Last season, Roman Josi took the leap into the elite fantasy defenseman tier. Amazingly, he’s on pace to top last season’s total after his recent hot streak with 6 points in the last 4 games. This was capped off by a 2 goal effort on four shots with five PIM against the Bruins on Monday to push the Predators to victory. He also had a +8 Corsi in the game. Josi is now on a pace for a 20+40 season with a bunch of more penalty minutes than he’s had in the past. He’s firmly in the top 10 now for defenseman for the rest of the season. Here’s what I saw in the late night Sunday games and the three Monday games:
Anders Nilsson – 32 saves on 34 shots in the 4-2 Oilers win Sunday night against the Sabres. If for some reason he’s available in your league, grab him. His save percentage is very good and he’s won half of his starts.
Taylor Hall – Goal and an assist with four shots and four PIM, +7 Corsi, best in the game. The Oilers controlled the game when he was on the ice which is no surprise. Hall is an unquestioned superstar at this point.
Jordan Eberle – Goal on five shots, +6 Corsi. He looked like his old self and scored for the second straight game. Amazingly, he doesn’t have an assist in 15 games this year. Eberle had 39 assists last year so this is quite the stunner. I’d buy low if his owner is upset about it.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – Assist with three shots and two PIM, +6 Corsi. The Oilers studs came to play Sunday and took advantage of the Sabres on the first game of a west coast trip. He’s been playing poorly after a hot start but I wouldn’t be looking to move him.
Teddy Purcell – Goal and an assist with two shots, +6 Corsi. I still wouldn’t own him in 12’ers but would look to stream him.
Olli Maatta – Goal on two shots, +3 Corsi. Looked solid again with Kris Letang out; I mentioned him yesterday as someone to add in the short term so do it.
John Gibson – 23 saves on 24 shots in the win. I don’t see how the Ducks can send him back to the AHL at this point. He’s clearly their best goalie.
Corey Perry – Goal on three shots, +6 Corsi. The shots keep going up and despite the poor start, he’s up to 10 goals. The Ducks are starting to play much better so expect Perry to be a big reason for that.
Sami Vatanen – Assist and two shots, +3 Corsi. As the rest of the team goes, Vatanen should see a points boost.
Jonathan Quick – 24 saves on 25 shots in the 3-1 win over the Lightning. If the save percentage goes up, he’ll be a top 5 goalie. The goals against average is an absurd 2.19 and the wins are second best in the league.
Jeff Carter – Assist with two shots and two PIM, +8 Corsi. It’s been an amazing season for Carter in all categories. They’re one of the best lines in hockey right now.
Drew Doughty – Assist with four shots and two PIM in almost 31 minutes of ice time. That’s just ridiculous. I wish we could have a whole season where the Kings let Doughty play an open offensive game. He’d probably go over 60 points if the Kings were willing to let him gamble more.
Milan Lucic – Goal on his only shot, game best +11 Corsi. The shots are horrible which mean the goals should regress but with the penalty minutes he provides, Lucic should still have plenty of value.
Brayden McNabb – Goal and an assist with three shots, +6 Corsi. I was a big fan of McNabb coming up in the Sabres minor league system and while he looks solid now in L.A., his fantasy relevance is limited to only the deepest of leagues.
Shea Weber – Two assists with a shot, +9 Corsi. I criticize the guy and he puts up five points in two games. I need to start criticizing guys I own or that play for my Sabres!
Patrice Bergeron – Assist with a shot and two PIM, -6 Corsi. It’s rare to see Bergeron be in the minus in Corsi, let alone by a decent amount. That said, Bergeron has been nothing short of amazing this year from a fantasy perspective.
Loui Eriksson – Goal on his only shot. The shot rate is falling off and he won’t contribute in PIM at all but the points are outstanding for where he was drafted.
Darcy Kuemper – 18 saves on 20 shots in the 2-1 OT loss to the Avalanche. It was a decent spot start but a bit upsetting he didn’t get the win. He won’t get a lot of action going forward.
Zach Parise – Goal on six shots. That’s what you would expect from Parise in a game against Colorado.
Semyon Varlamov – 18 saves on 19 shots in the win. There might not be a bigger surprise this season than Colorado holding the Wild to 19 shots. I expect Varlamov to face double that in his next start.
Tyson Barrie – Goal and an assist with a shot. He’s back on a 50 point pace which is great considering the slow start and the lack of depth on this Colorado roster.
Matt Duchene – Assist and two shots. Still hotter than a pistol.
Radim Vrbata – Hat trick on six shots in the win against Buffalo. Finally. I know it’s tougher for him not playing with the Sedins at even strength but it’s good to see that he was taking a ton of shots. I still like Vrbata going forward because at any point, he could be reunited with the Sedins and catch fire.
Daniel Sedin – Two assists with two shots and two PIM. Freaking Cyborgs!
Jack Eichel – Goal on six shots in two games. Looked great against Edmonton and had arguably his worst game to date against Vancouver in the second of a back to back. While his point totals aren’t worthy of my preseason rank, he’s still on pace for about 30 goals and well over three shots per game which has plenty of value.
Jamie McGinn – Two assists and three shots. McGinn now has a six game point streak and got some time on the first line during the Canucks game. I’ll be looking to stream him in 12’ers in the short term and would add him in 16’ers or deeper.
Ryan O’Reilly – Goal and an assist with five shots. Five game point streak for RoR and he’s up to 23 points in 28 games. The Sabres have played great with him on the ice (he was +1 in the 5-2 loss Monday) and have struggled without him on the ice.
Sam Reinhart – Goal on six shots. Yay for a good stream call. Again, add him everywhere.
Chad Johnson – Gave up 4 goals on Sunday while Linus Ullmark allowed 5 on Monday. Yikes. Some regression was due for both of these guys.
Tuesday Streamers: There’s a big 9 game slate on Tuesday with a handful of lopsided games. Here are my top options:
Melker Karlsson (1.2% owned) – He’s playing big minutes right now on the first line for the Sharks and gets a juicy matchup against the Flames.
Mattias Janmark (0.6%) – He’s scored in two of the last three games and Dallas should dominate Carolina with relative ease. Janmark is still on the second line and second PP unit so the opportunity is there.
Leo Komarov (34.8%) – I’m going back to the well with Uncle Leo, especially since he’s still not owned in nearly enough leagues for how well he’s played. He has 6 points in the last 6 games and looks outstanding.
That’s all for now guys. Be sure to check out Matt’s article that came out yesterday in the afternoon for an thorough update and ranking of goaltenders around the league. I’ll be back on Wednesday recapping the big Tuesday slate. As always, feel free to ask any questions and post any comments below. Take care everyone!
