LOGIN

It seems like forever and a day since Matt Duchene requested a trade from the Colorado Avalanche.  His wish finally came true on Sunday in a massive three-way trade between the Avs, Senators, and Predators.  The Sens acquired Duchene, the Predators received Reid’s favorite Kyle Turris and the Avs get a ton of future assets.  For the Senators, I’m not a big fan.  Is Duchene better than Turris?  I would say so and Duchene had one more year on his contract than Turris.  However, adding a ton here, including a first round pick and Shane Bowers, their first round pick from the 2017 draft, is a lot to add.  For Smashville, adding Turris without losing anyone from the current roster besides Samuel Girard is a nice move for a team positioned to go for it.  It may be more futures heavy than Colorado originally wanted but boy, did they get a ton in this move.  They effectively received 2 1sts, 3 2nds, a third and Andrew Hammond for goaltender depth in the organization.  I love this move for Colorado long term, like the aggressiveness of Nashville using futures to push (and like signing Turris immediately to a 6/36 deal), and question Ottawa’s decision here.

For fantasy, Duchene probably gets a small boost because he should slide onto a line with Hoffman and Stone right away.  Assuming Turris plays with Forsberg, I think this move could help him as well (at the least it’s neutral).  I’m very interested to see if Girard plays for the Avs right away.  He looked great in his brief stint for Nashville and the former second round pick could becomes fantasy relevant immediately if he’s in Denver.  I’ll be sure to talk more about this trade with Reid on Tuesday’s podcast.  Let’s take a look at what else happened this weekend around the league:

Friday’s Games:

Connor McDavid – Three assists with three shots.  He’s been overshadowed but here we are with McJesus having 16 points in 12 games.

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – Goal and an assist with three shots.  Having watched this game in entirely, I thought RNH looked great.  He now has 6 goals in 12 games which I think elevates him to bottom end hold status.

Drake Caggiula – Goal and an assist with two shots.  Caggiula is on the first power play unit making him a solid streamer in hits leagues and bottom end streamer otherwise.

Roman Josi – Goal and an assist with six shots, 2 PIM, 2 hits, 2 blocks, +3, a little bit of everything!  Great start to the year across the board for Josi, especially in the shots department.

Frederick Gaudreau – Two assists with a shot.  He was buzzing all game but Freddy Hockey doesn’t have the role to be fantasy relevant.

Saturday’s Games:

Jonathan Marchessault – Goal and two assists with six shots.  Clear must own right now as he’s played great all season.

Erik Haula – Two goals and an assist with three shots.  Very nice player in real life but unless he starts to get power play time, Haula is a bottom end streamer.

David Perron – Two assists.  As always, Perron is right on the fringe.  With his shot rate up, I’m tempted to say hold, but the rate is dropping lately.

William Karlsson – Goal and an assist with two shots.  If you dig back in the Razzball archives, you can read that I liked Karlsson quite a bit in the past in CBJ.  I’ve been extremely impressed with him so far moving him into streaming status.  The points can be solid but PIM and shots can be lacking, especially PIM.

Derick Brassard – Two assists with four shots.  I’m buying Brassard going forward although I’m interested to see if they keep Mark Stone (1+1, 2 SOG) on his line with Duchene coming into town.

Tom Wilson – Two goals on five shots with two PIM.  He has value in deep leagues for the PIM and hits but Wilson never developed the offensive game Washington hoped for taking him in the first round to be relevant in standard leagues.

Torey Krug – Two assists with four shots playing almost 25 minutes.  The window to be buying low on Krug may be closing.  If he was cut in your league, grab him now.

David Pastrnak – Two goals on six shots.  The plus-minus has been poor but that should fix itself with Bergeron back.  Otherwise, things are great for Pasta.

Tyson Barrie – Two assists with two shots.  It looks like Barrie might get back to his 2014-16 form where he pushes 50 points but the plus-minus is rough.

Nathan MacKinnon – Two assists with five shots playing almost 22 minutes.  This gives him three multi-point games in a row and it ended up four by the end of the weekend (spoiler alert!).

Jakub Voracek – Goal and an assist with five shots playing over 23 minutes.  Monster start across the board for Jake.

Matt Martin – Three assists.  That’s a half season’s worth of assists for Martin in one game!

Tyler Bozak – Two goals with two PIM.  That snaps a cold streak for Bozak pushing him back into elite streamer status.  PIM and shots aren’t good enough to hold.

Andreas Borgman – Goal and an assist with two shots.  Could be something here long term but for now, leave Borgman for deep leagues with hits included.

