Ramblings: Malkin’s Points Per Game, Perreault on Top Line (Mar 4)

Ian Gooding

2017-03-04

Malkin’s points per game, Perreault on top line, plus more…

Some fantasy owners refuse to own Evgeni Malkin because of his recent injury history. But when Malkin is healthy, boy are they missing out. Malkin scored two goals and added an assist on Friday, which puts him at 65 points in 56 games. That’s 1.16 points per game, which is only surpassed by Sidney Crosby (1.21 P/GP) and Steven Stamkos (1.18 P/GP over 17 games). If Malkin can stay healthy the rest of the way, he’s a threat to win the Art Ross Trophy. But that’s always a big if, and a big gamble for those fantasy owners who acquire his services.

In his Penguins’ debut, Mark Streit scored the game-winning goal and added an assist in 19:31 of icetime. Here are the Pens’ defensive pairings with countless regulars out of the lineup:

24.72%  EV           HAINSEY,RON – STREIT,MARK

24.72%  EV           DUMOULIN,BRIAN – SCHULTZ,JUSTIN

22.14%  EV           COLE,IAN – RUHWEDEL,CHAD

Fun fact: Only one Penguins’ defenseman was on the ice for more than 20 minutes in this game. That was Ron Hainsey, who received 25 minutes in this game. Expect Hainsey and Streit, who have both celebrated their 35th birthday, to play a ton while the Pens’ defense is still undermanned.

But when it comes to power-play time on the blueline, right now it’s Justin Schultz and no one else. Both of Schultz’s points (goal and assist) were on the power play. Streit was the only other defenseman to receive any power-play time, but that was less than a minute compared to Schultz’s three minutes. But it’s not as if Penguins’ second-unit options get much power-play time to begin with. Once Kris Letang returns, that power-play number might drop to zero for Streit.

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Nikita Kucherov’s four-game pointless drought in mid-February now seems like a distant memory. The Bolts’ sniper scored again on Friday, giving him goals in five consecutive games and seven goals and 13 points over that stretch. With the Steven Stamkos injury and the other various injuries, this season just shaped up to be one massive missed opportunity for the Bolts. I’m calling it early: The Lightning are back above the playoff bar next season.

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After missing nearly two months, Travis Hamonic returned to the Islanders’ lineup on Friday, recording an assist in 21 minutes of icetime. He shouldn’t be counted on to provide a whole lot of scoring, but he’s worth ownership in deeper leagues that count hits and blocked shots.

After making his NHL debut on Thursday, Joshua Ho-Sang played again on Friday. So far the rookie has not recorded a point, playing on a line with Andrew Ladd and Brock Nelson while being given second-line power-play time. You probably know his situation by now, but I would suggest for fantasy purposes waiting until he shows something in the NHL before pressing the add button. He was recalled on an emergency basis, so he could be back in the AHL in short order anyway.

By the way, I have no issues with him choosing the #66 if he truly admires Mario Lemieux. Ho-Sang is taking heat for the number because of his reputation. It wasn’t a big deal when Gino Odjick wore that number when he first cracked the Canucks’ lineup in the early 1990s. Some of you may be too young to remember, but in the 1980s Brian Lawton chose #98 after he was selected first overall by the North Stars. That raised some eyebrows, mainly because the number was one below the NHL’s biggest star during his prime. Eventually Lawton settled on a lower more traditional hockey number.   

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Not good news for Scott Darling owners…
 


Jeff Glass has been recalled to be Corey Crawford’s backup while Darling is out.

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One day, Shane Doan’s #19 will be retired by the Coyotes, more than anything else for his willingness to stay with the franchise through thick and thin. Doan provided Coyotes’ fans with his best game of the season on Friday, scoring a goal and adding two assists with a plus-2 in the Yotes’ 4-2 win over Carolina. Doan had not scored a point in his previous five games, and he has had several other multigame stretches this season without a point. With the three-point game on Friday, Doan is now on pace for 30 points, his lowest total over a full season since his second NHL season and first season in Arizona.

