Fantasy Impact: New Jersey Devils Acquire Nikita Gusev from the Golden Knights

Dobber

2019-07-29

Fantasy Impact: The New Jersey Devils have acquired winger Nikita Gusev from the Vegas Golden Knights for a second- and a third-round draft pick. The Devils promptly signed the former KHL superstar to a two-year, $9 million contract.

 

The Devils get: a player who last year was widely considered to be one of the best players outside of the NHL. Now Gusev will join the other best player who wasn't in the NHL – Jack Hughes. Gusev led the KHL in scoring and it wasn't even close (82 points in 62 games, beating his nearest teammate by 36 points). The fact that he signed such a huge contract only increases his likelihood of success. He will get premium ice time, premium power-play time, and premium linemates – which may not have been assured had he signed a one-year deal with Vegas at say $2.5 million. Taylor Hall, Jack Hughes, Nico Hischier – he will be playing with at least one and possibly two of these players at even strength and likely all three of them on the power play.

 

Fantasy Players Impacted: The ripple effect here is a huge one – bigger than you would expect. Let's focus on the Devils first. This pretty much eliminates Jesper Boqvist's chances of making the team and it reduces the amount of games he would have gotten during a cup of coffee with the big club. It also changes the power play – one in which I saw PK Subban (shoots right) and Will Butcher (shoots left) both on it, along with Hall, Hischier and Hughes. Since they're obviously not going to remove one of the Triple H crew, it stands to reason that Butcher goes. Because $4.5 million Gusev is not getting secondary PP minutes. Management needs to look good here, so stifling his points definitely won't do that. He needs to flourish, so Coach John Hynes will help him do that. 

So Butcher goes to the second unit, which cuts out the lowest PP man on the totem poll: Pavel Zacha. I had 12 different Devils averaging at least a minutes of PP time per game, with five being on the first unit and the second unit mixing and matching the other seven. Zacha just lost that one minute of PPTOI. And speaking of the power play – any chance that Wayne Simmonds had of sneaking onto the top unit just went bye-bye. He should still get second unit time, but overall his PPTOI gets reduced here.

Jack Hughes will also get a boost here. A six-point boost, to be exact (I adjusted my projections in the upcoming Fantasy Hockey Guide). Because now he either plays with Gusev (who he could make look reeeal good) or with Taylor Hall (and come on, it's Taylor Hall). Win-win. I also like Jesper Bratt to line up on the left side of a scoring line. So either Bratt gets Hughes and Gusev, or Hischier and Kyle Palmieri – or some combination of these. However it ends up, Bratt gets a boost.

This also helps the man himself. In Vegas it was kind of an awkward fit, with other proven scorers on big contracts already filling up the top two lines and certainly the top PP unit was spoken for. With New Jersey, Gusev is a key player.

 

As for Vegas, I had been worried about Brandon Pirri's production and opportunity. It was non-existent with Gusev in the lineup. Suddenly, Pirri is back on the third-line, likely a 30-point player with upside for 45 or more if he can iron out his consistency. But for the most part I had already been treating Vegas players as if Gusev would be traded away.

 

Fantasy Players this helps, in order:

1. Nikita Gusev

📢 advertisement:

2. Jack Hughes

3. Jesper Bratt

4. Brandon Pirri

 

Fantasy Players this hurts, in order:

1. Will Butcher

2. Pavel Zacha

3. Wayne Simmonds

 

Leave A Comment

UPCOMING GAMES

Jan 11 - 13:01 FLA vs BOS
Jan 11 - 16:01 BUF vs SEA
Jan 11 - 16:01 PIT vs OTT
Jan 11 - 19:01 MTL vs DAL
Jan 11 - 19:01 PHI vs ANA
Jan 11 - 19:01 CHI vs EDM
Jan 11 - 19:01 WPG vs COL
Jan 11 - 19:01 TOR vs VAN
Jan 11 - 19:01 STL vs CBJ
Jan 11 - 19:01 N.J vs T.B
Jan 11 - 20:01 NSH vs WSH
Jan 11 - 21:01 UTA vs NYI
Jan 11 - 22:01 CGY vs L.A
Jan 11 - 22:01 VGK vs NYR
Jan 11 - 22:01 S.J vs MIN

Starting Goalies

Top Skater Views

  Players Team
DANY HEATLEY
COLE CAUFIELD MTL
PATRICK KANE DET
DMITRI VORONKOV CBJ
JACKSON LACOMBE ANA

Top Goalie Profile Views

  Players Team
JAKUB DOBES MTL
ALEX LYON DET
SAM MONTEMBEAULT MTL
THATCHER DEMKO VAN
CONNOR HELLEBUYCK WPG

LINE COMBOS

  Frequency CHI Players
18.5 ILYA MIKHEYEV TYLER BERTUZZI CONNOR BEDARD
17.2 TAYLOR HALL NICK FOLIGNO JASON DICKINSON
17.2 PATRICK MAROON PHILIPP KURASHEV RYAN DONATO

DobberHockey Podcasts

Keeping Karlsson Short Shifts – Thanks for Vejmelkmories

Elizabeth and Lewis reunite to bring you all the latest fantasy news and strategy, such as how our siblings would fare if called on to fill our roles like Owen Sillinger did for bro Cole. Then it’s onto news including coverage of the postponed CGY/LAK game and defensive injuries piling up in MIN and putting some strain on Gustavsson’s performance. Injuries and outjuries include a pair of goalies returning to their teams in Ingram and Shesterkin, as well as how Monahan’s wrist injury opens the door for big minutes for Fantilli. Finally, the pair touch on Voronkov and PLD’s hot streaks, and discuss John Carlson’s rollercoaster in light of Chychrun’s production.

Keeping Karlsson: Tuch Hunch

On this edition of the Keeping Karlsson Fantasy Hockey Podcast mega-show, Elan and Brian tour every team, ranking a slate of the least bad goalies, noticing the wind in some Red Wings’ and Stars’ sails, dangling snoozer status above a pair of commonly rostered power-play quarterbacks, and rushing or strolling, accordingly, to some skaters on the up and up.

Fantasy Hockey Life: Listener Questions and Skid Game

Today is Jesse and Victor talking dynasty strategy. First we take listener questions about trading prospects, sell-now pieces and more. In the second half it is the express edition of the Skid Game. Have a listen! Our show is part of the Dobber Podcast Network and sponsored by Fantrax.com. Email fantasyhockeylife@gmail.com and ask to join […]

Keeping Karlsson: Short Shifts – New Year News

Jeremy and Shams are back to bring you up to speed on what happened in the Fantasy world during New Year’s Eve and Day. They cover all the injury news headlined by Nichushkin and a couple of starting goalies and close with hot and cold streaks that include two big name defensemen that might be […]

FIND US ON FACEBOOK

📢 advertisement: