One of my bold predictions from the season that already looks awful is that Chicago would be the worst team in the league. Their season has turned around on the back of somebody who was expected to be a tertiary option. Kevin Lankinen was third fiddle going into the season behind Delia and Subban, but that has changed quickly. Lankinen stopped 34 of 35 shots that he faced on Tuesday in the 2-1 OT win over the Stars. That brings Lankinen’s save percentage to above .930 and a GAA approaching two. I didn’t imagine a Chicago goalie would even be worth streaming this season outside of playing against Detroit, but Lankinen has played his way into being an easy hold. Will it last? It’s impossible to say with goalies. Either way, he should he held until he cools off, assuming that eventually happens. Let’s take a look at what else happened over the last two nights:
Monday’s Games
Semyon Varlamov – 30 save shutout in the 2-0 win over the Rangers. After a brief rough patch, Varly got back on track with his third shutout. Amazing start to the season overall.
Matt Martin – Goal and an assist with two shots. And there’s your annual Matt Martin update!
Mike Smith – 27 saves on 28 shots in the 3-1 win over the Senators. Nice season debut from Smith, but I’m not looking to use him outside of against Ottawa until he puts together a few quality games in a row.
Leon Draisaitl – Goal and an assist with five shots. Business as usual.
Frederik Andersen – 31 saves on 32 shots in the 3-1 win over the Canucks. Boy, the Canucks are a mess right now. All those years of paying bad bottom six guys term and money is catching up to them. Anyways, Andersen is still at a .904 sv% and I don’t see him getting past .910. That said, he’ll still be plenty valuable.
Patrik Laine – Benched halfway through the game for yelling at an assistant coach. I mean, this is just ridiculous. Who is going to want to play in Columbus when you score three goals in two games and then get benched? I expect Laine to outlast Torts in Columbus, but maybe Jarmo will be too loyal. Anyways, hopefully this is just a one time thing.
Curtis McElhinney – 23 saves on 24 shots in the 4-1 win over the Predators. Any time McElhinney starts, he’s a big favorite for a win, and that alone makes him worth streaming.
Anthony Cirelli – Two goals on four shots with two PIM. I am leaning towards holding Cirelli now, although it’s close to the fringe because the shot rate is below average.
Nick Schmaltz – Two assists with two shots. This huge jump in shot rate from Schmaltz in his fifth season has come completely out of nowhere, and I love it! At this moment, he’s an easy hold.
Christian Dvorak – Goal and an assist with three shots playing over 24 minutes. Dvorak is another guy who has found another level that I did not see coming. At this rate, we can see career highs in goals and points despite the shortened season.
Clayton Keller – Goal and an assist with four shots. He’s an elite streamer but I’m not all the way there with Keller yet.
Jakob Chychrun – Two assists with three shots and two PIM. This is the player that people expected him to turn into during Chychrun’s draft year He’s crushing it across the board and has #2D upside for this season.
Ryan O’Reilly – Two goals and an assist with four shots. O,O,O, O’Reilly! I will never understand why he stopped shooting the puck so much last season, but thankfully the normal RoR has returned.
David Perron – Goal and an assist with three shots. Perron has been even better than usual so far which is saying a lot. He’s crushing across the board.
Tuesday’s Games:
Jujhar Khaira – Two assists with a shot. Nothing really has to be said about Khaira for fantasy, so I want to share this incredible fact. Tuesday was the first time that the Oilers won a game without McDavid or Draisaitl getting a point since November 28th, 2017!
Sergei Bobrovsky – 31 saves on 32 shots in the 2-1 win over the Red Wings. Bob has had a horrible start to the season, yet is 4-0-1. I’m not exactly bullish about his upcoming games against the Lightning and Hurricanes.
Patric Hornqvist – Goal and an assist with two shots. His start in Florida couldn’t be going any better. The PIM have dried up, but a point per game with elite shots is amazing. Easy hold everywhere.
