Over the past few seasons, Patrik Laine has caught plenty of his slack for his game. The goals have been on the decline and his defense has remained terrible. The good news is that Laine has completely righted the ship this season. Laine had a hat trick on Thursday, bringing him up to 16+15 in 29 games. That’s the best goal and assist rate of his career. The confidence in his game seems to fully be back which is great to see. He’s one of the premier offensive players in the game, and it’s crazy to think that Laine is still only 23 years old. It will be very interesting to see what happens with Laine in the offseason as he’s one year away from free agency, but I have to say, I love the fit in Columbus right now given their style of play. There’s a great chance that Laine is back to being the 35+ goal scorer that he was shaping up to be, with 50 goal upside. The shots aren’t elite which keeps his value down a bit, but I’m back to being a big believer in dynasties again. Props to Fungazi for picking him in the Three Point Challenge. If you need streamer help for the weekend, go check out JKJ’s piece from yesterday here! Let’s take a look at what else happened over the last two nights:
Wednesday’s Games
Mats Zuccarello – Goal and an assist. Kirill Kaprizov had two assists. These two have continued to go off, but Ryan Hartman (assist) has fallen off a bit. Hartman is now on the fringe despite playing with these superstars.
Mark Scheifele – Hat trick and an assist with four shots. Blake Wheeler had four assists with three shots as the tough line went off for Winnipeg. Wheeler has caught fire lately which is enough to make him an easy hold again. Scheifele is also tearing it up which is great to see.
Cole Perfetti – Goal and an assist with two shots. Despite playing on the second line, his minutes don’t come close to his linemates. I like him a lot in dynasties, but Perfetti is only a bottom end streamer for now. Welcome to the Razzball Database!
Jonathan Huberdeau – Two assists with three shots. He’s over an assist per game on the season which is just remarkable. The shot rate is up quite a bit too. He’s easily been a top five player to this point.
Aleksander Barkov – Goal and an assist with four shots, as did Aaron Ekblad. The depth of Florida is remarkable, but the superstars keep carrying them. Ebklad has been a #1 defenseman all season while Barkov has been a top 20 guy.
Isac Lundestrom – Goal and an assist. Despite a limited role, Lundestrom has played around a 20+20 pace. He’s only a bottom end streamer because the shot rate is so poor, but the long term upside seems fairly high.
Elias Lindholm – Two goals and an assist with eight shots and four PIM. Johnny Gaudreau and Matthew Tkachuk each had a goal and two assists. The top line just demolished Anaheim from start to finish. The Flames are a complete wagon right now and are the clear favorite to win the Pacific division, even over Vegas.
Rasmus Andersson – Three assists with two shots. Andersson had the breakout I was hoping for in the preseason. He’s been an easy hold all season having already set a new career high in points.
Sean Monahan – Two assists with three shots and two PIM. The new third of line of Monahan, Dillon Dube (1+1) and Toffoli should help Monahan get a little boost, but they’re still the clear third line. Monahan is still a bottom end to middling streamer.
Darcy Kuemper – 29 save shutout in the 2-0 win over Vegas. It seems kind of unfair when Colorado gets quality goaltending. Kuemper is really rounding into form and should be a top 5 goalie for the rest of the season.
Cale Makar – Two assists with two shots. We haven’t seen a defenseman do what Makar has done in quite some time. It’s going to be an interesting debate whether he’s a first round pick or not in drafts next season.
Thursday’s Games
Anton Forsberg – 23 saves on 24 shots in the 3-1 win over the Sabres. The Sabres have been playing entertaining hockey for a while so they decided to play one of the worst games I’ve seen all season on Thursday. That’s from both sides. Forsberg is a desperation streamer at best.
Nick Holden – Two assists. He played 25 minutes with Chabot out, but I wouldn’t even want to use him in deep leagues. Chabot should be back on Tuesday anyways.
Pavel Buchnevich – Goal and an assist with two shots and two PIM. The line of Buch, Tarasenko and Thomas being reunited is great for all of their values going forward.
Cole Caufield – Two goals on three shots. Caufield has four goals in the last four games and the minutes are starting to come up as a result. He’s a solid streamer which could end up being a hold this season, even though Montreal is a disaster.
Jeff Petry – Two assists with four shots and two PIM. Petry is in the middle of one of the biggest dropoffs from one season to the next in history. He went from 12+30 in 55 games to 2+7 in 42 games. Good lord. Easy pass.
Garnet Hathaway – Two goals and an assist with four shots. The fourth line went off for Washington as Carl Hagelin and Nic Dowd each had two assists. I have no interest in using any of these guys.
John Carlson – Goal and an assist with three shots. After a rough start, Carlson is back on track. He should push towards being a #1, although more on the back end this season instead of one of the best.
