Yahoo Fantasy Hockey: Winners and losers of the NHL trade deadline

Dobber launched his fantasy hockey website DobberHockey back in 2005 and has been Puck Daddy's resident fantasy hockey 'expert' since 2009.

So the NHL’s trade dudline (see what I did there?) has come and gone, and to come up with any kind of reasonable list of impacted players I’ll need to include the weekend trades. I don’t want to have to delve into the repercussions of Michael Keranen as a Senator, or Drew MacIntyre’s return to the Chicago organization. So let’s pretend the trade deadline started on Friday.

From a strictly fantasy hockey standpoint and just for the short term (i.e. from today until the end of the season), let’s break it down…

Patrick Maroon to Edmonton

The Winner(s) – Nobody. Maroon was getting checking-line ice time with Anaheim and it will probably be similar with the Oilers. Initially, he may get a look on the Taylor Hall and Leon Draisaitl. If that works out, then Maroon would be a big winner here. Call him a dark horse.

The Loser(s) – Zach Kassian. He’ll take a hit in ice time early on and will have to battle for his job going forward. But I guess that’s the point. Kassian goes from dark horse to…not as much of a dark horse.

John-Michael Liles to Boston

The Winner(s) – Noah Hanifin and Jaccob Slavin will see bump in PP time, and Slavin picked up two points in his first game post-Liles. Ryan Murphy also got back into the Hurricanes’ lineup and got some PP time to boot.

The Loser(s) – I don’t care what anyone says, I think Liles is a dud in fantasy hockey. Teams keep giving him the power-play time and he continues not producing points. But he’s pushed Joe Morrow out of the lineup, which is a shame because Morrow could use the development. Morrow had a pair of two-point games last week.

Jamie McGinn and Brandon Pirri to Anaheim

The Winner(s) – McGinn has a tendency to be very streaky. When he’s hot he can hold his own on a scoring line. So for the short term, he’s a winner here. When fellow winger Pirri returns from injury that could change. In fact, when Pirri returns I would prefer to own him over McGinn.

The Loser(s) – I hope Chris Stewart is enjoying the press box popcorn, because he’ll be eating a lot of it.

Shane Prince to the New York Islanders

The Winner(s) – Well, to start it’s definitely Prince. He was planted on the first line with John Tavares and Ryan Strome. So that’s not bad. The line was pointless in their first game together, however after watching how long the Cory Conacher experiment lasted a year ago I’m inclined to think that Prince will continue to sporadically get ice time there for at least a couple of weeks.

The Loser(s) – Nobody. Sure, Kyle Okposo and Anders Lee get fewer opportunities with J.T., but because Prince’s ice time is limited the two veterans will still see time on the big line.

Mikkel Boedker to Colorado

The Winner(s) – Boedker. My pick for the biggest fantasy value increase at the deadline, Boedker goes from playing with Antoine Vermette to playing with Nathan MacKinnon. Yes please.

The Loser(s) – Blake Comeau loses that spot at even strength and he also loses his power-play time. Vermette goes from having Boedker on his wing to having Jiri Sekac on his wing. Yikes.

Kris Russell to Dallas

The Winner(s) – Young Calgary defensemen. Russell wasn’t getting much in the way of PP time, but his ice time now becomes available for youngsters Jakub Nakladal and Jyrki Jokipakka (acquired for Russell).

The Loser(s) – Nobody. Perhaps Russell would have been a worthy fantasy own in depth leagues had he gone to a team in need of offense. But his job is 100 percent defense with Dallas. He maintains his high value in leagues that count blocked shots.

Eric Gelinas to Colorado

The Winner(s) – Nobody really. The Devils claimed David Warsofsky off of waivers and in Warsofsky they have a player with a similar skill set, similar role.

The Loser(s) – I would have figured that this would hurt Francois Beauchemin for losing PP time, but after seeing Gelinas planted on the bench in his first game with the team…I’m thinking there are no losers in this deal except perhaps Gelinas owners. The few who are left.

Kris Versteeg to Los Angeles

The Winner(s) – Versteeg in a landslide. He can play anywhere in the top nine, which means he’ll surely see some time with Anze Kopitar.

