The fantasy hockey season is back underway after a two-week hiatus for the 4 Nations Face-Off Tournament.
We’ve seen a lot of wild offensive totals in the past week, as players are rested and raring to go for the final stretch of the regular season. Let’s make some deals to position our teams well for the fantasy postseason for our own title run.
I hope you’re doing well in your fantasy leagues. If you ever have any questions, comments or concerns, feel free to hit up my X account (@DanielEDobish). I’ll be glad to try and answer as quickly as possible if I see it. Let’s get started.
NHL Fantasy Hockey Trade Advice (Week 19)
Buy
If you’re fishing around for help at rearguard, you might be able to pry Darnell Nurse for a low price in most fantasy pools. He is currently mired in an eight-game scoreless skid, posting a -3 rating in during that span. He is on pace for just six goals and 31 points, which would be his lowest total in a season since 2017-18. So, there’s that. The good news is that he is also on pace for a +11 rating and 56 penalty minutes (PIM). If those are important categories in your fantasy pool, you’ll still want stock in Nurse.
Nurse has consistently been in the 35-40 point neighborhood, so it won’t take much of an uptick in offensive production to get him on track. He also has 109 hits and 94 blocked shots across 55 games, so the rearguard can help in fantasy leagues using those advanced stats, too.
Mats Zuccarello has been blanked in eight consecutive games heading into the weekend. He has a dismal -4 rating during that span. Is the 37-year-old simply starting to show his age? Or does he have a little bit left in the tank for the stretch run this season? Either way, he is easily the best Norwegian-born player in NHL history. Not only does he have 210 goals in 881 games, but the other eight NHL players born in Norway have managed just 49 total goals across 789 games. We didn’t even get into his 462 assists. He is also the only player from Norway with a positive plus-minus rating.
Anyway, the stroll down memory lane and the history of Norwegian-born players in the NHL is well and good, but we go back to the question, does Zuccarello offer fantasy value right now? He is still on pace for 17 goals and 50 points despite his recent scoreless skid, so the answer to that question is a resounding yes. He has managed at least 63 points in each of the past three seasons in Minnesota. If he ends up with 50 points, it is a step back, but he is still very useful for fantasy managers in leagues of 10 or more teams. You can get him dirt cheap right now.
Sell
The 27-year-old Troy Terry posted a goal with three points and a +2 rating on Thursday night against the Vancouver Canucks. He has a four-game point streak, posting a goal and six points with a +4 rating in the span. He also has two goals and 11 points across the past 11 games, so an average of a point-per-game over an extended period since January 21st. That looks pretty good, so why would you want to get rid of a red-hot player?
Terry is currently on pace for 24 goals and 64 points with a +7 rating, which would give him his fourth consecutive season of 20+ goals and 54+ points. The reason to get rid of Terry is because his plus/minus rating is +5, which is not sustainable on a bad Anaheim team. He hasn’t been in the positive since 2018-19 when he was +8 across 32 games. He has never been even or positive in a full NHL season in his career. If your league doesn’t penalize plus/minus, then, by all means, hang onto him.
Since flipping the calendar from January to February, Jason Zucker has managed a goal with seven points and a +4 rating in five games, including a power-play assist and a game-winning goal back on February 2nd. The 33-year-old forward is on pace for 26 goals and 63 points with a +6 rating, putting him in the exact same fantasy boat as Terry.
Zucker is having a resurgent season in Buffalo. His career high was 33 goals and 64 points in 2017-18 with the Minnesota Wild. He managed just 14 goals and 32 points across 69 NHL games last season, splitting time between the Arizona Coyotes and Nashville Coyotes. He is going to tail off, and his plus/minus rating is going to tank with the lowly Sabres. Yes, Buffalo has been playing well lately, but this is an organization that hasn’t been to the postseason since 2011. Flip him quickly, while his fantasy value is at its pinnacle.
Daniel E. Dobish is a featured writer at FantasyPros. For more from Daniel, follow him @danieledobish.
