It’s hard to believe that Filip Forsberg recently had a 20 game goalless streak. He had his best game in months on Tuesday scoring two goals and an assist with five shots and two PIM. The thing that excites me most is that Forsberg played 20 minutes in this game. Forsberg is clearly the best forward on the team and it has been infuriating that his minutes have been down, slump or not. The playoff schedule for the Predators is excellent (you can read up on that here) giving Forsberg the opportunity to be a top 20 player down the stretch. I don’t expect that, but he has that kind of upside. The Predators are making their playoff push and it’s the time for Forsberg to get his season back on track. Let’s take a look at what else happened over the last two nights:
Alex Ovechkin – Goal and an assist with six shots. Ovechkin could end up with the second most goals of his career, which is remarkable at 34 years old. At the least, another 50 goal season for the Great Eight is going to happen.
Rasmus Dahlin – Two assists with a shot. The season feels a bit disappointing for Dahlin, mostly because of the shot rate, but Dahlin is playing at a 50 assist pace at 19 years old. Most guys aren’t even in the NHL at 19 years old so Dahlin is still going to be a superstar.
Jonathan Quick – 21 saves on 22 shots in the 3-1 win over the Avalanche. Props to the Kings for not quitting on the season having won six in a row. That said, I still do not have any faith in Quick and will not use him. If you want to gamble on him as a hot schmotato, go ahead.
Nathan MacKinnon – Left the game early due to injury. No prognosis has been released yet but we should know later today before the Avs play the Rangers. Fingers crossed that it’s minor.
Nick Schmaltz – Two goals on three shots. Disappointing season from Schmaltz as he has only eleven goals. The assists makes him a bottom end streamer, but that’s about it.
Phil Kessel – Two assists with six shots. I was the low man on Kessel, but I never expected it to be this bad. He’s a bottom end streamer at best right now.
Nikolaj Ehlers – Goal and two assists with two shots. Why is Ehlers only playing 11:38 in this game? Ridiculous. Meanwhile, Copp is playing over 17 minutes. The Jets were even down 2-0 in this game! Makes no sense.
Cody Eakin – Goal and an assist with two shots. He’s worth streaming in deeper leagues while he’s with Laine and Ehlers, but the minutes aren’t high enough for 12’ers.
Tucker Poolman – Goal and an assist. Nothing to see here. Welcome to the Razzball Database!
Chris Driedger – 26 saves on 27 shots in the 2-1 win over the Blues. Bob is currently out so Driedger is the #1. He’s played well in three straight games so if you want to roll the dice, I can support it. Four of their next five games are against low scoring teams.
Aleksi Saarela – Two assists with two shots. He’s getting power play time so Saarela is a viable deep league option.
Jonathan Marchessault – Goal and an assist with six shots. It looks like Marchessault has settled into being around a 60 point player, which carries tons of value given his massive shot rate.
Roman Josi – Two assists with four shots. I suspect that Carlson will win, but Josi would have my Norris vote. While I did have some misses this season in my rankings (it’s impossible not to), my defensemen rankings were extremely good. Josi as a top five guy wasn’t consensus (I had him #4) and I sold him short.
Evgeni Malkin – Two goals and an assist with four shots. He’s been as good as it gets on a per-game basis all season. He already has more points than last season despite playing 13 less games.
Kris Letang – Goal and an assist with two shots and two PIM. Maybe my expectations were too high for Letang, but this season is a bit disappointing, mostly because the assists have dropped off. That said, he’s still been very good across the board.
Tuukka Rask – 36 save shutout in the 2-0 win over the Flyers. Rask ended the Flyers’ nine game win streak in style. He’s had a few rough games lately, but Rask is still the top goalie right now on a per-game basis.
Frederik Andersen – 32 saves on 33 shots in the 2-1 win over the Lightning. Andersen has taken a fairly big step back this season in terms of save percentage. That’s partially on him and partially on the shitty defense in front of him. Regardless, expect Keefe to ride him down the stretch while they’re in this playoff battle with Florida.
John Tavares – Two assists with a shot and two PIM. It’s weird to say, but when I’ve watched the Leafs, I haven’t been particularly impressed with Tavares, but he’s still pushing a point per game.
Mitch Marner – Two assists with a shot. Marner’s numbers are in line with last season’s breakout.
Jake Gardiner – Three assists with three shots. For whatever reason, Gardiner really hasn’t panned out in Carolina, even with Dougie getting hurt and now Brett Pesce out for the season. He’s a deep league option only.
Sebastian Aho – Two goals and an assist with three shots. He now has 38 goals on the season. Remember when everyone was panicking about Aho early in the season?
Teuvo Teravainen – Two assists with three shots. The big jump in shot rate really has helped Teravainen’s overall value since he is playing at a 75 point pace yet again.
Kappo Kakko – Two goals on three shots. Has this season been disappointing for Kakko? Absolutely. Am I worried long term? Not that much. He’s not getting the minutes to be held now, but I’m still a big fan for dynasties.
Mika Zibanejad – Goal and an assist with four shots. Zibanejad is scoring more goals per game than anyone else in the league. What he’s doing is simply brilliant.
Adam Fox – Goal and an assist. Fox has been very good as a rookie and needs to be held in all formats. I’m not sure how much better it gets than this long term, but there’s still tons of value here.
Miro Heiskanen – Two assists with four shots. After a hot start, Heiskanen really slowed down. He still needs to be held, but it’s not exciting. Until he takes PP1 from Klingberg, and the Stars power play gets fixed too, Heiskanen’s ceiling is pretty capped.
Colin White – Goal and an assist with two shots. As long as he’s playing with Brady Tkachuk (1+1, 4 SOG), White is a solid streamer. The minutes will be there because the Sens have nobody else.
Nicolas Deslauriers – Hat trick in the first period. If the world ends, it won’t be from COVID-19, it will be because Deslauriers somehow had a natural hat trick in the first period.
David Backes – Two assists with four PIM. Good for Backes to get playing time in the NHL once again after his trade to Anaheim. There’s no fantasy value, but good to see him back nonetheless.
Rickard Rakell – Goal and an assist with two PIM. He has seven points in the last four games, but for some reason Rakell only played 12 minutes in this game. Hopefully that goes back up next game as I didn’t see any injury.
Carter Rowney – Two assists. Why a rebuilding team wants to play 30 year old Carter Rowney 19 minutes is beyond me. There’s nothing here for fantasy.
Brock Nelson – Two goals on six shots. Nelson has done a great job producing in a system that is horrible for offense. It’s not exciting, but he’s an easy hold everywhere.
Derick Brassard – Two assists with a shot. He’s been better this year as he looked like he was on the fringes of the league before this season, but Brassard is still a deep league only guy.
Brock Boeser – Three shots in his return. Get him back in your lineup.
Alex Edler – Two assists with three shots. Edler needs to be held everywhere, but his real value is in leagues with hits and blocks included.
Tyler Toffoli – Goal and an assist with three shots playing over 21 minutes. Toffoli is still on the first power play unit and first line meaning he needs to be held. The shot rate has been elite in Vancouver.
We’ll do the Three Point Challenge for Thursday. Give me Kuznetsov against the Red Wings.
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, leave any comments, or give any suggestions below. Thanks for reading, take care!
