Zibanejad Steals The Spotlight

Like most of the Rangers, Mika Zibanejad has been extremely frustrating this season.  Before Friday’s outdoor game in Miami, he had one shot on goal in the previous five games combined!  So naturally, he had one of the games of the season so far, scoring a hat trick on six shots and adding two assists in the 5-1 win over the Panthers.  The top line for the Rangers was dangerous throughout, and just like that, Zibanejad is ahead of last season’s points pace.  He’s just shy of a 30+40 pace now and the shot rate is back up towards three per game.  It’s not exciting, and it’s definitely close to the fringe, but I lean towards bottom end hold still.  The minutes are through the roof at the moment and with their lack of depth, I can’t imagine that changing any time soon.  Let’s take a look at what else happened over the weekend:

Friday’s Games

Oskar Sundqvist – Goal and an assist.  And there’s your annual Sundqvist update!

Pavel Buchnevich – Two assists with a shot.  Buch is a middling to solid streamer now.  He’s fallen off quite a bit.  My hope is that he’s traded and it boosts his stock back up.

Mathieu Joseph – Two assists.  Joseph tends to flash a few times a season, but he’s far too inconsistent to get on the fantasy radar.

Alexey Toropchenko – Goal and an assist with two shots.  Don’t even think about it.

Artemi Panarin – Two goals and an assist with five shots.  Here’s to hoping Panarin can put a streak together.

Alexis Lafreniere – Three assists with two shots.  He’s been beyond disappointing, on pace for 15 goals and under 30 assists.  Laf is stuck in middling streamer range.

Vincent Trocheck – Two assists with a shot and two PIM.  Trocheck has nine points in his last eight games, but his shot rate has cratered to under two per game.  If your league has hits, hold.  If not, I have him more elite streamer.  Still can’t believe he’s on the Olympic team.  I mean, I can, but also can’t if you catch my drift.

Igor Shesterkin – 36 saves on 37 shots.  Igor is playing well with a 2.47/.912.  The problem is his team is playing poorly in front of him, so he’s only winning about half of his starts.  He’s a #1 regardless, but he doesn’t quite have top 5 upside right now.

Quinn Hughes – Four assists with two shots.  Hughes has been great to start in Minnesota, averaging an assist per game.  We just need the shot rate to go back up.

Joel Eriksson Ek – Two assists with two shots.  It’s not flashy, but JEEK is doing enough to be a bottom end hold.

Yakov Trenin – Goal and an assist with two shots.  Nice fourth liner, but he’s only a streamer for hits.

Danila Yurov – Two goals.  Yurov has been palying on the first line, and there’s some real long term potential here, but there’s not a lot at the moment.  The shot rate is very poor and Yurov isn’t getting any PP time.

Jake DeBrusk – Goal and two assists with five shots.  DeBrusk is pushing towards three shots per game, but his shooting percentage is about half of last season.  He’s a middling to solid streamer for the shot rate, but right now, he’s only on pace for 20+20.

Saturday’s Games

Stuart Skinner – 11 saves on 12 shots in the 4-1 win over Detroit.  Absolute defensive masterclass from the Pens.  Skinner is in the same boat Jarry was there.  I’m not really interested despite the team doing well.

Sidney Crosby – Two assists with a shot.  He had two more points on Sunday, giving him twelve in the last seven games.  Pretty, pretty good.

Parker Wotherspoon – Two assists with a shot.  He’s carving out a bit of super deep league value with a 30 point pace with 2 hits per game and 1.5 blocks per.  Nothing for shallow leagues though.

Jet Greaves – 32 saves on 33 shots in the 5-1 win over the Sabres.  That’s one way to cool off the hottest team in the league.  Greaves actually played again on Sunday, showing that the volume is tremendous right now.  He’s a solid #2.

Damon Severson – Two assists with three shots and two PIM.  Even with eight points in the last seven games, I’m not too interested in Severson.

Zach Werenski – Two assists with five shots.  Werenski has multiple points in five straight games.  He’s somehow been even better than last season.

