It’s no surprise that the Sharks gave up five goals on Saturday. They’ve continually allowed a lot of goals and are arguably the best matchup you can hope your players are facing at the moment. It was the top line’s turn for the Blues as they combined for eleven points. Ryan O’Reilly and David Perron each had a goal and three assists while Jordan Kyrou scored two goals and added an assist. Perron is now above a point per game and RoR is exactly at it. Kyrou cooled off after a hot start, but he’s cemented himself as the third member of this line. The schedule gets pretty tough going forward for the Blues, but I still think I would hold Kyrou in all formats. The upside is through the roof and with the Blues in more of a battle for a playoff spot than they would have anticipated going into the season, I expect the top line to continue getting big minutes. Let’s take a look at what else happened over the weekend:
Friday’s Games
Jeff Petry – Two assists with a shot. Petry has slowed down a bit, but that was to be expected, he’s not a point per game player. That said, he’s still crushing across the board and looks like a fringe #1D.
Rasmus Andersson – Two assists. His role is all over the place right now in Calgary. The power play units at the moment have Andersson on PP2 which isn’t ideal. He’s right on the fringe but I lean towards leaving him on the waiver wire until that changes.
Alex Ovechkin – Two goals. The Great Eight is doing his usual damage.
Vitek Vanecek – 32 saves on 33 shots in the 2-1 win over the Rangers. Vanecek went from being an afterthought in the offseason to starting most of Washington’s games. Pretty crazy. With Samsonov back, the volume is down, but his overall numbers are decent enough to stream most matchups and potentially hold.
Jordan Binnington – 30 saves on 31 shots in the 2-1 SO win over the Sharks. Binnington has been disappointing overall as he’s a slight negative in each category. The volume should be great as the Blues extended him and Husso stinks, but keep expectations in check.
Martin Jones – 33 saves on 34 shots as the tough luck loser. Even with two strong starts in a row, Jones is at a 3.45/.890. Woof.
Max Pacioretty – Two goals on five shots. I did not have Patches on my top 20 overall radar going into the season, but at this point, he may even blow past that.
Alec Martinez – Two assists with a shot. With Pietrangelo out, I would hold Martinez again in all formats.
Robin Lehner – 23 saves on 25 shots in the 4-2 win over the Kings. Congrats to Lehner for returning to the ice after another concussion and for bringing light to his situation before the game. With how MAF has played, I don’t see Lehner getting the volume I anticipated before the season, but hopefully he can salvage his season in the second half.
Saturday’s Games
Gabriel Landeskog – Goal and two assists with four shots and two PIM. The Avs have won six in a row and have looked absolutely dominant doing so. The top line is crushing as Nathan MacKinnon had three assists with a shot. I can’t wait to watch their two games against Vegas this week.
Joonas Donskoi – Two assists with a shot. Four game point streak for Donskoi, but he’s under one shot per game on the season. He’s only a bottom end streamer.
Ryan Graves – Two assists with three shots. Nice player in real life, but he’s only a deep league option for hits and blocks.
Cale Makar – Goal and an assist with three shots. Nice to see Makar back in the lineup doing his usual damage.
Philipp Grubauer – 31 save shutout in the 6-0 win over the Wild. Grubauer has established himself as the #2 overall goalie this season. Remember in the offseason when reporters were saying the Avs needed to upgrade goalie? Too funny. Grubauer has been good literally every season of his career.
Jake Guentzel – Goal and an assist with four shots, as Bryan Rust and Sidney Crosby each had two points. With Evgeni Malkin week to week, expect a minute boost for the top line.
Casey DeSmith – 24 saves on 25 shots in the 3-1 win over the Devils. I covered DeSmith and Jarry extensively last week.
Juuse Saros – 47 saves on 48 shots as the tough luck loser in the 2-0 loss to the Panthers. Saros is really rounding into form, but the problem is that his team is bad. He has Detroit and Chicago this week which shapes up as a decent chance to extend his current run.
Anthony Duclair – Goal and an assist with four shots and four PIM. Duclair moved back onto the first line and delivered. He’s a solid streamer with hold potential if he sticks on Barkov’s wing.
Chris Driedger – 21 save shutout. Bob has taken over as the clear #1 despite Driedger’s strong numbers. I wouldn’t hold him, but I’d stream him in almost all matchups.
Andrei Vasilevskiy – 30 saves on 31 shots in the 4-1 win over the Blackhawks. He’s still under a 2 GAA and above a .930 save percentage. Pretty, pretty good.
Victor Hedman – Three assists with two shots. Hedman has erased all doubt about who the #1 overall fantasy defenseman is.
Steven Stamkos – Goal and an assist with two shots. Six game point streak for Stammer who has managed to go under the radar as far as points production goes. The shot rate has taken a steep drop, but he’s cruising over a point per game.
Alex Killorn – Two assists with three shots. I would lean towards holding Killorn right now, but it comes down to team needs.
Anton Khudobin – 21 save shutout in the 3-0 win over Detroit. I hit on Khudobin quite a bit last week, but long story short, we keep holding and hope for the best.
Bo Horvat – Goal and an assist with two shots. It was nice to see Boeser (goal) play with Horvat instead of Dr. Bo being stuck with mediocre wingers. He’s an easy hold but I feel better about that in his current situation.
Quinn Hughes – Two assists. I had high hopes for Hughes this year. It hasn’t necessarily been bad, but the plus-minus is brutal and he only has two goals. It would help if he had a real partner to play with. It looks like he’s more of a #3 right now than a top end #2 or the potential top 10 D we hoped going into the year.
Shea Weber – Two assists with five shots. The points have fallen off, but he’s good enough across the board that I’d hold Weber without giving it much thought.
