Fantasy buzz: Burns plays forward again for Sharks

All season long, NHL.com's fantasy hockey staff will have you covered with daily lineup news, production trends and injury notes from around the League. We will identify how these developments affect fantasy owners in year-long (Yahoo) and daily (DraftKings) formats.

MORE FANTASY COVERAGE: Top 50 defenseman rankings | Projected lineups

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Sharks shift Burns to forward after Hertl injury

San Jose Sharks defenseman Brent Burns was moved to forward in their 2-1 loss against the Arizona Coyotes on Tuesday. The lineup change was made after Tomas Hertl (undisclosed) left the game in the second period and did not return.
Burns took multiple shifts on a line with Joe Pavelski (65th in Yahoo) and Timo Meier (184th, 5 percent owned), with Joonas Donskoi and Daniel O'Regan splitting time in Hertl's spot with Logan Couture (88th) and Kevin Labanc (211th). Burns played 6:59 on the power play against Arizona; San Jose's first group after Hertl's injury featured Burns, Pavelski, Couture, Meier and either Labanc or Chris Tierney (2 percent).
Burns, who played forward earlier in his NHL career but moved back to defense in 2014-15, is the top defenseman in NHL.com's latest rankings and 32nd overall in Yahoo based on standard-category performance. He is minus-22 but still ranked so high because he is second among defensemen in points (48) and power-play points (22) and has 60 more shots on goal (242) than the next-highest player at his position (Seth Jones, CBJ).

In terms of Yahoo eligibility, fantasy owners of Burns should hope Burns gets consistent usage at forward, at least in the short term until Joe Thornton (knee) and/or Hertl return. If that happens, there's a chance Burns could regain dual eligibility; he was D/RW eligible for years but lost the right wing option after the 2015-16 season.
For DFS purposes, it is unclear whether Burns will be eligible at forward or defense in DraftKings for San Jose's game against the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday (10:30 p.m. ET; NBCSCA, SNP, NHL.TV).

Faulk bounces back with hat trick for Hurricanes

Carolina Hurricanes defenseman Justin Faulk scored a hat trick with two power-play goals and five shots on goal in their 7-3 win against the Los Angeles Kings on Tuesday. It was his second multigoal game of the season, tied for the most among defensemen with Brent Burns (SJS), P.K. Subban (NSH), Alex Pietrangelo (STL), Mathew Dumba (MIN) and Shea Weber (MTL).
Faulk (67 percent owned, 172nd in Yahoo) has underachieved based on average draft position (97.2) but has a chance to finish strong playing 22:17 per game, 3:10 on the first power-play unit. He has a low shooting percentage (4.3) even after the hat trick and has had excellent possession numbers (54.51 shot attempts percentage; 12th among 'D') despite Carolina's ups and downs.

Injuries have plagued Faulk's fantasy value in recent seasons, but he has played in all 57 of Carolina's games to this point. He's on pace for 32 points if he plays 82 games, well behind his NHL career high (49 in 2014-15), but has finished with at least 15 goals in each of the past three seasons. Faulk is available in one-third of Yahoo leagues and may be worth adding in one-year leagues over some inconsistent No. 2 defensemen (e.g. Mikhail Sergachev, Morgan Rielly, Tyler Myers) after this development.
From a DFS standpoint, Faulk has a high floor because he's averaging SOG (2.8) and blocks (1.2) per game. His price will likely spike from $4,700 against the Kings, but he remains a viable target with a favorable schedule for the rest of the week. The Hurricanes play three games against the New Jersey Devils on Thursday (road) and Sunday (home) and New York Islanders on Friday (home).

Marner, Kadri thriving on same line for Maple Leafs

The Toronto Maple Leafs second line of center Nazem Kadri and wings Patrick Marleau and Mitch Marner is worth stacking in DFS against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Wednesday (7 p.m. ET; NHLN, TVAS, SN, FS-O, NHL.TV).
Marner ($6,100 in DraftKings) has at least one point in eight of his past 11 games, totaling 12 points (seven goals, five assists), four power-play points and 39 shots on goal. After playing mostly on a line with James van Riemsdyk and Tyler Bozak as a rookie last season, Marner has overcome a slow start after being moved to a line with Kadri ($5,500) and Marleau ($4,900). Kadri (11 points in past 11 games) has seen a scoring splash from Marner and has had a high DFS floor because of his shot production (29 SOG) in the span. Marleau has five points (three against Ottawa Senators on Saturday), a strong shot volume (28 SOG) and six blocks over the 11-game span and is due for more-consistent scoring if he remains on this trending line.
Kadri and Marner have given the Maple Leafs added scoring depth, and their middle-range prices provide much more flexibility on this three-game Wednesday slate compared to the top-line duo of Auston Matthews ($7,700) and William Nylander ($6,400). It's worth noting Marner and Kadri have been playing together on the power play as well, and Marleau has been on a separate unit with Matthews. Toronto has won nine of its past 11 games, and Columbus is on the second leg of a road back-to-back set after playing at the New York Islanders on Tuesday.
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