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Sean Allen, Special to ESPN.com
A busy start to Week 21 of the fantasy hockey season has a six-game Monday on tap, followed by a nine-game Tuesday slate. Wednesday is a little quieter, with only three games.
The Carolina Hurricanes, Tampa Bay Lightning, Washington Capitals and Minnesota Wild get a small break by not lacing up again until Thursday. The rest of the league dips into at least some of the early-week action, with the Colorado Avalanche, Toronto Maple Leafs, Boston Bruins, Columbus Blue Jackets, Florida Panthers, Seattle Kraken, Chicago Blackhawks, St. Louis Blues all playing twice before Wednesday.
It’s also the final countdown to Friday’s NHL trade deadline.
As the Dallas Stars wait for Chris Tanev‘s visa issues to be sorted for his eventual debut, there are still plenty of fantasy-friendly assets that could change homes by Friday. As for Tanev, he should continue to earn fringe fantasy value as a shot blocker in the Stars lineup, but arguably doesn’t have quite as much fantasy potential as he did on a less-crowded Flames blue line.
Back in Calgary, Oliver Kylington, as anticipated, had a leap in ice time, playing 20:31 against the Penguins on Saturday against his average of 14:57. If Noah Hanifin also gets dealt by the Flames this week, there could be something here with Kylington given all the fresh ice time.
We’ll keep an eye on other deals and have continuing coverage of any trades here on ESPN Fantasy up through Friday’s deadline.
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Stock up
Matias Maccelli, W, Arizona Coyotes (53.0% available): No one on the Coyotes has embraced Clayton Keller‘s recent absence quite as much as Maccelli. In fact, his inspired play since Keller was knocked out of a game on Feb. 25 has arguably been good enough to keep him up the depth chart once Keller returns. In those five games, Maccelli has earned seven points with three of them coming on the power play.
Wyatt Johnston, C, Dallas Stars (72.6% available): Johnston has been enjoying the Logan Stankoven bump, helping set up all three of the rookie’s goals during his run with the NHL club. Stankoven was sent back down to the AHL on the weekend, but that doesn’t preclude his return to the Stars before Tuesday’s matchup in San Jose. Evegnii Daodonov, who is Johnston and Jamie Benn‘s usual winger, is still expected out until at least the middle of the month.
Ryan Pulock, D, New York Islanders (87.7% available): After missing all of January and almost all of December, Pulock returned to action for the Isles at the start of February. He closed the book on a month with 22.7 fantasy points, which was good for 25th among all defenders.
Anthony Duclair, W & Mikael Granlund, C, San Jose Sharks (95.4% & 87.3% available): With all the other injuries across the Sharks forward ranks (Logan Couture, Tomas Hertl, Alexander Barabanov, William Eklund), the Duclair and Granlund show has had some time to get some chemistry going. They have both managed to help drive each other above the 2.0 fantasy points per game threshold in the past nine games — since Granlund returned from injury. Both players could potentially be on the block this week, but even if they stay in teal, there is some fantasy appeal.
Stock down
Sean Couturier, C, Philadelphia Flyers (35.0% available): When your two-way, No. 1 pivot is only playing 12 to 15 minutes per game, something tells me he isn’t still your No. 1 pivot. Couturier’s ice time has nosedived since he put in 20:43 per game in the month of January. His February minutes stand at 15:45 per game. It’s just not enough time for him to earn any fantasy value.
Brock Faber, D, Minnesota Wild (35.9% available): It’s difficult to prove, but I’m going to suggest Faber is fading due to overuse. How many 21-year-old rookies turn in 25 minutes per game? It’s super impressive, but also has to be super taxing. After building to his impressive 13-point January, Faber has just five points in 13 games since the all-star break.
John Tavares, C, Toronto Maple Leafs (2.8% available): There’s no arguing that the redistribution of Toronto’s talent across three lines is lifting most boats, but Tavares could be the lone exception. He’s even been off the top power-play unit in exchange for Tyler Bertuzzi in recent games.
Elias Lindholm, C, Vancouver Canucks (9.8% available): It really is a surprise to see the shiny, new toy already set aside and not being played with. Elias Lindholm isn’t getting looks on the top power-play unit as the Canucks try to pull out of a funk that has them winning just two of their past eight games.
Streamer specials
Cody Glass, C, Nashville Predators (99.8% available): It’s a good time to be coming off a hat-trick, as Glass and the Predators next host the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday. The Habs have allowed the second-most fantasy points per game to opposing forwards and have allowed the second-most power-play points to opposing forwards (Glass is the fourth-forward on the Preds top unit).
Kevin Shattenkirk, D, Boston Bruins (93.1% available): If you need a spot start defender at the beginning of the week (maybe even all week), the Bruins have a solid schedule. It’s both busy (four games) and fantasy friendly (all four teams top 15 in fantasy points allowed to defense).
Dmitri Voronkov, W, Columbus Blue Jackets (96.9% available): The Blue Jackets take on the Golden Knights and Penguins to start the week, both teams that have been allowing plenty of goals of late. The Russian line for the Blue Jackets is getting subdued minutes at the moment, but they are being effective with what they get. In fact, Voronkov has five goals in his past 11 games despite barely getting 12 minutes a night.
Jordan Binnington, G, St. Louis Blues (51.4% available): Still readily available in more than half of fantasy leagues, Binnington is a great start at the beginning of the week. He’ll catch one of the games against either the Flyers on Monday or Islanders on Tuesday, both against teams giving up at least 2.5 fantasy points per game to opposing goaltenders.
Source: www.espn.com