It's no surprise that the Sharks gave up five goals on Saturday. They've continually allowed a lot of goals and are arguably the best matchup you can hope your players are facing at the moment. It was the top line's turn for the Blues as they combined for eleven points. Ryan O'Reilly and David Perron each had a goal and three assists while Jordan Kyrou scored two goals and added an assist. Perron is now above a point per game and RoR is exactly at it. Kyrou cooled off after a hot start, but he's cemented himself as the third member of this line. The schedule gets pretty tough going forward for the Blues, but I still think I would hold Kyrou in all formats. The upside is through the roof and with the Blues in more of a battle for a playoff spot than they would have anticipated going into the season, I expect the top line to continue getting big minutes. Let's take a look at what else happened over the weekend:
We've been talking up Jaccob Slavin over the past couple of weeks on the podcast as someone who can help your team if you're in need of assists. The increased workload as the season has progressed has push Slavin onto the fringe but his playoff schedule was enough to justify grabbing him. Well, if you were fortunate enough to do so, he just started off the fantasy playoffs with the game of his career. Slavin scored more goals than he had in the first 65 games of the season, registering his first career hat trick and added an assist in the 8-4(!) win over the Islanders. Look, despite this game, it's not going to be anything incredible down the stretch, but Slavin just had a five game assist streak. Add in that he's +18 and as mentioned above, the Hurricanes have more games left than anyone else the rest of the way, and I'd grab Slavin if you need defenseman help. Here's what else happened on a randomly busy Monday night around the NHL:
Bartender! Shot of Jack. Man, I loved that call growing up, RIP Stuart Scott. This shot is of Jack Eichel who is lapping the entire league when it comes to points over the last month. Eichel now has the second longest point streak of the season after another big game on Tuesday night. He was seemingly the only Sabre who could get anything going scoring two goals and an assist with three shots in the 6-3 loss to the Flyers. Eichel now has 45 points (18+27) in 46 games with over four shots per game. If he has stayed healthy all season, he'd be recognized in the same light as the two rookies going off this season. Eichel has been carrying fantasy teams for weeks now and he has the potential to do that the rest of the season. For where Reid and I think we'll rank him for next season, listen to Tuesday's podcast . Here's what else happened the last two nights around the league:
In NHL history, two teams with a 12+ game winning streak have never played each other. That will change on Saturday as the Blue Jackets, winners of 14 straight, go to Minnesota to take on the Wild and their 12 game win streak. Both teams extended their streaks on Thursday in a different manner than usual. Their goalies have been the top 2 goalies to this point and it's not even close but last night, they scored 5 and 6 goals respectively. Their captains led the way with Nick Foligno scoring a goal and two assists with five shots while Mikko Koivu had two assists with a shot finishing +3. Foligno has been a top 10 forward this season bouncing back from a dreadful 2015-16 while Koivu has a solid 23 points and is +18. They're in different tiers at the moment but regardless they both need to be in your lineups night in and night out. I can't wait to watch these teams battle it out on Saturday. Here's what else happened around the league the last two nights:
Evander Kane has been a polarizing player for years. The talent is noticeable on a regular basis but inconsistency and off-ice issues have plagued him during his career. Kane started off the season slowly but right now, he's on quite the hot streak. In Tuesday's game against the Red Wings, Kane scored two goals on four shots and added a fight for good measure. That gives Kane 7 goals and an assist in the last 9 games with elite shots and strong PIM. Given that he's an elite option in PIM and SOG with the potential for strong goals, I ranked Kane in my top 100 going into the season because the player raters always love him for his contributions across all categories. We're starting to see why yet Kane is still available in 59% of leagues. He's carrying the third line for the Sabres right now and the change in role has been a good thing for him. It allows him to have the puck on his stick more often and his linemates do a great job cycling the puck. I'd definitely own him in all 12'ers and I have been rolling him in some 10 man leagues as well. Here's what else happened around the league on Tuesday night:
After Saturday, the Blues have to be sitting around thinking “no, not again.” After going up 3-1 in the series, the Blues came back in game 5 with 2 goals in the third only to lose in double overtime to who else, Patrick Kane. Please, blog, may I have some more?
