If you would told me before the season that the Canadiens would be in a playoff spot at the halfway point of the season, I’d have guessed that Carey Price was playing at a Vezina level Yet, here we are with Price struggling and the Canadiens succeeding. However, we’ve seen a few good starts lately from Price, with his best coming on Thursday. Price stopped all 33 Canucks shots in the 2-0 win over Vancouver. So what do we make of Price? Well, this game was the second of a back-to-back for Vancouver, who lost their rookie phenom, so I don’t take much away from this. His other really good games were against Arizona and Chicago; not exactly powerhouses. I feel a little bit better about Price than I did before the season starting, but only to the point that I view him as a middling to bottom end #2 goalie. Let’s take a look at what else happened over the last two nights:
David Rittich – Missed the last two games with a minor injury. It doesn’t sound serious and Mike Smith didn’t exactly light the world on fire, so expect Rittich to remain the #1 in Calgary when he returns shortly.
Johnny Gaudreau – Two goals and four assists with ten shots and two PIM over two games. What an amazing season for the 25 year old winger. 100 points is looking more and more likely.
Elias Lindholm – Two goals and two assists with five shots and six PIM over two games. Do you think Lindholm is loving life in Calgary? He already has a career high in points.
Sean Monahan – Goal and two assists with seven shots over two games. He’s found more offense than I ever expected. Must be nice to play with Gaudreau, although Monahan is no slouch himself.
Noah Hanifin – Two assists with one shot over two games. Hanifin is currently on the fringe although I lean towards leaving him on the wire.
Andreas Athanasiou – Goal and an assist with four shots. I’d put him down as an elite streamer now. The shot rate has remained great and he’s avoided a poor plus-minus.
Dominik Simon – Goal and an assist. Almost every good player had two points for the Pens on Wednesday so I’ll focus on Simon. He played with Malkin and Hornqvist in this game making him a top end streamer for the time being.
Elias Pettersson – Hat trick on six shots Wednesday, nothing on Thursday before leaving the game due to injury. Just a dirty play by Kotkaniemi taking out Pettersson. It did not look good so fingers crossed that it wasn’t.
Alex Edler – Three assists with five shots over two games. Edler has been terrific this season and should be owned in all formats.
Sven Baertschi – Goal and an assist with five shots and two PIM over two games. Baertschi has played well since returning from injury. I’ll consider him a middling streamer for now with upside for more.
Brock Boeser – Two assists with thirteen shots over two games. Boeser has been outstanding this season; hopefully his partner in crime isn’t out for long.
Matt Duchene – Goal and an assist with six shots. The shot rate is a bit disappointing, but Duchene has been over a point per game virtually all season, so no complaints.
Mark Stone – Goal and an assist with five shots and two PIM. Outstanding all-around season from Stone. The Senators need to figure out as soon as possible whether they can extend Duchene or Stone.
Ryan Dzingel – Two assists with a shot and two PIM. He’s inching closer and closer to a hold.
Travis Zajac – Two assists with five shots. No thanks.
Will Butcher – Two assists. Easy pass.
Alex Radulov – Three assists with four shots and two PIM. Radulov is crushing every category across the board. It’s a shame he missed 10 games because we’d be looking at a top 20 season.
Tyler Seguin – Two goals on eight shots. Nice for Seguin to have a big game after his owner’s and CEO’s bush league comments. I have zero concerns about Seguin going forward.
John Klingberg – Two assists with three shots and two PIM. Klingberg should be fine as well.
Miro Heiskanen – Two goals on nine shots with two PIM. Nice to see him have a monster game even with Klingberg in the lineup. I love him in dynasties but for now, he belongs on the waiver wire.
Brent Burns – Goal and three assists with three shots playing over 29 minutes. Chewbacca killing it once again.
Joe Pavelski – Goal and three assists with two shots. It wasn’t that long ago that I was concerned about Pavelski, but we’re well past that point now.
Tyson Jost – Two goals on three shots, both assisted by Alexander Kerfoot. I still like both of these guys a lot in dynasties, but for now, Kerfoot is a middling streamer and Jost is bottom end.
Connor McDavid – Two goals and an assist with three shots. Leon Draisaitl had a goal and an assist with five shots. Nothing new here.
