Fantasy buzz: Impact of Schwartz injury on Blues

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.

2:19 p.m.

DraftKings value picks for Sunday

CENTER
Value pick: Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, EDM ($5,300 at TOR). The Edmonton Oilers center is on a three-game point streak, and has four points (two goals, two assists) and seven shots on goal in his past five games. Nugent-Hopkins is centering Edmonton's second line between forwards Pat Maroon ($4,700) and Michael Cammalleri ($3,200). He has eight points (two goals, six assists) and is averaging 2.7 DraftKings points per game in 15 road games.
Spend up for:Brayden Schenn, STL ($6,700 vs BUF)

WING
Value pick: Alex DeBrincat, CHI ($5,200 vs ARI).The Chicago Blackhawks face the Arizona Coyotes (7 p.m. ET; WGN, FS-A, NHL.TV), who play the second leg of a back-to-back set. DeBrincat has been skating on their first line with Jonathan Toews ($6,400) and Brandon Saad ($5,700). He has points in back-to-back games and nine points (five goals, four assists) in his past 10 games while averaging 3.4 DraftKings points per game. His 21 points (12 goals, nine assists) are fourth among rookies this season.
Spend up for:Evander Kane, BUF ($7,000 at STL)

DEFENSE
Value pick: Marc-Edouard Vlasic, SJS ($4,100 vs MIN).The San Jose Sharks defenseman scored his third goal of the season against the Ottawa Senators on Saturday. He had five blocked shots and two shots on goal for 6.5 DraftKings points. Vlasic has five points (two goals, three assists), 21 blocked shots and 26 shots on goal in his past 10 games. He is averaging 3.7 DraftKings points per game in that span, which would rank third-highest among defensemen in DraftKings on Sunday.
Spend up for:Morgan Rielly, TOR ($5,200 vs EDM)

GOALTENDER
Value pick: Martin Jones, SJS ($7,700 vs MIN).Despite Jones' recent struggles, the San Jose Sharks goaltender is a good option against the Minnesota Wild. Jones is 7-4-1 with a 2.47 goals-against average and is averaging 4.5 DraftKings fantasy points per game in 12 home starts. He has a 2.24 GAA in seven starts against the Wild, who have scored three goals or less in eight of their past 10 games.

12:20 p.m.

Schwartz out at least six weeks with ankle injury

St. Louis Blues left wing Jaden Schwartz is out at least six weeks with an injury to his right ankle sustained in the first period of the game Saturday against the Detroit Red Wings. He will be re-evaluated in six weeks.
Schwartz (93 percent owned in Yahoo) scored his 14th goal of the season before he was injured blocking a shot. He has 35 points (14 goals, 21 assists) and 63 shots on goal in 30 games.
Schwartz had been skating on the Blues' second line with Brayden Schenn and Alexander Steen (45 percent owned). Steen (C/LW/RW) has points in back-to-back games and has 15 points (three goals, 12 assists) and 61 shots on goal in 24 games this season. He is the top in-house replacement of Schwartz for fantasy owners.
Forward Dmitrij Jaskin (1 percent owned) skated the most amount of time with Schenn and Steen for the remainder of the game Saturday. Jaskin ($3,200) would be a good DraftKings value option against the Buffalo Sabres on Sunday (7 p.m. ET; FS-MW, MSG-B, NHL.TV). He has eight points (two goals, six assists) and is averaging 2.2 DraftKings points per game in 14 home games this season.
Another in-house option to replace Schwartz in fantasy lineups is Vladimir Sobotka (14 percent owned). He has six points (one goal, five assists) in his past seven games and has been skating with Vladimir Tarasenko and Paul Statsny.
The Blues recalled forward Ivan Barbashev (C/LW, owned in fewer than 1 percent of Yahoo leagues) from Chicago of the American Hockey League. Barbashev has no points in six games this season but finished last season on a four-game point streak during his trial on the top line with Tarasenko.
Yanni Gourde (C/RW, Tampa Bay Lightning; 15 percent owned), Tanner Pearson (LW, Los Angeles Kings; 7 percent owned), Phillip Danault (C/LW, Montreal Canadiens; 7 percent owned) and Patrick Maroon (LW, Edmonton Oilers; 50 percent owned) are other viable replacement options available in the majority of Yahoo fantasy leagues.

Bozak, Marner deliver for Maple Leafs

Forwards Tyler Bozak and Mitch Marner came up big for the Toronto Maple Leafs in a 4-3 win against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday, helping the Maple Leafs to their fifth win in their past seven games. The pair have been skating on the third line with forward James van Riemsdyk.
Marner (84 percent owned in Yahoo) is dual-eligible (C/RW). He had three assists and two shots on goal, a multipoint game that ended a seven-game pointless streak. Marner (231st in Yahoo standard leagues) has been moved around the lineup this season and has fallen short of his draft expectations (33.3 ADP in Yahoo). He has 19 points (two goals, 17 assists) in 30 games, on pace for a 10-point drop off from his 61-point rookie season last season.
Bozak (7 percent owned) scored two goals and had one assist for his fourth multipoint game of the season, and has nine shots on goal in his past two games. He has 14 points (six goals, eight assists) and four power-play points in 29 games. He is playing left wing on Toronto's first power-play unit with Marner, van Riemsdyk, forward Nazem Kadri and defenseman Morgan Rielly.

Despite their inconsistent play, Bozak ($3,500) and Marner ($5,000) are solid value options in DraftKings against the Edmonton Oilers on Sunday (7 p.m. ET; NHLN-US, TVA Sports, SN, NHL.TV).

Low ownership goalies have big nights

There were a number of strong performances from goaltenders Saturday, especially those who are largely available in Yahoo leagues and should be on fantasy owners' radars.
Goalie Antti Raanta made 33 saves in the Arizona Coyotes' 1-0 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets. It was his first start since sustaining an upper-body injury against the San Jose Sharks on Nov. 22. Raanta (23 percent owned) is 4-4-1 with a 2.28 goals-against average and .930 save percentage in his past 10 starts. He is available in more than 70 percent of Yahoo leagues and is a great option for fantasy owners in need of a goaltender who will see the bulk of their team's starts going forward.
San Jose Sharks goalie Aaron Dell made 25 saves in a 5-0 win against the Ottawa Senators. He's 5-3-1 with a 1.72 GAA and .939 save percentage in 11 games (eight starts). Dell (28 percent owned) is available in the majority of Yahoo leagues and with the recent struggles of starter Martin Jones (94 percent), Dell could see an increase in playing time. He is a good short-term option for fantasy owners in need of picking up a goaltender for a spot start or as a value starter in DFS contests.
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