Geek of the week: Preseason injuries create opportunities

With a second full week of regular season hockey on the books, we’re back in full swing for the ongoing NHL season. This time of year is crucial to keep your eyes on the abandonment wire. There’s always solid value to be found this time of year. Be it emerging scenarios where players step into bigger roles with their teams, or even players that other owners have dropped too quickly. I find that those first three or four weeks can be really crucial to your team’s long-term outcome at the end of the season. This week I’ll be highlighting a few players not in a ton of leagues who might have a little more upside potential than anticipated for now due to injuries that have opened up bigger roles. Let’s take a look!

Danton Heinen

Here’s a perfect example of a player who hasn’t traditionally been a fantasy hockey asset, but given his current circumstances, I’m ready to play with him for the foreseeable future. Heinen is 27 years old and is just beginning his playing career. After developing for nearly four seasons with the Boston Bruins, he traded to the Anaheim Ducks. There he played out his contract and last year signed a one-year contract with the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Both sides both seemed happy, so Heinen landed another one-season deal that year. Beginning his seventh season, Henien was always a center six who was generally solid, although his numbers don’t really catch the eye. He’s a reliable player but doesn’t particularly excel in any stats, so he’s rarely mattered in terms of fantasy. That is, until he lined up on the Sidney Crosby wing. With an unfortunate injury to Jake Guentzel, the Penguins found themselves with a gaping hole in their first line going into last night’s contest against Columbus.

In fact, Heinen got the call to play on Crosby’s line and he certainly made the most of his opportunity, burying two goals. He was also highly praised by Crosby after the game, so I’d say it’s probably a safe bet that the line will remain intact, at least for now. We’ve seen over the years the benefits playing with Crosby can bring to a player. Guys like Bryan Rust and Chris Kunitz immediately come to mind. We don’t currently have a timeline for Guentzel’s return, but if you have a spot on your list, Heinen definitely has low risk and high upside potential.

I was dying to write the Penguins off this season too, but unsurprisingly they’ve had another strong start to the season. Heinen already has three goals and three assists in just five games. He shoots a lot too, averaging just under three shots per game so far. The only real setback is that he’s stuck in the second powerplay unit as Rickard Rakell slipped to Guentzel’s top unit spot. Not surprisingly, Heinen is still available pretty much everywhere at this point. He only owns 2 percent of Yahoo, while he owns 16 percent of Fantrax. It also accommodates two wings, making it easier to squeeze into your lineups.

Shane Pinto

Much like the aforementioned Heinen, Pinto is the beneficiary of a potentially bigger role due to a teammate’s injury. Yesterday afternoon Josh Norris had to leave the game with a shoulder injury that could keep him on the shelf for a decent time. Norris was visibly frustrated walking into the team’s dressing room, so one could speculate that he might also think he could have an extended absence. It sucks when a solid player goes down, especially a guy like Norris who’s young and in a top 6 role like him. But in fantasy sports, one man’s loss is always another man’s chance, and that’s where Pinto comes in.

Pinto was a second-round pick for the Sens in 2019 and is a big part of the youth movement in the nation’s capital. He entered the season as the team’s third-line center and has already had a great season. After being ruled out in the season opener, Pinto has scored in his last four straight competitions. He shot a large amount and is even good for about one hit per game as a nice added bonus. He is likely to be seeded in Norris’ place between Alex Debrincat and Claude Giroux. It goes without saying that this is a huge opportunity for the 20-year-old.

If you’re playing in a league that tracks faceoffs, I think there’s hidden value in that category for Pinto as well. With his limited bet on the third line, he’s averaged six faceoff wins per game while his faceoff percentage is absurdly high at over 60 percent. With the obvious assumption that he’s getting more playing time these numbers should go up so you can probably count on him to give you at least ten draws a game, which is a great number. As a pure center with no wing eligibility, you really need these guys to get a lot of draws in faceoff leagues, so that’s an important detail.

Pinto was currently centering the second line powerplay unit, and I think he’d probably stay there for now. Norris was the fourth forward in the top unit before his shoulder injury but I think Debrincat or Giroux will get the nod for promotion over Pinto. Until we know the results from Norris’ MRI, that’s heavy speculation, but if you have an open roster, Pinto could stay hot and produce at a solid rate. At Yahoo, he’s in just 6 percent of all leagues, while at Fantrax he’s in just under half of the leagues.

Rasmus Sandin

To round things out this week, we’re turning our focus to the Blueline, and I’ve decided to cover Sandin instead of Calen Addison. For one thing, I think Addison has been pretty well covered already, and I don’t want to continue harping on about the same types of other writers here and in other media. While I think Addison is a good speculative pickup right now, Sandin could be an equally good play this season, if not better in the long run. These two are actually great to compare, but let me delve into Sandin a little more.

First off, it’s worth noting that Sandin started this season a bit behind schedule per se. He was embroiled in a contract dispute with the Leafs this offseason and as a result only came on the ice in the final preseason game. I think he needed a few regular season games to really settle in and settle in. Much like the other two players in this article, Sandin is set to see a lot more Ice Age in the future thanks to what appears to be a fairly serious injury suffered by Jake Muzzin.

Thanks to this, Sandin moves into the middle pair and will be ajar for a few serious minutes, at least in the short term. Where Addison has beaten Sandin is that he currently resides in the Wilds’ top powerplay unit, while Sandin has snapped on Toronto’s second powerplay line. It makes a big difference no doubt, but I think the wheels are starting to turn in Toronto and I think Sandin might get a glimpse of the top powerplay unit sooner rather than later.

The Leafs are so loaded, but even so, the seven-game power play looked pretty bad. I think a lot of that can be attributed to Morgan Rielly making the unit quarterbacks. He doesn’t have a big shot to net and sometimes he can spread the puck slowly from the point. Don’t get me wrong, Reilly is a great player but I think the Leafs could benefit from Sandin’s ability and eventually he will get a chance.

Sandin already has two limited time powerplay points for special teams, so there’s an argument to give him a bigger chance. He’s only had three assists in Sandin’s six games so far, but unlike Addison, he brings a lot more imagination to the table. He’s been averaging over three hits per game so far this year, which is great, and he’s also averaging a block per game. These peripherals alone go a long way in making Sandin more serviceable. Its biggest setback, however, is its rate of fire. He doesn’t shoot nearly enough, so that’s definitely an issue to consider.

Since Muzzin went down with his injury, Sandin’s ice time has increased by almost six minutes a game so it’s a significant chance he’s getting. In the Yahoo leagues, he’s only four percent owned, while in Fantrax he’s 37 percent in the list. They could also make a great argument for Addison, but honestly both are great options to give a try now if you’re looking for an extra D-Man for your Blueline.

Well, that’s it for this week! It’s unfortunate that so many injuries happen, but it always seems to happen, especially at the start of the season. With all three players mentioned, it’s important to keep an eye on how long the injured players are likely to be out, as these players I mentioned really rely on their bonus ice time to make an impact. Make sure to set your lineups next week before you dress up in your Halloween costumes and party! Until next week!