Jonathan Huberdeau – Two assists. The points are coming in bunches for Huberdeau, and with 14 points in 10 games, it looks great on the surface. However, he has only 12 shots in 10 games, and his minutes are really going in the wrong direction. Why, I have no clue, but Huberdeau played only 12 minutes on Tuesday in a 2-1 game. I’m not saying I would definitely try to sell him, but I would entertain the idea.
Andrei Vasilevskiy – 32 saves on 33 shots in the 6-1 win over the Predators. Another game, another night with Vasilevskiy playing outstanding. He’s the #1 goalie for a reason.
Steven Stamkos – Two goals and an assist with four shots. He’s crushing across the board as expected. Just stay healthy! Props to Eli Man Penguin Boy for picking Stamkos in the Three Point Challenge!
Brayden Point – Three assists with three shots. He hasn’t missed Kucherov so far. It helps to have Stamkos to slide right into that spot.
Mikhail Sergachev – Three assists with four shots. After a slow start, Sergachev has eight assists in the past five games, and the shots are starting to roll in.
Victor Hedman – Two assists with two shots. Hedman doing Hedman things!
Ondrej Palat – Goal and an assist. Palat has become an easy hold as the top line is rolling on a nightly basis.
Mathieu Joseph – Two goals on three shots with two PIM. For now, Joseph is on the fourth line so I’m not looking to stream him. However, when there’s an injury, he’s generally a guy who moves up in the lineup, so he’s worth monitoring.
Pierre-Luc Dubois – Blanked in 13:10 in his Jets debut. Here’s to hoping Dubois gets rolling in Winnipeg quickly with two games against the Senators on deck. Hold onto him for now.
Nikolaj Ehlers – Two goals on six shots, both assisted by Andrew Copp. I did not expect these two to develop chemistry, but they have. Ehlers is having the best season of his career, the one that I’ve been waiting for for the past four years. Copp is completely unexpected, but for now, he has to be held with a point per game and three shots per.
Logan Couture – Goal and an assist with six shots. Couture looks better than he did last season prior to the injury. The top line in San Jose is playing at a pretty high level with Couture being a big part of it.
Dustin Brown – Two goals and an assist with four shots. Brown is at least on the fringe now with his current run of good form. He also doesn’t have any games against Vegas or Colorado this month which makes him even more appealing.
Alex Iafallo – Two assists with two shots. He played over 21 minutes in this game as Iafallo moved back onto the top line with Kopitar. That alone makes Iafallo a solid streamer.
Kevin Shattenkirk – Two assists with a shot. He’s had a brutal start to the season, but the role is there for Shattenkirk to produce. He’s not a slam dunk hold, but the PIM and shot rate is solid enough that Shattenkirk is still of use even when the points aren’t coming in.
Troy Terry – Goal and an assist. There’s some upside here, but for now, Terry is a bottom end streamer.
Chandler Stephenson – Goal and an assist with two shots. He’s moving up to a higher level of streamer, but Stephenson isn’t that close to being a hold in 12’ers.
Cody Glass – Two assists and a shot. Same story for Glass, although I’m really hoping that Glass stays on the top power play unit when Pietrangelo returns, which could be as soon as next game. That will play a big factor in Glass’ short term value.
Three Point Challenge: We will do the Three Point Challenge for Tuesday’s games. It can’t be anyone in the Top 10 in points. From now, we will use last season’s top 10, so that means no Draisaitl, McDavid, Panarin, Pastrnak, MacKinnon, Marchand, Kucherov, P. Kane, Matthews, Huberdeau, or Eichel. Eli Man Penguin Boy has tied me on top of the standings with one a piece. I’ll go with Mark Scheifele against the Senators.
That’s all for now guys. I’ll be back on Friday recapping the action from the next two nights. As always, feel free to ask any questions, leave any comments, or give any suggestions below. Thanks for reading, take care!
