All of the people who have read me since I started writing here three seasons ago (it’s going by quick!) knows how big of a fan I am of Dr. Bo Horvat. In a game where the Canucks were massive underdogs in Boston, Horvat led the Canucks to a major upset, scoring two goals and two assists with four shots and six PIM in the 8-5 win over the Bruins. That brings Horvat’s totals to an outstanding 9+6 in 17 games with 19 PIM and around 2.5 shots per game. All of the attention is going to Elias Pettersson, and he deserves plenty of it, but Pettersson’s arrival finally puts Horvat in a role that he can thrive in. Yes, Horvat has been fairly luck to this point in terms of on-ice shooting percentage, but he’s doing the heavy lifting and still producing plenty offensively. The question isn’t whether Horvat is a hold or not, it’s how high his ceiling is. I don’t see a top 50 player, at least not until his linemates improve, but with how the Canucks are playing, he should be a top 100 player. Let’s take a look at what else happened over the last two nights:
John Carlson – Two assists with two shots. I’d like to see Carlson’s shot rate get back towards three per game last season but I can’t complain about a defenseman having 18 points in 14 games.
Braden Holtby – 41 saves on 42 shots in the 2-1 win over the Penguins. It hasn’t been a great start to the year for Holtby by any stretch, but games like this (and three straight seasons of being a top 3 goalie from 2014-17) show you what he can. Look for him to get his save percentage back up sooner than later.
Colton Sissons – Hat trick and two PIM. Sissions always has two massive games a season that leaves you wanting more but it never happens. Leave him on the waiver wire.
Nick Bonino – Three assists with four shots. Bonino is barely over a shot per game and is without a goal on the season. Hard pass.
Pekka Rinne – 24 saves on 25 shots in the 4-1 win over the Avalanche. The team in front of him makes it easy for Rinne on most nights, and he’s great in his own right.
Ryan Miller – 37 saves on 39 shots in the 3-2 win over Calgary. It’s absurd how many shots per game the Ducks are allowing. Gibson is the clear Vezina front runner for the first month and Miller has been outstanding as well. With that shot volume against, starting Miller has fairly big downside.
As mentioned in the opening, the Canucks-Bruins game was 8-5. Here are the main takeaways:
Loui Eriksson – Two goals and an assist with three shots. He is playing with Pettersson with Brock Boeser out. Add in PP2 time and Eriksson is a bottom end streamer.
Ben Hutton – Goal and an assist with four shots. In deep leagues, he’s an okay short-term option while Edler is out.
David Krejci – Three assists with two shots. With just over one shot per game, Krejci has lost a ton of value. He’s a pure AAGNOF right now.
Jake DeBrusk – Two goals and an assist with four shots and two PIM. He’ll be a hold eventually, but for now DeBrusk is a bottom end streamer.
Torey Krug – Two assists with two shots and seventeen PIM. Krug has picked up right where he left off last season. Consider the 17 PIM a nice, random bonus.
Jaroslav Halak – 14 saves on 19 shots in 35 minutes before being pulled. Sure, Tuukka Rask didn’t fare much better, but I’ve been saying for a while that the regression fairies were coming for Halak. He’s a strong streamer in general, but I still believe Rask straightens out and gets the #1 spot back.
Michael Grabner – Goal and an assist. After an awful start for the Desert Dogs, Grabner has a point in six straight. He’s a decent streamer but he won’t be anything more without PP time.
Oliver Ekman-Larsson – Goal and an assist with six shots. Alex Goligoski was a game time decision, ended up playing, but left after only 1:21. OEL played over 27 minutes as a result. I have to imagine Gogo misses some time now, meaning OEL’s minutes should stay very high. He gets a nice short term boost for those DFS players.
Claude Giroux – Two assists. Business as usual.
Dale Weise – Goal and an assist with two shots. Easily irrelevant at this point.
Scott Laughton – Two goals. He played 9 minutes in this game so despite having five goals, Laughton is an easy pass.
Shayne Gostisbehere – Goal and an assist. Ghost Bear is starting to get on a heater that is long overdue.
Roberto Luongo – 26 saves on 27 shots in the 4-1 win over the Oilers. Luongo has been great since he returned. Given the team’s struggles without him, look for Luongo to get a heavier workload than usual in the short term.
Mike Hoffman – Two assists with a shot. Boughner is finally giving Hoffman the minutes he deserves and Hoffman is up to a ten game point streak. Florida has been terrific for him in every way imaginable.
