Coffee in the Crease: The Second Half

Welcome back everyone and hope that you all had a nice All-Star break. Looking ahead at this week it’s a fairly “normal” week with a very small slate on Sunday. The NHL isn’t going to try and compete against the Super Bowl. With that, let’s dive in!

Start/sits post all-star break

Yesterday afternoon Jaroslav Halak got the start for the New York Rangers against the Calgary Flames, which meant Igor Shesterkin sat on the bench. Maybe a surprising move here considering Shesterkin hasn’t started in a game since late January (even though he did play some in the All-Star game), but not getting the nod after significant rest time was maybe a little unexpected for fantasy players.

This though I think is something that is going to occur on tonight’s slate and possibly tomorrow’s as well, starting goaltenders getting an even longer break. It’s difficult throughout the season to give these guys rest. Sure, you get the occasional Sunday off, or you have a week where your club may only play twice, but it’s tough for teams to find rest periods throughout the regular season. Shesterkin's status last night didn’t indicate that something was wrong in the case of an injury, but that the Rangers know they’ll need him for the bulk of starts leading up to playoffs.

I don’t think it’s unreasonable to think that we may see more goaltenders this week get some time off and I don’t think it’s hard to imagine a world where some goalies' timing may look a bit off following the break. Remember back a few seasons ago when the NHL introduced league mandated breaks. A team would have a week or so off then back in action and the play on the ice from the clubs that had rest was usually worse than ones that didn’t. Andrei Vasilevskiy might be a good example of this last night, allowing seven goals against the Florida Panthers. I think in constructing your lineup this week I’d put it together as you usually would but be leery of potential off starts and always make sure your goaltenders are confirmed.

Markstrom Frustrations

When typing, does anyone on accident hit the caps lock making the word you’re typing all caps by mistake? It just happened to me as the word “Frustrations” at the top became FRUSTRATIONS, but for Jacob Markstrom this season I think that’s adequate.

If you’re in a league like mine you’ve probably gotten the Jonathan Huberdeau trade at some point, or a text gaging interest and I feel like the conversation around this Flames club is often around him along with the trade last summer. I don’t think though that we’re talking about just how much Markstrom has struggled this season. This was a goaltender that arguably was just outside of the top five starters last season as crazy as that sounds now. In 2021-22 Markstrom was 6th best in goals saved above average and 7th best in high danger goals saved above average. This season in those same categories he is 9th worst and 11th worst, an extremely steep drop-off.

Hand up, I drafted Markstrom fairly early in one of my leagues and I know I’m not the only one out there who did so. I wanted the consistency in starts as well as the solid play in net whenever the Flames were on the slate. Now the question for those holding on to Markstrom in their league is if he is someone to drop (if you haven’t already), my best answer here is that if you are in a league that drafts each season or say a five-skater keeper league I’d shoot him straight onto the waiver wire and move on. For those in dynasty though I feel like riding this out is the way to go, it’s a tough pill to swallow but if you already have him on your roster, I’d give it this season and into next before making that decision.

Goalies to target this week

Petr Mrazek, Chicago Blackhawks (Rostered in 34% of ESPN leagues, 15% Fantrax, 4% Yahoo) 21 starts, 5 wins, 1 OTL, 4.05 GA/G, .855 Sv%, 0 SO

Yes, I’m recommending Petr Mrazek here but let’s talk this out. The Chicago Blackhawks will be in action tonight against the Anaheim Ducks at home and then their next game will also be at home against the Arizona Coyotes. The Hawks are bad, but those two clubs may be worse. I know what the standings tell us here but if you need someone that’s lower rostered and in decent spots, I think this fits both.

Sergei Bobrovsky, Florida Panthers (Rostered in 53% of ESPN leagues, 76% Fantrax, 80% Yahoo) 30 starts, 13 wins, 2 OTL, 3.17 GA/G, .900 Sv%, 1 SO

This is a DFS play just as much as it is a fantasy one. For DFS, Bobrovsky returned to the starters net yesterday against the Tampa Bay Lightning and was min-priced on DraftKings. I can’t think that he’ll be that cheap again the next time the Florida Panthers are on the schedule (Thursday against the San Jose Sharks), but there’s a chance he’s still on the cheaper side and makes for a great pairing with Florida’s second line that has been excellent the past couple of weeks. For fantasy, those that started him yesterday got an easy win from Bobrovsky, but I like the idea of starting him Thursday against the Sharks and beyond. It doesn’t look like the Alex Lyon experiment is going to continue and with Spencer Knight still recovering from an upper-body injury, it’s likely that this will be Bobrovsky’s net this week.

For continued fantasy news and notes throughout the season, follow me on Twitter @ndySanz