Jake Guentzel was on an absolute tear before he suffered a concussion after a hit from Rasmus Ristolainen. He was owned by most of Razzball Nation as we got on top of it before Guentzel broke out. Thankfully, Guentzel recovered quickly and returned on Friday night. He scored a goal on three shots in his return and then repeated that performance on Sunday. The Penguins have a decent schedule this week with four games, including a back to back on Saturday and Sunday to close the regular season. You can wait a day since the Pens don’t play tonight but I’d look to grab Guentzel again if you cut him when he went down. The minutes and role are right back to where they were pre-concussion so I’m looking for Guentzel to finish the season strong before he contributes to a potential playoff run for Pittsburgh. Here’s what else happened on the penultimate weekend of the season:
Friday’s Games:
Sidney Crosby – Goal and an assist with six shots. It’s a shame he missed the first couple weeks of the season because Crosby would be the #1 forward with relative ease.
Nick Holden – Goal and an assist with three shots and two PIM. Surprisingly decent year for Holden although it’s bottom end. I don’t see much value going forward.
J.T. Miller – Two assists with three shots. Nice jump in the assist department this season while remaining status quo otherwise. Miller makes for a nice mid-round selection going forward.
Anthony Beauvillier – Goal on five shots. John Tavares is out for the rest of the regular season so Beauvillier gets a huge boost to the top echelon of streamers.
Jaroslav Halak – 26 saves on 27 shots in the 2-1 win over the Devils. He’s played very well since his recall so use Halak going forward when he starts.
Corey Crawford – 32 saves on 33 shots in the 3-1 win over the Blue Jackets. Given that the Blackhawks have the #1 seed locked up, I expect to see a decent dose of Scott Darling this week. As a Crawford owner, you may want to make contingency plans.
Patrick Kane – Three assists with four shots. Incredible finish to the season for Kane solidifies himself as a high first rounder next year.
Artemi Panarin – Two goals on six shots. He’s going to fall just short of last year’s numbers which is better than I expected. My guess is that Panarin is a third round guy in my book next year.
Sam Bennett – Goal and an assist with two shots and two PIM. Bennett has been a massive disappointment this season but I still love his talent. He’s only 20 years old so I can see taking him as a late round flier next year despite his struggles.
Kris Versteeg – Two assists with five shots and two PIM. He’s playing extremely well right now and continued that on Sunday (spoiler alert!) so Versteeg becomes a better streaming option.
Jake Allen – 31 saves on 32 shots in the 2-1 SO loss to Colorado. How do you lose to Colorado when fighting for playoff seeding? Anyways, Allen has been great down the stretch so if you were lucky enough to survive his early downswing, he’s paid dividends in your title chase.
J.T. Compher – Goal on five shots. He’s a sneaky guy for deep leagues. After being drafted by the Sabres, I paid close attention to Compher and he simply does all the little things.
Calvin Pickard – 27 saves on 28 shots in the win. I don’t have much hope for him going forward but I suspect he’ll be Colorado’s #1 goalie next season.
Jonathan Quick – 35 save shutout in the 2-0 win over the Canucks. He’s played very well since returning but Quick is a guy that I never own. His name value outweighs his actual fantasy value.
Marcus Johansson – Two assists with a shot. All of the assists are belong to Johansson right now.
Braden Holtby – 19 saves on 25 shots in the 6-3 loss to the Coyotes. I don’t own him anywhere but Holtby owners had to lose their mind getting this dud.
Alex Burmistrov – Two goals on four shots. He’s been decent in Arizona and had some great stretches in Winnipeg. I could see him being a nice guy for deep leagues next season depending on how Arizona’s offseason goes.
Christian Dvorak – Two goals. Same story as Burmistrov although Dvorak has more offensive upside at 21 years old.
Saturday’s Games:
Nick Bjugstad – Assist and a shot. He’s up on the first line with Aleksander Barkov out so while his season has been a disaster, there could be some streaming value here for the last week.
Patrice Bergeron – Two goals on five shots. A strong finish to the season still won’t get him to his pre-draft value but Bergeron has been pretty unlucky this year. I’ll still look for some shares next year.
David Pastrnak – Two assists with two shots. The massive breakout from Pastrnak happened a year earlier than I expected. He’s a no-brainer top 50 guy next year and could certainly push the top 25 with his upside.
Pekka Rinne – 31 save shutout in the 3-0 win over the Wild. Cheers to good Rinne! Here’s to hoping this is the guy who shows up in the playoffs.
Auston Matthews – Two goals and an assist with six shots. He’s caught fire again after a decent slump giving Matthews a shot at 40 goals. I still think he’ll fall into the top end of the second round range for me.
Gustav Nyquist – Goal and an assist with three shots and two PIM. New career high in assists for Gus although his goal rate has dropped significantly. Nyquist is nothing more than a late round flier next year.
Henrik Zetterberg – Two assists with five shots. It’s going completely under the radar given Detroit’s dreadful season but Zetterberg has had a remarkable season.
Kari Lehtonen – 25 save shutout in the 3-0 win over the Hurricanes. Lehtonen has had some great games down the stretch and then some real stinkers. In other words, he’s been his usual self.
Anthony Stolarz – 26 saves on 26 shots in relief of Michal Neuvirth, who collapsed on the ice in a terrifying moment. Thankfully Neuvirth should be fine going forward but Stolarz should seem some games this week. Stolarz is the probable goalie of the future for Philly so if you’re in a dynasty, you might as well throw him on your roster if he’s available.
Phillip Danault – Goal and an assist with two shots. He’s on a three game point streak making him a viable streamer again.
Max Pacioretty – Two assists with five shots. Patches has been himself for the sixth straight season. That safety will keep him as a third to fourth round pick again.
Carey Price – 21 saves on 22 shots in the 2-1 OT win over Tampa. The Canadiens look destined for a first round matchup with the Rangers. Price will need to be at his best in that one.
Mike Hoffman – Two goals on seven shots. Great season for Hoffman who became a well-rounded fantasy asset. He’s certainly in the conversation for top 50 going forward.
Bryan Little – Two assists with a shot. He’s slowed down quite a bit and with only three games left this week, I’m fine with dropping Little for more volume.
Jacob Trouba – Two assists with four shots. Trouba has shown a lot this season taking a huge jump offensively. He’ll be a target of mine in all leagues next year.
Connor Hellebuyck – 29 saves on 31 shots in the 4-2 win over the Senators. It’s been a rough season but Hellboy is still one of my favorite goalies in dynasties.
Jakob Silfverberg – Two assists with two shots. I wish the Ducks gave him a more offensive role because I think Silfverberg would be at 65+ points in that situation. Alas, we’re stuck with him being decent in fantasy but nothing special due to his checking line role.
Leon Draisaitl – Goal and an assist with five shots. Man, what a monster season for Draisaitl. He is going to be incredibly difficult to rank. He’s in that tier of guys like Panarin and Gaudreau in my mind.
Connor McDavid – Goal and two assists with seven shots. There’s an outside chance that McDavid reaches 100 points which would be absolutely bonkers at 20 years old.
Sunday’s Games:
Anton Khudobin – 41 saves on 43 shots in the 3-2 win over the Blackhawks. Huge performance from Khudobin which drastically increased their playoff chances. I don’t really trust anyone in net for Boston right now.
Richard Panik – Assist with a shot. I don’t know if this is an amazing assist or simply brutal:
Artemi Panarin’s weird goal with Richard Panik inside the net blocking the first attempt. pic.twitter.com/moasuXXII5
— Hoop Informatics (@HoopInformatics) April 2, 2017
Brent Seabrook – Two assists with five shots. I was down on Seabrook and that appears to be right. He’s purely AAGNOF at this point.
Anders Lee – Two goals on five shots. He’s not the most unlikely 30 goal scorer from this season but Lee is definitely up there. It’s a nice combo of goals and PIM this year but the problem is that if Lee’s shooting percentage regresses, he could be borderline useless in 12’ers.
Jaroslav Halak – 35 saves on 37 shots in the 4-2 win over the Sabres. Just wanted to know Sabres legend Jaroslav Halak had a nice revenge game here (he was on the Sabres for a day and didn’t play in that game).
C.J. Smith – Assist with two shots in his NHL debut. There’s some offensive upside here if you want to take a chance on him in deep dynasties.
Jake Allen – 35 saves on 36 shots in the 4-1 win over Smashville. The heater is real!
David Perron – Goal and two assists with two shots and two PIM. Perron seems destined to be an elite streamer but rarely reaching hold status year in and year out.
