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Oh, the irony of the timing.  Right as Ryan Smith, owner of the Utah Jazz, puts out a release saying that he’s ready to bring a hockey team to Utah, the Arizona Coyotes go on a 14 game losing streak.  Over the weekend, they managed to right the ship.  The Coyotes snapped their skid on Friday, beating Ottawa 5-3, before defeating the Capitals 5-2 on Sunday.  The featured performance was their former 9th overall pick Dylan Guenther.  Guenther had a goal and an assist with two shots on Friday before scoring a goal and two assists with five shots and two PIM against the Capitals.  Guenther playing over 18 minutes on Sunday was extremely encouraging.  With Clayton Keller out, Guenther moved to the point on the first power play unit, and delivered three PPP over the two games.  I’ve been a fan of Guenther’s as a prospect and it looks like he’s finding his game in the NHL.  He’s an elite streamer for the time being who you can hold for this week if you’d like.  Arizona has four games, including two against the Blackhawks.  In dynasties, I see a guy that eventually becomes a hold in all formats.  I think he’ll be a guy who gets three shots on goal per game on average, resulting in 25ish goals with upside for more with a good shooting percentage.  Let’s take a look at what else happened over the weekend:

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If you’re new to this column or have no idea what the Friday/Sunday split is, it’s a simple yet effective way to maximize your weekly output no matter the format of your league. Typically — and it’s not always the case — heavy game loads are Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, whereas Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays are lighter. Streaming players on those lighter days is almost a necessity to ensure you’re getting the most of each week, but this column focuses on just Fridays and Sundays.

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Fantasy Hockey Weekly Newsletter: Week 18

Hello everyone. Welcome to the eighteenth edition of JOT This Down!

Keep the questions, comments, and concerns coming. I’ll be here all week to answer any and everything you may have.

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It’s hard to imagine the first half of the season going any worse for the Devils.  In terms of points percentage, they’re in the second wild card spot in a season that many expected them to push for the Metro Division title and to be one of the Cup favorites.  They’ve been brutalized by injuries, but their main offseason acquisition rescued them on Monday.  After giving up four straight goals turning a 3-1 lead into a 5-3 deficit, Tyler Toffoli scored with 16 seconds left in the second period, and eventually completed a hat trick in overtime to beat the Golden Knights 6-5.  That brings Toffoli to 20 goals on the season, ahead of last season’s 34 goal pace.  The loss of Hamilton for the regular season has been massive, and J. Hughes being out is too much for them to stomach.  The good news for the Devils is they only have two more games before they have 10 days off.  There’s a chance that Hughes will be back at that point.  As for Toffoli, he’s a bit behind the pace that I hoped for, but overall, it’s hard to complain when he’s on pace for 37 goals.  Here’s to hoping he keeps the shot rate up, as getting back to last season’s rate would give him a good chance of maintaining his current level of play.  It’s the difference between being a potential top 50 player and a bottom end hold.  Let’s take a look at what else happened the last couple of nights:

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It’s not too often that an NHL record that’s stood for over one hundred years gets broken.  That happened on Wednesday night.  Despite his role shrinking, Kris Letang had the period of a lifetime.  Letang dished five assists in the second period in a seven minute span, becoming the first defenseman in NHL history to record five assists in a period.  He finished the game with six assists, all at even strength to give him a +6 rating in the 7-0 win over the Islanders.  Even with this game, Letang is far from the defenseman he used to be, partially due to age, and partially due to the arrival of Karlsson.  He’s under two shots per game, and has only three goals as a result.  However, the assists are still very good, the hits and blocks are solid, and the PIM are much higher than they’ve been.  He’s the perfect #3/4 defenseman on most teams since he’s hitting most of the categories and piling up assists.

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Before the season, if you told me I was going to be writing about an Ingram, I would have assumed I was needed to write about basketball in an emergency.  Instead, we’re two months into the season, and the #3 overall goalie is a 26 year old who played 30 mediocre to bad games in his NHL career.  Connor Ingram posted a 26 save shutout in the 6-0 win over the Capitals on Monday.  Ingram now has an 11-3 record with a 2.23/.930.  I was bullish on an Arizona goalie in preseason, turns out I should have looked at the backup.  Do I expect it to last?  I would lean towards no, but crazier things have happened.  Arizona is playing excellent hockey, and it’s not only because of Ingram.  Somehow, he’s still available in over 50% of leagues.  Even if he turns into a pumpkin in two weeks, it was worth the speculative add, because the upside is through the roof.  Let’s see what else happened over the last two nights:

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Even with Columbus up 4-0 halfway through the game, it never felt remotely close to over.  In the span of the first four minutes of the third period, the Penguins turned a 4-1 deficit into a 4-4 battle.  A careless overtime penalty set the stage for Sidney Crosby to score the overtime game winner to complete the comeback.  Crosby had a goal and two assists with four shots in the win, setting up a game on Thursday with the Islanders for the first wild card spot.  While he’s not at his peak anymore, Crosby still has a chance for 100 points again.  You don’t need me to tell you how good Crosby is, but where he’ll rank going into next season is an interesting debate.  My guess is that it’s somewhere around 20th overall, a clear second rounder in drafts, but perhaps it’s a few spots above that.  Even at 36, he’s given us no reason to expect him to slow down.  Let’s take a look at what else happened over the last two nights:

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Not a bad way for Kevin Fiala to follow up a hat trick.  In a new rivalry developing between the Kings and Oilers, Fiala scored two goals and two assists with four shots.  That brings Fiala to 10 points in his last five games with his shot rate jumping up quite a bit lately.  The new line shuffle seems to be working, and the new Los Angeles All-Star has been fantastic in his first year with the Kings.  It’s a fantastic stat line across the board that has Fiala comfortably as a top 50 player with upside from there.  Let’s take a look at what else happened over the last two nights:

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It was great to see Aleksander Barkov back in the lineup on Thursday, and if you didn’t get him back into your lineup off injured reserve, well, that one is going to hurt for a while.  Barkov scored a hat trick in the first period against the Canadiens and added two assists in the 7-2 win over the Canadiens.  It hasn’t been Barkov’s best season to this point, but I’m buying Barkov going forward to get back to being well over a point per game.  Florida has dug itself quite a hole in the playoff race and I expect Maurice to really ride their top six even more.  Barkov’s shooting percentage is also much lower than his career sh% (10.3 vs 14.0) so look for some positive regression in the New Year for the Panthers captain.  Let’s take a look at what else happened over the last two nights:

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As fun as it is to make fun of Toronto’s Stanley Cup drought, it’s very impressive when somebody breaks one of their major records.  On Saturday, Mitch Marner did just that, getting a point in his 19th consecutive game, scoring twice on five shots.  Toronto fans love to make Marner their whipping boy, but this should give him a respite until the playoffs come along.  The shot rate is slowly creeping back up for Marner, which is a necessity if he’s going to approach last season’s point total.  He’s a bit behind at even strength, but he’s managed to be even better on the power play.  Marner is as safe as it gets in fantasy at this point and remains in the top 20.  Let’s take a look at what else happened over the weekend:

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