Every week our Fantasy staff will evaluate the landscape around the NHL and how it pertains to Fantasy owners in Fantasy Stockwatch.
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| | Andrew Raycroft, G, Colorado Raycroft began this season as the No. 2 goalie in Colorado, but Peter Budaj was under the microscope from day one and although he hasn't played horribly, Raycroft has just been exceptional. A fifth-round pick by Boston in 1998, Raycroft had a couple of seasons in Toronto as a No. 1 goalie but couldn't cement that position. Now, he has won seven straight starts and has a shot at being Colorado's starting goaltender for a while if he can continue his hot play. He is a nice pickup in deeper leagues right now and could develop into a solid No. 2 option. He's even worth using in Fantasy Week 15 (Jan. 12-18) as the Avalanche play four times. |
| | Mathieu Schneider, D, Atlanta Schneider had five seasons of 50-plus points and seven straight seasons of a positive plus/minus rating coming into the 2008-09 season but has suddenly turned into one of the worst defensemen in Fantasy play since joining the Thrashers. OK, so Atlanta is one of the weaker teams in the NHL, but Schneider has just eight points and a minus-17 rating in 30 games, which are just awful numbers. Maybe this is just a case of Schneider finally showing his age, but whatever the problem is, he shouldn't be starting in 33 percent of leagues like he is right now. |
| | Wojtek Wolski, LW, Avalanche Everyone was wondering who would step up their play in Colorado with Joe Sakic and Paul Stastny out, and finally it seems like Wolski is the one, mainly thanks to his move from wing to center. He has three straight two-point games and it looks like he'll see plenty of top-line time for the next few weeks. He's owned in 53 percent now, but expect that number to rise if he keeps this pace up. He's worth owning in all 12-team formats at this time. |
| | Matt D'Agostini, RW, Montreal D'Agostini, a sixth-round pick in 2005 who had some solid success in his AHL career, was called up in November and had five points in his first six games, prompting his ownership to jump to 20 percent from zero. Now he doesn't have a point in his last eight games and has played less than 10 minutes in two of his last four contests. He'll be back in the AHL soon if he keeps this up, so just ignore him for the foreseeable future. |
| | Rene Bourque, LW, Calgary Bourque was only owned in five percent of leagues to start this season, but put up a decent 12 points in 24 games during the first two months. In the 17 games since then he has averaged a point a game and that's enough of a sample size for me to recommend grabbing the 27-year-old as a pickup in deeper formats, especially leagues that reward PIM, as he has 50 of those already this season. |
| | Andrew Brunette, LW, Minnesota Brunette returned to Minnesota this offseason after averaging 68.3 points in three seasons with the Avalanche, and was owned in 70 percent of leagues to start 2008-09. But the Wild have struggled over the last month or so and Brunette has just four points in his last 17 games and zero in his last nine. His ownership is now down to 54 percent and he's barely worth starting in any leagues at this time. |
| | Daymond Langkow, C, Calgary Langkow averaged 71 points over the past two seasons, but got off to a poor start in 2008-09 with just one goal in his first 10 games. After some solid stretches in late November and December, he has been on fire lately playing on a line with another hot Flames player, Bourque. Langkow now has six goals and 10 points in his last six games and should be starting in all deeper formats as long as Calgary continues to play well. |
| | Markus Naslund, LW, N.Y. Rangers Naslund began this year starting in 92 percent of leagues, and the veteran got off to a solid start with 20 points in his first 27 games. Lately, though, he has really hit the skids with just two goals and an assist in his last 11 outings, and he is now only starting in 65 percent of leagues. His ice time has dipped a little lately as he has only managed more than one shot in two of his last five contests. It's time to think about benching the Swede in more formats until he starts to show some signs of life again. |
| | Andrei Kostitsyn, RW, Canadiens It took the older Kostitsyn brother a while to get going this season, but he now has 16 points in his last 16 games and has eight points in his first five games of 2009. He's hitting on an amazing 44.4 percent of his shots so far in his new calendar year and the whole line of Andrei, his brother Sergei, and Robert Lang is playing some superb hockey at the moment. Get Andrei active in most leagues for Fantasy Week 15 (Jan. 12-18). |
| | Nathan Oystrick, D, Montreal So much for that up arrow I gave Oystrick a few weeks ago after his nice spell in late November/early December. Since then, Oystrick has zero points in 12 games and has a minus-13 rating over that span. Ouch. He remains someone to watch in keeper formats, but his seasonal-league value is now in the toilet. |
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