LOGIN
There's nothing else that T.J. Oshie has to prove on the ice.  He's won the Stanley Cup and was one of the best players on his team.  He became an Olympic hero for his performance in 2014.  Oshie is about to play in his 1000th NHL game.  This season has been a struggle for Oshie, but he's really turned it around lately, culminating in his best game of the season.  Against his old team, Oshie scored a hat trick on five shots.  This isn't just a little blip on the radar either.  Oshie has a point in six of his last seven games, and the very encouraging thing is his shot rate has been excellent.  Even at his peak, he was never a plus in shot rate, but in his last nine games, Oshie has 30 SOG.  It's an even better rate if we go to a shorter sample.  He's found chemistry with Patches and Strome, and the Capitals surprisingly continue to hang around the playoff picture.  While he's playing this well, Oshie is in elite streamer territory.  The schedule is about to get very difficult, but they do get another game with St. Louis before that happens.  Let's take a look at what else happened the last two nights:
It's not too often that an NHL record that's stood for over one hundred years gets broken.  That happened on Wednesday night.  Despite his role shrinking, Kris Letang had the period of a lifetime.  Letang dished five assists in the second period in a seven minute span, becoming the first defenseman in NHL history to record five assists in a period.  He finished the game with six assists, all at even strength to give him a +6 rating in the 7-0 win over the Islanders.  Even with this game, Letang is far from the defenseman he used to be, partially due to age, and partially due to the arrival of Karlsson.  He's under two shots per game, and has only three goals as a result.  However, the assists are still very good, the hits and blocks are solid, and the PIM are much higher than they've been.  He's the perfect #3/4 defenseman on most teams since he's hitting most of the categories and piling up assists.
Hello everyone. Welcome to the seventh edition of JOT This Down! Thank you to everyone who provided feedback in volume six. I appreciate it.  Keep the questions, comments, and concerns coming. I’ll be here all week to answer any and everything you may have.
Ah…the Saturday before the trade deadline! Next week we’ll be able to build a roster of new faces in new places, but for tonight let’s steer clear of those players rumored to be on the trade block. There’s nothing worse than having a guy that you picked for your DFS lineup ending up as a healthy scratch because he’s being discussed in a potential move. With all of that said, I think it’s safe to say that our goalie pick for today is firmly entrenched as a player who will be unavailable on the trade block. Linus Ullmark (DK: $8,300) has been written up a few times in this space, and for good reason. His video game-esque numbers keep getting better. He’s 29-4-1 and leads the league with a .937 SV%. Just for reference, Tim Thomas’s Vezina numbers in his Stanley Cup year (2010-2011) were 35-11-9 and .938 SV%.
Another star player has made his way to the Eastern Conference well ahead of the trade deadline.  We already had Horvat and Tarasenko move, and now we have a former Conn Smythe winner.  Ryan O'Reilly was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs, along with Noel Acciari, for a bevy of draft picks.  The Wild also acquired a pick for retaining salary, and there were prospects involved, but none of them are particularly relevant.  For fantasy, we care about RoR and Acciari.  Let's start with Acciari because it's easier.  Acciari moved right onto Toronto's fourth line.  He scored a goal against the Blackhawks on Sunday, and is piling up hits.  He'll be a deep league value for his hits and decent goal rate.  O'Reilly is an interesting debate.  He's easily having the worst offensive season in the last decade.  On the other hand, RoR has been playing much better lately, and he went right onto the second line with Tavares and Marner.  He dished an assist in his debut on Saturday playing just over 16 minutes in the 5-1 blowout against Montreal.  He also won 12 of 14 draws, which is notable that he bumped Tavares from the faceoff circle most of the time.  I'm not rushing to pick up RoR, mostly because we know that he's not cracking Toronto's first power play unit.  That said, there's upside in Toronto that he couldn't touch in St. Louis again.  If you want to stream him on Tuesday against the Sabres and see where it goes, I can get behind that.  
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:
What better way to become the third player ever to 800 goals than to score a hat trick?  Alex Ovechkin did just that on Tuesday, scoring three times and adding an assist against the Chicago Blackhawks.  He's only one goal behind Gordie Howe for second all-time, and then the real chase towards Gretzky starts.  Ovechkin already has 20 goals this season in 31 games, a mere 53 goal pace for the 37 year old.  He's over four shots per game, and while the plus-minus is disappointing, it's starting to turn around a bit.  My love for Ovechkin is well known in these parts, so I don't need to belabor the point, but I can't wait for the greatest goal scorer ever to push towards 895.  Here's to hoping he keeps battling father time and gives hockey fans a great chase.  Let's see what else happened over the last two nights:
Patrice Bergeron became the eighth active NHL'er to reach 1,000 career points on Monday, assisting on a Marchand goal in the 5-3 win over Tampa.  The best defensive forward for the last decade, Bergeron has long since been a lock for the Hall of Fame, but being the 94th player to ever reach 1,000 points puts him in truly elite company.  It sounds crazy to say that he's underrated, but I do feel like his career is underrated.  He's never been a top five player in the league, but he was close for an extended period, his line was consistently one of the best in the league, and if you could pick any skater to be on the ice with one minute left up one to save the planet, he's the guy.  Congrats to this hockey wizard.  Let's see what else happened on Monday night: