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Fantasy Hockey Weekly Newsletter: Week 21 Hello everyone. Welcome to the twenty-first 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.
It's been a long road to recovery for Artturi Lehkonen.  With Big Val in the player assistance program, it couldn't have happened at a better time.  After being eased back into the lineup, Lehkonen moved onto the top line the game before Tuesday night.  While he went to the second line to open the game, Lehkonen blew up against the Capitals, scoring two goals and adding two assists putting five shots on goal in the 6-3 win.  There's a few encouraging things here.  One, Lehkonen was on the first power play unit.  That alone is massive for his value.  Additionally, it was Lehkonen, not Drouin, closing the game for the Avs, as Lehkonen scored an empty netter with a minute left from MacKinnon and Rantanen.  Even in this role, Lehkonen received 18 minutes, which is plenty to succeed.  This puts him right back on the fringe.  Gun to head, I lean towards holding, but his schedule in the near term is heavy on busy days, so I see the case for leaving him as an elite streamer.  Let's take a look at what else happened the last two nights:
Fantasy Hockey Weekly Newsletter: Week 17 Hello everyone. Welcome to the seventeenth 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. The schedule is quite wonky this week. Multiple teams only play 1 or two games and the Sharks do not have a game. After this week, the schedule goes back to normal for a while. Keep tabs on your rosters as there will be many off days, and decisions will need to be made regarding whether or not to hang on to fringe players.
It's not too often that we get a day in the NHL where all 32 teams play.  On Saturday, we were treated to sixteen games spread out over the entire day and it did not disappoint.  The Oilers set a franchise record with their 10th win in a row, the Avalanche came from 3-0 down to beat Toronto, and the Flyers snapped the Jets point streak, amongst other things.  There were a lot of big performances along the way, but Connor Ingram's 38 save shutout was one of the highlights.  So I was right about a Coyotes goalie being a top 15 goalie, I just failed to pick the backup who showed little in the NHL before this season, whoops!  Arizona continues to stay right around the wild card spots, and Ingram is the biggest reason why.  Don't be surprised if they ride him more in the second half if he can maintain anything close to this .919 sv%, assuming Vejmelka doesn't turn it around.  Let's take a look at what else happened over the weekend:
David Perron had a horrible start to the season and was shaping up to being one of the biggest fantasy busts of this year.  To say things have turned for the better is an understatement.  Perron scored two goals on seven shots against the Predators before scoring a goal on seven shots against Winnipeg.  Since Perron went back on the top line, Perron has exploded.  He has eight goals and five assists in the last ten games with 35 SOG.  It's good enough across the board that Perron is a clear hold in all formats again.  He's only available in about 25% of leagues, but even in a shallow league, I wouldn't be cutting Perron to keep a stream spot.  The schedule is a little light the next couple weeks, but it really picks up in the last week of March and early April.  Let's take a look at what else happened over the weekend:
Igor Shesterkin has been long anointed as "the next one."  It turns out he's even better than I expected, and I have him at +1200 to win the Vezina.  Shesterkin saved 36 of 37 shots in the 4-1 win over the Capitals on Thursday, losing his shutout with one minute left to an Ovechkin flubbed deflection.  Let's face the facts.  The Rangers are the good bad team.  Yes, the power play is great, but they're a below average even strength team being propped up by how good Shesterkin.  He's certainly the best goalie in dynasties, and for this season, it's a two man tier of Shesterkin and Vasilevskiy.  If NHL players were in the Olympics, one of these guys would have been stuck backing up, probably Igor.  Pretty absurd.  Regardless, I'm not a first round pick goalie guy, but starting next season, I wouldn't be surprised if Igor stays in that territory for the next 5+ years.  Let's take a look at the last two nights: