This season our scouting department will be giving an update prior to the start of each game week to give you all the information you need to get your team top of the standings.
Roster Moves
Once again we have quite a few new signings this week. We mentioned about the injury news in goal for Sheffield last week with both import goalies struggling. They have therefore brought in Jere Huhtamaa, who has bounced around the Finnish leagues over the last few seasons. He has generally have some decent numbers when he’s settled at the one team for a considerable time but has struggled in his first week in Sheffield, losing all three games. He is added in at 8.5M while he will get all the starts for a while for what is still a strong Sheffield team.
Former Sheffield defenceman Sam Jones is also back in the league, although it is with Guildford who have some injury issues of their own. He is a solid defenceman in his own zone but can contribute offensively as evidenced with his goal scoring start this weekend. He is added with his previous value when at Sheffield, 4.5M. Elsewhere we have a few departures and a few players changing teams. Last week we mentioned Alex Robert had left Storm but he has now signed for Dundee and picked up a point in his first game. Fife Flyers have also signed Ben Brown and both will now be available for their new teams at the same value as they previously where. In terms of departures we have had Michael Pelech, Maxim Musorov and Hunter Vorva leave their teams. In terms of selections we have 7, 11 and 2 GM’s who will also need to move them on from their team.
In terms of selections, the injury to Matt Greenfield is reflecting in his ownership numbers as he was down to 109 teams at the start of the week with that likely to drop down again. Ben Bowns has also dropped in ownership by 8 teams although he did come back from his small injury this weekend. Jordan Kawaguchi and Jake Elmer have also seen a drop in selections of at least four teams.
The rush to sign Coventry goalie Mat Robson continues with another 10 selections last week. In total that is an increase of 45 selections sign the start of the season for the Blaze number one who is getting nearly every start for one of the form teams in the league. His team mate Nick Seitz has also had a increase of 7 selections over the last week after his 65 points in week 12. Panthers goalie Ryan Bednard also has an increase of six selections.
Who’s Hot?
This week lets have a look at one of the more trickier positions to fill in your team, your goalies.
With a lot of injuries and roster moves we’ll look at each team to see who is currently between the pipes –
Belfast – Tom McCollum/Jackson Whistle – McCollum is getting around 2 out of every 3 starts for the Giants but when Whistle does play it is generally against the weaker teams in the league, increasing his chance for points.
Glasgow – Landon Bow/Lucas Brine – similar to the Belfast duo, Landon Bow is getting 2 out of every 3 or even 3 out of every 4 starts for Glasgow. However Brine does tend to play the more winnable games as shown by the home fixture against Fife this week.
Cardiff – Ben Bowns/Taz Burman – with Mac Carruth currently out injured, the time in goal will be split between Bowns and Burman. With Bowns having been injured himself we’d expect an even split at the moment with Bowns taking over gradually.
Coventry – Mat Robson/Will Bray – with Robson being the only import goalie he has played nearly every minute so far for a Coventry team sitting second in the league.
Dundee – Jarrett Fiske/Richard Sabol – Sabol has taken up most of the ice time so far but Fiske is getting a good number of starts considering his 5.5M value.
Fife – Shane Owen/Janis Voris – as usual Shane Owen is playing nearly every minute for Fife with Voris getting a rare start on occasion.
Guildford – Eamon McAdam/Jake Kupsky – as it stands McAdam and Kupsky are splitting the starts evenly keeping them both fresh. In terms of fantasy selections it is worth picking up Kupsky with him being the cheaper option of the two.
Manchester – Evan Weninger/Alex Oldale – Weninger is taking nearly all the starts for the Storm just like last year. He was extremely good value last year when Storm were in the top half of the table, but isn’t so much this year with them currently out of the playoff positions.
Nottingham – Ryan Bednard/Luca Sheldon – Bednard has started nearly all the games so far but his time was going to reduce with Hunter Vorva returning to fitness. However Vorva has left this week so he is likely to continue in goal each game until a replacement is found for Vorva.
Sheffield – Jere Huhtamaa/Curtis Warburton – with both import goalies injured, the games are for Huhtamaa full time at the moment.
Player Scores – Fantasy hockey league UK
Our scout tip for this week is Ryan Bednard. The Panthers seem to be hitting form now and the signing of Mitch Fossier should give their struggling offense a boost. Bednard should play every game and at 8.0M is great value.
Who’s Not?
In this section we will look at those players performing below their projections based on value and whose form has dropped off.
Injuries are becoming a big issue for many teams at the moment, so lets look at who is out long term according to Elite Prospects. There will be plenty of players with knocks as well who may be playing hurt.
Matt Alfaro – Nottingham Panthers
Mac Carruth – Cardiff Devils
Joe Cassetti – Belfast Giants
Johnny Curran – Fife Flyers
Marco De Filippo – Sheffield Steelers
Matt Greenfield – Sheffield Steelers
Joel Janatuinen – Sheffield Steelers
Noah Kaariainen – Manchester Storm
Colton Saucerman – Sheffield Steelers
Hunter Shinkaruk – Cardiff Devils
Brett Welychka – Guildford Flames
Upcoming Schedule
Pretty simple for us this week with all teams playing twice although Glasgow have two home games and Belfast two away games. Glasgow start the week off on Friday at home to Manchester, and then follow it up on Saturday at home to Dundee. Manchester return home on Saturday to face Fife, who then welcome Guildford on Sunday. The Flames have a home game on Saturday against the Panthers.
Cardiff have two tough games this week with a home game against Belfast, followed by a trip to Nottingham. Belfast continue their road trip with a visit to Coventry on Sunday. Coventry start their week off in Sheffield on Saturday. The struggling Steelers then finish the week with a trip to Dundee.
