NHL Fantasy Hockey Waiver Wire Pickups: Goalies, January 11: Annunen Worth a Flier in Net Sundat Against the Capitals
Plus a pair of starting netminder highlighted
Video Transcript
Now, we're onto the Nashville Predators.
This is a really interesting team, And I say "interesting" as a euphemism.
I can't see this team being worse than they were last season, but I also can't see this team going anywhere.
We could use the word "interesting" in air quotes, which is I think what you were going.
With...
I mean, but you look at the names on Paper, and, and again, look, I think they did that last year when they formed this team, Right?
They brought in Steven Stamkos.
They brought in Jonathan Marchessault.
They ended up trading Yaroslav the year before.
Askarov.
Mm-hmm.
You brought in a couple of other names, And you go, "Oh, yeah, it's a mishmosh.
Well, we'll just meld it all together," and Then they put...
They came out on the ice, and you go, "What the heck happened?"
Because...
I didn't think a team could be this bad with those names, and sure as heck, that team was pretty bad.
Including fantasy-wise.
I mean, if you were to ask somebody, Before this season, that Steven Stamkos would be as unusable this time fantasy-wise, Somebody would have said to you, "You're crazy."
But then, You look at what Steven Stamkos was like the first half of the season, And he pretty much was unusable for a good portion of the first half of the season.
Yeah, I mean, in part one, we talked about Edmonton having too many left-hand shots when They need a right-winger.
Nashville has the opposite problem, Where they have too many right-handed shots and probably not enough left-wingers.
I think in another world, there's a trade between these two teams waiting to happen.
Like, we already saw the Ekholm thing, so maybe they go back into that well again.
But the interesting thing about Stamkos is that he finished with 14 power-play goals.
And that still puts him in the top 10, but that alone was still not enough to make him, Like, I guess, a quote-unquote "usable fantasy asset."
And it went for this whole team, Too, where you had a bunch of 50, 60-point players, but all the peripherals were bad.
And you look at Stamkos' shot volume, I think that was the one thing that shocked me most.
Was that for the first time he was well below 200?
See, to me, what was more shocking, and maybe we should've seen it would happen the year Before, so I just looked, he was a minus 21 his last year in Tampa.
Right?
Which is his worst for years.
Mm-hmm.
He was a minus 38.
Yeah.
Let that sink in, a minus.
38.
Do you know what kind of odds you could've Gotten of Steven Stamkos...
Ever being a minus 38?
Okay.
I mean, and that's what makes him unusable.
Right?
You could have him in your lineup; he's getting You have 14 power-play goals, but if you're playing a guy who's a minus-38, He is a drag on that category, especially in rotisserie leagues.
Like, head-to-head leagues?
Yes.
You can kind of maybe get away with it, But if you're looking at a roto league, and you have a guy who's a minus 38, I don't care if he's getting you 14 power-play goals.
You kind of have to anchor him to your bench because he's killing you in that category.
Yeah, so a couple of things about that.
The first is Steven Stamkos' five-on-five Play has been trending down for the past few seasons, and I think that was one of the big Reasons why Tampa wasn't really going to give him the big money.
And why he's moved from center to the wing.
Center, by the way, Still a problem position for the Predators.
They just don't have enough.
But if you look at the guys they added, Marchessault coming off 42 goals with the Knights.
He's never scored more than 30 before that.
Stamkos, I mean, his decline, if you could call it that, has been well-documented.
I think he's just a different player now.
At this stage of his career, Brady Skjei is probably more of a product of Carolina system than we thought.
They paid the three guys the... Too much money when the rest of the league passed on them.
And this is also a team that needed that 18-game point streak to... Just to make the playoffs.
So, like, somewhere in between there, Barry Trotz seriously misread this team, and now he's backed himself into a corner with contracts he cannot move.
And so, for that reason, Unless he strikes a trade, unless he gets rid of money off the books, I can't see this team going anywhere.
And also, Juuse Saros?
Overworked.
He's not a big goalie that... Where he can just stand there and take the shots.
He's five-foot-eleven.
He needs to move around.
He needs to use his athleticism, and I think, I think they really overworked him.
And it showed last season.
Only part of that isif only they had an Incredible young goalie to help take that workload.
Who basically got peeved because of the fact of the contract that they ended up giving Saros.
And for the length, he felt that he would basically have to serve as a backup for years.
To come and didn't want to wait.
Now, you can argue Mm-hmm.
... That wasn't correct on his approach.
I mean, granted, you should do... Pay, pay your dues, But if the viewpoint was that he was a top goalie, right?
He was expected to get a modicum of time, and then you go ahead, And understandably so, why you rewarded Saros after moving... After he basically took over from Pekka Rinne.
Now, all of a sudden, you have to move that asset, and you don't have a backup.
And as you talked about Marchessault, he also was a plus-minus drag.
With a minus 29, though if you're gonna argue as to which one rebounds, I'm probably taking Marchessault.
Oh... As a guy who I think rebounds better than Stamkos does, because I think we saw signs of it.
Last year, as the year wore on, he finally started to produce a little bit.
While, look, Stamkos is a first-ballot Hall of Fair.
I don't think any of us will debate that.
But especially if you're in a head-to-head with the center depth that exists in the league.
You might start thinking twice as to whether or not getting a guy like Marchessault on the wing It's probably a bit more palatable.
So, if you play Yahoo, Stamkos already has triple position eligibility: center, left wing, Right-wing.
I think that can be really useful.
Yep.
Um, I still like Stamkos a lot.
Personal bias, I love him as a player; always have throughout his entire career.
I do think Marchessault is going to play higher in the lineup.
