As fun as it is to make fun of Toronto’s Stanley Cup drought, it’s very impressive when somebody breaks one of their major records. On Saturday, Mitch Marner did just that, getting a point in his 19th consecutive game, scoring twice on five shots. Toronto fans love to make Marner their whipping boy, but this should give him a respite until the playoffs come along. The shot rate is slowly creeping back up for Marner, which is a necessity if he’s going to approach last season’s point total. He’s a bit behind at even strength, but he’s managed to be even better on the power play. Marner is as safe as it gets in fantasy at this point and remains in the top 20. Let’s take a look at what else happened over the weekend:
Friday’s Games
Brady Tkachuk – Two goals and an assist with eight shots and five PIM. Outside of plus-minus, Tkachuk absolutely crushing every single category. He’s been everything we could have hoped for fantasy-wise.
Thomas Chabot – Two assists with two shots. It’s been a slower start for Chabot, but he’s starting to come on offensively, and the hits/PIM/blocks are all great. I wouldn’t panic.
Kevin Lankinen – 48 saves on 49 shots in the 4-1 win over the Islanders. Lankinen looks like an NHL goalie again now that he’s away from the Blackhawks. He won’t play a ton, but he’s a solid streamer in most spots.
Matt Duchene – Goal and two assists. Nashville continues to shuffle their top six, but Duchene remains a constant on PP1. He’s still an easy hold for me.
Roman Josi – Goal and an assist with five shots and four blocks. It hasn’t been his best start, but Josi is still a top 10 fantasy defenseman. I have no doubt that it’s going to get better.
Filip Forsberg – Goal and an assist with four shots. He’s sitting right below a point per game, but like Josi, I think it’ll get better. The shot rate is there and importantly, he’s staying healthy.
Joonas Korpisalo – 37 saves on 38 shots in the 4-1 win over the Jets. Even with Korpisalo having a .908, which is the second best of his career, he still has a 3.43 GAA. Desperation play.
Patrik Laine – Two goals and two PIM in his return to the lineup. A nice little revenge game for Laine. Just a matter of him staying healthy as he’s going to score plenty with Johnny Gaudreau (three assists and two shots).
Saturday’s Games
Troy Terry – Goal and an assist, as did Trevor Zegras. Honestly, the season is going fine from a macro perspective for the Ducks. They’re in prime position for the Bedard sweepstakes, but their young players have been very good. The only downside is Drysdale getting injured. Both Terry and Zegras are easy holds.
Mason McTavish – Two assists with two shots. The other top young forward for the Ducks, McTavish’s minutes are starting to uptick. I’m a big fan long term, but for now, he’s only a middling streamer.
Joel Eriksson Ek – Goal and an assist with six shots. That’s three straight two games for JEEK, and five in his past seven. He’s solidified himself as an easy hold.
Calen Addison – Goal and an assist with two shots. Addison is improving, and I like the upside, but it’s very fringe now. If you need PPP at the bottom of your roster, Addison is a strong choice.
Linus Ullmark – 24 saves on 25 shots in the 5-1 win over the Avalanche. Ullmark has been the #1 goalie to this point. Did not see that coming at all, even though I liked Boston much more than consensus. Ride it while it lasts.
David Pastrnak – Two goals on seven shots. Pasta is smashing every category. Back up the Brinks truck!
Charlie McAvoy – Two assists with three shots. McAvoy is back to being a bottom end #1D.
Trent Frederic – Two goals. Nothing to see here.
Adin Hill – 24 saves on 25 shots in the 4-1 win over the Red Wings. Hill is worth streaming whenever he starts just for the high probability of a win.
Phil Kessel – Goal and an assist with two shots and two PIM. Kessel has done very little this season from a fantasy perspective. He’s a bottom end streamer at best.
Brayden McNabb – Two assists with two shots. McNabb is solid in real life, but there’s nothing for fantasy outside of streaming for hits and blocks.
