-
Sean Allen, Special to ESPN.com
Week 22 of the fantasy season, which has a good chance of being the final week of the regular season depending on the setup in your head-to-head league, begins as most weeks do: A lighter Monday and Wednesday bookending a busy Tuesday.
Only the Toronto Maple Leafs and Tampa Bay Lightning are taking the start of the week off, while the Winnipeg Jets, St. Louis Blues, New York Rangers, Los Angeles Kings, Colorado Avalanche and Washington Capitals play twice between Monday and Wednesday.
Whether you play in a head-to-head league or not, the fantasy playoffs being imminent are a sign that time is running out on the season. That could mean one of two things depending on how your season has gone: Keep a steady hand or throw caution to the wind.
If you’ve been having success, there is no reason to change your approach to fantasy management just because it’s crunch time. Now, if your approach has been reckless abandon and chasing streamers, that can also count as keeping a steady hand. All I mean is: Keep doing what you’ve been doing to have success.
But if you are not having success, you are running out of time to try a different approach. In throwing caution to the wind, try taking a different approach to the fantasy week. If you don’t normally bench based on matchup, try it out. If you rotate goalies based on matchup, consider not doing that this week and just start the best ones you can access. If you are not winning your fantasy league, there is not harm in trying to be innovative at the last minute to wring out some measure of success at the wire.
If you are in the middle-to-bottom of your standings, just do something different. Heck, start San Jose Sharks goaltender Magnus Chrona this week and see what happens!
Chrona just earned his first NHL win on Saturday by stopping 31 of 32 shots against the Ottawa Senators. Now the Sharks hit the road to visit the Philadelphia Flyers, Pittsburgh Penguins, Columbus Blue Jackets and Chicago Blackhawks in this pivotal fantasy week.
The Sharks, by the way, have given up the second-most fantasy points to opposing goaltenders this season (4.20 fantasy points against per game). But the rest of the top four? The Blackhawks (4.86 FPAPG), Penguins (3.37 FPAPG) and Flyers (3.14 FPAPG). The Blue Jackets are eighth (2.84 FPAPG). It’s kind of the the perfect schedule of opponents for a goaltender (unless the Sharks could somehow play themselves… ).
In reality, the Sharks are very bad and Mackenzie Blackwood could return from a groin injury any day now to take the crease back, so this probably isn’t actually a good idea. But it’s the kind of outside-the-box thinking that merits consideration when you are down to the wire on your fantasy season.
Resources: Goalie depth chart | Daily lines | Projections | Play for free | Player rater | Most added/dropped | Mock draft lobby | How to watch on ESPN+
Stock up
Vladimir Tarasenko, W, Florida Panthers (18.5% available): With two goals and a helper in his second game as a Panther, we’ve now seen the extreme upside to playing with one of the best centers on the planet. Tarasenko is going to have a chance to keep doing this through the end of the season if he sticks with Aleksander Barkov. Just ask Sam Reinhart what it’s like.
Anthony Duclair, W, Tampa Bay Lightning (89.4% available): He’s mostly been scooped up in leagues, thanks in part to his hot finish in his time with the Sharks and in part to the projected role he’d have with the Lightning. But, yes, Duclair skated with Steven Stamkos and Anthony Cirelli, picking up a goal and assist in his debut. The Bolts are off until Thursday, so it’s a light week for them — just be warned.
Evgeny Kuznetsov, C, Carolina Hurricanes (95.7% available): I don’t think there is anything to be found here for fantasy, but the Hurricanes are giving Kuznetsov every chance to succeed. He’s currently trotting out as part of the first power-play unit with the likes of Sebastian Aho and Andrei Svechnikov. There have been no results yet, though, and time is running out overall with Jake Guentzel due back potentially this week.
Stock down
Adam Henrique, C/W, Edmonton Oilers (60.6% available): It’s the smart move for the Oilers, but it’s not a good time for fantasy managers that have enjoyed Henrique’s performance since mid-December. His role, at least for now, is on the third line for the Oilers — and it shows: Zero points through three games with the new club and about five minutes less in ice time than he was getting with the Ducks.
Rickard Rakell, W, Pittsburgh Penguins (54.2% available): Sidney Crosby gets to play with his new toy, so Rakell has been sent down to the third line for the foreseeable future. Michael Bunting is getting Rakell’s reps at even strength and on the power play, so there is no reason to keep Rakell in fantasy lineups.
Streamer specials
Jack Roslovic, C/W, New York Rangers (94.5% available): I did not see top-six action coming Roslovic’s way out of the deadline. On paper, he would be an acquisition to beef up the Rangers bottom six. But there he was, skating the game with Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider. Obviously, there is some fantasy potential here. The Rangers are busy to start the week, facing the Devils on Monday and Hurricanes on Tuesday, so it’s a good time to give Roslovic a whirl. If you play in weekly lineup leagues, the Rangers actually have five games in Week 22.
Alexander Nylander, W, Columbus Blue Jackets (97.1% available): The Blue Jackets have a very good Week 22 schedule for the forwards. They face the team’s ranked first, second and fourth in fantasy points against per game (FPAPG) by opposing forwards. (They also face the team ranked 32nd, but that’s not until Sunday). The Sharks, Habs and Senators are all top four teams in FPAPG by opposing forwards, while the Jets are the worst matchup. But we’ll take three out of four for Nylander, who has been showing well as a Blue Jacket (five goals, two assists in eight games) on a line with Cole Sillinger and Alexandre Texier.
Laurent Brossoit, G, Winnipeg Jets (95.0% available): While Connor Hellebuyck is at risk of his first personal three-game losing skid of the season, Brossoit continues to keep things locked down when he is in the Jets crease. Winnipeg has a three-game homestand and best guess would be to see Brossoit take the middle contest against the Nashville Predators on Wednesday.
Source: www.espn.com