Fantasy Forecast for Friday, February 5
Programming note -- The Fantasy Forecast and Top Picks will return on Tuesday, Feb. 9.
THURSDAY'S ROUNDUP:
If you're a fantasy owner of
Ilya Kovalchuk, you're no doubt intrigued and maybe excited to have your potential 50-goal scorer change teams overnight. But no matter what jersey he wears, Kovalchuk is Kovalchuk, a premier goal scoring, first-round-pick fantasy team building block.
So with 27 games remaining in the Devils' season, what is Kovalchuk (49 games, 31-27-58, owned in 99 percent of all Yahoo! leagues), who will make his New Jersey debut Friday night at home against Toronto, capable of? In my estimation, probably not much more than would be expected him if he finished the season in Atlanta. After all, how much better can a guy on pace for 48-42-90 get? Maybe the energy of playing for a team leading it's division and considered a Cup contender is worth a boost of a few goals, but don't expect that Kovalchuk is all of a sudden going go bonkers. Actually, he begins his Devils career in a mini-slump with 1 goal and 1 assist in his last six games.