I have him the highest ranker of Brandon Hagel for years now, and it looks like he could beat his previous career highs of 35+55. Hagel had two goals and an assist with five shots against the Sabres on Wednesday. It was so nice that he did it twice, scoring two goals and an assist again on Thursday against Columbus, this time with six shots on goal. That brings Hagel to 13+11 in 19 games, and shockingly, he’s averaging a whopping four shots per gamae. Three per game was great for his value, but four per game takes him to another level. That puts Hagel on the cusp of the top 20 overall, which is where I had him ranked. Tampa loves to go 11/7, giving Hagel even more minutes. He’s just great across the board and the consistency is a thing of beauty. Let’s take a look at what else happened over the last two nights:
Injuries: Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar, and Joel Eriksson Ek all left their games on Thursday due to injuries. There’s no updates at this time, but Brock Nelson, Nazem Kadri, Devon Toews and Danila Yurov could all get big boosts. I’ll have an update on all of these guys and how the weekend plays out on Monday.
Wednesday’s Games
John Carlson – Goal and four assists. Carlson was getting PP1 time with D’Astous in this one, which is great to see for Carlson’s fantasy value.
Nikita Kucherov – Hat trick and an assist with five shots. Any concerns about Kucherov dogging it after his trade request should be allievated.
Jake Guentzel – Four assists with a shot. Same boat as Hagel. Guentzel is extremely consistent with a great floor and high ceiling.
Anthony Cirelli – Three assists with a shot. Cirelli was on the first line against the Sabres which is obviously great for his value. The problem is he missed Thursday with a lower body injury, so we’ll have to see how serious it is.
Joonas Korpisalo – 29 saves on 30 shots in the 3-1 win over the Flames. The Flames aren’t scoring much, so this probably says more about them than Korpisalo. That said, the Rangers are playing well defensively and he should platoon at worst, so he’s a decent spec add.
Mika Zibanejad – Two goals. Bottom end hold.
Alexis Lafreniere – Two assists with two shots. The full breakout is finally happening. Easy hold in all formats.
Zach Hyman – Two goals on four shots. It’s been a slow start for Hyman, but his role is so good that I’m still holding without hesitation.
Evan Bouchard – Goal and an assist with two shots. Preposterous numbers across the board. He’s so far in front of the rest of the defensemen that it’s comical.
Jack McBain – Goal and two assists with two shots and six hits. The three points matched his point total from his first 18 games. No thanks.
Lawson Crouse – Goal and an assist with two PIM. The offense has really dried out. He’s a streamer for hits and that’s it.
Andrew Peeke – Two assists. And there’s your annual Peeke update!
Victor Olofsson – Goal and two assists with six shots. Olofsson has been fantastic when he plays, scoring 5+4 in seven games, pushing three shots per game. He’s on the first power play unit, putting Olofsson as an elite streamer for the time being.
Mitch Marner – Three assists with three shots. All your assists are belong to Marner!
Ivan Barbashev – Two goals. Solid to elite streamer, but I can’t consider holding Barbashev without the PP1 time or the shots.
Shane Wright – Goal and two assists with four shots. Well, this is exciting! He played with Nils Hoglander (1+1) and Forsberg, but Wright only played 13 minutes. For now, he’s a bottom end streamer, but I’m going to be watching Wright closely going forward.
Roman Josi – Two assists with a shot. The bounce back is in full force.
Jayden Struble – Goal and an assist. Struble has six goals on goal in 15 games and has scored on three of them! Insane luck.
Mikael Granlund – Goal and an assist with four shots. Granlund is playing his way into bottom end hold range instead of being on the fringe.
Macklin Celebrini – Goal and an assist with two shots and two PIM. I’ve watched a lot of the Sharks, and Celebrini has been far from his best. Even with that, he has 23 points in 19 games. That’s how high his floor is.
Thursday’s Games
Brandon Bussi – 12 saves on 13 shots in the 4-1 win over the Kraken in Finland. Doesn’t get much easier than that. Bussi is now Kochetkov’s backup, so I’d only hold in roto leagues. His numbers are rough, but he’s so likely to win in all starts that I’d use him against pretty much anyone.
Sebastian Aho – Two goals in his return home. Best season of Aho’s career so far and it’s not even close.
Nikolaj Ehlers – Goal and an assist with three shots. Ehlers hasn’t been his best, but he’s still a hold everywhere.
