Rantanen Drags Colorado To Victory

Colorado has been decimated by injuries at a level we’ve never seen before.  The return of Valeri Nichushkin makes him their second healthy top six forward.  Luckily for them, Mikko Rantanen put the team on his back on Sunday.  After scoring Colorado’s only goal against the Rangers on Friday, Rantanen scored all three goals for Colorado on Sunday, tying the game with 7.1 seconds left before winning the game in overtime.  Quietly, Rantanen is up to 19 goals on the season, playing at a higher point pace than his monster 2021-22.  The shot rate is down a bit so his goal rate is a bit unsustainable, but hopefully the shots tick back up without MacKinnon.  Regardless, Rantanen has cemented himself as a top 10 fantasy hockey player.  Let’s take a look at what else happened over the weekend:

Friday’s Games

Evgeni Malkin – Two assists with five shots and two PIM.  Malkin is having some poor luck shooting so it should improve for him, even though he’s sitting at a point per game.

Rickard Rakell – Goal and an assist with two shots.  Rakell is on the fringe right now with his elite shot rate and time on the first power play.

Casey Mittelstadt – Three assists with a shot and two PIM.  Mittelstadt has been in a massive slump after a solid start.  He moved onto the first line Saturday for some time with Jeff Skinner suspended for three games due to his own stupidity, but I have no interest in Mittelstadt.

Cal Clutterbuck – Goal and an assist.  And there’s your annual Clutterbuck update!

Brock Nelson – Two goals on eight shots.  Nelson is playing the best hockey of his life, playing at a 40+40 pace.  None of it looks unsustainable either.

Mathew Barzal – Two assists with a shot.  Barzal can’t buy a break with goals, but Barzal is getting all of the assists.

Alexander Romanov – Two assists with a shot and five PIM.  Romanov provides nothing offensively.

Dougie Hamilton – Two assists with three shots.  Hamilton has been fantastic across the board.  He’s showing last season was the outlier.

Jonas Siegenthaler – Two assists with two shots and two PIM.  Siegenthaler has been outstanding defensively, and has deep league value for the plus-minus, PIM, hits and blocks.  Just don’t expect much offense.  Even the 30 point pace he’s on seems like a stretch.

Jesper Bratt – Two assists with a shot.  I’d love for the shot rate to go back up, but it’s hard to complain about a 30+60 pace.

Jack Hughes – Goal and an assist with two shots.  Hughes is establishing himself as one of the top players in the league.  It’s just a matter of staying healthy now.

Charlie Lindgren – 25 saves on 26 shots in the 4-1 win over the Kraken.  Lindgren needs to be held everywhere right now while Kuemper is out.

Alex Ovechkin – Goal and an assist with nine shots.  All your empty netters are belong to Ovechkin!

Anthony Mantha – Goal and an assist with three shots.  Mantha’s minutes are so low that it’s hard to have him as more than a lower end streamer.

Joonas Korpisalo – 12 saves on 12 shots in 20 minutes before leaving with injury.  He went on IR already so it should be the Elvis show going forward.  It’s desperation.

David Rittich – 22 saves on 23 shots in the 3-1 win over the Blackhawks.  Rittich’s save percentage is disappointing, but I’d still stream him in good matchups.

Josh Morrissey – Two assists.  I did not see this season coming from Morrissey.  Morrissey has never had 40 points in a season, and he already has 30 this year.  Bonkers.

Stuart Skinner – 42 saves on 44 shots in the 5-2 win over the Wild.  It’s Skinner’s net right now in Edmonton.  The GAA is high, but he’s definitely a hold for the wins.

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – Goal and two assists with two shots.  RNH has found another level that should let him set career highs across the board.

Igor Shesterkin – 41 saves on 42 shots in the SO win over the Avalanche, beating his old teammate Alexandar Georgiev (28/29).  Vintage Igor performance as he gets back on a roll again.

Lawson Crouse – Two goals and an assist with four shots.  Crouse being on a 40+10 pace is beyond hilarious.  He’s shooting 25% so outside of a hits league, he’s in the middling streamer category.

Shayne Gostisbehere – Two assists with a shot.  It’s bottom end hold, but I would stomach the plus-minus for now.

Matais Maccelli – Two assists. It is insanity that Maccelli only has one more shot on goal than he has assists.  Obviously if you can use assists, he has some value, but he’s a near blank everywhere else.

Eetu Makiniemi – 23 saves on 24 shots in the 6-1 win over the Ducks.  The Sharks have been brutalized with injuries.  Maybe there’s something here long term, but I’m doubtful, and Makiniemi will be probably be back in the AHL soon.  Welcome to the Razzball Database!

Erik Karlsson – Goal and an assist, as did Timo Meier.  The stars on San Jose had solid games as expected against someone as bad as Dallas, with Tomas Hertl and Alexander Barabanov each dishing two assists.  This game didn’t change my opinion of any of them.

Matt Benning – Two assists.  Benning has eight assists in the last ten games and is a monster in the shot block department.  The shot rate is dreadful, but he’s actually respectable everywhere else.  There’s definite deep league value

Adin Hill – 27 saves on 28 shots in the 2-1 OT win over the Flyers.  I’d stream Hill every time he starts with how strong the team is in front of him.

Saturday’s Games

Casey DeSmith – 37 saves on 38 shots in the 3-1 win over the Sabres.  DeSmith has been at his usual level with a .916 save percentage.  He’s streamable in most starts.

Sidney Crosby – Two goals and an assist with four shots.  Crosby is scoring around the best rate of his career.  Never take Crosby for granted.

