Every 4-6 weeks during the season, I change things up and post a list of fantasy relevant players. I look at things from the perspective of a 12 player league, and put players into three categories. First, there are holds, who are players that should be on 100% of rosters. Next, there are players on the fringe, who you can make a case for holding depending on team needs, or at the least, they’re the best of the best for streaming. Lastly, there are streamers, who are worth using, but not worth holding. I will list streamers in order of preference (generally, I only want to stream forwards, not defensemen. Also, goalies will be last regardless of preference just to separate them). Assume that I am holding every #1 goalie unless otherwise noted, but I will mention the backups I want to use. If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, please let me know below. Be on the lookout for Evan’s post on Monday as well. Let’s get to it!
ANAHEIM DUCKS
Hold: None
Fringe: Terry
Stream: Carlsson, Vatrano, McTavish, Zegras, Gauthier, Strome, Zellweger, Mintyukov, Gudas, Gibson
BOSTON BRUINS
Hold: Pastrnak, Marchand, McAvoy
Stream: Lindholm, Zacha, Coyle, Lindholm, Zadorov, Korpisalo
BUFFALO SABRES
Hold: Thompson, Peterka, Dahlin
Fringe: Tuch, Power, Byram
Stream: Cozens, Benson, Quinn, Zucker
CALGARY FLAMES
Hold: Kadri, Andersson, Weegar
Stream: Huberdeau, Sharangovich, Coleman, Coronato, Backlund, Zary, Pospisil, Kuzmenko, Wolf
CAROLINA HURRICANES
Hold: Aho, Necas, Svechnikov, Burns, Gostisbehere
Fringe: Jarvis
Stream: Roslovic, Slavin, Kotkaniemi, Orlov, Walker
CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS
Hold: Bedard
Fringe: Jones
Stream: Bertuzzi, Teravainen, Donato, Hall, Kurashev, Foligno, Dickinson
COLORADO AVALANCHE
Hold: MacKinnon, Rantanen, Mittelstadt, Lehkonen, Nichushkin (when back next week), Makar, Toews
Stream: Ivan, Girard, Annunen
COLUMBUS BLUE JACKETS
Hold: Werenski
Fringe: Monahan, Marchenko
Stream: Fantilli, Chinakhov, Sillinger, Merzlikins
DALLAS STARS
Hold: Robertson, Hintz, Duchene, Johnston, Stankoven, Heiskanen, Harley
Stream: Marchment, Seguin, Benn, Dadonov, Bourque, Lindell, DeSmith
DETROIT RED WINGS
Hold: Larkin, DeBrincat
Fringe: Raymond, Kane, Seider, Lyon
Stream: Tarasenko, Copp, Compher, Gustafsson
EDMONTON OILERS
Hold: McDavid, Draisaitl, Hyman, Bouchard, Ekholm
Fringe: RNH
Stream: Arvidsson, Skinner, Henrique, Nurse
FLORIDA PANTHERS
Hold: Reinhart, Tkachuk, Barkov, Verhaeghe, Forsling
Fringe: Bennett, Ekblad
Stream: Rodrigues, Lundell, Balinskis
LOS ANGELES KINGS
Hold: Kempe, Kopitar, Fiala, Clarke
Stream: Laferriere, Byfield, Moore, Danault, Foegele
MINNESOTA WILD
Hold: Kaprizov, Eriksson Ek, Boldy, Zuccarello, Faber
Fringe: Spurgeon, Brodin
Stream: Rossi, Hartman
MONTREAL CANADIENS
Hold: Caufield, Suzuki, Matheson
Stream: Slafkovsky, Dach, Newhook, Hutson, Guhle
NASHVILLE PREDATORS
Hold: Forsberg, Stamkos, Marchessault, Josi
Fringe: RoR
Stream: Nyqvist, Skjei
NEW JERSEY DEVILS
Hold: Hughes, Hischier, Bratt, Meier, Hamilton
Fringe: L. Hughes
Stream: Mercer, Noesen, Haula, Cotter, Pesce, Allen
NEW YORK ISLANDERS
Hold: Horvat, Nelson, Barzal (when healthy), Dobson
Stream: Palmieri, Lee, Tsyplakov, Pulock, Varlamov
NEW YORK RANGERS
Hold: Panarin, Zibanejad, Kreider, Trocheck, Lafreniere, Fox
Stream: R. Smith, Chytil, Trouba, Quick
OTTAWA SENATORS
Hold: Tkachuk, Stutzle, Batherson, Norris, Sanderson
Fringe: Giroux, Chabot
Stream: Greig, Pinto, Gaudette
PHILADELPHIA FLYERS
Hold: Konecny
Fringe: Michkov, Tippett
Stream: Couturier, Farabee, Frost, Brink, Drysdale, Sanheim
PITTSBURGH PENGUINS
Hold: Crosby, Malkin, Rust, Karlsson, Letang
Fringe: Rakell
Stream: Bunting
SAN JOSE SHARKS
Hold: Celebrini, Granlund
Stream: Toffoli, Smith, Eklund, Zetterlund, Liljegren, Walman
SEATTLE KRAKEN
Hold: McCann, Montour, Dunn (when healthy)
Stream: Beniers, Bjorkstrand, Eberle, Stephenson, Tolvanen, Schwartz, Evans, Larsson, Oleksiak
ST. LOUIS BLUES
Hold: Kyrou, Thomas (when healthy), Buchnevich
Fringe: Parayko
Stream: Neighbours, Schenn, Saad, Faulk
TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING
Hold: Kucherov, Point, Guentzel, Hagel, Hedman
Fringe: Cirelli
Stream: Paul, Moser
TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS
Hold: Matthews, Marner, Nylander, Tavares, Rielly
Fringe: Woll (lean to hold)
Stream: Knies, Domi, OEL
UTAH HOCKEY CLUB