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Watch Bill Peters throw Eddie Lack under the bus:
 


Sure enough, Lack is 60th and dead last in save percentage among goalies that have played at least ten games. But he’s being unfair to Lack if he’s giving Cam Ward a free pass here. With three goals allowed to the Coyotes on Friday, Ward is now winless in his past six starts. According to the Goalie Calculator, since January 14 Ward has a 3.57 goals-against average and .875 save percentage. Meanwhile, since his return to the lineup on February 7, Lack has a 2.89 goals-against average and .890 save percentage.

In fairness to Mr. Peters, this is one of those situations where neither choice would render a favorable outcome. But he’s clearly missing something in suggesting that this “isn’t much of a competition” and that “we’ve got a guy who’s well ahead of the other guy.” Or to put it another way, you’re not missing anything by not adding a Hurricanes’ goalie to your roster.

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Here’s my waiver wire report published on Sportsnet yesterday. Since I focused on players affected by the trade deadline, I didn’t get to one popular waiver-wire pickup, which is Mathieu Perreault. With an assist on Friday, he now has a six-game point streak with ten points (3g-7a) and a plus-7 over that span. In other words, playing alongside Patrik Laine and Mark Scheifele seems to agree with him. From the short time we’ve seen Laine, we can see he is proficient at scoring goals. And Scheifele is an absolute assists machine right now.
 


Blake Wheeler kept his owners happy by filling the statsheet on Friday: two goals, an assist, a plus-2, and seven shots on goal.

And what’s this? A Jets’ goalie with a shutout? After allowing five goals in each of his last two games, Connor Hellebuyck rewarded those who were daring enough to start him with a 29-save shutout. It’s been either feast or famine – more famine – for Hellebuyck, who now has four shutouts on the season.

In case you are considering deploying any Jets over the rest of the season, you’ll want to pay attention to their schedule. As mentioned in Looking Ahead, they play four home games over seven days (including Friday’s game). But over the final two weeks of the season (March 27 – April 9), which is championship week(s) in many head-to-head leagues, the Jets play just five times, the lowest of any team. So if you’re considering adding Perreault, add him now, but you’ll probably want to look for another option late in the season.

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It’s taken awhile, but Brian Elliott is finally starting to come around.
 


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Starting Jonathan Bernier on Friday took a leap of faith, considering that he’s been brutal for much of the season and the Leafs are now one of the league’s highest-scoring teams. Yet Bernier impressed against his former team, who was playing its second of back-to-back games in the Pacific time zone. Bernier stopped 37 of 39 shots in the Ducks’ 5-2 win.

If the Ducks knew John Gibson wouldn’t be ready after their bye week, I’m surprised that they weren’t all in on pursuing Ryan Miller, although Miller’s contract was probably the reason a trade didn’t happen. Assuming Gibson isn’t back Sunday, Bernier’s next start will come against Miller’s Canucks on Sunday. The Canucks’ current state and Bernier’s strong start against the Leafs should make him a decent play that day.

The sniper on the Corey Perry line right now is not Corey Perry. No, Perry is without a goal in his last eight games and he has scored just four goals since mid-December. That scorer is Rickard Rakell, who scored another two goals on Friday and is up to 26 goals this season. It’s interesting to see who the goal scorer and who the playmaker is on this line.

Rakell: 26 G, 10 A

Perry: 11 G, 31 A

Thank goodness for Perry’s assist total (his highest in three seasons), because that’s keeping his fantasy value afloat. He hasn’t had much puck luck, shooting at just 6.3 percent. But even if that starts to turn around, 20 goals – let alone the 30 we’ve become accustomed to – will still be a reach.

