Defense often gets overlooked in fantasy hockey. Many owners value penalty minutes the most, but having defensemen who can add scoring and shots and help in plus-minus can provide a big boost.
Here are a few possible pickups:
Several Winnipeg Jets have been fantasy surprises this season, and there are some available who could help your team. Zach Bogosian (8 percent owned in Yahoo leagues, D) is one of those players.
Since returning after missing 14 games with a lower-body injury, Bogosian has three goals and five points in six games and is plus-7. True, he was a plus-5 in an 8-2 win against the Florida Panthers on Tuesday, but the Jets have scored an average of 4.40 goals in their past five games.
Bogosian has 13 points, 26 penalty minutes, 60 shots on goal and is plus-6 in 31 games.
-- Defenseman Ryan Murphy of the Carolina Hurricanes has 17 points (all assists) in 23 games with Charlotte of the American Hockey League this season after he had 22 points in 22 games last season.
Murphy (less than 1 percent owned) has four assists in his past four games playing with Carolina. He has an even rating, which could be a lot worse considering the Hurricanes don't score very much and give up a decent amount of goals. Murphy doesn't offer much in terms of penalty minutes (four) or shots (22), but he's averaged more than 18 minutes in 14 games and should continue to pick up points.
-- Anaheim Ducks defenseman Hampus Lindholm (37 percent owned) had a goal and an assist in a 5-1 win against the New Jersey Devils, giving him four points in his past five games. He played 21:24, including 2:30 on the power play. Lindholm has five goals and 19 points and is plus-14. Those are pretty good numbers available in almost two-thirds of leagues.
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