Forsberg sweepstakes has interesting fantasy implications

The Flyers are apparently planning to move as many as 6 players before the trade deadline. Forsberg is the biggest name in the bunch and a large number of teams are interesting in renting his services for a playoff run.

The latest news hints that the Detroit Red Wings are pursuing Forsberg hard and the fact that they already have 7 Swedish players on their roster makes it likely that Forsberg would be willing to waive his no trade clause to join the Wings. Oh, yeah, and the fact that they are the Red Wings, a successful franchise and an original 6 team to boot.

What does this mean for Fantasy? Forsberg's value can do nothing but go up as the rumours continue to swirl around his imminent departure from Philly. With most players out there a fantasy rumour can hurt or improve their fantasy value depending upon the teams involved in the rumour, with Forsberg just about any team is better than Philly.

While it is obvious what this means to Forsberg's value it is still important to watch the trade rumours closely, why? Well, let's say you the rumours to the Red Wings are true... what happens if Forsberg heads to Detroit? Pavel Datsyuk, Kris Draper, Robert Lang and Jason Williams all play the same position (center) as Forsberg. Who is the odd man out? Assuming that someone slides to a different (likely Williams as he has already done most of the season) that still leaves 4 pretty talented Centers on one team. Someone else with have to slide over to a slot on the wing.

In fantasy hockey we are generally only interested in first or second line players (except for specialty categories like PIMs) so who gets bumped? Tomas Holmstrom has been hot lately while combined with Zetterberg and Datsyuk, how long do you think that line combo will last with Forsberg on the team?

What this means is that even if you don't own or want to own Peter Forsberg (and let's be honest, he is a serious injury waiting to happen) this trade rumour could still affect your team in how it will play havoc with existing lines in Detroit.

If you own a Zetterberg, Datsyuk or Williams this is likely good news for your team. But if you own some fringe Red Wing players such as Holmstrom, Lang, Draper you should be watching how this plays out quite a bit.

I focused specifically on the Detroit Red Wings here but there have also been rumblings that Forsberg is being pursued heavily by both the Avalanche and the Rangers. Obviously the same logic applied above (that was logic right?) to the Detroit Red Wings can be used to evaluate the impact of this trade on your fantasy team if you own Colorado or New York Rangers players.