In the first half of Tuesday’s game, Jack Eichel couldn’t get anything going. The puck was constantly jumping over his stick and was turning the puck over constantly. Things certainly changed in the second half of the game as he willed the Sabres to a third straight overtime victory. Eichel scored twice, including the absurd overtime winner below, on four shots.
Unreal coast-to-coast OT winner from Jack Eichel pic.twitter.com/khERxktkbU
— Brady Trettenero (@BradyTrett) January 25, 2017
Eichel’s shot rate is currently the best in the league over his 26 games along with 12 goals and 9 assists. Now, it’s not a huge sample, but that’s a 40 goal, 30 assist pace with over 320 shots. That’s why I had him ranked in the top 20 before his preseason injury and while he’ll probably be there at the start of next season. We’ll be sure to include some dynasty talk on Thursday’s podcast; in Eichel’s case, we haven’t seen his best yet, far from it. Here’s what else happened around the league on Tuesday night:
Tomas Tatar – Goal on five shots. He saw a nice boost in minutes with the recent injuries. I like him more as a streamer because of it but I’m still not holding.
Henrik Zetterberg – Two assists with a shot. He’s racked up more points than I thought but the shot rate continues to plummet.
Andreas Athanasiou – Goal on two shots with two PIM playing over 19 minutes. The injury to Vanek didn’t hurt the second line much. Athanasiou will remain one of my favorite streamers for the foreseeable future.
Mike Green – Goal and an assist with four shots. Nice bounce back year for Green to this point; just stay healthy!
Brad Marchand – Two goals on five shots. I doubt he gets back to last year’s 37 goal total but nobody can be complaining. True six category stud.
Patrice Bergeron – Assist with five shots. He’s having the resurgence everyone expected. Look for him to push a point per game in the second half.
David Pastrnak – Goal and an assist with six shots. Man, how high is Pastrnak going to be ranked going into next season? He’s clearly top 50 but it’s probably closer to 25 than 50. Pastrnak has been unbelievable.
Peter Budaj – 24 saves on 25 shots in the 3-1 win over the Devils. The Kings were desperate for a win last night and it showed in their performance. Roll Budaj until he loses the job.
Jeff Carter – Two assists and a shot. Carter was in the midst of a mini-drought but eliminated that with two points in the first two minutes of the game. He’s been better than anyone could have expected.
Anze Kopitar – Goal on three shots with two PIM. He’s been brutally unlucky in terms of shooting percentage which is a horrible combo with a low shot rate. It could turn around but I’m not banking on it.
Cam Atkinson – Goal on two shots just like his teammate Nick Foligno. If you are a Jackets fan and drafted a bunch of your players in the middle rounds, I assume you are lapping your league.
Sergei Bobrovsky – 20 saves on 24 shots in 45 minutes before getting pulled in the 4-2 loss to the Islanders. We can excuse Bob for laying his first egg in a long time.
John Tavares – Two assists with two shots. He’s a buzzsaw right now.
Carter Hutton – 34 save shutout in the 3-0 win over the Penguins. All of the Blues goaltenders have been horrible for weeks so naturally they get a shutout on the road against arguably the toughest opponent in the league. Hutton is still a “desperate for starts” guy, maybe a slight step above just because there’s a chance for extra wins.
Colton Parayko – Goal on three shots with two PIM. I’m going to love Parayko next season.
David Perron – Two assists with a shot and two PIM. The penalty minutes are very high again pushing him towards a high end streamer when you need points plus PIM.
Carey Price – 30 saves on 31 shots in the 5-1 win over Calgary losing the shutout with 2 seconds left. Price will be just fine despite the horrible streak lately.
Tomas Plekanec – Goal and an assist with three shots. His days of being fantasy relevant outside of the deepest of leagues is over.
Alexander Radulov – Two goals with two shots and two PIM. He’s surprisingly on pace for 80 PIM on top of 65-70 points. Yeah, the shots aren’t great, but who cares? Another massive mid round value.
Andrew Shaw – Goal and an assist with two shots. Useful for PIM and bottom-end streamer level points.
Mike Condon – 31 save shutout in the 3-0 win over the Capitals. If you didn’t think last night was a weird set of games, just start with Pittsburgh and Washington both being shutout. Condon gave up seven goals the game before showing how up and down he is at the moment.
