It’s nothing new when Mark Scheifele and Blake Wheeler have big games, and both managed to do so twice this weekend. In Friday’s 5-2 win over the Avalanche, Wheeler registered a point on all five goals, going 1+4, while Scheifele scored a goal and two assists with three shots. They followed that up with Wheeler getting two more assists and Scheifele posting a 2+1 game. Wheeler already has 20 assists in 16 games to go with 19 PIM and 3 goals, while Scheifele is up to 9+10 with 20 PIM. Wheeler was a borderline first round pick that I had ranked as a high second rounder, while Scheifele was more 2nd/3rd range. With his shot rate at exactly 2.5 per game right now, that solidifies him as a second round value. Remember when ESPN had him ranked in the 60s? Hilarious. These two should continue to put up points no matter the opposition. Let’s take a look at what else happened over the weekend:
Friday’s Games:
Frederik Andersen – 38 saves on 39 shots in the 6-1 win over the Devils. Andersen looks like he has a chance to finish as a top 5 goalie now that the Leafs are playing a tighter defensive game.
Nazem Kadri – Goal and an assist with two shots. He’s been better with Matthews going down. His shot rate has been extremely disappointing though. I can go either way with Kadri, whether it’s elite streamer or bottom end hold.
Morgan Rielly – Goal and an assist with two shots. Absolutely amazing start to the season for Rielly. A top five season from a defenseman isn’t out of the question given his role on the Leafs.
Par Lindholm Two assists with three shots and two PIM. Welcome to the Razzball Database Lindholm! That’s about all I have to say about him.
Sergei Bobrovsky – 33 saves on 34 shots in the 2-1 win over Washington. After another big Bob performance and Joonas Korpisalo stinking it up on Saturday, hopefully Torts can cut out the shit and start to give Bob the volume he deserves.
Andreas Athanasiou – Goal and an assist with two shots. I’ve been a fan of Athanasiou’s game for a while now, and after Saturday’s game he has eight points in his last eight games. With 6+4 in 13 games and over three shots per game, he’s an elite streamer right now.
Chad Johnson – 33 save shutout in the 4-0 win over the Sharks. I have zero faith in Johnson. Therefore, I won’t be using him any time soon.
Alex Steen – Goal and an assist. Steen is a middling streamer. The points are solid enough, but the shot rate is poor.
Tyler Bozak – Two assists with five shots and two PIM. He’s been piling up enough assists to be a middling to bottom end streamer, but I don’t see a path for anything more.
Jaden Schwartz – Goal and an assist with five shots. Schwartz is starting to pick it up a bit. I feel like it’s only a matter of time until he gets on a hot streak or gets injured.
Alex Stalock – 20 saves on 21 shots in the 5-1 win over the Ducks. Use goalies against the Ducks as long as they’re not on a bottom five team, it’s as simple as that.
Mikael Granlund – Two goals and an assist. Come the end of the year, we know what we’re going to get from Granlund. That predictability is a good thing at his level.
Jason Zucker – Goal and two assists with five shots. The shot rate for Zucker has been great and all of his underlying numbers suggest future success. I’m not sure you can necessarily buy low on him, but I’m a firm believer in Zucker going forward.
Jared Spurgeon – Two assists with four shots. If your league counts hits and blocks, Spurgeon should be owned. If it doesn’t, he’s on the fringe for 12’ers.
Jonas Brodin – Goal and an assist with five shots, +4. When I’ve watched the Wild, Brodin has stood out in a good way. He is finally finding some offense at 25 years old. The problem is that he doesn’t get PP time, so he’s only usable in the deepest of leagues.
Saturday’s Games
Loui Eriksson – Goal and an assist with two shots. He’s on fire with seven points in his last four games. The problem is that his shot rate has turned to shit. You can stream him as a hot schmotato but offensive production doesn’t look very sustainable.
Antoine Roussel – Two assists with a shot and two PIM. We know that Roussel’s value comes almost entirely from PIM but he also chips in a few points here and there. Don’t expect this 40 point pace to last, especially being under one shot per game. You know if your team needs a guy like him or not very easily.
Rasmus Ristolainen – Two assists with six shots and two PIM. The plus-minus has remained terrible, but Risto is contributing quite well everywhere else.
Rasmus Dahlin – Two assists. It’s fringe at best right now, but there’s going to come a point that Dahlin becomes a huge fantasy asset, whether it’s at the end of this season or next.
