After his big breakout last season, Martin Necas has had a rough go of it this season. Much like his team, he’s started to turn his game around over the last month. Since coming back from a two week injury on January 19th, when Necas had 9 goals on the season, he has seven goals in seven games, culminating with a natural hat trick in the first period against the Avalanche on Thursday. On top of the goals, Necas has been taking a ton of shots. He’s averaging five shots on goal per game in the past seven, with 4+ in six of the last seven games. If you’re lucky enough to be in the 20% of leagues that Necas is available in, grab him immediately. If you’ve held onto him, here’s to hoping he keeps up this form to make up for the poor first half. Let’s take a look at what else happened over the last two nights:
Evgenii Dadonov – Two goals. He’s been fine in a depth role, but Dadonov doesn’t carry fantasy value.
William Nylander – Two goals and an assist. Dallas had no chance against the Toronto power play, with John Tavares scoring a goal and two assists, while Auston Matthews had a goal and an assist with five shots. Not exactly ground breaking, but these guys could explode at any time.
Jimmy Vesey – Two goals, both assisted by Barclay Goodrow. And there’s your annual update on both!
Jonathan Quick – 18 saves on 19 shots in the 3-1 win over the Lightning. The Rangers planned before the break that Quick would start the first two games upon return. I wouldn’t panic if you had Igor.
Vinni Lettieri – Two assists. Nothing here for fantasy. Welcome to the Razzball Database!
Filip Gustavsson – 20 saves on 21 shots in the 2-1 win over the Blackhawks. Gustavsson is on the fringe for me. I don’t know how much the Wild are going to sell off to make them worse, but the injuries have been brutal. We know he’s capable of a great run, but the downside is massive.
Matthew Tkachuk – Goal and two assists with three shots and two PIM. Safe to say that Tkachuk is back in full force.
Alex Ovechkin – Goal on three shots. That’s a goal in three straight for Ovechkin, who is finally starting to show signs of life.
Samuel Ersson – 28 saves on 29 shots in the 4-1 win over the Jets. As covered earlier in the week, it’s Ersson’s crease now and probably in the future. He looks like a 3G with #2 upside.
Travis Konecny – Goal and an assist with three shots and seven PIM. He’s become a star, plain and simple. Konecny still isn’t getting the credit he’s due.
Ryan Poehling – Goal and an assist. The minutes are big right now, but there’s nothing for fantasy.
Morgan Frost – Goal and an assist. For now, he’s on Torts’ good side. Even still, Frost is stuck as a bottom end streamer with a shot rate below two.
Noah Hanifin – Two assists with four shots. For now, Hanifin is a bottom end hold in all formats. I expect him to sign an extension or go on the trade block in the near term. A move could give him a slight boost in value.
Andrew Mangiapane – Goal and an assist with three shots. I can already see myself doing a Sporcle quiz on NHL 30 goal scorers five years from now, and completely forgetting that Mangiapane scored 35 goals two seasons ago. Now, he’s a middling streamer at best.
Connor Zary – Goal and an assist with two shots. Zary has shown plenty of potential. The 22 year old has upside for dynasties. Right now, he’s a bottom end streamer because the shot rate is dreadful.
Jesper Bratt – Three assists with three shots. The incredible season from Bratt continues.
Ondrej Palat – Two goals on three shots. Palat played with Bratt and Nico Hischier (1+1, 6 SOG), which is encouraging. That said, he played 5 minutes less than him and lacks the PP time, so he’s a middling streamer.
Samuel Girard – Goal and an assist with three shots and two PIM. I don’t care! Just kidding, that needed quotation marks for the iconic Samuel Girard quote. As for the hockey deputy, There’s some deep league value, but I’m not that interested for shallow leagues because of the poor shot rate and lack of PIM.
Teuvo Teravainen – Four assists with a shot. Teravainen is back in elite streamer territory, especially playing with a hot Necas.
Brent Burns – Two assists with two shots. After a slow start, Burns has gotten close to the level we’re accustomed to. Understandable when he’s about to turn 39. As is, he’s a bottom end #2 / top end #3.
Linus Ullmark – 17 save shutout in the 4-0 win over the Canucks. Statement win from the Bruins, who absolutely dominated. Ullmark should have an even split with Swayman and is must start every game.
Charlie Coyle – Two assists with a shot. Coyle is on a ten game point streak, so he’s an elite streamer who I would consider holding as a hot schmotato as long as he’s getting top line minutes.
Pavel Zacha – Goal and an assist. He’s back with David Pastrnak (2 A, 6 SOG, 2 PIM) along with the top power play unit, which makes Zacha a solid streamer. Even with the slightly better role, I do prefer Coyle to Zacha.
Bo Horvat – Goal and an assist with four shots. Excellent season across the board from Horvat, whose production is far more sustainable than with Vancouver last year.
Mathew Barzal – Goal and an assist with three shots. Barzal’s workload is through the roof with Roy at the helm. He’s pushing a top 50 player now.
That’s all for now guys. I’m going to have an updated hold/stream list for Monday after the Super Bowl. As always, feel free to ask any questions, leave any comments, or give any suggestions below. Thanks for reading, take care!
