Fantasy Hockey 101: Trade High

Trade Michael Del Zotto.  Right now.  He is hot.  On fire.  12 points in 13 games with 8 of them coming on the power play is pretty impressive for a 19 year old rookie.  He came out of nowhere to quarterback the NY Rangers' power play, and seems to be doing a very fine job.

The thing is, realistically, how long can this last.  When you trade high, you can get great returns.  There are many slow starters this season, some notorious for it, some not.  Eric Staal is a 40 goal scorer.  How many does he have now?  3.  He's still taking his shots, with 45 SOG through 11 games, but the goals just aren't coming. 

What you can do is package Del Zotto and possibly your third or second string center for Eric Staal and a slow starting defenseman, or one that is doing pretty average.

Many fantasy owners will want to get rid of Eric Staal.  5 points through 11 games is more than enough to frustrate Bruce Banner.

The main point here is to sell your early season pickups high, for slow starters. 

Remember Alexander Ovechkin's start last year?  8 points in 11 games may sound like a good start, but for a man who scored 65 goals the year before, that statistic must have frustrated many fantasy owner.  Of those 8 points, only two of them were goals.

That is where you, fellow fantasy hockey managers, strike.  Go after the slow starting stars with your early season pickups.  Of course you won't go trade Craig Anderson, his 0.940 save percentage, and his 1.97 goals against average away, but for many pickups, you must look at them realistically and decide whether they will keep it up the entire season or if they should be traded at their high value now for a slow starting All-Star.

Will the New York Rangers' power play really stay at 25.9%.  Last years' was the second lowest in the league.  Does John Tortorella have his boys moving in the right direction?  Can Michael Del Zotto keep dishing out those power play assists?

Probably not. 

Trade high.