It was looking good for the Wild on Monday night. After letting Vegas tie the game 2-2, Minnesota scored two goals in 19 seconds near the end of the second period to go up 4-2. Move to the last minute up 4-3 with the goalie pulled, and Mark Stone makes a fabulous pass to Tuch to tie up the game. In overtime, the Wild were controlling the puck until Stone won it back, and hit Patches for the game winner. In a 5-4 victory, Stone had five assists, and not just five assists, five primary assists. He was in a bit of a slump before this game with one point in his previous five games, but safe to say that’s in the rear view mirror now. Stone now has 22 points in 18 games, averaging an assist a game. The big concern is that his shot rate has plummeted down to under two per game. That puts a big dent into his overall value, but if he’s going to put up an assist a game dominating at five on five, it’s hard to complain. That said, be a little more selfish and don’t let Patches take every shot! The first captain in Vegas history has been excellent this season and even though I’m American, I can’t wait to see him in the Olympics on say, McDavid or MacKinnon’s wing. Or maybe the three of them are a line, who knows with how stacked their team is. Let’s see what else happened over the last two nights:
Monday’s Games:
Evander Kane – Goal and two assists with five shots. Personal issues aside, Kane has been great on the ice this season. He’s had arguably the best start to a season he’s ever had with just under a point per game, elite PIM, and over three shots per game. Top 50 player through and through.
Timo Meier – Three assists with two shots. I thought Meier would take a hit with Tomas Hertl on the COVID list, but he’s had consecutive three point games. With his elite shot rate, he’s a clear hold again.
Rudolfs Balcers – Goal and an assist. Balcers has a point in four straight games as he moved up to the second line. He’s a nice streamer in deep leagues, but the minutes aren’t quite good enough to be more than a bottom end streamer in 12’ers.
Matt Murray – 27 saves on 28 shots in the 5-1 win over the Flames. The Senators have actually won four of five games and six of the past nine. I think he’s still a desperation play, but he’s closer to getting outside of that tier than I ever expected.
Drake Batherson – Two goals on three shots. A favorite of mine going back to two seasons ago, Batherson now has a goal in six straight games and seven of the past eight. While he’s a hot schmotato, I’m probably holding, but he’s at least an elite streamer.
Tim Stutzle – Two assists with a shot and two PIM. Stutzle looks outstanding lately and if you can stomach the bad plus-minus, I would hold him. The shot rate is solid and the assists are starting to pile up.
Martin Necas – Goal and two assists with three shots. Necas moved down to the third line for this game but still won the game for the Hurricanes. I hope that it doesn’t last as he only played 12 minutes in this game. That’s enough for him to be a bottom end hold to be on the fringe of elite/strong streamer.
Thatcher Demko – 27 save shutout in the 4-0 win over the Jets. The numbers are starting to move a bit more towards respectability. I’ve been stubborn and held onto Demko and will continue to do so.
Nate Schmidt – Goal and an assist. His first season in Vancouver has been extremely disappointing. Easy pass.
Adam Gaudette – Two assists with a shot and two PIM. These were his first assists of the season. That says it all.
Elias Pettersson – Goal and an assist. That’s his third multi-point game in his last four as Pettersson looks to be starting the breakout we’ve been waiting for all season.
Michael Hutchinson – 31 save shutout in the 3-0 win over the Oilers. Two games without Andersen and the Oilers get shutout in both by Campbell and Hutchinson. I don’t expect Hutchinson to get many games going forward, but it’s reached the point where any goalie playing for the Leafs is worth starting.
Morgan Rielly – Goal and an assist with four shots and two PIM. It feels disappointing, but Rielly is still playing around a 65 point pace. The shot rate dropping to two per game really hurts value. Even still, he’s on the fringe of being a bottom end #1 or top end #2.
William Nylander – Goal and an assist with three shots. He’s starting to score, but the minutes are a lot lower than I would like. He’s worth holding, but keep expectations in check.
Zach Sanford – Two goals and an assist with six shots. I say he’s an easy pass and then Sanford has his best game since his four game explosion last season. I’ll bump him to bottom end streamer but we can’t overreact.
Justin Faulk – Two assists. Faulk has had a resurgence this season and he’s hitting every category at an average to above average rate. He’s an easy hold right now.
Isac Lundestrom – Hat trick on four shots with two PIM. I’ve mentioned him a few times here over the past month, but I really like Lundestrom’s game long term. He’s only a bottom end streamer right now, but he’s a guy in deep dynasties that never gets talked about who can pan out long term into a nice piece.
Rickard Rakell – Two assists with four shots. Rakell is starting to show signs of life, and he can’t possibly shoot 3% forever. He’s a solid streamer in 12’ers.
Marcus Foligno – Two goals and an assist. He had a chance to get a hat trick with an empty netter but that didn’t happen and as mentioned in the opening, the Wild lost. Foligno has been scoring enough lately to be used in deep leagues, but I’m not buying it going forward in the slightest.
Jonas Brodin – Two assists with two shots. Brodin has played his way onto the fringe which I didn’t expect, but I generally wouldn’t be holding him.
Max Pacioretty – Two goals and an assist with eight shots. Pacioretty’s shot rate is near the best in the league. There’s a real chance he scores 30 goals in this shortened season if he continues to shoot almost 4.5 times per game.
Tuesday’s Games
Pavel Buchnevich – Goal and an assist with four shots. Would have been two goals but his shot on a mostly-empty net hit Lafreniere in the leg and went in. Nice run from Buch who is right on the fringe. I lean towards hold, but very close.
Adam Fox – Two assists with a shot. Considering how much he plays, Fox has been a little bit disappointing to me. I don’t think he’s great on the power play, but he is great at even strength which is what matters most in real life. He’s an easy hold, but keep expectations in check.
Carey Price – 26 saves on 28 shots in the 3-1 win over Ottawa. Meh, I still firmly believe Allen is the best goalie in Montreal.
Jeff Petry – Goal and an assist with two shots. Still crushing across the board as we approach the second half of the season.
Brendan Gallagher – Goal and an assist with three shots. I always expect more from Gallagher considering he’s one of the best play drivers in the entire league (he was the best two seasons ago). He’s an easy hold regardless, but it may be past the point where we can ever hope for the massive season he seems destined for.
Semyon Varlamov – 28 saves on 29 shots in the 2-1 win over the Devils. He’s been one of the best goalies in the world this season, and now the Isles have three games coming against the Sabres. You aren’t going to find a better spot at the moment.
Sidney Crosby – On the COVID list. We don’t have great info on his exact situation yet, but let’s hope that it’s something that doesn’t last for a long time.
Kasperi Kapanen – Two goals on five shots. Somehow he has his best game playing without Crosby or Malkin. Kapanen is a solid streamer and seems pretty locked into that category.
Bryan Rust – Goal and an assist with three shots. Great season from Rust. I still can’t understand why he was going so late in drafts this season. Did people miss him be a point per game last year?
Joel Farabee – Two goals on four shots. I did not expect the big breakout to happen for Farabee already. He has exactly a point per game with an average shot rate in year two. His long term upside appears higher than I gave him credit for.
Cam Atkinson – Goal and an assist with five shots. Atkinson’s poor start seems like a distant memory with thirteen points in his past ten games with an elite shot rate.
Joonas Korpisalo – 19 saves on 20 shots in the 4-1 win over the Red Wings. Easy night for Korpisalo, who has somewhat got back on track lately. It’s not great, but I think he’s a step above desperation while he’s getting all of the starts he can handle.
Sebastian Aho – Two goals on four shots. Aho has been a bit disappointing so far, mostly because the shot rate has gone from being consistently at three per game to around 2.5. Hopefully he bumps that up so he gets back on his usual pace.
Jordan Staal – Two assists with a shot. After Staal’s great start, he was pointless in his previous seven games before this one. I’m bumping him back to elite streamer instead of a hold as he’s not counted on for much offense in his role.
Mattias Ekholm – Goal and an assist with six shots. Ekholm has really found his offense since returned from injury. He’s on the fringe, although I lean towards leaving him on the wire.
Brock Boeser – Two assists with two shots. The shots have dried up a bit lately for Boeser as he hasn’t had 3+ shots in six straight. It’s no surprise that he doesn’t have a goal in that span. Hopefully he starts taking a lot of shots again as he was to open the season.
Blake Wheeler – Goal and two assists, as did Kyle Connor. Mark Scheifele dished three assists as the top players on Winnipeg ran wild over Vancouver. Congrats to Shitwolf for taking Wheeler in the Three Point Challenge!
Andrei Vasilevskiy – 28 save shutout in the 2-0 win over the Stars. Vasilevskiy now has a .941 sv% and .950 sv% at even strength. Is that good? I think so.
Three Point Challenge: We will do the Three Point Challenge on Thursday. No top 10 players in the league in points. We’ll change it up to the current top 10, which means no McDavid, P. Kane, Draisaitl, Matthews, Marner, Scheifele, DeBrincat, JVR, Backstrom, and Boeser. Give me Barkov against the Predators. Eli Man Penguin Boy, Veritas, Shitwolf, and myself all have one correct pick.
That’s all for now guys. I’ll be back on Friday per usual. As always, feel free to ask any questions, leave any questions, or give any suggestions below. Thanks for reading, take care!
