Fantasy buzz: Spooner relevant after trade; Galchenyuk scores hat trick

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: Projected lineups

Spooner finds instant chemistry with Rangers

New York Rangers forward Ryan Spooner (C, LW; 14 percent owned in Yahoo) has had at least two points in each of his first three games with his new team. He scored a goal and had an assist against the Calgary Flames on Friday, giving him seven points (one goal, six assists) and eight shots on goal over that span. He is making a strong case for fantasy ownership in season-long formats because 10 of the Rangers final 17 games are against the Metropolitan Division, where Spooner has 10 points (three goals, seven assists) in 13 games.

The 26-year-old is playing on the third line with forward Kevin Hayes (C, RW; 14 percent owned) and right wing Jesper Fast (less than 1 percent owned). Hayes has four points (three goals, one assist) and eight SOG in his past three games skating with Spooner and has 12 points (seven goals, five assists) in his past 11 games overall.
In DFS contests, Hayes ($4,900) and Spooner ($4,400) should be considered a value stacking option against the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday (10:30 p.m. ET; CBC, SN, SN1, MSG, NHL.TV), who give up the third-most goals per game in the League (3.31).

Galchenyuk worth adding; Pacioretty leaves game with injury

Montreal Canadiens forward Alex Galchenyuk (C, LW; 33 percent owned) scored a hat trick and had an assist against the New York Islanders on Friday. Galchenyuk is an in-house replacement option for Canadiens left wing Max Pacioretty, who left the game with a lower-body injury and will not play against the Boston Bruins on Saturday (5 p.m. ET; TVAS, SN, NESN, NHL.TV).
Despite having 28 points (12 goals, 16 assists) through his first 50 games of the season, Galchenyuk has played well since February with 11 points (three goals, eight assists, including five power-play points) in 14 games, which ranks second on the team behind right wing Brendan Gallagher (ranked 111th on Yahoo) in that span. Galchenyuk is skating on the second line with Gallagher and forward Jonathan Drouin (C,LW,RW; 50 percent owned).

In DFS contests, Galchenyuk ($4,300) is a contrarian pick against the Bruins on Saturday. He has 13 points (three goals, 10 assists) and 35 SOG in 22 career games against the Bruins.
Worth noting: The Tampa Bay Lightning right wing Nikita Kucherov ($7,800) will play against the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday (1 p.m. ET; SUN, NBCSP, NHL.TV) after missing two games with an upper-body injury.
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