When it comes to determining Patrick Maroon‘s fantasy value, someone who has no idea about hockey can figure it out. Is he playing on a line with Connor McDavid? If yes, pick him up and hold. If no, leave him on the waiver wire. Maroon received another chance to play with McDavid on Thursday and he took advantage in a big way scoring his first career hat trick on five shots and adding five penalty minutes. That brings his totals to 14 goals and 7 assists on the season with 48 PIM and a +12 rating. Does 30 goals and 100 PIM sound good to you? Maroon is almost on that pace and if he sticks with McDavid, I wouldn’t rule out the possibility. He’s available in over 80% of leagues at the moment so use whatever waiver priority you need to and grab him. Here’s what else I saw around the league the last two nights:
Connor Hellebuyck – 31 saves on 32 shots in the 4-1 win in Florida. It’s been below average from Hellboy this year but while he’s failed to live up to #2 goalie expectations, he’s been a solid #3 which is were you were able to draft him.
Nikolaj Ehlers – Goal on three shots. That’s eight goals in the last eight games as he finds his natural goal scoring ways.
Patrik Laine – Goal and an assist with three shots. This Calder race between him and Matthews is going to be spectacular.
Bryan Little – Two assists with three shots. I’m holding Little right now. Second line minutes with Wheeler has resulted in 14 points in 18 games with 2.5 shots per game. That’s certainly 12’er worthy.
Jacob Trouba – Assist with six shots. I’m repeating myself but go and get him right now if he’s available in your league.
Aaron Ekblad – Assist with six shots and two PIM. If I knew Ekblad was going to have 38 PIM and 135 shots on goal through 39 games, I’d have assumed Ekblad was a top 10 defenseman. Instead, he has only 11 points making him a #4 in 12’ers.
Nathan Beaulieu – Goal and two assists with two shots. He moved onto the first unit so if you’re desperate for defenseman help in the short term, go and grab Beaulieu.
Phillip Danault – Two assists with three shots. He’s a guy who is frequently buzzing for Montreal when I watch the games but hasn’t developed consistency yet. I think there’s some real upside here for people in dynasties.
Max Pacioretty – Two goals on six shots. He’s gone from looking lost the first 6ish weeks of the season to being a top 10 forward at the half way point. Pretty remarkable.
Shea Weber – Two assists. I’d sell high if I could. I know it seems crazy but the shots have really dropped off after the hot start, the plus-minus has leveled off and his minutes have creeped down into the mid 20’s instead of pushing 30 per game. Be sure to aim high though if you’re doing it.
John Klingberg – Goal and an assist with three shots. The shots are up a ton lately; I think we get the 2015-16 Klingberg in the second half.
Esa Lindell – Goal on three shots playing 24 minutes. Solid deep league option with his strong hits and blocks totals.
Patrick Sharp – Assist with four shots and five PIM. He’s up on the first line with Jason Spezza (assist, 2 PIM, 2 SOG) and Tyler Seguin (goal on four shots) so I’d grab him if you’re in one of the 50% of leagues Sharp is available in.
Michael Grabner – Two goals and an assist. He’s an elite streamer but I don’t think he’s worth holding at this point.
Kevin Hayes – Two goals on three shots. He’s definitely worth holding since he’s contributing in assists on top of goals and plus-minus.
J.T. Miller – Two assists. The best of the trio, Miller is now on a four game point streak and while the shots are below average, there’s plenty here to hold.
Henrik Lundqvist – 30 saves on 32 shots in the 5-2 win over the Flyers. No surprise he bounced back after the dud Tuesday.
Brady Skjei – Assist with a shot. If you’re desperate for assists, you can hold him but otherwise I’d leave him on the waiver wire. Let’s call it AAGNOF!
Jakub Voracek – Two goals on seven shots. He’s a true five category monster only missing the plus-minus.
Ryan Miller – 22 save shutout in the 3-0 win over the Coyotes. Hopefully you read the Wednesday notes where I said to get Miller for this game. The Canucks are suddenly on a 5 game winning streak but I’d still be selective when it comes to playing Miller.
