Midseason Disappointments and the Buffalo Sabres
What a coincidence
This week’s 20 Points on Fantasy Hockey for McKeen’s Hockey is here.
The Buffalo Sabres have fired head coach Ralph Krueger, replacing him with Don Granato on an interim basis.
The Sabres are 6-18-4. They rank 31st in 5-on-5 goals/60 and 29th in 5-on-5 goals against/60 and they have gone 12 games without a win.
In fantasy terms, virtually everyone on the Sabres can perform better. Sam Reinhart has been fine, so credit where it is due, he has 11 goals and 19 points in 26 games. He’s minus-20 but that’s an occupational hazard in Buffalo right now – they have eight players with double-digit minus ratings. Victor Olofsson also has 19 points and is minus-17.
Jack Eichel had 18 points in 21 games before he was sidelined with an upper-body injury but he only had two goals. Same for Taylor Hall, who has 16 points in 28 games.
Rasmus Dahlin has 11 points in 28 games and is minus-27 which is incredible. There are many keys to fixing the Buffalo Sabres and fixing Rasmus Dahlin is one of them.
Eric Staal: 3 G, 10 PTS in 28 GP
Rasmus Ristolainen: 8 PTS in 21 GP
Kyle Okposo: 0 G, 4 A in 23 GP
And then there is Jeff Skinner, who has 2 G, 1 A in 25 GP, spent mostly on the fourth line but also got a three-game stint in the press box as a healthy scratch. I understand when a coach wants to send a message. Wants a scoring winger to take more responsibility for his defensive play. Entirely fair. It’s also pretty much insane to have the lowest-scoring team in the sport and willingly sit out a player who has proven he can score. Skinner has always been able to generate shots but if he gets a chance with more skilled linemates, the shot quality should improve and he might generate a few more goals. When a franchise has invested $9 million per season in a player it might be worth finding out if he can be salvaged before throwing him overboard. For the rest of this season, with Sabres games having virtually no stakes aside from the draft lottery, Buffalo has a chance to rehabilitate Skinner’s value. Play him significant minutes, power play time, the whole thing, to see if he can return to being a bona fide scoring winger. He’s not going to provide great return on investment but some return on investment is better than none.
In any case, the Sabres did not have to head down this path this season. Before they were forced into a COVID-19 hiatus, they were hovering around the middle of the pack in terms of Corsi (50.0 CF%) and expected goals (50.3 xGF%). Since coming back, it is 46.0 CF% and 44.7 xGF% and they have lost their starting goaltender (Linus Ullmark), most effective defenseman (Jake McCabe), and more recently, their franchise center (Jack Eichel) to injury.
They are headed towards a trade deadline in which they pretty much have to deal Taylor Hall and Eric Staal, veterans with expiring contracts, but then they have to have a plan in place that will keep Eichel and Reinhart from demanding out…or the rebuild will have to dig deeper and include trading those guys for younger assets. It is not a fun time to be a Sabres fan, nor has it been much fun having Sabres on your fantasy roster this season!
First Half Disappointments (total value)
C – Jack Eichel, Buffalo
2 G, 16 A, -9 in 21 GP
LW – Taylor Hall, Buffalo
2 G, 14 A, -17 in 28 GP
RW – Patrik Laine, Columbus
9 G, 6 A, -10, 46 SOG in 21 GP
D – Roman Josi, Nashville
2 G, 14 A, -16, 25 GP
D – Brent Burns, San Jose
5 G, 10 A, -12 in 26 GP
G – Carter Hart, Philadelphia
7-6-3, 3.62 GAA, .884 SV% in 17 GP
Second Team
C – Mika Zibanejad, N.Y. Rangers
3 G, 8 A, -5 in 27 GP
LW – Alexis Lafreniere, N.Y. Rangers
4 G, 3 A, -8, 35 SOG in 27 GP
RW – Travis Konecny, Philadelphia
7 G, 8 A, 31 SOG in 20 GP
D – Rasmus Dahlin, Buffalo
1 G, 10 A, -27 in 28 GP
D – Erik Karlsson, San Jose
2 G, 7 A, 42 SOG in 22 GP
G – Matt Murray, Ottawa
7-12-1, 3.84 GAA, .880 SV% in 22 GP
CANUCKS CLAIM VESEY
The Vancouver Canucks have claimed Jimmy Vesey on waivers from the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Signed in the offseason to a one-year, $900,000 contract, Vesey managed seven points (5 G, 2 A) in 30 games for Toronto but was getting outshot and out-scored so it makes sense to try someone else. The immediate beneficiary is Alex Galchenyuk, who looks to be getting a shot on the wing with John Tavares and William Nylander.
