For most of last season, Zach Hyman led the league in expected goals. By the end of the season, he had a career high with 36 goals, but didn’t even sniff the league lead. This season, he’s starting to finish at an elite level, resulting in him pushing towards the league lead in goals. Hyman had a hat trick on eight shots on Saturday, carrying the Oilers to a 3-1 win over the Senators. That gives Hyman 25 goals on the season to go along with 15 assists, a +13 rating, 32 PIM, and almost four shots on goal per game. He’s been a top ten forward so far, and while I expect a bit of a drop off in the second half, I don’t see much of one coming. That’s how good Hyman has been. Let’s take a look at what else happened over the weekend:
Friday’s Games
Laurent Brossoit – 37 saves on 38 shots in the 3-1 win over the Ducks. The Jets are an absolute wagon right now. I’d stream Brossoit in all matchups.
Vladislav Namestnikov – Two assists. Names is a solid streamer right now as he’s getting real top six minutes.
Alexander Holtz – Goal and an assist with two shots. With all of the injuries New Jersey has suffered, Holtz could start to be counted on for more than a bottom six role. For now, he’s a bottom end streamer. Welcome to the Razzball Database!
Simon Nemec – Goal and an assist. Nemec has been decent so far in his 17 games. He’s on the fringe for me, although I lean towards leaving him on the wire if your league doesn’t have blocks. There’s not quite enough with the peripherals.
Brent Burns – Two goals and an assist with six shots. Burns has nine points in his last six games, showing real signs of him turning it around. He’s been a #3 so far, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s a #2 in the second half.
Sebastian Aho – Three assists with three shots. Mr. Consistency is looking likely to break through his usual level and push into the 90’s in points, maybe even 100.
Andrei Svechnikov – Goal and two assists with two shots and two PIM. Svech had six straight 2+ point games before Saturday. The top line is on a massive heater, with Svech’s shot rate the only disappointing thing.
Dmitry Orlov – Goal and an assist with three shots. Orlov is too far down the depth chart to do much. He’s stuck as a deep league option.
Saturday’s Games
Morgan Frost – Goal and an assist with four shots. Frost was scratched before this game, as Torts sits him down semi-regularly when the points aren’t coming in. It’s hard to see him as more than a bottom end streamer.
Aleksander Barkov – Four assists with four shots and four PIM. The top line for Florida has been on a warpath, which says a lot against a team like Colorado. Sam Reinhart had a hat trick, putting him second in the league in goals, while Evan Rodrigues dished two assists. Rodrigues has really fallen off after a strong start, making him a middling streamer.
Matthew Tkachuk – Goal and three assists with four shots and four PIM. It’s been a disappointing season for Tkachuk, but he now has 10 points in his last five games. Here comes the big heater.
Carter Verhaeghe – Two goals and an assist. It’s been solid for Verhaeghe, but imagine how much better it will get if Tkachuk really gets on a roll.
Gustav Forsling – Two assists with a shot. Forsling is +25 with a hit per game and around 1.5 blocks per game. The points aren’t great, and I don’t really see them improving, but if you need help in secondary numbers, Forsling is a solid option.
Valeri Nichushkin – Goal and an assist with six shots. Even with Big Val dropping to the second line, the numbers are fantastic. He’s on a 40+40 pace which would blow previous career highs out of the water.
Matt Boldy – Two goals and an assist with seven shots and four PIM. With all the injuries to Wild players, Boldy is in position for a big run. I’m quite bullish going forward.
Brock Faber – Three assists with three shots and five blocks. Faber played over 30 minutes again. With Jared Spurgeon out now, Faber is must own everywhere.
Cole Sillinger – Hat trick with five shots. Sillinger hasn’t done too much, but he’s getting a big opportunity with their injuries. Look, Columbus is buried, there’s no reason that they shouldn’t force feed Sillinger and Johnson big minutes. They’re the future high end forward pieces with Fantilli, give them the workload. For now, Sillinger is only a middling streamer.
Adam Boqvist – Two assists with a shot. Boqvist hasn’t had much of a role even with Columbus in shambles. No interest right now.
Martin Jones – 23 saves on 24 shots in the 4-1 win over the Sharks. Jones has been excellent so far. He’s clearly must own in the short term.
William Nylander – Two goals and an assist with five shots. It sure sounds like the Leafs are about to back up the Brinks truck for Nylander any day now. He’s been their best forward this year, even over Matthews.
Colin Miller – Two goals on three shots. There’s a bigger role available with Siegenthaler out, but eveen still, Miller is only a DFS punt or for super deep leagues.
Brendan Smith – Two assists with two shots. And there’s your annual Smith update!
Erik Haula – Goal and an assist with two shots. I’m bumping Haula up to solid streamer while Hughes is out.
J.T. Miller – Two goals and an assist, +5. Elias Pettersson also had two goals and an assist, while Brock Boeser dished two assists. Tocchet put all three of these guys together. If it sticks, then all three could do even better than they have.
Quinn Hughes – Three assists with two shots. The shots have dropped off to a level more in line with expectation. However, the points haven’t slowed down at all. Absolutely incredible first half from Hughes.
