Before this season, Tage Thompson was part of the punch line about how bad the Sabres were fleeced in the RoR trade. Amazingly, Thompson has come out of nowhere to play better than RoR has this season (although I’m sure the Blues are just fine with it, banners fly forever). Thompson was fantastic over the weekend, scoring a hat trick against the Avalanche before scoring a goal on four shots against the Blue Jackets on Sunday. That brings Thompson up to 20 goals and 18 assists in 47 games and over three shots per game. Thompson is right on the fringe although I lean towards grabbing him for now. Buffalo’s next opponent? Montreal. Let me get some of that. Either way, Thompson’s development is massive for the Sabres going forward. Let’s take a look at what else happened over the weekend:
Friday’s Games
Roman Josi – Three assists with six shots and two PIM. He’s third among defenseman this season, although he’s mostly been dragged down in plus-minus compared to Ekblad and Makar. If your league doesn’t include +/-, Josi is the top defenseman in the NHL. He’s a big reason Smashville is still battling for a playoff spot.
Andrei Svechnikov – Two goals and an assist with three shots and two PIM. The breakout into superstardom is real. Now if only he averaged more than 17 minutes per game… come on Rod the Bod.
Brady Skjei – Goal and an assist with three shots. He’s an option for deep leagues, but that’s it.
Jaccob Slavin – Goal and an assist. He’s bottom end, but Slavin does enough to be held.
Sebastian Aho – Two assists with four shots and six PIM. Aho has managed to get better every season. He’s still only 24 years old so the best should be yet to come.
Martin Necas – Two assists. Solid streamer but not really considering Necas as a hold right now. That can change quickly though.
Mason Marchment – Hat trick on five shots. Is it really fair that Florida has a guy on the third line that’s over a point per game playing 13 minutes per game? Good lord. I don’t see it sustainable, but I’m fine holding Marchment if you want to, or he’s an elite streamer.
Anton Lundell – Two assists with two shots. He’s been damn good as a rookie. Lundell is in the solid streamer territory.
Aaron Ekblad – Goal and an assist with five shots. Absolute monster as he’s the #1 overall defenseman at this point, and #2 on a per-game basis.
Kirill Kaprizov – Goal and an assist, as did Mats Zuccarello. The Wild got caved in this game at even strength, but at least their two best fantasy players found a way to produce in a 6-2 loss.
Jake Oettinger – 34 save shutout in the 1-0 SO win over the Blackhawks, making Marc-Andre Fleury a tough luck loser. Oettinger should be held in all formats now without much doubt.
Adrian Kempe – Two goals on five shots. Kempe’s previous career high in goals? 16. He already has 23 in 47 games this season. He’s not an automatic hold, but I’m holding Kempe.
Anze Kopitar – Two assists with two shots. Kopitar is pushing a point per game once again. No brainer hold.
Max Pacioretty – Two goals. Just stay healthy!
Jonathan Marchessault – Two assists with three shots. As long as your league includes shots on goal, Marchessault is an easy hold.
Saturday’s Games
Jeff Skinner – Two assists with four shots. Like his linemate Thompson, Skinner is right on the fringe depending on team needs.
Mikko Rantanen – Goal and an assist with four shots. Rantanen has a video game stat line. 26+32 in 46 games with a +30, 36 PIM and 167 SOG? Just preposterous.
Connor McDavid – Goal and two assists with six shots. The bar is so high for McDavid that this season feels disappointed because he’s not lapping the field in points. Real life cheat code.
Tyson Barrie – Two assists with four shots. Barrie has done very little lately, but the minutes were up in this game. I don’t think he’s an auto hold any more, but I’m fine with being stubborn too because we’ve seen the upside.
Mike Reilly – Two assists with three shots. If Reilly had a bigger role on a bad team, I could see him being a solid fantasy contributor. As is, there’s nothing here.
Pavel Buchnevich – Two goals on seven shots. The Rangers are going to end up giving up major assets for somebody to play in their top six. Meanwhile, they gave Buchnevich away in the offseason for a second round pick and a fourth liner. Whoops.
David Perron – Two assists with a shot. Perron has taken a big step back this season. He’s still on the fringe but I did like that he moved up the lineup in this one. He’s worth monitoring.
Robert Thomas – Two assists with two shots. Matchbox Twenty is hotter than a pistol. The shots have even been mediocre lately which is a big upgrade! I’m holding now.
William Nylander – Two goals. Nylander has found another level this season which is great to see.
Alex Kerfoot – Two assists with two shots. Middling streamer as long as he’s in the top six.
Adrian Kempe – Two goals and an assist with five shots. Anze Kopitar had three assists. See them above.
Drew Doughty – Two goals and an assist with five shots. I spent a lot of time over the last few seasons dumping all over Doughty. He had fallen off in a big way. Credit where it is due because the bounce back is real. Doughty is thriving playing the toughest minutes in the league. There’s nothing fluky about his performance.
Elias Lindholm – Goal and an assist, as did Matthew Tkachuk. Man, this top line is relentless, just like the entire Calgary team. They’ve reached wagon status.