Mikko Koskinen – 29 saves on 30 shots in the 3-1 win over Arizona. Nice to see Koskinen get back on track after a rough two weeks, albeit against the Coyotes. I’d consider him a middling #2 going forward.
Jared Spurgeon – Goal and two assists playing almost 26 minutes. With Dumba out, Spurgeon is an easy hold.
Zach Parise – Goal and an assist with five shots. I’m still in shock at this massive bounce back by Parise.
Charlie Coyle – Goal and an assist with two shots. Coyle is showing signs but he’s only at middling streamer level for the moment.
Mitch Marner – Two goals, both assisted by John Tavares. Both of these guys found another level that they haven’t shown before despite being stars.
Brad Marchand – Two goals on four shots and two PIM. Both Patrice Bergeron and David Pastrnak also had two points each. They’re back together and rolling.
David Krejci – Two assists with a shot. Krejci’s value depending directly on your team needs. I’d rather leave him on the wire but if you need assists, I can get behind holding him.
Torey Krug – Two assists. His plus-minus has been a mess but everything else is strong across the board.
Jake DeBrusk – Two goals on six shots with two PIM. I’d leave him on the wire right now, but I’m really liking DeBrusk long term.
Aleksander Barkov – Goal and an assist with three shots. Typical Barkov performance against a team lacking a first line center (no Eichel Thursday).
Jeff Skinner – Two goals on four shots. Sam Reinhart had a goal and an assist with two shots. Nice to see these guys produce without Eichel. The matchup with Boston on Saturday is far from ideal, but hopefully Eichel is back after that.
Teuvo Teravainen – Two goals and an assist. Teravainen has been surprisingly inconsistent this season but his overall numbers are still solid. I’m holding him without much thought.
Dougie Hamilton – Goal and an assist with two shots and four PIM. I’ve long been a Hamilton fan but this move to Carolina has really hurt his value. He played only 14 minutes in this game which is also frustrating. I’d probably cut bait although I don’t mind holding on seeing if he can build off this performance.
Sebastian Aho – Two assists with a shot. Great all-around season from Aho, who is also scoring in bunches. Regardless, it’s a well-deserved All-Star selection.
Claude Giroux – Two assists with three shots. It’s remarkable that Giroux hasn’t regressed at all from last season’s massive bounceback.
Jakub Voracek – Two assists with a shot and two PIM. Voracek has only been decent this season. The PIM have really dried up and his plus-minus is a complete disaster. You have to hold him, but it’s disappointing.
Mathew Barzal – Two goals on eight shots. I am really liking this version of Barzal that is taking a ton of shots. If he can keep up this shot rate, it changes his future outlook for the better.
Michal Kempny – Two assists with two shots and two PIM. And there’s your annual Kempny update!
David Perron – Two assists with a shot and two PIM. Nice streak from Perron pushes him up towards top end streamer.
Alex Pietrangelo – Goal and an assist with five shots and four PIM. I’m still hoping for a turn around from Pietrangelo, who has six points in his last seven games. Your league size and who is on the wire would determine whether I would hold him, but I’d lean yes.
Ryan O’Reilly – Two assists with four shots. He continues to have the best offensive season of his career.
Nikita Kucherov – Goal and three assists with three shots. I’ve run out of superlatives to describe how good Kucherov has been.
Steven Stamkos – Goal and two assists with six shots. Back up to three shots per game, on pace for about 45+45. Seems good.
Ryan Callahan – Goal and an assist with two shots. You know the opponent stinks when Big Tom Callahan’s son gets two points.
Brayden Point – Goal and an assist with three shots. I’m just going to assume Tampa will continue to buzzsaw everyone in their path.
Friday Streamers:
Brandon Pirri (0.6%) – He’s hot as hell so might as well ride the hot schmotato.
J.T. Compher (1.2%) – Still on PP1 and his linemates on L2 are looking better.
Ryan Hartman (0.3%) – He’s on the first line right now and he gets an amazing matchup against the Red Wings.
That’s all for now guys. I’ll be back on Monday recapping a huge slate of games for this weekend. As always, feel free to ask any questions, leave any comments, or give any suggestions below. Thanks for reading, take care!
