Players to buy low or sell high in your cap league.

We are one week into the new NHL season and just like clockwork, fantasy GMs are starting to panic at some of their players simply not performing up to expectations early on. 

In any salary cap league, having cap space is like money in the bank. It allows you to take advantage of GMs who are struggling to stay below the cap limit leading up to the new season, but it also allows you to make trades at opportune times; the start of every NHL season is one of those times. If you have cap space, now is the time to pounce on some slow starting studs that will eventually turn it around. On the flip side, if you have some guys over excelling at a decent price point, you should be able to sell high and get back a favorable return for their quick start to the season.

Right now there are a few players out there who cost more than they are offering the GMs and there are others who are performing above their expectations when we look at how much they are making. In this weeks Capped, let’s take a look at a few guys to sell high and others you should be buying low on to improve your fantasy team for the long haul. 

Buy Low

Sergei Bobrovsky – G – CBJ – $7.425M, four years remaining

There seems to be a lot of worried GMs out there regarding Bobrovsky and the Blue Jackets in general. Currently sporting a 4.66 GAA and a save percentage of 0.850, Bobrovsky is off to a slow start for fantasy GMs everywhere and quite simply hasn’t looked sharp early on. 

The Blue Jackets under Todd Richards have been perennial slow starters, but have also been strong finishers. During his tenure, the Blue Jackets in October and November have a record of 16-32-5 but in March and April are an amazing 60-24-7. 

Early in the year is the time to be buying Bobrovsky because you won’t get him later in the year when the Blue Jackets turn it on.

Corey Perry – RW – ANA – $8.625M, six years remaining

To start the season, head coach Bruce Boudreau decided to break up the Perry – Ryan Getzlaf pairing to spread out the scoring a bit and make it tougher for teams to defend against his two stars. Unfortunately, it really hasn’t worked well as both have started the season with goose-eggs on the stat sheet for points. Thankfully, there were reunited but still didn’t show on the score sheet.

So far, the Ducks have only played two games but Perry has been almost invisible during those games with only two shots on goal and four hits to show on the stat sheet. They have been experimenting with different line ups early on with a lot of new skaters on the roster. It just hasn’t clicked yet.

Get on the phone to the current owner and see if you can’t tempt him to part ways with him due to his slow start, especially if he goes another game or two shooting blanks. This guy is golden, especially in multi-cat leagues. It’s just a matter of time before we see the real Corey Perry again.

Taylor Hall – LW – EDM – $6M, five years remaining

Right now, the Oilers are struggling to score and Taylor Hall is front and center in that struggle.  The excitement around Hall in the offseason was sky-high to the potential of him and Connor McDavid flying down the ice together. So far this year, it hasn’t really come together like many had hoped. Smart GMs will show patience with Hall but impatient ones may be willing to talk now that Hall and McDavid aren’t skating on the same line for the time being. 

The Oilers are dealing with yet another head coach who brings in another system to follow.  Todd McLellan is one heck of a coach and it’s just a matter of time before the Oilers offense starts to click. They are focusing on the defensive end of the ice right now and their offense is just off to a slow start. 

I am sure a lot of Hall owners have come off of cloud nine for the time being so the time to pounce is now. The offense will come and Hall will be a big part of it. Try and get him before that happens and acquiring him becomes harder than normal.

Sell High

Ales Hemsky – RW – DAL – $4M, two years remaining

Coming off a disappointing first season in Dallas, Hemsky only managed 32 points in 76 games last year. He battled a wonky hip most of the year but still managed to play in most of the games for the Stars. He had hip surgery this offseason and so far so good.

There’s no other way to say it, Hemsky has looked really good early on this season. In three games he already has one goal and three assists and is a rare plus player. That being said, this is still Ales Hemsky and the trust level hasn’t been there in some time. His hot start could be just the bump in value needed to finally move him while the going is still good. 

Hemsky isn’t over the hill by any means, but his past health issues are reason enough to move him before the inevitable happens and he ends up missing time again.

Oscar Lindberg – C – NYR – $650,000, two years remaining

What a start to his NHL career. Four goals, in four games on eight shots and then, to top it all off, he’s named the second star of the week in the NHL. Oscar Lindberg has come out and proved that his one-way deal recently signed in the offseason was money well spent by the Rangers. 

Fact is, Lindberg was a question mark to make the team heading into training camp, even with his one-way deal. It was unlikely they would put him through waivers because they pretty much expected him to get claimed but I don’t think anyone saw this type of start for him. Seen as a third- or fourth-line center coming into this year, he has put up decent numbers in the AHL leading up to this year but nothing extreme.

Lindberg will slow down, that’s obvious. He isn’t going to uproot Derick Brassard or Derek Stepan for top-six minutes any time soon and it’s pretty rare for a third line guy to do anything crazy, points wise.

Take advantage of the hot start and hype and see if you can’t snag yourself a guy with a higher upside.

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Thanks for reading.  As always, comments are welcome and encouraged and you can follow me on Twitter as well @chrispudsey.