Leon Draisaitl – Goal and three assists with three shots. Connor McDavid had two goals and two assists with four PIM. These guys are unstoppable, and while they’re together, Zach Hyman (2A, 5 SOG) is firmly along for the ride. McDavid is rapidly approaching two points per game. I’d love to see it.
Tyson Barrie – Two assists with two shots. Both assists came on the power play which is why we’re still holding Barrie in all formats.
Tomas Hertl – Two goals on five shots with two PIM. Hertl is putting together a nice run of hockey. He’s right on the fringe, but I actually lean towards holding right now.
Claude Giroux – Two goals and an assist with four shots. Giroux has been solid for Ottawa. It would be nice if he had better PP time, but I don’t see that changing. Giroux is in the same boat as Hertl, although I slightly prefer Giroux.
Drake Batherson – Two assists with six shots and two PIM. I can’t bring myself to hold Batherson when he’s -17 already. That can definitely change, but he hasn’t been good enough offensively to tolerate that horrible number.
Tim Stutzle – Goal and an assist with two shots. He’s now over a point per game and the PIM are quite good. The plus-minus is bad, but much more tolerable than for Batherson.
Miles Wood – Two assists with two shots. Wood is a solid streamer, especially if you’re looking for non-points categories.
Colton Parayko – Two assists with a shot. Parayko has been a dumpster fire this season on both ends of the ice, but especially on offense. There’s nothing here for fantasy.
Bryan Rust – Goal and three assists with five shots. That’s one way to eliminate a cold streak, as the second line went off. Evgeni Malkin and Jason Zucker each had three points. I’m fine with going either way with Rust. If you want to cut bait, go ahead. If you want to hold because of his history and his shot rate still being there, I’m fine with being stubborn.
Kasperi Kapanen – Hat trick on four shots. It wasn’t that long ago that Kapanen was getting scratched or being unproductive on the ice. He’s turning it around, but I wouldn’t stream him until he strings together an extended run of good play.
Corey Perry – Two assists with three shots. Bottom end streamer at best.
Anthony Cirelli – Two assists with three shots in his first game of the season. He’s getting eased back in so Cirelli is a middling streamer for now, but best case, Cirelli plays his way onto the fringe.
Mika Zibanejad – Goal and an assist with four shots and two PIM. The Rangers are a complete disaster right now, but Zibanejad has been excellent across the board.
Artemi Panarin – Two assists with three shots. Panarin is on the struggle bus in real life having problems at even strength, but he’s still scoring plenty for fantasy purposes.
Patrick Kane – Goal and two assists with three shots. That brought Kane to 1,200 career points, a massive number. It was a great audition for a possible trade to the Blueshirts, although the Rangers need to turn around a lot for them to even be in the mix.
Max Domi – Two goals and an assist with five shots. Domi is up to an elite streamer given the PIM contribution with solid points. I wouldn’t use him in hits leagues though.
Jake McCabe – Two assists with two shots, six hits, and three blocks. Don’t expect many points, but the hits and blocks should be elite given McCabe’s workload.
Seth Jones – Two assists with two shots and two PIM. If your league doesn’t have plus-minus, Jones is a very good asset. If it does, I would have a hard time using him.
Mikael Backlund – Three assists with five shots. Backlund is locked into the middling streamer territory.
Adam Ruzicka – Goal and two assists. I continue to take the L on Ruzicka. He’s a solid streamer at this point which I did not see coming.
Andrew Mangiapane – Two goals on four shots. We’re starting to see some signs of life from Mangiapane, but I can’t bump him up past middling streamer.
Bo Horvat – Two goals on seven shots with two PIM. Dr. Bo continues to pile up the goals. He’s up to a whopping 19 already. What better timing than when he’s about to be a UFA. Show Bo the money!
Elias Pettersson – Two assists with four shots. Pettersson is taking the step forward that was expected. Career highs across the board are firmly in play.
