We have a new candidate for craziest game of the year. Chicago and Ottawa was a 5-4 game… with 2 minutes left in the first! The game finished with a ridiculous 8-7 score with Alex DeBrincat leading the way on the score sheet. The 21 year old scored a hat trick and added two assists, bringing him up to 32+28 on the season. Not bad for anyone, let alone a 21 year old. In the preseason, I wrote this: “Everything is in place for DeBrincat to score 35+ goals… if Quenneville plays him the minutes he deserves. DeBrincat scored 28 goals and 24 assists as a rookie despite playing only 14:48 per game. It was infuriating that DeBrincat’s minutes down the stretch didn’t drastically increase with the Blackhawks out of the playoff race. He’s a natural goal scorer who needs to get more playing time for the Blackhawks to have any chance at a bounce back. The penalty minutes won’t be there, but 30+30 is well within reason, and there’s still upside from there.” Well, Quenneville was fired, but everything else came to fruition. I love DeBrincat now and going forward. Sure, he’ll never give PIM, but he should be an annual 30 goal scorer who has some years pushing 40 like this one. Let’s take a look at what else happened on Monday night:
Mark Giordano – Goal and an assist with four shots and two PIM. This game gets Gio back to a point per game with a +30 rating and strong contributions in literally every category. Spectacular bounce back which has him right in the Norris conversation and is a clear #1D.
Michael Frolik – Goal and an assist with two shots. Only a bottom end streamer at this point and he could be pushed to 12’er irrelevance when Calgary makes an addition at the deadline.
Mikael Backlund – Goal and an assist with three shots and two PIM. Strong player in real life but for now, he’s only an average streamer. Perhaps it gets better when the Flames add a middle sixer at the deadline.
Elias Lindholm – Two assists with five shots. Lindholm hasn’t slowed down one bit. He’s two assists shy of matching his previous career high in points with assists alone, and he has 25 goals to boot. Props to everyone who also took Lindholm as a late round flier. He turned into someone who was an early streamer for game one that I never dropped.
Rasmus Andersson – Two assists with a shot. Andersson only has 1+10 in 56 games. Maybe there’s something here eventually, but it’s not close to happening now.
Nikita Kucherov – Two goals and three assists with five shots and four PIM. This is just getting ridiculous. 99 points in 60 games! We haven’t seen an offensive season like this since Lemieux and Jagr in 95-96.
Brayden Point – Two goals and an assist with three shots. It’s amazing how the Lightning keep churning out these guys who aren’t first round picks and turning them into something special. Point has found another level to his game that I didn’t think he had.
Mikhail Sergachev – Two assists with a shot. He found a way to be a disappointment on a team that’s won 45 out of 60 games. I wouldn’t use him now, but I can see future me talking myself into drafting him as a late round flier next season.
Andrei Vasilevskiy – 39 saves on 40 shots in the 5-1 win over the Blue Jackets. Since Gibson will never get votes for the Vezina with how the team has played (plus missed time), Vasilevskiy is the clear front runner now.
Colin White – Two goals and an assist with four shots. I like White as a decent streamer. The thing is that his short term value will go to shit if Stone is moved.
Mark Stone – Goal and an assist with four shots. Matt Duchene dished two assists. Look, I get that you don’t want to make these guys healthy scratches, but I think it’s malpractice for the Sens to let these guys play. We are a week from the deadline, they’re playing for nothing, and an injury will kill any potential trades which can bring back massive value for the franchise. Hopefully they come to their senses as we get closer, even though it would suck for fantasy owners.
Thomas Chabot – Two goals. No surprise that he slowed down some, but Chabot has everything in his toolbox to be a fantasy superstar.
Brady Tkachuk – Two assists with five shots. Tkachuk has picked it back up after a pretty big cold stretch. The shot rate has been through the roof and the PIM are strong so I kind of want to hold him but it depends on team needs.
Patrick Kane – Goal and two assists, as did Dylan Strome. We know Kane has been ridiculously good but Strome is pushing a point per game since joining Chicago. He should be held except in the shallowest of leagues.
Jonathan Toews – Goal and an assist as did Brandon Saad. Toews is having his best season in over five years. Saad remains a fine streamer.
Duncan Keith – Two assists with two shots. Still have very little interest in using Keith in a 12’er.
Andrew Agozzino – Goal and an assist. Agozzino is 28 years old playing his 11th career game. Nothing to see here for fantasy, but congrats to him on making the league at his age and scoring a goal. Welcome to the Razzball Database!
Semyon Varlamov – 40 save shutout in the 3-0 win over Vegas. Varly is so hit or miss, everyone knows it at this point. Use at your own risk.
Alex Ovechkin – Two goals on three shots, both power play goals assisted by John Carlson. The hangover appears non-existent for these fellas.
David Krejci – Three assists. There is no mystery to who Krejci is from a fantasy perspective at this point.
Jake DeBrusk – Goal and two assists. Primed for a big breakout next season, elite streamer right now while he’s hotter than a pistol.
Joe Thornton – Hat trick with two PIM. Damn, I was really hoping that Thornton would get #4 to see if he pulled out his you know what. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, look up Thornton talking about Hertl scoring 4 goals in a game as a rookie.
Joe Pavelski – Goal and two assists with three shots and two PIM. Just a wonderful season from Pavelski after a brutal first six weeks made me question if he was even worth holding. Glad I never cut bait.
Logan Couture – Goal and an assist with six shots and two PIM. Couture is quietly having a nice season that could see him post a career high in points.
Tuesday Streamers:
Frank Vatrano (14.5%) – He’s back on the first line with Barkov and Huberdeau. Also, the Sabres are a mess. Excellent spot for Frank the Tank.
Bryan Rust (16.9%) – Rust is on the first line again. That’s enough right there to use him against anyone, let alone the Devils.
Luke Kunin (0.3%) – While the Wild are playing poorly, Kunin has been playing well. Mostly, I want to get somebody against the Ducks and Kunin is my favorite pick of the Wild streamers right now.
That’s all for now guys. I will more than likely be back on Wednesday recapping tonight’s action, but there is a chance that it’s not until Thursday. As always, feel free to ask any questions, give any comments, or leave any suggestions below. Thanks for reading, take care!
