As good as the Jets have been, Friday was a huge boost for their team. Not only did they get Wheeler, Schmidt and Perfetti back, Nikolaj Ehlers returned for his first game since the second game of the season. He immediately went onto a line with Pierre-Luc Dubois and Kyle Connor, and it worked out as well as it has in the past. In the 4-2 win over the Lightning, Dubois scored two goals with four shots and four PIM, with Connor having a goal and an assist plus four PIM of his own. Sunday was even better with Connor scoring a hat trick, Dubois dishing four assists, and Ehlers scoring a goal and two assists. This line has the potential to be one of the best in hockey yet again, and with Dubois playing the best hockey of his career right now, it can be even better than last season. All of them are easily top 50 players with Connor in the top 20, and the other two with the potential to push towards that, but probably a step behind that. Let’s take a look at what else happened over the last two nights:
Friday’s Games
Aaron Ekblad – Two goals with four PIM. It’s been a very tough season for Ekblad all around. I don’t really see what else you can do but keeping him in the lineup and hope he gets back on track.
Aleksander Barkov – Two assists with a shot. He’s sitting at a point per game and three shots per game, but that’s actually quite disappointing given last season’s performance. I also don’t see anything else you can do with Barkov.
Filip Hronek – Two assists with five shots. Hronek cooled off quite a bit as expected, but he’s still in the #2 defenseman range.
Yakov Trenin – Goal and an assist with two shots and two PIM. This entire line in Nashville has really struggled this season. Trenin is in the bottom end streamer category.
Josh Morrissey – Three assists with two shots. Just a monster season from Morrissey that has shown no signs of slowing down. Add in the team getting healthy and it makes it more likely that Morrissey can come close to sustain this.
Mark Scheifele – Two assists with a shot and five PIM. The assists have really fallen off, but the goals have been excellent. He’ll be one of the biggest beneficiaries of Wheeler and Perfetti coming back.
Anthony Cirelli – Goal and an assist with two shots and seven PIM. He’s on the second line which helps, but still no PP1 time. Cirelli is a solid streamer.
Alex Stalock – 22 save shutout in the 2-0 win over the Coyotes, making Connor Ingram (30/31) the tough luck loser. Both of these guys are complete desperation options. Welcome to the Razzball Database Ingram!
Jacob Markstrom – 24 saves on 25 shots in the 4-1 win over the Islanders. Just when it looks like Markstrom could get going, he gets shelled by Chicago and gets pulled. Craziness. I still believe, but I can’t see that truly elite upside coming through this year.
Timo Meier – Two goals on ten shots. Dude just destroys the Ducks every single time. I’m fascinated to see if Grier trades Meier or can manage to sign him to a long term deal.
Kevin Labanc – Two assists with three shots. He’s back on the first line but without the top PP time, Labanc is a middling streamer.
Mason McTavish – Two goals and two assists with three shots. McTavish is really starting to get going which is great to see. He’s pushing towards an elite streamer, but long term upside is massive.
John Klingberg – Goal and an assist with six shots. It’s been a disaster in Anaheim for Klingberg, but I’m sure the team will keep giving him big minutes on the hope of boosting his trade value. That said, I wouldn’t hold in shallow leagues now, but would be tempted to stash him the closer we get to the deadline.
Saturday’s Games
Ryan Hartman – Goal and an assist with four shots. Hartman has looked solid since returning from injury, but I’m not rushing to grab him everywhere yet. For now, he’s bordering on solid streamer and elite streamer.
Joel Eriksson Ek – Goal and an assist with four shots. JEEK is on the fringe with my lean towards holding.
Calen Addison – Two assists with four shots. Addison has really started to shoot the puck more which is extremely encouraging. He’s on the fringe now depending on team needs.
Rasmus Dahlin – Two goals and three assists with four shots. Dahlin has been a monster from beginning to the midway point of the season. As a side note, the NHL really needs to stop forcing one All-Star from every NHL team. That Dahlin needs to be voted in is insanity. He’s right there among the favorites for the Norris.
Casey Mittelstadt – Three assists with two shots. This was one of the best games of Mittelstadt’s career. He’s a middling streamer in his current role.
Victor Olofsson – Two goals on six shots. Olofsson has been the whipping boy for Sabres fans this season for his overall play, yet he has 15 goals on the season. Pretty crazy. He’s also a middling streamer since PP2 goes through him.
Dylan Cozens – Goal and an assist with two shots. Cozens is sitting right at a point per game being a positive in every category. Easy hold now.