Sven Baertschi – Goal for some streamer success! Keep using him in good matchups.
Bo Horvat – Goal on two shots. He’s right on the fence of hold versus elite streamer right now. I’m going to love him for drafts next year.
Brian Elliott – 17 saves on 18 shots in the 4-1 win over Colorado. I still have Elliott firmly in the “desperate for starts” category. He’s started 4 of the last 5 for the Flames and he’s won 5 straight but 4 of those games were against the Coyotes and Avalanche.
Alex Chiasson – Goal and an assist with three shots playing over 18 minutes. He’s firmly on the top line right now making Chiasson a solid streamer.
T.J. Brodie – Two assists. He’s back in the AAGNOF category but I’d rather go with a guy like Skjei for the plus-minus.
Mikael Backlund – Goal on three shots. Backlund has scored in five straight games so hold him while he’s hotter than a pistol.
Mark Giordano – Two assists with two shots. The fact that Giordano is a top 10 defenseman on the season shows how poor the quality of fantasy defenseman is. He’s on pace for less than 40 points and is barely over 2 shots per game.
Sean Monahan – Two assists with three shots. It’s not great but there’s plenty of potential here for a big second half.
John Gibson – 23 save shutout in the 2-0 win over the Red Wings. Please string together some games for us Mr. Gibson.
Ondrej Kase – Goal and an assist. There’s not enough here for standard leagues at the moment but there’s some long term upside.
Nick Ritchie – Goal on four shots with two PIM. Same story as Kase except there’s more upside and Ritchie is a viable streamer right now.
Antoine Vermette – Two assists with a shot. Bottom end streamer who carries more value in deeper leagues for faceoff wins and strong blocks for a forward.
Leon Draisaitl – Assist with two shots finishing +3 playing 21 minutes. He’s pushing a 30+40 pace right now.
Connor McDavid – Two assists with a shot. The fact that he’s had a few droughts this season, especially in the goals department, and he’s at 45 points in 40 games shows how talented McDavid is.
Patrice Bergeron – Goal and an assist with seven shots. That’s a goal in three of the last four with 21 shots in those four games. This is exactly what we want to see in order for Bergeron to return to his normal levels in the second half.
Braden Holtby – 29 save shutout in the 5-0 win over Columbus. This was one hell of a way for the Capitals to end the Blue Jackets winning streak. Holtby has been ever better than last season to this point.
John Carlson – Goal and an assist with three shots finishing +3. Carlson has been extremely disappointing yet he’s almost a bottom end #2 through the first half. Like I’ve said repeatedly, look for the Capitals big guns to have monster second halves.
Evgeny Kuznetsov – Two assists with four shots and two PIM. Guess who’s back? Back again. Kuz is back. Insert something here to complete the parody of Eminem lyrics.
Nate Schmidt – Goal and an assist with three shots. I was shocked to look in the Razzball system and see that I’ve mentioned Schmidt before this. And there’s your annual Nate Schmidt update!
Pekka Rinne – 27 saves on 28 shots in the 6-1 win over Tampa Bay. Good to see you again, good Pekka Rinne. Please stay with us for an extended period of time.
Colton Sissons – Hat trick on four shots. This player just scored one of the most unlikely hat tricks in NHL history. Who is Colton Sissons? Nailed it. He had 2 goals and an assist with 10 shots total in 27 games before this game. Ten shots total! Then he found a way to score a hat trick. Amazing.
Mike Fisher – Goal and an assist. Solid hold right now for decent enough points with penalty minutes.
Calle Jarnkrok – Two assists with four shots. There’s not much value right now while he’s in the bottom six.
Ryan Johansen – Two assists with a shot. RyJo is coming on strong right now with six assists in his last five games. Sadly, that’s come with only five total shots in those games. You can do both things Ryan.
Andrei Vasilevskiy – 13 saves on 18 shots in the loss. Woof. Tampa has to be extremely nervous seeing how things have gone for Vas during his test run as the #1. I hope they give him the next game off to settle down. For fantasy, I’m okay with cutting bait or holding.
