Looking Ahead: Vrana, Strome, Lehner, the Avalanche, and More

Andrew Santillo

2022-03-11

We're coming down the home stretch of the fantasy season, this is when things really start to get good. Whether you're up in the standings, somewhere in the middle, or hoping to win out and watch the scoreboard, let's get the roster(s) set and dive in.

The Immediate Fix (Grab this guy and use him for the next several days)

Jakub Vrana, LW, Detroit Red Wings (Available in 22% of ESPN leagues, 56% Fantrax, 27% Yahoo) –
I'm excited for this one, Jakub Vrana is back! After a long stretch of rehab following surgery to repair a shoulder injury, Vrana made his season debut Tuesday night in vs Arizona. The twenty-six-year-old winger might just be the perfect spark for your club here in the coming days.

One thing is for sure about Vrana, he is an excellent goal scorer, and that goes back to his early days with the Capitals. A 20-goal scorer in the league, Vrana has also had an individual points percentage close to 80 at times and a total individual expected goals of around 13.63 in his last full season with Washington. Vrana is a player that is going to put pucks on net, my guess would be he'll land on a shots on goal per 60 minutes of around 9.5-10 if he can stay healthy throughout the rest of the season.

The reason he's an Immediate Fix and not a Building Block? I think it's worth adding him in the short term first and monitor how well he can play for a very high event Red Wings club. Right now he's slated on their third line across from Filip Zadina/Sam Gagner with Joe Veleno centering. Veleno sure, see what you have there, for his opposite winger we can only hope that there's some sort of powerplay correlation. I think if all goes right, Detroit moves Vrana up to first or second line leftwing and move Vladislav Namestnikov down to the bottom six. This will get Vrana time with a decent top six which only helps his offensive value. That being said, this is Detroit. We can really only ask for so much from them.

The Building Block (Buy now, sit back and enjoy the production)

Dylan Strome, C/RW, Chicago Blackhawks (Available in 4% of ESPN leagues, 32% Fantrax, 11% Yahoo) –
Remember when former Blackhawks coach Jeremy Colliton healthy scratched Dylan Strome at points earlier this season? A new coach and a couple of hat tricks later and all of a sudden Strome might be a player to consider down the stretch.    

So maybe not the greatest in the dot and has issues on the defensive end at times but this is fantasy, we want to see the offense and Strome has brought just that recently. Unless you're in one of those leagues that scores plus/minus and faceoff percentage, which in that case thank you for your service. Strome has been great as of late though with ten points in his past five games but what makes him so valuable is the line that he currently skates on in between Alex DeBrincat and Patrick Kane.

The Hawks change up their lines a fair bit (and by that I mean they're different every game and several times during games themselves), but the first line of DeBrincat – Strome – Kane has stayed together the past few contests and for good reason: 87% goals for percentage 46.7% shooting percentage and even as I'm writing this it looks like this line has scored again off the rush. Right now, Alex DeBrincat is on a five game goal streak, and Patrick Kane is coming off a career best six point game, with Strome in the middle of all of it. The Hawks may not be a club that makes Playoffs, but if their top line can continue to produce at a high level it makes rostering Strome an excellent fantasy addition.

The Odd Man Out (His short-term value is cause for concern)

Robin Lehner, G, Vegas Golden Knights (Owned in 89% of ESPN leagues, 98% of Fantrax, 96% Yahoo) – Robin Lehner
may be an Odd Man Out against…himself? It sounds crazy to think, but I think there's a case here to be made.

On Thursday Lehner was slated to start against the Sabres in Buffalo but was scratched from his start and sent back to Vegas to evaluate an upper body injury. This news is a little alarming if you're a Lehner fantasy owner as the thirty-year-old netminder just missed five games with an upper body injury as well. Whether or not these two injuries are at all related we'll have to wait and see, but if Lehner is to miss any amount of time it could hurt your club down the stretch of the fantasy season.

If you have an IR spot available, maybe not the worst thing that could happen. Set him there, keep an eye on the situation, and add goalies as you project them to start and can help your club. In the even that you don't have an IR spot available things become a bit trickier. If you keep Lehner on roster and hope he's healthy enough to return soon is a tough call to make. In the coming days if we learn that the injury is possibly serious, I think there's a case to outright drop him. No starts mean no fantasy points and with only a few weeks remaining in most leagues that's worrisome. If it turns out Lehner's status is start-to-start and you decide to continue to roster him then I would follow things very closely. This is Vegas we're talking about and if there's one thing we've learned from them it's that they play injuries close to the chest. Last April we didn't know if Pacioretty was going to miss a practice or two or the remainder of the season. Be sure to keep tabs on the Injury Ward and Goalie Post for any updates moving forward.

The Anchors (They’ll do nothing but disappoint even over the long haul)

Mark Giordano, D, Seattle Kraken (Owned in 85% of ESPN leagues, 68% of Fantrax, 48% Yahoo) –
So I'm taking a stroll up and down the ownership rankings across each site and I stopped when I saw Giordano at 68% on Fantrax, then again at 85% on the good ole ESPN machine. I don't want to break the news to Gio fantasy owners out there, but I think it's time the Kraken Captain gets an Anchor. Not to be confused with the Seattle logo, of course. 


At one point Giordano was a slam dunk player to have in fantasy or DFS but this season there's been some regression. No points in the past five games isn't great but what also hurts is unfortunately playing for Seattle as a whole and typically not seeing as much time on the top power play as those duties have gone to Vince Dunn. I'm not saying playing on a team that struggles offensively is necessarily a deal breaker for a player in fantasy, but it is difficult to roster a player that spends more time back in their own end of the ice.

Giordano has been rumored in trades so there's optimism there that he could potentially get to a club where he may be more of an impact offensively but for now I think the high ownership doesn't validate what he can bring to the table.

Love ‘Em (These squads are sure to pay dividends in the coming days)


This period runs from March 11th to March 23rd

Vancouver – The Canucks have looked decent as of late going 8-2-0 in their last ten. What makes them a Love Em for me isn't just their busy upcoming schedule, but the added bonus of their next six games all being played on home ice.   

Ottawa – The Sens may not be a juggernaut defensively, but they can score a fair bit which makes them enticing in the near future. Next week they'll see Arizona, Columbus, and Philadelphia all on home ice. Could be some potential for Sens fantasy and DFS points upcoming.

Calgary – Don't overthink it, just lock in Flames going forward. Maybe a tougher matchup vs Colorado upcoming but very favorable home contests vs New Jersey and Buffalo next week.

Leave ‘Em (These squads will leave fantasy owners sorely disappointed in the short term)

Tampa Bay – I feel like Tampa Bay is either all over the schedule or hardly at all this season? Maybe that's the luxury you get after winning two Cups in a row? Regardless, not a busy schedule for Tampa here coming up, and seeing how they are a higher owned club, that means there's roster spots that will need to be filled.

Colorado – The Avs are another higher owned club that just don't play much in the near future. The Avs have the most wins in the league right now but a light schedule is taking me off them.

Anaheim – The Ducks have started to slide a bit recently but that's not why they're on the Leave Em side of things. A back-to-back on the road this weekend followed by a light schedule next week is a hard sell for a club tied for the second most goals allowed this March (16).

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