It was great to see Aleksander Barkov back in the lineup on Thursday, and if you didn’t get him back into your lineup off injured reserve, well, that one is going to hurt for a while. Barkov scored a hat trick in the first period against the Canadiens and added two assists in the 7-2 win over the Canadiens. It hasn’t been Barkov’s best season to this point, but I’m buying Barkov going forward to get back to being well over a point per game. Florida has dug itself quite a hole in the playoff race and I expect Maurice to really ride their top six even more. Barkov’s shooting percentage is also much lower than his career sh% (10.3 vs 14.0) so look for some positive regression in the New Year for the Panthers captain. Let’s take a look at what else happened over the last two nights:
Victor Hedman – Two assists with two shots. Hedman is up there for the most disappointing players this season that has mostly been healthy. That said, he does have ten assists in his last ten games, so it’s not like he’s been a disaster, but we’re talking about a perennial top five defenseman that’s been a clear hold, but closer to bottom end.
Brayden Point – Two goals. Ten goals in the last ten games has Point playing at his highest goal pace of his career. He’s been a monster again.
Andrei Vasilevskiy – 25 saves on 26 shots in the 4-1 win over the Canadiens. And this wasn’t close to Vasilevskiy’s best game in the back-to-back (spoiler alert!).
Linus Ullmark – 30 saves on 31 shots in the 3-1 win over the Devils. Ullmark’s numbers are so absurd that it looks like someone playing on easy mode in a video game. 20-1-1, 1.90/.938. Preposterous.
Hampus Lindholm – Two assists with two shots. Lindholm being on PP1 right now makes him a truly elite option now. He’s going to obliterate his previous career highs.
Lucas Raymond – Two assists. I was expecting a step forward from Raymond in his second year, but it just hasn’t happened. He’s a middling streamer at best.
Jeff Carter – Goal and an assist with two shots. The Penguins depth guys got Pittsburgh a 4-0 lead in the first before blowing it. Jason Zucker scored two goals on seven shots, both on the power play, while Bryan Rust had two PP assists. Kasperi Kapanen also had two assists. Rust is on the fringe for me because of his upside, while Zucker is a solid streamer, Carter is bottom end and so is Kapanen.
Adam Henrique – Two goals on four shots, both assisted by Trevor Zegras (7 SOG, 4 PIM) and Troy Terry. Henrique and Terry played 24+ minutes while Zegras played 22:36 despite the four PIM. Henrique is a middling streamer even with the massive workload.
Nazem Kadri – Goal and an assist with four shots. I still expect things to get better for Kadri in the assists department, but the goals are right in line with last season’s massive year.
Rasmus Andersson – Two assists with four shots. Andersson remains solid across the board while not being excellent in any category. He’s a bottom end #2.
Jorden Eberle – Two assists with four shots. Eberle is a solid streamer and a better deep league asset because he’s decent in all of the main categories.
Thursday’s Games
Dominik Kubalik – Two goals on five shots. The overall numbers are quite good for Kubalik, but he’s really dropped off over the last month. I still have him as a top end streamer, but we’ll need some consistency sooner than later.
Kyle Okposo – Hat trick on five shots. Okposo actually has decent numbers for being on the fourth line and not getting PP time since the beginning of the season. I wouldn’t look to stream him though, but there’s deep league value.
Zemgus Girgensons – Two assists with three shots. And there’s your annual Girgs update!
Casey Mittelstadt – Two goals. Mittelstadt has been a trainwreck at even strength, but he’s contributing quite a bit on the PP. I’m not really looking to use him, but he could be okay in deep leagues.
J.J. Peterka – Two assists with three shots and two PIM. He’s a bottom end streamer, but I’m very bullish on Peterka long term. He’s looked the part on the second line of the highest scoring team of the league as a 20 year old.
Owen Power – Two assists with two shots and two PIM. It hasn’t been that good offensively for Power in terms of his production, but he’s driving play incredibly well so he should start to get more points.
Andrei Vasilevskiy – 45 saves on 46 shots in the 2-1 SO win over Igor Shesterkin (39/40) and the Rangers. Vasilevskiy has allowed 1-2 goals in nine of his past ten games, while giving up three on 39 shots in the other game. He’s on a massive tear right now. Igor obviously isn’t approaching last season’s level, but he’s still a top five goalie so far this year.
Alex DeBrincat – Two goals on five shots and two PIM. Unsurprisingly, DeBrincat’s shooting percentage is starting to regress to the mean leading to plenty of goals. He’s been fantastic.
Claude Giroux – Two assists. It’s close to the fringe, but I lean towards holding Giroux.
Nick Jensen – Two assists with a shot. Solid defender in real life, but Jensen’s value is in deep leagues with hits and blocks.
Arber Xhekaj – Goal and an assist with three shots. Xhekaj is a monster in hits and PIM so use him if you’re in need of those categories.
Brandon Montour – Three assists with two shots and fifteen PIM. I have no idea what has gotten into Montour lately, but he has 35 PIM in the last three games now. He’s been a #1 defenseman to this point and it’s not even close.
Matthew Tkachuk – Two goals and an assist with nine shots. Tkachuk has been a monster across the board. It’s certainly not his fault Florida is disappointing.
Carter Verhaeghe – Goal and an assist with three shots. Verhaeghe is playing the best hockey of his career, making him an easy hold for me.
Ilya Sorokin – 20 saves on 21 shots in the 2-1 win over the Blue Jackets. The wins are worse than for most of the other elite goalies, but Sorokin’s 2.26/.926 is right there with the league’s elite.
Jean-Gabriel Pageau – Goal and an assist with two shots. Pageau is back on PP1, but it’s still only bottom end for streaming.
Jordan Binnington – 21 saves on 22 shots in the 3-1 win over the Blackhawks. Binnington is below the Mendoza Line in both GAA and sv%. I’m torn between holding as your third or just letting him sit on the waiver wire and trying to stream better matchups.
Andrei Kuzmenko – Goal and an assist. He signed a one year deal which makes Kuzmenko an interesting trade target at the deadline. Kuzmenko is on the fringe, but his shooting percentage has to regress from 24.6%.
Mark Scheifele – Hat trick on four shots. Never could have imagined having 23 goals this early in the season while only having 8 assists. Crazy statline.
Josh Morrissey – Two assists with two shots. Morrissey left the game due to injury, but Bowness said he wasn’t ruled out for Saturday, so it looks like crisis averted.
Kyle Connor – Two assists with three shots. Big run from Connor, who should still improve in the shooting luck department.
Jake Oettinger – 23 saves on 24 shots in the 4-1 win over the Wild. Excellent season from Oettinger, who is solidifying himself as a top end player in redrafts and dynasties.
Tyler Seguin – Two goals on four shots. Solid bounceback from Seguin, which gets him back to solid streamer level.
Wyatt Johnston – Goal and an assist with five shots and two PIM. I’m a big fan of Johnston in dynasties and he’s starting to put together a nice stretch of hockey. He’s not even a middling streamer yet, but it should continue to improve.
Alex Iafallo – Goal and an assist with four shots. Iafallo has looked the part filling in for Moore on the second line. Iafallo has a point in five straight games boosting him back to elite streamer for the time being.
Viktor Arvidsson – Two assists with two shots. Arvidsson is quietly having a very good season putting him in the elite streamer range as well.
Cale Makar – Goal and two assists with four shots. Makar is piling on all of the shots lately with 4+ in seven straight games and the points are coming in strongly. I would still take Makar as the #1 defenseman for the rest of the season without hesitation.
Evan Rodrigues – Goal and an assist with three shots. With everybody else injured, Rodrigues is an elite streamer.
Mikko Rantanen – Two assists with three shots and two PIM. Rantanen is really doing his best to put the Avalanche on his back. He’s a top ten forward this season and it’s been even better in the last month with an insane shot rate.
Conor Timmins – Two assists with a shot and two PIM. Timmins has eight assists with 10 games, but he has seven shots and now Rielly is back, so I’m not looking to use him.
Barrett Hayton – Goal and two assists with two shots and two PIM. Hayton hasn’t put together the quality hockey I was hoping for in his fourth season. Nothing to see here right now.
Nick Bjugstad – Goal and an assist with three shots. Bjugstad is a bottom end streamer through and through.
Jack McBain – Two goals on four shots and five PIM. Also nothing to see here with McBain.
Tony DeAngelo – Goal and two assists with three shots. Tony Dawgs is on fire lately and even is digging out of his plus-minus hole a bit. I’m still holding, but it’s not a slam dunk if you worry about +/-.
Travis Konecny – Two goals on five shots. Konecny is playing at a 46+46 pace with elite PIM and over three shots per game. Just a monster season to this point.
Owen Tippett – Goal and an assist with three shots. Tippett is a solid streamer.
Tomas Hertl – Two goals and an assist. Hertl is at a point per game making him a no doubt hold again.
Kevin Labanc – Goal and an assist. Labanc has been playing better lately, bumping him back up to a solid streamer.
Erik Karlsson – Two assists with two shots. Eleven game point streak for Karlsson, who is remarkably up to 50 points already. Absolutely bonkers. Here’s to hoping he can stay healthy because it’s great to see him dominating like this again.
