Poor Ottawa. The Penguins were coming off six straight losses before Tuesday night and it wasn’t hard to imagine them destroying the Senators. They did just that scoring seven goals. So what can we take away from this game? Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin are good! Oh, you meant besides the obvious. Well, Bryan Rust had a hat trick after only two goals in the previous thirteen games. This eliminates any doubt about Rust being a hold. Jason Zucker had a goal and two assists with three shots. He has ten points in the last ten games so yeah, he’s an easy hold too as expected after his trade to the Steel City. Conor Sheary also had a goal and an assist with two shots and two PIM. I wrote during the Trade Deadline post that I don’t believe in Sheary despite the move. Honestly, I still don’t, but getting to play with Crosby and Zucker right now just has to put him into the streaming realm. The power play time will be minimal so it’s mostly for deep leagues, but Sheary does have some relevance once again. Let’s see what else happened over the last two nights:
Michael Hutchinson – 17 saves on 18 shots in his first game as an Av, on his birthday no less. <checks who game was against> <sees Detroit> Yeah, zero interest in Hutch.
Leon Draisaitl – Four goals and an assist with seven shots Monday, assist with four shots and two PIM Tuesday. I mean, come on, this is just ridiculous. We could be seeing the best season of the millennium from a point production standpoint.
Connor McDavid – Goal and four assists Monday, assist with four shots Tuesday. McDavid is playing at an even better pace than last season and the shot rate took another big step forward. Pretty, pretty, pretty good. He’s pushing towards 500 career points already and he just turned 23!
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – Three assists with a shot Monday, goal and an assist Tuesday. Draisaitl moving onto RNH’s line has done him wonders. He’s pushing towards a point per game which is a huge leap once again. Props to RNH for consistently improving.
Darnell Nurse – Three assists with two shots Monday, assist with two shots Tuesday. He’s must-own until Klefbom comes back. At that point, it’s very hard to say.
Josh Archibald – Goal and an assist with two shots over two games. He’s getting some shifts with McDavid which makes him a bottom end streamer for now with upside from there.
Mikko Koskinen – 42 saves on 43 shots in the 2-1 OT win over the Stars. Koskinen is a bottom end option. The wins and save percentage are passable, but the GAA is quite bad because of the Oilers’ defensive lapses.
Connor Hellebuyck – 25 saves on 26 shots in the 3-1 win over the Sabres. The Sabres are a mess right now and Hellboy took advantage. He has regressed some, but the save percentage is still elite. Great season from Hellebuyck which I admittedly whiffed on.
Kyle Connor – Two goals and an assist with four shots playing over 24 minutes. Connor already has a career high in goals and points. He found another level that I wasn’t sure he had. I’m not convinced this will be his norm, but he will be a 30+ goal scorer for the foreseeable future.
Blake Wheeler – Two assists with two shots. Wheeler is rolling right now with 11 points in the last 8 games. His days of being a point per game player are probably over, but Wheeler is still an easy top 75 guy pushing the top 50.
Brock Nelson – Goal and an assist. The shot rate is down lately which is a bit frustrating, but the points are still coming in so I’m definitely holding Nelson still.
Brendan Gallagher – Goal and an assist with five shots. Nice stretch from Gally who is an easy hold because of his elite shot rate.
Joel Armia – Goal and an assist. Armia has slowed down quite a bit since returning from his injury. He’s down to a bottom end streamer now.
Phillip Danault – Two assists with a shot. He’s close to an AAGNOF, although his shot rate isn’t a complete disaster. Solid streamer depending on what you need.
Jordan Binnington – 25 saves on 26 shots in the 3-1 win over the Rangers. Don’t look now, but the Blues have won eight in a row. It’s still far from perfect for Binnington, but he’s a strong #2 with clear #1 upside.
Brayden Schenn – Goal and an assist with two shots. That’s a goal in five straight for Schenn who is going to set a career high in goals. He’s an easy hold, but his shooting percentage will certainly regress so don’t expect him to keep this current rate up.
Jaden Schwartz – Goal and an assist with three shots. Nice to see Schwartz bounce back and more importantly, stay healthy. He’s fringy but I lean towards holding.
Colton Parayko – Goal and an assist with four shots. Parayko has had a nice little streak offensively. If you need help, he’s a decent gamble because the shot rate is elite for a defenseman right now.
Colin White – Two assists with a shot. Nice deep league streamer and bottom end for 12’ers because his workload is massive.
Tuukka Rask – 20 saves on 21 shots in the 2-1 win over the Lightning. His numbers are absolutely absurd giving Rask a real chance at winning the Vezina despite not having the traditional workhorse workload.
Alex Stalock – 37 saves on 38 shots in the 3-1 win over the Predators. I’m not really buying in, but Stalock is a tier above desperation. Boudreau must be laughing at home seeing the Wild goalies finally playing okay for the first time all season.
Kevin Fiala – Goal and an assist with seven shots. I easily could have started this post about Fiala. He has taken the leap forward that we have been expecting. Five game multi-point streak and 13 points in the last eight games. Hold him everywhere.
Dylan Strome – Two goals and an assist with five shots. Strome is down to a bottom end streamer as the points dried up and the shot rate has taken a step down to being a true negative.
Patrick Kane – Goal and an assist with five shots and two PIM. Kane doing Kane things.
Alex Nylander – Goal and an assist with three shots. He’s still only 22, but Nylander is really lacking any consistency. I don’t have much faith at this point and wouldn’t use him outside of deep leagues.
Adam Boqvist – Two assists with a shot. I like Boqvist’s chances to turn into a viable fantasy defenseman, especially on the power play, but that’s almost certainly a few years away.
Robin Lehner – 27 save shutout in the 3-0 win over the Devils. Lehner is extremely good and it should only get better in Vegas. He’s clearly the best goalie in Vegas. He’s still available in almost 50% of leagues and should be owned everywhere.
Max Pacioretty – Goal and an assist with three shots and four PIM. This is the sixth 30 goal season of his career and he’s a lock for a career high in points. What a revitalization by Patches at 31.
William Karlsson – Goal and an assist with two shots. Wild Bill notched his 100th career goal and whil he hasn’t come close to matching his 2017-18, he’s still been fairly good. He’s on the fringe because the PIM and shot rate are mediocre, but the points are there.
Auston Matthews – Goal and an assist with five shots. He was buzzing all night but somehow the Leafs only ended up with two goals.
Evander Kane – Two goals on seven shots. Despite the San Jose season going down the drain, Kane has been damn good this season, even by his standards.
Stefan Noesen – Goal and an assist with two shots. Antti Suomela also had a goal and an assist. Both played under 10 minutes in this game. Nothing to see here.
Three Point Challenge: We will do it for Thursday’s games. You can make your pick in this post or in Thursday’s. Give me Kuznetsov against the Rangers.
That’s all for now guys. The schedule for the next week or so is going to be different. There won’t be daily notes until next Wednesday, so if you have any questions in that regard, please ask anything in the comments section and I’ll be sure to answer. Instead, I will have my playoff manifesto come out over the next two days. I will have the Eastern Conference come out on Thursday and the Western Conference on Friday. Then, to complement that, I will have a post previewing the week ahead on Monday. If you have any questions or suggestions, please put those below as well. Thank you for reading, take care!
