Fantasy Hockey Analysis

Fantasy Hockey Scouts: The Fantasy Five - Week #7

#1 Give 'em a Look

Tomas Fleischmann has been playing top six minutes for the Caps and is making it count. Since he returned from an injured leg eight games ago he has a 6+3=9... he's currently on an eight game point streak as well. With Mike Knuble injured for a few weeks Flash won't have to worry about getting demoted either.

The 2nd line in Tampa is really clicking. Steve Stamkos and Marty St. Louis are long gone in your league but Ryan Malone might not be. He's on pace for 81 points and has 100 PIM potential (although he only has four so far this season).

Others worth a look: Nicklas Bergfors (NJ - W), Maxim Afinogenov (ATL - W), Andrew Ebbett (CHI - W)

We're not saying you should drop Paul Kariya but after going pointless in his last nine games it's time to find him a spot on your bench.

David Backes had a great season last year (54 pts & 165 PIM's) but it's starting to look like he was playing over his head. So far this year he has only 1+2=3 and a -5. He's still picking up the PIM's (32) but he's not worth the roster spot in shallow to medium leagues.

Others worth a boot: Ryan Vesce (SJ - W), Andrew Raycroft (VAN - G), Antti Niemi (CHI - G)

Cam Ward was cut on his leg this week and the Hurricanes get one step closer to Taylor Hall.

A couple of broken fingers have put Brandon Dubinsky and Mike Knuble on the shelf for a few weeks.

Dave Bolland is having back surgery and is out for 3-4 months. The Hawks are planning on moving Kris Versteeg to center and giving Andrew Ebbett a chance on line #2. Ebbett could help those of you in deep leagues.

The best news is all the big guns are coming back. Roberto Luongo and Ilya Kovalchuk returned this week and Alex Ovechkin and Evgeni Malkin aren't far behind.

Steve Mason has been pretty awful lately (like the eight goals the Wings scored on him for example) while Matheiu Garon has been pretty solid. Mason is the future so you know the Jackets will keep going back to him but expect Garon to at least get a few more starts.

Cristobal Huet has really turned things around. He hasn't given up more than three goals in his last eight games and picked up six wins in that span. Hopefully you hung in there after his terrible start.

Antero Niittymaki has started four straight games for the Bolts and has looked pretty good doing it (three wins and eight goals allowed). If he keeps playing well it looks like the Lightning will keep putting him out there.

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