Columbus was in an absolutely miserable spot on Tuesday. They were missing their #1 goalie, their best defenseman, arguably their second best defenseman, and one of their hottest forwards. Their backup goalie was playing his first game in three weeks, and they were facing the healthiest version of Tampa that we’ve seen in months. Needless to say, it did not go well. Tampa was in control from the very beginning and won 7-2, led by Ondrej Palat and Brayden Point. Palat scored two goals and an assist with four shots, while Point had a goal and two assists with two shots. These two haven’t spent too much time together this season as Palat has been with Stamkos for the vast majority. They didn’t miss a step from playing together in the past. Point is a fringe top 20 player while Palat is solidified himself as a hold again. If he’s available, grab him now, because I have no doubt that Palat will be a no brainer hold once Nikita Kucherov comes back, which should be in a couple weeks. Let’s take a look at what else happened over the last two nights:
Alexandar Georgiev – 33 saves on 34 shots in the 4-1 win over the Oilers. After being dreadful for a year straight, Georgiev has seemingly regained his form from when he entered the league. I’m willing to stream him in most matchups again.
Ryan Strome – Goal and two assists with two shots. No Panarin, no problem! For one game, anyways. Strome is locked into PP1 so I’m still holding.
Barclay Goodrow – Goal and an assist. He’s getting big minutes with Panarin out. I would only use him in leagues with all of the extra categories or deep leagues.
Adam Fox – Two assists with two shots. He looked off without Lindgren next to him, but Lindgren was back in the lineup so expect Fox to get going again sooner rather than later.
Alexis Lafreniere – Goal and an assist with two shots. Laf is getting more ice time, but he’s still only a bottom end streamer. We’re seeing some signs, but he has a long way to go.
Connor McDavid – Entered COVID protocols. Ugh. Here’s to hoping he’s asymptomatic and back soon. Edmonton is in a massive freefall so they can’t afford to miss McDavid for any substantial length of time.
Erik Johnson – Two goals with five shots and two PIM. In deep leagues, he’s a definite hold with his hits and blocks since he stumbles into enough points playing on Colorado. Don’t buy this current point pace though.
Nazem Kadri – Two assists. Nine game point streak for Kadri who started the season on fire and hasn’t cooled off yet. 41 points in 26 games!
Alex DeBrincat – Two power play goals, both assisted by Patrick Kane. It’s gotten lost in the shuffle since Chicago is terrible, but DeBrincat has 20 goals already. Why is he only playing 18 minutes in a game that went to overtime and why isn’t he on a line with Kane?
Seth Jones – Two assists with three shots. Unsurprisingly, Jones is doing poor at even strength again. I’ve called him the most overrated player in the league for a few years now and I stand by it, although more people are starting to notice his struggles now. That said, it doesn’t matter in fantasy, and he’s still a #2/3D.
Curtis Lazar – Goal and an assist with three shots. And there’s your annual Lazar update!
Brandon Montour – Three assists with two shots. Montour is right on the fringe in 12 man leagues. It’s decent enough across the board that if that’s what you’re looking for, I’m good with holding.
Patric Hornqvist – Two goals on four shots. In the short term, Hornqvist is an elite streamer since he’s getting PP1 time with Bennett and Reinhart out of the lineup.
Carter Verhaeghe – Two assists with a shot. Verhaeghe is also on the fringe for me because the shot rate has plummeted.
Corey Perry – Goal and an assist with two shots, as did Patrick Maroon. These guys have both been solid considering their role, especially Perry. Perry is a solid streamer while Maroon is a bottom end one.
Anthony Cirelli – Two assists. He was on the top line, but Cirelli is off the top power play unit with Point back in the lineup. That makes him a middling streamer.
Gustav Nyquist – Goal and an assist with two shots. He moved up to a higher lineup, but I still have Nyquist as a bottom end streamer at best.
Tyler Bertuzzi – Two goals with twelve PIM. When he’s played this year, Bertuzzi has been outstanding. The Red Wings don’t have a game in Canada any time soon so that’s one less thing to worry about. No brainer hold.
Dylan Larkin – Goal and an assist with five shots. Larkin has been fantastic as the Red Wings look to be a decent team again for the first time in a few years.
Pius Suter – Two goals. I still don’t get why Chicago let him go for nothing. Suter isn’t a world beater, but he does just fine in your middle six. He’s a bottom end streamer.
Gustav Lindstrom – Two assists. They didn’t have enough of Lidstrom that they had to get a Lindstrom? The former second round pick hasn’t shown any consistent offense to this point in his career so he can stay on the waiver wire. Welcome to the Razzball Database!
Connor Hellebuyck – 26 saves on 27 shots in the 3-1 win over the Coyotes. The GAA is slightly higher than usual even though the save percentage is the same as last year, and the wins are slightly down. That said, this is basically Hellebuyck’s floor, and that’s still a damn good goalie.
Mark Scheifele – Two assists with three shots. Scheifele has had a tough go of it this year by his standards, but the Scheifele-Ehlers-Stastny combo has crushed together, so hopefully he gets on a roll soon. It helps that he’s the ultimate empty net merchant too.
John Gibson – 28 saves on 29 shots in the 4-1 win over the Flyers. As an aside, how embarrassing are the Flyers? That team is a joke. And yes, I know Claude Giroux and Ivan Provorov went into COVID protocols, but they got wrecked by a team playing down two skaters. Gibson has been a solid #2 this season and that should continue.
Troy Terry – Hat trick on four shots. Terry has 21 goals in 35 games this season after scoring 15 in 129 games before this season. Absolutely bonkers. His shooting percentage is due for massive regression, but he still needs to be held.
Jamie Drysdale – Two assists. Drysdale has fallen off quite a bit so I wouldn’t hold him in 12’ers. I still like him plenty long term, but he’s been a bit marginalized lately because of his drop off.
Filip Forsberg – Two goals on four shots. Cale Makar had the goal of the night, but Forsberg had a very close second. He was a great save away from getting his eighth career hat trick. He’s played like one of the best forwards in the league all season. Just stay healthy!
William Karlsson – Goal and an assist with two shots and two PIM. The minutes were sky high as Vegas was trailing for most of the game and the second line has become the de facto first line. Because of that, Karlsson is an elite streamer.
Three Point Challenge: Everybody bricked on Tuesday. We actually have a big slate on Thursday so we’ll stick with the usual day. The current top ten is McDavid, Draisaitl, Ovechkin, Huberdeau, Kadri, Kaprizov, Stamkos, Gaudreau, Panarin, and J.T. Miller. I’ll go with Crosby against the Flyers.
That’s all for now guys. I’ll be back on Friday recapping the action from the next two nights. As always, feel free to ask any questions, leave any comments, or give any suggestions below. Thanks for reading, take care!
