As far as disappointments for this season go, Cam Atkinson is near the top of the list. After his breakout last season with 35+27, Atkinson has struggled mightily on the ice and with an injury. We’re finally seeing signs of Atkinson getting back to last season’s level. Atkinson scored a shorthanded goal and added two power play assists with five shots on goal in the Columbus win on Monday. That gives Atkinson 4+4 in his last 9 games with at least three shots on goal in each game during that span. The minutes are strong so that hasn’t been a problem. The issue has been that Columbus’ power play has been so bad that Atkinson had only 3 STP before this game (which he doubled in this one). Columbus has been better on the man advantage lately, and the arrival of Thomas Vanek should help them even more. Atkinson is still available in over 40% of leagues and in a 12’er, I’d grab him right now while he’s finding his groove again. Let’s take a look at what else happened over the last two nights:
Seth Jones – Goal and two assists with five shots. Jones has slowed down a bit but it’s still an incredible season for Jones. Jumping over one shot per game is massive for his long term value.
Artemi Panarin – Goal and an assist with three shots. It hasn’t been great but Panarin has been very consistent all year long.
Sergei Bobrovsky – 25 saves on 26 shots in the 5-1 win over the Capitals. The Capitals were dreadful in this game, especially in the first period, making it an easy night for Bob. Look for him to push towards being the #1 goalie for the rest of the season.
Petr Mrazek – 28 save shutout in the 1-0 SO win over the Canadiens. Hopefully you grabbed him a few weeks ago when I said to, because he’s been outstanding lately. The Flyers have to be the second biggest surprise of the season behind Vegas, even more than the Jets.
Charlie Lindgren – 33 save shutout as the tough luck loser. Lindgren has played very well for the Habs in his nine starts this season, and while I don’t really trust him this season with the team he has in front of him, he has promise going forward, presumably elsewhere.
Morgan Rielly – Two assists with four shots and two PIM Monday. It’s not exciting but Rielly needs to be held everywhere.
Mitch Marner – Goal and an assist with four shots Monday. Boy, Marner has been on quite the prolonged heater. He’s going to top last season’s 61 points despite the dreadful start.
Nathan MacKinnon – Two goals and an assist with nine shots. The breakout we’ve hoped was coming for quite some time. MacKinnon looks like a slam dunk first rounder going forward.
Mikko Rantanen – Goal and an assist. The shot rate has fallen off quite a bit, but it’s still much improved from his rookie campaign. Rantanen has already flashed more upside than I thought he had; we can definitely see point per game seasons from him in the future, if not this season.
Semyon Varlamov – 31 saves on 32 shots in the 3-1 win over the Canucks. The goals against average is rough and the other two stats are average. Nice streamer in good spots, but a big gamble otherwise.
Anze Kopitar – Goal and two assists with five shots Monday, goal and an assist with two shots Tuesday. He bailed out the Kings on Monday with a goal with 10 seconds remaining to get the Kings into OT before they won the game. Massive two points for the Kings. Kopitar definitely deserves some Hart consideration.
Dustin Brown – Goal and an assist with five shots Monday, shot on Tuesday. I am still in disbelief that Brown has done this well all season. I’m still giving almost all of the credit to Kopitar.
Jack Campbell – 41 saves on 42 shots in the 4-1 win over Vegas on Tuesday. Campbell was a top prospect who flamed out in Dallas, but the Kings obviously trust him having traded Kuemper away. We’ve seen so many backups in L.A. succeed so I’d stream Campbell when he starts.
Justin Faulk – Two assists with five shots. The consistency isn’t there at all, but there are some big games mixed in. It makes Faulk a nice DFS tournament option, and a specialist in 12’ers depending on what categories you need.
Teuvo Teravainen – Goal and an assist. He’s right on the fringe at this point depending on if you want the assists.
Riley Nash – Goal and an assist with two shots. No thanks, I’d prefer the other R. Nash in Boston.
Tommy Wingels – Goal and an assist with two shots in his Bruins debut. He’s been a solid depth player in the past so he could help Boston some. Wingels won’t be helping us though.
Charlie McAvoy – Goal and an assist with three shots. McAvoy is going to be incredible. I already want him everywhere next season and in dynasties.
Jake DeBrusk – Two assists with a shot. Not quite enough here to be more than a bottom end streamer yet, but there is a lot of upside going forward.
