“I really like Logan Thompson. There’s no way to bet on this, but I favor Thompson to be the #1 by the end of the season, and probably by midseason. I’m a big believer in his talent. It (drafting him) is a gamble I’d like to take.” And that’s me quoting me from my preseason rankings! Well, we’ve reached that point and then some. Thompson posted his second consecutive shutout on Thursday, beating the Sens 1-0 in OT on a Ovechkin game winner. Thompson’s numbers are ludicrous. He’s started 25 games and has 20 wins. His GAA is pushing towards 2.20 and his save percentage is above .920. And just like that, he’s the #2 overall goalie on the season. I didn’t get Thompson on every team like I hoped, but he is carrying my teams where I do since he was my third goalie drafted. The Capitals look like a powerhouse and I see no reason to expect him to fall off a cliff. Would I bet him as a top five goalie the rest of the way? Probably not. As a #1 in 12’ers? Absolutely. Let’s take a look at what else happened over the last two nights:
Ryan McLeod – Hat trick with two PIM. The best part is McLeod’s third shot wasn’t even a shot on goal as Burns broke McLeod’s stick on an empty net. The Sabres scored a goal in the third without a shot on goal! Anyways, McLeod moved onto the first line and delivered his second three point game in his last three games. We need to see if this role sticks before we consider using him in fantasy, as he went 25 games without a goal before this recent stretch.
Jason Zucker – Two assists with two shots. He’s turned into an elite streamer and the best Sabres free agent forward signing since, I don’t know, Randy Burridge 30 years ago?
Brent Burns – Two assists with eight shots. After a really rough start, Burns has bounced back with five points in his last five games. He’s had a few huge shot totals as well. He’s not a slam dunk hold, but he can be a bottom end hold on a lot of teams for shooting purposes.
Connor McDavid – Three goals and two assists with five shots over two games. Would you bet against McDavid catching MacKinnon in the points race? I wouldn’t want to touch it.
Matt Boldy – Goal and an assist with seven shots. Mats Zuccarello had two assists with three shots. Boldy played almost 27 minutes in this game, which ended in regulation. Zucc played over 24 minutes. With Kaprizov out indefinitely, these insane workloads are being somewhat normal.
James van Riemsdyk – Two goals on four shots. With eight points in his last seven games, JVR is back in the bottom end to middling streamer range while he’s on this heater.
Kent Johnson – Goal and an assist with four shots and two PIM. Johnson is on the fringe, with a lean towards elite streamer over holding.
Elvis Merzlikins – 18 saves on 19 shots in the 4-1 win over the Sharks. Columbus is hot, but Elvis is still incredibly risky. I prefer the other CBJ goalies when they play at this point.
Dylan Larkin – Two goals and an assist with three shots. The top guys for Detroit just won’t slow down, with Patrick Kane having a goal and an assist, while Lucas Raymond had two assists, three shots and two PIM.
Marco Kasper – Goal and an assist. Kasper only played 10:49 in this game despite starting on the first line. It appears he won’t be trusted when they have the lead. Fine streamer, but nothing more.
Jack Hughes – Goal and two assists with five shots. And with this, Hughes is back in the top ten in scoring.
Nico Hischier – Two goals on five shots. He’s been cold by his standards lately, but it was only a matter of time for Hischier to get going again.
William Nylander – Two goals and an assist with four shots. The studs carried the day against their old coach, with Auston Matthews scoring the other two goals and Mitch Marner dishing two assists. I keep saying it, but all the credit to Marner who doesn’t get enough credit for his ability with everyone focusing on his flaws.
Jake McCabe – Two assists with five shots and five blocks. And there’s your annual McCabe update!
Nikita Kucherov – Two assists with three shots. Pretty much the expectation when Kucherov plays a team like the Ducks, maybe even a shot late.
Leevi Merilainen – 26 saves on 27 shots as the tough luck loser against Thompson. Merilainen is on fire right now. I’m good with riding the hot hand for the time being.
Travis Konecny – Three assists with a shot. The shots have really dried up lately with five total over his last five games. It makes you wonder if he’s playing through an injury, but even with that, Konecny has eight assists in those games so I don’t think anyone is complaining.
Sean Couturier – Goal and an assist. It’s a shame that Couturier had that horrible injury as he was one of the premier centers in the league. He’s still fine, but the offense isn’t there. He’s a middling streamer.
Joel Farabee – Two assists with three shots and two PIM. Farabee has really taken a step back this season. He’s a bottom end streamer at best.
Bo Horvat – Goal and an assist with seven shots. Firmly on the fringe.
Connor Hellebuyck – 18 saves on 19 shots in the 2-1 win over the Kraken. Hellebuyck has a sub 2 GAA now. Just ridiculous.
Tyler Bertuzzi – Two assists with five shots. I had somewhat high hopes for Bertuzzi with Bedard, but it hasn’t panned out at all. He’s a bottom end streamer.
Joel Hofer – 28 saves on 29 shots in the 4-1 win over the Flames. Hofer is getting a lot of wins when he starts, but his numbers are mediocre. I’d stream him in average or better matchups.
Brayden Schenn – Two goals on three shots. Schenn is on a heater since Montgomery took over, including nine points in his last nine games. He’s bumped back up to a solid streamer.
Dylan Holloway – Two assists with a shot. Same range as Schenn, with your league settings determining who I prefer.
