Rick Nash, the vice president of The Round Face Hockey Club, was traded to the Bruins as they look to make a deep run this postseason. I’m going to have a live trade deadline post again this year updating all of the trades throughout tomorrow. I’m also going to be recording a podcast with Reid right around 3 pm tomorrow to give our thoughts on everything that happens that I will drop either late tonight or early Tuesday. I have the feeling it’s going to be crazy. For Nash, I think he’s a solid speculative add if you need the shots. He played on Sunday against Buffalo on the second line, recording five shots on goal in 17:27. He’s over three shots per game on the season, the plus-minus should improve on Boston, and everyone can use goals on their team. I don’t think he’ll be a world beater, but with only 20 games left, it’s certainly possible that Nash gets hot with his shot volume. Let’s take a look at what else happened over the weekend:
Friday’s Games
Eric Staal – Two goals and two assists with seven shots. Another incredible season that is going under the radar, Staal isn’t far off from a 40+40 pace.
Mikael Granlund – Same stat line as Staal. Granlund is playing right at last year’s breakout level, except the shot rate has improved significantly. It’s to the point where he’s a no brainer top 50 guy instead of on the fringe.
Devan Dubnyk – 22 saves on 23 shots in the 4-1 win over the Rangers. The Wild are rolling right now so Dubnyk should be a stud the rest of the way. Also, play your goalies against the Rangers.
Evgeni Malkin – Goal and two assists with five shots and two PIM. Malkin is starting to play his way into the fringe MVP discussion for both fantasy and real life. Just stay healthy!
Phil Kessel – Two goals and an assist with five shots. The President of The Round Face Club just keeps on rollin’ baby.
Jake Guentzel – Goal and two assists with five shots. Guentzel is rolling again, and with Derick Brassard being traded there, I’d grab Guentzel if he’s available in your league.
Matt Murray – 27 saves on 28 shots in the 6-1 win over Carolina. Much better lately, but it’s still not great outside of wins. Keep using Murray and hope it gets better all around.
Connor Hellebuyck – 34 save shutout in the 4-0 win over the Blues. Hellboy has been straight fire all season.
Blake Wheeler – Goal and an assist with three shots. The top line from the beginning of the year was reunited; Mark Scheifele and Kyle Connor also had two points each. With Connor back with the big boys, I’d be holding him.
Anthony Duclair – Two assists with a shot. I had high hopes for Duclair getting on track in Chicago, and he has to some extent, but he played under 11 minutes in this one which makes him unusable.
J.F. Berube – 42 saves on 43 shots in the 3-1 win over the Sharks. Like the rest of the Blackhawks goalies this year besides Crawford, Berube will be hit and miss, but probably more miss than hit.
Daniel Sedin – Goal and an assist with three shots. The Cyborgs never slow down! Well, they have somewhat, but the 37 year old keeps churning a solid offensive output. He’s a nice streamer in 12’ers right now.
William Karlsson – Two goals and an assist with three shots. Reilly Smith had three assists, Jonathan Marchessault and David Perron each had two points. The big guns refuse to even have a mini-drought.
Saturday’s Games
Brandon Manning – Goal and two assists with three shots. Not buying into this recent surge at all.
Claude Giroux – Goal and an assist with four shots. I’m almost expecting two points from Giroux every night at this point.
Mike Hoffman – Goal and an assist with four shots. If he is traded, he could make the biggest impact out of everyone down the stretch not named Erik Karlsson.
Mark Stone – Two assists with two shots. Stone has been ultra-consistent putting up points all season long.
Jon Gillies – 28 saves on 29 shots in the 5-1 win over Colorado. That’s two strong starts in a row for the quality prospect, who probably will get the next start for Calgary assuming Smith isn’t back.
Mikael Backlund – Goal and two assists with three shots. Nice streamer but not enough to hold.
Matthew Tkachuk – Two assists with three shots. Man, his offense has made such huge strides that he might be able to be a top 25 fantasy player at some point.
T.J. Brodie – Two assists with a shot. No thanks.
Jimmy Howard – 28 saves on 29 shots in the 3-1 win over Carolina. He’ll be the workhorse but I have little faith in Howard.
Dustin Byfuglien – Three assists with two shots. Buff is crushing lately with 11 points in his last 6 games. His season would be unreal if he wasn’t unlucky in shooting %.
Patrik Laine – Two goals on four shots. If he doesn’t have the best shot I’ve ever seen, Laine is certainly in the discussion.
Nikolaj Ehlers – Goal and two assists with three shots. Very solid season that gets overlooked because of all the other studs on the Jets.
Tyler Seguin – Goal and an assist as did Alex Radulov. Both of them have been fantastic this season as they look to get back into the playoffs.
Nikita Kucherov – Goal and an assist with seven shots and two PIM. Kucherov doing Kucherov things!
Max Pacioretty – Goal and an assist with three shots. I’m expecting Patches to be moved, but I don’t think it’ll change his value much outside of a potential +/- boost.
Brad Marchand – Two goals on five shots, both goals assisted by Patrice Bergeron and David Pastrnak. They’re all crushing it once again.
Nazem Kadri – Two goals on eight shots. Kadri is back on track and should be owned everywhere without hesitation.
Mitch Marner – Goal and three assists with two shots. Remember how bad he was in the first half? Seems like an eternity ago. Reminds of when Kuznetsov struggled massively and then had a big second half. The 20 year old is still a huge asset in dynasties.
William Nylander – Two assists with a shot. Solid yet unspectacular season.
Philipp Grubauer – 28 saves on 29 shots in the 5-1 win over the Sabres. He’s rolling right now and is a must start every time he plays.
Alex Ovechkin – Two goals on eleven shots. Decent change of another 50 goal season, but regardless Ovechkin could have his best totals in close to a decade.
Evgeny LKuznetsov – Goal and three assists with four shots. Kuz has matched last season’s point total with 20 games to spare. Seems good.
Evgeni Malkin – Two goals and an assist with three shots. See Malkin above.
Bryan Rust – Goal and an assist with six shots. Elite streamer as long as he’s with a quality center. That should always happen now with Brassard in the fold.
Evgenii Dadonov – First career hat trick. Great season for Dadonov who is positioned to have big seasons going forward playing on the first line. His chemistry with Aleksander Barkov (three assists) is excellent.
Keith Yandle – Two assists with two shots. AAGNOF!
Pierre-Luc Dubois – Goal and an assist with two shots. I can already see the sleeper post for Dubois in the summer already. For now, fine streamer.
Keith Kinkaid – 30 saves on 31 shots in the 2-1 win over the Islanders. I still have zero faith in Kinkaid.
Kyle Palmieri – Two goals on eight shots. I’d hold Palmieri in 12’ers right now for the all-around contribution.
Taylor Hall – Two assists with two shots. Is a 20 game point streak good? Asking for a friend.
Antti Raanta – 26 save shutout in the 2-0 win over the Ducks. Raanta has been great all season and looks to be a solid #2 the rest of the way.
Michael Cammalleri – Three assists with two shots. I hoped he would be better than he’s been but I have no interest in using Cammy at all.
Sunday’s Games
Pekka Rinne – 27 save shutout in the 4-0 win over the Blues. The Preds are great and the Blues are a mess right now. Kind of that simple.
Chad Johnson – 34 saves on 35 shots in the 4-1 win over the Bruins. He’s had a few big games this season, but on the whole OchoCinco has been dreadful.
Ryan Spooner – Two assists with two shots in his Rangers debut. I could see him being a solid streamer with more ice time. He also could be flipped today so we’ll have to wait and see.
Connor McDavid – Three assists with seven shots playing over 27 minutes. McJesus seems like he’s pretty good at the good ol’ hockey game.
Michael Cammalleri – Two assists with three shots. I still don’t care.
Rickard Rakell – Hat trick on nine shots. Rakell was cold being goalless for eight straight, then boom. Great year for Rakell across the board, especially because of the injuries Anaheim suffered throughout the season.
Ryan Getzlaf – Goal and three assists with four shots. Just killing it.
Corey Perry – Three assists with three shots. Do you think the top line did alright tonight? The Ducks don’t play again until Friday, so if you need to make a push, you can cut Perry.
Jason Zucker – Two assists with four shots. Very nice season from Zucker who is a plus contributor in all categories. No brainer hold all year.
Jared Spurgeon – Goal and an assist with two shots. Spurgeon is right on the fringe for me as he’s been mediocre lately. No brainer if your league has blocks, but otherwise I’m probably passing.
Jacob Markstrom – 41 saves on 42 shots in the 3-1 win over the Coyotes. Firmly in the desperation category.
That’s all for now guys. As mentioned earlier, there will be a live trade deadline post (I’ll probably get that going around noon) so look out for that and the podcast with Reid. As always, feel free to ask any questions or leave any comments below. Thanks for reading, take care!
