It’s not too often that we get a day in the NHL where all 32 teams play. On Saturday, we were treated to sixteen games spread out over the entire day and it did not disappoint. The Oilers set a franchise record with their 10th win in a row, the Avalanche came from 3-0 down to beat Toronto, and the Flyers snapped the Jets point streak, amongst other things. There were a lot of big performances along the way, but Connor Ingram‘s 38 save shutout was one of the highlights. So I was right about a Coyotes goalie being a top 15 goalie, I just failed to pick the backup who showed little in the NHL before this season, whoops! Arizona continues to stay right around the wild card spots, and Ingram is the biggest reason why. Don’t be surprised if they ride him more in the second half if he can maintain anything close to this .919 sv%, assuming Vejmelka doesn’t turn it around. Let’s take a look at what else happened over the weekend:
Friday’s Games
Ryan O’Reilly – Goal and two assists with five shots. RoR’s debut in Nashville has gone swimmingly so far. Brunette trusts him, and it’s made RoR a hold everywhere.
Roman Josi – Three assists with a shot. It feels like Josi is underperforming and then I look and he’s the 7th best defenseman so far. The shot rate is down, but it’s still elite for a defenseman, and he’s on a 70 point pace.
Filip Forsberg – Goal and an assist with five shots and two PIM. Forsberg is playing at a 40+50 pace with almost four shots per game. Superstar performance.
Matt Duchene – Goal and an assist with three shots. Nice revenge game from Duchene. It wasn’t for the full game, but Duchene took a shift on PP1 and scored, so perhaps that could maintain going forward. I’m holding either way, but it would still be a big boost.
Joel Farabee – Two goals on three shots. Farabee has been quite good over the last few weeks with 3+8 in his last ten. That’s enough to make him an elite streamer.
Owen Tippett – Goal and an assist with three shots. The shot rate is great lately, so if you need that, Tippett is a great option. He’s a solid streamer otherwise.
Travis Konecny – Two assists with three shots. Nothing can slow him down right now. The minutes are through the roof.
Ryan Hartman – Goal and an assist with five shots and two PIM. Hartman moved onto the first line recently which is a huge jump in minutes. That gets him back to a solid streamer.
Saturday’s Games
Adam Fox – Two goals on three shots. Fox hasn’t been the same this season, but the points are still good. He’s struggling at even strength and the shot rate is down.
Alex Ovechkin – Missed the last two games due to a lower body injury. It doesn’t sound serious, so here’s to hoping Ovie is back against the Ducks on Tuesday.
Mario Ferraro – Three assists with a shot. Ferraro is playing a ton of minutes, but nothing but blocks is worth counting on.
Anthony Duclair – Goal and an assist with two shots and two PIM. Duclair is a bottom end streamer. Perhaps it gets better if he’s traded to the right spot, but probably not.
Tim Stutzle – Four assists with a shot. The assist rate is outstanding, we just need that shooting percentage to regress to get Stutzle back on track.
Artem Zub – Three assists with seven shots. Zub has done alright considering he’s 4th on the totem pole in Ottawa, but I see him as a deep league option for hits and blocks.
Vladimir Tarasenko – Goal and an assist, as did Drake Batherson and Brady Tkachuk. You’d expect these guys to control the Sharks. Tarasenko is on the fringe while the other two are clear holds.
Thatcher Demko – 26 save shutout, beating Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen (22/23) and the Buffalo Sabres 1-0. Demko has been the clear #2 overall goalie in fantasy so far, and it doesn’t look fluky. UPL should get run in the short term as he’s clearly been better than Levi over the last couple of weeks, but I’m not assuming anything with Granato. Assuming he starts against the Sharks and/or Blackhawks, stream UPL.
Nico Daws – 36 saves on 37 shots in the 4-1 win over the Panthers. Both Vanecek and Schmid disappointed, with the latter’s struggles leading to Daws’ promotion. It’s only been four starts, but Daws has been good. Crazier things have happened than a goalie like Daws catching a heater. In deep leagues, I think he’s worth the spec add, and I’d monitor him closely in shallower leagues.
Oliver Bjorkstrand – Goal and two assists with seven shots. A long time favorite of yours truly, Bjorkstrand has bounced back from last season’s struggles. He’s on the fringe, but I lean towards holding.
Jared McCann – Two goals and an assist with four shots. It’s been a very disappointing season from McCann, and it’s cost him minutes. For now, he’s a solid streamer with big upside.
Brian Dumoulin – Goal and an assist. Nothing to see for fantasy.
Justin Schultz – Two assists with a shot. Schultz is a reasonable DFS punt, but otherwise he’s just a deep league option.
Yanni Gourde – Two assists with a shot. Gourde went through a brutal stretch offensively, but he now has six points in his last six games. Solid streamer again.
Ivan Provorov – Two goals on four shots. I really only want Provorov in blocks leagues because the other categories besides assists are pretty weak.
Andrew Peeke – Two assists with four shots. Massive blocks guy, but Peeke does very little less. He’s like the super poor man’s Provorov from a fantasy POV.
Kirill Marchenko – Goal and an assist with two shots. Middling streamer bordering on solid. I wish Vincent would just give Marchenko 20 minutes a night because I’m sure the goals would be excellent.
