's 27 years old, has played for three NHL clubs, and pretty much what you see is what you get: A 15-goal, 30-point guy who can get 100 pims in a good year. Someone will overpay for him next week, both in the NHL and your fantasy league. Don't be that guy.

5. James Wisniewski

Wisniewski sat out Sunday's game against the Rangers as a healthy scratch, with many speculating this could mean a trade. The 31-year-old dman had 50 points last year, and is on pace for 39 this season. He's still an excellent shot producer (he's taken three-plus shots in 20 games this season, and has actually had five or more shots seven times). He's scoreless in two games, but was on a five-point streak before that. For poolies, Wisniewski also likes to hit (on pace for 136 this season). So he brings a lot of different things to the table.

4. Antoine Vermette

Vermette's value goes up immensely in leagues that count faceoffs (he's third in the league in faceoffs won, sixth in faceoffs taken and seventh in faceoff winning percentage), but he has plenty of value in other categories as well. His minus-20 can be attributed to playing in front of Mike Smith, so you have to figure that will improve where ever he goes to. He's on pace for 18 goals and 48 points, 113 shots, 97 hits and 51 blocked shots. His six power play goals to go along with 13 power play points look pretty decent as well.

3. Ryan O'Reilly RyanOReilly

I'm actually surprised he's stayed with Colorado this long. After their acrimonious summer two years ago where he signed an offer sheet from the Flames, O'Reilly has been a disappointment this season (like most of the Avs). While O'Reilly will kill your team when it comes to penalty minutes (the goon has 12 pims this year after getting just two last season), he's still a player who can get 25 goals, 60 points, 200 shots and power play points. And he just turned 24 years old earlier this month.

2. Tyler Bozak

Out of anyone on the top six in Toronto, Bozak is the one most likely to be dealt by next Monday. Bozak brings a lot to the fantasy hockey table. He's on pace for 21 goals, 49 points, 12 power play goals and 159 shots. He's also pretty good at faceoffs, winning 51.2 per cent of the draws he's taken this year, and he's also potted a couple of shorthanded goals. He's shown that he can play with elite talent, so a trade to a contender would probably still have him in a top six role.

1. Keith Yandle

The trade rumours seem to have waned with Yandle recently, but he's the best defenceman that could be available. On the bright side, he's not purely a rental, as he still has another year left on his deal. If you prorate the lockout season, he's had six straight 40-point seasons (he's third in the league for defencemen for points in that time frame). He hasn't missed a game since the 2008-09 season. He takes lots of shots, and chips in a few penalty minutes as well. He's pretty much the perfect fantasy defenceman, if it wasn't for his horrendous plus-minus (a minus-23 last year, and a minus-27 already this season), which should improve on a better team.

As with each trade deadline of the past decade, Dobber will have you covered with instant fantasy hockey breakdowns of the latest deals. Be sure to lock one of your tabs on DobberHockey next Monday, March 2!