Ottawa had much higher hopes this season than sitting barely above .500. They are playing better hockey lately, going 7-3 in their last ten, following two straight wins to open the week. Ottawa had a massive comeback on Monday, scoring twice in the last 2:14 before winning in overtime against Calgary, 4-3. They found a great performance from a goalie making his NHL to earn a 3-2 SO win over the Islanders on Tuesday. Offensively, they were carried by Tim Stutzle. Stutzle had a goal and three assists with three shots and two PIM on Monday and then a goal and an assist with three shots and two PIM, plus the shootout winner, against the Islanders. The minutes are massive right and he’s rewarding D.J. Smith by playing at a 40-50 pace. Amazing stuff from someone who just turned 21 years old. The shot rate has been trending in the right direction for months so while he’s a clear top 50 guy now, the debate is how high he should be ranked in dynasties? He’s not in that top tier, but he’s probably in the tier right behind it. Stutzle’s offensive upside has true superstar value. Let’s take a look at what else happened over the last two nights:
Victor Olofsson – Two assists with a shot, as did Casey Mittelstadt. Both of these guys are in limbo in terms of the long term plan in Buffalo. Olofsson is a solid streamer while Mittelstadt is bottom end.
Phillip Danault – Three assists with a shot. Danault has settled into being a middling streamer.
Viktor Arvidsson – Goal and two assists with three shots and two PIM. The shot rate is down quite a bit, which bumps Arvidsson down to a solid streamer.
Adrian Kempe – Goal and an assist with four shots. Hotter than a pistol!
Dillon Dube – Two goals on three shots. Dube is bumped up to an elite streamer right now. He’s on the first line and PP1, and although that hasn’t really changed his ATOI, it’s higher quality minutes.
Tyler Toffoli – Goal and an assist with three shots. Same story for Toffoli: on the fringe but lean towards hold.
Alex DeBrincat – Goal and an assist with seven shots and four PIM over two games. I can already tell you I’m going to be higher on consensus on DeBrincat next year. It hasn’t panned out as we hoped fantasy wise so far, but I’m still a huge believer in the talent.
Brady Tkachuk – Two goals and two assists with eleven shots over two PIM. I was surprised that Tkachuk’s minutes were higher and then I realized that I wasn’t accounting for how much time he spends in the penalty box. Even despite that, the offense is fantastic.
Kevin Mandolese – 46 saves on 48 shots in the 3-2 SO win over the Islanders. I have to be honest, I had no idea who Mandolese was before yesterday. Props to him for stealing the show on Long Island, but it’s hard to see any fantasy value here. Welcome to the Razzball Database!
Lawson Crouse – Two goals on four shots with two PIM. Crouse has quietly carved out a nice role in Arizona. His shooting percentage is unsustainable, but he’s still a solid streamer.
Clayton Keller – Two assists with two shots. Keller has been excellent, solidifying himself as a hold.
Mattias Maccelli – Two assists with two shots. Maccelli has decent value in real life, but I just can’t support a player in fantasy who shoots under one shot per game.
J.J. Moser – Two assists. No interest for me here.
Sergei Bobrovsky – 27 saves on 28 shots in the 2-1 SO win over the Wild, outdueling Filip Gustavsson (33/34). Bob is actually on a nice run of play. You can do whatever you want with him, completely pass or hold him. The Wild’s goalie rotation is quite strange at the moment, but I’d lean towards holding Gustavsson even if MAF gets a few games in a row.
Ville Husso – 29 saves on 30 shots in the 6-1 win over the Canucks. Solid run from Husso after an extended rough patch. He’s still a middling to bottom end #2 that’s a clear hold.
Robby Fabbri – Goal and an assist. Fabbri is a solid streamer when he’s actually healthy. He went right into the top six and the first power play unit.
Dylan Larkin – Two goals on five shots. Larkin is blowing up right now, surging back to a point per game. It’s been the best season of his career to this point. Yzerman better be ready to give Larkin a huge deal.
Andrew Copp – Two assists. Bottom end streamer.
Michael Rasmussen – Two assists with two shots. And there’s your biannual Rasmussen update!
Gustav Lindstrom – Goal and an assist with three shots. I don’t think it’s right that Detroit has a Lindstrom after a Lidstrom. Unfortunately for him and them, there’s no comparison between the two.
Jake Allen – 22 save shutout in the 4-0 win over the Blackhawks. This says a lot more about Chicago than Montreal or Allen. He’s a tier above pure desperation.
Jonathan Drouin – Three assists with two shots. Drouin actually has eight assists in his last six games, but he’s still sitting at 0 goals in 31 games. Pass.
Joel Armia – Goal and an assist with four shots and two PIM. Armia had a time where he was fantasy relevant, but that is not now.
Christian Dvorak – Goal and an assist. Dvorak has not panned out in Montreal, to say the least. Deep league only.
Stefan Noesen – Goal and an assist. Noesen is getting power play time, but he’s also regularly between 8-10 minutes of ice time. Hard to do anything with that.
Joe Snively – Goal and an assist with three shots. Snively played in his first game in six weeks with Alex Ovechkin away from the team for family reasons. He’s produced at times, but I’m not expecting much from Snively.
Ryan Graves – Goal and an assist with two shots. Good player in real life, but Graves doesn’t really bring anything to the table for fantasy purposes.
Adam Boqvist – Goal and an assist. With Columbus really struggling, I’d like to Boqvist get unleashed for massive minutes just for his development. I see someone who can turn into a quality fantasy asset, but he’s still far away right now.
Carter Verhaeghe – Goal and an assist with four shots. Matthew Tkachuk dished two assists. Another two pointer for me in the Three Point Challenge, ugh. Anyways, Verhaeghe is on a massive tear right now. Perfect complementary piece.
Ivan Barbashev – Goal and two assists with three shots. I don’t see a ton of value right now, but there is a chance that changes if he’s moved at the deadline and ends up in the right spot.
Brayden Schenn – Two goals. Robert Thomas sent up both, with Jordan Kyrou chipping in a goal and an assist. Schenn is the current beneficiary of getting to play with the other two. That makes him a solid to elite streamer.
David Pastrnak – Goal and an assist with eight shots. He’s shown no signs of slowing down. We’re looking at a top five overall season from Pasta at this point. Back up the Brinks truck!
Pavel Zacha – Goal and an assist with two shots. Zacha has set a new career high in points, but it’s only enough to get him in the middling streamer range because of the lack of shots and PPP.
Joe Pavelski – Two assists with three shots. Jason Robertson had a goal and an assist with five shots, while Roope Hintz scored their other goal on four shots. The top line did all the work for Dallas which isn’t a surprise. Pavelski remains a bottom end hold.
Nathan MacKinnon – Goal and an assist with seven shots. While Colorado hasn’t been able to string together a bunch of wins, MacKinnon is playing as well as ever. I’d love to see him finally get 100+ points despite missing time.
Casey DeSmith – 38 saves on 39 shots in the 3-1 win over the Sharks. We’re getting the full rollercoaster of emotions with DeSmith lately. Jarry is going to be back very soon which will nuke most of DeSmith’s value.
Sidney Crosby – Three assists with two shots. Another year, another season of Crosby being a dominant force.
Rickard Rakell – Goal and two assists with two PIM. Rakell is back on the first line which puts him in elite streamer range.
Jake Guentzel – Two goals on four shots. Guentzel doesn’t nearly get enough credit for how good he is. He’s one of the best goal scorers in the league without a doubt.
Three Point Challenge: We will Tuesday’s Games per usual. You can’t select McDavid, Draisaitl, Kucherov, M. Tkachuk, Karlsson, Robertson, Thompson, Pastrnak, Hughes, or Crosby. I’ll go with a Dubois revenge game against the Blue Jackets.
That’s all for now guys. I’ll be back on Friday recapping the action from tonight’s games. As always, feel free to ask any questions, leave any comments, or give any suggestions below. Thanks for reading, take care!
