Mathieu Perreault (1 G, 2 SOG, even) is Anahiem’s version of Martin St. Louis, the only difference is Perreault is actually scoring! It wasn’t always so, though. Maty, not to be confused with Marty, was playing really well to start the season with 11 points in 13 October games but then fell completely off the map for a few months scoring just 8 points over his next 23 games. Then January rolled around he put up 9 points in 11 games. Now this month he’s got six points in seven games and has scored a point in six straight. I’ve mentioned Perreault a few times this season and that’s because I really like the guy. Right now he’s penciled in as the Ducks’ second line center with Patrick Maroon and Kyle Palmieri on his wings and while those names may not overwhelm you to the point that you rush to the wire to add Perreault, they do have some solid chemistry going and Maty is starting to see some time with the Ducks’ second powerplay unit while averaging around 16 minutes TOI a game lately. The smooth skating, shifty playmaker has some solid offensive upside, plays for the Ducks and is scoring right now, so do you need another reason to add him to help keep your title hopes alive? I sure hope not, because you’re playing the wrong game if you do. Anyway, here’s what else I saw in the world o’ fantasy hockey last night:
Martin St. Louis (nada, zip, 1 SOG, -1) now has just three assists in 12 games since getting traded to the Rangers and despite that the Rangers have won six of their last seven games. Maybe Ryan Callahan was the problem in New York? I somehow doubt that, but what’s clear is that Marty is not fitting in very well on Broadway.
David Booth (2 G, 3 SOG, +3, 2 PIM) has skirted on the edges of earning a recommendation by me recently, but I just can’t do it. Maybe he should spend less time evangelizing door-to-door and more time with his strength and conditioning coach in the offseason?
Zack Kassian (1 G, 4 SOG, +1) followed up his four-helper game with a goal on four shots in this contest, ain’t that a peach? What we’re seeing here is just a tiny glimpse at what could be a very bright and productive future in the NHL for the young winger. Kassian has 24 points in 65 games so far this season, but he’s also rockin’ 122 PIM over that span, good for ninth in the league.
Charlie Coyle (1 G, 3 SOG, -1) now has points in three straight playing on a line with Mikko Koivu and Matt Moulson, so he’s in a good place and he’s doing good things. The big bodied winger was expected to have a better season than he has so far (24 points in 69 games) but he’s just 22 years old and the Wild were pretty lost offensively to start the season. Now that the landscape has been reshaped in Minnesota, Coyle is getting some room to roam and cashing in. He’s raw, but he has a good shot, decent hands, good vision and he knows how to use his body, so he’s absolutely worth a stream in the playoffs.
Ryan McDonagh (1 G, 2 SOG, +1, 4 PIM) extends his point streak to five games and has seven points over that span. I was preaching the greatness that is the young McDonagh a few days ago and this performance only reinforces that recommendation. Hell, I’m up in goals and assists in one of my leagues right now and it’s solely because of McDonagh, my “fourth” defenseman. Yes indeed.
Dan Hamhuis (1 A, +3) seems to be scoring a point every other game lately, so wait until he plays his next game and if he puts up a goose egg, add him and grab that point the next game! Simple pattern recognition, y’all!
Nick Bonino (1 G, 5 SOG, even) looked like he was really getting it together when he posted 14 points in 13 January games, but then he got hurt and hasn’t been able to recapture the magic since. Well, he managed to score a goal last night but really the only reason he’s getting a mention is because there was only three games last night. Still, he might be worth a stream over the next week or two if he puts together a few good games in a row.
Nino Niederreiter (1 G, 2 SOG, +1, 2 PIM) has been pushed out of his occasional slot in the top-six by the emergence of Mikael Granlund and the arrival of Matt Moulson, but managed to net a goal in this game, a rarity for Nino. Did anyone really own this guy anyway? Probaby not.
Ryan Suter (1 A, 2 SOG, +1) gets a rare mention here, in fact I don’t think I’ve said anything about Suter all season and if I did, it clearly wasn’t that memorable. Maybe that’s Suter that isn’t very memorable posing as a poor man’s Duncan Keith with tons of assists and almost no goals. I’m just not a fan of guys like this, I am for defenseman that will provide a 10 goal, 35 assist split rather than Suter’s 5 goals and 40 assists, but I wouldn’t kick him off my team if I owned him.
Jared Spurgeon (1 A, 2 SOG, +1) is on a bit of a roll in March with four points in four games so far. His season has been largely yawnstipating so far but Spurgeon is a fantastic two-way defenseman with pretty solid offensive upside to be had, so he should be on your radar for next season. That said, he’s scoring right now and the Wild’s offense is actually looking pretty solid, so he’s worth a flier for now.
