at quarterback, and for the last few weeks weve been writing ab

Its been too easy so far this year, so a day like Wednesday was inevitable. Fantasy hockey owners lost three monsters, each for a significant length of time. You dont just replace Steven Stamkos, Taylor Hall and?Johnny Gaudreau; you simply try to get by without them and hope your opponents dont get out too far ahead.That said, fantasy value is responsive, and it will move around somewhat within the vacuum these superstars leave behind. Some of it will be lost in the ether, but some of it will stick to other NHLers who may serve a purpose with your fantasy squad. While you cant replace Stamkos, Hall or Gaudreau, you have to pick up the pieces and find the best alternatives.Tampa Bay Lightning: This is by far the most significant of the injuries, as surgery on a torn knee will mean a minimum of four months on the sidelines for Stamkos -- and as many as six. Yes, that means he could have played his last fantasy-relevant game of the season. First off, do you stash him? Yes, but only if you have the convenience of an injured-reserve spot. Otherwise, cut him loose and hope you are in a position to play the waiver-wire game with your league when his return edges closer.As for the remaining Bolts, we know precisely how the team succeeds without Stamkos, because they did well in last seasons NHL playoffs without him, when he was out with a blood clot issue. Look for coach Jon Cooper to get back to the trio of Tyler Johnson, Alex Killorn and Nikita Kucherov as his top unit. They were dominant in the playoffs last season, with Jonathan Drouin, Ondrej Palat and Valtteri Filppula making up the other top-six line. If we see an argument for including Vladislav Namestnikov in the top six this time around, its Filppulas spot that makes sense. Those arent the lines they used Thursday, but they are the lines that got them within one goal of the Stanley Cup finals last season.For fantasy value, this skyrockets Johnson up our rankings, as he is at his best when he gets to play the No. 1 center role. Drouin also flourished without Stamkos presence in the playoffs last season, so he should be scooped back up in the 40 percent of leagues where he has been dropped since the start of the season.New Jersey Devils: While Hall suffered a similar injury to Stamkos, mainly a torn meniscus in his knee, the Devils new catalyst comes with a timetable of three to four weeks. Thats much more manageable, and for anyone who has owned Hall in the past, its almost a relief to get the inevitable injury out of the way early in the season (if only this guaranteed his health the rest of the way!). While Beau Bennett will slide into Halls role on a line with Travis Zajac and P.A. Parenteau, the trio itself is relegated to fantasy irrelevance. While Hall is out, youll want to look at Kyle Palmieri?and?Adam Henrique, and perhaps give Pavel Zacha a test drive. This line gets promoted from second scoring line to top unit with Hall out. Palmieri is already owned in most formats, but Henriques ownership is slipping, and Zacha is well behind. Henrique has four points in his past three games.Calgary Flames: Gaudreau will be out four to six weeks with a fractured finger, but fantasy owners might not have noticed his absence. Thats a dig at how slow the start to his season has been. In fact, Gaudreaus numbers look way better than they did, thanks to four points in his final four games before the injury on Tuesday. This is an opportunity for a fresh start with his owners when he comes back. The good news is that he can stay in top-notch shape because its a finger injury as opposed to a lower-body issue, so in theory, he can hit the ground running in 2017.In the meantime, the Flames used the injury as an excuse to shake up their lines. Sean Monahan now joins the duo of Troy Brouwer and Sam Bennett, while Matthew Tkachuk should draw back into the lineup on a consistent basis to play on the second scoring line with Michael Frolik and Mikael Backlund. The first hope here is that new surroundings will spark Monahan. He is not expected to score at quite the rate of Gaudreau, but six points in 18 games is still unacceptable production from a No. 2 center. The second hope here is that some consistency on a scoring line and some power-play time can help Tkachuk find a rhythm and make him more of a factor for fantasy owners. Hes not there yet, with just seven points in 14 games, but hes played more than 17 minutes in the two games this week with Gaudreau injured, so there is hope.Fantasy Forecaster: Nov. 21-27The Los Angeles Kings are the only NHL team not playing either three or four games next week. And, no, the Kings arent playing in our third five-game week of the season; they only have a pair of games next week.Download the forecaster chart PDF hereFor those new to the Forecaster chart, here are some explanations: O (offense) and D (defense) matchup ratings are based on a scale from 1 (poor matchup) to 10 (excellent matchup) and are calculated using a formula that evaluates the teams season-to-date statistics, their performance in home/road games depending on where the game is to be played, as well as their opponents numbers in those categories. The Ratings column lists the cumulative rating from 1-10 of that weeks offensive (O) and defensive (D) matchups.Team notesMinnesota Wild: They arent scoring a ton of goals lately, but they dont need to the way Devan Dubnyk is playing. That said, this Wild team is now primed for some offense with the return of Zach Parise this week. Interestingly, coach Bruce Boudreau opted to leave Nino Niederreiter with Charlie Coyle and Eric Staal, playing Parise with Mikko Koivu and Mikael Granlund. Its a nice balanced attack and has the potential for returns for both unites. Granlund is probably the most interesting of the group, as his stock has fallen big-time this season, but would be aided by playing with Parise on a regular basis. The Wild have a four-game week on tap that includes matchups against the less-than-elite defenses of the Dallas Stars and Winnipeg Jets.Dallas Stars: Big changes are coming for the Stars offense prior to next weeks contests. Jason Spezza returned this week from a five-game absence.?Cody Eakin played his first game of the season on Thursday. And Patrick Sharp is eyeing a potential return on Saturday. Watch the lineup on Saturday, as any number of role players could step up to fill the top six for now. The