20 Fantasy Thoughts: Fallout from Rantanen blockbuster trade

What a blockbuster.

The Colorado Avalanche sent the hockey world into pandemonium Friday night, trading star forward Mikko Rantanen to the Carolina Hurricanes. In return, the Avs got Martin Necas and Jack Drury plus a couple of draft picks, while Chicago picked up a draft pick for taking on some of Rantanen’s salary. The Canes also got Taylor Hall out of the deal, who comes over from the Blackhawks. It was one of the biggest trades we’ve seen in quite some time.

I actually wrote about Rantanen hours before the deal highlighting how the Avalanche were in a difficult spot with his contract and might have to consider moving him, but I had no idea things would escalate so quickly. Colorado clearly made a tough choice knowing they likely couldn’t re-sign him, even if it may make themselves worse in the short term.

As far as fantasy implications go, I don’t think this move helps Rantanen. He currently ranks third in the NHL in ice time among forwards and I’d expect his minutes to drop a bit. The Hurricanes have a much more balanced lineup than the Avalanche do and coach Rod Brind’Amour won’t have to lean on Rantanen as much as Jared Bednar did. The Canes also play much more structured than the Avalanche, who often try to outscore their problems.

Then there’s the matter of losing Nathan MacKinnon. Rantanen is likely to play with Sebastian Aho, who is a great player, but not on MacKinnon’s level. You don’t need to panic where Rantanen is concerned, just expect his numbers to drop slightly.

When it comes to Taylor Hall, this move obviously helps. Carolina is loaded with far more talent than Chicago, but there are a couple of questions with Hall. Can he stay healthy enough to make an impact? And can he fit into Brind’Amour’s system well enough to get good deployment and ice time to make him fantasy-relevant? Time will tell.

The person I think this really helps the most is Martin Necas. He’s having a great season and playing next to MacKinnon will certainly help that continue. Necas has been inconsistent over the course of his career, but it’s hard to ask for a better landing spot than on Colorado’s top line and if his first game with the Avs is any indication, he’s in for a huge bump in ice time. Necas played a career-high 25:08 on Saturday. If you didn’t sell high on Necas earlier this season, your patience has been rewarded.

Here’s hoping we get a few more of these mega deals before the deadline.

1. Valeri Nichushkin had a setback trying to work his way back from injury and unfortunately it doesn’t sound like he’s close to a return. I’d still stash him if you can, though, as Nichushkin is very productive when healthy. He could give you a huge boost for the fantasy playoffs if he’s back in time.

2. It’s time to circle back on Pavel Zacha. The Boston Bruins’ playoff hopes may be in jeopardy, but Zacha’s ice time is going up and it’s turned into eight points in six games for the forward. Zacha is also giving you a handful of faceoff wins per game, not to mention he has dual-position eligibility. Zacha and David Pastrnak have been really clicking lately, so hopefully Zacha can keep this going and at least remain fantasy-relevant for the rest of the season.

3. It’s easy to overlook someone like Matt Duchene in fantasy hockey. Duchene has played for five teams, was bought out before joining the Dallas Stars and is now in his mid-thirties, but he’s been an incredibly important player this season. Duchene is on pace for close to 80 points and may end up outscoring both Jason Robertson and Wyatt Johnston in 2024-25.

4. Tough break if you were rostering Connor McDavid this week. His three-game suspension eliminated him from head-to-head matchups and it was a massive advantage if you were facing him. Making it even more challenging is that in a lot of leagues, you can’t even move a suspended player to injured reserve. So, not only was McDavid out of action, he was eating up a roster spot as well. It would’ve been a real nightmare if this came during the fantasy playoffs.

5. Morgan Frost has settled into a nice spot between Owen Tippett and Travis Konecny. It’s been very fruitful for the Philadelphia Flyers forward, who now has seven points in his past nine games. He’s also strong in the faceoff circle and provides decent shot volume. Frost hasn’t always been in John Tortorella’s good books, so it remains to be seen how long this deployment lasts. Ride the wave while you can.

6. It’s been another miserable season for the Buffalo Sabres, but Jiri Kulich has been a bright spot lately. He’s taken advantage of a promotion to the top line with Tage Thompson and JJ Peterka, netting four points in three games.

7. For a player who’s incredibly talented and valuable, Josh Morrissey can sure have some quiet games. Morrissey played more than 22 minutes in a game earlier this week against Utah and posted zeros across the board for his stat line. He did something similar back in November, playing nearly 27 minutes one night and once again was completely shut out on the stat sheet. A lack of offence is one thing, but to play that much and not record a shot, hit or block is almost hard to believe.

8. Seth Jones has really picked it up of late, recording six points in his past four games. Normally, Jones’s best attribute is that he plays a lot and is effective for blocked shots, but he doesn’t really provide much beyond that. If Jones continues to score at the rate he’s clicking at now, though, that changes things. The Chicago Blackhawks defenceman could be a must-roster the rest of the way.

9. Bad news for the New Jersey Devils this week, as Jacob Markstrom went down with an injury and it sounds like he’s going to miss four-to-six weeks. It goes without saying, but don’t hesitate to grab Jake Allen, who now finds himself in a great situation. Allen should play quite a bit while Markstrom is out and the Devils are having an excellent year. They should be able to help Allen to a bunch of wins at the very least.

