Week 18 Fantasy Stockwatch

Our Mihai Cercel takes the pulse of a handful of Fantasy contributors in his latest Fantasy Stockwatch.

By Mihai Cercel

Jan 30, 2008 at 11:09 am ET • 4 min read

Each week during the season, we'll survey the Fantasy Hockey landscape and provide you with a list of players whose Fantasy value has increased or decreased over the course of the past week.

	Shane Doan, RW, Phoenix The usual slow start to the season is behind the Coyotes winger, who has been all but unstoppable in January. Doan has taken it to another level with seven goals and 12 assists, scoring at least a point in every game (12) this month leading to the All-Star break. He leads Phoenix with 16 goals and 32 assists while improving his Fantasy stock a great deal lately, evidenced by his ownership going up to 94 percent of leagues. Doan is rolling right now and should be a must-start in Fantasy formats.
	Chris Drury, RW, N.Y. Rangers This is not the kind of production the Rangers expected from Drury when they signed him. Drury has just 12 goals and 20 assists in the first half of the season, but his numbers in January are even worse -- he only has a pair of goals to go with a pair of assists in 13 games this month. Drury is without a goal in the last seven games and has just one helper during that stretch. Clearly he is not the same scoring threat he was with Buffalo. Still, Drury is owned in about 80 percent of leagues, but is active in just 60 percent of them.
	Dan Boyle, D, Tampa Bay Just two games back after being sidelined for 36 games with a wrist injury and the defenseman has already made an impact on Jan. 24 even though it came in a loss. Boyle, considered Tampa Bay's best defenseman when healthy, scored two goals against Ottawa and followed that game with two assists against Buffalo. He had 20 goals and 43 assists last season. Boyle is owned in 85 percent of leagues already and expect that percentage to keep rising.
	John-Michael Liles, D, Colorado It's been a season of big disappointment for the 27-year-old defenseman. Liles is without a goal since Nov. 9, a lengthy stretch of 33 games. That is not good by any standard for a defenseman who was showing some promise and also is an unrestricted free agent after the season. In fact, the only two goals Liles has scored this season were back in November. He is good for some assists here and there as has notched 16 for the season, but just a mere three in January.
	J.P. Dumont, RW, Nashville Another winger who cannot be stopped from scoring in January. Dumont has points in all 13 games this month; which includes six goals and 12 assists. Including the last two games in December, Dumont has eight goals and 12 helpers over the last 14 games. Those are some serious numbers that would satisfy any Fantasy owner. Playing with Alexander Radulov and Jason Arnott on the top line sure helped a lot. This line has been rolling along.
	Nikolai Khabibulin, G, Chicago The 11-year veteran has not won since December 26. Ouch... Khabibulin used to be a top notch goalie. What happened? Well, the highest paid player on the Blackhawks is not really earning his money right now. Backup Patrick Lalime has done a lot better. Khabibulin played in eight games in January and has as many losses. He has just 15 wins for the season and his Fantasy ownership has dropped significantly to as low as 61 percent.
	Sergei Samsonov, LW, Carolina The diminutive winger is taking full advantage of this opportunity with the Hurricanes. Samsonov struggled big time and managed just four points in 23 games in Chicago. But since joining Carolina on Jan. 8, he has scored his first three goals this season and has five assists in nine games. If he is able to keep this pace up, Samsonov's stock will definitely go up. Right now he is owned in 24 percent of leagues.
	Robert Lang, C, Chicago A veteran of 13 years in the NHL, the Czech native came out of the gates with a bang in October scoring five times and setting up seven goals. He stayed consistent with the assists (7) in November, but dropped his goal production to just one goal. December came and Lang turned it up a gear, scoring seven goals and four assists, but now in January he is down again with three goals and two assists. So what does that mean? That if he keeps the trend, in February he will produce better numbers again. Lang has no points in four straight games and is active in only about 38 percent of leagues.
	Ryan Suter, D, Nashville Call him a consistent assist man in the last few games after coach Barry Trotz benched him in early January. Suter has five assists in four of the last five games, although he is without a goal in 12 games. Suter averages some 20 minute of ice time per game. He only has five goals this season, but has picked up the assist pace to 16 for the first half of the season.
	Peter Budaj, G, Colorado The second-year goalie had seen plenty of ice time in December and in fact the first three months of the season. That has diminished into a single game, and that was a loss, in January. Budaj has been riding the bench the whole month as Jose Theodore has been the hot hand and that's who coach Joel Quenneville has been going with. Budaj is stuck at 14-8-2 for the season, with a 2.63 goals-against average. He is owned in just 55 percent of leagues and considering the circumstances in Colorado, that is understandable.

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