Jack Hughes – Two goals and an assist with ten shots. Hughes has eight goals in the last five games, putting 6+ shots on goal in every game. In his last 82 games, Hughes has 100 points. He’s blossomed into a superstar.
Max Pacioretty – Two goals with two PIM. Nice to see Patches buzzing on Aho’s wing and the first power play unit. He’s a clear add in all formats.
Brady Skjei – Goal and an assist with two shots and four PIM. Skjei has been excellent in the goals department. He’s actually been good across the board, so he’s on the fringe depending on what you want at the bottom of your roster.
Kirill Marchenko – Hat trick on eight shots. Marchenko was fantastic in this game, bringing him to 8 goals in 15 games, albeit with 0 assists. Given how Columbus’ season is trending, I really hope his minutes shoot up. Marchenko is worth monitoring for now. Welcome to the Razzball Database!
Kent Johnson – Two assists. Johnson is back down to a bottom end streamer, although I remain bullish long term.
Tyler Pitlick – Two assists with a shot. No thanks.
Nikita Alexandrov – Goal and an assist with two shots and two PIM. Maybe there’s something long term, but Alexandrov has only 1 point in his other 11 games. Welcome to the Razzball Database!
Joel Armia – Two goals, both assisted by Jake Evans and Evgenii Dadonov. None of these guys carry fantasy value right now despite relatively big minutes.
Nick Suzuki – Two assists with two shots. Suzuki has really cooled off to the point where he is on the fringe.
Tim Stutzle – Hat trick and an assist with five shots. It has to be strange to have a monster game like this and your team still loses by four. Stutzle has gone on a massive tear to be on a 40+49 pace.
Thomas Chabot – Two assists with two shots. Chabot remains a hold, but he hasn’t had the big season offensively that I was hoping for.
Jordan Eberle – Goal and two assists, as did Andre Burakovsky. These two make up the first line with Matty Beniers (1+1) and dominated Ottawa at even strength. Eberle is a solid streamer while the other two are on the fringe.
Justin Schultz – Goal and an assist with two shots. Add Schultz to the list of Seattle players who are on the fringe.
Daniel Sprong – Goal and an assist. Sprong is thriving in his role, but it appears they have no intention of giving him more minutes. Sprong is a solid streamer despite the limited role. Also, he deserves to be mentioned for having one of the best shots in the league.
Vince Dunn – Goal and an assist with three shots. Dunn is on fire right now doing excellently in all of the categories. I always liked his game, but Dunn is thriving on both ends of the ice like I did not expect.
Ilya Samsonov – 22 saves on 23 shots in the 4-1 win over the Red Wings. Nice bounce back game from Samsonov after four rough games. I’m still holding, but keep expectations in check.
John Tavares – Two goals on seven shots with two PIM. And it wasn’t his best game of the weekend, spoiler alert! Tavares sits right around a point per game as everyone could have hoped in the preseason.
Morgan Rielly – Two assists with three shots. Shockingly, Rielly still doesn’t have a goal, but the overall numbers are disappointing besides assists. Here’s to hoping he gets back on track.
Mitch Marner – Goal and an assist. The shot rate is down quite a bit which is the sole reason for the goals being down. He’s still a stud, but it is quite a drop off.
Nathan MacKinnon – Goal and an assist with eleven shots. MacKinnon has a monster in this game, dragging Colorado back from 2-0 down to snap their losing streak. Love to see it.
Evan Rodrigues – Two assists with five shots. E-Rod was on the first line putting him in elite streamer territory.
Cale Makar – Goal and an assist playing over 33 minutes. I still can’t help but expect Makar to blow up in the second half as the team continues to get healthy around him.
Zach Hyman – Two goals on nine shots with four PIM. Hyman is actually scoring well below his expected goals rate, which is crazy considering he’s on pace for 41 goals. Cheers to playing with McDavid.
Leon Draisaitl – Two assists with four PIM playing over 27 minutes. The goals are slightly down, but Draisaitl is on pace to blow away his previous career high in assists. Absolute monster.
Pheonix Copley – 19 saves on 20 shots in the 5-1 win over the Golden Knights. More proof that goalies are voodoo, as Copley is saving the Kings’ season, just by having a .904 sv%. He’s an easy hold everywhere.
Kevin Fiala – Hat trick on six shots, all assisted by Gabriel Vilardi. Fiala has been everything that the Kings could have hoped for. Vilardi has cooled off after a fast start, but he’s still a solid streamer.
Blake Lizotte – Two assists. Lizotte is actually centering Fiala and Vilardi right now, but that’s only enough to make him a bottom end streamer.
