This Nashville Predators team plays nothing like the style we’ve come to expect from them over the years. They’re hemorrhaging chances left and right, especially against top competition. So needless to say, it was always going to be difficult for them to get a result in Carolina. Luckily for them, they have Juuse Saros. Saros had the second most saves in a non-OT game in NHL history on Thursday saving 64(!) shots in the 5-3 win over the Hurricanes. I bet over 30.5 saves for Saros, can I get paid double for him going over twice? Ha! It’s going to be hard for Saros to improve in GAA considering the team in front of him, but he’s been playing much better lately to the point where the save percentage should be an elite asset once again. Saros is still a #1 fantasy goalie, both for this season and in dynasties. Amazingly, despite making his debut seven seasons ago, he’s still only 27 years old. Let’s take a look at what else happened the last two nights:
Note: All Devils stats are over two games.
Vitek Vanecek – 32 saves on 33 shots in the 5-1 win over the Red Wings. Vanecek’s save percentage is average, but that’s enough for an elite GAA. Bottom end #1 goalie now.
Dougie Hamilton – Goal and two assists with six shots and four PIM. Hamilton is having his best season offensively, even better than the season that he was robbed of the Norris, or at the least, being a finalist.
Nico Hischier – Two goals and an assist with six shots. The player we expected when Hischier was taken first overall has arrived in full force.
Jack Hughes – Three goals and an assist with fifteen shots. The shot rate is through the roof right now with 6+ shots in five straight games. Yes, he’s terrible in hits and PIM, but the offense is getting up there with the league’s elite. And he’s still only 21.
Filip Gustavsson – 34 saves on 35 shots in the 5-1 win over the Lightning. Gustavsson has to be a hold now. He’s alternating starts with MAF and has a 2.25/.924. No doubter.
Calen Addison – Goal and two assists with two shots. I’m still bullish on Addison long term, but for now, he’s only a deep league option unless your league doesn’t have SOG.
Kirill Kaprizov – Two goals on six shots. I feel like Kaprizov’s season has gone completely under the radar. He’s on pace for 49+55 with almost four shots per game. That’s why he’s first round caliber now.
Matt Boldy – Two assists with four shots. Boldy is right on the fringe. Long term, I’m all in as the Wild should hopefully find him a better center (hopefully Rossi).
John Gibson – 35 save shutout in the 2-0 win over the Stars. It’s hard to tell if Gibson is any good anymore playing for the second worst team in the league. He’s a desperation play.
Mason McTavish – Goal and an assist with four shots. Considering the workload, this season has been decent for McTavish. Long term, there’s massive upside. For now, he’s a middling streamer.
Juuso Parssinen – Two assists with two shots. Even being on the top PP, Parssinen is a bottom end streamer.
Brett Pesce – Two assists with seven shots. Pesce doesn’t do anything well for fantasy at this point. Outside of super deep leagues, he’s an easy pass.
Jaroslav Halak – 17 saves on 18 shots in the 4-1 win over the Canadiens. I’d only stream Halak in the best of matchups. He’s struggled in New York.
Filip Chytil – Two goals on three shots. Chytil is stuck as a middling streamer. The minutes simply aren’t there for more, especially on the power play.
Pavel Buchnevich – Three assists. The shot rate has gotten to the point where it’s a negative, but Buch is still over a point per game despite the team struggling. Hopefully he can progress back towards last year’s level.
Robert Thomas – Two goals and an assist with three shots. The shot rate is also going to be a massive negative for Thomas forever, barring a shocking turn of events. That said, I love the new line of Buch, Thomas and Kyrou. Given all of the injuries the Blues have, these guys should get huge minutes and be a force.
Brandon Saad – Goal and an assist with four shots. Still only a bottom end streamer for me.
Ivan Barbashev – Goal and an assist with two shots and two PIM. Barashev is also in the bottom end streamer range.
Barrett Hayton -Two assists with two shots. Could Hayton finally be coming into his own? He has six points in the last four games and eight points in his last ten? Hayton is still only bottom end streamer worthy, but perhaps there’s more long term hope than he’s shown so far.
Morgan Frost – Four assists with four shots. While Frost has played much better lately, the four game streak for Philly is against the four California teams and Arizona. Not exactly murderer’s row. I’m still bumping him to middling streamer, but that’s it.
Kevin Hayes – Goal and two assists, as did Travis Konecny. Hayes is firmly on the fringe depending on what you’re looking for. Konecny has shockingly played his way into being an elite player.
Martin Jones – 26 saves on 27 shots in the 5-1 win over the Maple Leafs. Jones is a bottom end hold with how good the wins have been.
Vince Dunn – Goal and two assists with three shots. The shots are a negative, but Dunn is good enough everywhere else to be a hold without hesitation.
