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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:
For most of last season, Zach Hyman led the league in expected goals.  By the end of the season, he had a career high with 36 goals, but didn't even sniff the league lead.  This season, he's starting to finish at an elite level, resulting in him pushing towards the league lead in goals.  Hyman had a hat trick on eight shots on Saturday, carrying the Oilers to a 3-1 win over the Senators.  That gives Hyman 25 goals on the season to go along with 15 assists, a +13 rating, 32 PIM, and almost four shots on goal per game.  He's been a top ten forward so far, and while I expect a bit of a drop off in the second half, I don't see much of one coming.  That's how good Hyman has been.  Let's take a look at what else happened over the weekend:
It wouldn't be this Buffalo Sabres season if they didn't blow out an elite team after getting buried by a bottom feeder.  The Sabres beat Toronto 9-3 on Thursday, becoming the first team in 40 years to score 9 goals in a game after conceding 9 in their previous game.  Does this change my opinion on anyone on the Sabres?  No, not really, they're just going to be an up and down team.  The one notable thing is that Jack Quinn scored a goal on three shots with four PIM in his second game of the season.  Quinn had a solid rookie season but suffered an Achilles injury in the offseason, setting back his sophomore season.  It's encouraging that even with a fully healthy lineup, Quinn's line was getting plenty of usage.  He's a middling streamer for now, but there's upside to an elite streamer this season, while Quinn has clear potential to be a permanent hold for years in dynasties.  Let's take a look at what else happened over the last two nights:
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.
We know that Jack Hughes has dominated the first three weeks of the season, but his older brother has started off extremely well, while his teammate and younger brother is starting to get going as well.  Let's start with Quinn Hughes.  On Friday, Hughes scored two goals on four shots, adding two PIM.  Against the Rangers, he had three shots on goal, which sounds disappointing, but it illustrates a large change in Quinn's game.  The one thing that has been holding Quinn back for years in terms of fantasy value is his shot rate.  This was his sixth straight game with 3+ shots, and 7th in eight total games.  It signifies a huge chance in his game, one that does fantasy owners wonders.  He has eight points in eight games and certainly can come close to repeating last season's 76 points in 78 games, if not topping it.  He was always an elite #2 with flaws, but now, he's a #1.  Sure, the hits are dreadful, but everything else is magical.
It feels like it's been forever since I've written daily notes.  I guess being stuck inside due to a blizzard will do that.  It was great to be able to watch the NHL on Tuesday night with a massive slate of games.  He didn't have the biggest game of the day, but Erik Gustafsson can be a huge difference maker that impacts the vast majority of fantasy leagues.  Gustafsson scored a goal and added a power play assist in the 4-0 win over the Rangers.  This is notable because John Carlson is out "long term" after taking a puck to the face last Friday against Winnipeg.  It seems like an eternity ago, but Gustafsson did have 60 points with Chicago four years ago with 18 coming on the PP.  It's his top unit to run now, and the minutes have been decent even before Carlson's injury.  The blocks are okay and the hits are below average, so in those formats he's still on the fringe, but without them, I think he's a no brainer hold.  He's available in over 90% of leagues right now, so open another tab, put a claim in for Gustafsson, and then come back and see what else happened on Tuesday night!
Tage Thompson's nickname, as given to him by Sabres announcer Dan Dunleavy, is TNT.  Safe to say that everyone who watched Wednesday's game on TNT learned the nickname.  Thompson had the game of the season, scoring five times, five times, five times, five times!  He scored four in the first period, becoming the 18th player to ever score four in a period, and the fourth to do it in the first period.  He put nine shots on goal in total and added an assist despite playing only 13:56 in the game.  Here's the list of players who have multiple 3+ goals, 6+ point games in the last 30 seasons: Thompson, Zibanejad, Lemieux, and Gretzky.  And Thompson is only 1/3 of the way through the season!  He now has 21+19 in 26 games with over five shots per game.  Honestly, it doesn't look like a fluke at all.  Sure, his shooting percentage is a little high, but marginally so.  If he can maintain his shot rate, that's over 400 shots in a season, making him close to a lock for 50 goals.  As far as going forward, Thompson has played his way into the top 10 discussion.  His minutes could even end up increasing towards 20 per game from the 18:31 he's at now.  Thompson has already turned his contract extension into a massive steal for the Sabres.  Let's take a look at what else happened the last two nights:
Remember when the Devils fans were chanting "Fire Lindy" two games into the season?  My, how the tides have turned.  The Devils have won 13 of 14 since, including 10 in a row.  The most recent win was 5-1 against the Canadiens on Tuesday with their star players leading the way.  Jack Hughes scored twice on seven shots and added an assist in the victory.  Hughes now has multiple points in six of his last ten games, and is pushing 4.5 shots on goal per game.  Even with a lack of penalty minutes, that's enough to be the top 20 player that I ranked him as before the season.  The future is incredibly bright in New Jersey with two elite defensemen prospects coming to support the excellent foundation in place.  Let's take a look at what else happened over the last two nights:
Is it Saturday again already? You bet it is! Happy weekend once again from MarmosDad. I’m back for another write-up of numbers and names to help you place in those DFS tourneys and double ups! For today’s lede, we’re headed to St. Louis for a strong backstop play in G Jordan Binnington (DK: $8500). Binnington came out of the gate hot with 3 straight wins.
With Tyler Bertuzzi injured and Jakub Vrana in the league's assistance program (best wishes to him), the Red Wings needed somebody to step up on left winger.  Dominik Kubalik, come on down!  Kubalik wasn't given a qualifying offer by the Blackhawks after last season, leaving him to sign in Detroit as a free agent.  The first two weeks couldn't have gone better, especially the last weekend.  Kubalik had a goal and an assist with 4 shots against the Blackhawks on Friday, before having a goal and two assists with six shots against the Ducks on Sunday.  With eight points in his last four games, Kubalik is in must-own territory right now.  There's no guarantee it lasts, but he's shown he can thrive next to Larkin and Kubalik has been a 30 goal scorer before, so we know he has the upside.  Let's take a look at what else happened over the weekend:
Vancouver has managed to blow multi-goal leads in each of their first four games.  Pretty remarkable stuff that already has Boudreau on the hot seat.  The good news is that there's still been some offensive bright spots for the Canucks, and Elias Pettersson is leading the way.  Pettersson had five points over the last two nights, totaling two goals, three assists, and six shots in the two games.  That brings Pettersson to 3+3 in four games, along with 3.5 shots per game.  That's a good start to one of my bold predictions of the season, which is that Pettersson will score 45+ goals this year.  Time will tell if that pans out, but I have no doubt that Pettersson can be a top 25 player despite the low penalty minutes.  Let's take a look at what else happened over the last two nights: