One of the most popular names discussed in the trade market lately has been J.T. Miller. A big reason is because whoever trades for him would have him signed for next season as well. The main reason is because he’s a damn good hockey player and he showed that on Thursday. Miller had a hat trick and an assist with five shots in the 5-1 win over the Jets. Miller is on pace for the best season of his career, which says a lot because he was over a point per game two seasons ago. There’s no guarantee Vancouver moves him, but if he does, I’m hesitant to think it would help his trade value. If anything, I would expect it to hurt. He gets massive minutes that he might not get on his new team, including top power play time. I wouldn’t necessarily sell high on him, especially two months from the deadline, but it’s something to think about. Here’s to hoping we don’t have to worry about that. Let’s take a look at what else happened over the last two nights:
Wednesday’s Games
Sam Steel – Goal and an assist with two shots. Steel has been slightly better than in the past, but he’s still not on my radar for fantasy.
John Tavares – Goal and an assist with six shots, as did William Nylander and Mitch Marner. Auston Matthews had two assists as the Toronto power play tore up the Ducks. The minutes are through the roof for these guys right now which is excellent for fantasy purposes.
James Reimer – 32 saves on 33 shots in the 4-1 win over the Capitals. Reimer’s save percentage is solid and the wins have been better than expected, but the GAA is fairly high. That puts him more on the middling to bottom end #2 range, but that’s still better than expected before the season.
Jacob Markstrom – 23 save shutout in the 6-0 win over the Blue Jackets. Absolutely insane performance from the Flames as they had 62 shots on goal in this game. Markstrom is solidly in tier two for goalies which puts him as a solid #1.
Johnny Gaudreau – Three assists with six shots. Matthew Tkachuk had two shots with six shots. Nobody has an answer for the Calgary top line right now. Except apparently St. Louis. Spoiler alert!
Dylan Strome – Hat trick and an assist with six shots and two PIM. Even with this game, Strome’s numbers are ugly. We’re three years removed from 51 points in 58 games so it looks more like an outlier. He’s a middling streamer.
Alex DeBrincat – Two goals and an assist with four shots. DeBrincat is on pace to smash his previous career high of 41. All of this without an elite center to play with. He’s certainly among the best goal scorers in the league.
Robby Fabbri – Goal and an assist with two shots. With Fabbri on the first power play unit and Tyler Bertuzzi (1+1) playing on the second line for now, Fabbri is pushing towards being an elite streamer.
Charlie McAvoy – Two assists with two shots and two PIM. I was hoping for slightly better from McAvoy, but he looks settled into being a solid #2.
Nathan MacKinnon – Broke his nose on a fluke play where his own stick smashed his face. Here’s to hoping that it doesn’t take long for him to be back.
Nazem Kadri – Three assists with four shots playing 27 minutes. With MacKinnon getting hurt right away, Kadri played all the minutes he could handle. He’s been so good that even if Kadri goes on the top line, I wouldn’t boost his value any higher than it already is.
Cale Makar – Goal and an assist with four shots playing over 31 minutes. Needless to say, the Avalanche really wanted to win this game as the top guys all received massive minutes. Nice to see Makar get back in the goal column after eight games.
Gabriel Landeskog – Goal and an assist with two shots. He goes under the radar because of the other guys, but Landeskog has been a monster again.
Valeri Nichushkin – Two assists with five shots. Big Val is right on the fringe. I lean towards super elite streamer, but you can definitely hold. My guess is if MacKinnon misses time, Burakovsky stays on the top unit as he finished the game there, but if it’s Nichushkin, he’s a definite hold.
Thursday’s Games
Troy Terry – Goal and two assists with three shots. Terry screams regression as he’s shooting over 25%, but there’s no doubt that he’s a damn good player. Hopefully the shot volume goes up to counteract it.
Kevin Shattenkirk – Two assists with two shots. Four game point streak has Shattenkirk back on the fringe. I lean towards hold because it’s decent enough across the board, but it depends on team needs.
Cam Fowler – Goal and an assist with two shots. Same deal as Shattenkirk, although I slightly prefer Shattenkirk.
Trevor Zegras – Two goals on four shots. Is this goal good?
TREVOR ZEGRAS ‼️ pic.twitter.com/uWttj3l0pX
— NHL (@NHL) January 28, 2022
Jake Evans – Two goals on six shots playing almost 20 minutes. I like Evans’ overall game but it generally doesn’t translate into much offensively. Maybe that changes in a bigger role, but for now, he’s a bottom end streamer.
Rem Pitlick – Two assists with two PIM. They seem intent to give him a bigger chance in Montreal than he got in Minnesota, but for now, just monitor him.
Dustin Brown – Two assists with a shot. Brown is a bottom end streamer at best now.
Andreas Athanasiou – Goal and an assist with three shots. It was his first game back so the points were nice to see. The third line with Brown and Athanasiou flanking Quinton Byfield (first career goal) could be decent, but I can’t see them getting more than 15 minutes regularly, so their ceilings are quite capped.
Philipp Grubauer – 23 saves on 24 shots in the 2-1 OT win over the Penguins. A rare quality start from Grubauer who has had the season from hell. He’s a desperation play until he turns it around, if he does.
Damon Severson – Goal and an assist with three shots. Severson has been solid while on the ice, but Dougie Hamilton is going to return shortly which puts him back on the fringe.
Jesper Bratt – Two assists with three shots. Bratt has been a revelation as he’s now up to a point per game. I don’t buy this as quite sustainable, but he’s definitely a hold.
Spencer Knight – 24 saves on 25 shots in the 4-1 win over the Golden Knights. I had high hopes for Knight going into the season, but he’s struggled while Bob has bounced back. He’s likely to win most of his starts which makes him worth streaming in itself, but I wouldn’t be holding.
Sam Bennett – Two goals on three shots with two PIM. Bennett has shown that last season’s late flourish with Florida is the real deal. The shot rate is excellent, and with 20 goals in 34 games, things are looking great. The assists are bad, but he’s also had some bad luck there.
Aleksander Barkov – Goal and an assist with five shots. Barkov is so damn good. Expert analysis!
Artemi Panarin – Goal and two assists with four shots. Twelve points in the last six games for Panarin and his shot volume is up. You love to see it.
Braden Schneider – Two assists with three shots. While the opportunities haven’t been there much yet, Schneider looked great on the top power play unit with Adam Fox leaving the game (Fox is day to day). Long term, I’m a fan, but for now, he’s only for deep leagues. Welcome to the Razzball Database!
Boone Jenner – Two goals and an assist with four shots. Jenner is firmly on the fringe depending on team needs.
Zach Werenski – Three assists. The plus-minus is a bit rough, but Werenski’s shot rate is elite for a defenseman and the points are decent enough. I was hoping for him to be a #2, but he looks more like a #3.
Sean Kuraly – Two goals. And there’s your annual Kuraly update!
Patrik Laine – Two assists with a shot. The points have been quite good, but the shots aren’t all the way back up to where they were in Winnipeg. I’m holding, but it’s tenuous.
Ville Husso – 28 saves on 29 shots in the 5-1 win over the Flames. Can he just be the #1 already? Husso needs to be held everywhere now.
Brandon Saad – Two goals and an assist. He’s a solid streamer but I don’t see Saad pushing towards being a hold any time soon.
Brayden Schenn – Goal and an assist with four shots. The third line did plenty of damage through Schenn and Saad. They’ll get plenty of quality matchups going against the bottom six of other teams, but he looks more like a elite streamer.
Brock Boeser – Goal and two assists with three shots and two PIM. Boeser has been much better since Bruce took over. He’s on the fringe.
Luke Schenn – Two assists with three shots and five PIM. And there’s your annual Schenn update!
Elias Pettersson – Goal and an assist with two shots. Pettersson is in a nice run of form with seven points in the last six games. I’d probably remain stubborn and hold because we know the upside.
Spencer Martin – 33 saves on 34 shots in the 5-1 win over the Jets. Martin has been great, but Demko and Halak should both be back for their next game bringing his run to an end. He filled in admirably. Welcome to the Razzball Database!
Filip Forsberg – Goal and an assist with three shots. Can Forsberg please stay healthy for once? He has 22 goals in 32 games and is over a point per game. It’s great to see.
That’s all for now guys. I’ll be back on Monday recapping the action from the weekend. As always, feel free to ask any questions, leave any comments, or give any suggestions below. Thanks for reading, take care!
