There are a number of surprises across the league with players over and under achieving, in addition to the wave of injuries that’s struck over the past few weeks. Here’s your Week 7 Fantasy Hockey Risers and Fallers featuring a number of players who’ve caught my attention of late.
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Week 7 Fantasy Hockey Risers
C/LW Max Domi, MON: After finishing last season with four goals and 11 assists through 14 games, the first-year Hab has picked up where he left off with 23 points (10 tallies) over 19 contests to begin the 2018-19 campaign. Domi has clicked with Jonathan Drouin for an impressive 4.57 goals per 60 minutes and is well on his way to a career-best showing.
LW/RW Mike Hoffman, FLA: Currently sporting a 14-game point streak consisting of seven goals, nine assists, seven power-play points and 48 shots, Hoffman has settled in nicely with the Panthers. Additionally, the 28-year-old winger was recently promoted to a top-line role alongside Aleksander Barkov and Evgeny Dadonov, which only improves his fantasy outlook moving forward.
C/LW Boone Jenner, CBJ: The cross-category contributor has been solid of late with a tally, five helpers and 19 shots, while logging 19:49 of ice time (2:27 with the man advantage) through his past seven games. Jenner does his best work in the peripheral categories, though. He’s recorded 34 hits, 22 blocked shots and won 135 faceoffs to date.
D Neal Pionk, NYR: The University of Minnesota-Duluth product has collected three tallies and three helpers through his past six outings to give him an impressive 26 points through his first 45 career games. Pionk has locked himself into the quarterback role on the No. 1 power-play unit, and he also moves the needle in the secondary categories with 32 shots, 30 hits and 40 blocked shots through 17 games this season.
LW/RW Nikolay Goldobin, VAN: It’s been a nice recent stretch from the 23-year-old Russian. Goldobin has recorded a goal, six assists and 14 shots through his past nine games while also connecting with Elias Pettersson for a respectable 3.87 goals per 60 minutes. The winger owns the offensive upside to provide secondary scoring in most fantasy settings.
G Edward Pasquale, TB: The window to add Louis Domingue has probably closed, but with Andrei Vasilevskiy (foot) out long term, Pasquale projects to see some time in the Tampa crease. Additionally, Domingue owns a career .906 save percentage and 3.01 GAA, so if he struggles, Pasquale could earn a few more starts. It wouldn’t be the first time an out-of-nowhere, minor-league goalie became a serviceable fantasy asset.
Week 7 Fantasy Hockey Fallers
RW Patrik Laine, WPG: The Finn has been limited to just two assists and has yet to score a goal at five-on-five this season. In fact, his 0.52 points per 60 minutes at five-on-five rank fifth-last among all forwards with at least 200 minutes. Laine’s power-play production — seven goals and one assist — has buoyed his fantasy value, but without a significant scoring improvement at even strength, it will be impossible for him to return value on his draft-day cost.
LW Johnny Gaudreau, CGY: After exploding out of the gate with 19 points — six goals — through his first 15 games, Gaudreau has now failed to mark the scoresheet in four consecutive outings. Obviously a four-game point streak isn’t a huge concern for a proven scorer, but there could be more to the story if the drought lingers on — including playing through a minor injury. Owners need Gaudreau to flirt with a point-per-game campaign and not regress back to being a 60-point producer.
D Drew Doughty, LAK: Nothing is clicking for the Kings, and while Doughty’s fantasy value hasn’t fallen off a cliff, his current five-game pointless stretch is alarming. Los Angeles has scored just 1.38 goals and created only 8.66 high-danger scoring chances per 60 minutes through those five games, so his setup resembles a fantasy wasteland. Doughty will still provide serviceable numbers because of his huge role (26:52 with 3:29 on the power play), but flirting with 60 points again is almost already out of the question.
G Martin Jones, SJ: Already with nine victories, Jones is tilting the scale in the wins column and projects to continue doing so while backstopping the deep and talented Sharks. It’s the ratios that are killing fantasy owners, though. Anyone expecting better than league-average play from Jones set themselves up to fail, but a.894 save percentage and 2.94 GAA are crippling marks to rebound from.
For more great fantasy hockey talk, listen in on Chris Meaney and Neil Parker on the Fantrax Fantasy Hockey Podcast, as they hit on all the injuries, streamers, and recent trends you need to know to stay on top of the fantasy ice.