The fantasy hockey three stars may not always be quite the same as the three stars you typically see in NHL games. However, it seemed like there were no shortage of good candidates on Wednesday to choose from.
Let’s see which players made the fantasy grade.
Olympic Fantasy Three Stars
Gold — Erik Karlsson — Sweden
Not many should be surprised that Erik Karlsson looks really good on the wide ice. It wasn’t just the two goals scored but the overall way he played that had to impress fantasy owners. Overall he played 19 minutes and one second, had one of his tallies on the power play, fired a team high four shots on net, and was a +2. Karlsson looked at ease against an older, slower Czech Republic team and that was encouraging to fantasy owners. Sweden is in a rather easy group, similar to Canada’s situation so expect ripe opportunities for fantasy players on those teams.
Silver — Edgars Masalskis — Latvia
The goalie did anything and everything to keep Latvia in Wednesday’s game against Switzerland. Unfortunately he was undone by a bad bounce as his 38 saves were not enough in a 1-0 loss to the Swiss. Simon Moser scored off Georgijs Pulacjs and magically three points for the regular win went to the Swiss. That pained look on the Latvian goalie really was worth a thousand words but his performance had to be a surprising boon to those who were stuck with Latvia’s goaltending in fantasy box pools. Basically he was the team’s best defender and one has the feeling Masalskis is going to face a ton of shots in the preliminaries.
Bronze — Jonas Hiller — Switzerland
I can hear it now. Sure, Jonas Hiller only faced 21 shots but the most important things were the win and of course the shutout. Again, Hiller could provide decent fantasy returns as the speedy Switzerland team is very similar to the silver medal winners from last year’s World Championships. Again, the key with fantasy hockey in tournament formats is big performances early. The more of those you get, the better off your pool is. The Swiss could surprise, providing they get a favorable quarterfinal opponent. Since you are not always going to draw the best players, it is always prudent to look a little further down your lists. Hiller looks to be one of those finds.
