Revolving Doors
Eric Daoust
2014-12-23
The Bruins, Islanders and Penguins search for that elusive third banana.
Throughout the NHL there are a number of lineup spots that are very appealing from a fantasy standpoint but lack a steady benefactor. These revolving doors offer some interesting opportunities for fantasy owners especially in leagues that allow daily lineup changes and a fairly high amount of transactions. With a promotion to a spot on a scoring line next to some stars a player can go from a fantasy stud to a must-add overnight.
These openings exist due to a number of factors. This includes a key departure from the team, a lack of an established player to play the role full-time and even injuries that occur during the season, among many other reasons. But as we saw yesterday in Doran Libin's Wild West column, there are clearly players that reap the rewards from these key lineup promotions.
In most instances, the player can give your team a short-term boost in his new role but at some point will run out of steam. Then another player will be swapped into the spot. However, sometimes a keeper emerges and becomes a fantasy mainstay over the long haul. This is why we take chances on waiver wire. The boost given to your team by turning a simple claim into a legitimate producer can make all the difference in whether or not you win your fantasy league.
Today we will look at a few revolving door situations in the Eastern Conference.
Boston
The Bruins have had a very lackluster start to the season primarily due to injuries. However, they have also not been able to make up for the loss of Jarome Iginla last summer. While Iginla has clearly not been as good this year, his 30 goals last year were tied for the team lead.
So far this year the right wing spot next to David Krejci and Milan Lucic has been a revolving door. Even though Krejci has missed many games due to injury, looking at his line combination frequency gives examples of the different players tried on his wing:
|
Frequency |
Strength |
Line Combination |
|
64.12% |
EV |
53 GRIFFITH,SETH – 46 KREJCI,DAVID – 17 LUCIC,MILAN |
|
8.59% |
EV |
12 GAGNE,SIMON – 46 KREJCI,DAVID – 17 LUCIC,MILAN |
|
4.40% |
EV |
21 ERIKSSON,LOUI – 46 KREJCI,DAVID – 17 LUCIC,MILAN |
|
3.65% |
EV |
61 CUNNINGHAM,CRAIG – 46 KREJCI,DAVID – 17 LUCIC,MILAN |
While Seth Griffith has seen significant time (and all six of his even-strength points) on the top unit, he is not currently not in that role currently. That honor belongs to Craig Cunningham who to date has just one point in nine games.
Nikolay Kulemin
52.27
5
47.73
6
61.7
2
38.3
1
24.6
3
75.4
7
Overall, the three wingers have been very mediocre from an offensive standpoint. Furthermore, there has not been any added production in the minutes on Tavares' line. Rather, the Islanders have spread out the scoring quite well which has allowed these wingers to have success on other lines.
With that said, Tavares can only go up from here. He is too talented and already has multiple seasons at the point-per-game level or better under his belt. The revolving door on his line will only increase in value if Tavares can get going. Both Kulemin and Bailey should have stints of fantasy relevance if the rotation continues. If a winner emerges, that player can become a stud down the stretch.
Pittsburgh
The Penguins have also been hit big by the injury bug. Beyond the well-documented cases of the mumps, the Pens also lost Pascal Dupuis for the year along with Beau Bennett and Kunitz (among others) for large chunks of time. The void created a revolving door and a bunch of rumors that the Penguins are in the market to add a top-six winger.
The biggest benefactor of the setbacks was Blake Comeau who has revived his career and has become a mainstay in the Penguins' top-six and has been paired most frequently with Evgeni Malkin. Looking at his even strength minutes the increase in production is evident.
|
Situation |
% of ice time |
Points |
|
With Crosby or Malkin |
78.22 |
15 |
|
Without Crosby or Malkin |
21.78 |
3 |
Another benefactor of the injuries has been Nick Spaling who was originally brought in to be an effective bottom-six forward. Due to the time being spent alongside Crosby and Malkin he is in line to challenge his career-best of 32 points set last year in Nashville. Unfortunately, if/when the Penguins eventually add a scoring-line winger it is likely that Spaling will be the odd man out.
Final thoughts
With many coaches shifting to having "duos" stick together with the third member of each line rotating throughout the lineup, there are now many revolving door situations throughout the league. Most of them have no major fantasy significance but a few are very important, especially when elite players are at the top of the lineup.
Riding hot streaks is extremely important in having success when your league allows daily roster changes and transactions. Identifying and taking advantage of the better revolving door situations can put you ahead of the curve in the pursuit of players about to hit their hot streaks next to some of the NHL's top stars.
*
Follow me on Twitter @DH_EricDaoust.
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