Um, so I think he's going to have more fantasy value there.
It's just, after Forsberg, Marchessault, Stamkos, you've got three wingers, But you need four of them on the top two lines.
Luke Evangelista is not signed so far.
And then you've got another bunch of options, like Michael Bunting.
Joakim Kemell maybe, if he makes the team.
But, like, The options just aren't great.
And you look at who their centers are after O'Reilly, assuming Stamkos doesn't play center.
Fedor Svechkov and Erik Haula?
Like, are you kidding me?
Like, how is this team gonna be that much Better than they were last season?
I actually happen to like Svechkov.
I think, actually, I think he's a good two-way card.
I don't...
He's an upside.
I think he's got a bit more upside, and personally, in my opinion, I think he should be the 3C on that team eventually down the road.
Mm-hmm.
Um, just because I think he's got a bit more Upside in terms of Erik, or as we like to refer to him once we write our articles, Erik Haula, Chabot, is kind of the way we always write our articles.
Just because it's too easy.
But does Michael Bunting really scare you?
I mean, lookno, none of those guys do.
...
He was.
That third line terrifies me, simply because I'd be worried somebody was going to chop my head off every time I was on the ice.
Well, have you ever seen Zach Leroux play?
It's...
He's He is a ...
It's kind of similar.
...Psycho.
Like, a full-on psycho.
He got suspended for punching a fan in the Q. JHL.
Like, he's crazy.
Oh, Connor, like, you haven't done dumb things like when you were a teenager.
I've never assaulted someone.
You've never been convicted.
We're not quite sure if you've ever been kind.
It's not charged yet, so... yeah.
No, true.
I mean, grantedbut the scary part is, You look at that blue line, right?
And look, Everybody except Joe, Roman Josi should rebound.
Clearly, Brady Skjei was a product of playing In Carolina, 'cause look, I fell for it.
I thought he'd have a good year.
Wow.
Yeah.
Not good.
I mean, he was brutal.
You talk about long-term contracts, You cannot move.
That is a prime example of a long-term contract.
That has aged badly already, and that's only in year one of the deal.
Yeah, and you look at the depth they had last season.
I, I... Like, you look at the top four ice times after Josi and Skjei, it's not pretty.
I mean, it... And no wonder they had to go out and get Nick Hague and, And, uh, Nick Perbix.
That being said, I do think there are some, Like, interesting forwards, young forwards, Matthew Wood, Reed Schaefer, Brady Martin, Victor Edstrom, they could maybe step up.
But you've got tohey, don't forget Ozzie Weisblatt.
... Make room for these guys.
Don't forget Ozzy Wiesblatt.
He's got a great name.
And Ozzie Weisblatt, and Roman Josi.
Remember he had that concussion?
Yep.
I think he had that.
POTS with the irregular heartbeat or, yep.
...
Going from, like, lying down to standing up.
That kind of concerns me.
I mean, without Josi.
Josi, when healthy, is a top 10 fantasy defenseman.
But if he's not healthy, this team gets cratered.
Well, I mean, Nick Blankenburg right now is your potential first-pairing blueliner.
Alongside Josi.
So... hmm.
...
Right there should tell you all you need to.
I know, right?
Nick Hague is fine.
Actually, I'm starting to think...
I thought Nick Perbix actually wasn't bad.
In Tampa.
I I agree.
...
I think he's an okay defenseman.
I don't think he's anything to write home about for sure.
But I mean... And also, we talked about Saros, who clearly took a step back last year, partially due to being overworked, partially because of the poor defense in front of him.
And is Justus Anninen going to be the guy who gives him sufficient time off?
I don't think so.
I don't trust Annunen at all.
I mean, I really thought he had a shot at being the number one in Colorado last year before they went out and got Blackwood.
And he pretty much regressed last year substantially.
Well, it's because Georgiev was awful.
I haven't seen a goalie fall off like that.
Hard in a long time, but anyway.
What's your take on Nashville?
Connor?
Do you like them?
Do you hate them?
I think they're an irrelevant fantasy team.
Irrelevant.
Okay, those are strong words.
Apart from Josi, Forsberg is incredible.
Like, oh, As far as, as far from Josi... As bad as he was, Forsberg.
Yeah, that's it.
Everybody else, I think you can just ignore.
You're going to pass on O'Reilly, Marshall, Stamkos?
They're just getting older.
I think if you're in the mid-to-late rounds, Picking Stamkos is good, even if you pass on Josi.
He's healthy?
You're going to pass on Josi if he's healthy?
I don't know if Josi will ever be healthy again.
Oh.
Okay.
That's a Yeah, fair point, but Big question.
If he's not, that defense becomes Civ-like.
If he's not healthyas if it wasn't already, you know, Like...
Right, but again, you're not taking Saros, unless he's like your third goalie, you could stream against really bad teams.
Right.
Agreed.
He, he... Other than one month, his save percentage per month was never above .902.
Which is just not good, even in today's game.
At the same time, Saros is one of those goalies where he's terrible one year.
And the Second Coming of God the next.
So, I could see him having an insane season this year.
I mean, they did give him more rest down the Stretch, right?
Like, they split the stars at the end of the season when, when it was clear they weren't making the playoffs.
But, um, if Stamkos is available in the mid- to late rounds, I'm taking a shot at Stamkos.
I just think 14 power-play goals is hard to Fine.
Agreed, but, you know, he's just getting older.
And that's going to catch up eventually.
Yeah, I mean, Age doesn't matter when you're standing in one spot on the power play.
So...
I guess.
All right, let's go.
He's referring to Alex Ovechkin, Who just goes by the dots and stays there.