Jakub Dobes – 32 saves on 33 shots in the 3-1 win over the Stars. Dobes has been insane, allowing four goals total over his four starts. The problem is he’s only playing once a week, but it’s hard not to auto stream him when those games were against Florida, Colorado, Washington, and Dallas, all on the road.
Nick Suzuki – Two assists with a shot. Suzuki looks to be settled in around the 75th best player now and going forward. He’s clearly not a top 50 guy, but also clearly in the top 100.
Artemi Panarin – Two goals on four shots. It’s been a rough go of it lately for Panarin, just like the Rangers as a whole, but he should turn it around just like the team is starting to.
Matias Maccelli – Two goals on five shots. Maccelli is one of the biggest disappointments after putting up 57 points last season and 49 points in 64 games the season before. I still have no interest now.
Barrett Hayton – Two assists with four shots. Hayton also hasn’t panned out as hoped. He’s a bottom end streamer.
Nathan MacKinnon – Two goals on three shots with two PIM. The points are through the roof, but even with that, a goal scoring binge seems likely for MacKinnon. He currently has his worst shooting percentage in almost a decade.
Darcy Kuemper – 20 saves on 21 shots in the 5-1 win over the Canucks. One, Kuemper is a top ten goalie right now. Two, the Canucks are really in shambles. I fully expect a blockbuster to come eventually, whether it’s Pettersson or Miller.
Alex Turcotte – Two goals and an assist with four shots. Turcotte moved onto the first line with Kopitar and Adrian Kempe (1+1) and delivered. He’s a middling streamer if that sticks, since he doesn’t have the PP1 time.
Kevin Fiala – Goal and an assist with three shots and two PIM. What a disappointing season from Fiala. He’s a solid streamer bordering on elite, but he’s not a hold anymore.
That’s all for now guys. I’ll be back on Monday with a post, although I’m unsure what it will be. With the Bills playing Sunday night, I may update my hold/stream list, or look at how my bold predictions are going, as I can write those before Sunday. As always, feel free to ask any questions, leave any comments, or give any suggestions below. Thanks for reading, take care!
Always a great read, Viz!!
Any hope for a Letang bounceback? Someone dropped him in my league, and I was thinking about rolling the dice. It seems like it’s worth a shot for someone like Ekholm, who’s at the bottom of my bench.
Also, with the uncertainty on timing around Nichuskin’s return and just losing Tavares, would you drop Nich for Dorofeyev, Tippett, or Laine?
Thanks!
Yeah I’d probably make that swap, I can’t really see it hurting you unless Bouchard gets hurt and Ekholm gets PP1.
I think I’d grab Laine? Tell your commish to add IR spots next year so you don’t have these dilemmas, haha. Tippett isn’t worth considering, and Dorofeyev is good for shots and goals but I’m not all the way in yet and everything else is rough. He seems like the worse version of Laine to be honest.
IR slots for the win!! Life would be a million times easier if we had them.
Thank you, sir.
10 team h2h
Categories are: W(4) SO(5) L(-1) GAA(-0.5) SV(0.1)
With Andersen coming back would you drop UPL, Kochetkov, or Swayman for Andersen or Hill?
i’d think i want hill more than UPL
Yeah, your league has such a high priority on wins that I think I’d grab Hill for UPL. I just can’t trust Andersen to stay healthy long enough to drop a safe starting goalie for him.
woah that’s lucky, r.mcleod’s hat trick just happened to be the exact day in some 16’ers i was streaming forwards on a thin day (they have faceoffs so he’s not as crazy as otherwise anyway). oh yeah and hintz had to get hurt just in time too. this isn’t bryce yockey 2-7 WSOP lucky but pretty lucky.
Nothing can be as lucky as Arieh was against Yockey haha, but that’s a hell of a stream
oh yeah i forgot who got lucky in that hand, it was arieh against yockey, not the other way around.
Hi!
In a H2H 12’ers with (G), (A), (+/-), (PIM), (PPP), (GWG), (SOG), (HIT), (BLK)
Please rank Rust, Meier and Boldy ROS? And Dobes or Askarov?
Boldy is 1st for sure. The other two are really close. Kind of depends what you’re looking for, Rust will probably have a higher points total but Meier provides the extra stats better, so I guess I’d lean Meier?
dobes, the other one plays for SJ (and pretty sure starts less often as a % of his team’s games). long term askarov if dynasty but here i’m assuming redraft. also goalies are voodoo so askarov being the bar none #1 in his draft year, that stuff very often doesn’t tend to correlate to later NHL success; so who knows.
I think Askarov is still the nearly unanimous #1 young goalie, especially with Wallstedt having a rough season. I don’t think Dobes will get enough action the rest of the way to be a factor, although he’s been so good that he probably should.
oh yeah he’s oft ranked at worst top 3 dynasty prospect goalie askarov. but in the near term both results, team he’s on, etc i’m dobes’ing it up right now.
You had kane as a sell a few weeks ago. He’s been hot ever since you wrote that. How would you rank these guys ros. Kane, malkin, mccann? Mccann’s been on the third line recently. Malkin just returned from a 4 game absence but was kind of cold before probably because he was playing hurt. Thanks
I did, I said about a week after that it already looked to be wrong. I think I would go Kane, McCann, Malkin now, although I’m not too confident in this. Malkin looks like the worst, but McCann could be first for sure