Gerald Mayhew – Two goals on four shots. He’s looked okay in flashes, but there’s nothing here for fantasy. Welcome to the Razzball Database!
Travis Sanheim – Goal and an assist with three shots. He’s got minimal value for deep leagues and nothing for standard.
Jack Campbell – 45 saves on 46 shots in the 4-1 win over the Penguins. He’s had a rough go of it lately so it was nice to see Campbell have a monster performance. There’s nothing we can really do but roll out Campbell and hope the first half goalie keeps showing up.
Morgan Rielly – Goal and an assist with three shots and four PIM. I feel like Rielly gets underrated because Toronto keeps failing and it’s easy to blame Rielly. He’s still a pretty damn good hockey player, especially for fantasy. He’s a top end #2 bordering on a #1.
Auston Matthews – Goal and an assist with three shots. Mitch Marner had two assists. They’ve been the best duo in the league in the new year.
Ilya Sorokin – 26 saves on 27 shots in the 4-1 win over the Bruins. Despite the Islanders failing to meet expectations, Sorokin has been damn good. I love him long term and he’s still a solid #2 right now.
Brock Nelson – Goal and an assist with four shots. The goals are there for Nelson with 16 in 35 games. That alone makes him an elite streamer. I’m not really looking to hold though with the low assists and impending shooting regression.
Mathew Barzal – Goal and an assist with two shots. I was hoping for a bounce back from Barzal. Not that he was bad last season, but I was hoping for him to get back towards a point per game. He’s a hold regardless, but keep expectations in check.
Noah Dobson – Goal and an assist with four shots and two PIM. Dobson has been arguably the brightest spot on the Isles so far. He’s breaking out now that he’s getting the opportunity. I’m holding everywhere and see Dobson being at least a top 20 guy starting next season.
Jordan Eberle – Goal and an assist with four shots and two PIM. He’s a solid streamer, but I don’t have interest in holding any Kraken forwards with the possible exception of McCann.
Marcus Johansson – Goal and an assist. Bottom end streamer even with top line minutes.
Dylan DeMelo – Two assists with a shot. And there’s your annual DeMelo update!
Kyle Connor – Goal and an assist with two shots. Connor played almost 25 minutes in this game. He belongs in the conversation with best goal scorers in the league.
Boone Jenner – Goal and two assists with two shots. Laine’s resurgence has Jenner playing his best hockey as well. I’m holding him in all formats.
Gustav Nyquist – Two assists with two shots. He’s a bottom end streamer still.
Max Domi – Goal and an assist with two shots. Domi looked like he was going to be a fantasy superstar and his career went completely off the rails.
Zach Werenski – Two assists with three shots and two PIM. The plus-minus is rough, but Werenski has been very good otherwise. He’s somewhere around the 20th best defenseman making him a bottom end #2.
Vladislav Gavrikov – Two assists with three shots. He has plenty of value in hits and blocks leagues, but without those categories, he’s an easy pass.
Yegor Chinakhov – Goal and an assist with five shots and two PIM. There’s long term upside here, but nothing for this season.
Ryan Carpenter – Goal and an assist, as did Phillip Kurashev. No thanks to both.
Trevor Zegras – Goal and an assist, as did Sonny Milano. Both of them have fallen off quite a bit. Zegras is now on the fringe while Milano is a middling streamer.
Zach Hyman – Goal and an assist. Almost every forward on the Oilers had two points in this game so I don’t feel the need to talk about all of them. I just want to reiterate that Hyman is a hold in all leagues again now that he’s back with McDavid.
Quinn Hughes – Goal and an assist with two shots. Nice to see Hughes perform right when he gets back into the lineup. All your assists are belong to Hughes!
J.T. Miller – Goal and an assist with three shots and four PIM. Miller’s name is circulating the rumor mill, and he’ll be good no matter where he ends up. That said, I think his fantasy value will be best if he stays in Vancouver.
Elias Pettersson – Two assists. Pettersson has been better under Boudreau, but it’s still disappointing. I’m fine with holding for upside, but I think he’s more of a streamer right now.
Timo Meier – Two goals and an assist with eight shots and two PIM. Just when he starts to have a rough stretch, Meier dominates. The great players avoid major slumps so it’s great to see Meier doing that in his breakout.
Alexander Barabanov – Goal and two assists with three shots. It was nice to see Barabanov back on the top power play unit, along with playing with Meier and Tomas Hertl (2A). That’s enough to make Barabanov a solid streamer. He’s quietly had a very nice year in his first full season.
That’s all for now guys. I’ll be back on Monday recapping the action from the weekend. As always, feel free to ask any questions, leave any comments, or give any suggestions below. Also, this is a reminder to check out JKJ’s post for all your streaming needs. Thanks for reading, take care!