Brayden Schenn – Four assists with a shot.  Schenn has been everything St. Louis could have hoped for and then some so far.  He’s been a fantasy MVP in the first month of the season when you consider draft slot.  Could say that about the next two Blues as well…

Jaden Schwartz – Three assists and a shot.  20 points and +11 in 15 games, seems good.

Alex Pietrangelo – Two goals on three shots.  Point per game through 15 games with 3.5 shots per game and a +6 rating.  Monster performance and while he won’t quite keep this up, no reason to expect him to massively regress.

Vladimir Tarasenko – Goal and an assist with seven shots.  The usual business from Tarasesnko in the early going with an amazing plus-minus.  Boy, the Leafs are as a trainwreck defensively, almost as bad as their offense is good.

Seth Jones – Goal and an assist, three shots, +4 in a 5-4 SO loss.  Jones is still only 23 years old so he can still reach #1 fantasy D status.  Odds are he becomes a #2 because the penalty minutes simply aren’t there but if the shot rate can be maintained at 2.5 per game, there’s a chance he gets there.

Markus Hannikainen – Goal and an assist.  Props to him getting 2 points playing under 5 minutes.

Nikita Kucherov – Goal and an assist with four shots.  This is just getting ridiculous.

J.T. Miller – Three assists with two shots.  He has to be owned because he has 14 points in 15 games but man, Miller’s shot rate is just brutal.

Rick Nash – Goal and an assist with five shots.  I wrote a couple weeks ago that I expect Nash to bounce back and he’s starting to do so with 5 points in 4 games.  I’d at least stream him if he was dropped in your league.

Kevin Shattenkirk – Two goals on four shots.  Four game point streak for Shattenkirk who has been amazing outside of plus-minus.

Ryan McDonagh – Two assists with a shot.  Okay start for McDonagh who is starting to come along with 7 assists in 9 games.

Jesper Fast – Two assists with two shots.  I like Quickie plenty for the bottom six in real life but that doesn’t make him fantasy relevant.

Colton Sceviour – Two goals on six shots.  The fourth line did work for Florida in this game but obviously it’s not sustainable.  Sceviour is the only one of the group who has had some value in the past but he doesn’t at the moment.

Max Pacioretty – Goal and two assists with six shots.  He started slow last season and then went on a massive tear so I wouldn’t be shocked if it happened again.  Buying low on Patches does sound appealing.

Shea Weber – Two assists with six shots.  The assists are piling up lately but I’d probably sell high on Weber.  0 PIM, plus-minus is rough, and we saw him fade last season.

Andrew Shaw – Two goals on four shots.  Solid option if you need the PIM and a non-blank offensively.

Dustin Byfuglien – Two assists with three shots and ten PIM.  Big Buff doing Big Buff things!

Blake Wheeler – Goal and an assist with three shots.  Wheeler has been the six category stud everyone has come to expect.

Robin Lehner – 4 saves on 7 shots in 10:27 in the 5-1 loss to the Stars.  This was a rough day for Lehner, partially to his own doing as the second goal was a blunder.  The Sabres defense is so bad right now because of injuries that I’m not sure he bounces back.  I have faith in him as a goaltender but boy, the Sabres are a mess to the point that it may not matter.

John Klingberg – Three assists with a shot.  The shot rate has increased but Klingberg also has 0 PIM.  Regardless, a point per game is nothing to complain about.

Tyler Seguin – Goal and an assist with two shots and two PIM.  The penalty minutes have been a massive surprise but even ignoring that, Seguin has been terrific.

Antoine Roussel – Goal and an assist with three shots and four penalty minutes.  The minutes are down which kills Roussel’s offense making him solely a PIM option.

Radek Faksa – Goal and an assist with two shots and two PIM.  The problem is that he’s playing little minutes so Faksa doesn’t have much fantasy value.

Gemel Smith – Two assists with a shot.  Same as the previous two guys in terms of minutes.

Kari Lehtonen – 27 saves on 28 shots getting the win.  I still have zero faith in him going forward.

Corey Crawford – 24 save shutout in the 2-0 win over the Wild.  Back to back shutouts when goal scoring is through the roof around the league, no big deal.

Devan Dubnyk – 33 saves on 34 shots as a tough luck loser.  I still fully expect Dubnyk to put together an excellent run of games.

Scott Darling – 23 saves on 24 shots in the 2-1 SO loss to Arizona.  Maybe I’m stubborn but I also have faith Darling puts it together.

