With the NHL All-Star game on the horizon the schedule is going to get a little out of sorts for a short time. For now, though, let's take a look at some moves to make before the break that can help your fantasy team leading into February.

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

Anton Lundell, LW/RW, Florida Panthers (Rostered in 9% of ESPN leagues, 48% Fantrax, 17% Yahoo) – I was ready to peg Anton Lundell as an odd-man out no less than a month ago but his recent play and opportunities has made me change my mind.

In his second NHL season, Lundell was a player taken late in most drafts or even kept as a prospect in keeper leagues but his slower start to the season left much to be desired. I think part of that had to do with last season the Panthers accruing multiple injuries along the way giving Lundell more time up on the Florida top line. This season Lundell has spent the bulk of time on the bottom six on a Florida team that has been sub-par at even strength and is also the club that has spent the most time shorthanded. I was worried that this would become Lundell's role this season and started to give up on him becoming either an add or a cheap DFS option, but now he looks to have a more prominent role within the offense.  

With Sam Bennett dealing with a lower body injury along with Florida mixing up their lines, Lundell is currently skating on the Panthers top line with Aleksander Barkov and Sam Reinhart which is a big step up from some sort of Nick Cousins/Insert Name Here left wing duo that he had been on a line with. Better line, more offense, and it's beginning to show. Lundell has six points in his last six games, and I think there could be much more offense to come here. For fantasy I think he makes an excellent lower rostered option, especially for those in larger leagues and/or dealing with injuries. In DFS it's what we talk about when it comes to playing a full top line that may not be correlated – Play the full line. Sometimes it's an excellent way to get different.

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

Teuvo Teravainen, C/LW/RW, Carolina Hurricanes (Rostered in 13% of ESPN leagues, 45% Fantrax, 37% Yahoo) – Earlier this season, or particularly earlier in January, I wrote up Teuvo Teravainen as an Odd-Man out. In the five or so games since then Teravainen has to be considred a building block for offensive play and offensive opportunities.

I had partially written off Teravainen for fantasy this season because of the return of Max Pacioretty which immediately made me consider him an Odd-Man out. While it is really sad news that Pacioretty will miss the remainder of the regular season (and probably some or most of next) with the same Achilles injury that he sustained last season, it does put Teravainen back on the top line.


For Teravainen, this is for the most part the same role he had earlier in the season but tweaked slightly. I think that Carolina is going to keep their second line of Andrei Svechnikov – Paul Stastny – Martin Necas together (with the option of Stastny dropping down) which puts Teravainen a spot on the top line. I don't see him having any issues chipping in on offense with Sebastian Aho and Seth Jarvis and could provide your lineup very steady offense for the foreseeable future.  

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

Nino Niederreiter, LW, Nashville Predators (Rostered in 88% of ESPN leagues, 98% of Fantrax, 93% Yahoo) – Odd-Man out next man up, and those honors this week go to Nino Niederreiter. His roster numbers started to rise slightly at the beginning of this month but have since leveled out.

Nashville is in a strange spot this season, a lot of their pieces peaked last season and this season they've frankly been getting bailed out by excellent goaltending from Juuse Saros. They did have some success though with a third line of Niederreiter – Mikael Granlund – Cody Glass. While I have zero clue how that line ever had success it did make me harken back to the best Predators DFS third line of all time: today we all remember Craig Smith – Nick Bonino – Rocco Grimaldi line.

A good week or two has led to a decline in offense so I wouldn't lean on Niederreiter as a must play in fantasy and for those out there in smaller leagues I think he may be more fit for the waiver wire. The value though here is for those in larger leagues by clubs, larger roster sizes, or both. Niederreiter still helps plenty in the hits and blocked shots department and should continue to shoot the puck a fair bit. I think in those situations he might be worth holding on to, outside of that he may be an odd man out just because of the roster that's around him.

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

Tyler Bertuzzi, W, Detroit Red Wings (Rostered in 78% of ESPN leagues, 94% Fantrax, 71% Yahoo) – Folding back the blinds here, sometimes in writing these I write about either something that took place in one of my leagues or even one of my fantasy teams. I had drafted Tyler Bertuzzi later in my larger roster Fantrax leagues and dropped him around a month ago but noticed that while he hadn't gotten picked back up in our league his roster numbers haven't declined nearly as much as anticipated. 

All things considered here, Bertuzzi had a solid season last year and I think coming into drafts this year he was someone that held a spot on a lot of draft boards. I felt like that quickly shifted through different injuries he's sustained and lack of offense when he's on the ice. A thirty-goal scorer last season, I don't see how Bertuzzi lands at even twenty points to close out this year.
Sometimes chasing leaning on last season's accomplishments in fantasy can hurt a club as the season goes, Bertuzzi might be one of those players that was a top six forward last season to one with a usage of more of a two-way bottom six this year.

Love ‘Em (These squads are sure to pay dividends in the coming days)
This period runs through January 27^th to February 8^th

Carolina – This week is a bit tough because of the All-Star break but one of the clubs that's a slam dunk to highlight is Carolina. The Hurricans are the only club that plays three times next week which helps set anyone apart rostering a Hurricane in their matchup next week.

Boston – Playing the schedule here and that leads us right to the Bruins. Boston is the only team in the NHL that will play on both Saturday and Sunday.

Edmonton – Had to find something here with most clubs playing only once or twice the next week, so let's go to the Oilers. Not just because they have the best player in hockey, but they'll see Chicago at home on Saturday. The two meetings between these clubs this season have both been high scoring but don't see the Oilers having any issues getting on the board versus this Chicago club.

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

With the All-Star break right around the corner giving many clubs an extended time off, there wasn't necessarily one team or another that stood out over the course of the next seven days as a Leave 'Em. For this though I wanted to offer some suggestions on how to navigate the break for fantasy lineups. Most leagues will bundle the next two weeks into one matchup period but even then, there are a fair number of teams that will not be in action. I've always gone into situations like these not as aggressive with add/drops as I would during a regular seven-day matchup period. I'd rather let the chips fall where they may on a short week to save roster until play resumes. It's tough to recommend a sort of "palms up" approach but it's just the way the All-Star break fell this season. If there's a silver lining here, I think it's that this format is world's better than the staggered league mandated breaks that we had to navigate a few seasons ago, you may not have many players playing but neither does your opponent.

*For continued fantasy news and notes, follow me on Twitter @ndySanz.