We had a game of the year performance on Monday night by Connor Hellebuyck. Hellebuyck saved 50 of 51 shots in the 4-1 win over the Rangers, ending their winning streak. One of my best rankings this season over ADP was banking on Hellebuyck to bounce back after last season’s disaster. I even said in my bold prediction that he’d win the Vezina, which Ullmark will probably ruin, but his season has certainly been Vezina worthy. But enough of patting myself on the back. Hellebuyck is sitting with a 2.39/.926, putting him in a battle with Oettinger for the #2 overall goalie to this point (the gap to #4 is massive). He’s as good of a bet as any to finish the best goalie for the rest of the season considering the top end volume. Bottom line, Hellebuyck is entering his prime now and since he gets to play in a Bowness system, he should stay in tier one for the indefinite future. Let’s take a look at what else happened over the last two nights:
Linus Ullmark – 30 saves on 31 shots in the 3-1 win over the Senators. You wouldn’t even expect these types of numbers in a video game. Mind blowing stuff from Ullmark.
David Pastrnak – Two goals on six shots. I can’t wait to see where his contract comes in.
Charlie McAvoy – Three assists. The shot rate has dropped back down after last season’s boost. That said, everything else is elite. Ideally, McAvoy is your #2, even if his total value is that of a bottom end #1.
John Klingberg – Two assists with four PIM Monday, missed Tuesday with a minor injury. If you need defensive help, you can make a spec add of Klingberg ahead of the deadline. That said, I’m not banking on a resurgence because he’s been a disaster so far.
Matthew Tkachuk – Two assists with six shots. Tkachuk has been as good as anybody not named McJesus.
Eetu Luostarinen – Two assists with four shots. Luostarinen has taken a nice step forward this season, and with Bennett out, he’s a solid streamer.
Travis Konecny – Goal and an assist with two shots before missing Tuesday’s games with an injury. Here’s to hoping it’s not serious as Konecny has broken out in a big way.
Mikael Backlund – Goal and an assist with five shots. Backlund is having the best offensive season of his career. He’s an elite streamer.
Noah Hanifin – Two assists with a shot. Hanifin is a bottom end hold since he hits all of the categories fairly well.
Andrew Mangiapane – Goal and an assist with five shots and two PIM. The dropoff from last season has been stark. It’s almost like you can’t shoot 19% forever. He’s a fine streamer.
James Reimer – 26 save shutout in the 4-0 win over the Sharks. Reimer is a step above desperation. With the Sharks far out of it, I expect Kahkonen to get a heavy workload to finish the season. If anything, maybe Reimer is traded somewhere as goalie insurance.
Logan Couture – Goal and an assist with two shots and two PIM. Couture is an elite streamer, but I’m not looking to hold.
Erik Karlsson – Two assists. Can’t stop, won’t stop scoring. Here’s to hoping he has a real chance at 100 points.
Evgeny Svechnikov – Goal and an assist with three shots. It’s nice to see the older Svech get regular games after his career was derailed by injuries. There’s nothing here for now, but he could turn into a deep league option eventually.
Kyle Connor – Goal and two assists with five shots. The goals are down a bit, but Connor should easily set a career high in assists. I think he’s the most unheralded offensive star.
Mark Scheifele – Two goals on four shots. Scheifele having almost twice as many goals as he has assists is something I never saw coming. Absolutely insane stat line.
Josh Morrissey – Two assists with a shot. Morrissey already has the record for most points by a Jets defenseman with 25 games to spare. I always liked Morrissey, but I never thought he could have a season like this. He’s a clear #1 now.
Mason Appleton – Two assists with a shot. Appleton played over 20 minutes in this game with Cole Perfetti out. There’s middling streamer appeal and clear deep league value as long as Perfetti is out.
Brock Nelson – Two goals on five shots and two PIM. Nelson has established himself as the best skater on the Islanders, no offense to Barzal or Bo Horvat (1+1, 2 SOG). He’s peaking right when the Islanders need him.
Zach Parise – Two assists with four shots and two PIM. Parise has some deep league value for his goals, but I have no interest in streaming him in shallower leagues.
Ryan O’Reilly – Hat trick and an assist with five shots. Apparently all of the ex-Sabres are going to get hat tricks against them. <writes note to bet Evander Kane for a hat trick in March>. Mitch Marner dished five assists while John Tavares had a goal and three assists. As long as RoR is with those two, you can make a case for holding. I still lean towards elite streamer though.
William Nylander – Goal and an assist with seven shots. Nylander hasn’t had one slump the entire season. Easily the best season of his career to this point.
Alex Tuch – Goal and an assist with two shots. Tuch continues to crush this season. Congrats to him for his 100th career goal as well, albeit in a blowout loss.
Frederik Andersen – 35 saves on 36 shots in the 4-1 win over the Blues. If he can stay healthy (a big if), I’m banking on a big finish from Andersen.
Andrei Svechnikov – Two goals and an assist with three shots. Seth Jarvis had a goal and two assists with four shots, while Sebastian Aho had a goal and an assist with four shots. Of course the one guy on the first line that I took for the three point challenge is the one who doesn’t get three points! This line staying together would do wonders for Jarvis’ value.
Brent Burns – Two assists with three shots. Everything has gone as expected for Burns in Carolina. Solid #2.
Jack Hughes – Two assists with four shots. He has a real shot at 100 points even after missing some time.
Michael Matheson – Goal and an assist. I see a case for holding Matheson in all formats. His minutes will be through the roof the rest of the way, and he’s always produced offensively when he’s received the playing time.
Christian Dvorak – Two assists with a shot and two PIM. No thanks.
Nick Suzuki – Goal and an assist with two shots. I still like Suzuki plenty long term, but I wouldn’t hold right now because of the team around him.
Nick Perbix – Three assists with three shots. Perbix stumbles into the occasional big game playing on a team like Tampa, but I don’t have much interest.
Alex Killorn – Two assists with a shot. Solid streamer through and through.
Ross Colton – Goal and an assist with five shots. I’d like to see what Colton could do in a bigger role, but that’s not happening in Tampa. Bottom end streamer.
Andrei Vasilevskiy – 24 saves on 25 shots in the 6-1 win over the Ducks. Is it bad that I’m surprised that the Ducks put 25 shots on goal, even considering that they were down 4-0 after two?
Ville Husso – 26 saves on 27 shots in the 3-1 win over the Capitals. Husso has picked it up lately as the Red Wings surprisingly surge into playoff contention. Husso is a fine #2.
Pius Suter – Two goals. The minutes are up lately, but I still think Suter is only a bottom end streamer.
Andrei Kuzmenko – Two goals on five shots. He’s on the fringe depending on your league categories (the inclusion of shots hurts).
Quinn Hughes – Two assists with two shots playing over 30 minutes. All your assists are belong to Hughes!
Conor Garland – Goal and an assist with six shots. Garland’s minutes are all over the place depending on the score of the game and how he’s playing. He’s a middling streamer.
Juuso Parssinen – Two assists. His value has dropped after a hot start. Bottom end streamer.
Ryan Hartman – Two goals on five shots. Hartman is on the fringe now that he’s back on the first line. It comes down to team needs.
Filip Gustavsson – 34 saves on 35 shots in the 2-1 win over the Wild. It seems like Evason has finally realized that Gustavsson is clearly their best goalie. He’s been incredible and amazingly, he’s still available in over 60% of leagues. Grab him immediately.
Tyler Johnson – Goal and an assist. Johnson has produced pretty well for Chicago when healthy. Even with that, I’m not really looking to use any Blackhawks.
Connor McDavid – Two goals and an assist with nine shots. Leon Draisaitl had a goal and two assists. Somehow the Oilers are stuck battling for the playoffs with McDavid having the best offensive season this millennium and the Oilers having the best power play of all-time. Here’s to hoping McDavid could push 150 points and Draisaitl can set a new career high in points.
Three Point Challenge: We will Thursday’s Games per usual. You can’t select McDavid, Draisaitl, Kucherov, M. Tkachuk, Karlsson, Robertson, Thompson, Pastrnak, Hughes, or Pettersson. I’ll go with Point against my Sabres.
That’s all for now guys. I’ll be back on Friday recapping the action from tonight’s games. As always, feel free to ask any questions, leave any comments, or give any suggestions below. Thanks for reading, take care!
