When Brian Burke makes deadline trades, they are often smaller fish. For example, in 2007, while teams were targeting names like Peter Forsberg, Keith Tkachuk, Gary Roberts, and Todd Bertuzzi, Burke made one move – he sent goalie prospect Michael Wall to the Colorado Avalanche for Brad May. That year, Burke’s Anaheim Ducks would win the Stanley Cup.
While the number of quality players moved on this year’s trade deadline was rather disappointing, there were still a number of movements made. Below I’ll take a look at the moves made in the Eastern Conference on the actual deadline day, as well as a handful of others that happened within the week or so leading up to the deadline. Along with the actual trades being listed, I will also take a look at the fantasy impact (or potential impact) for each team that made a move.
Last week I took a look at potential players on the move from the Eastern Conference and as promised, Part 2 has arrived. While it’s virtually impossible that all of them will get moved and entirely possible that none of them get moved, below is a look at some potential movers and a quick glance at what a residual fantasy impact may be.
(for a full review of our Fantasy Hockey Trade Deadline coverage, click here)
Being only one week away from the trade deadline, it’s easy to get antsy about speculating which players might find themselves in a new home and what the residual fantasy value will be. Ryan Ma has put together a nice recap of Western Conference players and below we will take a look at players who may be on the move in the East.
It’s no surprise that the Tampa Bay Lightning are strong second half performers, as a team. More specifically, Martin St. Louis and Steven Stamkos, who are usually paired together, really pave the way for significant fantasy outputs. This year there’s something a little different going on in Tampa though. Sure, the team is poised for another strong late season push, but this time St. Louis and Stamkos are split apart. Let’s take a look at the net result.
A Potent Threat – Mikhail Grabovski - A season ago, NHL fans were introduced to the lethal synergistic line combination of Mikhail Grabovski, Clarke MacArthur, and Nikolai Kulemin. While expectations were high in 2011-12, Joffrey Lupul and Phil Kessel began to steal the spotlight. After a rocky first half of the season, the secondary scoring in Toronto is once again flourishing, thanks largely in part to the efforts of a pending unrestricted free agent – Mikhail Grabovski.
With the buzz of the NHL All Star game wearing off, we enter the final stretch of our fantasy hockey seasons. Since themost talented players in the game were just showcased, I’ll stick with that theme and take a closer look at some of thehottest scorers since December 25.
By this point in the season, fantasy GM’s should be focused on the playoffs. If you’re in contention, you want to make sure you’re building a team that has the best possible chance to win. To do so, it’s important to not just look to get the “best” players, but really focus on your weakest statistics. Last week we took a look at some goal scorers who might be helpful additions, and this week we’ll look at some assist-heavy performers.
Let’s say you want some goal scoring infused into your lineup. One quick look at the top leaders in the Eastern Conference and you’ll see some of the usual suspects – Stamkos, Kessel, Gaborik, etc. Simply looking at standard goal totals might not actually help your squad though. Each year players get hot, cold, go on long stretches of strong or poor performance, or perform differently based on the situations around them. This week I’ll take a deeper look at goal scorers in the Eastern Conference and I’ll follow up with the same analysis in terms of playmakers next week.
Just a few short years ago, Kyle Turris was ranked as the top North American skater heading into the 2007 NHL draft. Taken third overall, Turris was still perceived to be a bit of a project, but one who would ultimately pay hefty dividends. Fast forward to today and it’s safe to say that Turris has had a rough start to his professional career.
