Fantasy Hockey Analysis

Fantasy Hockey Scouts: The Fantasy Five – Week #4

#1 Give 'em a Look

We had planned to mention Dustin Penner in this space but that was before his 5 points on Thursday and he's probably being scooped up in every league as we speak. But we'll stick in Edmonton and mention Penner's linemate and new #1C, Sam Gagner, he just jumped onto the top line with Penner & Hemsky on Thursday and put up three points right away to give him 2+3=5 in his last three games. Gagner's got a ton of talent and we think he's good for 65 points this year, maybe more if this line stays hot... apply him to your teams liberally.

Others worth a look: Matt Moulson (NYI - W), Jamie Benn (Dal - W), Ryan Vesce (SJ – W), MA Bergeron (Mtl – D) and Tyler Myers (Buf - D)

Alex Tanguay only had one assist while playing on the top line in Tampa with Vinny Lecavalier and that was enough to get him a dropped to the third line starting this week. He's also not on the #1 PP unit either and you already knew he wasn't going to help you in plus/minus (minus-3), shots (7) and PIMs (4)... set him free.

Others worth a boot: Dave Legwand (Nsh – C), Chuck Kobasew (Min – W), Brent Burns (Min – D) and All Islanders' goalies

Boston's Marc Savard is out for 4-6 weeks with a broken foot and if this was last year then the Bruins would have no problem replacing him but subtract Kessel, Lucic and Kobasew from their lineup and this is not a very deep group up-front... don't look to the Bruins if you need a replacement for Savard.

The Penguins lost Sergei Gonchar to a broken wrist and he's out for 4-6 weeks... big loss for the Pens but it will open up some opportunities for fantasy GMs as Kris Letang and Alex Goligoski will no longer have to fight for PP time and both should see more minutes in Gonchar's absence.

Carey Price has picked up where he left off last year, actually, he's been worse (2-4, 3.36 gaa & .886 sv%), so there's a prime opportunity here for a very solid backup like Jaroslav Halak to step up. He's no slouch either as proven by his career .930 sv% in the AHL and career .914 sv% in the NHL. Halak stepped in this week and put up back-to-back wins, granted they were only home wins over the Thrashers and Islanders, but it's a start. Halak is an impressive 21-6-1 during his career in Montreal, so look for him to see a lot of work over the next weeks as the Habs have six of their next nine at home.

Check out this good read over at Rotoworld where they talk about a few players that could increase their point totals by 20+ points this year and although we fully endorse the Steve Stamkos and Kyle Okposo picks, we don't think Jordan Staal has any chance of putting up 69+ points this year... in fact, we think he'll be lucky to match the 49 he put up last year.