Before the season, if you told me I was going to be writing about an Ingram, I would have assumed I was needed to write about basketball in an emergency. Instead, we’re two months into the season, and the #3 overall goalie is a 26 year old who played 30 mediocre to bad games in his NHL career. Connor Ingram posted a 26 save shutout in the 6-0 win over the Capitals on Monday. Ingram now has an 11-3 record with a 2.23/.930. I was bullish on an Arizona goalie in preseason, turns out I should have looked at the backup. Do I expect it to last? I would lean towards no, but crazier things have happened. Arizona is playing excellent hockey, and it’s not only because of Ingram. Somehow, he’s still available in over 50% of leagues. Even if he turns into a pumpkin in two weeks, it was worth the speculative add, because the upside is through the roof. Let’s see what else happened over the last two nights:
Monday’s Games
Andrei Vasilevskiy – 25 save shutout in the 4-0 win over the Stars. After getting blown out 8-1 by Dallas on Saturday, it’s not a surprise that Tampa put in their best effort. Vasilevskiy’s numbers will work itself out sooner than later.
Nikita Kucherov – Goal and an assist with six shots. Offensively, Kucherov has been the best player in the league so far. Even by his standards, Kucherov is on an insane pace.
Anthony Cirelli – Two goals on three shots. Cirelli has never panned out offensively like I had hoped. Even with big minutes, he’s only a middling streamer.
Travis Konecny – Two assists with four shots. Konecny played at a 40 goal pace last season, and is doing so again. The assists are lacking, but nobody can complain.
Carter Hart – 31 saves on 32 shots in the 2-1 OT win over the Penguins. Hart has been a solid #2 as the Flyers have bought into the Torts system, at least for now.
Kyle Connor – Goal and an assist with four shots, as did Nikolaj Ehlers. Mark Scheifele assisted on both of their goals, as their top line led them to a 2-1 victory. Please, for the love of God, keep Ehlers on the top line. If he does, he’s going to blow up.
Laurent Brossoit – 42 saves on 43 shots earning the win. I’m not that interested in streaming Brossoit, although I would in quality matchups.
Vince Dunn – Goal and an assist with five shots. Dunn is proving that last season isn’t a fluke.
Sean Monahan – Two goals. It’s nice to see Monahan play well again after his neck issues. That said, he’s only a bottom end streamer.
Josh Anderson – Goal and an assist with three shots. This was Anderson’s first goal of the season, in game 25. That shows you how interested I am at the moment.
Alex Kerfoot – Three assists. Somehow, Kerfoot has nine points in the last four games. If you want to stream him while he’s on fire, I can’t blame you.
Clayton Keller – Three assist with two shots and two PIM. That gets Keller back to a point per game while being over three shots per game. It’s a relief to finally see Keller play on a good team.
Jason Zucker – Goal and an assist with six shots. Zucker’s role isn’t big enough right now to be more than a bottom end streamer.
Nick Schmaltz – Two goals on three shots. Schmaltz is on the fringe, although I lean towards holding while the shots are below average, but not dreadful.
Colton Parayko – Two assists with three shots and two PIM. Parayko doesn’t provide much anymore besides quality blocks.
Jordan Binnington – 33 saves on 34 shots in the 2-1 OT win over the Golden Knights. The goals against average is high, but the save percentage is a bit above average and he’s won 50% of his starts. That’s more than enough to be a hold in all formats.
Tuesday’s Games
Phillip Danault – Two goals on three shots. Danault is a solid streamer, but it’s hard to see him ever being more.
Vladislav Gavrikov – Two assists with three shots. Revenge game! And there’s your annual Gavrikov update!
Johnny Gaudreau – Goal and an assist with five shots. Firmly on the fringe.
Artemi Panarin – Goal and an assist with seven shots. Panarin has been a top five player to this point, at least in non-hits leagues. It doesn’t look unsustainable either. The shooting percentage is a little high, but not by much, and by the eye test, he’s consistently dominating shifts.
Vladimir Tarasenko – Two goals and an assist with three shots. The line shuffle puts Tarasenko with Drake Batherson (goal and two assists, two shots and two PIM) and Stutzle. Batherson is a clear hold again, while Tarasenko is an elite streamer with upside from there if the minutes hold.
Brady Tkachuk – Two goals on eight shots. Tkachuk is pushing towards five shots per game and will blow past last season’s 35 goals at this rate. Even with the assists drying up, he’s been a monster.
Erik Brannstrom – Two assists with a shot. I had a lot of stock in Brannstrom, but it’s worth nothing now.
Dylan Larkin – Two goals on four shots. Couldn’t get one more point to get me the three point challenge? Damn it.
Robby Fabbri – Goal and an assist with two shots. Fabbri has always produced when he gets minutes. Sadly, he was dropped to the third line this game, so he’s back to being a middling streamer.
Michael Rasmussen – Goal and an assist with three shots. Nothing to see here in fantasy.
Jeff Skinner – Goal and an assist with four shots. Skinner was buzzing throughout the third period, but it was too little, too late for the Sabres once again. He’s an easy hold in all formats.
Tomas Hertl – Hat trick on eight shots with two PIM. The Sharks stunned the Isles late with two goals in the last 3:11 before winning in overtime. Hertl is putting up a lot of points, but whether your league has plus-minus or not will greatly impact his value.
William Eklund – Goal and two assists with three shots. There’s plenty of signs that Eklund will be a factor in the long term, but it’s bottom end streaming for now.
Mikael Granlund – Two assists with four shots playing almost 25 minutes. It’s clear that Granlund is Quinn’s most trusted player. With nine points in his last six games, he’s a solid streamer.
Mike Reilly – Goal and an assist with three shots. Rielly has always been a decent deep league option when he played. He’s getting PP2 time, but the minutes are quite low, so leave him for the deepest of leagues.
Bo Horvat – Two assists with two shots. Horvat is a clear bottom end hold.
Simon Holmstrom – Two assists with a shot. Holmstrom is shooting an unsustainable percentage, and these were his first two assists of the season. No thanks.
Nick Foligno – Two goals and an assist with three shots. I guess there’s some value in deep leagues since Foligno hits all of the categories a little bit, but that’s about it.
Seth Jones – Two assists with two shots. Jones still has no goals and while the plus-minus is bad this season, I’m still not particularly interested.
Nathan MacKinnon – Goal and two assists with five shots. Nine game point streak for MacKinnon, who also has a point in every home game the Avalanche have played this season. Pretty, pretty good.
Jonathan Drouin – Two assists with two shots. Big Val missed the game due to illness, so Drouin moved to the first line playing over 21 minutes. Great short term streamer, but once Val is back, Drouin’s value could crater.
Matt Boldy – Two goals and an assist with three shots. Much like the team itself, Boldy has gotten back on track with Hynes at the reigns. He should get back to being on his usual level for the rest of the season.
Kirill Kaprizov – Goal and an assist with five shots. It’s been a slow start for Kaprizov, but I have zero concern.
Jack Hughes – Goal and two assists with six shots. Hughes would be a real threat for the points lead if he didn’t miss some time. He’s playing at an all-world level.
Jesper Bratt – Two goals on five shots. The shots have dropped off to the points where they’re only average. That said, he’s well over a point per game, so even with poor secondary stats, Bratt has been outstanding.
Kevin Bahl – Two assists. Bahl played plenty of minutes, but he’s under a shot per game. No thanks.
J.T. Miller – Goal and an assist with five shots. And just like that, Miller is second in the league in points. The Canucks made a massive comeback, led by their stars, but didn’t steal a point as Bratt scored late. They’ve shown no signs of slowing down.
Brock Boeser – Goal and an assist with three shots. It’s incredible that Boeser has 18 goals already. That matches last season’s total in 48 fewer games. Love to see it. Boeser did have a third point on the Hoglander goal, but as of now, it was taken away. If it comes back, Ashtray will get credit for three points. I’ll wait until overnight to make a final ruling.
Elias Pettersson – Two assists with four shots. If the shots can get back to last season’s level, we’re talking about a top 10 player. If not, then it’s top 25, possibly higher.
Three Point Challenge We will do Thursday’s games per usual. You can’t select Kucherov, Pastrnak, Miller, Panarin, Makar, Q. Hughes, J. Hughes, Pettersson, Rantanen, MacKinnon, Boeser, or Point. I’ll go with Nylander against the Senators.
That’s all for now guys. I’ll be back on Friday recapping the action from the weekend. If you haven’t checked out Jules’ Monday post yet, do that here. JKJ’s streaming post will be up on Thursday. As always, feel free to ask any questions, leave any comments, or give any suggestions below. Tanks for reading, take care!
