There have been a lot of bad trades over the last five years in the NHL. It's no surprise that Nino Niederreiter has turned into an excellent player in Minnesota after being traded by the Islanders, the team who drafted him fifth overall. Who knew trading a player who just went in the top five in the draft at 20 years old was a bad idea? Anyways, Nino has been solid for a few years now but he's starting to peak in his age 24 season. Niederreiter scored two goals and an assist with four shots in the 4-3 win over the Coyotes on Thursday. This brought Nino to 30 points (14+16) on the season while being +18. The PIM are below average and the shots are barely above two per game but with his developing power play prowess to supplement his even strength play, Niederreiter is looking like a clear hold at the moment. Hopefully everyone in dynasties held onto him because the best is yet to come. Let's take a look at what else happened over the last two nights:
After an amazing start, Patrick Eaves has slowed down quite a bit lately. Despite being in the league since 2005, Eaves never topped 32 points so it wasn't a surprise. That said, he's been given the best opportunity to produce points he's ever had in his career this season and Eaves has taken advantage on the whole. Eaves had his strongest game in over a month on Tuesday scoring a goal and two assists with three shots. He's been on the first power play unit all season (his goal was on the PP) and Eaves moved back to the first line during this game. It's time to stop dropping Eaves and hold him in 12'ers. I'm okay with using him as a streamer if you don't have the room but Eaves has an outside shot of scoring 30 goals this year. Here's what else happened around the league on Tuesday night:
Reid and I are together once again bringing everyone the latest fantasy hockey news. We run down the latest injuries, mostly to blueliners, before we also discuss a handful of players who returned over the weekend. After that, we touch on the red hot Capitals, the third line in Carolina exploding in back to back games, John Tavares looking like his usual self and an emerging goalie in St. Louis. After that, we each rank nine players who are available in over 50% of leagues that I consider must-own. We know it's difficult to decide who to grab with your last roster spot or two so that's what we're here for. After that, we finish things up with a Tuesday preview and The Three Point Challenge. As always, please leave your picks in the comments section. All of that and more in the latest edition of the Razzball Hockey Podcast brought to you by SeatGeek and FanPicks!
I hope everyone was able to watch the game between Pittsburgh and Washington on Monday night because that was everything that hockey should be. Yes, the defense was lacking at times, but man that was beautiful. Unsurprisingly, the star of the show was the #1 overall skater in fantasy to this point of the season, Evgeni Malkin. Malkin scored a hat trick in the second period and finished the game with those three goals, five shots and two PIM. Nobody can be surprised at how well Malkin is doing; his peak performance is on par with anybody in the league. The surprise is that he's managed to stay healthy to this point . I was lucky enough to have him fall to 24th and 25th overall in two separate drafts this season and took the gamble. Hopefully you guys all did the same because we're currently looking at a 40+55 with 100 PIM season. Here's what else happened around the league on Monday:
Elias Lindholm has had a disappointing start to his NHL career. After being a top 5 pick in 2013, Lindholm has failed to reach 40 points in the first three seasons of his career. It's certainly not the end of the world given that he just turned 22 years old; not everybody is a McJesus or MacKinnon and dominates right out of the gate. Lindholm is currently in the midst of the best streak of his young career. On Friday night against the Sabres, Lindholm dished an assist and added four shots extending his point streak to five games. He followed up it with a massive game scoring a goal and two assists with five shots in the 7-4 win over the Islanders. That brings his point streak to six games and gives him 18 points in 33 games to this point. Obviously this isn't going to last but Lindholm is an elite streamer at the moment and like a few other young forwards on his team, there's some real sleeper potential here for 2017-18. Let's take a look at what else happened around the league over the weekend:
We're changing things up with the lede today, and by we I mean me! Carey Price was definitely the least valuable player of Thursday night. The superstar goaltender was lit up like a Christmas tree by the Wild allowing 7 goals on 24 shots. In his last 6 starts, Price has allowed, 7, 4, 3, 1, 4, and 4 goals. To say it's been a rough two weeks would be like saying repealing Obamacare is a bad idea. No kidding! Sorry, couldn't help myself. Anyways, how high is the panic meter on Price in my eyes from 1 to 10, 10 being highly concerned? Maybe a 3? We know how good of a goalie he is, I'm not overly concerned over a poor stretch. I doubt you'll be able to buy low on him but it's at least worth kicking the tires and finding out. Look for Price to get back on track sooner than later. Let's take a look at what else happened around the league the last two nights:
Don't worry, it's not as bad as the title makes it seem! Reid and I are back again starting off with our usual injury rundown, or in this case, the flu rundown. After that, we look at all of the games from Monday and Tuesday night. Among the highlights are Jeff Skinner and Victor Rask getting back in form, Anders Nilsson posting another massive game, John Gibson finally finding some consistency and a player from off the radar that has emerged over the last week. After that, we preview Thursday's games before making our Three Point Challenge picks. Be sure to make your selection in the comments section below. All of that and more on the latest edition of the Razzball Hockey Podcast!
Apparently January 10th is Sam Reinhart day. Last year, he scored his first career hat trick on January 10th and he followed it up with another three point night yesterday. Reinhart scored a goal and two assists with four shots in the 4-1 win over the Flyers. It almost feels a bit disappointing because he missed a wide open net that I'd expect a high school player to bury. Regardless, that's 12 points in the last 10 games for Reinhart. I've been preaching for weeks that he's a must own but he's still available in over 2/3rds of leagues. He's not available in RCL's (well done guys!) but for your other leagues, grab him if you've been hesitant. How can you not like a Rein-o on a horse? Jack looks like he's having too much fun. Anyways, let's take a look at what else happened the last two nights around the league.
Reid joins me in person from Razzball Hockey Headquarters for Tuesday's podcast. We run down the recent injuries, notably Patrik Laine who was destroyed by Jake McCabe (McCabe pictured above from this hit and ensuing scrum). After the update, we look at the most impactful developments over the last five days. Among the notables are Patrick Maroon, Michael Grabner and James van Riemsdyk catching fire, the second line for Calgary gets rolling, both Florida teams being a mess and the Islanders losing back to back games to the two worst teams in the league. As always, we close things with The Three Point Challenge. All of that and more in the latest edition of the Razzball Hockey Podcast brought to you by SeatGeek and FanPicks.com!
Brad Marchand was one of the biggest breakout players in 2015-16 scoring 37 goals drastically increasing his shot rate to 3.5 per game while adding 90 PIM. While all of those numbers are taking a slight step back this season, he's improving the weaknesses in his game to become a well rounded player. Marchand returned to his old ways this weekend with three goals on six shots over two games to give him 12+22 on the season. He's only six assists from a career high and we've just reached the halfway point. Marchand also has nine power play points which is already a career high. Instead of being a three or four category stud (depending on plus-minus), he's become a big plus in five categories with the potential for all six if the plus-minus improves. These totals have him 15th in the player rater among forwards and that shouldn't come as a shock coming off a top ten season. It might not be exactly what you wanted but it's been excellent across the board. Here's what else I saw around the league this weekend:
When it comes to determining Patrick Maroon's fantasy value, someone who has no idea about hockey can figure it out. Is he playing on a line with Connor McDavid? If yes, pick him up and hold. If no, leave him on the waiver wire. Maroon received another chance to play with McDavid on Thursday and he took advantage in a big way scoring his first career hat trick on five shots and adding five penalty minutes. That brings his totals to 14 goals and 7 assists on the season with 48 PIM and a +12 rating. Does 30 goals and 100 PIM sound good to you? Maroon is almost on that pace and if he sticks with McDavid, I wouldn't rule out the possibility. He's available in over 80% of leagues at the moment so use whatever waiver priority you need to and grab him. Here's what else I saw around the league the last two nights:
Hey everybody! Reid joins me once again to do a thorough breakdown of the games Monday and Tuesday. Thankfully there was only one injury those two days. Highlights include Cory Schneider's big back to back games, Shea Weber and Alexander Radulov returning to Smashville, the wide open games in Washington and Tampa Bay plus some young talent producing in Vancouver. Yes, Vancouver! After that, we do a breakdown of the Thursday games before we make our picks for The Three Point Challenge. All of that and more in the latest edition of the Razzball Hockey Podcast, brought to you by SeatGeek, No Halftime and fanpicks.com!
