Kyle Okposo is a player that tends to get overlooked despite becoming an elite scorer in the NHL. In his last 3 seasons with the Islanders, Okposo played well over a 60 point pace per 82 games including 2013-14 when he had 69 points in 71 games. Even now that he’s in Buffalo, Okposo is still looked at as a complimentary piece even though he’s a bonafide first liner. In Tuesday night’s 6-3 win over the Kings, Okposo moved onto Jack Eichel‘s wing and immediately delivered with three assists and a shot. That gives Okposo 21 points in 27 games with elite power play points and strong shots. Yes, the penalty minutes have dried up for now, but with how well he possesses the puck plus his scoring prowess, Okposo is on his way to another 60+ point season. Even if the penalty minutes don’t come back, he’s looking at another top 100 overall fantasy season. Pretty, pretty good <Larry David voice>. Here’s what else happened around the league the last two nights:
Matt Murray – 32 save shutout in the 7-0 win over the Coyotes. Reid and I predicted 6-1 and 5-1 wins respectively on the last podcast; we weren’t far off! Assuming Murray gets the starts going forward, he should be a #1 fantasy goalie with ease.
Mike Smith – 18 saves on 22 shots in 28:30 before getting pulled, then 37 saves on 38 shots in the 4-1 win over Detroit on Tuesday. If those games back to back don’t epitomize Smith, I don’t know what does.
Nick Bonino – Goal and an assist with three shots. Instead of listing all of the random Penguins who are streamers at best who did well in this game, I’ll just lump my thoughts together here and they’re very simple. Stream guys against the Coyotes.
Sidney Crosby – Goal on two shots. The fact that it’s a reasonable discussion that Crosby could score 50 in 50 games is remarkable.
Evgeni Malkin – Two assists with four shots. No slowing him down right now. Just stay healthy!
Justin Schultz – Power play goal on his only shot. Still available in 2/3rds of leagues but should be grabbed for elite plus-minus and solid points.
Tuukka Rask – 30 saves on 31 shots in the 2-1 OT win over Montreal. We broke down the goaltending tiers for the rest of the season in the last podcast; for his exact ranking listen in but he’s obviously a #1 going forward.
Ryan Spooner – Goal and an assist with two shots. Spooner was great at times last year but his value has surprisingly disappeared.
Austin Czarnik – Goal and an assist with two shots. He’s shown some flashes of potential for extremely deep dynasties.
Torey Krug – Assist with three shots and seven PIM. I don’t understand how somebody with a quality slapshot like Krug can be this unlucky two straight years. Over the last two years, we are at 5 goals on 333 SOG. Unbelievable.
Carey Price – 27 saves on 29 shots in the loss. Not much else to say on Price, everyone knows how good he is.
Jeff Carter – Two goals on eight shots. I have no idea why Carter only played 15 minutes in this game; I was there and he was buzzing all night. Excellent contributions across the board for Carter to this point with elite shots and goals.
Anze Kopitar – Goal on his own shot. It snapped a 17 goalless streak which is unheard of for a player of Kopitar’s caliber. I was the lowest on Kopitar on Fantasy Pros going into the season and that looks right; the shots have dried up and he’s never been a PIM contributor.
Peter Budaj – 18 saves on 22 shots in the 6-3 loss. Weird situation where Budaj was pulled with 6 minutes left in the second but then came back in to start the third period. Anyways, he looked rough in this one but that won’t change that the Kings will be riding him until Jonathan Quick is back.
Jack Eichel – Two goals and an assist with five shots. The game just looks so easy for him at the moment.
Evander Kane – Goal on two shots with two PIM. Still widely available but I don’t understand why.
Matt Moulson – Two assists with a shot. He received a couple shifts in the top 6 throughout this game which is worth monitoring in the Sabres next game on Friday. Moulson could get back on the streaming radar.
Ryan O’Reilly – Goal on three shots with two PIM. What a rarity to see RoR take a penalty (it was a weak interference call). His goal was an absolute thing of beauty on an incredible individual effort. Having Sam Reinhart (goal on two shots) switch with Okposo doesn’t really change any of their values.
Rasmus Ristolainen – Two assists. All of your assists are belong to me!
Evgeny Kuznetsov – Two assists with three shots. Kuznetsov owners rejoice! Five game point streak is just what the doctor ordered.
Matt Niskanen – Two goals on six shots. First two goals of the season for Niskanen who has been a bit disappointing. I don’t think he’s worth owning in 12’ers at the moment but it’s close.
Jakub Vrana – Two assists with two shots. The 20 year former first round pick is starting to show some signs. It’s not worth owning in redrafts but there’s some dynasty value here.
Brock Nelson – Goal on three shots. The shots have been up a bit lately; he’s right on the fringe but would lean towards holding.
Scott Darling – 33 saves on 34 shots in the 2-1 win over the Rangers. Ride the hot streak while you can until he loses his job.
Artem Anisimov – Goal and an assist with three shots. After a rough patch, Arty has 3+1 in the last four games. Don’t expect the PIM rate to hold but as long as he stays with his current linemates, it should remain strong otherwise.
Artemi Panarin – Two assists with a shot. He’s settling in right in the range that I expect: the mid 60’s per 82 games. Obviously it could swing slightly either way but I certainly haven’t changed my thoughts that repeating 78 points is unrealistic.
Antti Raanta – 24 saves on 26 shots in the loss. After losing this one, I assume Henrik Lundqvist starts the next game and runs with it but we’ll see.
Ryan Miller – 24 saves on 30 shots in 45:56 before getting pulled in the 8-6 (!) loss to the Hurricanes. This game was 5-2 Canucks going into the third before the Hurricanes exploded. Avoid Canucks goalies like the plague.
Cam Ward – 15 saves on 18 shots in 25:24 before getting pulled. Regression fairies, meet Mr. Cam Ward! It shouldn’t be good going forward besides in a volume sense.
Sven Baertschi – Two goals and an assist with six shots. We keep seeing flashes from Baertschi showing why he was a lottery pick in 2011 but there hasn’t been any consistency.
Alex Burrows – Goal and an assist with two shots and two PIM. Okay streamer if you need PIM but that’s it.
Brandon Sutter – Goal and an assist with two shots. With a horrible plus-minus and two PIM on the season, Sutter is a stream at best.
Justin Faulk – Goal and two assists with nine shots. Great source of goals and shots from a defenseman but the plus-minus is going to be ugly.
Elias Lindholm – Two assists with two shots and four PIM. It was his first game back from injury; he’s still an okay streamer.
Victor Rask – Goal and two assists with three shots. Man, it’s so good right now owning Rask. Skinner and him have made an excellent duo.
Jeff Skinner – Two goals and an assist with seven shots. The game ended with Skinner having only two goals but they retroactively gave him an assist. I call shenanigans for the three point challenge, Reid colluded with the score keeper in Carolina! Congrats to Scott getting it right as well.
Derek Ryan – Three assists with two shots. Ryan is currently on a 4 game point streak in which he totaled 7 points. Ryan is a 29 year old hockey lifer who is finally getting a chance this year, one of the best stories around the league the last week. Right now, he’s with Skinner and Rask putting him firmly on the streaming radar.
Jordan Staal – Goal and an assist with five shots in his first game back from a concussion. Like the Penguins guys, I’m taking a game against horrible competition with a grain of salt. Staal is a streamer at best in 12’ers.
Lee Stempniak – Goal and an assist. Unless he gets back on a line with Rask and Skinner, he’s a fringy stream.
Martin Jones – 29 saves on 31 shots in the 3-2 SO win over Toronto. Nice late comeback for the Sharks got Jones another win. He’s firmly in the second tier of #1 goalies in my mind.
Brent Burns – Assist and five shots playing over 32 minutes. Standard Brent Burns line.
Joe Pavelski – Goal on five shots playing over 21 minutes. These two Sharks are just monsters season in and season out.
Frederik Andersen – 40 saves on 42 shots taking the loss. He needs to be owned everywhere at this point.
Auston Matthews – Goal and an assist with four shots. The minutes should be going up at this point, Mike Babcock doesn’t have an excuse.
William Nylander – Two assists with two shots. The points have started to dry up but he still needs to be held everywhere.
Lawson Crouse – Goal on two shots with four PIM on Tuesday. He’s a high ceiling, low floor option in dynasties. Crouse could be a guy who just racks up PIM and hits with okay points but there’s also a chance he becomes a strong power forward.
Anthony DeAngelo – Goal on four shots. He better be up to stay at this point. The plus-minus could potentially be shaky but if you need points on defense, grab him now.
Anthony Duclair – Assist with two shots. Duclair has been one of the biggest disappointments of the year to this point. He’s been scratched lately and there’s talk of a trade. I hope he gets moved at this point.
Peter Holland – Two assists in his first game with the Coyotes. He should be grabbed in deep leagues and could potentially be an okay streamer after we see his role over the next couple games.
Jamie McGinn – Two goals on three shots. His value has completely evaporated in the desert this year. You see what I did there? I’ll see myself out.
Gustav Nyqvist – Assist with six shots. It’s very close to elite stream vs. holding for Nyqvist and could go either way.
Jake Allen – 28 saves on 33 shots in 50 minutes as the Blues pissed away a 3-0 lead and lost 6-3. It’s been a bad start to the year for Allen in his first time as a workhorse. The wins are there but not much else. We talked about him extensively on the podcast but I do think it improves.