Elias Lindholm – Two assists with three shots. He’s going to be the guy I targeted in the middle to late rounds next season when I need assists.
Esa Lindell – Three assists with three shots. I could be wrong but Lindell seems destined to be the “better in real life than fantasy” guy. I simply see him being Klingberg and Honka in Dallas’ offensive totem pole from the blue line.
Adam Erne – Two goals on five shots. Erne looked to be a first round pick in 2013 before he fell to the third pick of the second round. There’s not a ton of upside here but Erne could be a nice deep leaguy guy starting next season.
Ondrej Palat – Goal and two assists with four shots. The minutes are huge right now as they try to backdoor into the playoffs so I’d lean towards holding Palat if you have the space.
Andre Burakovsky – Goal and an assist with two shots. Unlike Palat, the minutes aren’t there for Burakovsky so I’m not even considering him as a streamer.
Braden Holtby – 35 saves on 37 shots in the 3-2 win over CBus. Nice bounce back but I expect Grubauer to get multiple starts this week now that the division is essentially wrapped up.
Sam Gagner – Two assists with a shot. Gagner has been a solid fantasy asset this season and deserves to be mentioned among the best waiver wire adds this season. He wasn’t even on my radar and now he should top 50 points.
Sven Andrighetto – Assist and a shot. It’s been a month straight of me pumping Andrighetto’s tires but I’m very intrigued by his potential going forward.
Mikko Koivu – Two assists with four penalty minutes. His numbers are virtually identical to last season but with a massive plus-minus boost. Koivu has been a nice guy at the bottom of rosters.
Devan Dubnyk – 30 saves on 32 shots in the 5-2 win over the Avalanche. It’s been a tough break for Dubnyk owners to see him struggle down the stretch but given that he had the most starts in the league over the past two seasons, the Wild have been very smart sitting him for a bunch of games lately. Let him reset and get ready for the playoffs.
Tomas Hertl – Two goals. He saw a massive boost in ice time because Joe Thornton left the game injured. If Thornton misses these last few games (which I suspect), Hertl should be streamed everywhere.
Martin Jones – 29 saves on 30 shots in the 3-1 win over Vancouver. Same story as Dubnyk as the workload seems to have caught up to Jones. His overall numbers have taken such a hit that he’s not even a #1 on the season anymore. That said, I do expect him to be a #1 again next season.
Valtteri Filppula – Two goals on three shots with two PIM. He’s been okay this season but I generally avoid using him in any leagues due to the shot rate.
Shayne Gostisbehere – Two assists with two shots. Ghost has really picked things up lately with an assist in five straight games. I think he’ll be closer to last season’s Ghost than this season’s in 2017-18.
Derek Stepan – Two assists with two shots. He’s been his usual solid self this season.
Mats Zuccarello – Three assists with a shot. Since his shooting percentage regressed as expected, Zuccarello has become very assists heavy but it’s decent enough everywhere to be a nice piece on all teams.
Patrick Eaves – Goal on three shots. How Eaves has ended up a 30 goal scorer is beyond me.
Ryan Kesler – Three assists with three shots. He’s slowed down quite a bit in the second half but Kesler has still exceeded my expectations.
T.J. Brodie – Two assists. Brodie has been piling up assists lately but it’s so bad everywhere else that I would avoid him.
Kris Versteeg – Two goals. See Versteeg, Kris above.
Mike Smith – 34 saves on 35 shots in the 2-1 win over the Kings. Is there anything funnier than the Kings having their playoff hopes officially end with a loss to Arizona at home?
Oliver Ekman-Larsson – Two assists. As we talked about on the latest podcast, I expect OEL to bounce back in a big way next season.
Monday’s Streamers:
Phillip Danault (6.5%) – He’s playing well right now and the Panthers are slumping to the finish line without Barkov.
Alex Nylander (0.8%) – Indications are that Nylander will be making his NHL debut tonight against the Maple Leafs. I suspect he’ll slide right into the top six putting him in a nice spot.
Connor Brown (7.6%) – Brown has stood out to me in recent games for the Maple Leafs. The minutes are there as Toronto pushes for the playoffs so I like his chances to get his 20th of the season.
That’s all for now guys. With only three games tonight, I’ll have my next set of daily notes on Wednesday with a podcast dropping Tuesday afternoon. As always, feel free to ask any questions or leave any comments below. Thanks for reading, take care!
