First of congrats to those who have made the playoffs and are now in the middle of their week one matchup.  It’s hard to concentrate on all the other players in the league when you’re rooting so hard for the guys on your team right now.   If you’ve followed my advice on how to lineup your team to take care of the open spots in your roster; well done now comes the fun part – monitoring your matchup nightly to make moves at 3 AM to beat the other managers in your league for first waiver grabs.  For those in category leagues I’ve pinned down a player in deep (14 team) and shallow (8-10 team) leagues by category.  If you’re looking for one last move of focused desperation – look no further.  For once I am going to slightly stray from only the East – I’ve heard from enough people to make an exception since it is such an important time of the year. I hope these guys can bring home a week one win for you.

If you’re hanging on to SJS and PHI this week – make sure you recalibrate after Tuesday night’s games to make sure you’re not leaving yourself short by a lack of man games.

Goals

Deep – Dustin Brown – Brown has four goals in his last five games.  His multi-cat upside won’t leave you just chasing goals.  LA plays four times this week and once on Sunday giving you last one chance to close the category.

Shallow – Jake DeBrusk – Since David Pastrnak has gone down DeBrusk has scored in seven of the last nine games.  Don’t sleep on his four game scheduling – if you’re looking for an immediate lift come this weekend this is where I’d be stacking my chips.

Assists

Deep – Anthony Mantha’s promotion since Nyquist departed for SJ has been great for the big guy.  If you read the midseason guide you would have seen that Dobber himself was quite high on the second half production of Mantha.  In the last two weeks Mantha six assists in his last six games.  Mantha plays on Sunday this week so expect him to be picked up. 

Shallow – At a deep position like center, there are a lot of options, Eric Staal has been hot as of late with six assists in his last eight games. Staal’s resurgence could be the result of the season ending injury to Mikko Koivu.

PPP

Deep – Jason Spezza has put together three power play points in the last seven days.  With limited options in this category sometimes you have to dig deep and swing for the fences.  At the very least PP1 exposure to Benn and Seguin has to be better than most of the other options out there.

Shallow – Justin Schultz could still be sitting out there in deep leagues even with the Letang injury in play.  If he is out there the Pens have been relying on Shultz for big minutes as Dumoulin and Letang get healthy.  This is the type of move that helps you move on to the next round – treating the playoffs like DFS.

SOG

Deep – Oskar Lindblom fills this category nicely.  If SOG is a category you think you’ll need help – the off night game on 3/5/19 from Lindbolm could be just the lift you need for your totals.  Better to start early in the week before you’re swinging for the fences on Sunday.

Shallow – Jason Zucker has 24 SOG over his last 8 games – Minnesota plays Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday.  A nice B2B stream for this category so that you know where you stand going into the weekend could make you rest easy – if not you have time to make moves Friday night before it is too late.

PIM

I’m going to include both league formats here since it’s not a heavily used category but there is one play I have had eyed up for a couple of weeks assuming he is healthy.  Mark Borowiecki is the perfect option on home and away Tuesday and Thursday.  If there isn’t a fight on Tuesday, I would be shocked if he doesn’t get after it on Thursday to settle some scores.

Goalies

Deep – Starts are hard to find and should Ullmark pull out a W (Monday night vs EDM) – he’ll likely see a start against Colorado or Chicago.  Both have the potential for a W – but may not be kind to your save percentage.

Shallow– For a quick win look no further than streaming Thomas Greiss against Ottawa.  It wouldn’t be a surprise to see these starts split to give Lehner some rest against this gutted Ottawa team.