I started the opening paragraph before the Blues game ended and got punished for it. I was already writing about Dylan Holloway, but his night got a lot better late improving his stat line. Holloway was playing his first game since January 18th, and only his second since December 12th, and he delivered the best game of his career. Holloway had a hat trick and an assist with five shots in the 5-1 win over the Kraken. Holloway broke out last season with 26-37 in his first year with the Blues, but this season has been a huge disappointment both for him and the team. The Blues are out of the playoff picture, so it’s hard to say who will be traded and who will stay. Holloway is one of the few players that I’d be surprised if they moved. The 24 year old has the upside of a bottom end hold in 12’ers, as he showed last season. The Blues play a bunch of poor defenses in the short term, so for now, Holloway is an elite stremer. Let’s take a look at what else happened in the first two nights back from the Olympic break:
Wednesday’s Games:
Logan Thompson – 23 saves on 24 shots in the 3-1 win over the Caps. Expect the Capitals to ride Thompson hard down the stretch. They’ve played more games than almost everyone, which is good for Thompson’s fantasy value. It means they have less back to backs.
Aliaksei Protas – Goal and an assist. Protas is in the elite streamer range.
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen – 27 saves on 28 shots in the 2-1 win over the Devils. Extremely close to a shutout, nice to see UPL put together a strong performance after being forced to miss the Olympics due to injury. Who knows, he might have ended up starting for Finland after Saros’ rough first game against Slovakia. I expect close to a split with Lyon, but I’d argue that both should be held.
Tage Thompson – Goal and an assist with three shots. One of the few USA players on Wednesday night that didn’t have a rough night.
Peyton Krebs – Goal and an assist. Krebs has 11 points in the last 12 games, as he’s getting some time on the first line. I don’t really buy it at all, and by the trade deadline, Benson should be back and the Sabres could add anyone, so it should end quickly. That said, if you need somebody for the weekend, Krebs does play Friday and Saturday, so you could cut him for someone else Sunday in H2H leagues.
Matthew Knies – Goal and an assist with three shots. The assists are way up for Knies, while the goals are down fairly significantly. He’s a bottom end hold, but that shot rate needs to jump for him to become the top 100 fantasy player most think Knies can be.
William Nylander – Two assists with four shots. Despite the mess that is Toronto, Nylander is piling up the points on offense.
Nikita Kucherov – Goal and two assists with two shots. Kucherov is in the midst of a historic run. The Lightning are 20-2-1 (that includes Thursday’s loss) in their last 23, and Kucherov is well over 50 points in that stretch. His point total at the end of his career is going to be gaudy.
Brayden Point – Two goals and an assist with five shots. Love to see a massive Point game after he was forced to miss the Olympics. Hopefully he can sustain it and finish the season strong.
Gace Goncalves – Goal and two assists with two shots. Goncalves shows some flashes, this game one of the biggest, but he’s below a shot per game. That can’t play.
Charle-Edouard D’Astous – Two assists. The Lightning never have top picks, but they keep churning out depth guys like D’Astous. Credit to their development. With Hedman back, D’Astous can only be used in super deep leagues.
Casey DeSmith – 18 saves on 19 shots in the 4-1 win over the Kraken. Easy stream every time DeSmith starts, outside of the very worst of matchups.
Matt Duchene – Goal and an assist. Seven game point streak for Duchene puts him back into elite streamer range.
Thomas Harley – Two assists with two shots and two PIM. Harley was one of my ten players to buy in the second half. If you missed that post, you can read it here.
Wyatt Johnston – Two goals on four shots. Wyatt is rolling. It’s his third 30 goal season before turning 23 years old. The players to do that since 2000: Matthews, Pasta, McDavid, Laine, Stamkos, Malkin, Ovechkin, Kovalchuk, and now Johnston. Incredible company.
Dylan Guenther – Two goals on three shots. Guenther is well on his way to career highs across the board. He’s established himself as a top 50 player.
Martin Necas – Goal and an assist with three shots and two PIM. The upside case for drafting Necas in the top 25 year have come to full fruition.
Parker Kelly – Goal and an assist. Props to Kelly for scoring 13 goals already, but my interest is minimal.
Mark Scheifele – Two assists with three shots. Like Scheifele said, there’s nothing else he really could do to make Team Canada. He’s playing right at a 100 point pace.
Tanner Laczynski – Three assists. Laczynski was immediately sent back down after the game, as Vegas kept all five of their players from the gold medal game out for this game. That makes it hard to take away anything from this game except what a shameful loss for the Kings.
Artemi Panarin – Two assists with three shots and two PIM in his Kings debut. Great debut for him, and he boosts all of the other top Kings players. Quinton Byfield scored twice, while Adrian Kempe and Brandt Clarke each had a goal and an assist. As mentioned in the players to buy post linked above, I am all in on Clarke for the stretch run.
Matt Savoie – Goal and two assists with four shots. Savoie took some shifts with the top guys and delivered. He’s still only 22 years old, so he could still pan out, but there’s been no consistency. Bottom end to middling streamer for the time being.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – Goal and an assist with two shots. An easy hold again despite the poor shot rate.
Evan Bouchard – Goal and an assist with three shots. Still can’t believe he was left off Team Canada. He’s the perfect seventh defenseman to be on your bench if the team falls behind. Bouchard is well above a point per game now, having a truly elite season.
Leo Carlsson – Goal and two assists with four shots. Great to see Carlsson thriving again in his return to the lineup.
Chris Kreider – Two assists with a shot. Kreider is back in the solid streamer range, with a chance to get to elite streamer, now that Carlsson is back.
Thursday’s Games
Sergei Bobrovsky – 28 saves on 29 shots in the 5-1 win over the Leafs. Bob has been awful this season, but hopefully the break gets him back on track.
Brad Marchand – Two goals on three shots. I did not see this level of bounce back happening for Marchand. He’s been a top 50 player.
Evan Rodrigues – Goal and an assist with nine shots. Bottom end streamer.
Anton Lundell – Two assists with a shot. Lundell is firmly on the fringe, but I lean towards elite streamer because he’s off PP1.
Evgeni Malkin – Two assists with four shots and two PIM. With Sidney Crosby out about four weeks, expect Malkin to get a big boost in minutes. They don’t really have a choice.
Arturs Silovs – 28 saves on 29 shots in the 4-1 win over the Devils. Silovs is a desperation play.
John Gibson – 26 saves on 27 shots in the 2-1 OT win over the Senators. The trade for Gibson is going about as well as it could have for the Red Wings. He hasn’t been a world beater, but simply being competent is a boost for Detroit. Solid #2 in 12’ers.
Dylan Larkin – Two goals on three shots, both goals assisted by Lucas Raymond. Larkin is well on his way to a fifth straight 30+ goal season. A career high in goals is well within sight.
Matthew Schaefer – Two goals on three shots. Ranking Schaefer next season is going to be difficult. He’s clearly amazing, but is the hype going to go too far? He seems like a top ten defenseman, but not quite top five yet? Regardless, Schaefer is taking the league by storm.
Simon Holmstrom – Two assists with a shot and two PIM. Bottom end streamer.
Noah Dobson – Two goals on three shots in his revenge game. He’s doing as well as he possibly could without getting PP1 time. He already has more points than last season despite the drop in usage. He’s an elite #3 who could be a #2 if you can stomach the lower PPP.
Jake Guentzel – Three assists with four shots. I still can’t get over Guentzel hitting the post on an empty net on Wednesday, but I digress. He’s been his usual fantastic self.
Taylor Hall – Goal and an assist with two shots. Hall is only a bottom end streamer despite having a bigger role than he should at this point in his career.
Andrei Svechnikov – Two assists with three shots. It’s crazy to think about how bad Svechnikov was early in the season, and now he’s been a top 25 forward for an extended period. A career high in points is somehow in play.
Seth Jarvis – Goal and an assist with three shots. The assists are down quite a bit, but Jarvis is playing at a 50 goal pace over 82 games for the first timte in his career.
Logan Stankoven – Goal and an assist with two shots. Stankoven is filling his role, but I really thought he’d take a jump this season. It hasn’t happened, and he’s only a bottom end streamer because of it.
Mason Marchment – Two assists with two PIM. He’s playing extremely well with Columbus. Marchment is actually at a point per game over those 15 games, so at this point, he’s clearly an elite streamer at worst.
Adam Fantilli – Goal and an assist with five shots. Similar to Clarke, I have remained bullish on Fantilli this season. I’ve been stubbornly holding and still think we can be rewarded.
Viktor Arvidsson – Two goals on three shots. It’s nice to see Arvidsson get his career back on track after a rough year in Edmonton. He’s a solid streamer pushing towards an elite one.
Joel Hofer – 23 saves on 24 shots in the 5-1 win over the Kraken. Still don’t really have any interest in a Blues goalie, even though we’ve seen them get on a run before.
Pius Suter – Goal and two assists with three shots. Suter is the type of player teams like to add at the deadline, although he does have an extra year on his deal. For now, he’s a bottom end streamer.
Justin Faulk – Two assists with two shots. Going back to before the break, Faulk has eight assists in his last seven games. He’s doing enough to be a bottom end hold.
Jonatan Berggren – Two assists. Berggren looks like a AAAA player. Don’t really see any fantasy value here.
Matvei Michkov – Two goals and two PIM. For the love of God, can you just play the kid Tocchet? The team is begging for any offense and he’s the future of their franchise.
Matt Boldy – Two goals and two assists with ten shots. Safe to say he wanted to make a statement against the Avalanche. He’s played three games for the Wild in February and has ten points. He’s a clear top 20 player and Boldy is pushing towards the top ten, although I don’t think he gets there.
Joel Eriksson Ek – Two goals on five shots. Seven game point streak for JEEK, who is a bottom end hold with top 75 player upside.
Martin Necas – Two goals on seven shots, both assisted by Nathan MacKinnon and Josh Manson. I am stunned at how many points Manson has. It’s the most he’s had since 2017-18 and he could stumble into a career highi. Add in a +40 rating, elite PIM, elite hits and solid blocks, and Manson has been incredible value in deeper leagues. Hell, even in banger leagues, he’s a clear hold in 10’ers.
Dustin Wolf – 34 saves on 35 shots in the 4-1 win over the Sharks. It’s been a rough year for Wolf, mostly because of the team in front of him. I watched most of this game and he was fantastic. On a game to game basis, the upside is undeniable. Overall though, he’s probably a #3 just based on volume.
Nazem Kadri – Two goals on five shots. Great to see another guy in my buy column starting hot. He was the best player on the ice. Get that trade value up!
Mikael Backlund – Goal and an assist with five shots. Middling streamer at this point of his career.
Connor Zary – Goal and an assist with five shots. You can see the talent with Zary, but he hasn’t been able to put it together. Bottom end streamer for now.
Connor Ingram – 21 saves on 22 shots in the 8-1 win over the Kings. Jarry was awful on Wednesday, so there’s a chance Ingram can get a bit of run here. The problem is he’s not that good. If you’re desperate, he’s an okay spec add on the hope he gets hot given that Edmonton is capable of a tear.
Leon Draisaitl – Goal and three assists. His points came on the 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th goals, but garbage points count the same for us!
Zach Hyman – Goal and two assists with three shots. Hyman has fully bounced back from last season’s disappointment. The only thing that slowed him down was injury. Top 50 player rest of the season with top 25 upside.
Connor McDavid – Goal and an assist with three shots. And there’s 100 points for McDavid already.
Andrew Mangiapane – Goal and an assist with three shots. It hasn’t worked out for Mangiapane in Edmonton. I’d say it’s a surprise, but they keep getting this mid-price wingers and they’re all failing. No interest right now.
Jake Walman – Two goals on four shots. Walman is on the fringe depending on team needs. It’s more of a balanced line across the board if you aren’t looking for any particular category. He’s just not that good at any one thing.
That’s all for now guys. I’ll be back on Monday recapping the action from the weekend. As always, feel free to ask any questions, leave any comments, or give any suggestions below. Thanks for reading, take care!
