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It's safe to say that we've reached the point that nobody doubts Boston anymore.  Their two top centers retired, and yet the team is chugging along at 16-4-3.  Their new captain was the reason they won both games over the weekend.  Brad Marchand scored the overtime winner against the Leafs on Saturday, his eighth shot on goal in the contest.  He followed it up with a natural hat trick, scoring all three goals for the Bruins in their 3-1 win over the Blue Jackets.  That gives Marchand 11+12 in 24 games, almost exactly a point per game.  The big thing is his shot rate is at an all-time high.  In my preseason rankings, I was uncertain on Marchand's ceiling, but speculated his shot rate could improve without Bergeron.  He's at exactly 3.5 per game, and with his elite PIM as always, Marchand is still in the conversation for a top 20 player.  At 35 years old, Marchand is showing no signs of slowing down.  Let's take a look at what else happened over the weekend:
The Senators have been a disappointment this season despite their big forward acquisitions in the summer.  Turns out that you can't get away with completely ignoring the blue line and being forced to give bad players big minutes.  Anyways, we don't care about that for fantasy, we care about their scoring, and their top players have largely delivered.  Claude Giroux had a great weekend, totaling three goals and two assists with ten shots over two games.  Giroux is having his best goal scoring season since his monstrous 34 goal, 102 point season in 2017-18.  Unsurprisingly, that season and this season are Giroux's two highest shooting percentages, but it seems a bit more sustainable in this environment in Ottawa.  Even with an inconsistent PP1 role, Giroux has still played his way into being a bottom end hold in all formats.  The one problem is that after Ottawa's game on Tuesday, they don't play again until February 11th.  My biggest point here with bottom end holds over these bye weeks is that you need to know your league format and whether the waiver wire is strong enough that you can drop someone like Giroux to get more games.  In head to head leagues, volume is king, so you can make a case after Tuesday that you can let him go for players with a bunch of games after the All-Star break. In roto, I would hold onto Giroux without hesitation.  Let's take a look at what else happened over the weekend:
At least once a season, Nick Schmaltz has a monster game for the Desert Dogs.  One of those games came on Thursday.  The Coyotes buried the Blues 5-0, with Schmaltz recording a hat trick and adding a power play assist.  The minutes are through the roof right now, playing over 18 minutes in every game in 2023, and averaging over 20 per game.  That's enough to put him in the elite streamer range, if not on the fringe.  I can't quite get to hold with poor PIM/hits and a below average shot rate, but I can see holding him for stretches while he's playing this well.  The first line looks really good for Arizona (more on the other two later) and the Coyotes are actually above real .500 at home, plus their schedule is super home heavy the rest of the way.  Schmaltz should at least be near the top of your streaming priority list.  Let's take a look at what else happened over the last two nights:
It's no secret in these parts that I'm from Buffalo and root for the local teams.  I've seen plenty of devastating injuries over the years, from hockey players being severely cut, Pronger's collapse on the ice, soccer players collapsing like Eriksen in 2021, and I was at the Bills game when Kevin Everett was paralyzed.  Damar Hamlin's cardiac arrest was the first time that it felt like "life or death" on the football field.  It seemed like an eternity between first responders helping him, getting him to the hospital, and waiting for any update.  I can only imagine how it was for his family, friends, and teammates.  Here's to hoping that Hamlin continues to progress in his battle towards recovery.  The Sabres played in Washington on Tuesday night, with the entire team wearing "Love For Three" t-shirts for their Buffalo brethren.  The Sabres won the game 5-4 in the most fitting way possible.  Tage Thompson scored his third goal of the game, completing his third hat trick of the season, exactly three minutes into overtime, playing three on three, bringing him to 30 on the season, which is three off the league lead.  You can't write a better ending than that.  Let's take a look at what else happened over the last two nights while we keep Damar in our thoughts:
While I wasn't expecting a repeat of last season from Filip Forsberg, his drop off was a much higher level than it should have been.  Thankfully, he started the turn around in a massive way this weekend.  Against Anaheim on Friday, Forsberg had a goal and two assists.  He followed it up with an even better game, scoring a hat trick on six shots against the Golden Knights.  With those performances, Forsberg is on a 33+41 pace, which isn't amazing, but far more acceptable given Forsberg's shot rate.  Here's to hoping that Forsberg can keep building.  Nashville is going on a long road trip soon, which could lead to a bit more ice time for Forsberg when Hynes can't protect matchups as easily.  Let's take a look at what else happened over the weekend:
Today, I'm going to complete my goaltending rankings with tiers 5-8.  If you draft one of these guys as your #2 goalie, you're carrying a bit of risk that they could implode.  There are guys in tiers 5-7 that have upside, whether it's needing an injury to the other goalie on the team, or being the #1 on a team with a lot of variance.  Let's get to it!