Vesey joins a Canucks team that has some injury problems up front as well as a general lack of talent on the wings so there is a chance for him to compete for a spot in the top nine. He is probably not worthy of fantasy interest but see how the Canucks shake out their lines.
TUESDAY GAMES
Buffalo 2 New Jersey 3
BUF D Brandon Montour 2 A
NJ G Mackenzie Blackwood stopped 33 of 35 shots.
Boston 2 Pittsburgh 1
BOS G Dan Vladar stopped 34 of 35 shots in his first NHL start for the W.
Arizona 0 Minnesota 3
MIN G Kaapo Kahkonen posted a 31-save shutout to earn the victory. (.927 SV% in 16 GP)
Anaheim 4 Colorado 8
COL C Nazem Kadri 2 G, 2 A (5 G, 11 A in past 12 GP)
COL D Devon Toews 3 A (7 A in past 7 GP)
COL LW Andre Burakovsky 1 G, 1 A (3 G, 4 A in past 6 GP)
COL RW Mikko Rantanen 1 G, 1 A (6 G, 6 A in past 8 GP)
COL LW Brandon Saad 1 G, 1 A (2 G, 2 A in past 4 GP)
COL D Samuel Girard 1 G, 1 A (3 G, 7 A in past 10 GP)
COL RW Joonas Donskoi 2 A
ANA C Adam Henrique 1 G, 2 A (3 G, 5 A in past 7 GP)
ANA RW Troy Terry 1 G, 1 A (3 G, 1 A in past 4 GP)
COL D Samuel Girard was on the ice for three goals for and none against. COL D Dan Renouf was on the ice for three goals against and none for.
ANA D Jacob Larsson was on the ice for one goal for and four against during 5-on-5 play.
Carolina 2 Detroit 4
DET D Filip Hronek 1 G, 2 A (1 G, 7 A during a 4-game point streak)
DET LW Adam Erne 2 G (4 G, 3 A in past 9 GP)
DET C Dylan Larkin 2 A (2 G, 2 A in past 4 GP)
N.Y. Islanders 1 Washington 3
WSH LW Alexander Ovechkin 1 G, 1 A (4 G, 1 A during a 4-game point streak)
WSH C Nicklas Backstrom 1 G, 1 A (2 G, 6 A in past 7 GP)
Tampa Bay 4 Dallas 3 (SO)
DAL LW Jamie Benn 1 G, 1 A (1 G, 6 A in past 8 GP)
DAL D Miro Heiskanen 1 G, 1 A
DAL LW Jason Robertson 2 A (1 G, 7 A in past 6 GP)
DAL C Joe Pavelski 2 A (4 G, 3 A in past 8 GP)
TB C Brayden Point 1 G, 1 A (4 G, 4 A in past 7 GP)
Digging Deep
The 10th pick in the 2017 Draft, Florida Panthers right winger Owen Tippett has started to show some signs of progress recently, with four points (3 G, 1 A), seven hits, and 11 shots on goal in the past four games. This doesn’t mean to rush out and get Tippett because he is not playing enough (12:09 per game in the past four) and this is the first bit of positive scoring momentum for him but it could be something to build on that will allow him to move up the lineup should the opportunity present itself. (1% Yahoo)
WEDNESDAY GAME PROBABILITIES
WEDNESDAY DFS VALUE PLAYS
PHI C Claude Giroux $4800 at NYR
OTT C Colin White $3800 vs. VAN
MTL RW Joel Armia $3200 at WPG
CGY LW Dillon Dube and RW Andrew Mangiapane $3400 vs. EDM
PHI D Ivan Provorov $4200 at NYR
EDM D Adam Larsson $3700 at CGY
LA G Cal Petersen $7300 vs. STL