Buy or Sell: A look at the early League leaders (1/2)

With four to five games in the books for most teams, we have seen some relatively disturbing trends around the League.  The Toronto Maple Leafs are undefeated and would win the President’s Trophy through four.  The Colorado Avalanche, Nashville Predators and Dallas Stars lead their divisions, respectively. Having said that, let’s look at some of the players around the League and if they will continue to help your team in the long run.

Clarke MacArthur – MacArthur leads the Toronto Maple Leafs and the League in goals scored with five through his first four games.  In his third full season in the NHL he could finally break the 20 goal plateau after putting up 17 and 16 in his last two seasons.  If you play in a deeper format he should remain a solid play as long as the Leafs continue to score and he remains on the second line.  In standard formats, he should hit his ceiling relatively quickly as he post four goals over his first six games last season before falling back to reality.  Regardless of the team playing a style that suits his speed, he should level off as the season progresses but still is a good bet to hit 20.

DF Prognosis: Sell

Jean-Sebastien Giguere – Giguere is a starting goalie on an NHL club, which for the most part will always have value.  He seems to be in decline following a successful career with the Anaheim Ducks and has started to mentor young Jonas Gustavsson.  A goaltender with pedigree seems to overachieve every season but his 1.98 GAA and .914 are simply not sustainable.  If you are desperate for a netminder, Giguere should help with some wins and the odd superb start but he will not be a top 5 goalie forever.

DF Prognosis: Hold

John-Michael Liles – Last season, Liles led the Avs in scoring with 31 points.  This season, he leads all skaters in assists as he continues to skate with their strong top lines.  While expecting the defenseman to rack up 60-80 assists seems a bit ambitious, there is no reason not to think he will be the most valuable defenseman on the Colorado Avalanche.  If you need some help in the 3rd/4th d slot, see if you can get Liles as a throw in or pluck him off the waiver wire.

DF Prognosis: Buy

Tomas Kopecky – When the Blackhawks traded off the majority of their third and fourth lines they decided to keep Kopecky.  The team originally signed him away from the Detroit Red Wings to help his friend and now current linemate Marian Hossa come on-board with ease.  Now in his second full season with the team he has gotten off to a torrid start, scoring a goal and adding five assists through his first five games.  Last night, without Patrick Kane, Kopecky proved to the team just how valuable he could be with a two-point effort.  In deeper leagues he looks good, in standard formats he looks like an excellent stream.

DF Prognosis: Buy/Hold

Blake Comeau – This talented winger helped win a few fantasy championships last season with an impressive 20 points over his final 18 games.  With the injuries to Mark Streit, Kyle Okposo and more recently John Tavares, Comeau has stepped to the plate with a solid six points over his first four games.  He should continue to see good playing time with Okposo out and should play better than Matt Moulson down the road.  He is the perfect depth forward and could give your team a boost if you need a waiver pickup from the left side.

DF Prognosis: Buy

We hope you enjoyed our most recent feature, be sure to check out the second part of the article posted tomorrow and plenty more of new material moving forward.  You can follow us on twitter @dailyfaceoff as we continue to bring you information on starting goalies and major injury updates as well as provide in-depth injury updates and line combinations in the future.