I've been aggressive ranking Matthew Tkachuk for years, but I never expected this type of offense from him.  Tkachuk had a hat trick on Tuesday, bringing his season totals up to 37+55 in 73 games.  He has a chance for 100 points, he's +49, the PIM are strong, and his shot rate is over three per game.  Tkachuk is pretty much having a Marchand-esque season.  That's the Marchand who has been a top five player for the past 4-5 years.  Now, I'm not quite going there with Tkachuk for next season.  Gaudreau could leave and this is an outlier in terms of past performance.  That said, he's firmly in the first round pick discussion because he smashes every category.  I can't wait to see what he does in the playoffs.  Let's take a look at what else happened the last two nights:
If I was going to pick a team to back up an eight goal game with a nine goal game, it would obviously be The Desert Dogs!  The last few weeks have been very strange as a whole in the NHL, but this takes the cake.  Arizona scored eight on Ottawa before scoring a nine ball, corner pocket on Detroit Tuesday.  They were led by the one, the only, Nick Schmaltz, who had two goals and two assists in this game.  That's 11 points and a +11 in two games!  He's the best thing since Gretzky!  While I like to joke, Schmaltz was on fire a week ago and then decided to get 11 points in two games.  He clearly needs to be held for the time being.  Let's see what else happened over the last two nights:
Over the past few seasons, Patrik Laine has caught plenty of his slack for his game.  The goals have been on the decline and his defense has remained terrible.  The good news is that Laine has completely righted the ship this season.  Laine had a hat trick on Thursday, bringing him up to 16+15 in 29 games.  That's the best goal and assist rate of his career.  The confidence in his game seems to fully be back which is great to see.  He's one of the premier offensive players in the game, and it's crazy to think that Laine is still only 23 years old.  It will be very interesting to see what happens with Laine in the offseason as he's one year away from free agency, but I have to say, I love the fit in Columbus right now given their style of play.  There's a great chance that Laine is back to being the 35+ goal scorer that he was shaping up to be, with 50 goal upside.  The shots aren't elite which keeps his value down a bit, but I'm back to being a big believer in dynasties again.  Props to Fungazi for picking him in the Three Point Challenge.  If you need streamer help for the weekend, go check out JKJ's piece from yesterday here!  Let's take a look at what else happened over the last two nights:
Yes, the Sabres are still a bad hockey team, but the good news for long suffering fans like me, is there are finally some signs of hope.  One of the best signs is how well the first line has performed since Tuch returned from injury after the trade.  They single-handedly won the game for the Sabres on Sunday against Montreal, and it started with their highest paid player.  Jeff Skinner was left floundering on the fourth line or scratched by Ralph Kreuger last season because, well, Krueger had no clue about coaching hockey.  Skinner had one of the games of the season on Sunday afternoon, scoring four goals and an assist on six shots in the 5-3 win over the Canadiens. That bring Skinner up to 20 goals with 14 assists in 45 games.  Is he worth his massive contract?  No, but he's proving once again that he's still a damn good hockey player.  I've had him on the fringe for a while, but I feel good about holding him now.  His shot rate is back over three per game on the season so that's plenty good enough given his contribution in points.  Let's take a look at what else happened over the weekend: