The Oilers are peaking at the right time, as they’ve gone from battling for a playoff spot to battling for the Pacific Division. It started with a 5-4 win over the Coyotes on Monday, before a dominating 7-4 win over the Golden Knights on Tuesday. The man leading the way was Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, who continued his career season. RNH had a goal and an assist on Monday, before following that up with a goal and four assists with two shots against Vegas. That brings RNH up to a whopping 96 points (35+61), blowing away his previous career high of 69 points. 96, much nicer than 69. McDavid and Draisaitl justifiably get most of the attention surrounding the Oilers, but the impact that RNH has made this season can’t be understated. Adding a third 100+ point player to the mix is insane, and Edmonton has as good of a set of forwards as there is in the league. They’re a bit light on games the rest of the way, but their schedule is among the softest in the league, so look for the studs to continue to crush. As for where RNH will rank next season, that’s an extremely difficult question to answer. I have to expect some regression, but how much? Given the mediocre shot rate, I assume I’ll have RNH towards the bottom of the top 50? If he’s only a PPG guy, there’s plenty of value but it would be a bit underwhelming compared to other guys in his range i.e. his floor is lower. Let’s take a look at what else happened over the last two nights:
Lukas Rousek – Goal and an assist in his NHL debut. He played with Tage Thompson missing, although Tage should be back Friday. Rousek should be on Buffalo’s 4th line next year. He looked like he belonged in this game, but don’t expect a ton fantasy wise. Welcome to the Razzball Database!
Gustav Forsling – Two goals on five shots. Forsling hasn’t been talked about much in these parts. He’s been an easy hold all season, and that’s that.
Kyle Palmieri – Two goals and an assist with seven shots. Quite the revenge game from Palmieri. He has ten points in his last six games, making Palmieri an elite streamer. The Isles schedule is very brutal coming up though.
Ilya Sorokin – 30 saves on 31 shots in the 5-1 win over the Devils. No offense to Isles fans, but I really hope they miss the playoffs. They’re such an awful team to watch outside of their incredible goalie.
Matt Boldy – Hat trick. Boldy is en fuego at the moment with nine goals in his last five games, including two hat tricks. Please, Minnesota, get this guy an elite offensive center to play with. The upside is massive.
Marc-Andre Fleury – 35 saves on 36 shots in the 5-1 win over the Kraken. MAF has been much worse than Gustavsson and the Wild only have one back to back left, so it’s hard to say how many games he’ll get.
Leon Draisaitl – Two goals and two assists with five shots and two PIM over two games. Going into Monday, Draisaitl, Connor McDavid (4A in 2 games), and Evander Kane (goal on 13 shots) all had 299 career goals. What are the odds of that? Insane. Props to Draisaitl for being the first to 300.
Evan Bouchard – Two goals and an assist with four shots over two games. Bouchard has been very good since Barrie was traded. Massive upside next season.
Jonas Johansson – 29 saves on 30 shots in the 5-1 win over the Ducks. It’s incredible that Johansson played in the NHL again. He is atrocious. /end
Bowen Byram – Goal and an assist with seven shots. Byram has been quite good when he’s on the ice. His long term upside is slightly capped because of Makar, but we saw last season that a second Colorado D can be elite in fantasy despite that.
Cody Glass – Goal and an assist. Glass has been decent this season in Nashville. It’s nice to see the former high pick finally establish himself in the NHL. The next step is to continue his development and hopefully reach the level he was expected to as a prospect.
Juuse Saros – 35 saves on 36 shots in the 2-1 win over Boston. Saros stole the game, and was 2 seconds away from a shutout. He firmly belongs in the Vezina discussion at this point.
Evgeni Malkin – Two assists with six shots. His numbers are still ugly at even strength, but Malkin has stayed healthy and will be over a point per game again. Love to see it.
David Perron – Hat trick on four shots. Perron put a dent into his former team’s playoff hopes with two late goals. Perron has been a solid streamer, and if the Red Wings make a big move in the offseason, he could be a beneficiary next year.
Dylan Larkin – Goal and two assists with four shots and two PIM. Larkin has a real chance at a point per game for the first time. With over three shots per game and solid PIM, Larkin remains a fringe top 50 player.
Andrei Vasilevskiy – 31 save shutout in the 4-0 win over the Hurricanes. Even in a down year, Vasilevskiy is a top 8 goalie. That’s why we draft him so high.
Brayden Point – Two goals and an assist. Point now has 47 goals, a remarkable turnaround after a couple down years by the standard he set. 50 is well within reach.
Steven Stamkos – Goal and two assists with two shots. It’s great to see Stammer healthy for a full season again. I feel like his career is underrated at this point. He’s already over 500 goals despite missing extended time.
Artemi Panarin – Goal and an assist with four shots and two PIM. A bunch of Rangers had two points in their blowout win over Columbus, but I picked Panarin because I chose him for three points and he had to only get two out of spite towards me!
Morgan Frost – Two goals on five shots playing over 20 minutes. Torts is giving Frost big minutes down the stretch, and Frost has seven points in his last five games. Solid streamer.
Quinn Hughes – Two goals and an assist with four shots. Hughes is over a point per game and the Canucks are controlling the game with Hughes on the ice. It’s been a truly elite season that’s gone to waste because the front office has no clue what they’re doing. Maybe one day the team will support him and Elias Pettersson (2A) properly.
Brock Boeser – Goal and two assists with three shots. Nice stretch from Boeser, but he’s brutal at even strength. He’s a fine streamer, but that’s it.
Andrei Kuzmenko – Two goals on three shots. Kuzmenko is quietly up to 37 goals, but he’s pushing towards 30% shooting which is absolute insanity. None of this looks sustainably going forward, but for the rest of the season, ride the heater.
Justin Faulk – Goal and two assists with three shots. Faulk has been finishing in style, with seven points in his last three games. Their schedule is fine, but nothing special, putting Faulk on the fringe.
Jakub Vrana – Two goals on four shots and two PIM. It sure looks that Vrana still has his offensive game. He now has 8 goals in 12 games with the Blues and is an elite streamer who has plenty of upside for next season.
Jake Oettinger – 17 saves on 18 shots in the 4-1 win over the Blackhawks. Doesn’t get easier than this. Oettinger faced six shots in the first two periods. Look for him to start a ton down the stretch as the Stars battle the Wild and Avalanche for the division plus home ice.
Jonathan Marchessault – Two goals on four shots. Vegas has an elite schedule next week which can easily make Marchessault a hold depending on format.
James Reimer – 41 save shutout in the 3-0 win over the Jets. Game of the season from Reimer despite the circus around him that he self-inflicted because Jesus told him to hate a subset of people. Because that’s what Jesus preached, hatred. Anyways, I have zero interest in using a Sharks goalie the rest of the way.
Three Point Challenge: We will do Thursday’s games. You can’t select McDavid, Draisaitl, Pastrnak, Kucherov, Karlsson, M. Tkachuk, Marner, MacKinnon, Robertson, RNH or Pettersson. I’ll go with Aho against the Red Wings.
That’s all for now guys. Be sure to ask any questions, leave any comments, or give any suggestions below. I’ll be back on Friday recapping the action from the next two nights. Good luck to everyone, thanks for reading, take care!