Jiri Hudler (1 G, 1 SOG, +1) hasn’t really been doing much since January and only recently returned from a seven game absence due to injury, but he’s putting up decent numbers this month with seven points in ten games so far. He’s worth an add in most leagues as a streamer, and I’m willing to bet he’s going to be easily had. Instead of just betting on that, I went ahead and looked it up! Nice of me, right? He’s owned in just 57% of ESPN leagues and 37% of Yahoo leagues, so there you go.
Jakob Silfverberg (1 A, 2 SOG, +1) now has points in back-to-back games and maybe, just maybe, Jack is getting back on track after breaking his hand. The same thing happened to Logan Couture and he hasn’t quite been himself since his return either. Claude Giroux broke his hand in the offseason playing golf and you saw how that limited him in the start of the season. So the moral of the story is, if you play hockey, don’t break your damn hand! Someone apparently forgot to inform Chris Kreider. Cripes.
Jakub Voracek (1 G, 3 SOG, even, 2 PIM) scored the lone goal to spoil Henrik Lundqvist’s shutout bid with just under 2 minutes left in the game. That extends his point streak to four games and he’s rolling this month with 14 points in 12.
Mark Streit (1 A, 1 SOG, +1) has four points in his last five games and that’s about all he’s done all month. The Flyers looked a bit lost at times against the Rangers last night and if it wasn’t for Voracek’s goal they wouldn’t have solved the Lundqvist and the Rangers D at all. I added Streit a while back and he was decent for a stretch, but then I added Ryan McDonagh and dropped Streit and all was right and good in the world. Either way, Streit has an outside chance to hit the 40-point marker this season, but I’m almost positive he’ll come up short of that.
Daniel Sedin (1 G, 2 SOG, even) finally scored a goal! This snaps a 23-game goal scoring drought, the longest of Sedin’s career. I’m not really sure what we can expect from the Sedins next season, but they have both been injured off-and-on all season, so we’ll reserve judgment until they both get healthy again. That said, they aren’t getting any younger and their golden years are definitely a thing of the past, so really at this point it’s deciding just how rapid the decline will be.
Jason Garrison (+3, 2 PIM) has been a pleasant surprise on the blue line this year and he has an outside chance to hit 10 goals and 30 assists for the season. Honestly, I doubt he gets there, but he should finish with around 35 points and that’s a lot more than most people expected from him.
Kevin Westgarth (1 A, +1, 7 PIM) has a name that sounds like one of the families on Game of Thrones, doesn’t it? House Westergarth of the Reach! Yeah, you shouldn’t add him, I just liked his name so he gets a mention because of his 7 PIM and the fact that there were only three bloody games last night.
Chris Higgins (1 A, 2 SOG, +2) had one or two week long runs this season that made me think he might, just maybe, be worth adding and I even endorsed you make that move in some temporary moment of madness. Well, Higgsy is back to his old tricks, but this time it isn’t a week long stretch of good play, he’s just not scoring anymore. I read somewhere recently that someone thinks Higgins is the most underrated player in the NHL right now. Uh, what? Care to share what you’re smoking?
Eddie Lack (2 GA, 29 SV, W) has really settled winning his last three games while allowing just four goals over that span. This comes on the heels of alternative from wins and terrible looking losses for six games since the Roberto Luongo trade gave Lack the opportunity to own the Canucks’ no. 1 job. At first it didn’t look like he wanted it that badly, but right now it does. The only caveat here is that he isn’t exactly facing the cream of the crop right now, after shutting out the Preds he allowed two goals on 18 shots to the Sabres. Yeah, they won, but two goals on 18 shots is weak, yo. So that, then last night he shut down the Wild. That actually means a lot more than it did a few weeks ago, so it’s a good-ish sign. Deploy him as you normally would for now, but if the Ducks or Pens come to town and you’re fighting tooth and nail for your goalie categories I’d think twice before rolling him out there until I see a good game against a very good team.
Karri Ramo (3 GA, 31 SV, L) has his seven game win streak (that spanned seven games over nearly two months) was finally snapped by the Ducks and their three goals on 34 shots last night. I have to admit, I didn’t expect Ramo to be this valuable over the course of the season but here we are. With a season line of 13-11-4/2.56/.912/1 in 32 games it makes me wonder what he could do with 60 starts. We’ll find out come next season unless the Flames go in another direction; if they don’t and the crease belongs to Ramo he’s probably a top 20 goalie.
Steve Mason (3 GA, 26 SV, L) is going to finish with a decent season, but just barely decent. I’ve been a Mason detractor all season and last night’s game doesn’t do anything to dissuade me from that point of view. He let in a soft goal in the third, looked generally slow and a bit out of position on a few plays. Heading into the playoffs the Flyers have to be concerned a bit with Mason’s complete lack of playoff experience and, oh yeah, his play in general. Maybe not considering they inked him to an extension this year, but this is Philly and it’s their goaltending, so you know that contract will backfire.