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The statsheet can giveth and the statsheet can taketh away… sometimes on the same night. James van Riemsdyk took eight shots on goal… but finished with a minus-4. Unfortunately he was held without a point. So if your league doesn’t count shots on goal, you were out of luck with him on Friday. In fact, you’ve been out of luck for a while if you’ve been looking for a goal from him lately. It’s now 14 games and counting without a goal. But the eight shots suggests no lack of trying.

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Finally, teams coming off bye weeks have rebounded a bit, but I can’t see bye weeks being a popular idea going forward in their present state.
 


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For more fantasy hockey information, follow me on Twitter @Ian_Gooding.

17 Comments

  1. Striker 2017-03-04 at 09:46

    The buy week blows. It has seriously impacted our fantasy H2H leagues. The best idea I have heard so far if it’s going to be maintained in some form is 1/2 the teams in the NHL get the 5 days off before the All-Star break & the other 1/2 5 days off following the All-Star break. Better yet junk both. The 5 day break & the All-Star game.

    • The Dot 2017-03-04 at 10:54

      Yes because the nhl looks at how the bye week affects fantasy hockey…

      • Striker 2017-03-04 at 11:35

        Any business should care how it’s business model effects it’s fan base. I run 8 fantasy Hockey leagues; 156 GM’s. The vast majority of participants would barely follow hockey as avidly as they do if not for gambling on hockey in this way, nor attend as many games etc.

        My favorite hobby is fantasy hockey, draft pools, box pools, etc. I bet games & scenario’s constantly. The NHL provides the means for me to enjoy these things. If I decided to stop participating in such I wouldn’t spend a dime on the NHL?

        • stugots 2017-03-04 at 17:48

          Striker, can you please post one more time how many leagues you run (and how many GMs are in them)? I feel like I don’t have a good grasp of those figures yet.

      • Paul Switzer 2017-03-04 at 11:57

        Agreed. The NHL couldn’t care less how the byes affects our little fantasy hockey games.

    • Dobber 2017-03-04 at 11:02

      I’m fine with the bye week.
      But I really got screwed. I had a key team out in early January and 2nd place gained about 10 points on me that week. I had another key team out late Jan and he closed the gap another 6 or 7 points.
      However, in mid-February he was losing 3 key teams to a bye-week. He would have 9 players out (to my 1) for five days that week. I had visions of gaining 20 points on him! But my players’ teams were all in one-goal games or shutout a lot and I somehow ended up losing about 2 points as 2nd place gained a bit more! With fewer man-games!! Ugh

      • Jeet 2017-03-04 at 11:34

        I don’t think the bye weeks have much of an impact at all in total points leagues like the one you’re describing. However, in H2H leagues where you can straight up lose a match-up because players you have are not playing can be frustrating. Then again, you’d imagine that the situation would balance itself out (you lose cause your players are on a bye week, and you win another week because the other team’s players are on a bye week). If anything, it should have had the effect of managers drafting more balanced teams (less players from 1 NHL team). Personally, I dislike the bye week because it condenses the schedule even more. Throw in the World Cup of Hockey and I believe it’s too many games in too few days, especially in such a physical sport.

      • Striker 2017-03-04 at 11:47

        Having to sit Couture & Koivu; C’s, Zetterberg & Marleau; LW’s, & Spurgeon; D, in an all offensive points H2H league in the final week of our regular season all only playing 1 game cost me my division title. Lost out by 1/2 a game. I traded around it to the best of my ability but that cost me 1K!

        We dress 14 players, 3 skaters at each forward position, 4 D & a G. Goals & assists are worth 1, goals by D, 1 bonus point, SHG’s 2 bonus points, OTG’s; not shoot out goals, 1 bonus point. Goalies get 3 for a win 2 for a shut out.

        Rest assured I don’t like it. Yes you could argue it’s the same for everyone but it isn’t essentially. As there is no continuity to when it happens.