shortlist includes Eakin, Radek Faksa and the continued use of Patrick Eaves. The Stars have some tough opposing goaltenders to start the week with in Dubnyk and Pekka Rinne, but depending on how the lines are shaped on the weekend, any player skating with Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn should be worth using.Goalie notesWe feel bad for doubting Pekka Rinne after a very slow start to the season. He finished October with a 3.22 goals-against average in six games. So far in November, he has a 1.12 GAA in seven games. Hes definitely a No. 1 fantasy goaltender, and were sorry for bemoaning his earlier struggles. Rinne has more than made up for the bad numbers.Jonathan Bernier has now started three of the past six games for the Anaheim Ducks, appearing in four of them. Only one of those starts was part of a back-to-back set. Coach Randy Carlyle, familiar with Bernier from their days in Toronto, clearly still trusts him. If he continues to get 50 percent of the workload, thats enough to make a fantasy impact in all leagues.Tuukka Rask played the most recent back-to-back set on his own, but thats unlikely to occur again this coming week. If you need a cheap, one-off goaltender, Zane McIntyre is likely to draw either the punchless Ottawa Senators or Gaudreau-less Flames.Corey Crawford is close to matchup-proof, but owners might want to have a second look at their plans for next week as the Chicago Blackhawks are on a western road swing against the offenses of the Edmonton Oilers, San Jose Sharks, Anaheim Ducks and Los Angeles Kings.Conversely, Sergei Bobrovskys schedule has him primed for a potential Player of the Week nod, as the Columbus Blue Jackets take on the Colorado Avalanche (potentially with no Matt Duchene or Gabriel Landeskog), Calgary Flames (sans Gaudreau), Tampa Bay Lightning (without Steven Stamkos) and Florida Panthers.Player notesThe search for a sixth and final winger for the Blackhawks top lines continues. While Vinnie Hinostroza had a shot this week, Tyler Motte is expected back from a leg injury this weekend. If he does return, that could put him in prime position for a four-game week with Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane as linemates.A positive sign for Rickard Rakell:?When the chips were down and the Ducks were down 2-0 to the Devils on Thursday, Nick Ritchie was booted from the top line in favor of Rakell. He played out the game there with Corey Perry and Ryan Getzlaf, setting up Getzlaf for the first goal of the 3-2 comeback victory.Martin Hanzals return to the ice this week sparked Radim Vrbata to a nine-shot performance on Thursday against the Vancouver Canucks. The line of Hanzal, Vrbata and Max Domi is about as good as it gets for the young Arizona Coyotes, so watch for this chemistry to improve.Its never a good sign when your star finishes pointless and minus-3, but the Oilers switched up their lines on Thursday to promote Milan Lucic and Jesse Puljujarvi alongside Connor McDavid. As mentioned, the results werent great, but this makes Puljujarvi a short-term must-add for deeper leagues and someone to watch closely this weekend for all leagues.We are probably going to regret this recommendation, but medium to deep leagues should scoop up Ryan Strome. The New York Islanders, who continue to be lost on offense, are throwing Strome onto the top line with John Tavares for Fridays game. We still think the talent is there for something good to happen with this opportunity.Hello, Kevin Labanc! The OHLs leading scorer from last season was tearing up the AHL as a rookie so far this season. Now up with the Sharks, he played a few games buried down the depth chart. Then on Thursday Labanc skated with Joe Pavelski and Joe Thornton on the top line and potted his first NHL goal. Give him a look. Cheap Air Max Plus Ireland . They hope to persuade the other team owners and commissioner Roger Goodell to put pressure on Redskins owner Daniel Snyder to drop the nickname they find offensive. "Given the way the meeting transpired," Ray Halbritter, an Oneida representative and leader of the "Change the Mascot Campaign," said Wednesday, "it became somewhat evident they were defending the continued use of the name. Cheap Nike Shoes Ireland . Andreas Johnson had a goal and two assists while Jacob de la Rose also scored for Sweden (2-0-0). Esa Lindell and Rasmus Ristolainen replied for Finland (1-1-0) Lindell opened the scoring for Finland just 41 seconds into the game, but the hosts quickly regained their composure and tied the score less than four minutes later on Wennbergs first of the game. http://www.discountairmaxplusireland.com/ . - Raiders general manager Reggie McKenzie never doubted he would bring back coach Dennis Allen for a third year despite back-to-back 4-12 records. Air Max Plus Ireland Sale . Now tied for second in the league in shootout goals, the 24-year-old likes to see what the opposing goaltender has in store before he ultimately lands on a move. Cheap Air Max Plus Ireland Fast Shipping .C. -- Glenn Howard needed an extra end to move into the Masters Grand Slam of Curling final. LAS VEGAS -- Tom Brady is back from his four-game suspension, and the New England Patriots are now atop the NFL Vegas Rankings.However, its not by as wide of a margin as our panel of ESPN Chalk handicappers was thinking a week ago. New England started the season 3-0 with Jimmy Garoppolo and Jacoby Brissett filling in at quarterback, and for the last few weeks weve been writing about that the Patriots would be upgraded when Brady returned and probably be No. 1. However, the Patriots were shut out 16-0 by the Buffalo Bills in Week 4. That would normally lead to a team being downgraded by a couple of points, so the addition of Brady only netted the Patriots a 1.5-point increase over last week, but that still enough to take over thhe top spot at a power rating of 27.ddddddddddddHeres a look at all 32 teams, the squads making the biggest moves up and down the rankings and some Week 5 value plays (10-3 ATS so far this season) using this weeks power ratings:Note: The NFL Vegas Rankings are compiled by taking the average of the power ratings of ESPN Chalk handicappers, including Erin Rynning, yours truly and ESPNs Football Power Index, and are used to compare two teams as if they were to meet on a neutral field (after which most teams get 2.5 points for home-field advantage) and can be used to compare to the current point spread. ' ' '