Smashville Stuns The Sharks

It’s not too often that you see a team up 5-1 halfway through the game and they don’t even get a point.  In fact, they lost by multiple goals.  The Sharks were taking it to the Predators on Tuesday before the firepower we expected from Smashville going into the season showed up, making a 7-5 comeback.  They were led by one of their big free agent signings, Jonathan Marchessault, who had a goal and three assists with four shots.  It was a brutal start to the season for Marchessault (like everyone on the Preds), but Marchessault is in the midst of a nine game point streak right now.  The shot is fantastic, so he’s played his way back onto the fringe with a lean towards holding, especially on this hot streak.  Let’s take a look at what else happened over the last two nights:

Monday’s Games:

Will Smith – Goal and an assist with two shots.  Smith will be a fantasy factor soon enough, but I don’t see much redraft value the rest of the season.

Charlie Coyle – Two goals and an assist with four shots.  After his best offensive season last year, Coyle’s offense is in the dumps this season.  He’s a bottom end streamer at best.

Brad Marchand – Goal and an assist with three shots and two PIM.  He’s certainly not who he used to be, but Marchand is still a slam dunk hold everywhere.

Elias Lindholm – Goal and an assist.  What a dreadful signing.  Lindholm is a middling streamer.

David Pastrnak – Goal and an assist with six shots.  With nine goals in his last eight games, it’s safe to say that shooting regression has arrived for Pasta.

Marc-Andre Fleury – 26 saves on 27 shots in the 3-1 win over the Avs.  MAF is worth streaming just because of the likelihood of a win.  He’s not getting the volume to be a hold though.

Jacob Middleton – Goal and an assist with two shots.  Great deep league guy since he hits all of the categories well besides shots.  That makes him a viable streamer at the end of the week depending on what you need.

Liam Ohgren – Two assists with three shots.  The former first round pick is playing under 10 minutes per night.  Until that changes, nothing to see here.  Welcome to the Razzball Database!

Jason Zucker – Goal and an assist.  Zucker missed Tuesday’s game with an illness.  He’s been one of the only bright spots for the Sabres.  He’s on the fringe.

Tage Thompson – Goal and an assist.  Outside of this game, Tage is starting to shoot the puck a lot again.  He’s been playing through an injury so this is a good sign he’s moving past it.

Jared McCann – Goal and two assists. McCann is on the fringe now.  He’s not doing enough to be an auto hold.

Chandler Stephenson – Goal and an assist.  The points are decent, but you just can’t justify holding somebody who is under a shot per game, let alone a forward.

Jordan Kyrou – Two assists.  Very good stat line across the board, enough to be in the top 100.

Shea Theodore – Four assists with a shot.  The funny thing is if Theodore was on another team, he would be unleashed and in Norris contention, or at least on the fringe of the discussion.  In Vegas, he’s still a borderline top 10 fantasy defenseman, but his ceiling is capped in this range.

Jack Eichel – Goal and an assist, as did Pavel Dorofeyev.  Dorofeyev having 20 goals already is shocking.  His shot rate is up 50% from last season so as long as he’s with Eichel, he’s an elite streamer.

Nick Paul – Two goals on five shots.  Firmly in the solid streamer range.

Victor Hedman – Two assists with six shots.  His seven game point streak ended Tuesday, but it’s been a vintage Hedman season so far this year.

Matthew Knies – Two goals and an assist with four shots.  Mitch Marner had a goal and two assists, while Auston Matthews had a goal and an assist.  Knies has played well enough to be an elite streamer despite the lack of PP time.

Ilya Sorokin – 25 saves on 26 shots in the 3-1 win over the Blue Jackets.  Sorokin has been a #2 in 12’ers, which is obviously a big disappointment.  That’s two straight seasons in a row where Sorokin has underperformed, which means we have to adjust his expectations going forward.

Bo Horvat – Two goals, both assisted by Mathew Barzal.  Horvat is playing well enough that I’m bumping him to bottom end hold instead of the fringe.  Barzal is also worth holding.

Jaccob Slavin – Three assists with a shot.  There’s a bit more offense right now, but I’m still not interested in Slavin outside of deep leagues.

Ryan Donato – Goal and an assist with two shots.  Donato has looked pretty good for the Blackhawks this season.  He’s a middling streamer who could see a boost depending on if he’s traded at the deadline.

Philipp Kurashev – Goal and an assist.  Kurashev looked like he had some promise last season, but he has no fantasy value anymore.

Nikolaj Ehlers – Two assists with two shots.  The shot rate is down, but I can’t have any complaints with Ehlers over a point per game.

Barrett Hayton – Goal and two assists with three shots.  Hayton has found some chemistry with Josh Doan (2A), but Hayton is still only a bottom end streamer.

