Early in his career, Jason Pominville was one of the most underrated forwards in the league. You could lock him in for 60+ points in his prime and he even reached 80 in a season. In recent years, there’s been a fairly big drop off but for the last month, it’s been a blast from the past. Pominville had a massive game on Tuesday night scoring two goals and two assists with three shots in the 4-2 win over the Jets. Going back exactly one month, Pominville has 5 goals and 12 assists in 14 games. Pretty, pretty, pretty good. There’s only one game tonight and the Wild are in it. If he’s still available in your league, pick him up to stream. Since they play Friday and Sunday as well, I’m definitely holding Pominville for the rest of the week and then reevaluating on Sunday night. Here’s what else I saw around the league the last two nights:
Robin Lehner – 37 saves on 39 shots in the 2-1 loss to the Devils. Another monster game for Lehner who is completely locked in right now. We talked about his current and long term value on yesterday’s podcast.
Kyle Okposo – Goal and an assist with four shots over two games. His stat line has been more yawnstipating than normal but it’s still worth holding.
Jack Eichel – Two assists with seven shots. When he starts to find consistency from game to game, he’s going to be spectacular.
Tyler Ennis – Goal and an assist with three shots. He bounced up and down the lineup in both games leaving him as a bottom end streamer for now.
Brian Gionta – Two assists and four shots. Gionta is also a bottom end streamer that can be used on smaller slates or in the best matchups.
Evander Kane – Two goals on twelve shots with six penalty minutes. Loyal Razzballers are cleaning up with Kane as he’s the #2 overall forward for the past 30 days. Somehow he’s still available in almost 50% of leagues…
Ryan O’Reilly – Goal and an assist with four shots. The jump in shot rate this year is huge for his long term value. His ceiling is capped because of the lack of PIM but RoR looks terrific.
Michael Cammalleri – Two assists with five shots. As talked about in writing and podcasting the last couple weeks, Cammy is right on the fringe but leave him on the wire for this week just because it’s the Devils’ bye week.
Pavel Zacha – Goal and an assist with two shots. With five points in the last five, Zacha is back on the streaming radar. I’m still a staunch believer in the long term.
Cory Schneider – 22 saves on 23 shots getting the win. It’s been much better for the last two weeks. The schedule is going to get heavy for the Devils starting Sunday so hopefully the Schneider of the past is here to carry a big workload and produce.
Josh Bailey – Goal and two assists with three shots. He’s on fire right now so I’m inclined to hold him. The Isles have 3 games in 4 days starting Thursday, all of which are juicy matchups.
Anders Lee – Two assists with a shot. Same story as Bailey but if I had to choose between the two, it would be Lee.
Brock Nelson – Two goals and an assist with four shots. Same story as Bailey and Lee but if I had to rank the three, Nelson would be last. The minutes just aren’t as good for him.
Ryan Strome – Goal and an assist with two shots. Four game point streak for Strome but he’ll have to do a lot more to regain my trust.
Morgan Rielly – Three assists with three shots and two PIM over two games. He’s on the fringe for me. His numbers to this point aren’t 12’er worthy but there’s clear upside here. Do you want to gamble?
Nikita Zaitsev – Goal and two assists with three shots. He’s a clear hold if your league includes hits and blocks but otherwise, Zaitsev is purely assists. AAGNOF!
Jake Gardiner – Goal and an assist with eight shots. Damn, the Leafs finally getting some points from the blueline! Out of the three of them, I’d go with Gardiner; I’d hold him in standard leagues without hesitation.
Nazem Kadri – Two assists with five shots and four PIM. Due to all of their rookies, Kadri has gone completely under the radar in Toronto. What a monster season.
Mitch Marner – Goal and an assist with six shots. No slowing this young gun down right now.
Auston Matthews – Two goals on seven shots. Not even 20 years old yet. He’ll be a borderline first rounder next year.
Curtis McElhinney – 39 saves on 40 shots in the 3-1 win over the Stars. I want nothing to do with him for a few reasons. First, his career save percentage is .905. Two, the defense in front of him is pretty poor. Three, he’s the clear backup despite the recent struggles of Frederik Andersen. Four, he was very lucky in this game with the Stars hitting numerous posts. Five, there is no five, isn’t four enough? Bottom line is he’s a replacement level goalie that’s hot in a very small sample.
Carter Hutton – 26 save shutout in the 2-0 win over the Flyers. In his last four appearances, Hutton has two shutouts, allowed five goals and then three goals on eight shots. Talk about a roller coaster.
Jake Allen – 30 save shutout in the 6-0 win over the Senators. Who knew that the Blues could win when they got good goaltending and suck horribly when they don’t? Hitchcock bit the bullet for these two being dreadful all year.
Kenny Agostino – Goal and an assist with nine shots. I talked about him at length in the podcast. I don’t want to repeat all of it but to summarize, Agostino was the leading scorer in the AHL this season by a mile and with Robby Fabbri being out for the season, Agostino is a clear streamer / cheap DFS option right now with upside for more.
David Perron – Three assists with five shots and four PIM in two games. He’s a solid streamer now with upside for more due to the increased minutes.
Kevin Shattenkirk – Two assists with a shot totaling +4. The shots are down quite a bit but there are few complaints with plus contributions outside of plus-minus.
Paul Stastny – Goal and two assists with three shots. I’m holding him now because of the workload the new top line is getting.
Alex Steen – Goal and two assists with four shots and two PIM. Same story as Stastny.
Vladimir Tarasenko – Two goals on four shots. I think this new line can really take off. I’m looking for Tarasenko to push towards the Richard Trophy with all is said and done.
Brent Burns – Two assists with four shots and two PIM. He currently has a 14 game road point streak if you were wondering how Burns has been doing. Top skater on the season seems good.