Denton Mateychuk – Two assists with two shots.  The former lottery pick is heating up with nine points in his last seven games.  There’s long term upside here, but in standard 12’ers, he’s on the fringe.  We really need that shot rate to uptick.

Jacob Markstrom – 30 saves on 31 shots in the 4-1 win over the Mammoth.  He’s been atrocious this season, but the upside is still there.  He’s stuck behind Allen now, so Markstrom is more streamer than hold.

Brett Pesce – Two assists with three shots.  Pesce’s days of proviing solid offense appear to be over.

Jesper Bratt – Goal and an assist with four shots.  Jack Hughes dished two assists.  Bratt has fallen off quite a bit, mostly because the power play points are down significantly.  Nevertheless, Bratt remains a clear hold.

Owen Tippett – Goal and an assist with two shots.  Solid streamer through and through.

Nick Seeler – Goal and an assist with two shots.  Absolutely not.

Sean Couturier – Two assists with six shots.  Bottom end to middling streamer.  The shot rate is ugly now.

Connor McDavid – Goal and an assist with six shots.  I don’t think we’ll see a career high in points for McDavid, but there’s a chance for it.  There’s a very high probability we see his second highest point total.

Jordan Binnington – 25 save shutout in the 2-0 win over Montreal.  The numbers are beyond atrocious.  Hard pass.

Nikita Kucherov – Goal and four assists with two shots.  Remarkably, Kucherov is in the midst of a 17 game point streak.  So damn good.

Darren Raddysh – Hat trick.  Out of nowhere, Raddysh has made a jump from 35-40 point defenseman to pushing a point per game.  Yes, Hedman has been out for a lot of the time, but still.  Raddysh even kept PP1 when Hedman last came back before being hurt again.  It’s time to acknowledge Raddysh as a bottom end #1 in 12’ers.

Oliver Bjorkstrand – Two assists with three shots.  Bjorkstrand is cheap PPP, but he’s providing very little else.

Brayden Point – Goal and an assist with two shots.  Jake Guentzel dished two assists.  We’re finally starting to see the Point we’re accustomed to.

Pavol Regenda – Hat trick on six shots with two PIM.  It’s going to be really hard to top Regenda as the most obscure hat trick of the season.  Hell, he only had 4 goals in 28 games in the AHL!

Jeff Skinner – Two assists with three shots.  He bounces around the lineup, but right now, Skinner is getting minimal ice time.  Bottom end streamer.

Timothy Liljegren – Two assists.  He’s provided next to nothing offensively this season.  Pass on Liljegren.

Kyle Connor – Goal and an assist with two shots.  It’s shocking to see the Jets in last place, but Connor is still on a 40+60 pace.

Thomas Chabot – Two goals.  It’s boring, but Chabot continues to do enough to be a bottom end hold.

Auston Matthews – Two goals on six shots.  Matthews is finally starting to get on a roll.  He’s already the highest goal scorer in Toronto history after this performance.

Jonathan Drouin – Two assists with a shot.  Bottom end streamer.

Mathew Barzal – Two assists with two shots and two PIM.  Barzal is on the fringe, but I lean towards holding him.  The minutes are excellent at the moment.

Emil Heineman – Goal and an assist with two shots.  Heineman was ice cold before this game, so I have him more in the middling streamer range.

Matthew Schaefer – Two goals.  Twelve goals already as an 18 year old is bonkers.

Nathan MacKinnon – Goal and three assists with two shots.  I know we don’t really talk about plus-minus here, but MacKinnon is on pace to finish +100.  It’s a season for the ages going for Colorado and MacKinnon.

Brock Nelson – Two goals on seven shots.  Must own everywhere again.

Cale Makar – Two assists with two shots.  I feel like I haven’t talked about Makar much lately, but here he is on pace for 25+70.  Another cheat code.

Martin Necas – Two assists.  The shot rate is down a bit, but who can complain about Necas pacing over 100 points.

Sebastian Aho – Goal and an assist with seven shots.  This was goal #300 for Mr. Consistency.