Artemi Panarin – Goal and an assist with eight shots. I don’t think anyone could have foreseen Panarin being over four shots per game. He’s been a top five forward so far and none of it looks fluky.
Vincent Trocheck – Goal and an assist with four shots. Trocheck is sitting at a point per game hitting all of the categories. The injury to Chytil has done him wonders, although he was already a clear hold before that.
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen – 40 saves on 41 shots in the 3-1 win over the Penguins. Monster performance from UPL who stole this game for the Sabres. They have a six game homestand starting Tuesday, so if they have any prayer of getting back into the playoff race, this is the time. UPL is splitting with Levi right now, so I’d stream him in the good matchups that are upcoming.
Nikita Kucherov – Goal and two assists with five shots. He’s been jockeying with MacKinnon for the points lead out of nowhere. He’s playing at a 56+80 pace, which is absolutely bonkers.
Brayden Point – Two goals. It’s been a bit disappointing from Point, especially at even strength. The good news is Tampa’s PP has been incredible so here’s to hoping that they can figure out even strength and Point gets back to last season’s 95 point pace.
Hampus Lindholm – Two assists with a shot. Lindholm has six assists over the past four games, but he started so dreadfully that I’m not looking to use him right now.
Filip Forsberg – Two goals on four shots. The first line for Nashville continues to crush, with Gustav Nyquist scoring a goal and an assist with two shots, while Ryan O’Reilly dished two assists with two shots. Nyquist is an elite streamer now that he’s on an eight game point streak, while the other two remain clear holds. If your league doesn’t have shots as a category, I would hold Nyquist too.
Jason Robertson – Goal and an assist with six shots. All of a sudden, Robertson is at a point per game. That’s way behind last season’s pace but not so bad when it feels like his first half has been a disaster. The shot rate is soaring back up with over four per game in the last ten, so I’m buying a big second half.
Jordan Binnington – 29 saves on 30 shots in the 2-1 SO win over Antti Raanta (21/22) and the Hurricanes. It’s bottom end, but Binnington’s save percentage plus winning half of his starts is probably enough to be a G3. This was Raanta’s first good start in months so I have zero interest right now.
Jack Eichel – Two goals on five shots. Eichel has slowed down a bit lately, but his overall numbers are still outstanding.
Keegan Kolesar – Two assists with two shots. Hard pass.
Nic Roy – Two goals on three shots. Roy doesn’t have enough of a role to be more than a bottom end streamer.
Evan Bouchard – Three assists with two shots and two PIM. Bouchard has been everything we could have hoped for. He’s currently the #5 overall defenseman which looks completely sustainable given his role on the Oilers.
Stuart Skinner – 29 saves on 30 shots in the 3-1 win over the Senators. Skinner is definitely a hold because of the win rate, but here’s to hoping he turned a corner overall. The goals against average would be elite if he could get back to last season’s .913 sv%.
Sunday’s Games
Kevin Fiala – Two goals on five shots. The new change in lines looks to have sparked Fiala’s shot rate again. I’m not sure we get him back to Minnesota levels, but he has a chance to go past a point per game again.
Nicolas Aube-Kubel – Goal and an assist, as did Nic Dowd. Don’t expect much from the fourth liners.
John Carlson – Goal and an assist with four shots. Carlson has been extremely disappointing, but there’s nothing we can really do about it but hope for the best. He’s still clearly good enough to hold.
Nazem Kadri – Two goals on six shots. I’ve been stubborn holding Kadri, and there’s no reason to change with eight points in his last nine games, plus an elite shot rate.
Jonathan Huberdeau – Two assists. That’s five points in his last five games, but it’s going to take more than that for me to want to use Huberdeau again.
Colin Blackwell – Two goals and an assist with three shots. Blackwell has produced in stretches in the past, and the minutes are sky high right now with all of the Chicago injuries. I see real deep league value, but for standard leagues, I’m just monitoring.
Jarred Tinordi – Two assists with a shot. Easy pass.
Nikita Zaitsev – Goal and an assist with two PIM. You know times are tough when Zaitsev is on PP2. The blocks are good, but that’s about it.
Mark Scheifele – Two goals on three shots. Nikolaj Ehlers had a goal and an assist with five shots. Can you imagine saying a year ago that the Jets would be a power house? They’re truly among the league’s elite, and it starts with their first line.
Trevor Zegras – Two goals on four shots. You can go either way on Zegras right now. I guess I’d probably leave him on waivers, but he’s definitely on the fringe because we can’t deny the upside.
Three Point Challenge: We will do Tuesday’s games per usual. You can’t select Kucherov, MacKinnon, Panarin, Pastrnak, McDavid, Nylander, Miller, Reinhart, Rantanen, or Q. Hughes. I’ll go with Scheifele against the Blue Jackets.
That’s all for now guys. As always, feel free to ask any questions, leave any comments, or give any suggestions below. I’ll be back on Wednesday recapping the action of the next two nights. Thanks for reading, take care!