Jared McCann – Goal and an assist. McCann is an elite streamer, but I can’t get him on the fringe yet. He can’t shoot 26%+ forever.
Dylan Strome – Three assists with three shots. Strome is a solid streamer through and through. The assists are strong, but everywhere else is a slight negative.
T.J. Oshie – Two goals on four shots. Oshie is down to a middling streamer at this point in his career.
Evgeny Kuznetsov – Two assists with two PIM. Massive hot streak for Kuznetsov is enough to bump him up to a hold for the time being.
Emil Bemstrom – Two assists. Bemstrom is currently on the first line with Gaudreau which makes him a middling streamer.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – Two assists with four PIM. Leon Draisaitl had a goal and an assist with eight shots, while Connor McDavid had two assists with three shots. Nothing like being on a 98 point pace and being lapped by your teammates. That’s where RNH is at. Still been an incredible season to this point.
Andrei Kuzmenko – Two goals on four shots with two PIM. Kuzmenko is on the fringe. As we get closer to the trade deadline, he may bump up on the chance that he’s traded, or if his minutes go up in Vancouver.
Ilya Mikheyev – Two assists with three shots. I was expecting more from Mikheyev in Vancouver. He’s been fine, but that’s only middling streamer worthy.
Elias Pettersson – Two assists with seven shots. Pettersson has elevated to superstar level at age 24. My bold prediction of 50+ goals is a long shot, but a 105 point pace is nothing to sneeze at.
Oliver Ekman-Larsson – Two assists with two shots. Nothing outside of the deepest of leagues.
Sidney Crosby – Goal and an assist with four shots. It’s crazy to see Crosby with a minus rating. Regardless, he’s not in the top tier of fantasy players anymore, but he’s not far behind it.
Jake Guentzel – Two assists with three shots and two PIM. Guentzel is goalless in eight games and the shot rate is in the drain with only twelve shots in the last eight games. He needs to turn it around quickly or it’ll be a real concern.
Jack Eichel – Goal and two assists with four shots and two PIM. Talk about returning in style. Here’s to hoping he can stay healthy from here on out.
Mark Stone – Goal and an assist. Stone has been fantastic throughout all of Vegas’ injury woes. He’s not far off from being a point per game again.
Paul Cotter – Goal and an assist with three shots. Phil Kessel also had a goal and an assist with three shots and two PIM, while William Karlsson dished two assists. This is the new third line for Vegas, and it’s hard to have any interest in them. Karlsson is still a middling streamer, Cotter bottom end, and Phil even below that.
David Pastrnak – Two goals on five shots. Pasta is back on the first line with DeBrusk injured. I can’t imagine his numbers get any better, but it shouldn’t hurt.
Brad Marchand – Goal and an assist with two shots. Unlike Pasta, Marchand gets a boost with the line change.
Charlie McAvoy – Two assists. McAvoy remains solid across the board, making him a #2.
Trent Frederic – Two goals on four shots with five PIM. Bottom end streamer at best.
Three Point Challenge: We will do it for Saturday’s Games. You have to make your picks in MarmosDad’s DFS post. The Top Ten in points going into Saturday will be ineligible per usual.
That’s all for now guys. I’ll be back on Monday recapping the action from the weekend. As always, feel free to ask any questions, leave any comments, or give any suggestions below. Thanks for reading, take care!
Hey Viz, Hope you’re doing well. Happy New Year. Great write up as always.
In a deep 12 team dynasty league, where I am in playoff contention, I need to drop one of these GK’s – Sorokin, Husso, Varlamov, Copley & Gibson. I like the Sorokin/Varlamov pairing so I think it’s down to Copley or Gibson although Husso has been really struggling of late.
I’d appreciate your thoughts! Thanks
Euroalien
Thanks Andre, hope you’re doing well too! I think you can safely get rid of Gibson and Varlamov, so if you want to keep the pairing, then Gibson for sure. Gibson is more of a negative than positive at this point. Maybe you can trade him to a team out of it, but I don’t think he much long term value either, so you can safely let him go.
Hi Viz, Hope you’re doing well.
In a 12 team dynasty deep league – I have to drop one of the following GK’s to get under my league limit of 4 max – Sorokin, Varlamov, Husso, Copley and Gibson. I’m leaning Gibson but wanted to get your thoughts. Thanks
Viz what do you think of Swayman.
Boston keeps giving him starts, almost were it’s looking like a more even split.
Do you think he gets an even greater % as the season goes on? Boston seems adamant on spoon feeding Swayman starts
Boston had a couple of back to backs to end December, so I think now that the schedule is getting lighter for a bit, they wanted to get Ullmark a little more rest before it picks up. They’re so far ahead I’m sure Swayman will get plenty of action, but I’d still expect Ullmark to get at least 3 out of 5 starts, if not 2/3rds of them. Swayman is worth streaming when he’s plays, but I wouldn’t hold him in H2H leagues unless something changes. Roto, I can see the case
Hi Viz,
12 tm h2h +/-(1), A(2), G(3), PIM(0.25), PPG(1)
Could you please rank for ROS? – Batherson, Nichushkin, Pacioretty, Elhers
Have a great weekend and always big THANKS!!