Brad Marchand – Goal and two assists with three shots. David Pastrnak had two goals, while Patrice Bergeron and Charlie McAvoy each had two assists. Needless to say that the Sharks had no answers for the Boston superstar quartet.
Sunday’s Games
J.T. Miller – Goal and two assists with two shots. Miller moving onto Pettersson’s wing should do him wonders offensively. I would expect him to get back to being around a point per game again.
Brenden Dillon – Two assists with a shot. Only a hits and blocks streamer.
Axel Jonsson-Fjallby – Goal and an assist. And there’s your annual AJF update!
Jake Oettinger – 27 saves on 28 shots in the 5-1 win over the Panthers. Oettinger is a solid #1 who is in tier one for dynasties.
Jason Robertson – Two goals on six shots. I really liked Robertson going into the season, but I didn’t see a slam dunk top ten player coming. Monster.
Roope Hintz – Left the game with an injury. Here’s to hoping that it’s nothing too serious. Given that he was questionable to return, I assume that’s the case, but you never know.
Ryan Suter – Two assists. Nothing at all for fantasy anymore.
Darcy Kuemper – 38 save shutout, beating Columbus and Elvis Merzlikins (18/19) 1-0. Kuemper has settled into being a bottom end #1, while Elvis still remains a desperation option for me.
Tyler Toffoli – Two assists with four shots. Toffoli remains on the fringe with my lean still towards holding.
Elias Lindholm – Goal and an assist with two shots. Same with Lindholm as Toffoli, although I slightly prefer Lindholm.
Lukas Reichel – Goal and two assists with five shots. Reichel has a lot of long term upside, and his role is big for the time being. That said, I don’t want to stream anyone on Chicago right now.
Max Domi – Goal and an assist with four shots and two PIM. If I was going to stream someone on Chicago, it would be Domi. I just don’t want to deal with the plus-minus.
John Tavares – Goal and two assists with five shots. Marner had three assists, with Calle Jarnkrok having a goal and two assists of his own. Jarnkrok is playing on this line, but the minutes don’t match them. I still see him as a bottom end streamer.
Conor Timmins – Goal and an assist. It’s great to see Timmins actually healthy and performing again. With 10 points in 12 games, he’s a deep league option, but I still can’t use him in 12’ers with only 9 shots in those 12 games.
Jake Guentzel – Two goals on six shots with two PIM, both assisted by Sidney Crosby. Yes, it was an easy matchup, but it was great to see Guentzel have a big volume shooting game again. More of that please.
Casey DeSmith – 23 saves on 24 shots in the 4-1 win over the Coyotes. DeSmith remains an easy hold while Jarry is out.
Thomas Greiss – 35 save shutout in the 3-0 win over the Wild. Big game from Greiss, but I’d only stream him in the best of matchups. The downside is too high with the brutal St. Louis team defense.
Brayden Schenn – Two goals with two PIM. Huge surge from Schenn has him on the fringe, but the plus-minus and poor shot rate has me leaning towards elite streamer.
Brandon Saad – Goal and an assist with three shots. Saad is also a hot schmotato, but it’s still only solid streamer level for me. I can’t really buy into this being sustainable.
Colton Parayko – Two assists with four shots and two PIM. Parayko is on PP2 right now which puts him on the fringe depending on what you need. I lean towards leaving him on the wire though.
Jeremy Swayman – 28 saves on 29 shots. Doesn’t get easier for a good team than playing the Ducks right now.
David Pastrnak – Hat trick and an assist with eight shots and two PIM. Boston better be ready to back up the Brinks truck.
David Krejci – Goal and two assists with two shots. Krejci and Pavel Zacha (2A, 2 PIM, SOG, +4) currently have the benefit of playing with Pasta. Krejci is an elite streamer who can be held if you need the assists. Zacha is a solid streamer.
Charlie Coyle – Goal and an assist with five shots. Also a solid streamer.
Matt Grzelcyk – Two assists with two shots. The offense for Grzelcyk hasn’t been there this year. Lindholm has taken that over, relegating Grzelcyk to a deep league option.
Three Point Challenge: We will do Tuesday games per usual. You can’t take McDavid, Draisaitl, Pastrnak, Robertson, Thompson, Kucherov, Karlsson, M. Tkachuk, Hughes, Connor, or Marner. I’m going to go with Guentzel building on this good run of play against the Canucks.
That’s all for now guys. I’ll be back on Wednesday recapping the action from the next two nights. As always, feel free to ask any questions, give any comments, or make any suggestions below. Thanks for reading, take care!
