Replacing Mike Richards

[Hey Robbie]

With Spezza out early my C2 slot has been held down by a rotating cast of Jon Huberdeau, Kyle Turris, and Mike Richards. But Richards seems to be asleep at the wheel and not only is shooting blanks but somehow is -12 in the last seven games on a team that is +11 at 5-on-5 this year and has a +148 Corsi. He plays four games the first week of my playoffs (4/1 - 4/7), and three games per week the rest. Given the talent on the waiver wire, I think I can do better.

Some options and their stats over the last month:

........................G........A.........+/-..........PIM.........SOG.....PPP
Sam Gagner.........7........3..........0............7. ............31........2
Mike Cammalleri....4........6.........-8............4.............32........6
Matt Cullen..........2.......11.........9.............8 .............33.......1 (but poor linemates/ice time)
Steve Ott............2........8..........0...........21. ...........19........2
Ryan O'Reilly........3........3........-1............2..............40........3 (hot now)
Derek Roy............3........8..........3.............2 ............25........2
Tomas Plekanec....4........5.........4..............6... .........38........5

plus Eller, Cogliano,Bolland, Little, Stajan

PIMs and plus/Minus have been my weakest categories this year, so they may be a place to focus, although my PIMs have been so bad I wonder if I should even bother.

Many of these guys play 4 games the first week, Nashville plays 5, and St Louis plays 4 each of the first 3 weeks. Edmonton and Montreal also have good schedules.

Talent-wise Cammalleri and Gagner stand out to me, but many others are productive of late.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

[cdubb]

All pretty similar (I own Roy, Cammy, Cullen in one league) just depends on your needs.

Unpredictable predicting future good +/-unless on very good nhl team (Bos, Chi).

Probably my order is:

(1) Gagners been doing the best all season.

(2) Ott great for pims. If he loses his temper, can win you a stat category.

(3) ROR tons of sog, playing point on a 4-5 forward PP.

Cammalleri for ppp, but +/- sucks.

Cullen producing with a hot

Roy might turn it around now that Erikssons not stone cold.

One guy not on your list is Steen. Back from injury, on Backes/Stewart line, averaging PPG.

[dmvincent]

I'd be taking Gagner for sure.

[Hey Robbie]

I'd be taking Gagner for sure.

Thanks, dmv.

I should have mentioned that Gagner is on waivers until tomorrow night, so I've got a while to make a decision on him. I'll keep looking for someone else in the interim.

Ott is respected in our league, and more likely than most of the others to disappear soon, so I will grab him for now.

[Pengwin7]

Both MIN & COL have some packed schedules coming up... and you might soak a few extra games out of them.
Minnesota has 5 games in 7 nights from next Fri-Thurs. That's pretty nice.

I snagged a couple Wild in one league just for that (PMB & Brodziak).

[Hey Robbie]

Both MIN & COL have some packed schedules coming up... and you might soak a few extra games out of them.
Minnesota has 5 games in 7 nights from next Fri-Thurs. That's pretty nice.

I snagged a couple Wild in one league just for that (PMB & Brodziak).

Thanks for this info, too. For M-Sun weeklies, Min plays 4, 3, 4, 3 per week in April. Col has 4, 4, 3, 3, which is great considering many players for whom this is a strong consideration could probably be dropped after the first to weeks and replaced anyway. Nashville's 5, 3, 2, 3 Is good for this also. Calgary's 4, 4, 4, 3 is one of the best (No guarantee Iginla will still be there to take advantage of it, though), and no team has more than 15 games in the first 28 days of April. Pittsburgh's 12 is one of the worst, but at least it's consistent with 3 games per week.

[Hey Robbie]

I know the question is spurred by one period, but IF Lupul, Bozak and Kessel stay together for a while, does Bozak enter this conversation? Toronto only plays two games in the first week of my playoffs, so this wouldn't be relevant for a few games anyway, and there would be a chance to see if the line sticks and clicks.