You don’t need me to tell you how good Evgeni Malkin is at hockey. I’m still flabbergasted that he wasn’t one of the players in the NHL 100 because he’s clearly one of the best 100 players ever. Certainly better than Toews or Keith. I also wanted to use the word flabbergasted in a sentence. Oh, yeah, so about that Malkin fella. He scored his 12th career hat trick on Tuesday night as the Penguins kept rolling against the Sharks. Malkin is well over a point per game, gives great penalty minutes, and the shot rate remains over three points per game. As I always say about Malkin, just stay healthy! As noted here, the playoff schedule is rough for the Pens, but Malkin should definitely help you get to that point. Let’s take a look at what else happened on Tuesday night:
Adam Henrique – Two goals. The minutes are down with Kesler back; Henrique didn’t even play 15 minutes in this one. He’s a decent streamer but can’t count on more than that at the moment.
Cam Fowler – Two assists with a shot. He hasn’t been that good but the minutes are there if you want to bank on a bounce back.
Rickard Rakell – Two assists with two shots. Very solid season for Rakell and he’s pushing lately with 10 points in his past 9.
John Gibson – 25 saves on 25 shots before leaving the game with 7:25 left. Ugh, Gibson just can’t stay on the ice right now. At this point, you know the drill with Ryan Miller.
Kyle Palmieri – Goal and an assist with four shots. He’s been pretty unlucky to this point in the year so I’m expecting Palmieri to get back to his normal levels. If he was available in anything deeper than a 12’er, I’d definitely grab him, and would strongly consider him in a 12’er as well.
Keith Kinkaid – 27 saves on 28 shots in the 3-1 win over the Sabres. Doesn’t sound like it’ll be much longer for Cory Schneider to return. I only trust Kinkaid in the best of matchups.
Sebastian Aho (F) – Goal on three shots in his return. Get him back in your lineup immediately.
Cam Ward – 29 saves on 30 shots in the 2-1 win over Ottawa. Faith, I have none in Ward. This was a prime matchup and those are the only type I’d consider using Ward for.
Harri Sateri – 32 saves on 33 shots in the 4-1 win over the Islanders. First career win for the 28 year old Finnish netminder. It’s his show now with the Florida injuries but given how his previous starts went, I wouldn’t use Sateri outside of desperation.
Vincent Trocheck – Two assists with two shots. No doubt about it top 50 now. Trocheck is crushing everything but plus-minus.
Bryan Rust – Two goals and an assist. Rust is a bottom end streamer until he moves up in the lineup. It was encouraging that he was out there with a minute left with Malkin and Sid but he spent most of the game in the bottom six.
Matt Murray – 40 saves on 42 shots in the 5-2 win over the Sharks. Nice to see Murray back in the lineup after the passing of his father. Get him activated right away and if you own Tristan Jarry or Casey DeSmith, feel free to cut bait.
Artemi Panarin – Goal and an assist with four shots. Panarin’s first season in Columbus has been fairly yawnstipating. The overall numbers are fine but aren’t anything special. To be fair, the injuries to the rest of the CBJ lineup, specifically at center, has hurt him.
Sergei Bobrovsky – 41 saves on 43 shots in the 3-2 SO loss to the Wild. Like his counterpart Devan Dubnyk, I believe Bob will get back to being in the top tier of goalies for the closing stretch here. Columbus has come back to the pack which should mean Torts leaning on Bob.
Carter Hutton – 33 saves on 34 shots in the 3-1 win over the Canadiens. I love it when I’m right and at this point, I will pat myself on the back for pumping Hutton’s tires for a few weeks. It’s clearly his job right now and while it doesn’t seem sustainable in the long run, you have to ride with it until he cools off. Who knows, that might not happen until the playoffs or next season.
Vinnie Hinostroza – Goal and an assist with three shots. He took some shifts on Kane’s line as the game progressed, which is where he scored his goal. Monitor the situation because Hinostroza’s fantasy value comes directly from who he’s playing with.
Anton Forsberg – 42 saves on 43 shots in the 2-1 win over the Predators. Forsberg survived the onslaught to get a massive win for the Blackhawks. I still put Forsberg in the desperation tier as it’s hard to have any faith in him.
Blake Wheeler – Two assists with two shots. All he does is put up points. That’s it. Like, it’s not a big deal. Just kidding, it’s kind of a big deal. People know him.
Michael Hutchinson – 23 saves on 24 shots in the 3-1 win over Tampa. Three years ago, Hutchinson surprised everyone winning 21 of 36 starts for the Jets backing up Pavelec. The save percentage dropped every season from that .914 to last season’s .903. It’s a damn good team in front of him, so he’s not the worst streamer when he does start, but those starts will be few and far between unless Steve Mason misses extended time with his concussion.
Darcy Kuemper – 28 save shutout in the 3-0 win over the Stars. Kuemper has been outstanding this season, to the point where I feel comfortable streaming him every time he starts.
Anze Kopitar – Two assists with four shots. Seven game assist streak for Kopitar as he continues to crush despite always going against the opposition’s top line.
William Karlsson – Two assists with three shots. Vegas looked like they were going to lose as they were down a goal with 2 minutes left, them boom, two goals in ten seconds plus an empty netter to win it in Calgary. Wild Bill is a monster, there’s no way around it.
Reilly Smith – Goal and an assist with four shots. Clear must own everywhere at this point. Can you believe Florida let him go?
Jonathan Marchessault – Goal and an assist with three shots. I still can’t believe that the Corsi God didn’t make the All-Star game. Also, can you believe that Florida gave Vegas Marchessault so they would take Smith!? Craziness. Good job Dale Tallon.
Gabriel Landeskog – Two goals on five shots. The Kog is finally to the level we expected him to be following his massive season in 2013-14. It’s also crazy that he’s still only 25 years old. Plenty of good times ahead. The penalty minutes have dropped considerably but it’s still been excellent across the board.
Mikko Rantanen – Two assists with two shots. Rantanen has surely been overlooked by the masses with all of the other young players breaking out, notably his linemate. It’s time to give the 21 year old his due as Rantanen is still at a point per game as we enter February.
Chris Tanev – Three assists with two PIM. If you had Tanev scoring the most points of this 12 game slate, go play the lottery! Just kidding, you wasted all of that luck on this call. Twelve games and not one topped 7 goals, most of them incredibly low scoring? Guess teams were sluggish out of the break. If you bet the Grand Salami, hope you took the under. Anyways, Tanev is a solid player in real life but his fantasy value is near nil.
That’s all for now guys. With only three games tonight, I’ll be back on Friday with my next set of daily notes. For your streaming needs, please check out LDOM’s post here. As always, feel free to ask any questions, leave any comments, or make any suggestions below. Thanks for reading, take care!