Tomas Tatar – Goal and an assist. Tatar has disappointed after last year’s massive season. He’s a solid streamer bordering on elite, but I’m not holding unless he keeps up his play over the last week.
Phillip Danault – Two assists with six shots. The coaching change has apparently helped as Danault has shown some signs of life offensively. He’s still only a middling streamer because of the shot rate.
Ilya Sorokin – 23 saves on 24 shots in the 6-1 win over the Flyers. Sorokin is worth streaming in every start, plain and simple. The volume is so low that he’s not worth holding.
Thomas Hickey – Two assists with a shot. Congrats to Hickey on playing his first game after nearly two years.
Josh Bailey – Goal and an assist with two shots. Bottom end streamer, although that may get a slight boost with Lee out for the season.
Casey Cizikas – Two goals. Great fourth liner but that does us nothing for fantasy.
Oliver Wahlstrom – Two assists with five PIM. Wahlstrom has had a productive rookie season. Long term, I’m a big fan, but the problem now is that his minutes are pretty low. He’s a decent DFS punt option.
Jack Campbell – 31 save shutout in the 2-0 win over the Flames. I can’t help but wonder if Campbell gets an extended look in net with how Andersen has struggled. If you want to make a goalie spec add, Campbell would be my first choice.
Keith Kinkaid – 28 saves on 29 shots in the 3-1 win over the Capitals. It sounds like Igor will be back any day now so we don’t have to worry about Kinkaid anymore.
Mika Zibanejad – Goal and an assist with four shots. He’s heating up! And the Sabres are on deck tonight…
Pavel Buchnevich – Goal and an assist with four shots. What a season for Buchnevich to this point. He’s earning himself a lot of money as an RFA this summer. Buch is an easy hold everywhere.
Antti Raanta – 27 saves on 28 shots in the 5-1 win over the Ducks. After surprisingly missing a game, it was nice to see Raanta back in the lineup. I wouldn’t trust him against Colorado. but he does have San Jose at the end of the week.
Derick Brassard – Hat trick. He’s had a decent season for the contract he’s on, but Brassard is still only a bottom end streamer.
Jakob Chychrun – Goal and an assist with two shots and two PIM. Chychrun has taken massive strides this season. He’s looking like a #2D already at 21 years old (soon to be 22).
Vince Dunn – Goal and an assist with two shots. Dunn would have more fantasy value if he’s traded which was discussed early in the season. With Parayko down, I doubt it happens now, but maybe in the offseason. For now, Dunn is only for deep leagues.
Nikolaj Ehlers – Two assists with seven shots. It was nice to see Ehlers have a game with a huge shot total. I don’t see any reason to expect regression even though Ehlers is outperforming his previous career highs by a decent margin.
Pierre-Luc Dubois – Goal and an assist with four shots. It hasn’t been perfect since going to Winnipeg, but I still like Dubois a lot in Winnipeg. I would hold it, but it’s not automatic.
Darnell Nurse – Goal and an assist with two shots. He actually took a shift on the top PP unit which was a bit surprising. Barrie was back out there later, but it’s worth monitoring. Somehow, Nurse can even end up more valuable than he already is.
Connor McDavid – Goal and an assist with five shots. Sixty points in 34 games. Sixty! And now, he’s taking four shots per game. Absolutely incredible.
Sunday’s Games
MacKenzie Blackwood – 35 saves on 36 shots in the 2-1 OT win over the Penguins. I still like Blackwood long term, but the Devils are in a rough place at the moment. It’s hard to trust him in most matchups with how overmatched the Devils are on a regular basis.
Aleksander Barkov – Two assists with two shots. It’s to the point where I don’t think 10 million per year will be enough to sign Barkov on his next contract. He’s found another level to his game and I can’t wait to watch him in the playoffs against a team like Carolina or Tampa.
Blake Coleman – Two assists with two PIM. Nothing has changed for Coleman; he’s a bottom end streamer in Tampa.
Yanni Gourde – Goal and an assist with three shots. I was ready to start this post about Gourde getting a chance in the top six and producing, then he was on the third line today. He still got two points, but it really caps his upside. He’s a solid streamer, but if he gets back in the top six, Gourde can be a bottom end hold.
Brayden Point – Goal and an assist. Point approaching three shots per game is doing wonders for his value. If he puts that together with Kucherov back next season, we could be seeing a top 15 season or better.
Anze Kopitar – Two assists with four shots. The talk of Kane being involved in the Hart race is ridiculous when Kopitar has a much better case. He’s playing some of the best hockey of his career.
Cal Petersen – 41 saves on 42 shots in the 3-1 win over the Golden Knights. Monster performance from Petersen who has been great all season. I’d hold him now as the schedule starts to ease up a bit.
Eeli Tolvanen – Goal and two assists. With Nashville falling apart this year, partially due to bad play and partially due to awful injury luck, Tolvanen is finally get an opportunity. He’s been okay with 12 points in 23 games, but I really like what I’ve seen on the power play and he’s been decent at evens. Tolvanen is only a bottom end streamer now, but there’s some long term upside, especially in goals.
Ryan Johansen – Goal and an assist. Boy, how Johansen has fallen. He’s not even a bottom end streamer.
Three Point Challenge: I will give you the option to take someone on either Monday or Tuesday. If you are taking someone on the couple teams that play both days, you must declare which day you are taking them or the pick will not count. No top 10 in points, which means no McDavid, Draisaitl, Kane, Marner, Kopitar, Scheifele, Barkov, Matthews, Stone, Huberdeau, or Rantanen. I’ll go with Panarin against the Sabres on Monday.
That’s all for now guys. I’ll be back on Wednesday recapping the action over 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!
