Quick Fantasy Take: Vanek for Moulson

An interesting stat pulled up by John Shannon of Sportsnet regarding the Matt Moulson/Thomas Vanek trade.

By the way, since joining the NYI in 2009, Moulson has 118 reg season goals...over that same time in Buffalo, Vanek has 110 Goals.
— John Shannon (@JSportsnet) October 28, 2013

I've read a number of different perspectives on the above trade, although I'll stick to evaluating it from a fantasy perspective. My initial reaction was that the trade will increase Vanek's value but will decrease Moulson's value, simply because one player will be playing alongside John Tavares and the other player won't be anymore.

That being said, it's possible that these locations won't be the final landing spots for both players this season. It's well-known that Vanek is on the final year of his contract, so he may wait for the offseason to have his pick of teams if the Islanders don't suit him. If he stays long-term on the Island/Brooklyn, this trade could be what catapults Vanek back up to the 40-goal mark.

Meanwhile, you might not need to feel sorry for Moulson for too long for being traded to Buffalo. He could become a very tempting trade piece for the obviously rebuilding Sabres as Darcy Regier attempts to save his job by stockpiling draft picks for the future. Moulson will demonstrate if he truly was a fluke if he can't find a way to reach 30 goals with Cody Hodgson or Tyler Ennis feeding him passes instead of Tavares, who is now a top-5 fantasy center.

Overall, I might suggest to attempt to trade Moulson while attempting to trade for Vanek.

My Fantasy Team Is More Injured Than Your Fantasy Team

Have a look below, in particular the number of players listed as injured.

 

... and now Cam Ward will be out 3 - 4 weeks with an upper-body injury. Great. Throw my arms up in the air. When will this end? Count 'em up, that's now eight injured players on my roster (although Kris Letang is expected to come off IR tomorrow and make his season debut.

 

Speaking of Ward, part of my strategy to hedge from injuries was to pick up the backups for Ward and Kari Lehtonen. I was forced to use Dan Ellis for about a week and a half while Lehtonen was injured, but at least I had a goalie at the ready. What do you do if the starter AND the backup (Anton Khudobin) are injured? Add third and fourth-stringers Justin Peters and Mike Murphy? Hey, those two are available. So are Carter Hutton and Magnus Hellberg in Nashville, now that Pekka Rinne is out a few weeks.

 

The craziest part? This team is not only 3-0 in head-to-head competition this season, but it is also winning this week. (The non-goalie starters for this team are showing below. To get the team all in one picture meant that the picture would be small and blurry. Maybe I need to take a Photoshop class or something.)

 

I am a little fortunate, though. My opponent this week has his own injury woes, as he has lost the services of Rinne and Loui Eriksson for the rest of the week and perhaps awhile longer.  

Players I Have Dropped Since the Start of the Season (Or At Least Am Thinking About Dropping)

Similar to the list of players that I have added since the start of the season, this is by no means a comprehensive list of droppable players. Who to drop depends on a host of factors, including the depth of your league and other players available. At the very least, here are a few players who have stumbled out of the gate, clearly not meeting expectations in some way, shape, or form.

Tim Thomas, G, FLA
I had added Timmy in the late rounds of one of my drafts, thinking there was a chance that he could recreate his 2011 magic. However, the Panthers are not even ten games into the season and already Thomas has been injured twice. It's not as if Thomas' numbers have been great anyway (2-3, 3.36 GAA, .901 SV%). Granted, it was just two short seasons ago that Thomas had one of the finest seasons that a goaltender can have, and there was no way that the Bruins would have won the Stanley Cup that season without him. However, taking a year off is not advisable for a 39-year-old goalie, and now we are seeing why. Moving from Boston to Florida isn't helping the cause either.

Tyson Barrie, D, COL
I haven't dropped Barrie, based on the league format that I employ him in. However, his league ownership in many leagues has to be sinking like a stone based on how Patrick Roy is using him (in other words, not using him). Barrie, a trendy blueline sleeper pick, has not seen action for the past five games dating back to October 10. As long as the surprising 8-1-0 Avs keep winning, Roy won't see any need to change his lineup, which means that relative unknowns Andre Benoit and Nate Guenin will continue to suit up instead of Barrie. I mean, how long can the Avs continue to dominate with Jan Hejda as the kingpin of their blueline?

Matt Read, RW, PHI
We go from a team on the top of the world to a team that has seen nothing go right this season. On a team that often draws attention to itself because of underachieving personnel, Read has quietly provided modest fantasy totals that can help you fill out your lineup. However, Read has yet to hit the scoresheet and is a -6 in eight games this season. Things have to improve; after all, Read is still averaging nearly 20 minutes of icetime per game. But playing on the Flyers' top 6 isn't holding the same value that it used to, given the Flyers' lack of scoring depth this season. By the way, over those eight games, the now Craig Berube-led Flyers have scored just 11 goals - that's right, ELEVEN goals - this season. That is tied for dead last in the NHL with the now Alain Vigneault-led Rangers.

