Fantasy buzz: Impact of Pacioretty injury on Canadiens

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.

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Impact of Pacioretty injury on Canadiens

Montreal Canadiens left wing Max Pacioretty will
miss 4-6 weeks
because of a knee injury sustained against the New York Islanders on Friday, sending his fantasy owners to the waiver wire ahead of the head-to-head playoffs.
Pacioretty, who has underachieved based on average draft position (31.0 in Yahoo; current rank: 132nd), can be stashed on IR+ but is droppable in non-keeper leagues after the injury, especially if you don't have an available reserve spot. The best in-house replacement option is forward Alex Galchenyuk (C/LW, MTL; 33 percent), who has set an NHL career high with 18 power-play points through 65 games. Galchenyuk, who has been playing often with Jonathan Drouin, could benefit from Brendan Gallagher (112th in Yahoo) joining that line recently.

Forward Paul Byron (LW/RW, 2 percent) replaced Pacioretty on the first power-play unit with Galchenyuk, Gallagher, Drouin and defenseman Jeff Petry (38 percent) against the Boston Bruins on Saturday. Byron ranks second on the Canadiens in even-strength goals (15 in 65 games) behind Gallagher (16), indicating he could become relevant at least in DraftKings after being elevated. Pacioretty struggled in the category (10 ES goals in 64 games).
Outside LW replacement options for Pacioretty: Evgenii Dadonov, LW/RW, FLA (47 percent); Daniel Sedin, LW, VAN (42 percent); Tom Wilson, LW/RW, WSH (40 percent); Zach Parise, LW, MIN (39 percent); Pat Maroon, LW, NJD (38 percent); Kevin Fiala, LW/RW, NSH (30 percent); Tomas Tatar, LW/RW, VGK (21 percent; James Neal injured); Pavel Buchnevich, LW/RW, NYR (14 percent); Jakub Vrana, LW/RW, WSH (4 percent; second line with Nicklas Backstrom, T.J. Oshie)

Impact of McAvoy injury on Bruins

Boston Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy will
not play against the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday
because of a lower-body injury sustained against the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday.
McAvoy (150th in Yahoo) is tied for seventh in the League in plus/minus (plus-26) and leads rookie defensemen in scoring (32 points in 59 games) and ice time per game (22:06).
Defenseman Nick Holden (4 percent), acquired from the New York Rangers on Feb. 20, gains value in all formats considering he will take on greater responsibility at even strength and remain on the second power-play unit for as long as McAvoy is sidelined. Holden has two power-play assists, four hits and 10 shots on goal in two games with the Bruins.

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