Wild West: 5 Naughty and 5 Nice (Player Value Jumps)

In honor of the holidays we are going to take a look at skaters on our ranking lists. We are are looking at values at the start of season versus current values. These are based on Yahoo ranks (so take with a grain of salt). The categories taken into consideration are goals, assists, power-play points, shots, hits, and blocks.

We will start with our ‘Nice’ list if you will – the players who have rocketed up the charts in value so made excellent buys for your fantasy team during the first chunk of the season.

Alex Goligoski:

Goligoski has upped his average ice time by about two minutes each game. He has not increased his power-play average though has already exceeded 2018-19’s power-play point totals (of eight points). He has upped his total point pace as well up to a 43 point pace from a 29 pace in 2018-19.

Neal Pionk:

A move to Winnipeg has done wonders for Pionk. All of the talk in the off season was of Josh Morrissey inheriting the power-play spot from Dustin Byfuglien who is still undecided about his NHL future. Pionk has taken that spot and is at a 48 point pace (up from 29 in 2018-19). A large part of this is the additional two minutes of average time on ice, and his eleven power-play points. His hits and blocks number still look good, but it is really the offensive numbers that are pushing him over the top.

Nick Bonino:

Bonino makes the list as he went on a significant goal scoring tear from October 15th to November 4th, scoring eight goals in 12 games. His shooting percentage is up close to 20% (dramatic career high), and while he has added a bit of time on ice, much of his current value comes from what appears to be some unsustainable scoring.

James Neal:

Like Bonino, Neal was a flash in the pan to start the season. He was getting time with Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl and reaping the benefits. He scored seven goals in four games to start the season and then 11 in 13. Since then he has put up five goals in 25 games. He is still seeing more time on average on the power-play and in total time on ice than in 2018-19, but he is off that top line and his spike in value is definitely passed.

Oscar Klefbom:
Klefbom seems to finally be living up to some (at least a little) of the hope of the Edmonton power-play. He has increased both his time on ice overall, and on the power-play. His point pace has increased for the seventh straight season and has him pacing for 46 points. He has already surpassed his blocks numbers from 2018-19, and is closing in on his hit totals as well.

Now that the fun is over, let’s take a look at those players who have lost the most value this season.

Johnny Gaudreau:

We have listed Gaudreau already as someone who has lost some time on ice this season. He has lost about a minute of ice-time per game so far this season. He is on pace for his lowest season output (63 points) – far cry from his 99 points from 18-19. The good news is he has been a bit more on pace with the coaching change putting up 11 points in his last 12 games.

Erik Karlsson:

Somehow Karlsson has not made this column yet with a somewhat disappointing season. He has managed to sustain his time on ice, but his point pace is down about 10 points from his 2018-19 season. That puts him on his lowest point pace since 2010-11.

Filip Forsberg:

Having spent some time on the IR certainly doesn’t help the situation. Otherwise Forsberg is on pace to increase his point pace from 2018-19. Everything looks solid for him to continue the pace, so don’t let the time spent injured throw the valuations off too much.

Alex DeBrincat:

The hype train was in full effect last summer. His deployment hasn’t changed much, but the outcomes have been a bit a worse this season. He is down about 20 points in total point pace. A lot of that is due to the fact that his shooting percentage is about half of what it has been from his last two seasons. If that were to rebound he would be right back on a 70 point pace.

Alexander Radulov:

Radulov is almost 30 points off his pace from 2018-19. His 56 point pace would be his lowest on record in the NHL. Dallas has been a bit of a mess from a deployment perspective this season, and that could account for some of the loss. He is also down almost two and a half minutes of ice time. With nine points in his last six games, Radolov is rebounding slightly, but no underlying numbers are indicating that he should be scoring at a significantly higher rate.

Wild West Weekly Streamers:

Christian Dvorak: Nick Schmaltz may have had three assists in Sunday’s game, but Dvorak has been riding shotgun with Phil Kessel and Taylor Hall. If that doesn’t make him worth a quick look then I am not sure what does.

Last Week’s Streamers:

Zack Kassian:

Kassian’s four points over his four games were a strong showing. He put up two goals, two assists, and eight shots. He has been hanging on to that spot for a good portion of the season, so he might just be worth hanging on to for a while.

Joonas Donskoi:

It turns out Donskoi life on the top like was relatively short lived. He got an assist in the first game of the week, but spent most of the time off the Nathan MacKinnon line playing with J.T. Compher, and Valeri Nichushkin. It bears repeating that if Donskoi is not with MacKinnon he isn’t worth your time at the moment.

Happy Holidays!