Jiri Hudler hasn’t been playing his best hockey in the past week but he remains a valuable fantasy forward as the injuries pile up around the league.
Analysis: Hudler has posted 16 points in 20 games this season and is a minus-1 on a team with a negative 16 goal differential. He has plenty of fantasy strengths. His ice time is in the 17-18 minutes per game range and he gets plenty of time on the Calgary power play. He doesn’t take many penalties but he does shoot enough and maintains a respectable plus/minus on an awful team.
Hudler is available in 50% of fantasy leagues which does not come as a surprise even though he ranks 63rd among all NHL forwards averaging .80 points per game. Remember that last year he did post 50 points in Detroit in limited ice time.
If guys like Milan Michalek or Clarke MacArthur are available you’ll definitely want to pick them up. Keep in mind that Michalek is going through some knee issues so you will want to monitor his status. The twenty-eight year old Michalek has scored 53 goals in 143 games over the last two years which is .37 goals per game.