Frozen Tools Forensics: Brenden Dillon

Grant Campbell

2019-01-18

With the NHL halfway mark come and gone in 2018-2019, there are some depth players emerging that should be available in most multi-category leagues. One of them is undrafted 28-year-old Brenden Dillon (owned in 15% of Fantrax leagues) who is riding the coattails of his defensive partner, Erik Karlsson to a huge degree. So why not add him to your fantasy team, at least in the short term? Teams should always be looking to add value, especially when it is free or very low-cost.

Dillon has become a fixture in San Jose as a 3rd pairing defenseman in a sheltering role, averaging 16-17 minutes per game since 2015-2016. He is not going to get many points as he won’t play on the power play, but he will get you 15-25 points per season and get about 150 hits if your league rewards that. With the addition of Erik Karlsson and the fact that Dillon is paired with him 65.7% of his shifts (73% since December 1, 2018), he should be on the ice for more goals than against, and if your league rewards plus/minus (as mine does) he is benefitting greatly this season as he is plus-22 at the moment. With the help of Karlsson, GF% has increased from 45.22 in 2017-2018 to 62.26 in 2018-2019 and because Dillon starts in the offensive zone around 55% of the time since he joined San Jose, his plus/minus is relatively protected, so you shouldn’t see a huge decrease.

 

📢 advertisement:

 

Dillon should be able to continue to flourish for the rest of this season, but to be clear this is a short-term move unless Karlsson signs with San Jose going forward. At 28 years old and with one more year at $3.9m salary ($3.27m cap hit) into 2019-2020, Dillon isn’t a cheap add for any salary cap leagues, but he should be a free pick up in most leagues to either help you stay or get to the top with some much-needed depth. Teams not in contention should still consider picking him up, as he would be good trade bait and you might get something of value in a trade. Even active or in reserve, Dillon should still be a welcome addition to most teams.

Follow me on Twitter at @gampbler15.

Leave A Comment

UPCOMING GAMES

Mar 19 - 19:03 DET vs CBJ
Mar 19 - 19:03 N.J vs PIT
Mar 19 - 19:03 PHI vs TOR
Mar 19 - 19:03 NYR vs WPG
Mar 19 - 19:03 BOS vs OTT
Mar 19 - 19:03 NYI vs CAR
Mar 19 - 20:03 NSH vs S.J
Mar 19 - 20:03 STL vs COL
Mar 19 - 21:03 EDM vs MTL
Mar 19 - 22:03 VGK vs T.B
Mar 19 - 22:03 L.A vs CHI
Mar 19 - 22:03 VAN vs BUF
Mar 19 - 22:03 ANA vs MIN

Starting Goalies

Top Skater Views

  Players Team
DANIIL MIROMANOV CGY
CONNOR MCMICHAEL WSH
CONNOR BEDARD CHI
EVGENY KUZNETSOV CAR
TAGE THOMPSON BUF

Top Goalie Profile Views

  Players Team
DUSTIN WOLF CGY
CHARLIE LINDGREN WSH
DANIIL TARASOV CBJ
DEVIN COOLEY S.J
JOEY DACCORD SEA

LINE COMBOS

  Frequency STL Players
11.9 NATHAN WALKER ALEXEY TOROPCHENKO OSKAR SUNDQVIST
11.2 ROBERT THOMAS JORDAN KYROU PAVEL BUCHNEVICH
10.4 BRAYDEN SCHENN BRANDON SAAD JAKE NEIGHBOURS

DobberHockey Podcasts

FIND US ON FACEBOOK

📢 advertisement: