Three years ago, Ben Bishop was the #1 player in fantasy hockey. The following year, he struggled in Tampa, then they moved him to Dallas. Last season, Bishop was solid, but he’s been at his best this season. Bishop posted a shutout on Tuesday, stopping all 28 shots he faced in the 1-0 win over the Rangers. Injuries have hurt his volume, but Bishop is approaching a 2.20/.930 stat line. That is pushing towards being the #1 goalie in the league again. He won’t end up there because of the lack of starts, but with the Stars battling for the playoffs, Bishop has the ability to win people fantasy titles this season. The Stars play 14 games in the fantasy playoffs (more details on their schedule here) which is the most of anyone in the league. Look for Bishop to be a massive difference maker down the stretch. Let’s take a look at what else happened over the last two nights:
Darnell Nurse – Goal and an assist with three shots. He probably shouldn’t be in the role he’s in right now, especially offensively, but it’s great for Nurse’s fantasy value. Easy hold in all formats.
Leon Draisaitl – Goal and an assist with two shots and two PIM. Connor McDavid dished two assists. It’s sad how bad their team is besides these three and RNH.
Jack Eichel – Two goals on five shots. Eichel has looked outstanding despite the team falling apart. Like Edmonton, it’s sad how bad their team is besides Eichel, Reinhart, Skinner and Dahlin.
Tyler Ennis – Hat trick on six shots. Congrats to Ennis on his first career hat trick. He used to be fantasy relevant, but considering Ennis was scratched the game before, he’s an easy pass now.
Mitch Marner – Goal and two assists with two shots. Back up the Brinks truck for Marner.
Zach Hyman – Two goals on three shots. As noted in the playoff manifesto linked in the intro, Hyman has a chance to be a great streamer in the fantasy playoffs.
Jake Muzzin – Two assists. The shot rate has been poor in Toronto but Muzzin has been good enough at everything else to be held in all formats.
Trevor Moore – Two assists. He’s had a nice start to his NHL career but Moore needs to play more minutes to be a real fantasy consideration. Welcome to the Razzball database!
Sebastian Aho – Two goals on seven shots. I was always a big Aho fan in his draft year and in his early NHL career but I never thought he’d reach this level. So damn good.
Justin Williams – Goal on six shots with two PIM. He’s as good of a streamer as there is right now.
David Krejci – Goal and an assist as did Jake DeBrusk. Their schedule sucks for streaming in the fantasy playoffs which is unfortunate for both of these guys. That said, they’re both good enough that I’m not dismissing them completely.
Sergei Bobrovsky – 29 saves on 30 shots in the 2-1 SO win over the Devils. He’s obviously been a massive disappointment this season but we can’t rule out a great finish from Bob.
Cory Schneider – 17 saves on 18 shots as the tough luck loser. I can’t believe Schneider has returned to fantasy relevance on this terrible Devils team, but I still consider him towards the desperation end of the spectrum.
Robin Lehner – 21 saves on 24 shots before leaving the game due to injury after being trucked by Tkachuk. Lehner has been a revelation this season so here’s to hoping he’s alright. I would already own him everywhere, but this solidifies that I’d grab Thomas Greiss everywhere just in case.
Mike Hoffman – Two assists with three shots. This has been the best season of Hoffman’s career offensively. It’ll be interesting to see what happens with him in the offseason.
Sidney Crosby – Goal and two assists with three shots. It feels like Crosby’s greatness has gone underappreciated this season.
Jake Guentzel – Two goals on five shots. After a disappointing 2017-18, Guentzel has been incredible this season. The PIM are low but Guentzel is still a top 100 player.
Jacob Trouba – Goal and an assist with two PIM. Trouba hasn’t taken a big jump that I hoped would happen, especially with Buff missing a lot of time, but he’s still an easy own for his ability to hit all of the categories.
Steven Stamkos – Goal and an assist with five shots. Stamkos has been great this year, but he loves to pile up 5-6 shots in a game and then follow it up with two games with one shot a piece. If he could consistently get to 3.5-4 shots per game, he’d be on another level.
Nikita Kucherov – Two assists with three shots. Insert more superlatives here.
Adam Erne – Goal and an assist with two shots. Erne is a nice player but it’s hard for him to matter in fantasy while he’s on Tampa.
Mathieu Joseph – Two assists with a shot and two PIM. Same story as Erne.
Kevin Fiala – Two goals. He looks like a solid second liner now and going forward. Fiala has been very good in Minnesota and is a very good option over the next few weeks.
Rocco Grimaldi – Two assists. And there’s your annual Grimaldi update!
Alexandar Georgiev – 31 saves on 32 shots as the tough luck loser. He’s been playing a lot down the stretch but Georgiev is a desperation play.
Thomas Vanek – Two assists with a shot. Vanek is still chugging along but I don’t really want to use Detroit players right now. Their schedule is awful for streaming so I doubt I’ll be using Vanek.
Mikko Rantanen – Goal and two assists with four shots. This pushes Rantanen past last season’s totals with a month to go. He’ll enter the first round pick discussion for next season.
Tyson Barrie – Goal and an assist with four shots. Barrie has been close to exactly what we expect from him at this point.
Nathan MacKinnon – Goal and an assist with four shots. I ranked MacKinnon third overall going into this season and that has proven to be correct. He’s been incredible across the board.
Ryan Miller – 22 saves on 23 shots in the 3-1 win over the Coyotes. Miller has been great this season despite the terrible team in front of him. That said, injuries limited him to 12 starts making this a very small sample size. I’d only use him in the best of matchups.
Jakob Silfverberg – Goal and an assist with three shots. Nice player in real life but easy pass right now.
Shea Weber – Goal and an assist with three shots. Not an exciting season from Weber but he’s gotten the job done.
Victor Mete – Two assists with a shot. Maybe there’s something here eventually, but that time is not now.
Carey Price – 26 saves on 27 shots in the 3-1 win over the Kings. Use every goalie you can against the Kings!
That’s all for now guys. I’ll be back on Friday morning recapping the action from the next two nights. As always, feel free to ask any questions, leave any comments, or give any suggestions below. Thanks for reading, take care!
