Now is the time of the year where we see college players decide to forgo their collegiate career and sign an entry level contract. There have been a bunch of players in recent years who have made an immediate impact, such as Chris Kreider and Brock Boeser. We could have another name to add to the list. Ryan Donato signed an ELC with Boston and had quite the NHL debut, scoring a goal and two assists with six shots playing almost 20 minutes. He followed that up with a goal on two shots on Wednesday With all of the graduates the Bruins have had over the last year, Donato is currently their #1 prospect (at least in my eyes). He was a great goal scorer at Harvard and did very well in the Olympics scoring five goals in five games. His shot is his best attribute but he’s also a strong skater. I don’t see superstar upside, but Donato can definitely become a top 6’er. He’s a streamer for now depending on who he’s with and how many minutes he’s getting, but he’s certainly a solid dynasty target. Donato played on the first power play unit and the second line on Monday, so here’s to hoping that’s what we get for the rest of the season, at least until Patrice Bergeron returns. Let’s take a look at what else happened over the last two nights:
Thomas Vanek – Goal and an assist with two shots on Monday, assist with two shots and two PIM Tuesday. Vanek is an elite streamer at the moment
Nick Foligno – Two assists Monday, two assists with a shot on Wednesday. Foligno is a middling streamer depending on the categories you need.
Boone Jenner – Goal and an assist with four shots Monday, shot and two penalty minutes Wednesday. It’s looking more and more likely that Jenner was a one year wonder.
Ryan Murray – Two assists with two shots against the Bruins, assist Wednesday. Nothing to see here, Murray has never developed offensively.
Ian Cole – Two assists with a shot and four PIM over two games. Hard pass outside of like, 20 team leagues with hits and blocks.
Artemi Panarin – Four goals and an assist with six shots and two PIM over two games. Oh baby, Panarin is closing incredibly well. After this torrid stretch, Panarin is on pace to top last season’s totals.
Brad Marchand – Goal and an assist with eight shots. Same old story for Marchand; he’s as good as it gets when he’s playing.
Dalton Heinen – Two assists. He’s fallen off a cliff over the last month or so; I’m not using Heinen at the moment.
Pekka Rinne – 35 save shutout in the 4-0 win over the Sabres. After it looked like the Vezina race was over, Rinne has opened the door. This will be a discussion point on Thursday’s podcast with Reid.
Filip Forsberg – Goal and an assist with three shots. After a brief slump, Forsberg has 11 points in his last 10 games. This is easily Forsberg’s best season on a per-game basis. It’s scary that he’s still only 24; good job trading him Caps.
Viktor Arvidsson – Two assists with five shots. Like his linemate, Arvidsson is coming on strong down the stretch. His numbers are going to be almost exactly the same as last season’s.
Roberto Luongo – 28 save shutout in the 2-0 win over the Canadiens. Boy, the Canadiens are a mess right now (they’re far from the only one). Luongo is sitting at a .928 save percentage on the season. Pretty, pretty, pretty good.
Drew Doughty – Three assists with a shot Monday, . I’ve always been lower on Doughty than most but it’s hurt me this year. A career high in points is certainly in play.
Jeff Carter – Two goals on five shots Monday,
Dustin Brown – Goal and an assist with five shots Monday,
Dougie Hamilton – Goal and an assist with six shots. Excellent season across the board from Hamilton. He’s solidified himself as a clear #1D going forward. I still think he can improve simply by receiving more ice time.
Max Domi – Two goals and an assist with three shots and two PIM Monday, goal on two shots with 4 PIM Wednesday. Every few weeks, Domi has a big game. Then, he disappears until the next big game. It’s infuriating, but I’m still not giving up on him as a prospect, especially in fantasy. Domi just turned 23 and already has a 52 point / 72 penalty minute season under his belt. In a dynasty, I like him as a buy low.
Oliver Ekman-Larsson – Two goals and two PIM Monday, assist with three shots Wednesday. He hasn’t had a negative plus-minus in his last ten games so if for some reason he’s still available in your league, go grab him now.
Derek Stepan – Two assists with three shots Monday, goal and an assist with four shots Wednesday. A nice finish has Stepan positioned to finish with his usual 50-55 points.
Clayton Keller – Three assists with two shots over two games. Six game point streak for Keller as he continues to close well.
Leon Draisaitl – Goal and three assists with four shots. The King of Leons has numbers incredibly similar to last season but with a nice bump up in shot rate. That’ll help solidify him around the 30-35th overall mark with upside from there.
Pontus Aberg – Goal and two assists. There’s not much here yet, and there may never be, but the trade was still an easy win for the Oilers.
Ryan Strome – Goal and an assist with six shots. Strome is the perfect example of why you don’t overvalue guys simply because of his potential linemates.
Yohann Auvitu – Goal and an assist. And there’s your annual Auvitu update!
Jesse Puljujarvi – Goal and an assist with four shots. He’s shaping up to be one of the best late round picks in redrafts next season.
Sebastian Aho – Goal and an assist with two shots. Aho is shaping up to be a guy who falls just outside of the top 50 next season. Pretty damn good for a 20 year old.
Scott Darling – 23 saves on 30 shots in the 7-3 loss to the Oilers. This was arguably my biggest whiff ever. Yikes. He stinks!
Christopher Gibson – 36 saves on 37 shots in the 4-1 win over the Penguins. I have zero faith in this sustaining, but if you want to gamble on him, feel free.
Matt Murray – 36 saves on 39 shots in his return from injury. Get him back in your lineup immediately.
Mathew Barzal – Goal and an assist with four shots. It seems like an eternity ago when the Calder race was a debate.
John Tavares – Two assists with two shots. Reid and I discuss Tavares’ future extensively in the podcast that will go up later today.