Michael Bunting – Goal and three assists with two shots and two PIM.  Erik Haula had two goals on six shots with two PIM, while Steven Stamkos dished two assists, adding two shots.  Out of nowhere, the Predators are on a nice run.  This line won the game for the Flames.  Stammer is an elite streamer while he’s on fire, while the other two are middling streamers.

Matt Coronato – Two assists.  Four straight games without a shot is bonkers.  Makes you wonder if he’s playing through some sort of injury to his arm or wrist.

Brock Faber – Goal and an assist with three shots and four PIM.  Faber is decent enough across the board that he’s worth holding.  He’s stumbling into enough points playing with Hughes.

Quinton Byfield – Goal and an assist with four shots and four PIM.  I did not expect Byfield to take such a step back this season.  He’s still a solid streamer, but I don’t see much of a case for holding outside of hoping for his upside.

Fraser Minten – Two goals on six shots.  While he’s centering David Pastrnak (2A, 2 SOG), Minten is worth monitoring.  He hasn’t done much yet to get him past middling streamer, but that can change if he continues to get 20 minutes of ice time.

Filip Hronek – Goal and an assist.  Hronek played an insane 30 minutes in this game.  He has eight assists in the last nine games.  Hronek isn’t going to provide much else, so it comes down to team needs.

Sunday’s Games

Wyatt Johnston – Two goals on three shots with two PIM.  Part of it is shooting luck, but Johnston is taking a nice step forward this season.  He’s crushing on the power play.

Phillip Danault – Two assists with two shots and two PIM.  Maybe Danault can get his offense back on track in Montreal, but he has zero goals on the season.  Easy pass.

Juraj Slafkovsky – Goal and an assist with four shots.  Slaf is starting to make a decent case for holding him.  At the least, he’s an elite streamer.

Lane Hutson – Goal and an assist.  I’m surprised that Hutson didn’t get more consideration for the Olympic team.  He’s been so damn good, including his overall defensive game.

Ben Kindel – Two assists with two shots.  Kindel has looked quite good as an 18 year old in the league.  He’s only a bottom end streamer for now, but his long term upside looks much higher than I originally thought.

Kirill Marchenko – Goal and an assist with four shots.  He’s gone a bit under the radar this season compared to his breakout from last year.  Marchenko is right in line with last season, solidifying himself as a top 75 player pushing into the top 50.

Daniil Tarasov – 27 saves on 28 shots in the 2-1 win over the Avalanche.  His overall numbers are pretty rough, so I’m not too interested in using Tarasov right now.  If he can string together a couple good starts and then Tkachuk comes back, it might be enough to stream the bad guy from John Wick.

Gabriel Landeskog – Left the game injured, as did Devon Toews.  Brutal break for Landeskog, who appears to have a rib injury that could cause him to miss the Olympics.  After all he’s been through, that would be devastating, so I hope he’s only out a month.  We’ll have to see who bumps up the lineup, but Colton and Olofsson are the likely candidates.  Small bumps to Burns and Malinski as well, who both are on the fringe.

Brandon Bussi – 28 saves on 29 shots in the 3-1 win over the Devils.  With Kochetkov out for the season and Andersen on the struggle bus, Bussi is worth owning everywhere.

Taylor Hall – Goal and an assist with four shots.  Hall is a bottom end streamer at this point in his career.

Tyler Bertuzzi – Hat trick on five shots.  Bertuzzi is starting to heat up again.  He’s been on the fringe, so if you want to roll with him while he’s hot, I’m good with it.  Hopefully Bedard is back sooner than later.

Andre Burakovsky – Two assists with a shot.  Solid streamer, but Burakovsky is sitting at under 1.5 shots per game, so it’s hard to get him past that level.

Three Point Challenge:  We will do Tuesday’s games per usual.  You can’t select MacKinnon, McDavid, Celebrini, Kucherov, Rantanen, Draisaitl, Necas, Robertson, Kaprizov, Scheifele, Connor, Johnston, or Boldy.  Give me a crazy Zegras revenge game.

That’s all for now guys.  As always, feel free to ask any questions, leave any comments, or give any suggestions below.  MarmosDad will be back on Wednesday, while I’ll be back on Friday.  Thanks for reading, take care!