Brock McGinn – Two assists with a shot. He had three points in his first 21 games so you know what to do with McGinn.
Derek Ryan – Two goals with two penalty minutes. Ryan has drastically cooled off with his linemates. I’m fine with streaming him but that’s it.
Jeff Skinner – Goal on four shots. Here’s to hoping this sparks a turnaround.
Jordan Staal – Two assists with two shots and two PIM. Decent streamer but certainly not a hold outside of deeper leagues.
Vladimir Tarasenko – Goal on two shots. This fellow seems good at hockey.
Jack Eichel – Goal on five shots playing over 23 minutes. That’s a five game point streak for Eich who has been outstanding all season. It’s a damn shame an injury cost him 20 games.
Ryan O’Reilly – Two assists with a shot returning early from his appendectomy. Great to see him back in the lineup this quickly; make sure to activate for Saturday’s game against the Jets.
Kyle Okposo – Goal and an assist with two shots. No surprise that the Sabres top end power play killed the Blackhawks dumpster fire of a unit.
Artem Anisimov – Two goals on four shots. He’s been a pleasant surprise this season taking a massive leap from last year.
Patrick Kane – Goal and two assists with seven shots. Kane always manages to destroy his hometown team, it never fails.
Jared Coreau – 34 save shutout in the 4-0 win over the Kings. Firmly in the “desperate for starts” category until Jimmy Howard returns.
Andreas Athanasiou – Goal and two assists with seven shots on Thursday after being scratched Wednesday. I’d be interested in streaming him if he sticks in the top six. He’s regularly impressed me in his limited minutes.
Anthony Mantha – Goal and an assist with two shots Thursday after all 0’s Wednesday. I’m still holding him without hesitation.
Thomas Vanek – Two goals on three shots over the two games. The bounce back for Vanek is real.
Mikael Granlund – Two assists with three shots. Man, this game was 0-0 always halfway through before the goals exploded, especially in the third, leading to a 5-4 wild Wild win. Granlund was discussed at length during the Tuesday podcast so be sure to check that out for some in-depth detail. We’ve finally had his breakout.
Mikko Koivu – Two goals on four shots. I’m holding if you need the plus-minus and assists and streaming him otherwise.
Zach Parise – Goal and two assists with five shots. Disappointing first half of the season for Parise but everything is in place for a big second half.
Eric Staal – Two goals and an assist. Remarkable first half from Staal who has consistently put up points without even a brief cold streak.
Jason Zucker – Two assists with four shots. Same story as Koivu except more value is coming from the plus-minus.
Brent Burns – Two assists with three shots. The shots have been down quite a bit from his lofty standards recently making me think an 8+ shot game could be in the cards Saturday against the Red Wings.
Patrick Marleau – Goal and an assist with four shots. Top end streamer when you need shots and special teams points but there’s not enough to hold. Seven assists in thirty-nine games isn’t going to get it done.
Joel Ward – Goal and an assist with three shots. Ward has had a dreadful first half to the point where he’s not longer fantasy relevant outside of the deepest of leagues.
Friday Streamers:
Brock Nelson (19.7%) – Getting exposure to players against the Avalanche is always a good thing. Nelson, coming off back to back two point games, is in an excellent spot to extend that point streak.
Sven Baertschi (8.8%) – Another good matchup for Baertschi against the team that drafted him. He’s on a four point streak right now so I see no reason to avoid going back to the well.
Sebastian Aho (11.6%) – Going back to the well again with a decent matchup against the Blackhawks. Their penalty kill is embarrassingly poor and Aho’s line should be able to take advantage of the depth players on Chicago.
That’s all for now guys. Be sure to check out the latest podcast for some in-depth coverage of the latest news around the NHL with some promo codes of great fantasy sports sites and SeatGeek! As always, feel free to ask any questions or leave any comments below. I’ll be back on Monday recapping all of the action from the next three days. I hope that everyone has a great weekend and can watch some hockey. Thanks for reading, take care!
