Fantasy buzz: Impact of Dubnyk injury on Wild

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.

Dubnyk week to week for Wild with lower-body injury

Minnesota Wild goaltender Devan Dubnyk
sustained a lower-body injury
against the Calgary Flames on Tuesday and is week to week.
Dubnyk, 73rd overall and eighth among starting goaltenders in Yahoo based on standard-category performance, finished among the top 10 fantasy goalies in each of his previous three seasons since joining Minnesota.
Backup Alex Stalock (19 percent owned) relieved Dubnyk against the Flames and got his second straight win, stopping 16 of 17 shots faced. He also started and won at the San Jose Sharks on Sunday, stopping 31 of 34 shots faced. Stalock will start against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday (8 p.m. ET; FS-N, SNO). He is a short-term streaming option for owners of Dubnyk, but should not be prioritized over some stronger outside options.
The best starting goaltender available in most leagues is Antti Raanta (23 percent owned) of the Arizona Coyotes. His strong play lately and the fact that he's in the final year of his contract warrant fantasy attention. If he is not going to sign long-term with the Coyotes, they could end up trading him to a contending team. Even for now, Raanta has bounced back from multiple injury absences and a season-opening four-game winless streak (0-2-1) by going 4-4-1 with a .930 save percentage over his past 10 games.

After Raanta, there are a number of fantasy-relevant backups, namely Aaron Dell (SJS; 31 percent owned), Ryan Miller (ANA; 43 percent) and Kari Lehtonen (DAL; 11 percent). Lehtonen has emerged as an intriguing pickup considering he has played two straight games, winning each and stopping 56 of 59 shots faced. The Dallas Stars play a road back-to-back set against the New Jersey Devils on Friday and Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday, so Lehtonen will likely get another start this week.
If Dell, Miller or Lehtonen is not available, the next-best strategy is to opt for a starter-turned-backup like Tristan Jarry (PIT; 32 percent owned) or Malcolm Subban (VGK; 34 percent). The Pittsburgh Penguins and Vegas Golden Knights are in Stanley Cup Playoff position, but Jarry and Subban are among the most-dropped goalies this week because Matt Murray and Marc-Andre Fleury are back from injuries. That said, each goaltender should still see playing time on occasion and receive strong goal support.
READ:
Fantasy top 25 goalies after Dubnyk injury
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Impact of Hall injury on Devils

Simon getting chance on Penguins top line

Pittsburgh Penguins forward Dominik Simon (C, 1 percent owned in Yahoo) has seen time on the top line with Sidney Crosby and Jake Guentzel over the past two games and practiced in that spot again Wednesday. The Penguins visit the Vegas Golden Knights on Thursday (10 p.m. ET; NHLN, SN, SN360, ATTSN-RM, ATTSN-PT).
Simon, who had 16 points (three goals, 13 assists) in 20 games for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League, has two assists in as many NHL games since being recalled Dec. 8. The 23-year-old is a low-risk, high-reward fantasy streaming option in deep leagues.
Playing mostly on either the first or third line since the move, Simon is a boom-or-bust DFS value pick (W, $2,800 in DraftKings) because of 5-on-5 exposure to Crosby, who has 19 points (eight goals, 11 assists) in his past 13 games.

Position eligibility updates for Hertl, Jost

San Jose Sharks forward Tomas Hertl and Colorado Avalanche rookie Tyson Jost have gained position eligibility in Yahoo leagues.
Hertl (+RW; now C/LW/RW) has a three-game point streak totaling two goals, two assists, three power-play points and seven shots on goal. He is playing on the second line with Logan Couture and first power-play unit with Couture, defenseman Brent Burns and forwards Joe Pavelski and Joe Thornton. Hertl is having his most-productive season in terms of points per game (0.62 in 29 games) since his injury-shortened rookie season (0.67 in 37 games).
Jost (+LW; now C/LW) has been limited to 14 of a possible 30 games because of a lower-body injury but scored his second goal against the Washington Capitals on Tuesday. He is playing on the second line with a combination of either J.T. Compher, Colin Wilson or Sven Andrighetto lately but has also been a part of Colorado's most frequent power-play unit over the past three games with forwards Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen, Gabriel Landeskog and defenseman Tyson Barrie. For now, Jost's fantasy value is limited to deep and/or keeper leagues.