10. Double-check your waiver wire to see if Drew Doughty is available. His return is imminent and he’s down to around 60 per cent rostered. The veteran’s return will have a ripple effect involving Los Angeles’ blue line, as Jordan Spence and Brandt Clarke are likely to lose minutes and power play time.

11. Injuries to the Utah defence corps have thrust Michael Kesselring to the top power play unit and significant ice time. Kesselring has averaged around 21 minutes over the past four games, providing good shot volume and he’s been very effective for penalty minutes. At only 15 per cent rostered, give Kesselring a look if you need help on your blue line.

12. Nick Schmaltz has really taken off since Logan Cooley moved up to the top line. Schmaltz is riding an eight-game point streak, with four power play points over that stretch. He may not provide great peripheral numbers, but there’s no reason Schmaltz shouldn’t be rostered in points leagues.

13. One of the reasons the Columbus Blue Jackets are in the thick of the playoff race is goaltending. Elvis Merzlikins has been solid of late, going 6-1-0 in his past seven starts and allowing only nine goals over his last five outings. The Blue Jackets are also providing Merzlikins plenty of goal support, currently sitting seventh overall in goals per game. I’d give Merzlikins a short-term look if you need to solidify your crease.

14. We recently talked about Matthew Tkachuk’s struggles to score, but things aren’t going any better for brother Brady. The Ottawa Senators forward is now pointless in 10 games and is on pace for only 64 points this year. That would be Tkachuk’s lowest total since 2020-21 and a massive step backwards. Tkachuk is still producing solid numbers for hits and shots, but without being at least in the neighbourhood of a point per game, his value goes way down.

15. The Sens as a whole are really struggling, too. They’ve now been shut out an incredible five times in their past 12 games. That essentially averages out to close to every other night this month. There might not be a more inconsistent team in the league than Ottawa. They can look like a juggernaut for a couple of weeks and then all of a sudden go completely cold.

16. Between working his way back from injury and the state of the Vancouver Canucks, I just don’t see Thatcher Demko having much value this season. Demko only has four quality starts this season and is down to a .867 save percentage on the year, not rewarding those who stashed him. There were a lot of question marks about Demko heading into the season because of his health and now that Vancouver is in disarray, he’s in a real uphill battle. If someone is willing to give you something decent right now for Demko in one-year leagues, I’d probably take it.

17. The majority of teams play three times next week, with a handful playing four and a few playing two. One player who is back on my radar is Mason McTavish. The Anaheim Ducks forward has five goals in his past three games and is fairly good for overall category coverage, especially if your league has faceoff wins. Anaheim does play quite a bit on off nights, so McTavish could end up being a hold down the stretch because of his versatility.

Someone else I’d take a chance on is Marco Kasper of the Detroit Red Wings. Kasper had three multi-point nights in a four-game stretch earlier this month and he scored Saturday night as well. Now he’s up in the top six with Patrick Kane injured. Plus, the Wings have four games next week.

I mentioned Max Domi last week as someone to monitor with John Tavares injured, but he’s really not worth holding. He had a decent start when he was promoted after the Tavares injury, though his ice time has really dropped over the past couple of games and it appears head coach Craig Berube doesn’t really trust him. With the Toronto Maple Leafs playing just twice next week, there’s no reason to hang onto Domi.

18. The San Jose Sharks still aren’t winning much, but they are scoring quite a bit. That includes Will Smith, who has five points in four games and is up on San Jose’s top line. I’d imagine the Sharks will give Smith a good look for the remainder of the season and increase his ice time with nothing to play for in the standings.

19. Don’t look now, but Fedor Svechkov recently had goals in three straight games. The Nashville Predators forward also has a pair of power play points over that span as well. Svechkov is on the third line and on power play two, so don’t drop anyone of significance to pick him up just yet. Put him on your watch list for now and maybe look at him as an injury replacement if you have someone that just went on injured reserve.

20. Once again, no one can be counted out in the Eastern Conference playoff race. After plummeting down the standings for weeks and seemingly being written off, the New York Rangers are suddenly right in the mix again after picking up points in 10 straight games. That’s thanks in large part to Igor Shesterkin, who has been virtually unbeatable recently. The Rangers netminder has allowed just one goal in his past three starts and has a .948 save percentage this month. It wasn’t that long ago that Shesterkin’s value was fading rapidly. New York had a dreadful December and the losses for Shesterkin were piling up. Plus, the Rangers were playing so poorly and hanging Shesterkin out to dry at times that he gave up four goals or more in four different games last month. Then he suffered an injury and some were even considering dropping Shesterkin in one-year leagues.

However, a closer look at his numbers would suggest that would’ve been a hasty move. Even with New York struggling, Shesterkin still managed six quality starts in December and his poor numbers were more due to a few ugly games than a trend of bad play. There have been much lesser goalies that have managed to have value behind bad teams and someone with Shesterkin’s skillset can certainly handle it.

Now that the Rangers have picked it up again and are in pursuit of a playoff spot, Shesterkin could be one of the most valuable goalies down the stretch. The play of Connor Hellebuyck and Logan Thompson has really overshadowed Shesterkin this season and with New York taking a big step backwards, the former Vezina winner has been somewhat forgotten about.

One thing is for sure, though: Regardless of how inconsistent the Rangers have been this season, no team in the East wants to see Shesterkin in the first round of the playoffs.

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