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Hello everyone. Welcome to the twenty-second edition of JOT This Down! Keep the questions, comments, and concerns coming. I’ll be here all week to answer any and everything you may have. With the fantasy season dwindling, the slate is what matters most this time of year. Be sure to drop fringe players if they only play 2 games, and replace them with guys that will play 4 games.
What’s poppin’, Razzpimples? If you’re new to this column or have no idea what the Friday/Sunday split is, it’s a simple yet effective way to maximize your weekly output no matter the format of your league. Typically — and it’s not always the case — heavy game loads are Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, whereas Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays are lighter. Streaming players on those lighter days is almost a necessity to ensure you’re getting the most of each week, but this column focuses on just Fridays and Sundays. Reason being is that you get more bang for your waiver add buck in picking up a guy who will play those two days and will almost always be able to slot into your starting lineup without having to sacrifice someone else to the bench.
Two division rivals exploded on Saturday, both winning in dominant 9-2 fashion.  Not too often nowadays that you see two 9-2 scores.  For Toronto, a 9-2 win against the Ducks certainly wasn't expected, but isn't actually shocking either.  On the other hand, Florida blowing Tampa Bay out 9-2 after falling behind in the first 30 seconds of the game qualifies as jaw dropping.  Florida is arguably the best team in the league right now, dominating in multiple ways.  Matthew Tkachuk is fully back, scoring two goals and two assists with ten PIM in the victory, giving him 13 points in the last five games.  Carter Verhaeghe scored two goals and an assist with six shots and two PIM against his former team.  He's back on the point of the top unit and with Barkov, making him a top 50 player.  Sam Bennett had two goals and two assists iwth three shots and ten PIM.  Bennett is firmly on the fringe right now as long as he's with Tkachuk.  For Toronto, Auston Matthews had a hat trick and two assists with four shots as he scores goals at an unprecedented rate.  Bobby McMann had two goals and an assist with four shots, although I'm still not buying in with his workload.  He's bumping up to decent streamer for the time being.  Also, if you need short term defensemen help, Timothy Liljegren is on PP1 and dished three assists with Rielly still suspended.  Let's take a look at what else happened over the weekend:
The Leafs were coming off a dominant victory over the Rangers heading into a home game against Columbus.  They managed to go down 5-0 in the second, and it was that way heading into the third period.  Then, as we've seen in the past, Toronto made a massive rally, tying the game with 45 seconds left to earn a point.  Then, like usual, they managed to lose anyways.  The 6-5 OT win for Columbus is one of the craziest games you'll ever seen.  Auston Matthews led the comeback with two goals and an assist with nine shots.  Patrik Laine scored an early goal before leaving the game injured, while Kent Johnson was the hero.  The former fifth overall pick had two goals and an assist, including the game winner.  It's undeniably been a slow start to Johnson's career.  However, for most players, it takes time, and we're starting to see the signs.  Johnson now has six points in his last four games, and if Laine is down for a while, we could see Johnson becoming a fantasy factor.  For now, I'm bumping him up to middling streamer, but he's definitely worth monitoring.  Let's take a look at what else happened over the last two nights:
Vincent Trocheck was off to an awful start this season with only four points in his first ten games with no positive signs.  Well, Chytil went down injured, and that set Trocheck off on a resurgence.  Trocheck had a goal and two assists with two shots in the 4-1 win over the Wild.  That give Trocheck six points in his last three games, but more importantly, the playing time has skyrocketed.  He played only 16:46 on Thursday because the game was in hand, but before that, Trocheck had topped 20 minutes in four of the last five games.  Now, it hasn't been perfect.  The shot rate is down quite a bit, and it hasn't changed that much with more playing time.  I lean towards holding him again in all formats, but if you include SOG, Trocheck is on the very bottom end of holds towards the fringe.  Let's take a look at what else happened over the last two nights:
The Blues have cooled off a bit since their hot start, but that doesn't mean that all of their players have.  Pavel Buchnevich tore it up over the weekend, scoring a goal and an assist with three shots and two PIM on Friday before coming back with two goals and an assist with five shots on Saturday.  Buch is crushing it across the board on the seasons now with 8+8, 18 PIM and 58 shots in 19 games.  Add in a +8 rating and he's a top 20 forward at the moment.  Do I expect that to last? No, but his fit in St. Louis couldn't be better and now he's getting plenty of minutes, especially with David Perron out of the lineup.  Somehow, he's still available in over 20% of leagues which is blasphemous.  He has a real chance at being a top 50 player this year.  Let's take a look at what else happened over the weekend:
Hey guys! Sven here, back with a new kind of article. I was asked to make a prospect list of some sort in addition to my “pipeline” analysis sprinkled into the team previews. This one will be a little different than most prospect information, as you’ve already heard so much about the Jack Hughes’, Kappo Kakko’s, and Cale Makar’s out there. Team by team, we’ll look at a few guys that may have an immediate impact and are up with the big club right now, guys we may see this season, and look at a couple bright spots down the road. Let’s kick it off, alphabetical order this time!