Samuel Ersson – 35 save shutout in the 2-0 win over the Jets. Ersson bailed the Flyers out on their back to back. Ersson has been on fire and right now, he should be streamed every time he starts.
Cam Atkinson – Two goals on six shots. Nice to see Atkinson snap out of a 26 game goal drought, but it’s going to take more than one game for him to get back on the fantasy radar.
Nathan MacKinnon – Goal and an assist, as did Mikko Rantanen and Jonathan Drouin. The first line can’t be stopped, and it’s made Drouin a borderline hold.
Ross Colton – Goal and an assist with three shots. Big Val missed the game which gave Colton an elevated role. He took advantage by scoring on PP1. Colton is a middling streamer otherwise, but if Nichushkin is out, he’s an elite streamer.
Andrei Vasilevskiy – 19 saves on 20 shots in the 5-1 win over the Ducks. My big takeaway here is the Ducks are in big trouble. Trevor Zegras and Pavel Mintyukov are both out for 6+ weeks and Drysdale has been traded away. It’s going to get ugly.
Steven Stamkos – Two goals and an assist with six shots, while Nikita Kucherov dished three assists, adding five shots. It’s insane that Stammer has a -21 rating while sitting at a point per game. That’s how good the Lightning power play has been.
Stuart Skinner – 23 saves on 24 shots in the 2-1 OT win over the Canadiens. Massive heater from Skinner with the Oilers back on track. He has the upside of a #1 in the second half of the season.
Leon Draisaitl – Goal and an assist with five shots. Everything has dropped off for Draisaitl this season, but he has scored in seven of his last ten games. Would it shock anyone if he played at a 115+ point pace in the second half? I think not.
Bryan Rust – Goal and an assist with three shots and two PIM. I’m still holding Rust, but it’s closer now that he’s on L2 and off PP1 for the time being.
Brett Pesce – Two goals on five shots. Pesce’s offense has fallen off a cliff this season so I’m not that interested in him for fantasy right now.
Quinton Byfield – Two goals on three shots, both on the power play and both assisted by Kevin Fiala and Anze Kopitar. We’re finally getting that Byfield breakout. However, the 21 year old is more elite streamer than hold because the shot rate is well below average.
Patrick Kane – Goal and an assist with four shots. He left Sunday’s game due to injury so here’s to hoping it’s not serious.
Jeff Petry – Two assists with a shot and two PIM. Petry’s time for being fantasy relevant appears to be behind him barring an injury or two to Detroit’s blue line.
Dylan Larkin – Two goals on four shots. He’s back over a point per game with over three shots per game. It’s been a very good season for Larkin after getting paid.
Nick Bjugstad – Hat trick on seven shots. Nice to see Bjugstad have a very effective season for the Coyotes on the third line. He’s a middling streamer again.
Clayton Keller – Two goals and an assist with three shots. Keller has really crumbled at even strength, but he’s still on a 75 point pace. I’m expecting a better second half at evens.
Sean Durzi – Two assists. Bottom end hold in all formats, and well above that with blocks.
Juuse Saros – 24 saves on 25 shots in the 3-1 win over the Islanders. It’s been very up and down for Saros, which I did not expect at all. Brunette’s system has hurt Saros’ numbers, but I’m still expecting a quality second half.
James van Riemsdyk – Two assists with two shots. Solid streamer.
Brad Marchand – Two goals on five shots with two PIM. Marchand has been solid across the board per usual, he’s just not as good as plus-minus as we’ve been accustomed to.
Charlie McAvoy – Two goals on four shots. The shot rate is the only thing that keeps McAvoy from being a #1.
Roope Hintz – Two assists. Hintz hasn’t been as good in the first half as he was the previous three seasons, but it’s still been quite good overall.
Scott Wedgewood – left the game against Chicago halfway through with a lower body injury. Jake Oettinger is back, so you can safely drop Wedgewood. He’ll still be a viable streamer in almost all starts once he returns.
Mikael Backlund – Goal and an assist with three shots. Backlund is very valuable in deep leagues because he hits all of the categories. In 12’ers, he’s a fine streamer with more upside. The minutes are starting to creep up, so it’s worth monitoring.
Blake Coleman – Goal and an assist with two shots. I did not see this Coleman season coming. He’s been dominant at even strength and needs to be held everywhere.
Jacob Markstrom – 31 saves on 32 shots in the 3-1 win over the Golden Knights. Markstrom is back to being a #2 with all of his numbers being average or better.
Sunday’s Games
Igor Shesterkin – 24 saves on 25 shots in the 2-1 win over the Capitals. It’s been a very disappointing season from Igor, but like Draisaitl and others who had a disappointing second half, are we going to expect it to continue? I’m certainly not going to bet against Igor in the second half.
Three Point Challenge: We’ll stick with Tuesday despite a bigger Monday schedule. You can’t select Kucherov, MacKinnon, Panarin, Pastrnak, Miller, McDavid, Nylander, Pettersson, Rantanen, or Reinhart. I’ll go with Hyman for a spicy revenge game against the Maple Leafs.
That’s all for now guys. As always, feel free to ask any questions, leave any comments, or give any suggestions below. I’ll be back on Wednesday recapping the action of the next two nights. Thanks for reading, take care!
