Through November, Justin Williams had 4 points in 23 games. For years, he has been a bottom end hold in standard 12 man leagues but that time came to a screeching halt. Until it started again. Williams had himself a day on Tuesday night totaling a goal, two assists, two shots and two PIM. That brings Williams to 15 points in 16 games since the beginning of December. With eight points in his previous five games, Williams must be picked up and held throughout this hot streak, especially since he contributes in penalty minutes and shots on goal in a fairly big way. Nothing like a big resurgence from a 35 year old. Let’s take a look at what else happened around the league the last two nights:
Robby Fabbri – Two assists with a shot and two PIM. It’s been up and down but Fabbri’s totals look pretty good outside of shots and those are still up a bit.
Alex Steen – Goal and an assist. It’s been a strange year for Steen. He’s been a 3 shot per game guy for years and now he’s not even at 1.5 per. That said, the PIM have been good and the assists are excellent. It’s kind of fringe right now for 12’ers which I didn’t expect.
Vladimir Tarasenko – Two goals on nine shots. He was the best player on the ice and it wasn’t even close. The bigger question is why the hell didn’t he play more? Come on Hitchcock, ride your horse.
Jake Allen – 22 saves on 23 shots in the 4-1 win over the Blackhawks. It’s been a roller coaster ride for Allen this year; the wins are strong but he’s hurt you elsewhere.
Cory Schneider – 22 save shutout in the 3-0 win over the Bruins on Monday, then 29 saves on 30 shots in the 3-1 win over the Hurricanes. I said about a month ago that the best time to buy Schneider will be at the end of December when the schedule eases up. Now is the time. Yes, the first half was horrible but he’s proven himself to be a great goalie. He should get back to those levels.
Taylor Hall – Goal and an assist with six shots and two PIM over 2 games. The shots have been down a bit lately but at least the assists are coming in. Slam dunk top 50 player.
Adam Henrique – Goal and an assist with four shots. I’d probably hold him with the Devils getting healthy but he’s an elite streamer bare minimum.
Sergey Kalinin – Goal and an assist with two PIM. And there’s your annual Sergey Kalinin update!
Michael Cammalleri – Goal and an assist with two shots. I think he’s a decent buy low option given his recent cold stretch.
Kyle Palmieri – Goal and an assist with six shots. He’s in the same boat as Henrique.
Tyson Barrie – Goal on four shots. He has a five game point streak now but remains -20 on the season. Again, it all comes down to whether or not you want to stomach the plus-minus.
Sven Baertschi – Two goals on five shots for some great streamer success. Keep using him in great matchups. One of those is tonight… Spoiler alert!
Henrik Sedin – Two assists. More of the same from Cyborg 2.
Ryan Miller – 24 saves on 26 shots in the 3-2 win over the Avalanche. The bigger story is that the Canucks were -150 to win this game. How bad are the Avalanche? Yeesh. For once, I’m going to recommend using whoever starts for the Canucks on Wednesday against the Coyotes.
Anders Nilsson – 24 saves on 25 shots in the 4-1 win over the Rangers. Dominating performance in this game by the Sabres which I certainly didn’t expect. Ders has been solid when he’s played this year making him an okay streamer when he plays.
Sam Reinhart – Two assists with two shots. He’s on fire at the moment and worth owning everywhere.
Nick Holden – Goal and two PIM. Solid option right now if you’re desperate for help on the blue line.
Mitch Marner – Goal and an assist with three shots. Starting to pick up some points to go along with excellent shot totals.
Auston Matthews – Two assists with a shot and two PIM. Kid is a monster right now.
James van Riemsdyk – Two assists with six shots. He’s the forgotten man in Toronto and there’s a chance he gets moved for defensive help. Regardless of where he is, JVR will be a top 100 player.
John Carlson – Goal and an assist with two shots. It’s been a disappointing first half but I can’t help but think Carlson, along with the rest of his team, is going to pick it up offensively.
Marcus Johansson – Two assists with two shots. I’m still holding but it’s not a tight grip. The minutes are down along with the shots.
Evgeny Kuznetsov – Goal and three assists with two shots and two PIM. My man! Here’s to hoping this is a launching point.
Dmitry Orlov – Goal and an assist with three shots. I’m fine with making Orlov a bottom end hold in 12’ers, it’s very close.
Alex Ovechkin – Goal on five shots with six penalty minutes. It seems like he hasn’t done much yet he still remains on a 40 goal pace. Add in the strong PIM and an incredible shot rate and that’s why he goes at the top of drafts.