Kevin Shattenkirk – Goal and an assist with four shots. He’s the #4 overall defenseman at the moment and I don’t think he slows down. Last season was the outlier on the negative side. Another guy I was highest on among the experts on Fantasy Pros.
Vladimir Tarasenko – Two assists with two shots. The man is good at the hockey game.
Viktor Arvidsson – Two assists with two shots. He’s easily a top 50 forward over the last month yet is still only 32% owned. Go and get him.
Mike Fisher – Two goals. I prefer to stream him given that the penalty minutes are a complete fluke and otherwise it’s bottom end.
Filip Forsberg – Goal on six shots. I would try to buy low on Forsberg; four of the last five games his shot totals are 6,4,5,5. I think a heater is coming.
Ryan Johansen – Goal and an assist with four shots. Solid across the board right now.
Colin Wilson – Two assists with a shot. Bottom end streamer right now given the low shots and penalty minutes.
Roberto Luongo – 12 saves on 17 shots in 48 minutes before getting pulled in the 5-1 loss to the Wild. Yuck, right when I talked about how well when Luongo is doing. I still like him plenty but the wins from last season won’t be there, it’s elite in the other categories.
Jonathan Marchessault – Assist with two shots in his return. Another guy we talked about on the podcast and in the comments section, I think you can go either way with Marchessault. I’d lean towards holding but you can drop if you’re in a roster crunch.
Devan Dubnyk – 29 saves on 30 shots in the win. It’s probably time to start the Devan Dubnyk for Vezina campaign.
Jonas Brodin – Two assists with a shot and two PIM. He’s become a solid deep league option mainly due to assists and blocks.
Jason Pominville – Two assists. Streamer at best at this point.
Jason Zucker – Goal and an assist. Elite streamer for the moment and you can justify holding him while he’s this hot.
Ryan Getzlaf – Goal and an assist with four shots. Damn it, I needed one more point! And I said if he scored he would get there too, blah. Oh well, nice to see him find the back of the net. The plus-minus is bad though which I didn’t see coming after 4 straight years of +14 or better.
Rickard Rakell – Assist with four shots. That’s four straight games with a point to keep Rakell near a point per game. So good right now.
John Gibson – 19 saves on 24 shots in 51:42 before getting pulled in the 6-2 loss to the Stars. Man, just when I start to think Gibson can get rolling, he puts up a dud. This game was 0-0 halfway through and 2-1 Ducks with 15 minutes left in the game. I still like him going forward but I’ve tempered my expectations.
Jamie Benn – Goal and two assists with three shots and two PIM. He’s been scoring in bunches a lot this year. The shots need to get up for him to get back to a top 10 player.
Jordie Benn – Two assists with a shot and two PIM. He’s an okay deep league option at best.
Patrick Eaves – Goal on three shots. With a long cold streak before this game, you can go either way with Eaves between holding and dropping to stream.
Tyler Seguin – Two assists with two shots. The plus-minus has been bad but otherwise, it’s been business as usual.
Antti Niemi – 34 saves on 36 shots in the win. I do not trust either goalie at all for Dallas. Maybe against the Arizonas of the world but even then it’s scary.
Sergei Bobrovsky – 33 saves on 34 shots in the 3-1 win over the Oilers. Bob is also in my second tier at the moment as a clear #1 goalie. So good.
Sam Gagner – Goal and an assist with four shots and two PIM. The bargain bin signing of the summer by Columbus, Gagner needs to be owned everywhere with 8 points in the last 4 games and 20 shots in his last 5.
Alexander Wennberg – Two assists with two shots. Just as he starts to cool off a bit, he gives us a multi-point game. The lack of shots is infuriating but obviously the assists are terrific.
Wednesday Streamers – Per usual, there’s a small slate on Wednesday with four games on the docket. Here are my top three streaming options:
Michael Raffl (1.5%) – Getting exposure against Colorado is your best bet. If you’re lucky enough to have Travis Konecny available in your league, stream him first, but Raffl will do just fine. He’s playing with two of the hottest players in the world right now which is more than enough against the Avalanche.
Alex Chiasson (1.3%) – A matchup against Tampa isn’t as nice as Colorado but Chiasson is also on the first line with a hot linemate. Good enough on a slate with limited options.
Nick Bonino (6.9%) – You can go with Bryan Rust as well, I just chose Bonino because of the higher minutes and second unit PP time. The Penguins are rolling at the moment so having exposure to them is a nice bonus.
That’s all for now guys. On top of the podcast Tuesday, I posted an update on the RCL’s that you can read here. We will have another podcast on Thursday with a big Razzball announcement and additional sponsors that will give you listeners free stuff! As always, feel free to ask any questions or leave any comments below. My next set of daily notes will be on Friday. Take care!
