Not a bad way for Kevin Fiala to follow up a hat trick. In a new rivalry developing between the Kings and Oilers, Fiala scored two goals and two assists with four shots. That brings Fiala to 10 points in his last five games with his shot rate jumping up quite a bit lately. The new line shuffle seems to be working, and the new Los Angeles All-Star has been fantastic in his first year with the Kings. It’s a fantastic stat line across the board that has Fiala comfortably as a top 50 player with upside from there. Let’s take a look at what else happened over the last two nights:
Samuel Ersson – 28 save shutout in the 4-0 win over the Sabres. Ersson has been playing very well with the Flyers. You can ride him as a hot schmotato streamer since Torts does inflate goalie value, but know that it’s very high risk.
Travis Konecny – Two assists with three shots and two PIM. Konecny has been an absolute monster all season. Propls to him for thriving in a difficult situation.
Joel Farabee – Goal and an assist with four shots. Firmly in the middling streamer category.
Martin Jones – 21 save shutout in the 4-0 win over the Canadiens. The GAA is below average, and the save percentage is poor, but the wins are outstanding for Jones. That’s reason to hold, even as a bottom end one.
Vince Dunn – Goal and an assist with six shots. Huge heater from Dunn who is looking like a solid #3 in 12’ers right now.
Eeli Tolvanen – Goal and an assist with three shots. He’s been a nice fit in Seattle. I’ve always liked Tolvanen’s offensive talent, so I’m bumping him up to solid streamer.
Matty Beniers – Goal and an assist with five shots. Five game goal streak for Beniers has solidified him as a bottom end hold.
Yanni Gourde – Two assists with a shot. Extremely valuable player in real life, but Gourde is only a middling streamer in fantasy.
Juuse Saros – 38 save shutout in the 3-0 win over the Senators. And just like that, Saros is back to a .921 save percentage. That buy low window has closed.
Filip Forsberg – Goal and an assist with four shots. Forsberg is well behind last season’s totals, but he’s still been quite good. I think he’s back to being around the 50th overall range than in the 30’s, but we can’t rule out a massive second half with his talent.
Evan Bouchard – Two assists with a shot and two PIM. It’s been a very ugly year for Bouchard. He’s starting to get PP2 time, which is with McDavid so there is some value, but I’m just monitoring him in 12’ers, not holding.
Adrian Kempe – Two goals and an assist with eight shots. I have Kempe in the elite streamer range. I’m not really considering holding, but he has been solid lately on PP1 and the first line.
Drew Doughty – Two assists with two shots. At this point, Doughty is quite boring as a bottom end hold.
Viktor Arvidsson – Goal and an assist with four shots. Arvidsson is back up to an elite streamer playing at a 65+ point pace.
Tuesday’s Games
Jordan Eberle – Goal and an assist with a shot. Eberle is pushing towards an elite streamer as the top line is playing better lately.
Justin Schultz – Goal and an assist. Schultz remains on the fringe depending on what you’re looking for.
Andre Burakovsky – Two assists with a shot and two PIM. Burakovsky is an elite streamer. If you want a balanced stat line, I see the case for having him a bottom end hold, but I’m not quite there.
Alex Tuch – Two goals on four shots. The top line for the Sabres continues to crush with Jeff Skinner having two assists with two shots and two PIM. It’s remarkable how well they’ve played so far this season.
Rasmus Dahlin – Goal and an assist with two shots. Dahlin is firmly in the Norris discussion, and he’s still only 22 years old. Bonkers.
Dylan Cozens – Two assists with two shots. Cozens is still hovering right around a point per game solidifying himself as a hold without question.
Mark Scheifele – Goal and an assist with four shots. The return of Cole Perfetti (two assists, two shots) should help Scheifele get on a run.
Nikolaj Ehlers – Goal and an assist with five shots. Boy, have I missed watching Ehlers play. He’s such a fun player with his dynamic speed and playmaking ability.
Moritz Seider – Four assists with three shots and two PIM. It’s been a very tough year for Seider, who is on the fringe for me in 12’ers. The upside is there without a doubt, but it’s been very ugly for half the season now.