The Loser(s) – Tanner Pearson. This is a shame because he has five points in his last five games, finally starting to get on a roll. Bringing in Versteeg could disrupt things. Pearson was a healthy scratch in mid-February and now there is another body on the roster to compete with.

Teddy Purcell and Jiri Hudler to Florida

The Winner(s) – Nail Yakupov wins in Edmonton because he gets back his spot on the Connor McDavid line now that Purcell is gone. In Calgary, after one game your winners are Garnet Hathaway and Micheal Ferland. The latter has taken over Hudler’s spot on the power play, while the former is a hardworking forward who was signed out of college last spring and has two NHL games under his belt. If your league counts hits, these two may be worth looking at. Otherwise, probably not. And finally, when Jonathan Huberdeau returns then Nick Bjugstad suddenly has a quality linemates. Bjugstad could have a great final 10 or 12 games.

The Loser(s) – Nobody of fantasy consequence. Florida prospects, unowned in most fantasy leagues, will simply return to the AHL or the press box, and the team shuffled out Brandon Pirri. So there’s enough room for everyone of fantasy significance on the Panthers’ roster.

Justin Schultz to Pittsburgh

The Winner(s) – Schultz is a winner here because he needed a fresh start more than anyone. In fantasy he’s high risk but high reward. The risk being he falls on his face the way he did with the Oilers. The reward being that he flourishes with the superstars he’s about to play with.

The Loser(s) – Prospect  Derrick Pouliot was just starting to chip in the odd point. Now the battle for ice time gets even tougher.

James Reimer to San Jose

The Winner(s) – Garret Sparks has been brought in as a backup for Jonathan Bernier. And given Bernier’s questionable performances, we could be seeing a lot of Sparks in the final month.

The Loser(s) – Martin Jones, though he’ll only take a small hit. Jones’ owners have enjoyed the fact that he’s started 17 of 18 games. But Reimer is there now and I doubt Jones plays more than four games in a row going forward.

Eric Staal to NY Rangers

The Winner(s) – Staal is no longer ‘the man’. He’s not getting first-line minutes nor first unit PP time (more like 1A or 1B power-play time). But perhaps that’s just what he needed. A fresh start. And whenever Rick Nash gets healthy, he’s being penciled in as Staal’s winger.

The Loser(s) – There was no noticeable downtick in ice time for Derick Brassard or Derek Stepan in the first game, so they seem to be safe. I would say that Staal’s former linemates with Carolina will suffer, but Kris Versteeg was traded to a better situation in Los Angeles and Elias Lindholm just moved to Jordan Staal’s line and has picked up one point in two post-Eric games.

Brooks Laich to Toronto

The Winner(s) – Washington’s cap situation. And that’s about it, because Laich was seeing minimal ice time with the team. Stanislav Galiev may get into the lineup a little more, but he wasn’t seeing enough ice time to have any fantasy value.

The Loser(s) – Nobody. The Leafs have plenty of room on their roster that they can add a Laich without taking an opportunity away from a prospect.

Lee Stempniak to Boston

The Winner(s) – Reid Boucher and Joseph Blandisi. The young New Jersey wingers suddenly have a ton of extra power-play time available to them. Blandisi in particular could match the production that Stempniak was doing for the Devils.

The Loser(s) – Stempniak. His power-play time will disappear and it’s doubtful he finds the strong chemistry with a linemate in Boston that he had with Mike Cammalleri in New Jersey.

Andrew Ladd to Chicago

The Winner(s) – Ladd is playing with Jonathan Toews. But is that really a step up from Blake Wheeler and Brian Little? Not in fantasy hockey. But still, it’s not like it’s a huge step down. And Ladd was having a terrible season offensively so he really needed this fresh start. He already has points in each of his first two games with the Hawks. I’d also like to stick Nikolaj Ehlers and Mark Scheifele in this category, although their promotion to the first line for the Jets is not strictly because of Ladd getting dealt. The season-ending injury to Little was also a factor.

The Loser(s) – Teuvo Teravainen is bound to take a hit on ice time, but for now he’s okay because Marian Hossa is injured. When Hossa returns, Teravainen, Andrew Shaw, or Hossa himself, could find themselves playing with linemates not known for producing offense.

Follow Dobber on Twitter @DobberHockey

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