Sam Reinhart – Goal and an assist. Reinhart stole two points for the Sabres. They were down 2 with 3 minutes left before he made a great pass to Skinner and then scoring himself to send it to OT. The assist rate has been great for Reinhart so the question is whether he starts to shoot it more or not. We saw a huge run from him last year, so with three two point games in his past four, I’m streaming him knowing he can turn into a hold.
Brian Elliott – 33 save shutout in the 4-0 win over the Blackhawks. He’s on fire right now allowing six goals in his past five starts, so Elliott should be held for the time being. Even with that hot streak, he’s only at a .909 sv%, but I’d ride the hot hand.
Sean Couturier – Two goals and an assist with four shots, +4. Couturier matched up with Kane’s line and completely destroyed them, single-handedly winning the game for the Flyers. I expect a hot streak from Couts soon as Claude Giroux keeps rolling (1+2, 3 SOG, 2 PIM, +4).
Roman Josi – Goal and an assist with three shots. After a slow start, Josi is crushing across the board now. Just like we expected in the preseason.
Ryan Johansen – Goal and an assist. Johansen has bounced back in a big way as he sits over a point per game, is +12, the PIM are great, and the shot rate is almost at two per game. If the shot rate holds, he’s a top 50 player.
David Pastrnak – Hat trick and an assist with seven shots. Pastrnak has opened up his lead in the goals race, having 15 goals in 16 games already. No surprise, Patrice Bergeron had a goal and two assists with four shots while Brad Marchand had two assists. They’re still the best line in the league for my money.
Jaroslav Halak – 40 saves on 41 shots in the 5-1 win over Toronto. Halak quickly put the Vancouver debacle behind him. Tuukka Rask left the team for personal reasons, but it sounds like he’ll be back on Tuesday.
Anthony Mantha – Two goals on five shots and two PIM. I’m a huge believer in Mantha’s talent as loyal readers know. He’s only a streamer for now but the upside is undeniable.
Teuvo Teravainen – Two assists with two shots. Teravainen has been a bit unlucky in his shooting percentage, so he should be fine once that corrects itself.
Sebastian Aho – Two assists with three shots and two PIM. He hasn’t scored in weeks, but I doubt his owners care with 20 points in 17 games.
William Karlsson – Goal and two assists with two shots. Look, we all knew Karlsson scoring at last season’s rate was completely unsustainable. The way he maintained top 75ish value would be to pile up the assists which he thankfully is doing. I think it’s more around 100th overall than top 75, but there’s still a valuable player here.
Brad Hunt – Goal and an assist with four shots. I wish Hunt had a bigger role since he seems to produce quite well in the limited one he has. Until the minutes go up, I’d leave him on the wire.
Tomas Hyka – Two assists. Welcome to the Razzball Database! Hyka played under 10 minutes in this one so nothing to see here.
Andrew Shaw – Two goals on three shots. For some reason, he played over 19 minutes in this game. He’s an okay streamer for the PIM’s if you need them.
Jesperi Kotkaniemi – Goal and an assist with two shots. All things considered, it’s been a solid rookie campaign to this point for Kotkaniemi. He’s a bottom end streamer but there’s no denying the 18 year old’s upside.
Max Domi – Two assists with three shots. No brainer hold at this point.
Casey DeSmith – 39 save shutout in the 4-0 win over the Coyotes. If you want to gamble on a goalie, DeSmith isn’t a bad option since Murray is a mess.
Dominik Simon – Goal and an assist. He’s a solid streamer as long as he’s with Sidney Crosby (1+1, 2 SOG).
Jake Guentzel – Two assists. Guentzel is right on the fringe between elite streamer and hold.
Bobby Ryan – Goal and two assists with four shots. Strong start to the season for Ryan by his current standards. That said, I still only consider him a middling streamer.
Matt Duchene – Goal and two assists with four shots. Duchene has been fantastic in his first full season in Ottawa as he sits over a point per game.
Colin White – Goal and an assist with two shots. The former first round pick is playing quite well with Duchene right now. I’d throw White right into this mix of streamers, although I’d rather take the shot on him than Ryan.
Brady Tkachuk – Goal and an assist with three shots. I don’t expect this scoring rate to last as a rookie, but Tkachuk should be held in the meantime regardless.
Mathieu Joseph – Two goals and an assist with two PIM. He’s on a nice little heater but it’s a total fluke at his current ATOI.
Braydon Coburn – Goal and an assist with two shots. And there’s your annual Coburn update!
Alex Killorn – Two assists with two shots. Bottom end streamer.
Victor Hedman – Highlight reel goal in his return. Get him back in your lineups immediately, and you can cut Ryan McDonagh in shallow leagues.
Kevin Hayes – Two assists playing over 21 minutes. Top end streamer right now as Hayes is hot and getting big minutes.
Jimmy Vesey – Goal and an assist with two shots. I’ll give Vesey credit for being a reasonable streamer, but he’s far down my totem pole.
Pavel Buchnevich – Goal and an assist with two shots. I’d much rather use the Butcher than Vesey, for example. That shot rate needs to get up though if Buchnevich is going to get anywhere past solid streamer status.
Seth Jones – Three assists with three shots. Nice to see Jones back and putting up points as we expected.
Pierre-Luc Dubois – Goal and an assist with six shots and two PIM playing almost 22 minutes. Dubois was mentioned by yours truly as a buy low option a couple weeks ago and he’s delivered handsomely since then. Clear hold in all formats.
David Rittich – 21 saves in the 1-0 win over the Kings. I would grab Rittich before DeSmith since Rittich has a real chance to run away with the Flames job.
Jack Campbell – 35 saves on 36 shots as the tough luck loser. Campbell’s overall numbers are great with a 2.33/.923. We’ve seen the downside though, and the wins aren’t going to be good. He’s better than a desperation play, but I’m still not buying in.
Sunday’s Games
Darcy Kuemper – 38 saves on 39 shots in the 4-1 win over the Capitals. He’s a desperation option unless it’s a quality matchup. Raanta should be back relatively soon.
Alex Galchenyuk – Goal and an assist with five shots. Very strong start for Galchenyuk in Arizona. He’s an elite streamer for now but I could see him pushing into a hold very soon.
Richard Panik – Goal and an assist with two shots. Bottom end streamer at best.
James Reimer – 34 saves on 35 shots in the 5-1 win over the Senators. Reimer is a desperation option right now. He’s been awful all season so expect Luongo to take the reins.
Mike Hoffman – Two assists with four shots. Don’t hassle the Hoff, man!
Jonathan Huberdeau – Goal and an assist with two shots. Huberdeau just quietly goes about his business. Somewhat yawnstipating to own him but he’ll get the job done.
Aleksander Barkov – Two goals on five shots. Keep those shots coming Sasha!
Bogdan Kiselevich – Two assists with two SOG. This is definitely a new one for the Razzball Database. Before this game, Kiselevich had two points and four shots in 11 games. Hard pass.
Jaroslav Halak – 37 saves on 38 shots in the 4-1 win over Vegas. Apparently there is no slowing down Halak’s absurd level of play.
Damon Severson – Two assists with a shot. I remember how much the Devil fans loved Severson for years thinking he was going to be an elite defenseman. That day has not come. He needs to do a bit more to be 12’er worthy.
Nikolaj Ehlers – Goal and an assist. After starting the season on the struggle bus, Ehlers has a goal in four straight. I expect the heater to continue.
Martin Jones – 29 saves on 30 shots in the 3-1 win over the Flames. Jones has been terrible this season but the wins keep coming in. If he can play at a reasonable level, the Sharks are going to go on a tear. I’ve never been a big Jones fan, but he should improve substantially on his current numbers.
Joe Pavelski – Goal and two assists with three shots. Remarkably, these were Pavelski’s first two assists of the season. I’m still holding him but it’s tenuous.
Evander Kane – Goal and an assist with two shots. Kane slowed down a bit after a torrid start but I’m still expecting a career high in points with elite PIM and SOG.
Joonas Donskoi – Goal and an assist with six shots. He’s in a great spot playing with the previous two guys but Donskoi is only a bottom end streamer.
Semyon Varlamov – 26 saves on 27 shots in the 4-1 win over the Oilers. It’s clear as day that Varlamov is the #1 for the Avalanche. I still have faith in Grubauer both short and long term, but for now it’s Varly’s show.
Carl Soderberg – Goal and an assist with three shots. Soderberg has bounced back in a big way after being mediocre last season and downright dreadful the season before. He’s only a bottom end streamer for now, but the Avs making a trade or putting Soderberg in a better spot could possibly change that.
Tyson Barrie – Goal and an assist with two shots. The assists are outstanding and the shots are there that the goals will come (this was his first of the season). Love Barrie going forward.
Mikko Rantanen – Goal and an assist. Nathan MacKinnon dished two assists with four shots. Business as usual for these two.
For streaming Monday, the Rangers guys mentioned above are in a nice spot at home against the Canucks. The secondary guys like Turris on Smashville are in a great spot against the Ducks, while secondary Hurricanes players should do well against the Blackhawks.
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!
