Hayes Hoards The Hats

In a game that was overshadowed by Provorov’s refusal to wear the Pride jersey in warmups, Kevin Hayes continued his All-Star season with a hat trick against the Ducks.  With his six shots, Hayes is approaching three shots per game, and playing at a 75 point pace, easily the best of his career.  The Flyers have been much better over the last month, with Hayes being one of the focal points.  He’s erased his horrible plus-minus which is enough to make him a bottom end hold in all format.  Let’s take a look at what else happened on Tuesday night:

Scott Laughton – Two assists with four shots.  With twelve points in his last ten games, Laughton is an elite streamer while he’s a hot schmotato.

Rasmus Ristolainen – Goal and an assist with two shots.  This was Risto’s first goal of the season.  His days of fantasy relevance are over outside of streaming for hits and blocks in super deep leagues.

Travis Konecny – Two assists with five shots.  A top 25 season from Konecny was far from expectations.  Given how high his shot rate is, along with the PIM, he’s going to continue to be an elite option even if the shooting percentage regresses.

Wade Allison – Two assists with two shots.  That’s more assists than Allison had in his first 26 games.  And there’s your annual Allison update!

Seth Jones – Two goals and an assist with four shots.  He’s been piling up points, but I still can’t justify it in 12’ers because of the plus-minus, especially in roto.  Jones is hitting all of the other categories fairly well though, so if you’re more willing to eat the black hole than I am, there’s plenty of value.

Philipp Kurashev – Goal and two assists with two shots.  Decent player, but unusable in his current situation.

Tyler Johnson – Two assists with three shots.  Johnson has been fine when he’s been healthy, but again, I just don’t want anything to do with Chicago players.

Samuel Montembault – 25 saves on 26 shots in the 4-1 win over the Jets.  Montembault has a respectable save percentage, but his GAA is over 3.  I’d stream him when he’s in good matchups.

Evgeny Dadonov – Two goals on six shots.  Unless Dadonov goes somewhere at the deadline, I can’t see him being of fantasy use.  And who knows who would even take his contract?

Christian Dvorak – Two assists with a shot.  Bottom end streamer at best.

Kirby Dach – Two assists with two shots.  Dach has looked much better in Montreal than he did in Chicago.  I would lean towards solid streamer.

Justin Barron – Two assists with a shot.  There could be something here long term, but Barron won’t provide much this season.

Aleksander Barkov – Goal and an assist with two shots.  I can’t help but think there’s going to be a monster second half from Barkov.  We’re starting to see the signs of the turn around.

William Nylander – Two goals and an assist with four shots.  The year of Nylander continues.  Career highs across the board are firmly in play.  He’s pushing towards being a top 25 player.

Mitch Marner – Two assists with two PIM.  Marner’s goals are down solely because of his shot rate dropping off a bit.  He’s going to be elite regardless, but right now, it’s more around 20th overall than pushing the top 10.

Jared Spurgeon – Two goals on five shots.  Spurgeon is firmly on the fringe depending on team needs.

Connor Dewar – Two assists.  Nothing here for fantasy.

Alex Ovechkin – Two assists with three shots.  The Great Eight has shown almost no signs of slowing down at age 37.  I really hope we can get a 10th career 50 goal season from him to be the first player ever to do so.

Martin Fehervary – Goal and an assist with four hits and five blocks.  Fehervary has played very well for Washington, but he provides very little offense.  Any fantasy value he has come in hits and blocks.

Kevin Lankinen – 39 saves on 40 shots in the 2-1 win over the Blue Jackets.  Lankinen has looked much better in Nashville, which is no surprise given how bad Chicago was at the end of his tenure there.  I’d stream him outside of the worst matchups.

Zach Hyman – Goal and two assists with two shots.  Hyman moved up and down the lineup in this game, but did most of his damage on the third line.  Obviously we’d be better off if he stays with McDavid over RNH, but Hyman should be excellent regardless.

Leon Draisaitl – Two assists.  This brings Draisaitl up to 70 points already.  It’s starting to look like a real possibility that Draisaitl sets a new career high in points, which would require 111+.

Dylan Holloway – Two assists with a shot.  There’s long term upside here, but Holloway isn’t getting the minutes to carry much fantasy value anymore.  Welcome to the Razzball Database!

Lawson Crouse – Three assists with a shot.  Crouse is a solid streamer that bumps up to elite streamer in hits leagues.

Nick Bjugstad – Goal and an assist with four PIM.  Injuries have derailed Bjugstad’s career, so it’s nice to see him play well for Arizona this year.  He’s only a bottom end streamer, but maybe it improves.

Three Point Challenge:  We will do Thursday games per usual.  You can’t take McDavid, Draisaitl, Pastrnak, Robertson, Thompson, Kucherov, Karlsson, M. Tkachuk, Connor, Hughes, or Marner.  I’ll go with Laine against the Ducks.

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!