Fantasy Hockey Analysis

Fantasy Hockey Scouts: The Fantasy Five - Week #24

#1 Give 'em a Look

Late season call-ups on crappy teams can be a godsend for fantasy GMs as they'll often be given a lot of opportunities in meaningless games to show what they can do. Jamie McBain in Carolina is in such a situation as the former star at UofWisconsin was putting up some very decent numbers in the AHL this year (7+33=40 in 68 games) and was on a tear lately with 3+22=25 in his last 27 games before getting the call to join the Hurricanes. In his first four games with the Canes, he had a point in each (1+4=5 in total) and was seeing a ton of time in all situations including averaging almost 4:30 /game on the PP.

Others worth a look: Valtteri Filppula (Det – C), Peter Mueller (Col - W), Brenden Morrow (Dal – W) and Marc-Andre Bergeron (Mtl – D/W)

Alex Kovalev is a regular in this space as we've mentioned him numerous times as a guy that can disappear for long stretches, hurting your team more than he'll help. He started the year publicly stating that he wish he was still in Montreal and he played like it out of the gate with 4+7=11 in his first 22 games before somehow gathering the motivation to put up 36 points in 38 games over the next few months. Well he may have now decided that he's done for the season as he's gone pointless with a minus-10 over his last 11 games and we wouldn't be putting our faith in him down the stretch in our fantasy season.

Others worth a boot: James van Riemsdyk (Phi – W), Justin Williams (LA – W), Kevin Bieksa (Van – D) and Tomas Kaberle (Tor – D)

For the second week in a row a serious injury has put a dent in the Flyers playoff hopes as Jeff Carter is out for the next 3-4 weeks with a fractured foot. This means that he's done for the fantasy season and will be a risky pick in playoff pools, assuming that the Flyers can hold on and qualify.

We haven't touched on the Nashville Predators situation lately, it has been back-and-forth most of the year but you had to know that Pekka Rinne was going to be the main man here eventually. He's started the past seven games in a row, winning the first six (three by shutouts), and has posted some great averages (1.42 gaa & .946 sv%) during the string. His numbers on the season aren't that flashy (28 wins, 2.60 gaa & .907 sv%) so there's potential that he could be available in a few leagues where the GMs have fallen asleep at the wheel.

This is for you keeper league GMs that are looking for that next diamond in the rough... a list over at Hockey's Future of 10 NCAA free agents that are drawing NHL interest (this list is from a few weeks ago so a few of these guys have signed already). It's long odds that guys in this situation will go on to be big fantasy contributors but occasionally you'll find a Dan Boyle, Andy McDonald or Marty St.Louis among the group.