It was only a matter of time until Mikko Rantanen had a big game. The Finn had his second career hat trick on Saturday, scoring on all three of his shots against the Devils. The Avs started the game with Rantanen on the second line, but Bednar reunited the usual top line in Colorado in the second period. Safe to say that it was a good decision. Rantanen is shooting 22.1% right now which obviously isn’t going to last, and he only has four PIM after totaling 54 last season. Still, Rantanen should be a top 20 player the rest of the season with the chance to be in the top 10. That line can be the best in hockey for extended periods meaning the points will pile up. Let’s take a look at what else happened over the weekend:
Friday’s Games:
Lars Eller – Goal and an assist with three shots and two PIM. Eller has solid value in deep leagues given his contributions in the extra categories, but he’s a bottom end streamer for standard 12’ers.
Evgeny Kuznetsov – Goal and an assist with two shots. A solid stretch of games has Kuznetsov on pace for a career high in goals while pushing a point per game again. He’s been great across the board.
Andrei Svechnikov – Two assists with four shots. He’s slowed down a bit, but Svechnikov has been outstanding. The scary thing is that he should get even better; he’s still only 19 years old.
Anton Khudobin – 22 saves on 23 shots in the 4-1 win over the Red Wings. I would stream almost every goalie against the Red Wings, and I would stream Khudobin in all of his starts.
Esa Lindell – Three assists. Lindell is a nice player in real life, but there’s just not enough here in terms of fantasy value.
Joe Pavelski – Goal and an assist with three shots and two PIM. Pavelski has gone from an easy hold for over a decade to being nearly unusable in Dallas. I would only stream him in the best of matchups.
Roope Hintz – Goal and an assist with five shots. Hintz’ success is mostly based on incredible shooting luck (22.2%). The shot rate is below two per game making him a bottom end streamer.
Saturday’s Games:
Victor Olofsson – Out five to six weeks. Brutal beat for the Sabres who were already down Skinner. They’ll pretty much be a two man show offensively for the next few weeks.
Sam Reinhart – Goal and an assist. One of those two guys mentioned above, Reinhart continues to have a nice season. Bottom end hold but an easy one.
Marcus Johansson – Two assists with three shots. Johansson is going to get even more opportunity over the next couple weeks. He looked great in this game and now has a point in four straight. He’s a middling streamer now.
Nathan MacKinnon – Two assists with three shots. He’s now only one point behind McDavid and Draisaitl for the league lead. He’s the Hart frontrunner at the halfway point without a doubt.
Ian Cole – Goal and an assist with two shots. Decent enough to be owned in deep leagues.
Pierre-Edouard Bellemare – Goal and an assist with two shots. Nothing to see here.
Samuel Girard – Two assists with a shot. He now has eight assists in his past three games. So much for that offensive generation not turning into points! His value is entirely in assists but I can see using him based on team needs.
Mike Smith – 35 saves on 36 shots in the 4-1 win over the Bruins. Smith is a desperation option as this was his first win since November 23rd. He has shown the ability to get on big hot streaks in the past, but I’m not expecting one.
Leon Draisaitl – Goal and an assist with two shots and two PIM. He’s -17 and the PIM have dried up, but Draisaitl has played like a top five player all season.
Zach Werenski – Two goals on five shots. Werenski is shooting 14.1% which is unheard of for a defenseman. That said, he’s becoming the focal point of the Columbus offense when he’s on the ice so I’m not automatically assuming there will be a regression.
Marcus Foligno – Goal and an assist with four shots. And there’s your annual Foligno update!
Luke Kunin – Goal and an assist with four shots and four PIM. I wish that the Wild would give Kunin more of an opportunity. There’s a chance he becomes a solid scorer that also gets a lot of PIM. Nice dynasty option, but nothing in redrafts right now.
Blake Wheeler – Goal and an assist with three shots and two PIM. What Wheeler is doing for the Jets playing center with Little down is remarkable. He’s starting to drop off a bit, but Wheeler has remained an easy hold.
Mark Scheifele – Goal and an assist. Scheifele was one of the best players in the league in December and he has shown zero sign of slowing down in January. He’s also one of the few players who actually shoots 18% regularly so his numbers are far from a fluke. If he stay healthy, new career highs should be in play.
David Perron – Goal and two assists with three shots and two PIM. Perron has been incredibly consistent all season long as he sits right at a point per game. Things not working out in Pittsburgh remains one of the more mind-blogging things in recent years as he’s been great everywhere else.
Ryan O’Reilly – Three assists with three shots. The shot rate has plummeted which puts a huge dent into his value. He’s still a hold, but he’s a pure AAGNOF now.
Alex Pietrangelo – Goal and an assist with three shots. Pietrangelo has been a top five defenseman this season. No Stanley Cup hangover here, that’s for sure.
Chandler Stephenson – Goal and an assist with two PIM playing over 19 minutes. The team has a ton of faith in him playing Stephenson with Patches and Stone. He’s a solid streamer.
Nicolas Hague – Two assists with six shots and two PIM. There’s some upside here in the long term but nothing for now.
Teddy Blueger – Two assists with two shots. You know things are bad when you’re playing Teddy Blueger 19:51.
Artturi Lehkonen – Two goals on three shots. It looked like for a couple years that Lehkonen was going to make a jump offensively, but it’s only been a small leap. He’s a bottom end streamer.
Victor Hedman – Two assists with three shots. Great season across the board from Hedman who is above a point per game now.
