Opportunity is the name of the game in fantasy. Well so is skill, but you get the idea. A decent player with a great opportunity might be a better own than a good player with poor deployment. Linemates, power-play time, even-strength time on ice – all of these things matter when figuring out which players we want to hang on to, particularly when we get to the bottoms of our rosters. To that end, out next double week feature is going to look at which players are gaining (and which losing) in this game. 

The general idea is we are going to take a look at players’ deployment (via ice time – which includes even-strength, power play, and total time on ice) and see what has changed recently. Our baseline will be a months worth of data from mid-October to mid-November, and we will be comparing it to data over the last two weeks. This article will highlight a few of the forwards who have gained the most time on ice, and the players who have lost the most. 

Quick Explanation on stats: We are looking at the change in averages per game. So the difference in the percent of the team’s power-play time (Δ %PP) from the baseline compared to the last two weeks, the change in average power-play time per game (Δ PPTOI), even-strength time on ice (Δ EVTOI), and total time on ice (Δ TOI).

Five Up

Kyle Turris, Calle Jarnkrok: 

I am listing these two together as their rise is largely due to the same factor: injuries. Both have seen significant rises in overall ice time and are partially filling in for gaps in the lineup left by Viktor Arvidsson and Mikael Granlund being out of the line-up. Of the two Jarnkrok is the more exciting at the moment as he is lining up at even strength and the top power play with Ryan Johansen (more on him later) and Filip Forsberg. Turris meanwhile seems to be getting second line duties, which is still an improvement from where he was at the start of the season. 

Dylan Strome:

Strome has been seeing big minutes in the couple of games since his return. He has been lining up with Patrick Kane and Alex Debrincat at even strength and on the power play. The sample size is small, but if this deployment can continue he is definitely worth a look. 

Five Down

Jonny Gaudreau: 

Being featured in this portion of the article is not what Gaudreau owners were hoping to hear. Unfortunately, he does seem to be losing a bit of ice time across the board. Ice times do vary a bit each game so some of the smaller numbers (like his power-play time) could wash out over time. In positive news, he is still playing with Sean Monohan (though with Mikael Backlund now, not Elias Lindholm), he has a three-game point streak (and five in his last six) and has been shooting with 20 shots in his last five games. New coach seems to be shuffling things around a little, but don’t read too much into this one yet. 

Joonas Donskoi:

No one has been more hurt by the return of Mikko Rantanen and Gabriel Landeskog than Donskoi and Andre Burakovsky (who just missed the cut off for this list). Both were off the top line by the end of the week and the point tear both saw in response to those injuries is likely at an end. Playing with J.T. Comper instead of Nathan MacKinnon just isn’t the same. Donskoi still seems to have his power-play one time for the moment. Hopefully, he can hang on to that one. 

Ryan Johansen:

Johansen has been a dud so far this season. He has one point in his last five games to go along with his 17 points in 28 games. He has spent much of the season playing without either Forsberg or Arvidsson, but a downturn in ice time is not what folks hoping for a rebound were looking for. He still seems to be on the top power play and on the top line, he is just getting a little bit less of both at the moment. 

Wild West Weekly Streamers:

Dylan Strome: As mentioned above, Strome is seeing excellent deployment on Chicago. With four games this week, Strome has an excellent chance to make a statement for the Blackhawks and your team. 

Alex Tuch: The time to grab Tuch was a week ago. If he is still available in your league make sure to give him a flyer for next week. He has been getting good power-play time and putting it to use with seven points over his last four games. 

Last Week’s Streamers:

Jeff Carter: 

Carter was a bit of a bust this week. He put up no points, but 13 shots over his four games.

Christian Dvorak:

Dvorak, on the other hand, was great. He had three assists, one power-play point, eight shots and nine hits.

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Thanks for reading.