Things are shaking out differently than I expected in Detroit. I thought Petr Mrazek was brought in to be the backup to Talbot, but he’s started three consecutive games. After losing to his former team, the Hurricanes, on Friday 4-2 (saved 28/31 shots), he came back with an 18 save shutout victory in the 3-0 win over the Golden Knights. If you didn’t see my Playoff Manifesto, shame on you, but as you can see in the Eastern Conference half here, Detroit has only two games this coming week. After that, their schedule is quite nice, so if you need goaltending help, Mrazek is your guy. Let’s take a look at what else happened over the weekend:
Friday’s Games:
Jack Roslovic – Goal and an assist with two shots. There’s a good chance Roslovic sets a new career high in goals, but the assists are dreadful. Middling streamer.
Jesperi Kotkaniemi – Two assists with two shots and two PIM. He’s never taken a step forward after Carolina offer sheeted Kotkaniemi to retaliate against the Aho offer sheet. Bottom end streamer.
Leon Draisaitl – Two goals on six shots with four PIM. He’s already up to 49+51, lapping the field in goals. Draisaitl is firmly in the aconversation.
Calvin Pickard – 24 saves on 25 shots in the 2-1 OT win over the Isles. He seems to be alternating very good starts with horrendous ones. The wins are fantastic, but the downside is real if you want to stream.
Connor Hellebuyck – 24 saves on 25 shots in the 4-1 win over the Stars. The push for a sub 2.00 GAA is on.
Mark Scheifele – Three assists with three shots. Kyle Connor had two goals and an assist with four shots. I’m not surprised that both are having great seasons, but it is stunning both are top ten forwards on the season, especially Scheifele. It will be interesting to see if Winnipeg can finally do something in the playoffs.
Parker Kelly – Two goals on three shots. And there’s your annual Kelly update!
Ross Colton – Two assists with two shots. Colton is hot right now, but I’m skeptical of future production given his drop down the lineup following the trade deadline.
Kevin Stenlund – Goal and an assist with two PIM. Nothing for fantasy.
John Marino – Two assists with two shots. Nice player in real life, and it’s good to see Marino back in the lineup, but there’s nothing to see here for fantasy.
Eeli Tolvanen – Two goals and an assist. He’s quietly set a career high in goals with 21, but the assists and shots are poor. Tolvanen is stuck as a middling streamer.
Jordan Eberle – Two assists. Despite the poor shots, I have to bump Eberle up to a solid streamer while he’s piling up assists.
Lukas Dostal – 28 saves on 29 shots in the 2-1 win over the Predators. Dostal is worth owning everywhere. I would target him in dynasties if possible, as I think we see the Ducks in real contention for a playoff spot next year if they make 1-2 impactful moves in the offseason.
Saturday’s Games
Bowen Byram – Two assists. I don’t think I’ve laughed harder than Hertl skating in on an empty net to seal the game, but drop passing it to whore Eichel a goal against his old team, only for it to be broken up and cost Vegas the game. Byram had his second assist on the late equalizer. Byram is on the fringe depending on whether or not you can stomach the shot rate.
Jesper Bratt – Three assists with three shots. That’s three consecutive games with three points for Bratt. Seems good.
Luke Hughes – Two assists with a shot. As much as I love Dougie, it wouldn’t be a surprise if Hughes permanently keeps the #1 defensive role for the Devils from now on.
Conor Timmins – Two assists. It would only be for super deep leagues, but I mentioned in my trade deadline recap that Timmins could carve out some value. He’s looked good in the early going for the Pens.
Connor Dewar – Two goals on three shots. He has three goals in his last two games after scoring zero goals in 31 games for the Leafs. Hockey!
Philip Tomasino – Goal and an assist with three shots. He’s playing on the second line and PP2, but it’s hard to get Tomasino past a bottom end streamer.
Logan Thompson – 19 saves on 20 shots in the 5-1 win over the Sharks. It’s no surprise Thompson has cooled off, but he’s still a clear #1 in all fantasy formats.
Alex Ovechkin – Goal and an assist with four shots. The heat is on!
Lars Eller – Two assists with three shots. Good on Eller for producing at a decent clip as he’s about to turn 36, but nothing here for fantasy.
Tom Wilson – Two assists with a shot and five PIM. It is stunning that Wilson is blowing all of his previous career highs in offensive categories out of the water.
Pierre-Luc Dubois – Two assists with a shot. Dubois setting a career high in points after last season’s debacle would be hilarious. It looks likely at this point.
Igor Shesterkin – 21 save shutout in the 4-0 win over the Blue Jackets. It’s been a disappointing season for Igor, but there’s still plenty of chance to salvage it.
Vincent Trocheck – Two goals on three shots. A good run of form from Trocheck has him back on the fringe.
Artemi Panarin – Goal and an assist. While the shot rate isn’t close to last season’s, it’s still excellent at three per game. The problem is that his assists are down quite a bit. Panarin is still quite good, but he’s more towards the bottom of the top 50 instead of being in the 10-20 range.
Alexis Lafreniere – Goal and an assist with three shots. Laf has been downright dreadful lately and is only a middling streamer now.
Pyotr Kochetkov – 26 save shutout in the 5-0 win over the Flyers. He’s pretty much alternating starts with Andersen right now, but it’s clear both should be held.
Taylor Hall – Goal and an assist with three shots. Not enough here for anything besides deep leagues.
Mark Jankowski – Two goals with two PIM. Somehow, Jankowski has four goals in four games for the Canes… on four shots. I see no use here.
Shayne Gostisbehere – Two assists with a shot. It’s not the most exciting stat line, but Ghost is a clear hold everywhere.
