It was less than a week ago that James van Riemsdyk was placed on the fourth line for the Flyers and Scott Gordon had a private meeting with him. Since then, JVR has taken off, with a monster game coming on Monday. He scored a hat trick to give him 5+2 in his last 3 games. Look, we know how good of a player JVR can be; he’s been a top 100 player the past few seasons. However, he only has two games the rest of the week, and then he doesn’t have a game for all of next week with the Flyers on a bye week. Therefore, I wouldn’t be holding him right now. I’d be willing to stream him on Wednesday and Saturday, but I’d cut bait then. However, with a very heavy schedule starting 1/28, including a lot of bad teams, I would look to grab JVR at the All-Star break to get three games in four nights after that break. Then, we see how he does in those three games, and proceed from there. Here’s a look at what else happened on Monday night:
Patrick Kane – Two goals and two assists with nine shots. Kane played 28:50 in this game! 28:50! It says a lot that Kane was the only player with multiple points on Chicago when they scored five goals. I’m at a loss for words with that workload for Kane. He’s been outstanding all season.
Cam Ward – 19 saves on 25 shots in 2 periods before getting pulled. He sucks. The end.
Travis Zajac – Goal and two assists with four shots. Easy pass outside of super deep faceoff leagues.
Blake Coleman – Two goals and an assist with five shots and two PIM. Coleman is on a nice streak and is up to three shots per game. I’m moving him up to solid streamer.
Kyle Palmieri – Two goals on six shots. Palmieri has played very well this season which doesn’t come as a big surprise. He’s an easy hold at this point.
Sami Vatanen – Goal and an assist with three shots. His offense has fallen off quickly in New Jersey. Easy pass.
Brett Seney – Goal and an assist. Nothing to see here. Welcome to the Razzball database!
Jesper Bratt – Two assists with two shots. Bratt is a bottom end streamer this season. We’re seeing flashes, which is all we really want from a 20 year old who was a sixth round pick, but that’s not ideal for fantasy.
Eric Staal – Two assists with two shots. Staal has been in a very cold stretch lately. I’m still holding him but he’s fallen to the fringe.
Devan Dubnyk – 15 saves on 20 shots in two periods before getting pulled. He didn’t receive much help in this one. I’m chalking it up to one bad game.
Nolan Patrick – Two goals and two assists. These were Patrick’s first goals in 24 games. I’m not writing him for dead yet, but he’s nowhere near worth using in fantasy right now.
Scott Laughton – Three assists with two PIM. And there’s your annual Laughton update!
Claude Giroux – Two assists with three shots and two penalty minutes. He’s slowed down a bit, especially in the goals department, but Giroux remains at a 90 point pace.
Wayne Simmonds – Two goals and two PIM. I prefer to stream Simmonds unless you really need the PIM/hits. Six assists isn’t going to get it done.
Radko Gudas – Two assists with two shots. His PIM aren’t even as good as usual, so I don’t see much value outside of hits/blocks in deep leagues.
Carl Soderberg – Hat trick on five shots. Soderberg has elevated himself to bottom end streamer after a couple rough seasons. A new career high in goals is a near-certainty.
Auston Matthews – Two assists with two shots. The goals have slowed down (he couldn’t shoot 25+% forever), but Matthews is still chugging along just fine.
Jake Allen – 28 saves on 29 shots in the 4-1 win over the Capitals. He’s been terrible and Binnington has played well since being called up, so Allen is a pure desperation play.
Ryan O’Reilly – Two assists with three shots and two PIM. This gets him back to a point per game. RoR has been super steady all season long and is right around 100th overall.
Vladimir Tarasenko – Goal and an assist with two shots and two PIM. As I wrote yesterday, I fully expect Tarasenko to pick it up in the second half. He’s too good not to.
Vince Dunn – Goal and an assist with two PIM. His minutes were limited in his second game back from a lower body injury. I still like Dunn a lot long term, but I wouldn’t be using him right now.
Paul Byron – Goal and an assist with two shots. He’s a solid streamer in deeper leagues with his strong hits and blocks from a forward, but he’s an easy pass in standard leagues.
Jeff Petry – Goal and an assist. Petry has been okay since Weber returned. I don’t love him, but he’s probably doing enough to be held.
Brad Marchand – Goal and an assist with six shots. Marchand has been his usual-self crushing all of the categories. The shot rate is back up over three per game which makes him a true six category stud.
Carter Hutton – 7 saves on 12 shots in 25 minutes before getting pulled. He received no help from his defense, but I think it’s time for Ullmark to get more playing time. Hutton has been fine and should still be held, but I’m not liking his situation too much anymore. The Sabres have fallen off hard and it’s punished him. Housley is really hurting this team and they have no margin for error. I would sell Hutton if I could for another goalie in his tier.
Milan Lucic – Two goals. The Sabres should be embarrassed that they let this corpse score two goals in a game. He’s more than likely the worst contract in the league.
Zack Kassian – Two goals on four shots. Another guy who is completely useless in fantasy that the Sabres should be embarrassed about letting him score two goals.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – Goal and an assist with two shots and two PIM. Very strong season from RNH who is well on his way to setting career highs. Easy hold.
Tobias Rieder – Two assists. He’s on the fourth line right now and has 0 goals this season in 33 games. Moving on..
Connor McDavid – Goal and an assist with three shots. If I didn’t watch this game, I wouldn’t believe that the Oilers scored seven goals and McDavid had only two points. He’s been amazing which is a surprise to exactly zero people.
Tuesday Streamers
Andreas Athanasiou (25.9%) – I know it’s a higher percentage of ownership than I usually use, but Athanasiou is still widely available. I think his speed can cause real problems for the Ducks so I’ll take a chance on him.
Charlie Coyle (17.1%) – I’m expecting the Wild to come out strong after playing poor on Monday. They’re at home against the Kings and Coyle is centering the second line and PP2. Good enough for me.
Jakub Vrana (12.4%) – This isn’t a matchup I like to target, but the Preds have been struggling defensively lately and Vrana has played very well on the second line.
That’s all for now guys. I’ll be back tomorrow recapping Tuesday’s action. As always, feel free to ask any questions, leave any comments, or give any suggestions below. Thanks for reading, take care!