Clayton Keller – Goal and an assist with two shots.  Nick Schmaltz dished two assists.  Schmaltz is back on the fringe depending on if you need the assists.  Keller has been fantastic, well over a point per game.

Alex Nedeljkovic – 25 saves on 26 shots in the 5-1 win over the Kings.  Use Nedeljkovic at your own risk, as his GAA is above 3 and his sv% is below .900.

Sidney Crosby – Goal and an assist with two shots.  His shooting percentage is in the tank so it wouldn’t be surprising to see a Crosby goal scoring binge in the second half.

Anthony Beauvillier – Goal and an assist, as did Kevin Hayes.  Both have done very little to this point in the season and it’s hard to imagine either works their way back onto the fantasy radar.

Tuesday’s Games

Samuel Ersson – 27 saves on 28 shots in the 2-1 win over the Red Wings.  The wins are decent enough for Ersson to probably be a #3 in 12’ers.  Just be aware there’s a lot of downside.

Joel Farabee – Goal and an assist.  Deep league guy only.

Igor Shesterkin – 20 save shutout in the 5-0 win over the Sens.  Since coming back from injury, Prince Igor has only allowed nine goals over six games, including back to back shutouts.  He’s been extremely good, and it only comes down to the team in front of him.

Adam Fox – Two assists with a shot.  He’s piling up all of the assists, but that’s about it.

Alexis Lafreniere – Goal and an assist.  Laf is only a middling streamer as his play has fallen way off after a hot start.

Patrik Laine – Two assists with three shots.  Laine has played to a clear hold level this season.  Credit to him after all of his injuries that he’s thriving for the Canadiens.

Mikael Granlund – Two goals on three shots.  Granlund is down onto the fringe now and probably more of an elite streamer.  His value could drastically change with a trade, and probably for the worse.

Cody Ceci – Two assists with a shot.  And there’s your annual Ceci update!

William Eklund – Two assists with three shots and two PIM.  Eklund is an elite streamer, possibly on the fringe.  I think we see the big breakout next season, although that’s contingent on his shot rate continuing to increase.

Macklin Celebrini – Goal and an assist with three shots.  Celebrini has been much better offensively than I anticipated as a rookie.  It’s enough to be a bottom end hold in all formats already.

Filip Forsberg – Goal and two assists with three shots.  A six game goal streak (and counting) is a good way to turn your season around. With this heater, he’s almost back to a point per game.

Roman Josi – Goal and an assist with six shots.  Josi is also hot with a six game point streak.  The plus-minus is ugly, but it’s still decent across the board otherwise.

Tommy Novak – Goal and two assists with two shots.  Novak has been a massive disappointment this season.  I have no interest at this point.

Pyotr Kochetkov – 22 saves on 23 shots in the 2-1 win over the Stars.  Andersen’s return really doesn’t change my opinion on Kochetkov.

Jesperi Kotkaniemi – Two goals, both assisted by Martin Necas.  You have to think that Carolina is going to look to upgrade the Kotkaniemi spot at the deadline.  He’s a bottom end streamer at best.

Pierre-Luc Dubois – Goal and an assist with two shots and four PIM.  Dubois has been fantastic in Washington.  He’s on the fringe depending on if you can stomach his shot rate going in the dumps.

Leon Draisaitl – Goal and an assist with four shots.  McDavid received a three game suspension but I’m not expecting it to hurt Draisaitl at all in the short term.

Carter Verhaeghe – Goal and an assist with five shots.  Verhaeghe has been awful at even strength which is a massive shock.  He’s still on the fringe because of the all-around contributions.

Tomas Nosek – Two assists.  And there’s your annual Nosek update!

Mackie Samoskevich – Two assists with a shot.  He’s on the second line right now, but even with that, my interest in Samoskevich is in dynasties, not in 2025.

Jiri Kulich – Goal and two assists with three shots.  Kulich has been excellent in real life lately, even if the points haven’t been that great.  I’m bumping him to a solid streamer for the time being.

Rasmus Dahlin – Two assists with a shot.  The goals are down, mostly from a shooting percentage drop, but even with that, Dahlin has been a top ten fantasy defenseman.  That’s pretty much his floor at this point.

J.J. Peterka – Goal and an assist with four shots.  Elite streamer.

Three Point Challenge:  We will do Thursday’s games per usual.  You can’t select MacKinnon, Draisaitl, Rantanen, Marner, Kucherov, McDavid, Eichel, Connor, J. Hughes, Konecny, Scheifele, or Necas.  I’ll go with Panarin against the Flyers.

That’s all for now guys.  I’ll be back on Friday recapping the action from the next two nights.  As always, feel free to ask any questions, leave any comments, or give any suggestions below.  Thanks for reading, take care!