Mikhail Grigorenko, C, BUF
The Sabres don't have a whole lot to laugh about themselves this season, having scored just one more goal than each of the Flyers and Rangers. In fact, the Sabres appear to be a serious contender for the first overall pick in the 2014 entry draft. So when you're a fourth-line player averaging ten minutes of icetime per game on a team headed nowhere, your fantasy prospects might appear dim. In the Experts League, I haven't dropped the pointless Grigorenko... yet. But come March when the Sabres trade Thomas Vanek and Ryan Miller and start playing for pride and jobs next season, don't be surprised to see the Sabres hand Grigorenko a little more icetime to see what they have.

Are there any players that you are ecstatic about kicking to the curb? Did I miss anyone obvious? Let us know in the comments below.

Players I Have Added Since the Start of the Season

Time can sure pass quickly in an NHL season. Since I last added something to this blog, some teams have already played ten games. What this means is that you can determine with some degree of certainty where your fantasy hockey team stands. In fact, you probably already have, assuming that you have made a trip to the waiver wire at least once, as most astute fantasy hockey leaguers have.

Perhaps the easiest way for me to write a fantasy hockey article is to write about what is happening on my own teams - in other words, what I have noticed with my own eyes. So this list of players that I have added is by no means a comprehensive list of players that were not on draft cheatsheets and have since been universally added in fantasy leagues everywhere.

Tomas Hertl, C, SJ
Yes, Hertl of the four-goal game. Yes, Hertl of the sick goal that everyone was talking about and some thought "broke the code." After that hat trick plus one, fantasy owners nearly crashed their league IT systems as they scrambled to add Hertl, assuming that another four-goal performance would soon follow. But the important thing here is, what has Hertl accomplished since that breakout performance? How about a more modest goal and two assists in six games. That's still enough for Hertl to be tied for the league lead in goals (7) with four other players. In spite of the return to reality, Hertl is still worth rostering in all formats.

Kevin Bieksa, D, VAN
I'm not just saying this as a Canucks fan, but I'm surprised that Bieksa is not owned in more fantasy leagues. His offense (four assists in ten games) hasn't been that great, but he picked up three of those helpers in an impressive game on Saturday against Pittsburgh. But he has a solid +7, and may lead your fantasy team in hits (22). In addition, the John Tortorella mandate to block every shot directed at a Canucks goalie will also help Bieksa in that department. But as a Canucks fan, I also worry that all these blocked shots will lead to more injuries to the Canucks' more physical players such as Bieksa and Ryan Kesler.

Lars Eller, C, MON
The man burdened with the pressure of being the player in return for Jaroslav Halak is finally starting to come through. Eller currently leads the Habs with five goals and is second on the team with eight points with a +5. With injuries to Daniel Briere and Max Pacioretty, expect Eller to continue to receive top-6 minutes. He has found great chemistry with Brendan Gallagher and Alex Galchenyuk on what looks like the Habs' top line of the future.

Teemu Selanne, RW, ANA
I have to love Yahoo this season. They have finally allowed fantasy owners to deal with the dreaded "day-to-day" roster designations from teams. If a player was not placed on IR by his team, a fantasy owner could not move the player to IR and had to keep a valuable roster spot open for that player - dead weight in daily leagues in particular. But thanks to the IR+ designation, I'm able to replace the concussed Lubomir Visnovsky and concussed (I think) Dan Boyle with healthy bodies - one of which is Selanne. Yeah, I knew I'd eventually get to the ageless wonder here. He is proving for fantasy owners that he still has something in the tank, scoring goals in three consecutive games for the scorching-hot-out-of-the-gate Ducks.

Jason Demers, D, SJ
Speaking of injuries to the defense, can you believe that I have Boyle, Visnovsky, and Kris Letang all on one team? And that that very same team is also 3-0 in head-to-head play? Yes, said team is becoming extremely thin on defense, so I was forced to add whatever defenseman I could on Sunday, the day that we are allowed to bid on players. I lost out on Letang injury beneficiary Matt Niskanen, who has already recorded six points and a +9 in the nine games Letang has been out. But I was able to add Demers, who has five assists and a +5 in nine games of his own. In a similar spot to Niskanen, Demers is currently receiving first-unit power-play time with Boyle sidelined. But once the first-string power-play QB returns for both Pittsburgh and San Jose, expect the values of both Niskanen and Demers to drop.

Mike Ribeiro, C, PHX
Ribeiro is a perfect example of why you should not be too impatient with a player, particularly in the early going. After being held off the scoresheet in his first three games, Ribs is currently running a six-game point streak, with his last game being a two-goal effort on Saturday against the Wings. Every so often one of these kinds of players is dropped in a league, and you have to be the first one to pounce on the opportunity.

Have there been any other players that you have added that have helped you to early-season glory? Are there any players that I should have added to my team (even though I must say that I'm faring extremely well in my leagues right now, unlike my fantasy football teams)? Let me know below.