Jake DeBrusk looked on the path to being a quality top six player for a long time in 2018-19, scoring 27 goals in his sophomore season. It’s been a rough three years since, with a trade request being made. He looked like a prime candidate to benefit from a trade, but it turned out that all he needed was another chance in the top six in Boston. DeBrusk has been playing on the first line recently, and the points have started to come in. His best game was on Monday, where he had a hat trick and an assist with six shots in the 7-0 win over the Kings. It’s a small sample, but DeBrusk has been fantastic over the past six games. It’s hard not to succeed with Bergeron and Bergeron (<cough> Craig Smith <cough>) so at the least, DeBrusk is an elite streamer again. Right now, I’d probably hold him and ride him while he’s hot. Let’s take a look at what else happened over the last two nights:
Monday’s Games
Jaroslav Halak – 8 saves on 14 shots before getting pulled 26:19 into the 7-2 loss to the Devils. This was one of the worst games I’ve ever seen a goalie play. I wouldn’t stream him anymore, and Halak won’t get many games anyways.
Jesper Bratt – Goal and an assist with three shots. I liked Bratt as a player going into the season, but I did not think he had a point per game season in him. None of his numbers look completely out of line either. Huge get for the Devils in the sixth round.
Nico Hischier -Two assists with five shots and two PIM. Hischier has been a bit better than I was giving him credit for the last time I wrote about him. I still lean towards elite streamer, but it’s close.
Dawson Mercer – Goal and an assist with three shots. He’s slowed down a bit so I have Mercer more in the solid streamer range instead of elite.
Yegor Sharangovich – Goal and an assist. Sharangovich currently has a seven game point streak so he has to be upgraded just for that. I think he’s still middling, but you can bump him up while he’s a hot schmotato.
John Tavares – Two assists with a shot. His numbers are practically in line with last season’s 56 games. The days of Tavares scoring at a 30+ goal rate may be done, but some shooting luck could get him there with his volume. The assists remain excellent so it’s hard to have any complaints about him.
Justin Holl – Goal and an assist with three shots. He’s stumbling into points just playing for the Leafs, but my interest in Holl is minimal.
Mitch Marner – Two assists with a shot. Marner is playing at such an absurd level right now with 35 points in his last 18 games.
Rasmus Sandin – Goal and an assist with two shots. Big fan of Sandin’s upside going forward, although he may have to get traded for fully realize his fantasy potential. That, or end up taking PP1 from Rielly eventually.
John Carlson – Three assists with two shots. If Carlson has an assist with two shots next game, his goals, assists, and shots would all be the exact same as last season. In other words, the point per game guy from 2019-20 is probably an outlier, but around 70 points is the expectation.
Tom Wilson – Two goals on seven shots. Wilson has rounded out his offensive game to be solid across the board. He’s either a solid hold, or elite depending on format.
Tuesday’s Games
Mikko Koskinen – 39 save shutout in the 3-0 win over the Flyers. Koskinen has won 19 of 28 starts this season. The numbers aren’t good, but the win rate is so good that he’s a tier above desperation.
Connor McDavid – Goal and an assist, as did Leon Draisaitl. The minutes for the top guys are through the roof again under Woodcroft. There’s some juicy matchups in the coming weeks for Edmonton, starting with Chicago and Montreal to finish out this week.
Brayden Point – Goal and three assists with four shots. This gets Point well above a point per game. Needless to say that Nikita Kucherov (1+1) has helped him quite a bit. Congrats to Fungazi for getting The Three Point Challenge again!
Jakub Voracek – Two assists with four shots. On one hand, it’s hard to ignore 38 assists on 52 games. On the other, Voracek has two goals on the season. He’s a decent streamer if you need assists at the end of the week in H2H matchups, but otherwise, he’s hard to use.
Boone Jenner – Goal and an assist with three shots. Career highs across the board are firmly in play for Jenner, who has really thrived on the top line.
Patrik Laine – Goal and an assist with four shots. What a monstrous run from Laine who is looking the best he has in years. Sure, 20% shooting isn’t sustainable, but it’s not that far off for a guy like Laine.
Josh Anderson – Hat trick on four shots with four PIM. With the first line in Montreal looking viable this days, Anderson is back to a solid streamer, bordering on elite if your league includes hits.
Mark Scheifele – Two goals and an assist with five PIM. The points are really coming in bunches for Scheifele this season. Hopefully he starts to find more consistency. Props to Jeff for picking Scheifele for three points!
Kyle Connor – Three assists with three shots. It’s a shame that the Jets aren’t that good this season as Connor is having one of the best seasons in the league. There’s a real chance he’s a top 10 player going into next season.
Pierre-Luc Dubois – Goal and two assists with six shots. After a rough patch, Dubois has seven points and twenty shots in the last three games. He’s been great after last season’s disaster.
Jacob Markstrom – 32 saves on 33 shots in the 5-1 win over the Wild. The Flames are a wagon right now. I’d probably have Markstrom as the #3 overall goalie right now behind the two Russians.
Tyler Toffoli – Goal and an assist with three shots. Easy hold now that Toffoli is locked into PP1.
Mikael Backlund – Goal and an assist with four shots. Backlund is locked into middling streamer territory.
Jean-Gabriel Pageau – Goal and an assist with two shots. Pageau has shown some signs of life offensively over the past two weeks, but he’s still only a bottom end streamer.
Zach Parise – Two assists with a shot. Parise is getting a lot of minutes right now which is a bad sign for the Isles. He doesn’t have much let in the tank. He’s still a bottom end streamer for me.
Devon Toews – Goal and two assists with five shots. Revenge game from Toews, who is still around a point per game and is +45. In 43 games!
Nazem Kadri – Two assists with four shots. Kadri has already smashed previous career highs in assists and points. He’s probably going to be a big bust risk next season when he presumably is on a new team, but for now, enjoy the greatness..
Andre Burakovsky – Goal and an assist with five shots. Three game goal streak and four game point streak for Burakovsky, who is right on the fringe.
Cale Makar – Two assists with four shots and two PIM. The goals have dried up, but Makar has a nine game assist streak at the moment. Pretty, pretty good.
Nick Foligno – Goal and an assist with four shots and five PIM. Foligno has been a disaster in Boston. Zero interest in using him.
Tomas Nosek – Two assists with a shot. Decent fourth liner, but that doesn’t help us in fantasy.
Brandon Carlo – Goal and an assist with five shots. Carlo is your classic stay-at-home that has value in real life, but next to zero in fantasy.
Ryan Getzlaf – Three assists with a shot. Getzlaf is a middling streamer at this point in his career.
Trevor Zegras – Goal and an assist with two shots. It’s been more down than up lately, but Zegras is still a bottom end hold for me.
Robin Lehner – 16 saves on 17 shots in the 3-1 win over the Sharks. Nice to see Lehner back in the lineup after being out for almost a month. Here’s to hoping he can get on a run down the stretch.
Reilly Smith – Two goals, both assisted by William Karlsson and Jonathan Marchessault. These guys have all taken a step back over the last month. Smith is a solid streamer, Karlsson is a middling one, while Marchessault is on the fringe, although I lean towards holding.
Three Point Challenge: We’ll do it for Thursday’s games. No McDavid, Draisaitl, Huberdeau, Kadri, Matthews, Gaudreau, Rantanen, Kaprizov, Ovechkin, M. Tkachuk, or Connor. I’ll go with Barkov against the Senators.
That’s all for now guys. I’ll be back on Friday 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!