Sebastian Aho – Goal on three shots. Streamer success! I’m extremely encouraged by his recent play and it’s resulted in more playing time (18:31 in this one). It’s pushing towards hold status but Aho is not quite there yet.
Sergei Bobrovsky – 21 saves on 22 shots in the 3-1 win over the Oilers. He’s been out of this world all season.
Cam Atkinson – Goal on four shots with two PIM. Nobody can stop Atkinson right now.
Nick Foligno – Goal on five shots. The only thing Foligno lacked was shots and now he’s had 20 in his last 5 games. Unbelievable.
Nikolaj Ehlers – Two goals and an assist with three shots and two PIM. This game went exactly how I predicted on Tuesday’s podcast. Ehlers has been one of my best calls this year. Ehlers hit the post on an empty net to get a hat trick. He was on my DFS team that finished top 20 in the big $33 on DK so I thank him for the big game but bury the empty netter next time!
Patrik Laine – Goal and two assists with four shots and two PIM. The battle between Laine and Matthews has been spectacular all year.
Mark Scheifele – Goal and an assist. The shots have really fallen off lately which is a bit of a concern but I imagine it’ll turn around soon.
Jacob Trouba – Goal and an assist with two shots and two PIM. He’s on a four game point streak and should be owned in all 12’ers with his contributions across the board.
Blake Wheeler – Two assists with four shots and two PIM. He’s always the forgotten man yet Wheeler just produces over and over again.
Victor Hedman – Two assists with a shot. We’ll detail this game on Thursday’s podcast but Hedman looked incredible all game. His ability to consistently jump into the play without exposing his team defensively was impressive. It’s no surprise that he’s a top 5 defenseman to this point.
Tyler Johnson – Two assists with three shots. He’s about to take off due to the next guy.
Nikita Kucherov – Two goals and an assist with seven shots. Only Crosby has a higher points per game than Kucherov now. It’s an outstanding stat line in all six categories.
Ondrej Palat – Goal on three shots with six PIM. If he’s available in your league, go pick him up now.
Carey Price – 22 saves on 23 shots in the 2-1 OT win over the Predators. It’s been a rough stretch for Price and Montreal in general, especially on the road. They had the best of this game and Price was strong when called upon.
Shea Weber – Goal on two shots in his return to Smashville. Great pregame ceremony that’s worth checking out if you didn’t see it.
Max Pacioretty – Goal on ten shots. He’s recovered incredibly well after a slow start.
Alex Radulov – Two assists with two shots and two PIM. To say he wasn’t as well received as Weber would be an understatement but it brought out the best in the Russian. That’s a four game point streak for Radulov who has been a great value this season.
Pekka Rinne – 41 saves on 43 shots in the OT loss. I call him out and Rinne stands on his head. Hopefully this is the start of good Rinne because Nashville needs it with their next three games at Tampa, Florida and Chicago.
Peter Budaj – 26 saves on 27 shots in the 2-1 OT win over the Sharks. The crazy thing about Budaj is his save percentage is better than the majority of Jonathan Quick‘s years. I think that says more about Quick than Budaj but keep rolling Budaj.
Jeff Carter – Goal and an assist with six shots. Carter has been incredible all season pushing towards the top 25 overall.
Tanner Pearson – Goal on four shots for additional streamer success. I’m holding Pearson to use him against Detroit on Thursday.
Martin Jones – 33 saves on 35 shots taking the loss against his former team. Quite a bit away from the top 5 goalies but he’s firmly number 6 right now.
Wednesday Streamers:
Sven Baertschi (4.3%) – As mentioned above, he’s hot and gets a great spot against the Coyotes tonight. We’re finally starting to see consistency from the former high draft pick.
Michael Frolik (12.5%) – Take your pick of Flames tonight against Colorado. Of the guys under 20%, I’d lean towards Frolik who has a four game point streak.
Travis Konecny (15.9%) – While I expect the Rangers to come out firing after laying an egg Tuesday, the second line for Philly is clicking at the moment. Getting exposure to them through Konecny seems like a good idea.
That’s all for now guys. Since Wednesday is a bigger slate than usual (six games), I will have daily notes on Thursday. My plan is to put them out tomorrow in the late morning or afternoon EST while the newest podcast will go out overnight. As always, feel free to ask any questions or leave any comments below. Thanks for reading, take care!
