Fantasy Take: Haula and Zacha Swap Places

Alexander MacLean

2022-07-13

After a few years of rumoured discussions involving Pavel Zacha, the Devils finally sold a year after his peak value, as the former sixth overall pick was shipped off to Boston in a straight-up exchange for Erik Haula.  

What the Bruins Get:

Zacha is a big forward that can play both centre and wing, though with the possible returns of both David Krejci and Patrice Bergeron, it would appear as though Zacha would start on the wing. The 25-year-old is approaching his breakout threshold as a bigger forward, and they have a spot open in the top-six for first half of the season with Brad Marchand out. Between Bergeron, Krejci, Jake Debrusk, Taylor Hall, and David Pastrnak, there will be some talented linemates for Zacha regardless of how the lines shake out.

Zacha could be in a position to see a big breakout in the first half of the year, though he's someone to watch for a potential drop in the second half ice the ice time decreases as the Bruins get healthy.

What the Devils Get:

Erik Haula will be joining his seventh team in the last seven seasons, and has had a variety of performance levels through those years as well. Also a centre that can play the wing, Haula saw the majority of his success in the second half last season playing between the aforementioned Pastrnak and Hall. That line thrived after being thrown together, and Haula put up one of the best stretches of his career with 19 points in his last 19 games while playing only 15 minutes of ice time a night.

He's a middle-six forward on a bargain contract that will slot in well for the Devils and allow them the flexibility to go after Johnny Gaudreau, and adjust the lineup regardless of how the rest of the offseason plays out. Regardless of whether he ends up on the Nico Hischier or the Dawson Mercer line, we could see Haula play with a couple of skilled forwards, though not on the same level as Hall and Pastrnak.

Players this helps:

📢 advertisement:

Pavel Zacha

Players this hurts:

Erik Haula

Possibly DeBrusk in the second-half of the season if all of the Bruins are healthy.

Leave A Comment

UPCOMING GAMES

No data found.

Starting Goalies

Top Skater Views

  Players Team
SAM RINZEL CHI
STEFAN NOESEN N.J
NOAH DOBSON MTL
KIRILL MARCHENKO CBJ
MORGAN GEEKIE BOS

Top Goalie Profile Views

  Players Team
ARTURS SILOVS PIT
JOHN GIBSON DET
DARCY KUEMPER L.A
LUKAS DOSTAL ANA
MACKENZIE BLACKWOOD COL

LINE COMBOS

  Frequency DAL Players
23.2 TYLER SEGUIN MASON MARCHMENT MATT DUCHENE
14.3 MIKKO RANTANEN ROOPE HINTZ MIKAEL GRANLUND
13.1 JASON ROBERTSON MIKKO RANTANEN WYATT JOHNSTON

DobberHockey Podcasts

Fantasy Hockey Life: Stefan Rosner on the New York Islanders

Stefan Rosner is here to report on the New York Islanders. Jesse and Victor interview Stefan Rosner about returning pros Bo Horvat, Anders Lee, Mathew Barzal, Simon Holmstrom, JG Pageau, Maxim Tsyplakov, Calum Ritchie, Noah Dobson, Ryan Pulock, Alexander Romanov, Scott Perunovich, and Ilya Sorokin. In Cat’s Instincts, Cat Silverman of InGoal mag breaks down […]

Fantasy Hockey Life: Draftastic 2 – Q&A on the NHL Draft

Victor and Jesse are back in studio as Victor reports on his time at the NHL Draft and his outlook on fantasy rookie drafts. We discuss Michael Misa, Matthew Schaefer, Cole McKinney, Mason West, Milton Gastrin and Jacob Ihs-Wozniak with player audio. Victor also answers patron questions on which players you’ll want to target for […]

FIND US ON FACEBOOK

📢 advertisement: