Buy low on Ryan Johansen and these other names in your salary cap league.

With Christmas just over a week away, many are out trying to wrap up their shopping before the real rush happens. Bargains and sales are in full bloom and folks are taking advantage of it to get the best deals possible. The same should happen for you at this festive time for your fantasy team.

In this week’s Capped, we will take a look at some players who should be found in the bargain bin due to their lacklustre season to this point. There’s a good chance you can find yourself a real bargain as a lot of fantasy GMs are impatient and normally short-sighted (sorry if this insults anyone but it’s true) even in keeper leagues.

Here are a few you should be able to snag on the cheap and once they turn it around, you will reap the rewards of your fellow impatient GMs. I guess you could say this is my “buy-low” Christmas list for you.

In no particular order, here we go.

Logan Couture – San Jose Sharks – $6.0M, four years remaining

There are certainly a lot of disgruntled Couture owners out there these days. It’s been a dismal season for him with zero luck. After missing 23 games due to a broken ankle, he’s now out until after Christmas after getting hit in the thigh causing an arterial bleed in that area.

Couture is such a key piece to the Sharks attack and right now is a good time to go get this stud. Owners are no doubt getting frustrated having such a high profile player miss so much time this year. Look to buy Couture from those who are looking for a different direction with their roster. 

He’s still injured and out until after Christmas but simply too good not to try and acquire.

Tyler Johnson – Tampa Bay Lightning – $3.33M, one year remaining

I remember watching Johnson in last year’s playoffs, playing injured for most of them, and simply struggling offensively. This season has started out similar to his playoffs. He’s missed games due to injuries and when healthy, just hasn’t seemed to get it going.

I could easily put a few Tampa Bay players on this list as most of the team has seemed to struggle offensively this year but it seems that Johnson is getting a bad rap. I don’t know if he simply hasn’t healed properly from his injury last year or what’s going on but it’s been a trying year so far.

Johnson has shown annual incremental increases in his short NHL career so I am confident he will bounce back and the offense will come.

Jarome Iginla – Colorado Avalanche – $5.33M, one year remaining

To say Iginla is slumping would be an understatement. He has one goal in his past 10 games and for Iggy, that’s not acceptable. Truth be told, Iggy is a perennial slow starter and if we take a look at his points total at this point in the season last year, he’s not that far off. After 32 games last season, he had 18 total points compared to the 16 points he has this year. Iginla ended up leading the Avalanche in scoring last year, sniping 29 goals and chipping in 30 assists. 

Now I am not saying he is going to lead them again this year, but it seems every year, GMs get frustrated with Iginla`s slow starts.

Iginla isn’t a spring chicken at 38 years of age, but he is still a leader on that team and will get his chances down the stretch. If you were looking for a boost to your roster in the second half of the season, I’d look to Iginla as a guy you can add cheap and enjoy the benefits of what he brings.

 Patric Hornqvist – Pittsburgh Penguins – $4.25M, two years remaining

Much like Tyler Johnson and the Lightning, the Penguins have had a terrible start to the season and Hornqvist is right in the middle of it. The slow start has cost Mike Johnston his head-coaching job and with a new head coach comes changes. 

The Penguins, with all their firepower, ice one of the leagues worst power plays (currently ranked 28^th out of 30 teams). Rick Tocchet was running the power play under Johnston but new head coach, Mike Sullivan, has assumed the role of running the power play for the time being. How this changes things is yet to be seen but if there’s one thing we know, the Penguins can only go up from here. 

Hornqvist appears to be the odd man out in the top six right now, but for the Penguins to turn this around, Hornqvist is going to be a key player with his hands on the steering wheel, and considering his affordable cap hit; he’s certainly worth taking the risk on.

Ryan Johansen – Columbus Blue Jackets – $4.0M, one year remaining

All in all, Johansen hasn’t really had a bad year so far. His 22 points in 31 games isn’t quite what most fantasy owners had expected at this point but it’s not as bad as some of the others on this list either. He’s currently the second leading scorer on the Blue Jackets.

After being benched for the second time this year by head coach John Tortorella, you are probably going to find a few nervous GMs out there in regards to Johansen’s future with the Blue Jackets and what this means going forward.

At only 23 years of age, Johansen is still growing and has yet to come close to his peak. If you can find a GM willing to part with him for a fair price, I’d be all over it. Johansen could be well worth it, especially if he ends up getting traded out of Columbus, which is certainly an option going forward.

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Anytime you gamble on under performing players, there’s always risk. One has to think these players have all proven enough in their career to justify taking that risk.

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