Sebastian Aho – Goal and an assist with two shots. He’s had a fairly big step back from last season, falling back to the level we were previous accustomed to.
Eric Robinson – Two assists with two shots. Robinson has some extremely well in a depth role for the Canes, but that’s all it is.
Samuel Montembeault – 21 saves on 22 shots in the 3-1 win over Florida. Whether or not Montembeault is worth holding comes down to your league format.
Cole Caufield – Goal and an assist with three shots. Forty goals and 75 points is firmly in play.
Elias Lindholm – Goal and an assist. Three game point streak, but I have very little interest. Middling streamer at best.
Anthony Cirelli – Two goals on five shots. I always like Cirelli as a player, but I never saw this level of offense coming this far into his career. He’s a solid to elite streamer.
Yanni Gourde – Two assists with three shots. Gourde is actually playing with Point and Guentzel right now, bumping him up to a middling streamer.
Nick Paul – Goal and an assist with four shots. He’s down on the third line now, dropping him to a middling streamer.
Darren Raddysh – Goal and an assist with two shots. He has eight points in his last six games despite losing his PP2 time to McDonagh. Raddysh is on the fringe of 12’ers.
Joel Hofer – 17 saves on 18 shots in the 5-1 win over the Wild. Hofer is a decent streamer in most matchups. Right now, the Wild are offensively inept so I’d stream almost anyone against them.
Jordan Kyrou – Hat trick. It wasn’t the only three point game for Kyrou over the weekend, spoiler alert! Kyrou is a hold everywhere.
Brayden Schenn – Goal and an assist. Middling to solid streamer.
Cam Fowler – Two assists with a shot. Fowler is a bottom end hold as long as you can afford his poor shot rate. He’s done quite well for the Blues.
Pavel Buchnevich – Two assists with two shots. Disappointing season overall for Buch despite him staying healthy. He’s still a solid streamer, but nowhere near a hold.
Robert Thomas – Two assists with a shot and two PIM. Not that his wingers are awful, but it would be nice to see what Thomas would do with an elite winger on his side. As is, Matchbox Twenty is a clear hold.
Darcy Kuemper – 24 save shutout beating Justus Annunen (20/21) and the Predators 1-0. The amazing bounce back from Kuemper continues.
Ryan Donato – Two assists with two shots. Donato really clicked this season, reaching 50 points for the first time in his career. He’s an elite streamer.
Elias Pettersson – Goal and an assist. He’s certainly picking things up lately which is good to see.
Conor Garland – Goal and an assist with three shots and twelve PIM. After a quality start to the season, Garland has fallen off quite a bit. He’s still a middling to solid streamer.
Sunday’s Games
Cale Makar – Goal and two assists. It’s not quite going to be a 30 goal, 100 point season, but it’s damn good regardless. He’s the clear #1 defenseman.
Jonathan Drouin – Goal and an assist with two shots. I see Drouin more in the elite streamer range now that he lost his PP1 spot to Nelson.
Valeri Nichushkin – Goal and an assist with four shots. Big Val is still on PP1, making him an elite hold.
Stuart Skinner – 21 saves on 22 shots in the 3-1 win over the Rangers. There’s not much else we can do but keep rolling Skinner and hoping for the best.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – Three assists with two PIM. I didn’t see this level of drop coming this season. RNH is a solid streamer, but I don’t see him in hold consideration.
Sam Reinhart – Goal and an assist with six shots. Aleksander Barkov also had a goal and an assist. Florida is struggling a bit at the moment, and it’s no surprise that a large factor is that they’re getting caved in with Jones on the ice. Regardless, that’s not hurting their superstars.
Tony DeAngelo – Two assists. Dobson is back, putting TDA on the fringe, but probably just on the outside looking in for being a hold.
Karel Vejmelka – 18 saves on 19 shots in the 3-1 win over the Canucks. No surprise to me that Vejmelka has bounced back. He’s been a solid #2 in 12’ers and should maintain that value going forward, if not better. I expect Utah to spend a lot of money this offseason.
Nick Schmaltz – Two assists with a shot. Elite streamer with a case for holding if you need the assists.
Mason McTavish – Two assists with two shots and two PIM. I still don’t understand what happened with McTavish in the first half of the season. He has eleven points in his last ten games, making him an elite streamer at least.
Cutter Gauthier – Goal and an assist with three shots. Same story as McTavish, but to a lesser degree as Gauthier is a rookie. He does have ten points in his last ten games, putting him in the solid to elite streamer range as well.
Jordan Kyrou – Three assists with a shot. It looks like Kyrou is going to settle right back in the 35 goal, 35 assist range. Hard to complain about that.
Dylan Holloway – Goal and an assist with two shots. Very good performance from Holloway in his first season in St. Louis. He’s an elite streamer.
Jake Neighbours – Goal and an assist. Eleven points in his last ten games makes Neighbours a solid streamer despite the poor shot rate.
Vladislav Namestnikov – Two assists. Names still has his PP2 and second line role, but it’s hard to get him past being a bottom end streamer.
Dylan Samberg – Goal and an assist with five shots. And there’s your annual Samberg update!
Cole Perfetti – Goal and an assist with four shots and two PIM. Solid streamer, but I do expect a step forward from Perfetti eventually.
Three Point Challenge: We will do Tuesday’s games per usual. You can’t select MacKinnon, Draisaitl, Kucherov, McDavid, Connor, Pastrnak, Marner, Eichel, Bratt, or Makar. I’ll go with Rantanen having his first big game for the Stars.
That’s all for now guys. I’ll be back on Wednesday 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!
