Slow Starts: Time to trade them?

Alex Tanguay

The big free agent acquisition in Tampa Bay has done nothing but disappoint.  With 1 point and a -4 rating in seven games, he is doing more damage than good.  It is tough to find a cause for this.  He is getting his fair share of ice time, playing over 15 minutes a game, including 3 per game on the powerplay.  He has also split time between the top two powerplay units.  However, he has now been demoted to the third line.  I say give him a few more games to prove himself before cutting him.  There is no shortage of slow starters at left wing this year so the waiver wire options should be abundant

Vinny Lecavalier

I would love to say I told you so, but it is only a few games into the season.  The 6 points are ok, but the -5 rating is the killer.  This should be expected though, as Lecavalier is a -94 player for his career and -31 over his last 165 games.  Plain and simple, Vinny is overrated.  He is not a top 25 fantasy player, or even top 50 in my personal opinion.  Expect max 30 goals and 45 assists with a nice -10.  However, there are usually plenty of people in every league who have a man crush on Lecavalier so he should be able to fetch a nice return on the trading block.

Eric Staal

This one has me a little stumped.  He is getting a ton of ice time and playing with skilled players like Whitney Samsonov and Ruutu.  Yes, Cole’s injury hurts but that is no excuse for only scoring two points so far.  Staal obviously still has incredible keeper value, but if you are in a single season league it wouldn’t hurt to start shopping him lest he puts up another70 points, -6 stinker like in 06-07.

Jason Spezza

I stayed away from Spezza this year; Michalek and Cheechoo can’t even begin to fill Heatley’s skates.  4 assists in 7 games just isn’t going to cut it.  There is no reason to suspect that he won’t be able to put up 75 points, his days as a 90 point player may be in the rear view.

David Backes

I am always suspicious of guys who have breakout fantasy seasons by scoring more goals than assists and racking up a ton of penalty minutes (Corey Perry excluded).  Backes’s struggles are pretty easy to explain; he just isn’t that good of a player.  He wasn’t much of a scorer in the NCAA or AHL, so anyone that expects him to be a consistent 30 goal threat in the NHL is just kidding themselves.   A lot of his performance last year was thanks to a shooting percentage of 14.9% which was virtually 50% higher than his other NHL career totals.  If there is a silver lining to this story, it is that the 100 penalty minutes should always be there.

David Krejci

He is playing with the same linemates as last year so this is a tough one to diagnose.  He has a strong track record, with good totals in junior and over a point per game average in the AHL.  I think I will just chalk this one up to the Bruins as a whole struggling.  Just sit tight with Krejci, he will be ok.