Michael Hutchinson – 33 save shutout in the 3-0 win over the Islanders. Absolutely zero interest in streaming Hutchinson.
Auston Matthews – Goal and an assist with four shots. Matthews has been a monster from opening night on, but he’s found another gear under Keefe. There’s a chance he’s a top 5 player the rest of the way.
Mitch Marner – Two assists with three shots. Marner has been even better than last season. Things are looking up for the Leafs.
Derek Stepan – Goal and an assist with two shots. I have no interest in streaming Stepan right now as he has only 16 points in 44 games.
Nick Schmaltz – Two assists with a shot. Schmaltz is right on the fringe because of the lack of shots. The assists are great but that’s about it.
Clayton Keller – Two goals on five shots. I was expecting Keller to take off with Hall’s arrival. He’s been much better with nine points in his last nine games and the shots are creeping towards three per game. Not bad at all.
Bo Horvat – Two assists. Dr. Bo was spectacular in this game locking down the top Rangers.
Jacob Markstrom – 36 saves on 37 shots in the 2-1 win over the Rangers. Props to Markstrom for having the best season of his career. He’s become a solid #2 goalie.
Pekka Rinne – 23 saves on 24 shots in the 4-1 win over the Kings. Rinne has been a huge disappointment. I think he’s going to bounce back, but it’s far from a guarantee at 37 years old.
Roman Josi – Two assists with six shots. Josi has crushed all of the categories this season and has a chance to finish as the #1 overall defenseman, even ahead of Carlson.
Craig Smith – Goal and an assist with two shots and two PIM. Solid stretch from Smith with nine points in his last eight games. I’m bumping him up to solid streamer while he’s playing well, mostly because of the excellent shot rate.
Rocco Grimaldi – Goal and an assist with five shots. Nice season from Grimaldi, but he only played 11:39 in this one. He’s a bottom end streamer at best.
Sunday’s Games:
Evander Kane – Hat trick on eight shots with four PIM. Kane was outstanding in this game with two goals coming off some of the quickest releases you’ll see. Too bad for him that the Sharks blew a two goal lead in the last minute. Kane has been even better than last season as he looks to repeat as a top 50 guy.
Logan Couture – Goal and an assist with two shots. Bit of a rough patch for Couture, but he’s still an easy hold.
Timo Meier – Two assists with a shot. Meier moving onto a line with Couture and Kane has helped him out quite a bit with six points in his last five. Will be finally see him get back to last season’s form? Fingers crossed.
T.J. Oshie – Goal and an assist with two shots. Right now, I’d say Oshie is a bottom end hold a step above the fringe, but it’s marginal.
Andrei Vasilevskiy – 28 saves on 29 shots in the 3-1 win over the Hurricanes. In their next five games, the Lightning play some poor offensive teams, so we could see Vasilevskiy get on that run we’ve been waiting for.
Nikita Kucherov – Two assists. He won’t get back to 128 points, but Kucherov has still been very good.
Steven Stamkos – Goal and an assist with two shots. I don’t know why, but it feels like Stamkos isn’t doing that much, yet he’s right at a point per game with over three shots per game. He’s doing just fine.
Chris Driedger – 31 saves on 32 shots in the 4-1 win over the Penguins. He’s been good in his five starts, but I’m not really looking to stream him yet.
Mike Hoffman – Goal and an assist. I’d like to see him playing more than the 13 minutes he did in this game, but Hoffman is still a bottom end hold. Quite the step back from last season though.
Frank Vatrano – Goal and an assist with four shots and two PIM. Vatrano has also taken quite the step back from last season’s 24 goal breakout. He’s barely streamable at the moment.
Marcus Foligno – Two goals on four shots. The annual Foligno update happens twice in the same post!
Ryan Suter – Two assists with a shot. He’s piling up the points with 11 in his last 10 games. It’s quite boring, but there’s still some value here.
Mikael Backlund – Two assists with three shots. Offensively, Backlund has been extremely disappointing this season. I wouldn’t stream him in a 12’er.
Johnny Gaudreau – Two assists with a shot. I’m more troubled by Gaudreau having eight shots total in his past eight games. That’s not the way to turn his season around.
Nick Bonino – Two assists with a shot. Bonino is in the midst of a nice season. However, it doesn’t do much for fantasy which makes him a bottom end streamer.
Ryan Getzlaf – Three assists with two shots. This snapped an eight game pointless streak for Getzlaf. I’m still holding, but it’s tenuous.
Adam Henrique – Two goals and an assist with nine shots. Henrique’s shot rate has taken a huge step forward in his tenth season. It’s enough to make him a viable streaming candidate.
Cam Fowler – Goal and an assist with three shots and two PIM. Right on the fringe, but I lean towards holding Fowler.
Daniel Sprong – Goal and an assist with two shots. I liked Sprong as a prospect, but he’s fallen off to the point where he’s been in the AHL most of the season. However, he is still only 22 years old and I’m not giving up on him. He’s worth monitoring going forward.
Three Point Challenge: We will do the Three Point Challenge for Tuesday. You cannot select McDavid, Draisaitl, Pastrnak, Marchand, MacKinnon, Eichel, Huberdeau, Panarin, P. Kane, or Carlson. I will select Mikko Rantanen.
That’s all for now guys. I’ll be back on Wednesday recapping the action from tonight and Tuesday. As always, feel free to ask any questions, leave any comments, or give any suggestions below. Thanks for reading, take care!