Lucas Raymond – Goal and two assists with two shots. It’s been a very frustrating year for Raymond as well, who is only in the middling streamer range for me.
Dawson Mercer – Two goals and an assist. Mercer is in the middling streamer range in his second season. Very bullish long term though.
Nico Hischier – Goal and an assist with two shots. Hischier has had the breakout offensively that we’ve been waiting for. He should smash his previous career highs.
Sebastian Aho – Goal and an assist. Aho is as consistent as they come. Year in and year out, right around a point per game. The goals are down a bit right now due to a lower shooting percentage, but he’ll be just fine.
Sam Steel – Two assists. Steel is still on the first line, but he’s off PP1 with Zuccarello returning, so Steel is a middling streamer.
Adam Fox -Goal and an assist with six shots. Fox has been as good as any defenseman in real life so far, and good enough to be a solid #1 in fantasy.
K’Andre Miller – Goal and an assist with three shots. Miller is approaching a reasonable option in hits leagues. He’s already set a career high in points.
Evgeni Malkin – Two goals and two assists with six shots. Malkin is getting closer to a point per game and three shots per. Just stay healthy!
Jason Zucker – Goal and an assist. Middling streamer.
Ty Smith – Two assists with a shot. Smith is on PP1 which makes him a great short term option.
Patrik Laine – Two assists with two shots. We’re eight games without a goal from Laine, who is getting closer to the fringe now. The shot rate does remain excellent.
Nikita Kucherov – Two goals and two assists with four shots. Kucherov continues to be up there with the best in the league offensively. Steven Stamkos and Victor Hedman each had two assists, as Columbus has no match for top tier talent.
Jake Oettinger – 27 saves on 28 shots in the 2-1 SO win over the Isles. Oettinger barely outdueled Ilya Sorokin (25/26) in this game. Both are right there for tier one in dynasties.
Andrew Mangiapane – Goal and an assist with two shots. This season has been a disaster from Mangiapane in pretty much all facets. He’s a middling streamer at best.
Jordan Kyrou – Goal and two assists with seven shots. I’m infatuated with this new top line in St. Louis, as Pavel Buchnevich and Robert Thomas each had a goal and an assist. St. Louis may be struggling, but this line won’t.
Kevin Labanc – Goal and an assist with two shots and two PIM. The minutes are down even though he’s getting first line time. Bottom end streamer.
Jakob Chychrun – Two assists with five shots. Hard to get better from Chychrun since he returned. He’s been a bottom end #1, and I’d expect a #2 going forward.
Shayne Gostisbehere – Two assists with four shots. The plus-minus isn’t that bad so Ghost Bear is easily a hold now.
Kurtis MacDermid – Two assists with a shot and five PIM. I can’t believe MacDermid actually had two points in a game. And there’s your annual MacDermid update!
J.T. Compher – Goal and an assist with five shots and two PIM, getting massive minutes. He’s an elite streamer for the time being.
Mikko Rantanen – Goal and an assist with six shots and two PIM. It’s crazy that Rantanen is easily having the best season of his career, but he is. There’s no doubt he’s a top ten player at this point.
Matthew Tkachuk – Two goals on seven shots. Florida has disappointed immensely, but Tkachuk is far from the reason why. He’s an animal.
Brandon Montour – Goal and an assist with four shots and two PIM. Montour is a solid #2 at this point.
Sam Bennett – Goal and an assist with five shots and two PIM. Solid streamer.
Aleksander Barkov – Goal and an assist with three shots. It hasn’t been Barkov’s best work, but we can’t rule out a monster second half of the season. The shooting percentage should regress to the mean.
Three Point Challenge: We will do Thursday games per usual. You can’t take McDavid, Draisaitl, Pastrnak, Robertson, Thompson, Kucherov, Karlsson, M. Tkachuk, Connor, or Rantanen. I’ll go with Aho against the Blue Jackets.
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, give any comments, or make any suggestions below. Thanks for reading, take care!
Update: Will be Friday afternoon when the next set of notes are out, been traveling.
To Viz !
Was wondering what you think of Stuart Skinner.
He’s been getting the volume in Edmonton, but he’s relatively low rostered in 12 teamers.
