Here's a look around the league at the latest trends after another week of hockey. Some food for thought, some leftover stats and, of course, some fantasy advice. Let's dig in.
All fancy stats courtesy Natural Stat Trick.
Predator or Prey
Let's just start with some simple math with the Predators. Even with Saturday's convincing win against the Blue Jackets, the Preds enter Sunday with a .412 points percentage, seventh in the Central with the fourth-place Stars at .583 with five games in hand. The Preds are nearly a third through their season, but Smashville has been such a lame party they're already presumed to be sellers. To have a chance at catching the Stars, who are projected to finish with 67 points according to The Athletic, the Preds will have to earn 53 points in their next 39 games — essentially a top-10 points percentage pace — and they have to play the Hurricanes, Lightning and Panthers a combined 17 times.
Those who have already soured on Ryan Johansen (15 percent rostered), Matt Duchene (38 percent) and Viktor Arvidsson (48 percent) have been well ahead of the fantasy landscape. Duchene, Arvidsson and Mikael Granlund (8 percent) finished with no points Saturday against Columbus despite the win, but there's definitely some untapped value.
It's interesting to note Johansen, Granlund, Duchene and Arvidsson have good possession numbers, but they're having a horrible time finishing their chances and constantly get burned by bad defense and goaltending. One of the Preds' problems