Quinn Hughes – Two assists with a shot and two PIM. The dream of Hughes having a 0 goal, 80+ assist season is still alive! All your assists are belong to Hughes!
Spencer Knight – 35 saves on 36 shots in the 5-1 win over the Kraken. Knight is starting to become the #1 in Florida, both with his quality play and Bob’s struggles. If he becomes the workhorse, we’re looking at a bottom end #1.
Sam Bennett – Three assists with two shots and two PIM. He’s the only quality center playing for Florida at the moment. Bennett is hold worthy in the immediate term.
Carter Verhaeghe – Two goals on four shots and two PIM. Verhaeghe has been fantastic across the board, playing his way into being a definite hold.
Matthew Tkachuk – Goal and an assist with three shots. Nobody has better across the board than Tkachuk has. He’s been everything Florida dreamed for.
Brent Burns – Two assists with a shot. Burns has been quite good across the board to the point where he’s a top end #2.
Martin Necas – Goal and an assist with three shots. The post-post hype breakout of Necas is fully upon us. He’s playing at a 40+50 pace with over three shots per game. It’s massive for Carolina going forward.
Sunday’s Games
Dylan Cozens – Three assists with six shots and four PIM. I think the corner has officially been turned. Auto hold in all formats.
Jeff Skinner – Goal and an assist with six shots. He’s in the midst of the best season in his career. Skinner also looks like a hold everywhere given he’s over a point per game and over three shots per game.
Tage Thompson – Goal and an assist with four shots. How many centers are better than Tage right now? It’s less than ten, right? Craziness.
Rasmus Dahlin – Two assists and a shot. Dahlin is currently having the most dominant fantasy season compared to his position since I’ve been writing, which is a long damn time. His value is almost 1.5x the second best fantasy defenseman right now. Bonkers.
Jack Quinn – Two goals. Quinn is playing excellent hockey at the moment and has played his way into the elite streamer category. Next thing to elevate from there is increasing the shot rate, but don’t forget. he’s only played 22 games in the NHL.
Ryan Reaves – Two assists with a shot. Good for him. Moving on…
Jared Spurgeon – Two assists with three shots. Still alright for deep leagues, but you need blocks to consider Spurgeon in 12’ers.
Roope Hintz – Hat trick and an assist, with Joe Pavelski dishing three assists and Jason Robertson getting a goal and an assist on seven shots. Dallas was down 5-1 going into the third before scumming a point. That’s what good teams do; steal points they don’t really deserve. This line is playing as well as any.
Mason Marchment – Goal and an assist with three shots. Marchment has a lot of PIM again which puts him in the solid streamer category despite lacking a bit in points.
Adam Lowry – Two assists with a shot. Bottom end streamer.
Nate Schmidt – Goal and an assist with three shots. Schmidt has dropped off tremendously since he was traded from Vegas. There’s no fantasy value anymore.
Saku Maenalanen – Goal and an assist with three shots. Nothing to see here.
Kyle Connor -Two assists with a shot. This gets Connor back to a point per game despite having the worst shooting luck of his career by a long shot. It can even get better.
Boone Jenner – Two assists with four shots. Jenner is getting all of the minutes he can handle and the shot rate is excellent. Jenner is firmly on the fringe.
David Perron – Two assists with four shots and two PIM. Perron has played to his established baseline despite the team change. I think it’s enough to hold for the balanced stat line, but it is fringeworthy.
Olli Maatta – Two assists. Maybe super deep league worthy but even that is debatable.
Filip Hronek – Two assists with two shots. Hronek has been incredible. I didn’t see Hronek being a fringe #1D, and I don’t really see it continuing, but enjoy it while it lasts.
Semyon Varlamov – 21 save shutout in the 3-0 win over the Blackhawks. He’s not playing much since Sorokin has been arguably the best goalie in the league, but Varly is worth streaming in almost all starts.
Three Point Challenge: We will do Tuesday. Will update this section on Monday.
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!
