In the month of February, Oliver Ekman-Larsson has been even better than usual. After Monday night where he had a goal and two assists with two shots against Montreal, OEL now has 10 points (3+7) in 7 games with 27 SOG and 14 PIM. Eight of his points are on the power play which is excellent but that’s come along with a -10 rating. You can stomach the plus-minus from OEL when in defenseman ranks, he’s 2nd in goals, tied for 4th in points, 2nd in SOG and first in STP. In dynasties, he’s solidified himself as the #3 defenseman going forward. It’s crazy to think that OEL is still only 24 years old and the best years for Arizona are still to come. He deserves to be discussed about the Norris Trophy, not to win because Erik Karlsson has it in the bag, but as a finalist. Here’s what else I saw around the league on a relatively busy Monday:
Pavel Datsyuk – Goal, four shots and two PIM. He’s really getting hot and the shots are outstanding lately. We just have to hope for the Russian to stay healthy.
Thomas Greiss – 28 saves on 29 shots in the 4-1 win over the Red Wings. His numbers are great. albeit in only 23 starts. That said, he should be owned in standard league since his 30-35 starts are elite.
Johnny Boychuk – Two assists with three shots playing over 25 minutes. He’s owned in 81% of leagues now but if for some reason he’s available in yours, grab Boychuk. The shots are elite and so is the plus-minus.
Brock Nelson – Goal, assist, four shots and two PIM. The lack of assists hurt but with 20 goals already, he needs to be owned in 12’ers.
Ryan Strome – Same line as Nelson. At this point in his career, Strome’s role determines his value and right now, he’s on the first line with a red hot John Tavares (assist, five shots, two PIM). Strome is a top streamer in 12’ers at the moment.
Cam Fowler – Three assists with two shots. He’s been a big disappointment offensively and has been jumped in the pecking order by a few defensemen in Anaheim. Fowler doesn’t do enough of anything to be owned in 12’ers.
Corey Perry – Goal, assist, four shots and two PIM. Perry is showing why he was a first round pick in the past with the way he’s played the last six weeks. Expect that to continue for the rest of the season as he leads the Ducks’ playoff push.
Mike Santorelli – Two shots, two goals. And there’s your annual Mike Santorelli update!
Johnny Gaudreau – Goal and two assists with five shots and two PIM playing over 23 minutes. The first line for the Flames dominated the game yet Calgary still lost the game. Johnny Hockey has been nothing short of spectacular this year and he’s only going to get better at 22 years old.
Dougie Hamilton – Goal and an assist with four shots. Oh yeah, this is the Dougie that we expected this season. His numbers are still behind what we expected but with a strong second half, he could still get to 45-50 points.
Jiri Hudler – Two goals, an assist, five shots and two PIM. He’s available in almost 50% of leagues and Hudler is back on the first line so I’d grab him where available.
Sean Monahan – Three assists with two shots. He’s on pace to finish with around the same totals as last year now. I still think there’s another step that Monahan can take in his game.
Marc-Andre Fleury – 27 saves on 28 shots in the 2-1 shootout loss to the Penguins. He’s just outside the top 10 in the player rater for goalies, albeit in the ratios instead of wins.
Chris Kunitz – Goal on four shots. He had a few duds before the game today but he should still be owned in 12’ers because Kunitz hits all of the categories.
Al Montoya – 31 saves on 32 shots in the win. The numbers on the season are elite so stream him when he starts but with Roberto Luongo entrenched as the starter, you can’t hold Montoya outside of the deepest of leagues.
Nick Bjugstad – Goal on three shots. He hasn’t lived up to expectations after scoring 24 goals last season but Bjugstad is still right on the fringe in 12’ers because of the extra PIM he provides.
Brian Campbell – Assist with a shot. Soupy is on quite on a hot streak right now and if your team is really bad in plus-minus, you can hold him as your last defenseman for that boost and for assists. The shots are really ugly though.