Hold: Keller, Guenther, Sergachev
Fringe: Cooley
Stream: Schmaltz, Hayton, Maccelli, Vejmelka
VANCOUVER CANUCKS
Hold: Pettersson, Miller, Boeser, Hughes, Lankinen (until Demko is back)
Fringe: Hronek
Stream: Garland, DeBrusk, Suter, Hoglander
VEGAS GOLDEN KNIGHTS
Hold: Eichel, Stone, Theodore, Hanifin, Pietrangelo
Fringe: Dorofeyev, Barbashev, Hertl, Karlsson
Stream: Samsonov (when healthy)
WASHINGTON CAPITALS
Hold: Ovechkin, Strome, McMichael, Carlson, Chychrun
Fringe: Wilson (depending on format), Lindgren
Stream: Protas, Dubois, Mangiapane, TVR
WINNIPEG JETS
Hold: Connor, Scheifele, Ehlers, Morrissey, Pionk
Stream: Vilardi, Perfetti, Niederreiter, Namestnikov, Lowry
This is a very helpful update to track who is a clear hold. Thanks !
The Evan Bouchard owner needs a C and I could use a D. For context I’m in a 10 team H2H with G,A,P, +/-, SOG, PPP, Hits and we keep 6 players each forever. I’ve used (k) to denote who I kept from last year. Here is my team which has been good on offensively so far and I’ve picked up some young guys with upside too:
C – Drai (k)
C – Tage (k)
LW – Connor (k)
LW – Jack Hughes (k)
RW – Rantanen (k)
RW – Necas
D – Fox
D – Sergachev
D – Hanafin
D – Power
Bench: Guenther, McMichael
G- UPL
G – Gustavsson
Bench: Talbot, Dostal
Given my team, pool settings and keeper rules would you hold Tage or swap for Bouchard or any other ideas for upgrading?
Thanks,
LG
I would hold Tage, he’s been a borderline top 20 forward and it doesn’t look fluky at all. While I think Bouchard will be fine, it looks more likely that he’ll be a tier below the top defensemen with the Oilers PP not at last season’s absurd level.
While you could go for the big trade, you could also try to make a lower end swap using one of your two young bench guys, who both have keeper upside even with six keepers. I assume you’re basically punting hits?
Thanks Viz – yeah I’m punting hits and good advice to try and get a D upgrade by shopping one of my young guys. Out of curiosity who do you like better between McMichael or Guenther in terms of keeper upside?
Yeah makes complete sense to me, no reason to chase hits when your keepers are weak there. I think I like Guenther more as a keeper, although I have to say I’ve been extremely impressed with McMichael so far. I really think Guenther is going to be a 30+ goal guy every season for a while, his shot is truly elite.
Hey Viz, got offered a substantial package in my home league and I’m wondering what you think:
Categories are: G, A, PPP, SOG, Blocks, +/-, W, GAA, Sv%, and SHO
Give up: Bedard, Stutzle, Jones, and Shesterkin
Receive: Pastrnak, Barkov, Ekholm, Swayman
Generally, I never make these type of trades unless it’s a dynasty trade in the offseason, there’s a lot of moving parts without much change in total value. Is this a keeper league? Who are your other goalies besides Igor?
ah ok fair enough
No just a redraft league and my other goalies are Kuemper/Rittich
Pasta is obv. the best skater here, but I think I’d just keep what you have. Boston isn’t going to give Swayman the big volume, and your 2/3 are a split duo together, so I think volume could be an issue.
Viz I was quite bullish on Matt Tkachuk this year, and his low minute totals are beginning to worry me a little
Do you think Florida players are in a similar situation to Dallas, where they are so deep that Maurice doesn’t need to run him into the ground ?
I know he missed some time due to illness to start the year but that seems like ages ago
My two worst ranked players are Tkachuk and Robertson… just killing me.
Sorry for the delay… eh, it’s a little worrisome but I don’t think it ever gets to Dallas levels. Reinhart and Barkov are still getting 19-20 minutes fairly regularly. I think it’s a combo of them easing Tkachuk back in and a lot of blowouts. I think Tkachuk gets pretty close to last season’s ATOI, which is a 2 minute boost from where he is now.
Between Laferriere, chabot, Zetterlund, and perfetti, do you see dropping any of them for Roope?
I’d drop most of them for Roope. Zetterlund and Perfetti are close in value, both of which are lower than Hintz pretty easily to me. I guess I’d drop Perfetti? The minutes are so low and the shot rate is rough.
From a purely assist perspective, who do you like more here Viz: Hagel or Konecny ?
That’s a tough one. I guess I’d lean Hagel purely for assists, but it’s quite close