Crashing the Net: Cashing in Crosby & Letang’s Return

Welcome to this week’s edition of Crashing the Net. For this 24th week of the season we’re going to take a look at the top five players that you might want to add to your roster this week. We hope you will be able to utilize this article in order to gain a competitive advantage over your opponents throughout the season. Feel free to add omissions and critique our current choices in comments section as we welcome an open discussion at DailyFaceoff.com.

Tyler Kennedy, Left Wing, Pittsburgh Penguins

If you aren’t lucky enough to own Sidney Crosby in your league, why not take a look at some of the players that will get the benefit of playing with him. One of those players is Tyler Kennedy. Nobody was probably more happy to see the return of Sid the Kid than #48. Since Crosby returned last Thursday, Kennedy has scored 4 points in those three games. In two of those games Crosby was involved in all of Kennedy’s points. Kennedy won’t be winning the Rocket Richard Trophy anytime soon, as he has 26 points in 48 games so far this season. He could have a huge last 10 games of the season though if ends up staying on Crosby’s line. Kennedy is currently owned in only 9% of all Yahoo! leagues.

Paul Martin, Defenceman, Pittsburgh Penguins

Kris Letang was another Penguins All-Star to make his return this week. Letang had missed 5 games earlier this month with another concussion. Upon his return though he was paired up with 8 year NHL veteran Paul Martin. Martin is on pace for one of the best seasons of his career. So far this season he has 22 ponts in 61 games and is on pace for a 25 point year. Martin doesn’t have any points in his last four games; however, he does have an impressive +4 rating during that span which is pretty good considering the Penguins were playing the Rangers and Flyers during that stretch. Martin leads all Penguins players in time played this season and averages over 23 minutes of ice time each night. With the Penguins showing why they’re one of the best teams in the league you might want to look at adding any Penguins players to your roster.

Jaden Schwartz, Center, St. Louis Blues

The scary part about the St. Louis Blues unlikely season is the fact that they have even more exciting prospects ready to play with their lineup of young NHL stars. One of those players who just got his chance to show the Blues that he belongs in the NHL is Jaden Schwartz. Schwartz who was the Captain of Team Canada at this year’s World Junior Hockey Championships just finished his season with Colorado College where he scored 41 points in 30 games. On March 12, the 19 year-old signed a 3 year entry level contract with the Blues and played in his first NHL game on Saturday night against the Tampa Bay Lightning. In that game Schwartz scored his first NHL goal and played on the Blues second line with Patrik Berglund and Jamie Langenbrunner. He played just under 14 minutes and saw some time on the Blues second power-play unit. The Blues have 9 games remaining and will probably use him in at least 8 of those games during the stretch to the playoffs. Schwartz has put up some decent numbers in junior and college hockey so he could add some depth to your roster this late in the season.

Jeff Petry, Defenceman, Edmonton Oilers

One of the reason’s that the Oilers were able to trade away Tom Gilbert last month was the emergence of defenceman Jeff Petry. Petry who is currently enjoying his first full season in the NHL has 19 points in 64 games and plays a major role in the Oilers power-play. Petry is second in ice-time among all Oilers defenceman and averages just under 20 minutes of ice-time every game. Petry has a -7 rating on the year but in the last 10 games hasn’t finished a game with a minus rating. The Oilers won’t be making the playoffs this year but the young team hopes to finish strong and play spoiler down the stretch. Petry is one of several players looking to make their marks with Oilers management before heading into the off-season.

Corey Tropp, Right Wing, Buffalo Sabres

There’s a good chance that if you’re not a huge Sabres fan you’ve probably never heard of Corey Tropp. That could change over the next few games though as the 22 year-old has earned himself a spot on the Sabres top line with Derek Roy and Jason Pominville. While Tropp only has 4 points in 25 games this season, the news that he’s playing on the Sabres top line should at least get you to consider the young forward. During Saturday’s loss against the Florida Panthers, Tropp played just over 14 minutes and finished the game with an even rating and two shots on net. While the points aren’t there right now, you have to think that the points will eventually come with if he stays on the Sabres top line with Roy and Pominville.