Fantasy Hockey Trade Targets: Jan. 13
At this point in the fantasy hockey season, you likely know where your team stands.
There are three tiers of teams and they are top of the pack, teams with 9-13 wins, wild card contenders, teams with 6-8 wins or maybe five depending on the league, or the sellers who likely need a miracle to get into the playoff race.
A player that could be traded at his highest value right now is Bruins goaltender Linus Ullmark who has been the best goaltender in the entire NHL so far.
He is averaging 5.5 fantasy points per game which is not sustainable and there is an injury history to consider.
A likely return would include another mid-to-top tier goaltender like Jake Oettinger or Alexandar Georgiev and a solid forward or defenseman who can start on a regular basis.
An under the radar trade target on the wing is Sharks forward Timo Meier who has 107.8 fantasy points on the season.
Meier is not your typical big-name player, so it may not take as much to get him as it would other players around that point total. It would probably take a solid starter and another piece to get him.
Meier has more points this season than Jack Hughes, Matthew Tkachuk, Kyle Connor and Mitchell Marner which is surprising given the Sharks struggles.
Another player to take a run at is Capitals defenseman John Carlson who will be out for a while but in the long run he has the potential to return well before the playoffs and will be one of the best defensemen in the league in that time. A team caught up with a lot of injuries would look to offload him and the value would not be that much on him as he will miss a significant portion of time.
The only teams that should be considering Carlson are the tier one teams who are destined to make the playoffs and have an extra roster spot to play with.
It would likely just take a healthy player with little to no injury to get Carlson right now depending on how the team’s roster is shaped.
Another interesting buy-low trade target is Blackhawks defenseman Jake McCabe who has the potential to get traded to a contender which would likely increase his point potential.
McCabe is still a serviceable defenseman at the moment that can either be picked up off the waiver wire or traded for at a very small cost.
While there are many other defensemen still on the market, the value will be much better targeting defensemen who have been producing at a steady rate on a bad team with the hope that they get traded to a better team and their production goes up.
James Morrison is a junior majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email jpm6920@psu.edu.
