Here is what I wrote about J.T. Miller in Tuesday’s post: “J.T. Miller is getting huge minutes in Tampa and has six points in six games for the Bolts. The shot rate is rough, but Miller should be held despite that. Everything else should be a clear plus and nothing is better than playing for Tampa. Miller was on the fringe for the Rangers so this move is enough to move him to a hold.” And that’s me quoting me! Well, Miller exploded on Tuesday night, scoring his first career hat trick and putting ten shots on goal. He played over 20 minutes, including on the top power play unit. Long story short, if you had any doubt about whether Miller should be held, this game should eliminate that. Pick the man up because he can be a huge difference maker down the stretch. Let’s take a look at what else happened on Tuesday night:
David Pastrnak – Three goals and an assist with six shots and two PIM. What a third period for Pastrnak and the Bruins. That gets Pasta to exactly a point per game on the season. The bad thing is he’s gone from 3.5 shots per game to under 3 per game. He’s easily a top 50 player, probably around 30th, but I was hoping for a step forward into the top 20. Pastrnak is still only 22 years old so it is still likely that it happens, but it’ll be a slight bump down for his preseason rankings next season.
Brad Marchand – Goal and two assists with two shots and two PIM. Microcosm of Marchand, a little bit of everything. He’s been incredible when on the ice once again.
Riley Nash – Two assists. I’m still not holding him because the shot rate is poor and the PIM are near non-existent but he’s a great streamer as long as he’s on the top line.
Matt Grzlecyk – Goal and an assist with two shots and two PIM. Nothing to see here at this point in his career.
Justin Faulk – Two assists with a shot and two PIM. He’s playing fairly well lately but I’m still more than likely leaving him on the wire in 12’ers.
Teuvo Teravainen – Goal and an assist with five shots. Very nice breakout by Teravainen that’s going under the radar because of other people having bigger breakouts. He’s easily a top 100 player, but the shot rate will have to increase to get him into the top 50.
Brock McGinn – Goal and an assist with five shots. I don’t really see much from the 24 year old to think he’ll ever be more than a 30-35 point guy.
Elias Lindholm – Two assists with a shot. I really thought we were going to see Lindholm jump to another level this season. He’s still only 23 but it’s season 5 for Lindholm so I’m starting to doubt he’ll ever reach his full potential. He’s a fine streamer at the moment.
Sebastian Aho – Goal and an assist with two shots. Similar to Teravainen although I think it’s more likely Aho eventually gets to a top 50 level.
Alex Galchenyuk – Two assists with two PIM. Fine streamer but that’s it right now.
Jonathan Drouin – Two assists with two shots. Drouin has been one of the biggest disappointments in the league this season. Part of me wants to throw it out the window, and he’s still only 22 years old, but it’s still very concerning.
Artturi Lehkonen – Two goals on four shots. He’s been much worse this season that last year. Hard pass.
Antti Niemi – 36 saves on 38 shots in the 4-2 win over the Stars. Nothing like a revenge game. Niemi has had six great starts in a row. His numbers are incredible in Montreal, so I’m okay with streaming him, but you should be afraid that it can fall apart at any time.
Marian Gaborik – Goal and an assist with two penalty minutes. Despite this game, I want absolutely nothing to do with Gabby. He’s completely shot and almost certainly will get bought out.
Tom Pyatt – Goal and an assist with three shots. And there’s your annual Tom Pyatt update!
Erik Karlsson – Goal and an assist with two shots. Despite the Sens being well out of the race, Karlsson has salvaged his season. He’s a lock for 10+50 and should blow by that with relative ease, specifically the assists.
Matt Duchene – Two assists with four shots. I am already imagining having difficulty in ranking Duchene last season. He’s been much better over the last month or two, and there’s no denying the upside, but it’s been far from a hold for the most part.
Mike Hoffman – Two goals on four shots. This season really isn’t that far off from last year, but the plus-minus turned for the worst and the penalty minutes have dropped. It looks like last season’s 51 PIM are an outlier, but Hoffman should still be in my top 50 next season.
Ryan Dzingel – Goal and an assist with two shots. Guess how many goals Dzingel has? The answer is twenty. 20!!! He’s not good in any other category so he’s a middling streamer, but the 20 goals is a shocker.
Cody Ceci – Two assists with a shot. I honestly couldn’t care less about Ceci.
Steven Stamkos – Three assists with two shots. There’s a decent chance Stamkos sets a new career high in points. Either way, it’s been an excellent season following last season’s major injury.
Nikita Kucherov – Three assists with five shots. It’s looking like Kucherov is going to blow past 100 points. Seems good.
Victor Hedman – Two assists with a shot. The massive jump in shot rate makes Hedman a slam dunk top 5 defenseman, arguably #1. I’d probably put him 2nd or 3rd.
Pekka Rinne – 32 saves on 33 shots in the 3-1 win over the Jets. Sure, the Jets were missing almost half of their roster, but it’s still a great home performance. It looks like we’ve completely faded the Rinne downswing this season and will get a top 5 campaign, even if he sits a bunch over the last couple weeks.
Cam Talbot – 31 saves on 32 shots in the 1-0 loss to the Flames. Tough luck loss for Talbot who has been playing much better over the last month or so. I’m good with using him in almost all matchups at the moment.
Mike Smith – 28 save shutout earning the win. Get him back in your lineup if you haven’t done so already.
Semyon Varlamov – 33 saves on 34 shots in the 5-1 win over the Wild. I’m still uncomfortable using Varlamov but he’s been good enough to be used, as long as you’re willing to deal with the swings.
J.T. Compher – Two goals on three shots. After a hot start, the points have dried up before this game. Compher played only 11:33 in this one so I wouldn’t use him in fantasy outside of the deepest of leagues.
Jeff Carter – Two goals on four shots. He stole a point for the Kings with a couple third period goals. He’s been solid since returning and should be a top 50 forward the rest of the way with upside to be in the top 20 over a month’s time.
Drew Doughty – Two assists with six shots. Outside chance of Doughty setting a career high in points, but regardless it’s going to be his best fantasy season yet. I always think he’s overrated from a fantasy perspective but he’s been far from it this year.
Nick Cousins – Goal and an assist. Don’t see anything here long term.
That’s all for now guys. With five games on the slate tonight, it is up in the air whether or not there will be daily notes tomorrow. Regardless, there will be daily notes on Friday morning. As always, feel free to ask any questions or leave any comments below. Thanks for reading, take care!
