Top 10 Players Whose Fantasy Value Dropped This Past Week

Tom Collins

2021-08-02

The last seven-to-10 days have been an exciting one for fantasy hockey general managers.

The NHL draft means GMs in keeper and dynasty leagues can start prepping for their fantasy draft. Trades and free agency will see players in new situations, and fantasy players are excited to see what Connor Garland can do in a top-six role in Vancouver, if Linus Ullmark can be a true number one in Boston and the potential for Darcy Kuemper with the Avalanche.

While most of us prefer to be optimistic, not all signings and trades can be positive. Some moves will greatly reduce fantasy value.

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Below are 10 players whose fantasy value has dropped this past week by going to a new team.

10. Martin Jones

Jones hasn't been fantasy-relevant for a few seasons, but now whatever value he had left has to be wiped out as he's moving from a team where he was a number one netminder to a backup position. Even if some statistical categories such as goals against average and save percentage improve, his potential for wins takes a significant nosedive. None of this takes into account that Philly is extremely tough on goalies. If Jones doesn't rebound at all, it wouldn't be a surprise to see him demoted to third-string or the AHL by the mid-point of the season.

9. Blake Coleman

Moving to Calgary doesn’t seem like it will impact his fantasy production, but that cap hit will bring his value down. There's a big difference between a 40-point player that hits that makes $2 million a year, and that same player making $5 million a year, just in terms of expectations. Even with the same production, fantasy general managers will treat the player as if he is overpaid and overrated, which will have a negative impact on his value. In cap leagues, that contract is going to make it tougher to roster.

8. Dougie Hamilton

This one will look better in a couple of years when the New Jersey youngsters start to flourish. However, for an immediate impact, this should hurt Hamilton's value. After back-to-back seasons of an 82-game pace of 70 and 63, his production will probably drop back to the 45–50-point plateau. Carolina wasn't known as a great scoring team, but they still have Sebastian Aho and Andrei Svechnikov, which helped tremendously with the man advantage. Hamilton won't have those offensive players in New Jersey, at least this year.

7. Frederik Andersen

Andersen needs to be behind an offensive team because his numbers aren't good enough to carry a team on his own. Without that offense, his wins will decrease at an even greater rate than what they have been the last couple of years. The Leafs have scored at least 3.29 goals per game in each of the past four seasons, but Andersen's numbers were getting worse each season. Now he's going to a team that has topped out at 3.19 goals per game in the last four years, and twice has been sub-3.0 goals per game in that timeframe. That may not sound like a big difference, but when your goalie is letting in 2.96 goals per game, there's not a lot of wiggle room there.

6. Jaroslav Halak

A former number one netminder, the 36-year-old Halak was exceptional as a backup in Boston. Now he's going to a team that isn't as strong defensively and doesn't have forwards such as Patrice Bergeron to help out in the defensive zone. Maybe most importantly, Halak's fantasy value was higher in Boston because he played behind Tuukka Rask, who frequently spent time on the injured reserve list. Now that Halak isn't playing behind a Band-Aid boy, his opportunity to get more starts is limited.

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5. Michael Bunting

Dobber spelled this out on Twitter on the weekend, but Toronto had to have been one of the worst landing spots for the former Coyote. The 25-year-old Bunting is coming off a rookie season that saw him score 10 goals and 13 points in 21 games. Then he signs a two-year contract with the Leafs where he is making less than $1 million per season. The Leafs also signed Nick Ritchie and Ondrej Kase, to go along with re-signing veterans Jason Spezza and Wayne Simmonds. Throw in names such as Alexander Kerfoot, rookies such as Nick Robertson and the big four players, and it will be too easy to demote Bunting to the AHL if he doesn't score in his first three games (when he's probably getting seven minutes a night on the fourth line). If he does manage to successfully click with the big guns, then his value obviously skyrockets. But it's a true boom-or-bust situation.

4. Keith Yandle

I'm curious how this works out, but the best option from a fantasy perspective for Yandle would have been a place where he was all but guaranteed to man the top power-play unit for the whole season. You can't count on him for anything outside of points and power-play points, and there should be some trepidation over how much power-play time he will receive in Philly. The idea going into this past season was Erik Gustafsson would quarterback the top power play, but that idea was thrown out by game one of the regular season. How long will it take the Flyers to go back to Ivan Provorov this time around?

3. Ryan Suter

Suter is coming off an awful season, but there was hope that the right landing spot could give him back the fantasy value he had lost. However, Dallas had to have been one of the worst landing spots for him. With John Klingberg and Miro Heiskanen in front of him, Suter will see rarely any power-play time. He will also probably see a decline in overall ice time, which would mean a potential decline for shots, hits, blocked shots and everything else.

2. Pavel Buchnevich

Patient Buchnevich owners were rewarded this past season, as the Rangers forward had 20 goals and 48 points in 54 games (an 82-game pace of 30 goals and 73 points) and was lined up mostly alongside Mika Zibanejad. He was still stuck on the second man-advantage unit, but he proved he didn't need the power-play to be productive and finished with eight power-play points. Then the team traded him to St. Louis, where his value should drop. He won't be insulated as much as there's no Artemi Panarin ahead of him in the lineup to take the difficult matchups. He won't have as good as linemates as he did in New York.

1. Philipp Grubauer

I can't recall the last time someone had such a drop in fantasy value in one offseason. Grubauer is moving from a team that helped him reach 30 wins in 40 games to a team that may be lucky to win 30 in 82. Sure, people will point to Vegas' success in its inaugural season, but that should be chalked up to a one-time fluke thanks to a front office that took advantage of other teams. Even if the team is successful and makes the playoffs, they won't be as dominant as Colorado, which will still equal fewer wins for their new number one netminder.

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