Jamie Benn – Assist with five shots. It’s incredible how good Benn is in every single category.
Mattias Janmark – Goal and an assist. The young gun received a shift in overtime and made the most of it scoring the game winner. He’s an interesting name in dynasties with all of the young talent in Dallas. In redrafts, he’s a streamer in 12’ers and should be owned in 16’ers and deeper.
Tyler Seguin – Assist and three shots. It’s scary to think that he just turned 24 years old a couple weeks ago. He’s already a top 5 fantasy player despite the lack of penalty minutes. I’m not sure if it can get any better but it doesn’t have to be for Seguin to be a first round pick for years to come.
Mattias Ekholm – Assist with two shots. He’s still available in 55% of leagues and quite frankly, I don’t know why. He’s been great after the blockbuster trade.
Craig Smith – Goal and an assist with three shots. I expected Smith to be better this year after back to back 20+ goal seasons. The lack of power play points have really hurt Smith this year; he only has 2 on the season.
James Reimer – 25 saves on 32 shots in the 7-2 loss to the Blackhawks. Well, this game went pretty much how everyone expected. Regression has met Mr. Reimer and smacked him in the face.
P.A. Parenteau – Goal and an assist with five shots. His numbers are decent, especially the PIM, but the Leafs are such a mess right now that I’d leave him on the wire to stream when necessary.
Patrick Kane – Goal, three assists and five shots. I mean, four points is a lot but it was almost expected with the lineup the Leafs trotted out there last night. It helped the Leafs kept taking dumb penalties (all of Kane’s assists were on the power play).
Duncan Keith – Three power play assists with two shots. We know what Keith is at this point.
Artemi Panarin – Goal and an assist with three shots and four PIM. Amazing that he’s a top 10 scorer in the league after he was a last round flier or undrafted in the majority of leagues. It will be interesting to see how many voters punish him for being older and on Kane’s line in the Calder race.
Andrew Shaw – Goal and two assists with three shots. Woohoo for good streamer calls! It was nice to see him get power play time on the first unit last night. You could make the case for holding Shaw in 12’ers right now if you need a PIM boost.
Teuvo Teravainen – Goal on two shots playing over 17 minutes. Marian Hossa went on IR so Teravainen could be a top end streamer in the meantime.
Mike Condon – 21 saves on 27 shots in the 6-2 loss to the Coyotes. Good God, Montreal needs to just bomb out the rest of the season because they have no chance anyways without Carey Price.
Anthony Duclair – Goal and an assist. He’s heating up with four points in the last four games. It really does come down to the shots for the Duke. In the last 10 games, he has 5 with 3+ and 5 with 0 or 1. The upside is insane is elite if he can consistently get shots on goal.
Martin Hanzal – Goal and two assists with five shots. Over 82 games, Hanzal is playing at a 55 point pace with 85 PIM. Plenty of value there.
Tuesday Streamers – The action is a little light for a Tuesday night with 8 games on the slate. That gives more reason to stream than normal so here are my top 3 options:
Benoit Pouliot (25.7%) – This is more to comment that I don’t understand why he’s still so widely available. Ten points in the last 7 games isn’t enough?
David Pastrnak (9.8%) – His minutes are up lately and while Columbus is winning more games lately, they’re giving up a ton of shots. That’s not a winning formula and should turn around quickly so getting a piece of a young talent like Pastrnak is a great choice.
Sam Reinhart (8.0%) – Going back to the well again, my man Rhino is up to 17 goals on the season, he has 6 points in the last 6 games and he gets to go against a Senators team that allows the most shots against per game in the league.
That’s all for now guys. I’ll be back on Wednesday to recap tonight’s action. As always, feel free to leave any questions and comments below. As a heads up, I will be in Niagara Falls, CA tomorrow and I usually don’t have service there, so it may take me a little while longer than usual to respond to everyone depending on available WiFi but I promise I will answer them all when I get an opportunity. Take care everyone!