Vincent Trocheck – Two assists with three shots and four PIM. Trocheck is playing even more than last season and his numbers across the board are outstanding. He’s still a very underrated player.
Jeff Skinner – Two goals on three shots and two PIM, both assisted by Jack Eichel. Those two go together like lamb and tuna fish. Or spaghetti and meatballs. My post about Skinner looking great and due to explode is looking better by the day.
Vladimir Sobotka – Two goals on three shots with two PIM. My favorite Sobotka since Frank was running the docks in Baltimore, Sobotka doesn’t really have fantasy value. The good thing is that the new second line in Buffalo looked strong, with Sobotka playing with Evan Rodrigues and Sam Reinhart (2A each). Rodrigues is a bottom end streamer as long as he’s on PP2. I’m a sucker for Reinhart, but he’s on pace for over 40 assists and is shooting 3%. I could see things going like last season where caught a huge second half heater, but for now he’s a solid streamer.
Max Domi – Three assists with a shot. Man, how good was that trade for both sides? Domi looks like the guy I ranked as a top 100 player a few years back. Clear hold right now.
Nicolas Deslauries – Goal and an assist with four shots and two PIM. And there’s your annual Des update!
Matthew Peca – Goal and an assist with three shots. His three shots get him up to one per game! Pass.
Jonathan Drouin – Goal and an assist with four shots. It’s crazy to think that Drouin is still only 23 years old. It’s been a solid start across the board for Drouin. I’ll call him an elite streamer for now but he’s right on the fringe.
Colin Miller – Two assists with two shots playing over 25 minutes. I just cut Miller in my 12’er after a very slow start. He’s on the fringe, but I think he’ll take enough of a hit when Schmidt returns that I’d look to upgrade.
Pierre-Edouard Bellemare – Goal and an assist with three shots. Nothing to see here.
Alex Tuch – Two assists with two shots. Don’t fuch with Tuch! The crazy shot rate is dropping over the last three games, but Tuch is still a hold for now.
Thomas Chabot – Goal and an assist with five shots and two PIM playing almost 29 minutes. My man crush on Chabot is reaching frightening levels. He now has 22 points with almost three shots per game with no signs of slowing down.
Josh Bailey – Two goals. Bailey has found a way to be better than last season to this point. I appear to have undersold his big jump last season. Clear hold.
J.T. Miller – Goal and an assist with four shots. The lines were shuffled resulting in Miller playing with Steven Stamkos (same line). However, these two only played 15 and 14 minutes respectively. Pretty strange. I assume it’s a one game outlier given that Kucherov and Point also played under 15 minutes. Miller is right on the fence between hold and stream, but I somewhat lean hold given his current role on the Lightning powerhouse.
Lucas Wallmark – Two assists. The shot rate is decent and that’s four points in the last four games, but it’ll take more for Wallmark to reach streaming status. Welcome to the Razzball Database!
Patrick Kane – Goal and an assist with three shots. He played almost 28 minutes in this game. That is absolutely insane; I don’t care if the Blackhawks went down 4-0 and started a comeback. It’ll be interesting to see how high the minutes stay with Q gone, but regardless, Kane is playing incredibly well.
Brent Burns – Two assists with eight shots. Brent Burns doing Brent Burns things! Nice to see a huge shot total from Burns again.
Tyler Seguin – Goal and an assist with two shots. Seguin was in the midst of a twelve game goalless drought before this game. Given that he has 73 shots on goal, I expect the goals to start coming (only 4 on the season).
Devin Shore – Two goals on three shots. The role is too inconsistent to use him.
John Klingberg – Out at least three weeks due to an upper body injury. Brutal blow for Klingberg. I don’t know who will get the bigger boost yet, but Miro Heiskanen and Esa Lindell will both get one.
Devan Dubnyk – 27 saves on 28 shots in the 3-1 win over the Kings. Dubnyk has been spectacular this season which comes as no surprise. He always settles in as a middling to bottom end #1 depending on the season.
Mikko Koivu – Three assists with two shots. Solid streamer but the categories outside of assists and plus-minus aren’t good enough to hold.
Zach Parise – Goal and an assist with four shots. What a resurgence for Parise as he’s up to a point per game and over three shots per at 34 years old. He needs to be held while he’s cruising.
That’s all for now guys. I’ll be back on Monday recapping all of the weekend’s action. Sven’s buy/sell/hold piece will be out this afternoon so be sure to check it out! As always, feel free to ask any questions, leave any comments, or give any suggestions below. Thanks for reading, take care!