Fredrik Claesson – Two assists with a shot. This doubles his career points. He can’t be worse than the bottom end guys the Senators have been rolling but I don’t see anything here.
Zack Smith – Goal on three shots with four PIM after receiving a four year extension. Nice deal for Ottawa locking him up at a reasonable price. Smith remains a solid streamer.
Cody Franson – Two assists with three shots and two PIM. The minutes have come up lately and he’s delivered with four points in three games. I don’t think much is here but it’s worth monitoring.
Zemgus Girgensons – Goal and an assist. He was excellent in this game; I wish we could get this kind of offense on a regular basis. Girgs has it in him, that’s for sure.
Evander Kane – Assist with eight shots on goal. You own him, right? I hope you do at this point.
Kyle Okposo – Goal on five shots. He’s been solid yet unspectacular this season.
Filip Forsberg – Goal on eight shots. Most goals in the league the last six weeks? Yes, it’s Mr. Forsberg.
Calle Jarnkrok – Two assists with a shot. This is mostly a random blip on the radar. If he was on the top line again, sure, there could be something here, but that’s not going to happen again.
James Neal – Goal and an assist with five shots. Look for him to get on a heater soon.
Logan Couture – Goal and an assist with four shots. I almost led off the post with Couture. He’s looked outstanding over the past week and it wouldn’t surprise me if he pushes towards the top 50 in the second half.
Dustin Byfuglien – Two assists with four shots. Big Buff doing Big Buff things!
Patrik Laine – Assist with three shots playing almost 22 minutes in his return from a concussion. Get him back in your lineups immediately.
Bryan Little – Two goals on three shots. Little has 5 goals and 2 assists in his past 4 as he pushes towards a point per game. If for some reason he’s available in your league, grab him now.
Josh Morrissey – Two assists with two shots. There is some long term upside here but I don’t think there’s enough for redrafts.
Andrei Vasilevskiy – 34 saves on 36 shots in the 5-2 win over Chicago. He was absolutely incredible down the stretch of this game. I can’t bring myself to trust either Tampa goalie but their upside is undeniable.
Brian Boyle – Goal and an assist with five shots. He’s surprisingly been an okay streamer lately but I don’t expect it to last.
Valtteri Filppula – Two assists with five shots. If you need assists, Filppula is definitely worth grabbing. That’s all you’re going to get from him though.
Tyler Johnson – Two goals. I’m still holding him but I think he’s pretty fringe at this point. The goals are nice but you aren’t getting much else.
Alex Killorn – Two assists with five shots and two PIM. He remains firmly in the streaming class of points and penalty minutes.
Jonathan Toews – Goal and an assist with four shots. Captain Serious is coming off two massive games with six points total. I’d try to sell high on him if I could.
Devan Dubnyk – 35 saves on 37 shots in the 3-2 SO win over the Stars. With Bob struggling, Dubnyk increased his margin as the #1 goalie on the season. At this point, I’m expecting it to last.
Mikael Granlund – Assist with four shots. That’s an eight game point streak for Granlund. Amazing season and the biggest case of post-hype breakout this year which there’s been a ton of.
Patrick Eaves – Goal on four shots. I still lean towards holding him with the big minutes and power play time but it’s close.
Jason Spezza – Two assists with three shots and two PIM. I’m still holding tight because of the upside.
Kari Lehtonen – 31 saves on 33 shots taking the loss. This put his save percentage right at .900. With only 9 wins in 28 starts, you know what to do with him.
Wednesday’s Streamers:
Brandon Sutter (13.1%) – The minutes are there for Sutter right now and it doesn’t get any better than a matchup with Colorado.
Zach Hyman (6.2%) – You can go with a bunch of different Leafs in this spot against Detroit. The Red Wings are on the second of a back to back, the first game of which they allowed 49 shots to Boston. Look for Toronto to dominate possession as well. My first choice of their streamers is Hyman, who has three points in his last four games with solid minutes.
Mikko Rantanen (4.5%) – He’s ice cold right now but Rantanen is receiving the minutes and the Cancuks are vulnerable defensively.
That’s all for now guys. Be sure to check out the podcast that went up today as well. We are coming back right away with another podcast for Thursday morning. My next set of daily notes will be on Friday morning. As always, feel free to ask any questions or leave any comments below. Thanks for reading, take care!
