Mats Zuccarello has gone through three separate streaks this season. He started the season on fire, he had a cold streak, and now he’s on a heater again. Zuccarello started off the weekend with a hat trick and an assist against the Blackhawks, before adding a goal and an assist against the Senators. That brings Zucc’s point streak up to ten games. He’s well over a point per game, and pushing towards three shots per game. The 35 year old has shown no signs of slowing down, being rejuvenated playing with Kirill Kaprizov (1+2 in both games). Zuccarello is starting to erase his plus-minus hole as well. Even including the plus-minus, Zuccarello has been a top 50 player, and should continue to be so. Let’s take a look at what else happened over the weekend:
Friday’s Games
Sam Steel – Two assists with a shot. While he’s on the first line, Steel is a solid streamer.
Marc-Andre Fleury – 29 saves on 30 shots in the 4-1 win over Chicago. Three great starts in a row has MAF’s numbers inching towards respectability. I’m still holding without hesitation.
Connor Mackey – Two goals on three shots. Mackey has barely played this season. Welcome to the Razzball database!
Dillon Dube – Two assists, as did Elias Lindholm. Dube is starting to pick things up with the line shuffling Sutter did. He’s a middling streamer.
Jordan Kyrou – Two goals on six shots. Kyrou has taken a massive jump in shot rate which is helping his goals tremendously. I’m all in on him offensively.
Pavel Buchnevich – Goal and an assist with three shots. The Buch from last season is back as he has a point in nine of the last ten games. I still believe him in him, Kyrou, and Robert Thomas (2A, 4 SOG) quite a bit.
Oliver Wahlstrom – Two assists. I’d really like to see what Wahlstrom could do offensively with more minutes (I understand his flaws). As is, he’s only a middling streamer.
Nick Schmaltz – Three assists with a shot. Schmaltz is in the elite streamer range despite a below average shot rate.
Clayton Keller – Two goals on five shots. Keller is on the fringe and it depends on league format.
Jakob Chychrun – Two assists with six shots. Chychrun has been fantastic since returning from injury. I’m not sure a trade would help with what he’s doing so far. Regardless, he’s proven to be an elite fantasy option.
Saturday’s Games
Jeff Skinner – Two goals and an assist with eight shots. Tage Thompson had a goal and two assists with six shots, while Alex Tuch dished three assists, adding five shots on goal. Needless to say, the Coyotes had no answer for Buffalo’s top line. I’ll take things I love to see as a Sabres fan for $100, Trebek.
Rasmus Dahlin – Two assists with five shots and two PIM. Dahlin is the #1 fantasy defenseman by a country mile. Dougie is #2 at the moment, and he’s not even in the ballpark. Absolute domination across the board.
Patrik Laine – Goal and an assist with five shots. Johnny Gaudreau had two assists, two shots, and two PIM. Columbus is a mess, but these two continue to pile up points.
David Pastrnak – Goal and an assist with five shots. Pasta has been a top five forward crushing all of the categories. Nice time to be a free agent
David Krejci – Goal and an assist with two shots and two PIM. If your league doesn’t include SOG, Krejci is a hold. If it does, he’s on the fringe, but lean more elite streamer.
Taylor Hall – Goal and an assist with six shots. Hall is on fire right now despite being off PP1. Hall is also on the fringe, but I lean towards hold for him.
Alex DeBrincat – Three assists with four shots. If there was a buy low window for DeBrincat, it’s completely closed. He’s on another level right now.
Claude Giroux – Goal and an assist with three shots. Giroux is a bottom end hold for me now that he’s on PP1. When Stutzle comes back, he’ll be back on the fringe.
Ryan Strome – Goal and an assist with two shots and four PIM. Strome’s value has cratered in Anaheim as the team around him struggles mightily. He’s only a middling streamer now.
Mason McTavish – Two assists with two shots. McTavish is starting to shoot more and get more minutes. I think we could see a big finish with Anaheim out of it. For now, McTavish is a middling streamer.
Jason Robertson – Three assists with three shots. Robertson doesn’t have a goal in his last seven games, but it’s only a matter of time for him to get going again. Like tonight, against Columbus.
Miro Heiskanen – Two assists with four shots and two PIM. Heiskanen is breaking out offensively like everyone expected once he received the role. He’s a borderline #1 fantasy D now.
Brent Burns – Two assists with five shots. It’s not the most exciting stat line outside of the shots, but Burns has settled into being a #2 fantasy defenseman in Carolina.
Teuvo Teravainen – Goal and an assist with two PIM. Teravainen has been a huge disappointment. With Aho out, he’s on PP1, so it could turn around, but for now, it’s a solid streamer bordering on elite.
Martin Necas – Goal and an assist with eight shots. Necas is sitting at a point per game and over three shots per game. He’s a reminder that sometimes elite talent breaks out later, and we get a post-post hype sleeper. Necas is still only 23, so keep that in mind with guys going forward.
Andrei Svechnikov – Goal and an assist with four shots and two PIM. The assists are down, but the goals should easily be a career high.
Andrei Vasilevskiy – 22 saves on 23 shots in the 5-1 win over the Canadiens. After a slow start, Vasilevskiy’s numbers are almost the exact same as last season. That floor is why he’s among the best goalies in the world every season.
Brandon Hagel – Two goals and an assist with three shots. Hagel is firmly on the fringe now playing PP1. Getting to play with monsters like Nikita Kucherov (1+1) and Steven Stamkos (2A) regularly is doing Hagel wonders.
Artemi Panarin – Goal and an assist with four shots. And it wasn’t even his best game of the weekend! Spoiler alert!
