Fantasy Hockey Analysis

Fantasy Hockey Scouts: The Fantasy Five - Week #23

#1 Give 'em a Look

We'd give Brooks Laich a look; he's not a hugely talented guy but pretty much anyone who's seeing time on one of the Caps top two lines is worth owning. He also joins four superstars on the top PP unit occasionally... not bad work if you can get it. He's been ramping up his production lately with 7+7=14 and 46 shots in his last 11 games and has the added bonus of due eligibility (LW/C) in some leagues.

Others worth a look: Mike Ribeiro (Dal – C), Patrik Berglund (StL - C), Blake Wheeler (Bos – W) and Paul Martin (NJ – D)

We're not going to recommend an outright drop here but you might want to prepare your contingency plan if you own Marc-Andre Fleury. The Flower has been wilting lately with only four wins, a 3.24 gaa & a .891 sv% in his last 11 games and he's lacked consistency all year, giving up four or more goals 15 times already this year. People may dismiss his struggles saying that he's a much better playoff goalie and doesn't typically do much in the regular season but his numbers the past two seasons have been far better than this year, he's seen his sv% drop from .921 two years ago to .912 last year and now .905 so far this season.

Others worth a boot: Mikael Samuelsson (Van – W), Teddy Purcell (TB – W), Kyle Quincey (Col – D) and Tim Thomas (Bos – G)

Lots of superstar injuries this past week, here's the ones to take note of... Geno Malkin took a puck off the foot last weekend but nothing's broken so he should be able to return soon. Ryan Getzlaf tweaked his injured ankle and he'll likely return soon but will most likely be playing hurt the rest of the year. The most serious injury was suffered by Brian Campbell as he has a broken clavicle and ribs after Alex Ovechkin rammed him into the boards. Campbell is out for about two months, so he should be dropped in one-year leagues and would be a very risky pick in playoff pools as he's probably out until the 3rd round.

It's not really a conflict in Philly, more like a crisis as Mike Leighton suffered a high ankle on Tuesday and had to leave the game early. His status is listed as day-to-day but high ankle sprains are not an injury to be taken lightly, especially for goalies. Leighton has started the past 15 games for the Flyers and has been one of the most underrated goalies this year with a 16-5-2 record and 2.48 & .918 averages with the Flyers. With Ray Emery already done for the year, this leaves the Flyers hopes in the hands of Brian Boucher, who hasn't started a game in over two months and only has four wins in 20 appearances this year. The Flyers are solid defensively and don't allow a ton of shots (Boucher's faced 27.5 per 60 minutes this year) but they'll need Boucher to play way over his head if he's going to carry this team.

Not a fantasy hockey link but a good hockey read each week is Elliotte Friedman's blog on CBC.ca... especially interesting our his “30 Thoughts” each week, where he has some good insights and usually has the juicy gossip that we love.