It’s a little risky, but I think I’ll go Patches, Ehlers, Nichushkin, Batherson. Patches is going onto Aho’s wing next game and I think his ceiling is untouchable for the others besides Ehlers (who is back today). I do think there’s an Ehlers case though, I love the Connor-Dubois-Ehlers line.
I’m in a league where my goalies are Hellebuyck, Thompson, and DeSmith.
I’d like a 4th starter, but the wire is pretty dry.
Worth picking up Comrie, I saw he’s been having some success in the AH during his conditioning stint.
Don’t think I’d play him in every matchup but I’d stream him from my bench at least
I can see Comrie being streamable, yes. I just don’t know what the Sabres are going to do when his conditioning stint is up. My guess is they keep 3 goalies for a while with a busy schedule due to makeup games from the blizzard, but it’s hard to say. In other words, I wouldn’t expect much volume, but there should be some streamable spots.
My main goalies is Jarry and MAF, and with Jarry hurt and MAF in a full blown time share, I’m a bit worried.
Was offered my Hamilton and Necas for Andersen and Swayman.
I have the depth to replace Necas, but not Hamilton.
I also have Raanta, so the only reason I’m considering it is I’d get all Canes starts when he gets back, and the Canes system is so good for goalies.
Those two goalies get nowhere near the necessary volume for this to be worth it to you. I think you lose this trade massively because it’s a huge offensive hit and it doesn’t fix your worries at all. Also, you wouldn’t have all of the Canes starts because you don’t have Kochetkov and he’s sticking around even when Andersen returns, and probably likely to start the most out of the three Carolina guys (maybe it’s Andersen but Raanta is a clear third). You would just have more timeshares than you already do. If you’re trading either of those guys, you need a clear #1 for volume.
Ok thanks Viz, appreciate it
Would you consider MAF a #2 ?
It’s so tough to get goalies in my league everyone guards them with their life, so Andersen is one guy I actually got an offer for.
He’s probably more of a #3 at this point to be honest. The percentages are both below average so he’s basically a value in wins only.
The other issue is how many starts are you even going to get from Andersen? We don’t even know when he’s going to be back, and we’re talking about a 3 way timeshare. There’s only 43 games left for Carolina. even if he comes back in 2 weeks, it would take injuries for him to even have a shot at 15 games. Is 10-13 games worth it? I don’t think so
Yoo Viz. How you doing in Buffalo. You doing alright? Heard about all the snow you guys got hit with it’s crazy. How much did u get exactly?
Also would you start husso tonight B’s Panthers. Husso has been cold of late but the odds are pretty close .
And in a ten team 3 start minimum for goalies league would u drop husso for gustavasoon
Stats are wins losses save percentage shut out and Gaa
Hey Gerald! It’s been a hectic month. Things are fine now though. I actually went to my parents house the night before the blizzard and got stuck there for a week. They’re close to the airport and we got 4 feet or so, but the drifts were much higher.
That’s a tough call, there’s a lot of downside in the matchup, but I don’t hate starting him at home. The way florida piles up shots, I can see a game where he saves like, 38 out of 41 shots or something and they steal a win.
Kind of depends who else you have. It’s tough with a goalie who is playing every other start. If you can afford the dropoff in volume, I do prefer Gustavsson’s average start to Husso, but it’s team dependent
Damn that’s nuts. On the news they were saying you guys got around 6 feet.
I ended up starting husso 3.10 GAa 850 save percentage lol
My other goalie is your boy hellybuck
Backstrom and Tom Wilson making there debuts Sunday. Would you say they’re elite streamers or holds in hits leagues?
it’s really hard to be good on a bad team for that many years, gibson had a pretty good run of it, but it’s been over for a while now. think i held on in deep dynasties till maybe early last year (the kind that start 1 goalie, and own 2), i’m glad i’m not in a start 2 goalie deep spot where i might even be having to hold him now. and certainly standard (start 2 goalies 12 teamers) leagues i’d just be streaming rather than owning ANA or like CHI goalies (hopefully rarely if then). the spots where in most leagues vejmelka might be the floor owned guy.
Yeah, it’s a tough spot, you’d almost be holding Gibson on the whole hope he’s traded, but that seems more and more unlikely by the day
Hey Viz, in 10 team points league would you have Spencer Knight or Filip Gustavsson. Thanks
Hi!
One year, points only 8 teamer
G, A, +\-, PPP, SOG, BLK
D. Toews was just dropped. Should i drop Letang or Mcavoy and pick him up?