It’s been a painful 13 years as a Sabres fan, but Tuesday’s game might have been the worst. There were tanking years, there were disappointing years, but for as bad as it’s been, there can’t be a worse loss than giving up nine goals at home to one of the worst teams in the league missing two of their best players. “Kirill Marchenko is a lone bright spot lately. I’m not holding, but the minutes are going up, the goals and shots are decent enough, and he currently is a key figure on their PP. He’s a solid streamer.” And that’s me quoting me from yesterday! Well, it’s time to give Marchenko a boost. Marchenko had a natural hat trick in this game. One of his goals was on the power play, he put four shots on goal, and he played 15 minutes despite the game being a blow out. Marchenko is now an elite streamer. Let’s take a look at what else happened on Tuesday night:
Johnny Gaudreau – Goal and two assists. Meh, even with that, I’m not really interested in holding Gaudreau right now, even though the upside is undeniable.
Yegor Chinakhov – Two assists with two shots. Chinakhov has a five game point streak and is getting time on the first power play unit, which puts him as a middling streamer.
Dylan Cozens – Goal and an assist with five shots. He’s been one of the most disappointing players in the league. We’re starting to see some signs of Cozens turning it around, but I’m not rushing to hold him. Bumping him back to solid streamer.
Rasmus Dahlin – Goal and an assist with three shots. Dahlin has had at least three shots on goal for ten straight games, and the points have been solid as well. It hasn’t been as good as last season, but he’s still a #1.
Erik Gustafsson – Three assists with three shots. Gustafsson has done very little since Fox returned. The upside is massive if Fox is hurt, but otherwise, Gustafsson is stuck as a deep league only guy.
Mika Zibanejad – Two goals, both assisted by Chris Kreider and Blake Wheeler. Zibanejad has caught fire, while Kreider hasn’t done too much lately, but it’s still enough to hold. Wheeler is showing signs of life, but even with staying on the first line, he’s only a bottom end streamer.
Auston Matthews – Two goals on five shots. Just as Matthews slows down, he scored nine goals in five games. I’d expect a bit of shooting percentage regression, but not that much given his talent. He’s established himself as the Rocket Richard favorite again.
Andrei Vasilevskiy – 28 saves on 29 shots in the 6-1 win over the Blues. Vasilevskiy hasn’t been great yet, but it’s only a matter of time until he gets back to his usual level.
Steven Stamkos – Three assists with three shots. Massive heater for Stammer, who is showing no signs of slowing down as he’s an impending free agent.
Nick Paul – Goal and two assists with three shots. Paul moved onto the first line while maintaining his spot on the first power play unit. That bumps him into elite streamer territory.
Nikita Kucherov – Two goals on three shots. Kuch has shown no signs of slowing down from his league leading pace.
Ryan Poehling – Two goals on three shots. Nothing to see here for fantasy.
William Carrier – Two goals, both assisted by Brett Howden. Neither of these guys are fantasy relevant.
Michael Bunting – Goal and two assists with two shots and two PIM. Bunting is back in the top six and on the first power play unit. That’s enough to make him a solid streamer.
Sebastian Aho – Three assists with seven shots. Everything is perfectly in line with every season that Aho has. The level of consistency is remarkable.
Brady Skjei – Goal and an assist with three shots and two PIM. Skjei is on the fringe because his power play time is inconsistent, but he continues to put up decent point totals.
Kirill Kaprizov – Two goals on seven shots. With Mats Zuccarello out week-to-week, a lot will be on Kaprizov’s plate. I’m expecting a bump in shot rate and there’s a real chance he puts the team on his back for a stretch.
David Pastrnak – Two goals on eleven shots. Pasta is firmly in the Hart discussion right now. Pavel Zacha returned from an absence to tally two assists with three shots, playing over 21 minutes. Zacha is worth holding again.
Morgan Geekie – Assist with four shots. I discussed Geekie yesterday, and the important thing is even with Zacha’s return, Geekie stayed on PP1 and played 18 minutes. He might not be an elite streamer anymore, but still a solid streamer.
Ilya Sorokin – 30 saves on 31 shots in the 3-1 win over the Oilers. It’s been rough for Sorokin, but the main thing is that the Islanders are giving up a lot more shots. There’s no reason that a .913 sv% should have his GAA over 3. That does hurt his upside, but I’d still peg Sorokin as a bottom end #1 for the rest of the season with upside from there.
Elias Pettersson – Goal and an assist with six shots. The shot rate is up lately, which leads me to believe that the goals are going to come for Pettersson. He’s shooting almost the exact same percentage as last season, which means the shot rate going up will be key to get a repeat of 35+ goals and 100 points.
Pius Suter – Goal and an assist. Suter is on a good run with 5+2 in the last ten games, but he’s still only a bottom end streamer in his current role.
Quinn Hughes – Two assists with two shots. After a monster start in shot rate, Hughes’ shots continue to drop. However, it’s still easily a career high rate, and he’s still pushing an assist per game. Hughes has truly found another level.
Ilya Mikheyev – Two assists with two shots. The goals have been very good, but as much as I like Mikheyev, I can’t get him past a solid streamer.
Valeri Nichushkin – Two goals on five shots with two PIM. Val has been playing as a top 25 player lately. It’s been a monster performance and if he’s going to keep this role playing 23+ minutes, it’s potentially sustainable.
Ryan Donato – Goal and an assist with two shots. Donato has a big role at the moment, but he’s only a middling streamer.
Nikita Zaitsev – Two assists with a shot. For those of you in super deep leagues, Zaitsev is getting PP1 time right now with current injuries. If you need the upgrade there, you can do worse.
Connor Bedard – Two assists with six shots and two PIM. It’s bad at even strength, but nobody can complain about Bedard’s overall performance as a rookie.
Jake Sanderson – Two assists. Sanderson has been fine, but nothing special. He’s on the fringe, but probably worth holding on the bottom end.
Jack McBain – Goal and an assist with two shots and four PIM. The points have been decent, but McBain is shooting almost 28%. Without being on the power play, it’s hard to see McBain as better than a bottom end streamer.
Anze Kopitar – Goal and an assist. Kopitar has been excellent again, sitting right around a point per game. Even with a lower shot rate, he’s a clear hold.
Kevin Fiala – Two assists with four shots. Fiala was buzzing in this game. It’s still shocking to me that the goals went down in Los Angeles, but he’s become such a good playmaker that I don’t think anyone can complain. It’s still top 100 worthy, but I thought Fiala could end up a top 25 guy, and that dream appears dead.
David Rittich – 14 saves on 15 shots in the 4-1 win over the Sharks. Doesn’t get any easier than that. Rittich should be the backup for the foreseeable future, but I don’t expect him to get a ton of action. That said, I’d stream Rittich in most spots because of how good the Kings are defensively, and he’ll probably be force fed easy matchups.
Three Point Challenge: We will do Thursday’s games per usual. You can’t select Kucherov, MacKinnon, Miller, Panarin, McDavid, Pastrnak, Nylander, Rantanen, Q. Hughes, or Pettersson. I’ll go with Marner against the Sabres (original pick was invalid).
That’s all for now guys. I’ll be back on Friday recapping the next two nights. Be sure to check out JKJ’s streaming post on Thursday as well. As always, feel free to ask any questions, leave any comments, or give any suggestions below. Thanks for reading, take care!