        • Dobber 2017-03-04 at 11:54

          Ah! Yes! Absolutely this would kill H2H leagues. In fact, I would think this kills it to the extent that H2H leagues need to disappear. Yes, they’re fun, but bye weeks pretty much pre-determine the winning team for each week in Jan/Feb/Mar!
          That being said, H2H doesn’t even make up 5% of all fantasy hockey leagues. As long as the bye weeks exist, these league setups don’t work anymore in their current incarnation.

          • Striker 2017-03-04 at 12:19

            They just add another dynamic that although not ideal has to be accounted for & helps the GM that has the foresight to plan for it trading through it.

            The NHL will be altering the bye week. The NHLPA’s suggestion makes the most sense. 1/2 the teams get the bye the week before, 1/2 the week after.

            We have 24 man rosters, dressing 14, you have the ability to mitigate the damage to some extent but it certainly doesn’t determine who wins or loses in a given week. Far to many other factors in play. I still went 3 & 1 in week 20. Lost the 4th game by 1 FP. Unfortunately I played the 2nd best team that week. I was still the 3rd best team by FP’s that week.

            Lost my division by 1/2 a game but still finished 3rd overall heading into the playoffs. 2 week segments top 4 teams get a 5 FP bonus as home ice advantage. That’s significant in hopes of advancing to our Stanley Cup Final.

          • twelveXs 2017-03-04 at 12:44

            As stated before…H2H leagues are “luck based” leagues! They need to disappear forever !!!!!

          • Striker 2017-03-04 at 13:27

            We don’t share the same opinion. The founding H2H league we created was set up in 93 it has spun off 7 others & more than 156 GM’ just in leagues I manage or participate. Other GM’s from this group have created their own leagues.

            Have you ever tried 1? If so under what format?

          • Striker 2017-03-04 at 14:43

            I would take it 1 further. This very site makes it’s money from fantasy hockey. Numerous others as well with many paying fee’s to the NHL for a whole range of things. The site that provides our league data to CBS the Elias Sports Bereau included.

            The NHL cares & ideally so should you.

            I respect you don’t see the factors H2H fantasy leagues provide to participants or the financial benefits to the NHL. I do. If not for my participation in said leagu3s the NHL would lose my significant revenue stream.

          • Ian Gooding 2017-03-04 at 16:45

            A number of years ago I attempted to change one of my leagues from H2H to roto. Most league members were against the idea because they felt that H2H kept the league competitive and that teams at the bottom of the standings in roto leagues would give up partway through the season. So I kept it as H2H. There are advantages and disadvantages to both formats.

            I’ll add my thoughts on the bye week in the Sunday Ramblings, since this topic generated a ton of discussion.

  2. David Goodburn 2017-03-04 at 11:09

    Malkin is frustrating to own especially with his missed games coming in H2H playoffs the last 3 years. Finally he had enoigh value this year to make him tradeable. Still only got 90 cents on the dollar but at least recouped some value.

    Any thoughts on Ehlers struggles? Is he simply a product of the Scheifele/Laine dominance or is he skilled enough to lead his own line?

    • number54 2017-03-04 at 13:42

      I’ve owned Malkin for years, and honestly I have no complaints. He is a very consistent player, fills the stat sheets almost no matter what your categories, and puts up enough points that the injury risk is well worth it. FWIW, my pool doesn’t do H2H playoffs, so I guess that mitigates a good chunk of what you dislike about him and of course that would make you a bit more sour on him. I’d say, though, that there are less than a handful of players who can put up his per-game numbers, so even if you end up with a replacement-level player for 10-15 games per year while he’s out, that combination will get you more points than John Tavares. That’s true even of last year, when Malkin had 59 and Tavares had 70.

  3. The Dot 2017-03-04 at 12:37

    If the bye week is going to continue, would it be worth it to have those players on the bye week have the DTD status or something so that you can stash them on an IR spot for the week?Then pick up someone off the wire. It would mitigate some of the damage of not having a player even tho it would be an FA instead of a quality player.

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