I’ve been pumping Ondrej Kase‘s tires for a while now. The former 7th round pick scored his first career hat trick on Wednesday, putting five shots on goal against the Stars with a +4 rating. That brings the 23 year old Dane to 8+6 in 15 games with well over three shots per game. He’s eliminated any doubt as to whether or not he’s a hold; Kase needs to be owned in all formats. Sure, he’s bounced around the first line and other spots, but it doesn’t really matter at this point. There’s no penalty minutes, but everything else looks great. Let’s take a look at what else happened over the last two nights:
Mathew Barzal – Two assists with three shots. His season to date epitomizes why I was low on Barzal coming into the season. Barely over two shots per game and 3+22 with a -10 rating? It’s not great. Sure, he’s due for a boost in his shooting percentage, but going against first lines was a major step forward that he hasn’t cleared.
Bryan Rust – Hat trick on eight shots. Didn’t expect to see Rust get a hat trick any time soon while he’s outside of the top six in Pittsburgh. He had one goal in 29 games before this, so leave him on the wire for now.
Jonathan Toews – Goal and two assists with two PIM. Despite the Blackhawks being near the bottom of the league, Toews has been just fine.
Marcus Kruger – Goal and an assist with two shots. The Blackhawks fourth line scored a couple goals. And there’s your annual Kruger update!
Brent Seabrook – Goal and an assist with three shots. Hard pass.
Brandon Saad – Goal and an assist with three shots. He’s been a decent streamer since moving onto the top line.
Sean Couturier – Two goals and an assist with five shots in his return to the lineup. Nice to see Couts have a big game right away. He could have easily had more points, so get him back in your lineups immediately.
Claude Giroux – Two assists with a shot. Giroux has been a killer all season proving last season’s bounceback was no joke.
Matthew Tkachuk – Four assists with seven shots. Mark Giordano, Sean Monahan, and Johnny Gaudreau each had three points. This kind of top end talent is why I loved the Flames last season, but the rest of the team stopped them from a postseason birth. They’ve suckered me in again with the rest of the division not as good as expected, mainly the Sharks.
Devin Shore – Two assists. The Stars have balanced their lines and PP units a bit, but Shore is still only a bottom end streamer.
Brandon Montour – Goal and three assists with three shots, +5. He’s getting massive minutes and has done enough to be a hold for now. Just don’t expect much from him once the team gets healthy.
Ryan Getzlaf – Two assists with two shots. Getzlaf doing what he does.
Carter Hutton – 25 saves on 26 shots in the 3-1 win over the Coyotes. Strong first game back from Hutton after a brief hiatus. No matter what game he plays this weekend, Hutton won’t have a great matchup, but he is worthy of playing at this point.
Cam Atkinson – Two assists with six shots. Atkinson has been spectacular this season with 19+15 in 30 games with almost four shots per game. I don’t see any reason to expect much of a regression either.
Artemi Panarin – Two goals on six shots. The first line in CBus is terrific and Panarin is the main catalyst. He’s going to get all of the monies this offseason. There’s a chance he’s the highest paid winger in the league at this time next season.
Sergei Bobrovsky – 29 saves on 30 shots in the 4-1 win over the Kings. He’s been incredibly disappointing, but there’s no reason he can’t have a big second half.
Jaccob Slavin – Goal and an assist with two shots. Slavin is on the outside looking in of holds at this point.
Brett Pesce – Two assists with a shot. Same story as Slavin even though they’re strong players in real life.
Andrei Svechnikov – Two goals with seven shots with two PIM. I really wish the Canes would play him more minutes. The shot rate is already pushing three per game so the upside is huge down the line.
Jeff Petry – Two goals with seven shots. Petry is a monster right now even though Weber has returned. I’d hold him for the time being.
Kenny Agostino – Two assists. The points have been alright but the shots aren’t there. He’s not at a streamer level yet.
Phillip Danault – Two assists with three shots. Bottom end streamer at best.
Andrei Vasilevskiy – 48 saves on 49 shots in the 4-1 win over the Maple Leafs. Vasilevskiy should be back in your lineups and played no matter the matchup. My personal #1 goalie going into the season showed no signs of rust in this one.
J.T. Miller – Two assists with a shot. He’s still on the first power play unit which makes him a decent streamer, but playing on the third line getting only 12 minutes a game puts him far from a hold.
Nikita Kucherov – Goal and an assist with two shots. Dude has been straight fire for a month now.
Anthony Cirelli – Goal and an assist with two shots. Talked about him a few times lately. I like Cirelli long term but he needs a bigger role for him to be a decent streamer.
Nick Bonino – Goal and an assist with three shots. Even with a bigger role due to their injuries, Bonino should be left on the waiver wire.
Colton Sissons – Goal and an assist. He played over 20 minutes in this game and has a four game point streak. I’m not a big fan, but he’s a bottom end streamer for now.
Alex Chiasson – Goal and an assist with four shots. As long as he’s with Connor McDavid (2A, 4 PIM), Chiasson is a top end streamer.
Leon Draisaitl – Two assists with three shots. Draisaitl has gone to another level since playing with McJesus.
Mark Scheifele – Goal and two assists with two shots. Scheifele has taken his game to another level this year. He’s well over 2.5 shots per game this season which is all he needed to do to push towards the top 15 overall. Did I mention ESPN ranked him outside the top 60 before?
Blake Wheeler – Two assists with three shots. All your assists are belong to Wheeler!
Dustin Byfuglien – Two assists with five shots. Big Buff has been excellent since returning from his injury.
Bryan Little – Two assists with two shots. Little has been a fine streamer and should remain so while he’s centering the second line.
Josh Morrissey – Goal and an assist. I really like Morrissey in real life, but he’s tough to hold with Buff back. You can take the gamble, but the downside is fairly high.
Devan Dubnyk – 30 saves on 31 shots in the 5-1 win over the Panthers. Fingers crossed that Dubnyk has turned the corner after his brutal slump.
Ryan Suter – Three assists with a shot. I did not expect this good of a season with Suter given Dumba’s rise, but Suter is on pace for a career high in points.
Nino Niederreiter – Two goals and an assist with four shots. Really nice stretch from Nino that brings him up towards the top end of streamers.
Zach Parise – Goal and an assist with two shots. Parise bouncing back to this level is almost as stunning as Dustin Brown’s last season. Not quite, but you get the point. I would sell high if you could, but if not, it’s not a big deal, you got him for nothing.
Jared Spurgeon – Two assists with a shot. He’s done enough to solidify himself as a bottom end hold.
Timo Meier – Two goals on three shots, both assisted by Logan Couture. I have to wonder if the Sharks shift these guys into being the first line given the struggles of the first line in terms of possession and goals for. I hope it doesn’t happen solely for fantasy purposes because these two and Hertl have been great.
Friday Streamers:
Ryan Dzingel (18.7%) – He’s played very well all season and a battle with Detroit is a great spot.
Alex Chiasson (1.6%) – Read Chiasson, Alex above. A matchup with the Flyers is excellent.
Andreas Athanasiou (4.5%) – He’s slowed down a bit, but a game against Ottawa should help Athanasiou get back on track.
That’s all for now guys. I’ll be back on Monday recapping the weekend’s action. As always, feel free to ask any questions, leave any comments, or give any suggestions below. Thanks for reading, take care!
