This article is part of our The Man Advantage series.
Hello again, everyone. In this edition of the Man Advantage, we take a detailed look at the impact the recent trade deadline had on five teams -- Florida, Boston, Minnesota, Washington and Chicago. Specifically, we examine the implications trades had for each team's power play and the fantasy values of the players involved.
Florida Panthers
The Panthers are still in the hunt for a wild-card playoff spot and have brought in Jaromir Jagr as a rental player to help them get to the promised land. Since his arrival, Jagr has typically been lining up on the Cats' second PP unit alongside Brad Boyes, Brandon Pirri, Jussi Jokinen and either Aaron Ekblad or Brian Campbell. The Panthers (26th overall in the NHL's PP rankings, 15.6 percent) are a weaker PP team compared to the Devils, Jagr's former squad (ninth, 19.4 percent), so Jagr's PP production may not increase significantly as a result of the trade. In addition, it looks like Jagr is still feeling the effects of the rash of illnesses (flu, mumps) he has struggled with the last couple months -- he sat out the March 5 game against the Stars -- so keep an eye on his status. A healthy Jagr may be worth a pickup if he's available on the waiver wire, but that may not be the case if he continues to miss games. Meanwhile, you might also want to check out one of Jagr's linemates, Brandon Pirri, who has seen limited playing
Hello again, everyone. In this edition of the Man Advantage, we take a detailed look at the impact the recent trade deadline had on five teams -- Florida, Boston, Minnesota, Washington and Chicago. Specifically, we examine the implications trades had for each team's power play and the fantasy values of the players involved.
Florida Panthers
The Panthers are still in the hunt for a wild-card playoff spot and have brought in Jaromir Jagr as a rental player to help them get to the promised land. Since his arrival, Jagr has typically been lining up on the Cats' second PP unit alongside Brad Boyes, Brandon Pirri, Jussi Jokinen and either Aaron Ekblad or Brian Campbell. The Panthers (26th overall in the NHL's PP rankings, 15.6 percent) are a weaker PP team compared to the Devils, Jagr's former squad (ninth, 19.4 percent), so Jagr's PP production may not increase significantly as a result of the trade. In addition, it looks like Jagr is still feeling the effects of the rash of illnesses (flu, mumps) he has struggled with the last couple months -- he sat out the March 5 game against the Stars -- so keep an eye on his status. A healthy Jagr may be worth a pickup if he's available on the waiver wire, but that may not be the case if he continues to miss games. Meanwhile, you might also want to check out one of Jagr's linemates, Brandon Pirri, who has seen limited playing time this season due to injury (upper body) and healthy scratch. However, he has five PP goals in 31 games this season, the latest two coming against the Sabres on Feb. 28, and he's scored two even-strength goals since then. He's averaging 17-18 minutes per game now, compared to the 12-13 minutes he saw at the start of the season, so his stock appears to be on the rise in Sunrise.
Boston Bruins
For the first time since I can remember, the Bruins are not sitting comfortably atop the Eastern Conference standings with the playoffs looming just over the horizon. Instead, like the Panthers, they are vying for a wild-card spot with roughly four weeks to go in the regular season. Normally one of the NHL's powerhouse PP teams, the B's are a below-average PP squad this season, 23rd overall with a 16.9-percent success rate. At the trade deadline, the B's only notable acquisitions were Brett Connolly (out six weeks with a broken finger) and Maxime Talbot - two players who will not have much PP impact, if any. However, for fantasy purposes, one hidden gem that has slowly emerged in recent weeks is 18-year-old rookie David Pastrnak, who has 14 points in his last 22 games since joining the roster full-time in January. Pastrnak only has one PP goal to his credit, but with David Krejci (knee) landing on long-term IR earlier this week, Pastrnak is now seeing regular PP minutes for the first time in two months, including a whopping 4:05 on Feb. 28 against the Coyotes. He's lining up on the Bruins' second PP unit with Carl Soderberg and Milan Lucic. Another rookie to look at is Ryan Spooner, who has four even-strength points in five games since being recalled from AHL Providence. He's playing the top PP line with Patrice Bergeron and Loui Eriksson.
Minnesota Wild
The Wild are one of the Western Conference's wild-card hopefuls, battling with the likes of Winnipeg, San Jose and Los Angeles for one of the final two playoff spots in the West. Despite having the likes of Zach Parise, Thomas Vanek and Jason Pominville on the roster, the Wild have been one of the weakest PP teams in the NHL, third to last at 15.0 percent. To help them get over the hump, the Wild acquired Chris Stewart from Buffalo to shore up the right side of the lineup. In his first game with his new team (March 3 vs. OTT), Stewart saw 15:06 in ice time, including 2:02 on the power play skating on the second unit alongside Mikael Granlund and Nino Niederreiter. Of note, Stewart assisted on Mathew Dumba's second goal of the game against the Sens, which was officially recorded as an even-strength goal but may as well have been a PP marker as it happened just as the penalty expired. And while we're on the subject of Dumba, he's played a more prominent role on the blue line lately, with several of the Wild's regular defensemen out with injury, including Keith Ballard (concussion), Jared Spurgeon (head) and Marco Scandella (undisclosed). He's been seeing 18-19 minutes per night lately, compared to his season average of roughly 13 minutes, and this includes 1-2 minutes on the second PP unit. Dumba has four goals in his last eight games, including one of the PP variety.
Washington Capitals
Clinging desperately to a wild-card spot, the Capitals acquired Curtis Glencross from the Flames to bolster their forward corps. Glencross, who recently returned from a long stint on IR due to a lower-body injury, was a frequent scratch for the first three months of the season in Calgary and should see more regular ice time with the Caps. However, although he was getting regular PP minutes with the Flames -- roughly two minutes per game on average -- this has not been the case so far with his new team. In his first two games, his PP minutes were 0:35 and 0:16, respectively, though don't be fooled by the 0:16. In that game (March 5 vs. MIN), Glencross himself scored just 16 seconds into the Caps' first PP opportunity in the first period, after which the Wild never took another penalty for the remainder of the game. Bottom line, though, coach Barry Trotz still tends to lean very heavily on his first PP unit of Alexander Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom and Troy Brouwer, so Glencross will be lucky to see the same kind of PP minutes he was seeing in Calgary. So far with the Caps, his PP linemates have been Evgeny Kuznetsov and Joel Ward.
Chicago Blackhawks
The Blackhawks will never be able to plug the hole left by the loss of Patrick Kane, who will miss 12 weeks with a fractured clavicle. However, that didn't stop them from obtaining Antoine Vermette from the Coyotes at the trade deadline. Vermette was ranked second-highest among Coyotes forwards in average PP minutes per game (2:45), and 13 of his 22 points this season have come with the man advantage. Given the solid upgrade to his supporting cast following the trade to Chicago, his fantasy value has definitely been kicked up a few notches. He didn't see any PP time in his Chicago debut on March 2 against Carolina (the Hurricanes took no penalties that game), but Vermette should slot in on the Hawks' second PP line alongside Patrick Sharp, Kris Versteeg, Brad Richards and the also newly-acquired Kimmo Timonen. Speaking of Timonen, he's an interesting case, considering he hadn't played a single game all season for the Flyers due to blood clots in his leg. Now that he's healthy, it will be interesting to see if the 39-year-old defenseman still has anything left in the tank. Last season with the Flyers, 20 of Timonen's 35 points came on the power play, so he should be a valuable addition for the Hawks, assuming he stays healthy.
