Fantasy Spin: Vermette, Cole now fantasy relevant

On Sunday, the Chicago Blackhawks acquired center Antoine Vermette from the Arizona Coyotes and the Detroit Red Wings acquired Erik Cole from the Dallas Stars. Each player has a tremendous fantasy upside.

Vermette to the Blackhawks

With Patrick Kane sidelined, Chicago got some offensive depth in trading a first round pick and defense prospect Klas Dahlbeck to the Arizona Coyotes for Vermette. The four-time 20-goal scorer was added 3,396 times in the past 24 hours and is owned in 27 percent of Yahoo Leagues. The 32-year-old with center and left wing eligibility has a history of helping teams after the trade deadline. In 2008-09, he was traded from the Ottawa Senators to the Columbus Blue Jackets and had 13 points in 17 games, which helped Columbus reach the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time. In 2011-12, he was traded from Columbus to the Arizona Coyotes and had 10 points in 16 playoff games leading them to the Western Conference finals. Vermette has played in 456 consecutive games, the second-longest active streak in the NHL, and has his highest point per game-production in March (0.58). The St. Agapit, Quebec, native has 12 points in 17 career games played at United Center. He likely will see time in all situations with the Blackhawks and is ranked eighth in the League with a 56 percent faceoff winning percentage and a perfect add in all fantasy formats.

Cole to the Red Wings

Detroit got offensive depth when they traded prospects and draft picks for Cole, who is having a bounceback offensive season in the last year of his current contract. His 18 goals and 33 points in 57 games are already more than he had in 75 games last season. The 36-year-old is owned in 10 percent of Yahoo Leagues even though he had produced lately playing on the Dallas Stars top line of Jason Spezza and Jamie Benn due to Tyler Seguin’s knee injury. Cole could see time with Pavel Datsyuk, Tomas Tatar, Gustav Nyquist and when healthy, Henrik Zetterberg. The 6-foot-2 power forward will help on the power play where he has 124 of his 526 career points.