Jacob Markstrom – 22 saves on 23 shots in the 2-1 win over the Kraken. He’s not at the Igor/Vasilevskiy level, but Markstrom is right behind that.
Trevor Zegras – Three assists with two shots. After a rough patch, Zegras has 3+5 in the past seven games. He’s right on the fringe depending on what you’re looking for.
Nic Deslauriers – Two goals on four shots. And there’s your annual Deslauriers update!
Adam Henrique – Two goals on three shots. I have Henrique as a bottom end streamer until the minutes go back up, if they do at all.
Sam Carrick – Two assists. No thanks.
Troy Terry – Goal and an assist with two shots and two PIM. Just an unbelievable breakout from Terry. 26 goals after 15 in his career before this season!
Elias Pettersson – Goal and two assists with three shots. Pettersson is starting to show signs of the player he was before this season. I’m holding because I still believe in the upside.
Tanner Pearson – Goal and an assist. Bottom end streamer.
Conor Garland – Goal and an assist with three shots. Garland is a solid streamer, but the minutes are too low for me to consider holding, especially since it’s without PP1 time. That could change at the deadline.
Quinn Hughes – Goal and an assist with two shots and two PIM. Hughes hasn’t missed a beat since returning after a two week COVID absence.
Sunday’s Games
Dean Kukan – Two goals and an assist with four shots. Kukan had 3 goals in 128 games in his career before today. Insane that he had a three point game. And there’s your annual Kukan update!
Brendan Gaunce – Goal and two assists with three shots and two PIM. Quite a lot happening with Gaunce considering he only played 7:41. No fantasy value.
Boone Jenner – Goal and an assist with two shots. Patrik Laine had two assists with four shots. The top line is rolling right now, mainly these two. Easy holds.
Evgeni Malkin – Two assists with three shots. Geno has been fantastic this season when he’s on the ice. Kris Letang also had two assists with three shots. I can’t wait to see what happens in free agency with these two.
Bryan Rust – Goal and an assist with three shots. Rust has been great the last two seasons, but he’s otherworldly right now. 18+21 in 30 games!
Aleksander Barkov – Goal and two assists. Jonathan Huberdeau dished two assists. These guys have spent most of the season separate, but they’re playing together right now and destroying every thing in their path.
Patrick Kane – Goal and an assist with four shots. Kane is shooting under 7% which is easily a career high. He should be due for positive regression even though he’s not quite getting to the best areas as often as he used to.
Ryan Strome – Goal and an assist, as did Artemi Panarin. Strome is right on the fringe depending on your league format. If you include PIM, he’s an easy hold. If not, I would lean towards no.
Igor Shesterkin – 29 saves on 30 shots in the 2-1 win over the Senators. He’s got a great chance of finishing as the #1 goalie if he stays healthy. He’s so damn good.
Scott Wedgewood – 32 saves on 33 shots in the 3-1 win over the Stars. He’s had three great starts in a row, but Wedgewood would be more than a desperation play.
Nick Schmaltz – Goal and two assists with two shots playing over 21 minutes. Schmaltz is on a massive tear with 11 points in the last 10, including 6 in the last 4. He’s an elite streamer for the moment.
Clayton Keller – Goal and an assist with four shots playing almost 25 minutes. Keller is a no brainer hold right now.
Kevin Fiala – Two goals and an assist with four shots. While it’s not automatic, I feel pretty good about holding Fiala. He’s taken off a bit since Matt Boldy (1+1) was called up.
Nick Bjugstad – Two assists with two PIM. It was his first game in almost two months. Bjugstad had 1 assist in 28 games before this one. No thanks.
Zach Hyman – Goal and an assist with two shots playing almost 22 minutes. With Tippett out, Hyman is finally getting the workload everybody anticipated when Hyman signed with the Oilers. No brainer hold for me.
Logan Thompson – 35 saves on 36 shots in the 4-1 win over the Sharks. Great performance from Thompson, but he should be back in the AHL soon with Lehner’s return impending. Welcome to the Razzball Database!
Jack Eichel – Goal and an assist with five shots. Nice to see Eichel have a nice showing in his third game. It may take a while for him to get back to normal, but he should end up just fine. The top line with Max Pacioretty and Chandler Stephenson (1+1 each) is going to do some real damage.
Shea Theodore – Two assists with four PIM. He hasn’t been as good as expected, but Theodore is doing just fine. If anything, it should get better.
Three Point Challenge. We’ll go back to Tuesday’s games. No McDavid, Draisaitl, Huberdeau, Kadri, Gaudreau, Kaprizov, Ovechkin, Matthews, Rantanen, or Tkachuk. I’ll go with Marner against the Blue Jackets.
That’s all for now guys. I’m going to be traveling on Tuesday so the bad news is that I won’t have daily notes on Wednesday. The good news is that JKJ is going to fill in for me! I’ll be back later in the week. As always, feel free to ask any questions, leave any comments, or give any suggestions below. Thanks for reading, take care!
