Fantasy Advice...Sundays?!?!

Or: Where did I go for a week?

No I didn't have a stroke, but thanks for all the gift baskets! - via tvguide.com

By Josh Duncan

Fantasy Advice Fridays is now Fantasy Advice Sundays, until we can come up with a catchier name. 

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I have no excuse. I missed Fantasy Advice Friday last week and I even missed it two days ago, but I'm going to make up for it by changing up my game entirely. That's right, Fantasy Advice Sundays are here, and yes this is a permanent change. It may seem like a minor tweak, but most fantasy hockey players are in Yahoo! leagues, which runs head to head match ups from Monday to Sunday, making Friday a bit of a weird day for a fantasy article (minus Friday starting with the same letter as the word "fantasy.") By putting this article on Sunday it'll allow me to make suggestions based on your full week lineup, like picking up players who are playing on quieter nights in the NHL.


Usually I'll take a quick look at who has been getting hot over the past seven days, missing last week allows me to look over the past two weeks as a whole. The story of those past 14 days would be the offence of the Pittsburgh Penguins, centred entirely around four key cogs named Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, James Neal and Chris Kunitz.

All four should be headed to Sochi in February for the 2014 Winter Olympics (although I don't agree with automatically pencilling in Kunitz on Team Canada's initial roster), but more importantly they make up four of the top five ranked skaters over the last 14 days in Yahoo! fantasy hockey. If these guys have a game, no matter what team or goaltender you are facing, they should be in your lineup and you should be expecting points. It's also not a bad idea to look at other members of that high powered Penguins squad that may be on the waiver wire in your league. Brandon Sutter, Pascal Dupuis, Jussi Jokinen and Matt Niskanen are all good options in deeper leagues.

In the words of Dany Heatley, Gustav
Nyquist is a motherfucking all-star

Another potential huge pickup (if he hasn't been snatched up in your league already) would be Gustav Nyquist of the Detroit Red Wings. If he is still available in your league, jump all over him, as he would have been lighting up the league a lot earlier if not for Detroit's cap issues. Injuries gave the Wings the room to call Nyquist up and he has not disappointed. After 13 points in his first 40 NHL games over the past two seasons, the 24 year old Swede has four goals and a helper for five points in as many games and he's giving the Red Wings brass reason to make cap room for him once the team is healthy. He also has the benefit of playing alongside Henrik Zetterberg and Johan Franzen at the moment, who are both playing some of the best hockey of their careers as of late. Franzen is the fifth player in the top five of fantasy rankings over the last 14 days, holding esteemed company with the four aforementioned Penguins. While Zetterberg is no stranger to the top of the fantasy ranks, some might still be surprised to know he takes the honour of the sixth best fantasy forward over the last two weeks.

If you're like me and are in a Yahoo! league that has a few bench spots, there's nothing harder than picking which players to play and which players to sit on a busy Saturday, even on some Tuesdays and Thursdays. This week the Montreal Canadiens and New Jersey Devils are two teams that you may want to look at if you are making an add or two and have a lot of guys playing on the league's busy days. Both teams play four times, including a back to back against each other on the weeks quietest two days, Monday and Wednesday. The Habs play again Thursday, which is a busier day, while the Devils have another game on a quiet Friday, before both teams play once again on Saturday.

Desharnais is heating up, will he light up the Devils this week? - via nhl.com

If either Eric Gelinas or Andy Greene have yet to be picked up in your league I would grab them and I wouldn't even drop them at the end of the week. Both have proven to be solid point producers from the Devils back end. However there are some guys that will almost certainly be available on the waiver wire and would really just be temporary pick ups to try and max out your games played for the week. David Desharnais is starting to heat up alongside Max Pacioretty, and while Pacioretty isn't a waiver option, Desharnais is and could easily put up four or five points over the week. A few other potential waiver wire pickups from these two teams would be Adam Henrique, Michael Ryder or the ageless Dainius Zubrus from the Devils, while either of the Canadiens dynamic young duo of Alex Galchenyuk and Brendan Gallagher might be available if you're in a one year league.

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Somehow, Josh Duncan is the only TNZT writer with a fantasy hockey team this year. So this column is all his. Follow him on the Twitter machine at @Josh10Duncan