Mika Zibanejad – Two assists with three shots. The shots are down lately, but Zibanejad is still pushing four per game. He’s been a borderline top 25 player.
Auston Matthews – Goal and an assist with four shots. It’s been a very good season for Matthews, but the goal rate is down a lot because his shooting percentage is down. Nobody would be surprised if Matthews goes on a massive heater.
Erik Gustafsson – Hat trick on five shots. Obviously a guy with no goals in his first 31 games would get a hat trick. I don’t have interest in Gustafsson unless Carlson is out.
Sonny Milano – Three assists with a shot. Milano has a very good 14 points in 20 games, but his workload is limited. He’s only a bottom end streamer unless he moves back up the lineup.
Evgeny Kuznetsov – Two assists with three shots. Kuznetsov has played his way onto the fringe. He has only four goals because of some poor shooting luck, so I’m inclined to hold hoping it turns, but it’s not a lock anymore.
Sam Reinhart – Two goals. I’ve been holding Reinhart because he can’t stay unlucky forever. I’m expecting him to go on a tear sooner than later, and with six points in his last three games, it appears that it started.
Aaron Ekblad – Two assists with two shots. It hasn’t been his best start, but I still like Ekblad a lot going forward.
Erik Haula – Goal and an assist with three shots. Haula is a bottom end streamer bordering on middling. It all depends on his role at the time.
Cale Makar – Goal and an assist with seven shots. He hasn’t lit the world on fire, but that shows how highly we think of Makar that a point per game is just acceptable for him. He’s incredible.
Alexandar Georgiev – 25 saves on 26 shots in the 3-1 win over the Predators. Georgiev has been everything Colorado wanted and then some. He’s sitting with a .920 save percentage which puts him as a #1 given the wins.
Pierre-Luc Dubois – Three assists. PLD has found another level this season. He’s sitting well over a point per game while still getting plenty of PIM. The shot rate is down a bit overall, and a lot lately, but that could turn around quickly. His upcoming offseason is fascinating.
Connor Hellebuyck – 22 saves on 23 shots in the 5-1 win over the Canucks. Hellboy would firmly be in the Vezina discussion right now if the season ended with Ullmark and Sorokin. Love to see the bounce back.
Reilly Smith – Two goals on seven shots. I honestly did not realize that Smith is up to 16 goals. That’s as many as he had all of last season. That said, he’s shooting 20% so I’m looking at Smith as an elite streamer.
Zach Parise – Goal and an assist. Parise has been better than expected, but he’s still only a solid streamer at best.
Brock Nelson – Goal and an assist. Nelson has crushed across the board and I fully expect it to continue. He looks excellent on a nightly basis.
Jean-Gabriel Pageau – Two assists. Pageau is clearly a bottom end streamer.
Timo Meier – Goal and an assist with seven shots. The PIM have dried up, but Meier is pushing five shots per game again while piling up the goals. I feel like he’s going to be traded, either at the deadline or the offseason, and it’s going to be massive for whoever acquires him (New Jersey?).
Sunday’s Games
Jordan Staal – Goal and an assist, as did Derek Stepan. What year is it? Stepan barely plays so nothing to see there. Staal’s offense has dried up to the point where I don’t even want him as a bottom end streamer.
Brady Skjei – Goal and an assist with three shots. Skjei has a point in six of the last seven games and is now onto PP2. That’s enough to put him on the fringe depending on what you’re looking for.
Igor Shesterkin – 29 saves on 30 shots in the 7-1 win over the Blackhawks. We’re back to getting the Igor from last season as the Rangers go on a tear.
Adam Fox – Three assists. Fox has been arguably the best defenseman in the league to this point. For fantasy, he’s a bottom end #1 just because of the lower shot rate.
Filip Chytil – Goal and an assist with two shots in under 5 minutes before an injury. Here’s to hoping it’s nothing serious as Chytil is starting to come into his own.
Kaapo Kakko – Goal and an assist with three shots while Alexis Lafreniere had two assists. Both of them are stuck in the bottom end streamer range. There’s just no consistency here yet.
Artemi Panarin – Goal and two assists with four shots. A nice revenge game for Panarin. He’s working his way back up to the level we’re accustomed to.
Josh Morrissey – Two assists with a shot. Morrissey has an assist in nine straight games. Just a monstrous season from Morrissey who has been a #1 defenseman despite a poor shot rate.
Elias Lindholm – Two goals and an assist with three shots and two PIM. Lindholm has caught fire, which was only a matter of time. I’m fully expecting Calgary’s offense to get rolling sooner than later.
Nazem Kadri – Two assists with four shots. The assists have been lacking, but the shot rate is fantastic and Kadri’s shooting percentage is right in line with last season’s breakout. Like Lindholm, it should continue to get better.
Tyler Toffoli – Goal and an assist. Toffoli is on the elite streamer / fringe border.
Erik Karlsson – Two assists with a shot. The Sharks are a mess, but Karlsson has shown no signs of slowing down. I love to see him playing at this level again.
Tomas Hertl – Goal and an assist with five shots and two PIM. Hertl has played his way into being a bottom end hold again, although it’s very close to the fringe.
Three Point Challenge: I am giving the option for you to pick somebody on either Monday night or Tuesday night. Please clarify what day your pick is from if he plays on both nights, if you don’t, I’m not counting the pick either way. You can’t take McDavid, Draisaitl, Thompson, Robertson, Kucherov, Pastrnak, Kaprizov, Karlsson, Crosby, or Panarin. I’ll go with Hintz against the Blue Jackets on Monday.
That’s all for now guys. I’ll be back on Wednesday recapping the action of 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!
