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February studs to add to your fantasy hockey team

All-Star game has gone, now time to turn up your sleeves

By Mark Abell
San Jose Sharks v Arizona Coyotes Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images

You know how baseball has a theory that those who participate in the Home Run derby are doomed to falter over the 2nd half of the year? Hockey doesn’t really have that. What they do have are a handful of players who tend to get better as the season goes on. For now I’m going to cover February as the upcoming month and give five points which will hopefully help you succeed through the month.

Point 1

12 Players have scored at least 10 points each February for the last three years: Connor McDavid, Johnny Gaudreau, Sidney Crosby, Roman Josi, Erik Karlsson, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Mark Stone, Tyler Seguin, Mark Scheifele, Joe Pavelski, Artemi Panarin and P.K. Subban

Context: Erik Karlsson has slowly been recovering from a slow start and I would expect him to gain some more ground in February where he seems to flourish. Mark Stone is the lowest owned player at 87% owned.

Point 2

Evgeni Malkin scored 21 points last year, tied for the most by any player during February over the last three years.

Context: That was the ONLY time he’s cracked 10 points in the month so I’m not overtly confident in his February abilities

2019 Honda NHL All-Star Game - Central v Pacific Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images

Point 3

Over the last two years Roman Josi has the third most February points (among players with at least 10 points in the month) with 16 points in 2017 and 16 points last year.

Context: Josi’s 36 points this season put him as the 11th best defenseman, if you have him prepare for an additional boost this month.

Point 4

Looking for a deep flier? Ryan Strome (1% owned) had 10 points the last two years in February.

Context: He’s 1% owned because he has 13 total points and a -5 across 48 games. He’s manning the Rangers third line between Vladislav Namestnikov and Filip Chytil and who knows, maybe he finds some fire again.

Point 5

A handful of players who are among the top February scorers but people might not be paying attention to: Viktor Arvidsson, Mark Stone, Kyle Palmieri, Rickard Rakell, Mikael Granlund and Sean Monahan.

Context: A lot of Predators came forth so expect the potential for a strong 28 days coming out of Nashville. Other teams included some of the normal top teams: Washington, Toronto, Pittsburgh and Winnipeg.