I am in a Roto league so any volume I can get is great, and wondering if I should grab him for MAF. Have Vanecek, Jarry, and MAF currently
These two are definitely close to each other. Skinner does have more upside in volume at this point, I can’t see the Wild deviating from a full split, so in your situation, I would lean towards the swap.
Great thanks Viz !
Yo yo,
Was offered my Kucherov and Forsberg for his Makar and Stutzle.
If I give up Kucherov, my fill-in RW would be one of Boldy or Caufield. While if I kept Kucherov, my fourth blueliner is Adam Larsson (though my league is rotisserie so his Hits and SOGs have been great).
Worth my while ?
Answered this yesterday on the other post… “I slightly prefer your side in a vacuum but I don’t think it’s terrible by any stretch” Kucherov and Forsberg have more value to me, but it’s close enough that if you want to fill the need, it’s ok.
oh my bad Viz, sorry to repeat. Must have missed it.
Thanks for the double dip, your advice is much appreciated as always !!
How’s it going Viz ?
Could you rank these goalkeepers for me,
Jarry (back practicing), Vanecek, Skinner, Georgiev, MAF, Kochetkov.
League settings are Roto: GAA, SV%, Wins, SHO
So Kochetkov is going to be a big guessing game in terms of his volume. I genuinely have no idea how much he’ll get. For ROS, I’ll say Georgiev, Jarry, Vanecek, Kochetkov, Skinner, MAF. The last two are clearly behind the pack, and I acknowledge Kochetkov could be higher. I’m buying a Colorado run when they get healthy.
Buchnevich for 3 vs CGY
Viz whadup my bro
Wilson and backstrom just made there returns. You think they are holds or elite streamers in hits leagues?
Backstrom is a streamer for me, I’m not sure even an elite one. I want to see what he looks like for a few games, but to be blunt, he had little fantasy value last season. It was basically A and PPP with a huge negative in shots. I’m not too interested there.
Wilson depends if your league includes hits. If you have hits, I’d probably hold him. If you don’t, then probably elite streamer.
Viz! Thoughts on Matt Murray ROS? He has been great, but I am sort of waiting for the floor to drop and thinking of trying to trade for second half, maybe try and snag Andersen returning? Thanks
Sorry, also Letang! What a sad situation, but how does this affect fantasy-any word? Is he out for the season? Hate the situation but he is on my bench for a month now. Have you read anything?
Answered this a week ago for someone else, but I would not make that trade. I don’t expect Andersen to get even half of the starts in Carolina going forward. Maybe I’ll be off base, but they’re definitely keeping three goalies, and I’m not convinced Andersen starts more games than Kochetkov, then add in Raanta cutting in. Toronto is so good defensively, and the volume is decent for Murray, esp. with Samsonov’s recent struggles, that I prefer Murray.
It might feel like longer to you, but he played a game 2 weeks ago. I’m not sure if you missed something or not, but he played a bunch of games after the stroke, he’s gone because his father passed away. Some Penguins players went to the funeral yesterday, so I assume he’ll be back fairly soon? Haven’t seen an update, but there’s no way he’ll be out for the season.
Hi Viz, Freddy Andersen is off IR, who would you drop for him?
Raanta, Lindgren, or DeSmith? Thanks
Do you want short term value or ROS? Raanta could play very sparingly, and DeSmith is getting volume now, but when Jarry comes back, I wouldn’t really want him. So depends what you need / want.
ROS please
I probably dump Raanta then but could say Lindgren
Georgiev and Laine or Jarry and Kyrou?
Kyrou doesn’t start for me most nights, have him stashed in case my other LWs get hurt
Mainly trying to upgrade in net, even with Francouz back
Pretty much dead even imo. Honestly I don’t have a good answer, personal preference here
Hi Viz,
Pacioretty for 3 VS CLB
Viz, who do you prefer of Dobson and Sergachev ?
Dobson barely
MacKinnon for 3
nice one, i’ll try riding the broom here (after 2 periods) but hard to believe that much chance he doesn’t get a 3rd in this period. i had a point taken off a good bit later (stutzle)
2 week renewal on already picked guys.
jan 12th: t.stutzle @ ARI for 3 pt thurs