With news that the NHL is making progress on returning, we move on to week four of our buy/sell series. Up next, we have some bubble teams that are hoping their offseason moves will turn out to be more effective than just shuffling the deck chairs on the Titanic. Let's get back to it with both New Yorks, New Jersey, and Nashville. The first three Capped buy-and-sell columns can be seen here.

To reiterate for the uninitiated, this multi-week feature will cover each NHL team, analyzing one player to buy and one to sell. These recommendations will be based on their performance versus cap hit. That means in non-cap leagues, some of these suggestions may not be as relevant, but that doesn't mean the analysis isn't relevant. Generally, these players will either be riding new contracts into the season or be expected to have a large shift in value, for one reason or another. We went alphabetically last year, so this time we're going for the reverse.

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New York Rangers

Buy: Mika Zibanejad

Current Cap Hit: $5,350,000

Who do you think managers in your fantasy league will value more highly, Aleksander Barkov, Brad Marchand, J.T. Miller, Mark Scheifele, or Zibanejad. By my numbers, Zibanejad is the most valuable of the set, and earns less than all but Miller. Zibs was finally hitting his full stride, averaging four points every three games, and pacing for nearly 60 goals. He may be expensive to buy, but he's worth the cost because he can be one of the most valuable pieces in the fantasy game without the same name value that comes with the other players listed above.

Sell: Chris Kreider

Current Cap Hit: $6,500,000

Kreider was someone I was eyeing as an option for this space even before I remembered that his extension was a high $6.5 million AAV instead of something around $5 million that might have been more reasonable (do you think the Rangers want a do-over on that now with the flat cap?). Kreider paced for his highest point season last year, but right on cue missed a handful of games. The high production and higher cap hit are the main reasons to sell, but a career high shooting percentage, and the arrival of another young winger to soak up offensive minutes are extra reasons to want to jump ship ASAP.

New York Islanders

Buy: Ryan Pulock

Current Cap Hit: $5,000,000

With Ryan Pulock's new contract and the trade of Devon Toews, Pulock saw his cap hit come in below expected while his offensive upside rose. It is possible that Noah Dobson comes in and starts leaching powerplay time, but Pulock is the overall number one on the team in all situations. Without consistent top powerplay usage over the last few years he has set a floor around 40 points. He is a beast in multi-category formats, and with all of Toews' offensive ice time available, there is a chance that he bursts out for 50+ points this year. Check in with the owner who may be tired of waiting for Pulock to really shine.

Sell: Jean-Gabriel Pageau

Current Cap Hit: $5,000,000

Everyone knows that Pageau had a luck-fueled breakout with the Senators, but he fit well with the Islanders as well and cruised to the finish line for a great overall season. Just because Peague fit in well, doesn't mean he produced spectacular numbers though. With the Islanders he put up only two points in seven games, yet his IPP was 100%, which is absurd. As their third line centre, and the defensively responsible one at that, it is a distinct possibility that Pageau doesn't even pace for 40 points, let alone close to the 50 he was on track for last season.

New Jersey Devils

Buy: Jack Hughes

Current Cap Hit: $925,000

If his owner hasn't sold him to this point, it's not going to be an easy play to acquire Hughes, but that doesn't mean you don't try. Push hard on this one, as Hughes will be starting his ascent to stardom this coming season. This long offseason will have made a huge difference in what the 19-year-old centre can do moving forward. He had his first full year to be acclimatized, and now he gets almost a full calendar year to train, bulk up, and ready himself to take the next step in the NHL. He will continue to be sheltered (and possibly even be shifted to the wing to start), but that just means even better things for his offensive numbers.

Sell: The Rest of the Team Ryan Murray

Current Cap Hit: $4,600,000

It may be cheating to pick the guy who has yet to even play a game for the team, but just about everyone on New Jersey is either rightly devalued, or underrated at this point. This is for those deeper leagues where Ryan Murray has an owner that is still waiting for the former second overall to bust out, or someone has held onto him for a while based on the name value, thinking he could net you something decent if you traded him at the right time. I'm here to tell you that now is the best time for you to try. The move to New Jersey may have some believe that he could finally get an opportunity offensively, one that he couldn't get while he was stuck behind Seth Jones and Zach Werenski in Columbus. Unfortunately, he was not brought in to be an offensive defenceman, that role will fall to some combination of P.K. Subban, Damon Severson, offence-only Will Butcher, and possibly rookie Ty Smith. Murray will be shouldering much more of a heavier defensive load in New Jersey, which alone would cause him to be a sell. Add in a high shooting percentage and IPP last season, for a player that doesn't bring much in the peripheral categories, and it's time to cut bait in any style of league.

Nashville Predators

Buy: Victor Arvidsson

Current Cap Hit: $4,250,000

Arvidsson paced for over 60 points in each of the last three seasons until an injury plagued campaign saw him struggle to 28 points in 57 games. He had a terrible middle of the season, but once he was fully recovered, he put up five points in eight games to wrap up the regular season, and then another three in his four playoff games. He is still a season short of hitting his real breakout timeline, and in the meantime, a rebound to his previous production of 60 points on a $4.25 million AAV has value in any cap league. His underlying metrics show some room for improvement, and the biggest thing may just be getting back to the comfort of his frequent JoFA linemates (Filip Forsberg and Ryan Johansen).

Sell: Roman Josi

Current Cap Hit: $9,059,000

As my favourite player it hurts to put Roman Josi in this slot, however what better way to sell a defenceman who is about to be boosted to a salary over $9 million than to have them lead their team in scoring and win the Norris Trophy. At 30 years old Josi still has some excellent years left in the tank, however the contract through the length of his 30s is a red flag. His previous five seasons he paced between 56 and 62 points, and then suddenly broke out to a full season pace of 77 points. The spike seems largely attributable to some higher IPP numbers, as well as a slightly elevated on ice shooting percentage. He is still an excellent player to own, but a near-point-per-game defenceman at $9 million is a lot different than a 60-point defenceman at the same price. Expect that latter, but try to sell him as the former – someone should bite.

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All statistics are all pulled from FrozenTools, and all contract info from Capfriendly. Follow me on Twitter @alexdmaclean.

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