Taylor Hall – Goal and an assist with three shots. That brings Hall’s point streak to 22 games. Incredible.
Travis Zajac – Two assists with two shots. No interest at all.
Damon Severson – Two assists with a shot. He hasn’t developed to the player the Devils hoped for, not even close. Hard pass at this point.
Jake Guentzel – Two assists with three shots. Clear must own at this point as he’s rolling again and has improved linemates.
Erik Karlsson – Goal and an assist with three shots. The plus-minus has been a disaster but everything else has been solid. In a dynasty, I’d look to buy low.
Matt Niskanen – Two assists with two shots and four PIM Tuesday. The assists have been decent lately but I’m still not using Niskanen in a 12’er.
Evgeny Kuznetsov – Two goals on six shots Tuesday. Hopefully this recent surge in shot rate is a sign of things to come.
Philipp Grubauer – 28 saves on 30 shots in the 3-2 win over the Sens. Holtby is struggling right now, so I’m not completely opposed to holding Grubauer right now while he’s hot and getting more starts.
Jonathan Huberdeau – Goal and an assist with three shots playing over 22 minutes. Huberdeau is still close to a point per game. With the Panthers still on the fringe of the playoff picture, look for their studs to keep playing massive minutes.
Vincent Trocheck – Two assists with three shots. See Huberdeau above.
Roman Josi – Five assists with two shots. All your assists are belong to Josi! That’s 11 assists in his last 5 games as he’s crushing all of the categories.
Craig Smith – Two goals on four shots. Smith has started rolling again with an eight game point streak. I’d hold him while he’s hotter than a pistol.
Viktor Arvidsson – Two assists with a shot and two penalty minutes. There were some worries in the first two months of the season that last season was a fluke for Arvidsson, but he’s shown for that to not be the case.
Paul Stastny – Goal and an assist with three shots in his Jets debut. His linemates, Nikolaj Ehlers and Patrik Laine, also had two points each. As talked about extensively on the trade deadline podcast, Stastny was the big winner and should be owned everywhere.
Mark Scheifele – Two goals on four shots with four PIM. Scheifele has been a savage with 12 points in his last 7 games. He’s an improved shot rate away from being in the first round pick discussion next season.
Ben Bishop – 38 save shutout in the 2-0 win over the Flames. Bishop has been all over the place lately so it was good to see him get back on track. I don’t trust the consistency but I’m still rolling Bishop outside of the worst of matchups.
Jake Allen – 5 saves on 8 shots in 20 minutes before being pulled in the 8-3 loss to the Wild. The Blues are a dumpster fire right now. I have no faith in either goalie at the moment and would only use them in plus matchups until they get back on track.
Vladimir Tarasenko – Two goals on four shots. He’s a master of consistency, and Tarasenko’s career low shooting percentage is the only thing keeping his goals from pushing 40 again. A heater isn’t out of the question.
Jaden Schwartz – Two assists with a shot. Schwartz still sits right at a point per game. It’s a damn shame he was injured for an extended period.
Alex Steen – Two assists with two PIM. I’d stream Steen but wouldn’t consider holding him right now.
Eric Staal – Three goals and two assists with four shots. What a season Staal is having. He’s over a point per game now with this hot streak and he’s excellent in every single category.
Jason Zucker – Goal and four assists with four shots. It was a good night for me in my big money league having both Staal and Zucker. Zucker was already playing well before this game so it’s a no-brainer hold.
Mikael Granlund – Two goals, two assists, two shots, two PIM. The old 2X4. Two four point games in three has Granlund making another jump from last season’s breakout.
Ryan Suter – Three assists and a shot. It’s close to AAGNOF but there’s a shot Suter sets a new career high in points at 33.
Joe Pavelski – Goal and three assists with three shots. He’s still not going to match his output from the previous four seasons barring a magnificent finish, but Pavelski’s season doesn’t look anything near the disaster it originally appeared it was going to be.
Evander Kane – Two assists with two shots and two PIM in his Sharks debut. Kane went right onto Pavelski’s wing on the first line so he should get back in form sooner than later.
That’s all for now guys. With five games on the slate tonight, there’s a chance there will be daily notes on Thursday depending on what happens. Either way, there will be notes on Friday. As always, feel free to ask any questions or leave any comments below. Thanks for reading, take care!
