We’re about to wrap up the first full month of the 2024-25 National Hockey League fantasy season. Where does time go? Thankfully, we’ll be able to watch hockey games in the United States without the spectre of political advertisements this week, and for that, we can all be thankful.
As you know, this piece focuses on two players who are buy candidates, likely performing well below expectations lately or for the season. Despite the player’s upside, you should be able to pluck them from another fantasy manager without a high price tag. On the flip side, there are a ton of overachievers who you might have just gotten off of the waiver wire or drafted in the late rounds, which you can flip to another manager for a player with a much higher average draft position and brighter fantasy outlook.
Let’s dive in.
NHL Fantasy Hockey Trade Advice (Week 4)
Buy
The Blackhawks signed “Turbo” to a 3-year contract with an average annual salary of $5.4 million. So far, the returns haven’t been great. The 30-year-old Finn has had a propensity for slow starts and erratic performances throughout his career. A fan favourite in Carolina, he posted a career-high 25 goals with 53 points and a plus-10 rating last season while lighting the lamp nine times on the power play. However, after a hot start with three goals and seven points in the first five outings, he has managed just a single power-play goal with no assists in the past nine games since Oct. 19. We know that Teravainen is a player with a basement of 50 points, while he has the potential for 65-75 points when he is locked in. If we just aim for the basement of 50 points, that would give him 42 points across 68 games, or roughly .62 points per game. Couple that with the fact he sees plenty of time on the power play, and he is a prime trade target. In addition, he rarely takes a penalty if you’re in leagues which reward good behaviour, and if your league doesn’t count poor plus/minus rating too severely, even better.
Zegras suffered a broken left ankle in mid-January last season in Nashville, and he is still seemingly trying to recover from that injury. In his past two NHL seasons, he has managed seven goals and just 11 assists across 43 games. This season, he is taking plenty of shots and buzzing around the net, but he has a shooting percentage of just 4.2%. The 23-year-old pivot struck for an empty-net goal in the opener at San Jose on Oct. 12, and he hasn’t scored since. Zegras is too talented of a player to be performing at this level. He has just a goal and three points with a minus-6 rating in 12 games this season. Remember, he averaged 23.0 goals and 63.0 points while averaging 78.0 games played in two NHL seasons from 2021-23. This is a player capable of playing well and has the potential to play at a high level. There are some fantasy pools where he is available off of the waiver wire. If you can jar him loose from another unsuspecting fantasy manager, the time is now, and the price tag will be dirt cheap.
Sell
Part of the reason the Hurricanes couldn’t afford the AAV for a player like Teravainen (above), is because they needed to pay the young core of players like Necas, Seth Jarvis, etc. It is working out for Tom Dundon’s Carolina squad, as Necas has taken his game to another level this season. He inked a 2-year, $13 million contract extension in the offseason, which looks like a steal. Necas, who is from my favourite hometown of any NHL player – Nove Mesto na Morave, Czechia – has managed a ridiculous seven goals and 20 points with a plus-9 rating through just 11 games. He has lit the lamp twice on the power play while chipping in with six helpers on the man advantage. If you extrapolate his production over the course of an 82-game schedule, Necas is on pace for 52 goals, 97 assists and a wondrous plus-67 rating. Obviously, this pace is not sustainable. Of course, you’re not going to want just to give Necas away, either, but the haul should be pretty substantial while his fantasy value is at its pinnacle.
The 27-year-old pivot from Mississauga, Ont. – shoutout to the Steelheads of the OHL – has been on a blistering pace to start the 2024-25 campaign. He has four goals with 19 points and a plus-12 rating through only 12 games. He is finding the back of the net with a sparkling 21.1% shooting percentage while averaging 17:20 of ice time (TOI). Strome will also mix it up a bit, taking eight minutes of penalties, which will help in leagues that reward PIM. Strome averaged 25.0 goals and 66.0 points across the first two seasons in the nation’s capital, so it’s not terribly surprising that he is productive. But, like Necas above, this level of production just isn’t sustainable, either. Strome is on target for 27 goals and 130 points with a plus-82 rating across a full season. There are some lean times ahead, and the plus-minus rating will also likely take a hit once the Caps cool off. They’re off to a 9-3-0 start, which is also something that is expected to calm down. When you make your case to another manager to trade Strome, it is definitely key to the projected production. Strome might not have the cache or name recognition of others, at least to the casual fan or fantasy player.