Jake Guentzel – Two assists with two shots and two PIM.  Guentzel continues to be the unheralded superstar.  He’s crushing across the board with his PIM up a ton.

Drake Batherson – Goal and an assist with five shots and two PIM.  Batherson’s plus-minus is a complete disaster, but he’s been good everywhere else.  It comes down to your format and where your team is.

Shane Pinto – Two assists with three shots and two PIM.  I really like Pinto long term.  For now, he’s a bottom end streamer.

Mason Marchment – Two assists with five shots.  Marchment has fit in well with Dallas, but being off PP1 is keeping him from being a hold.  You can make the case he is anyways for the PIM, but he’s had two 10 minute misconducts and I’m not fully buying it.

Cal Foote – Two assists with a shot.  That’s more points than Foote had in his first 13 games.  Easy pass.

Andrei Vasilveskiy – 24 saves on 25 shots in the 4-1 win over the Panthers.  He’s below his usual level, but I fully expect Vasilevskiy to get back up to last season’s numbers at the very least.

Noah Hanifin – Two goals on three shots and six PIM.  I have Hanifin as a bottom end hold because he’s good enough across the board that he has value to all teams.  As an aside, I will be doing an updated hold/stream list either right before Christmas or right before New Year’s.

Andrew Mangiapane – Two assists with two shots.  Mangiapane has been brutal, there’s no way around it.  It’s bottom end streamer territory now.

William Nylander – Two goals and three assists with five shots.  Good lord.  The forgotten star in Toronto continues to crush.  He’s thriving on Auston Matthews‘ wing (1+2, 8 SOG) and can easily set career highs.

Mitch Marner – Goal and an assist with three shots.  And the point streak has reached 22.  Incredible run from Marner.

Rasmus Sandin – Two assists. I’m holding Sandin in a 10 man league and 12 just because of the PPP while Rielly is out.  It’s not great anywhere else, but it’s enough.

Pyotr Kochetkov – 16 save shutout in the 3-0 win over the Islanders.  Doesn’t get easier than that.  Kochetkov has been excellent and I’m all in for dynasties, assuming he sticks in Carolina and isn’t thrown away like Nedeljokvic.  For redrafts, it’s too hard to say what happens with him under Andersen comes back.

Filip Gustavsson – 35 save shutout in the 3-0 win over the Canucks.  Gustavsson has been excellent for the Wild with a .920 save percentage.  He’s the clear backup to MAF, and they have Wallstedt in the future, but Gustavsson is a clear NHL goalie.  I’d stream him outside of the toughest of matchups.

Mats Zuccarello – Two assists with three shots.  Zucc is back on a scoring binge.  The plus-minus hurts a bit, but I’m still holding without much thought.

Sunday’s Games

Yanni Gourde – Goal and an assist with two PIM.  Gourde isn’t in the offensive role to put up the numbers he used to in Tampa, but he’s been excellent defensively.  That does nothing for fantasy though.  There’s some deep league value but that’s it.

Matty Beniers – Goal and an assist with five shots.  Beniers is on the fringe, but I would hold for his upside.

Anze Kopitar – Two goals on four shots.  Kopitar is on a heater with ten points in his last seven games.  It’s not exciting, but it’s enough to hold.

Jack Roslovic – Two goals and two assists.  Roslovic was on the first power play unit and skated with Patrik Laine (1+2, 3 SOG) in this game.  He has a point in five of the last six games now, so he’s in elite streamer territory while he’s a hot schmotato.

Johnny Gaudreau – Goal and two assists with three shots.  He’s been exactly what was expected offensively.  The problem is the team around him is either injured or bad.

Vladislav Gavrikov – Two assists with a shot.  He’s playing all he can handle and Gavrikov isn’t doing much.  He’ll get traded by the deadline too and it will become even worse.  Outside of streaming in deep leagues for blocks, no thanks.

James van Riemsdyk – Goal and three assists with three shots.  I’ll be honest, I didn’t know Charlie Conway still had that in him.  Now that he’s healthy again, JVR should be a decent streamer with the amount of minutes he’ll get.  We need to see the shot rate go back up for more to be there.

Morgan Frost – Goal and three assists with two shots.  Frost has disappointed so far so it was nice to see him have a big game.  With Philly’s season in the dumps, I expect Frost to get a ton of minutes and to be a streamer eventually.

Owen Tippett – Tippett is proving himself as an NHL’er in Philly, but right now, it’s bottom end streamer stuff.

Clayton Keller – Hat trick on five shots.  Keller is a solid streamer, but the shot rate needs to get back up for him to approach the fringe like last season.

Nick Ritchie – Goal and an assist with three shots.  No thanks.

Nick Schmaltz – Two assists with two shots.  Schmaltz is in the same range as Keller, although I prefer Keller out of the two.

J.J. Moser – Two assists.  It’s decent for deeper leagues as long as you can stomach the plus-minus.

Dmitry Orlov – Two assists with three shots and two blocks in his return from injury.  Orlov probably won’t provide enough offense for 12’ers, but anything deeper should be enough to hold him.

Linus Ullmark – 30 saves on 31 shots in the 3-1 win over the Golden Knights.  The numbers for Ullmark are absolutely ridiculous.  We’ll see if he can actually stay healthy for a full season, let alone keep it up, but he’s been the #1 goalie so far by a wide margin.

Three Point Challenge:  We will do Tuesday’s Games.  You can’t pick McDavid, Draisaitl, Robertson, Thompson, Kucherov, Pastrnak, Crosby, M. Tkachuk, Karlsson, or Rantanen.  I’ll go with Tavares against the Ducks.