Alexander Radulov – Goal and an assist with three shots and four PIM. All of Dallas’ points were scored by their big four. Nobody else among their skaters is even close to being worth using right now.
Alex Ovechkin – Goal and two assists with six shots and two PIM. Ovechkin’s tremendous season continues. Remember when he was ranked outside of the top 10 at major outlets? Looking worse and worse by the day.
T.J. Oshie – Goal and an assist with two shots. Who would have guessed Oshie would fall off after shooting 23% last season? Oh, everybody. I highly doubt that I will own Oshie anywhere next season.
John Carlson – Goal and an assist with four shots. Dude is about to get the Brinks truck. He’s the best defenseman that is UFA and it’s not even remotely close. Eight million per? I don’t see why he couldn’t get that type of offer.
Lars Eller – Two assists with a shot. Eller has set career highs offensively this season but he’s still only a deep league option.
Claude Giroux – Three assists with three shots. It really looked like Giroux was trending in the wrong direction and then he’s going to set a new career high in points this season. This year has so many of these stories but Giroux’s turnaround is arguably the biggest of the bunch.
Sean Couturier – Goal and an assist with three shots. He now has more goals this season than his previous two best seasons combined. Seems good.
Shayne Gostisbehere – Goal and an assist with two shots. Ghost Bear looked settled into being a #1D for the foreseeable future.
Petr Mrazek – 16 saves on 19 shots in 30 minutes before being pulled against Detroit. He looked on the revenge game path after the first before allowing three goals on six shots in the second. Mrazek is completely unusable now.
Dylan Larkin – Two goals and an assist with eight shots. Larkin looks primed for a massive breakout next season. He’s only shooting 5.3% which is absurdly low. Get that to a reasonable number and we’d be looking at something like 23+45 from him, possibly better. Add in strong PIM and I expect to rank him very aggressively.
Nick Bjugstad – Goal and an assist with four shots as the Panthers dropped seven on the Sens. No need to run down their whole team, but Bjugstad is an absolute must-own in all formats right now. His last month has been outstanding and the Panthers have a very heavy schedule the rest of the way.
Erik Karlsson – Missed the game after him and his wife lost their unborn child. Condolences to him and his family having to deal with this tragedy. It’s unclear at this time when Karlsson will return.
James van Riemsdyk – Two goals on five shots. That’s a new career high in goals for JVR with 33. I’m not sure how he only has 16 assists, but that will be primed to bounce back next season no matter where he is playing. Firmly in the 75th overall range.
Yanni Gourde – Two assists with a shot. Talk about excellence out of nowhere. The shot rate is ugly, but my god, Gourde is on pace for 25+35 with 50 PIM and a +30 rating. Just remarkable.
Kyle Connor – Two goals on five shots. Decent chance that Connor scores 30 goals which is going completely under the radar. He’s an incredible dynasty asset.
Eric Comrie – 16 saves on 17 shots in the 2-1 OT win over the Kings. He could get a couple starts down the stretch with the Jets virtually locked into second in the Central, but use the 22 year old at your own risk.
Semyon Varlamov – 44 saves on 45 shots in the 5-1 win over the Blackhawks. Varlamov deserves a ton of credit for his late season push. It’s still scary to use him but I’d be comfortable rolling him right now.
Nathan MacKinnon – Two assists with four shots. What MacKinnon has done this season is mind blowing. We also cover MacKinnon’s historic season on today’s podcast./
Tyson Barrie – Goal and an assist with five shots and two PIM. Ten game point streak for Barrie brings him towards a 65 point pace per 82 games. And he’s only -7! Outstanding season from Barrie.
Alex Kerfoot – Two goals on three shots. He was pointless in nine straight before this and he still refuses to shoot the puck regularly. Pass right now.
Mikko Rantanen – Goal and an assist with two shots. Add more superlatives here.
Marc Andre-Fleury – Seven saves in the first period before leaving the win against the Canucks. Here’s to hoping it’s not another concussion for the flower. Malcolm Subban is a must-add as insurance.
Brent Burns – Three assists with two PIM. That’s three straight games without a shot for Burns. What the hell is going on around here!?
Jake Guentzel – Goal and two assists with three shots and two PIM on Wednesday after goose eggs on Monday. Elite streamer but doubt I’m holding him right now. All of the other big guns for Pittsburgh had two points.
Jaden Schwartz – Two goals on four shots. Another season ruined by injury, Schwartz is exactly at a point per game over 53 games.
Brayden Schenn – Two assists with a shot and two PIM. That’s the good news. The bad news is that there is almost certainly a suspension coming for a bad hit on David Krejci. If he ends up getting more than one game, I’d just cut Schenn. As we talked about on the podcast, the most important thing right now is start volume.
Jake Allen – 21 saves on 22 shots in the 2-1 OT win over the Bruins. With Hutton still out, it’s all Allen going forward. Keep using him.
Francois Beauchemin – Goal and an assist with two shots. I’m honestly embarrassed for the Ducks that they’re still playing Beauchemin.
Ryan Getzlaf – Two assists. Just a monster year for Getzlaf, who like Schwartz had it partially ruined by injury. He’s almost at an assist per game with decent goals, great plus-minus and very good penalty minutes.
John Gibson – 29 save shutout in the 4-0 win over the Flames. Gibson has managed to improve on last season’s .924 sv%. The 24 year old remains a top 5 dynasty goalie and a clear #1G going forward.
That’s all for now guys. Be sure to check out the podcast that will come out in the afternoon today. You can make Three Point Challenge picks here or in that post. I’ll be back tomorrow with daily notes. As always, feel free to ask any questions or leave any comments below. Thanks for reading, take care!