K’Andre Miller – Two assists with a shot. I wasn’t interested in the preseason, and I see no reason to change that opinion. He’s a fine deep league guy because he’s decent in every category, but that’s it.
Logan Stankoven – Two assists with a shot. Stankoven has continued his playoff run into this season. Easy hold everywhere.
Dennis Hildeby – 28 saves on 29 shots in the 3-1 win over Columbus. He doesn’t play much, but I’d stream Hildeby in all matchups because of how strong the Lightning are defensively.
Matt Boldy – Hat trick on five shots, all assisted by Kirill Kaprizov (five shots as well). The top line has been unstoppable. We’ll see if that continues with Yurov (1+1) filling in for JEEK, but I fully expect it to.
Zack MacEwen – Goal and an assist. Absolutely not.
Shane Pinto – Two goals and an assist. Pinto is up to elite streamer range despite being on PP2.
Evan Rodrigues – Goal and an assist with two shots. Fine depth player, but nothing outside of deep leagues.
Arseny Gritsyuk – Two assists. He’s an elite streamer as long as he’s with Hughes and Bratt.
Josh Anderson – Goal and an assist, as did Jake Evans. Both have been quite good on the third line, but that doesn’t move the needle for 12’ers.
Casey Mittelstadt – Two goal on three shots and two PIM, both assisted by Elias Lindholm. The points are fine for Mittelstadt, but he doesn’t give anything else, so he’s a middling streamer. Lindholm is a tier above that because of the PP1 time. He’s a solid streamer bordering on elite.
Moritz Seider – Two assists with two shots. The points are down a fair amount, which isn’t a surprise given the lack of talent around him. Seider’s value is largely driven by his contributions in all of the other categories.
Carter Verhaeghe – Three assists with three shots. Easy hold everywhere.
Anton Lundell – Two goals on three shots. Lundell would be so good on a different team, but on Florida, he’s stuck in the middling streamer range. It won’t get better when Barkov returns either.
Roope Hintz – Goal and an assist with three shots. He’s just below a point per game, which is right where we expect Hintz to be.
Nils Lundkvist – Two assists with two PIM. Lundkvist played over 24 minutes in this game with Heiskanen still out. That said, there’s nothing really to see here. He was a top prospect, but never really panned out.
Thomas Harley – Two assists with a shot. He’s an elite defenseman as long as Heiskanen is out. Once he’s back, Harley is still a hold, but it’s not great.
Mark Scheifele – Two goals and an assist. Kyle Connor and Gabe Vilardi each had a goal and two assists with four shots. I wrote in the comments section that Scheifele was a good buy low candidate. The shot rate has been there so the goals are coming. Vilardi is the winner here, moving onto the top line again. I see him as an elite streamer, but I don’t hate picking him up for the upside.
Dawson Mercer – Two goals on four shots, both assisted by Cole Perfetti. I’m still holding Perfetti everywhere despite dropping down a line, as he’s still on PP1. Mercer is up to the solid streamer range now that he’s found his footing in Winnipeg..
Jack Quinn – Two assists. The breakout for Quinn continues.
Frank Nazar – Two goals on five shots. It’s been a rough go for Nazar, who is stuck in the middling streamer range, at best.
Sam Rinzel – Two assists with a shot and four PIM. Rinzel is on PP1 right now, but I don’t have much interest.
Joel Hofer – 29 save shutout in the 1-0 shootout win over Karel Vejmelka (22 saves) and the Mammoth. Hofer has been absolutely fantastic, carrying the Blues to being an okay team so far. He’s a clear #1 in fantasy. It’s good to see Vejmelka finally have a good game. The opportunity is there, as Cossa is struggling too.
Brayden Schenn – Goal and two assists with two shots. Four game point streak for Schenn, who is up to a solid streamer after his hot start.
Ryan Pulock – Two assists with two shots in his return to the lineup. He had one point in his first thirteen games, and eight shots on goal over those games. No thanks.
Simon Holmstrom – Goal and an assist with two shots. Middling streamer through and through.
That’s all for now guys. As always, feel free to ask any questions, give any suggestions, or leave any comments below. Thanks for reading, take care!
I’m up against the McDavid, Bouchard, Hagel, Boldy, Kaprizov owner this week. Pray for me.