Fantasy Hockey Breakaways and Benders

In this weekly piece I will provide 5 players below 50% owned who should be looked into owning (Breakaways) and 5 players above 50% owned who are struggling (Benders). This doesn't mean you should drop the Benders but maybe they can ride the pine for a week to get their head back in the game. Generally, I am very skittish about dropping anyone above 90% owned unless they have shown 2+ months of really bad play. My rationale for the selections includes some looking through the box scores but a majority of it is with the eye test, watching the games.

5 Breakaways:

Andreas Athanasiou (RW, Det) 4% owned. I will never hide, i'm a big fan of his game. He has 9 points in his last 12 games as the second line of Athanasiou, Frans Nielson and Thomas Vanek are playing very well.

Thomas Vanek (LW/RW, Det) 44% owned. 7 goals and 7 assists in his last 14 games, good enough for 10th most goals over the last 30 days.

Jordan Staal (C/RW, Car) 21% owned. The second line of Jordan, Jamie McGinn and Elias Lindholm have been on a hot streak lately as he boasts 12 points and 111 faceoffs won in his last 14 games.

Jay Beagle (C, RW, Wash) 4% owned. 9 points (including one short handed) and a plus 10 in his last 15 games. the fourth line for Washington is playing very well right now.

Carter Hutton (G, Stl) 12% owned. Just 12 goals allowed in his last 6 games with 3 of them being wins.

5 Benders:

Shayne Gostisbehere (D, Phi) 90% owned. 3 points over the last month and a -11. WIth such bad numbers i'm still trying to figure out if last yera was an anomaly or if this is just a severe sophomore slump.

Dylan Larkin (C, Det) 53% owned. Similar woes go for Dylan who has just 18 points on the season and just 6 in his last 14.

JT Miler (C, NYR) 78% owned. He has scored on 33% of his shots over the last 11 games, he's obviously playing well but just be weary that this pace is not sustainable and he will hit a bit of a cold streak.

Alexander Steen (C, STl) 78% owned. Much like JT he is hitting almost 40% of his shots lately, this will not be a continued percentage.

Petr Mrazek (G, Det) 61% owned. The woes continue as he's now allowed 16 goals over his last 5 games and just 1 win. It looks more and more like he's losing the gig.