Antti Raanta – 36 saves on 37 shots earning the win.  Raanta returning should help the Coyotes quite a bit.  I still think he can be a fantasy asset so you can own him if you need a goalie.

Brock Boeser – Hat trick and an assist with seven shtots and two PIM.  Brock!  All my guys on Vancouver had a hay day against the Pens.  He’s been a monster already at 20 years old and needs to be owned everywhere.

Bo Horvat – Goal and three assists with three shots.  Dr. Bo out here cutting up Penguins!  He’s on pace for over 30+30 now after this game.

Sven Baertschi – Three assists with two PIM.  Great streamer and he’s getting closer to being a hold.

Jacob Markstrom – 37 saves on 39 shots in the 4-2 win over the Penguins.  That’s six straight games with Markstrom allowing 1 or 2 goals so he needs to be owned everywhere.

Calle Jarnkrok – Two assists with a shot.  Nice player in real life but not much in fantasy, and even less now with Turris pushing him down the depth chart.

Anze Kopitar – Two assists with four shots playing over 27 minutes.  Five game point streak as Kopitar continues his monster season.

Ryan Miller – 44 saves on 45 shots in the 2-1 SO loss to the Sharks.  He’s only played two games but Miller was great in both games.  I would stream him in every start until he has a bad game or two.

Martin Jones – 25 saves on 26 shots earning the win.  After two poor starts to open the year, Jones has played eight great games in a row.  I don’t expect him to keep up this level of play but Jones should remain a great option.

Sunday’s Games:

Petr Mrazek – 36 save shutout in the 4-0 win over the Oilers.  I still think there’s a very good goalie here despite his struggles last season.  For now, Howard is getting the majority of starts so Mrazek’s value is limited.

Martin Frk – Goal and an assist with three shots.  The minutes are down making him a bottom end streamer at best.

Anthony Mantha – Goal and an assist with three shots.  Four game point streak for Mantha who has been very solid so far.  Clear hold.

Gabriel Landeskog – Goal and an assist with three shots.  He’s right on the fringe although I lean hold for the Kog with Duchene’s departure potentially giving him additional minutes.

Nathan MacKinnon – Goal and an assist with seven shots.  Hotter than a pistol right now.

Alexander Kerfoot – Two goals on three shots with two PIM playing almost 21 minutes.  He has seven points in the last seven games and he should also continue to see heavy minutes.  Solid streamer.

Sven Andrighetto – Two assists with four shots.  Another middling streamer who you guys know I like quite a bit.

Mathew Barzal – Five assists with a shot.  Now we are talking!  He’s on fire right now and should be owned everywhere.

Nick Leddy – Two goals and an assist with five shots.  I’ve said that I was holding onto Leddy for a bit longer so hopefully you did the same and were rewarded.

Jordan Eberle – Two goals on three shots.  It’s been more inconsistent than expected but Eberle has put up some big games lately making him a nice DFS GPP option.

Josh Bailey – Two assists with two PIM.  All your assists are belong to Bailey.

Charlie Lindgren – 38 save shutout in the 2-0 win over the Blackhawks.  He’s a solid prospect but it’ll take a trade for him to have any long term value.  In the short term with Price out, you could do worse.

Joe Morrow – Goal and an assist with two shots.  There’s nothing here yet but the Canadiens blue line is a disaster so Morrow could potentially carve out a role.

Ben Lovejoy – Goal and an assist with three shots.  And there’s your annual Lovejoy update!

Nico Hischier – Two assists with five shots.  Solid start for the first overall pick.  I’d like to see more games like this to get the shot rate up.

Michael Ferland – Goal and an assist with two shots.  Okay streamer as long as he’s playing on the first line.

Johnny Gaudreau – Two assists with three shots.  Gaudreau has been what people have hoped for, that’s just a strong fantasy asset but not among the elite.

Sean Monahan – Goal and an assist with three shots.  The jump in shot rate has really helped Monahan in the goals department in the early going.

Monday Streamers:

Sven Baertschi (9.5%) –  Ride the hot hand in a nice matchup at home against the Red Wings.

William Karlsson (6.2%) – The Leafs are a mess defensively and Karlsson is getting minutes in all situations.

Josh Anderson (14.5%) – I think he’s a borderline hold as is so using him against the Rangers, a team allowing a ton of goals, is a no-brainer.

That’s all for now guys.  I’ll be back tomorrow recapping Monday’s action.  Feel free to ask any questions or leave any comments below. Thanks for reading, take care!