Henrik Lundqvist – 43 saves on 44 shots in the 3-1 win over the Ducks. Vintage Lundqvist performance in this one. I’m liking his chances to be a bottom end #1 down the stretch.
Michael Grabner – Two goals on six shots. He leads the league in even strength goals which had to be about 10,000 to 1 before the season. The amount of breakaways Grabner generates is unbelievable.
Kevin Hayes – Assist with two shots and two PIM in his return from injury. If he was dropped in your league, pick him up.
J.T. Miller – Two assists. Three straight two assists for Miller who has quietly been great this season.
Brady Skjei – Two assists with four PIM. Assists ain’t got no face! Again, for those who aren’t Razzball baseball or basketball guys, it means these things are easy to stream. That’s Skjei’s only good category so use him if you need that.
Chad Johnson – 31 saves on 33 shots in the 3-2 SO win over the Penguins. I think he’s a step above “desperate for starts” but Johnson has fallen off quite a bit from his strong start.
Matt Murray – 28 saves on 30 shots in the loss. He had no chance on either of the goals. He’s been a bit below average the last couple weeks but keep rolling him. Murray does have the upside to be the #1 goalie for the rest of the season.
Chris Kunitz – Goal on three shots. He moved on the first line in this game which puts him near the top of the streaming list.
Braden Holtby – 23 save shutout in the 5-0 win over the Canes. He’s up to the #2 goalie on the season and it wouldn’t shock me if he catches Dubnyk for #1.
Brett Connolly – Goal and an assist. The third line is really clicking right now; Connolly has a point in four straight. He deserves attention in deep leagues because of the PIM but it’s still not 12’er worthy.
Marcus Johansson – Goal and an assist with two shots. That’s back to back 1+1 games for Johansson but I’d still rather stream than hold.
Matt Niskanen – Two assists with four shots. He has stayed on the first power play unit despite John Carlson (assist) returning so Niskanen needs to be held everywhere.
Alex Ovechkin – Goal and an assist with four shots. The Great Eight is a top 5 forward on the season now which is what I expected taking him first overall. It’s so safe year in and year out.
Sergei Bobrovsky – 24 saves on 26 shots in the 3-2 OT win in Detroit. He was in a rough stretch but keep rolling Bob.
Brandon Dubinsky – Goal and two assists. The points are up lately so with the penalty minutes, Dubi is an okay stream if you need PIM as well.
Ben Bishop – 28 save shutout in the 5-0 win over the Kings. Top guy upside, team killer downside. Fingers crossed.
Jonathan Drouin – Goal and an assist with two shots. It’s scary that Drouin is still only 21 years old after all of the drama surrounding him the last couple seasons. Look for the full breakout to occur next season.
Nikita Kucherov – Two goals on five shots. If he didn’t get injured, Kucherov would be a serious contender for leading the league in points. He’s been spectacular.
Vladislav Namestnikov – Two assists. He’s an okay streamer but nothing more.
Tyler Seguin – Goal on nine shots with two PIM. Seguin has moved to center and is carrying his own line right now. Look for some massive shot totals if things stay the same.
Viktor Arvidsson – Goal and an assist with two shots. He’s been dropped off the first line but I’m still holding for the shot volume.
Calle Jarnkrok – Goal and an assist with three shots. Jarnkrok is the guy who is a nice streamer for a couple week stretch a few times a year but is useless for 4-6 weeks at a time. Now is a good stretch so stream him.
Roman Josi – Two assists and two shots. Josi has been a big disappointment but look for a big second half. Nashville looks much better lately and they’re getting healthy.
Pekka Rinne – 31 saves on 33 shots in the 4-2 win over the Canucks. Good Rinne has been in full force lately. Here’s to hoping that it can be maintained.
Charlie Coyle – Three assists with two PIM. Coyle has slowed down quite a bit but the overall line is so good across the board that he needs to be held.
Nino Niederrieter – Two goals on five shots. Another post-hype breakout, El Nino has been incredible lately. He’s looking like a top 100 next player next season.
Devan Dubnyk – 38 saves on 40 shots in the 4-2 win over the Jets. Insert superlatives about Dubnyk here.
Joel Armia – Goal and an assist with three shots. I think Armia could be a nice deep league option next season and a consistent streamer but he’s not there at the moment.
Ondrej Pavelec – 11 saves on 14 shots in 26:15 before getting pulled. He’s atrocious and doesn’t belong in the NHL at this point.
Calvin Pickard – 27 save shutout in the 4-0 win over the Canadiens. I actually like Pickard as a goalie, the team in front of him is just poor.
Mark Barberio – Two assists with a shot. I knew I should have taken advantage of the Mark Barberio revenge game in DFS. He actually did get PP time in this game so in deep leagues, he may be a decent option in the short term.
Gabriel Landeskog – Two assists with a shot and two PIM. I’d lean towards holding but that plus-minus is rough.
Nathan MacKinnon – Two assists with three shots. Like Drouin, it’s crazy that he’s only 21 years old. I’m still a huge believer long term.
Mikko Rantanen – First career hat trick. The minutes are up and the points are starting to come in consistently. I’ll be drafting him next season as a late round pick and Rantanen is a nice streamer for the rest of this season.
There’s only one game tonight with the top two teams in the Central battling in Minnesota. As far as streamers go, start with Pominville but otherwise just look at who is available in your league.
That’s all for now guys. My next set of daily notes will be out on Friday morning. I’m not sure yet if the next podcast will be out Thursday morning or Friday; I’ll update this post when I figure it out with Reid. As always, feel free to ask any questions or leave any comments below. Thanks for reading, take care!