Throughout the season, J.T. Miller was one of my favorite streamers. The former first round pick who will play on the North American team in the World Cup of Hockey had 22 goals and 21 assists in the regular season with a solid plus-minus and penalty minutes; it was only his lack of shots that kept him from being a hold all year. Miller had his first big playoff game on Saturday dishing three assists and adding a shot and two PIM in the 4-2 win over the Penguins. There's upside for a better year next season (he just turned 23) so I'd look to take Miller with one of my last picks in drafts in the late summer / early fall. Here's what else I saw around the league this weekend:
Both players talked about how the game was bigger than them but all eyes were on Connor McDavid and Jack Eichel on Tuesday night. McDavid stole the show scoring 22 seconds into the game and then scoring the overtime winner to lead the McDavids over the Eichels Oilers over the Sabres 2-1. McDavid added five shots and pushed his total to 31 points in 28 games. It's remarkable how good the wunderkind is already and I think it's fair to say he'll be a first round pick in fantasy drafts starting next year already. Here's what I saw around the league on Tuesday night:
Craig Anderson (3 GA, 35 SV, L) lost again last night and does that surprise anyone? He helped the Sens stay with it through the shootout but came out on the losing end with the Bolts' Ben Bishop standing tall for another win. During the post game interviews Anderson was a bit cranky about his recent performance and who wouldn't be? I mean, if I was Craig Anderson, I'd feel pretty bad about myself on a daily basis, but I digress. When asked about the outcome Anderson dismissed the shootout as just a "skills competition," uhm, isn't the entire sport a skills competition? How is that a valid argument against the format? Wow. Unfortunately for him he kept speaking, adding "Flip a coin and call heads. That might be a better way to settle it.” Awww, who needs a diaper change?! Maybe it's nap time, too! Give me a break, Anderson. You think the shootout is the problem? Take a look in the mirror and you'll see your problem. I'm sure his comments have nothing to do with the fact that he's 20-26 all time in shootouts with an embarrassing .625 save percentage to go with it. Just when I thought Anderson couldn't find a way to be worse, here it is! Unfortunately for him everyone loves the shootouts, hell even most of the players do, the only guys that really complain about it are the goalies who get burnt more often than not. I don't know what he's complaining about, it's not like there's a huge difference in the quality of his play in the game before the shootout or during, it's all bad. He's bad. At this point I'd have one thing to say to the Ottawa coaching staff; start Robin Lehner for crying out loud! And wouldn't you know it? Lehner is slated to start tomorrow night. Don't make me look bad, Robin! On the upside, even if you do, none of us will ever look as bad as Anderson does out there. Anyway, here's what else I saw in the world o' fantasy hockey last night:
Rick Nash (2 G, 5 SOG, +1) finally showed some of his old Nashty-self potting two goals against his former team last night, aaaaand the Rangers lost anyway. It’s quickly becoming a season for Nash who was expected to score 40 goals and keep a point-per-game pace, but has come up well short of that with just 18 points in 27 games so far. When he was traded to the Rangers with his $7.8 million dollar salary he was billed as the superstar that would finally help the Rangers score goals. Well, the Rangers are near the bottom of the league in scoring and Nash hasn’t looked 100% right since his concussion, and that has to worry Rangers faithful and fantasy owners alike. Apparently all of this was overlooked by Team Canada, who added him to their Olympic squad while leaving guys like Claude Giroux and Martin St. Louis off. I’m not sure what logic they were using making that decision but I’ve heard and read rumblings about “international experience” or some such nonsense as the deciding factor. At any rate, that's neither here nor there, but it bugs me. And just about every hockey fan in Canada I bet. Unfortunately for fantasy owners there isn’t much you can do with Nash at this point but hope for a turn around. Hey, maybe the Olympics will spark him for a solid stretch run, or maybe I’m just telling myself that because I own him. Blah. You can’t trade him for even close to the value you paid and you can’t drop him because he can go off any day and score goals like it’s going out of style, so you have to sit tight and take it. Just like Rangers fans! Aw. Anyway, here’s what else I saw in the world o’ fantasy hockey last night:
