There was plenty of craziness on Thursday night, but the Detroit-Tampa game takes the cake. The Red Wings took the lead 6-3 in the third on the back of four, count them four, Tyler Bertuzzi goals, only to blow the game and lose in overtime 7-6. Bertuzzi looks to be a solid streamer, but it’s going to take a lot more to hold him. He’s been inconsistent in the past, and he’s unvaccinated. That means he won’t be able to play any games in Canada. The Red Wings already have a one off in Montreal next Saturday and another game in Toronto the week after. It’s simply too hard to hold a player that’s missing games for something other than an injury. Let’s take a look at what else happened on the ice on Thursday night:
Craig Anderson – 30 saves on 31 shots in the 5-1 win over the Canadiens. No, that’s not a mistype. The Sabres earned every bit of this victory too. I still have no interest in Anderson and it will take a lot to change that.
Jeff Skinner – Two assists with two shots. The Sabres will be bad, but they should score and have the chance of a good power play with Dahlin and Olofsson. Skinner had two assists there today and there could be some value in deep leagues still. He’s worth monitoring because he has the talent.
Zemgus Girgensons – Goal and an assist with two shots. No fantasy relevance, but good to see Zemgus on the ice after missing all of last season due to injury.
Colin Miller – Two assists with five shots. There’s nothing here yet, but perhaps he’s traded eventually and can have deep league relevance?
Victor Olofsson – Goal and an assist with five shots. If there’s a forward on the Sabres I want, it’s definitely Goalofsson. The shot is so good. He’s an elite streamer in my mind, especially with a soft part of the schedule coming up.
Kyle Palmieri – Two assists with four shots. He’s playing on the first line as expected. I have him ranked as a bottom end hold for the time being as I expect him to get back to the level he was at with the Devils.
Andrei Svechnikov – Two goals and an assist with four shots and two PIM. Svech! He played over 20 minutes as well which is the most exciting thing for me. Hopefully this is the breakout that we’ve been expecting.
Teuvo Teravainen – Goal and an assist with five shots. We know what we’re going to end up getting from Teravainen come the end of the season. Solid hold.
Tony DeAngelo – Two assists with five shots. He ran the first power play unit as expected and he had both assists there, granted one was an empty netter. You don’t have to like the guy (I surely don’t) but he’s going be a great fantasy asset as long as he’s on the ice.
Miro Heiskanen – Goal and an assist with three shots playing over 26 minutes. John Klingberg left the game injured which put Heiskanen in an even bigger role. If Klingberg misses time, Heiskanen should be a top 20 defenseman with relative ease.
Brady Tkachuk – Signed a seven year deal. <exhales>
Tyler Ennis – Goal and an assist with two shots. Ennis has carved out a nice career scoring at even strength at a high level. That said, he played just 10 minutes in this one so I’m passing for now.
Jason Spezza – Goal and an assist with three shots. He’s a great streamer right now, especially in deeper leagues, if you need STP. Spezza is on the first power play unit.
William Nylander – Goal and an assist with six shots. The minutes are through the roof with Matthews out and the Leafs trailing for most of this game. I’m really excited for Nylander going forward if he can maintain this shot rate.
Jeff Carter – Goal and an assist with eight shots, his 400th goal of his career. Carter is getting all the minutes he can handle right now with Crosby and Malkin down. He needs to be held.
Kris Letang – Two assists with two shots, 4 PIM, and a -3 in 28 minutes. That’s the full Letang experience! Just a matter of him staying healthy.
Aaron Ekblad – Two goals on six shots. Ekblad looked incredible making me feel great ranking him as a top 6 defenseman.
Aleksander Barkov – Two assists with two shots playing 26:55. Almost 27 minutes! Barkov is an animal, plain and simple.
Carter Verhaeghe – Two goals with two PIM. As long as Verhaeghe is on Barkov’s wing, he needs to be held.
Victor Hedman – Four assists with five shots. Nikita Kucherov had a goal and three assists with eight shots while Steven Stamkos had two goals and an assist with five shots. Safe to say who brought the Lightning back into this game. What a performance from the top guys on Tampa. That includes Ondrej Palat (two goals, 4 SOG, 2 PIM) and Mikhail Sergachev (2A, 3 SOG, 2 PIM).
Nick Leddy – Two assists. I could maybe see Leddy having deep league value, but for now, I’m passing.
Robby Fabbri – Two assists with two shots and two PIM. Fabbri has looked excellent since being moved to Detroit. I’m not holding in 12’ers, but he’s a quality streamer.
Moritz Seider – Two assists with two PIM, +1 in his NHL debut playing 20 minutes. Great start for Seider holding his own against Tampa. Must own everywhere.
Dylan Larkin – Goal on three shots with 10 PIM. A Larkin match penalty in the second allowed Stamkos to get two power play goals. We’ll have to see if anything more comes from this i.e. a suspension.
Brandon Tanev – Two goals on two shots and four PIM. And there’s your bi-annual Tanev update!
Alex Wennberg – Goal and an assist playing over 19 minutes. With this kind of workload, I can see Wennberg having deep league value. He’s only a bottom end streamer in 12’ers because of the lack of shot volume.
Jared McCann – Goal and an assist with two shots. Must own everywhere, as JKJ and myself have been preaching all preseason.
Mikael Granlund – Goal and two assists with two shots. He hasn’t been good the last two seasons by the standards he set in Minnesota, but maybe Granlund finds his game again? It’s worth monitoring.
Filip Forsberg – Two assists with a shot and two PIM. Just stay healthy!
Carter Hutton – 18 saves on 26 shots in the 8-2 loss to Columbus. Woof. After the second, Hutton allowed five goals on 1.6 expected goals. He is terrible and the main reason Arizona is the favorite to finish last in the league. Don’t even think about using him.
Oliver Bjorkstrand – Two goals and two assists with three shots. An original Razzball favorite a.k.a. one of my breakout calls, great start for Bjorkstrand. Only a handful of guys didn’t get on the scoresheet for Columbus. I don’t have much to say because the minutes are all out of whack with the game being out of hand early. We’ll have to see Columbus a few more times to comment on the values of their players.
Robin Lehner – 27 saves on 31 shots in two periods before getting pulled against the Kings. Vegas simply didn’t have it tonight; I’m not panicking.
Anze Kopitar – Hat trick and two assists with seven shots. Alrighty then. Kopitar rewarded me early for ranking him higher than consensus. I’m really looking forward to Kopitar playing with Viktor Arvidsson (assist, five shots, two PIM).
Drew Doughty – Goal and three assists with two shots. The role will be there for Doughty to be a hold, but keep expectations in check.
Dustin Brown – Goal and an assist with four shots. Brown owes Kopitar so much for reviving his career. He’s a strong streamer.
Vladimir Tkachev – Two assists in his NHL debut. I’m very intrigued by Tkachev, at least in deep leagues. I’ll have to watch the Kings a few more times before I make a definitive judgment, but getting PP1 time is a good start. Welcome to the Razzball Database!
Alex Iafallo – Two assists with two shots. Solid streamer.
That’s all for now guys. I’ll be back on Monday recapping the action from the weekend. If you need streaming help, be sure to check out JKJ’s post here. As always, feel free to ask any questions, give any comments, or make any suggestions below. Thanks for reading, take care!
