Fantasy hockey rankings update – How to prep for the trade deadline

With the all-star game in the rearview, the next date to circle in the NHL calendar is the trade deadline. Teams have until March 21 to make a move to improve their team heading into the postseason.

The wrinkle here, however, is that unless you have a league manager that adjusted your settings, the default fantasy trade deadline in ESPN leagues is March 18. That will add an additional level of speculative moves required in order to capitalize on player movement.

And you do want to try to capitalize on it. A trade has the potential to have a major impact on fantasy. The right player moving to the right place can create a perfect storm of skill and opportunity.

The hockey pundits have varying lists of players expected to be dealt before the deadline. The challenge in fantasy is identifying which ones have the potential to land in that perfect storm scenario. Not only do you have to look at the player, but you have to look at the available roles to be filled. In fact, I would argue the roles that need to be filled are even more important when it comes to fantasy relevance of a trade.

With that in mind, rather than focus first on the players that many believe are available, let’s have a look at the most fantasy-relevant roles open to being filled at the deadline.

Teams find a way to dance around the salary cap, so I won’t be factoring that in when speculating on player acquisition, but it’s something to keep in mind. Keep in mind that to be a fantasy-friendly role, it needs to be with a club in the hunt for the playoffs and the in-house options need to be generally less appealing than the potential trade targets.

Edmonton Oilers goaltender: The Oilers are very much still in the mix for the postseason and the only arguable hole in the lineup from a fantasy perspective is the crease. Mike Smith can be good, but cannot be relied on to stay healthy in the twilight of his career. Mikko…