We’re motoring through the NHL season as we approach the brief Christmas break! Now is a great time to scour the trade block and see if you can gain some value in fleecing a member of your league.
Let’s look at some names worth buying and selling in Week 10!
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NHL Fantasy Hockey Week 10 Buy/Sell Advice
Buy
Still, 98.6% rostered in ESPN leagues, few have lost faith in Kreider during a season that’s seen his goal-scoring regress. However, there was absolutely no way to pry him away from a team last season, so now might be the time to buy while his value has dipped.
I mean, he still had 14 goals in 30 games, a cool 38-goal season across a full 82-game season. However, Kreider scored 52 goals with a 20.2% shooting rate last season. Regression was certainly in the cards this time, as his 14.4% shooting clip this season is in line with his 14.9% career mark.
Goals aside, this guy is a notable cross-category contributor. He’s fired 97 shots on goal (3.23 per game), is a plus-seven, has nine power-play points, and has dished out a hefty 61 hits. He’s at just 10 penalty minutes but has managed as many as 88 in a season, so I’d expect an uptick in the PIMs department as well.
Not helping his cause is the fact he’s not skating with Mika Zibanejad on the team’s top line but rather the team’s second-best center Vincent Trocheck. The Rangers’ offense — among other things — hasn’t clicked as well this season, and head coach Gerard Gallant hasn’t been shy in mixing up his lines. This isn’t to say he can’t return to Zibanejad’s flank at some point.
He’s not going anywhere from the Rangers’ top power-play unit alongside elite power-play skill in Zibanejad, Artemi Panarion, and Adam Fox. The Rangers are 16th with a 22.7% power-play clip on the season, but that group has as much talent and upside as just about any in the league.
He’s scored in bunches before, so now is the time to hop on the cross-contributing Kreider before a potential offensive explosion occurs.
How Brayden Point is rostered in just over 90% of ESPN leagues is beyond me. This is a premier pivot in this league and a guy who is vastly out-producing many with superior rosterships.
His recent hot streak could help explain the subpar rostership as he was having a “down” season not too long ago, at least by his lofty standards. Point has caught fire of late, collecting five goals and six points over his last four games while scoring in all four contests. He’s also averaged five shots per game in that time.
I’m willing to buy all day on whoever is centering Nikita Kucherov at both five-on-five and on the top power-play unit on a Lightning group that ranks fifth with a 27.9% clip on the man advantage.
With 15 goals, 15 assists, and 10 power-play points across 28 games on the season, what’s not to like here? He’s obviously not going to rack up penalty minutes or many hits, but he has contributed well with 86 shots on goal, good for a healthy 3.07 shots a night.
Maybe he’s not an elite center the same way we would describe Connor McDavid, Auston Matthews, Sidney Crosby, and co. After a 92-point season in 2018-19, Point has failed to reach a point-per-game campaign and registered 58 points in 66 games last season.
However, even with a recency bias, Point is absolutely worth a look as the Bolts’ top center at 5v5 and PP1 alongside one of, if not the best right winger in the sport.
Sell
This advice isn’t tailored to non-competing teams in dynasty leagues, but Zegras hasn’t lived up to the hype this season, and it’s hard to blame him.
In short, the Ducks are brutal, and it’s not Zegras’ fault. The sophomore is skating on the league’s last-place team and a squad that has somehow managed just one (!!!) regulation win in their 30 games on the campaign. Not helping his cause is that his club ranks 32nd in overall offense and 31st on the power play. The Ducks are very much the worst team in the NHL.
As a result, his stat line isn’t so bad. Zegras has notched 10 goals and 23 points in 30 games with 70 shots on goal. He’s even been handed 26 penalty minutes with a palatable 23 hits on the season despite a minus-11 rating. Considering his supporting cast, that’s not too shabby. However, you can find such production on the waiver wire, especially in 10-team leagues.
Therefore, his name value outweighs his production at the moment. After all, he’s still being rostered in 88.6% of ESPN leagues, about 2% less than Point whose production has been far superior, at least from the perspective of points, shots, plus-minus, and power-play points.
You’re not rostering Zegras in non-keeper or non-dynasty leagues for the peripheral stats. You want goals, assists, and power-play points from him, and he’s just not doing that consistently on a brutal Ducks team that won’t allow his plus-minus to improve at all.
See if you can package Zegras and his name brand for a player — such as Point — who is being viewed as similar peers at this time.
Toffoli isn’t the worst player on your roster, as he’s been solid across the board this season, but he’s a player that can be used in a trade package as a result.
In 29 games this season, Toffoli hasn’t been a liability in plus/minus (plus-two), power-play points (nine), shots (91), and hits (34). However, he still has just 10 goals and 21 points in those 29 contests and is rostered in almost 87% of ESPN leagues. Again, that type of point production can easily be found on the waiver wire.
He’s not excelling in any particular category save for shots on goal and perhaps power-play points. However, he has just 10 penalty minutes, his plus-minus of plus-two is more or less negligible, and his 34 hits are solid but not elite. There are many waiver-wire products with more than nine PP points as well.
This is another example of a name-brand player being held onto by far too many owners. I’m not exactly sure why, actually, as his career-high of 31 goals came back in the 2015-16 season with the L.A. Kings while he’s never approached a point-per-game pace in his career. Toffoli’s 2020-21 campaign was his best in terms of pace, with 28 goals and 44 points in 52 contests.
All that said, it’s worth floating Toffoli out there to see if anyone bites on a player whose rostership isn’t correlating with his production.
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