A few trades trickled out on Friday in the NHL, though one of them has more meaning for fantasy owners than the other.
Unless of course you play in a professional sports commissioner league that counts "stone cold moves" as a category. In which case, the John Scott deal netted you a ton of points for owning Gary Bettman. But, of course, if you drafted Bettman in such a league you were probably already winning.
The other deal intrigues us for fantasy purposes. Once again, David Perron gets a new home to try to rekindle his top-line talent that rarely shines through; this time, it's the Anaheim Ducks. Going the other way, speedy forward Carl Hagelin will get a chance to show he can bring the right chemistry to finally settle down the line combinations for the talented Pittsburgh Penguins.
David Perron, W, Anaheim Ducks: Perron had a full year with the Penguins, but just never did fit in on the wing with Sidney Crosby or Evgeni Malkin as we hoped. In fact, last January we conjured up the ghost of Jonathan Cheechoo to explain just how excited we were about Perron's potential with the Penguins. But it was never to be. Perron played 43 games with the Penguins last season, and scored a lowly 22 points. Coincidentally, he also played 43 games with the Penguins this season, and only had 16 points. Perron remains very talented with the puck, and it's been on display in the past. In 2011-12, he scored 21 goals and 42 points in only 57 games with the St. Louis Blues. In 2013-14, Perron managed 28 goals and 57 points in 78 games with the Edmonton Oilers. In the right situation, this guy can score.
Although we were burned just one year ago by the same guy in the same scenario, we are excited by Perron again. When Perron had his best season in 2011-12, he did it with David Backes as his center. The Ducks boast two fantastic two-way centers that play a similar style to Backes in Ryan Kesler and Ryan Getzlaf. Both are great options for Perron to find chemistry with, and we think with two chances to find a linemate, he'll find one that works. He also scored a bunch with Chris Stewart on his line with the Blues, and was thrown onto a line with Getzlaf and Stewart to finish Sunday's game. Sure enough, he scored a goal in his debut with the Ducks while playing with those two.
Carl Hagelin, W, Pittsburgh Penguins: The Penguins have been rotating line combinations this season at a rate matched by few other teams. Hagelin now gives them another variable to attempt to find some stability. Known well around the league for his speed, Hagelin was screening Eddie Lack while his teammates scored a goal within his first four minutes in a Penguins' uniform on Sunday. He played with Phil Kessel and Evgeni Malkin as his linemates, and is in prime position to become a fantasy factor overnight. He has twice scored 17 goals while playing a minimal role for the New York Rangers, but wasn't a good fit in Anaheim this season. Hagelin also has some familiarity with Patric Hornqvist, as the pair train together in the offseason, which adds another dynamic to his possible deployment with the Penguins. The bottom line is that Hagelin appears to be a fit for the Pens' top six for the time being, which warrants attention in fantasy leagues.
Both Perron and Hagelin should be targets for you from your free-agent pile. Perron is available in 81 percent of ESPN leagues, while Hagelin is available in 92 percent. If you have some dead weight and are looking for a pickup with some upside beyond that of a bottom-end roster scrub, make your move for them now.
Forwards rising and falling
Anze Kopitar, C, Los Angeles Kings (up 11 spots to No. 38): You never know, maybe the contract thing really was bugging him. Kopitar started the season excruciatingly slow for fantasy owners as his free-agency loomed at the end of this campaign. The Kings announced this weekend that they've locked up their top-line center for the next eight seasons, which means the contract likely looked promising for some time now. Maybe that explains why Kopitar flipped his switch in December. Since Dec. 1, Kopitar has 25 points in 21 games. Stretches like this dominance don't tend to last a whole season for Kopitar, but he took the first two months off, so this particular streak could well carry to the end of the campaign.
Defensemen rising and falling
Jake Muzzin, D, Los Angeles Kings (up 37 spots to No. 148): Quietly -- almost too quietly -- Muzzin has been among the most valuable fantasy defensemen of late. The Kings are seven games into 2016, and Muzzin has a point in every one of them. He will also match his previous high for shots in a month this season -- which was 28, in December -- sometime in the next two games, as he's fired 21 already this month. The Kings have really settled on their current power-play deployment, with Drew Doughty and Muzzin on the blue line. Clearly the situation works for Muzzin. He's now 12th on the ESPN Player Rater for defensemen this season, which is the cut-off for what we consider a No. 1 fantasy defenseman. Here's betting you can still trade for Muzzin for a lot less than that.
Goaltenders rising and falling
Petr Mrazek, G, Detroit Red Wings (up 26 spots to No. 78): Without looking, you may have guessed that Braden Holtby, Jonathan Quick or Corey Crawford was the top goaltender on the ESPN Player Rater for fantasy value during the past 30 days. You'd be wrong. Mrazek tops the list thanks to his dominant ratios of .942 save percentage and 1.69 goals-against average during the past month. Jimmy Howard now appears to be a thing of the past, and Mrazek can finally start moving up the goaltender ranks with no threat of a timeshare.
Frederik Andersen, G, Anaheim Ducks (up 12 spots to No. 170): Speaking of timeshares, there could be another one brewing in Anaheim following Andersen looking the more solid of the two options of late. It's not that John Gibson has been particularly bad, but in five starts in calendar year 2016, he's posted a save percentage below .900 three times, and lost three times. That's not horrific for fantasy owners, but it compares unfavorably to both his own numbers in the 2015 portion of the season and Andersen's numbers in recent starts. For his part, Andersen has stopped 82 of 87 pucks (.943) sent his way in 2016 while winning two of three starts. This job is still Gibson's for now, especially with Andersen missing Sunday with an upper-body injury, but the tide could be shifting if Gibson doesn't get back to his formerly dominant self.
Updated top 250 rankings
Here are the updated rest-of-season, top 250 rankings of forwards, defensemen and goalies, including position ranks.
Note: Sean Allen's top 250 players are ranked for their expected performance in ESPN standard leagues from this point on, not on the statistics that have already been accrued. ESPN standard stats include goals, assists, power-play points, shots on goal, plus/minus, penalty minutes and average time on ice for skaters, and wins, goals-against average and save percentage for goalies.