From an individual standpoint, this season couldn’t be going any better for John Tavares. That continued on Monday night as Tavares scored 4 goals in the 7-5 win over Florida. That brings Tavares to 45 goals and 86 points, both career highs. Obviously we know to roll Tavares every time out, but where does he rank going into next season? He’s bumped his shot rate back up to an elite level and his plus-minus is by far a career best. Is that sustainable? It might be given how good Toronto is. This, of course, assumes that Marner returns next season. I don’t think he’ll make my top 10, but it will be very close. At the least, Tavares will be in consideration for the wheel in a 12 team draft come September. Let’s take a look at what else happened over the last two nights:
Pavel Zacha – Goal and an assist. He’s finishing the season well with 7 points in his last 7 games but Zacha still isn’t at the point where I would consider using him or drafting him next season outside of deep leagues.
Cory Schneider – 45 saves on 46 shots in the 3-1 win over the Sabres. Schneider has been awful this season but has stood on his head against the Sabres. Start anyone against the Sabres right now. Hell, he’s beaten the Sabres twice and lost to Rochester, their AHL team, twice.
Teddy Blueger – Two goals on three shots. His early production looks unsustainable but I don’t hate streaming him in deep leagues. Welcome to the Razzball Database!
Phil Kessel – Two assists with a shot. Phil is still at a point per game this season, but it would be even better if he wasn’t getting killed at even strength.
Marcus Pettersson – Two assists with two shots and two PIM. I don’t see much here long term besides a potential streamer in deep leagues.
Jayce Hawryluk – Two goals and an assist with three shots and two PIM Monday, blanks but -3 Tuesday. There could be something here eventually, especially in hits leagues, but for now leave him on the wire.
Jonathan Huberdeau – Two goals on five shots over two games. Just an excellent season for Huberdeau outside of plus-minus, just like the rest of his team.
Mike Hoffman – Two assists with four shots. Evgenii Dadonov had two assists with six shots. Same story as Huberdeau.
Zach Hyman – Goal and two assists with three shots and two PIM. Mitch Marner had three assists. This line with Tavares continues to roll. Hyman is a solid streamer while Marner could be a second round in drafts next season.
William Nylander – Two assists with three shots. Prime bounceback candidate for next year.
Morgan Rielly – Two assists with a shot. To say Rielly has taken a step forward is a massive understatement. He’s a #1D no question, but how high up is the question. Probably outside of the top 5 but inside the top 10.
Brad Marchand – Two goals, both assisted by David Pastrnak and Patrice Bergeron. These guys are amazing, nothing new here.
Steven Stamkos – Two goals and two assists with five shots. Stammer is on such a tear that he has a chance for his first career 100 point season.
Victor Hedman – Goal and an assist with three shots. Hedman is a slight step behind last season, but he’s still crushing across the board.
Mikhail Sergachev – Two assists. He’s been such a disappointment this season, but I still have faith long term in Sergachev. Remember, he’s still only 20 years old.
Jordan Binnington – 24 saves on 25 shots in the 3-1 win over Vegas. Out of everyone in the league, I think Binnington will be the hardest guy for me to rank next season. I legitimately have no clue what to do with him.
Zach Sanford – Goal and an assist with two shots. He has a point in four straight so I don’t mind streaming Sanford in deeper leagues.
Tyler Seguin – Two goals on five shots. After a slow start, Seguin has put together his usual strong season.
Alexander Radulov – Two assists with three shots. Radulov has been a monster in every category. 64 games, 24+39, +22, 50 PIM, exactly three shots per game. Unbelievable.
Radek Faksa – Two goals and two PIM. I like Faksa a lot in real life, but he doesn’t have the role to do much in fantasy.
Kyle Connor – Goal and an assist with five shots and two PIM. Another extremely good year for Connor at 22 years old. I’m not sure how much better it will get, but it doesn’t have to be better in order to be an easy top 100 guy.
Juuse Saros – 29 save shutout in the 1-0 win over the Wild. Saros has been great again as expected. I just wish that the Predators would turn the team over to him, much like Tampa Bay did to Vasilevskiy a few years ago.
Devan Dubnyk – 18 saves on 19 shots as the tough luck loser. Dubnyk has been okay this season, and I’ve long been the front man on Dubnyk. That said, if Boudreau gets fired, I am abandoning ship next year. That system goes so far into inflating Dubnyk’s numbers.
Jack Campbell – 42 save shutout in the 3-0 win over the Flames, then 18 saves on 21 shots in two periods of relief after Jonathan Quick was lit up by the Oilers. I’d like to see Campbell go elsewhere, which is possible with Quick there and Petersen lurking. He’s been very good on the whole this year on a terrible team.
Dustin Brown – Goal and two assists with nine shots and two PIM over two games. Brown’s PIM disappearing to go along with his plus-minus down the tubes makes him a middling streamer.
Anze Kopitar – Three assists with five shots over two games. Kopitar has been decent but obviously a huge disappointment given his preseason standing. I honestly don’t see it getting any better with how poor the team is situated long term. That can change if Panarin or someone like that goes there, but it seems like a long shot.
Braden Holtby – 27 saves on 28 shots in the 4-1 win over the Canes. After three straight years of being a top 3 goalie (at one point #1), Holtby has had two straight years of being mediocre at best. I’m probably be ranking him as a top end #2 next year.
Evgeny Kuznetsov – Three assists with three shots. Another strong season from Kuz but it is a slight step back from last year.
Alex Ovechkin – Goal and an assist with five shots. Almost back to another 50 goal year for the Great Eight.
John Carlson – Goal and an assist with two shots. Carlson is close to repeating last season’s totals across the board outside of his shot rate, which has shockingly plummeted. He’s still great, but it keeps him outside of tier one.
Sergei Bobrovsky – 26 save shutout in the 4-0 win over the Islanders. Hopefully Bob didn’t ruin your season early on because Bob has been incredible lately. He’s allowed 10 goals over his last 8 games combined, including shutouts in three of the last four.
Matt Duchene – Two assists with a shot. He’s been fairly disappointing in Columbus but Duchene can still make a huge difference over the last 11 days and the playoffs. It will be interesting to see if Duchene will stay in CBus or if he leaves in free agency. His destination will impact his value quite a bit.
Cam Atkinson – Goal and an assist with two shots. He’s slowed down a bit lately, but Atkinson has been incredible on the whole. 39 goals and pushing four shots per game.
Carey Price – 33 saves on 34 shots in the 6-1 win over Florida. Great finish to the season for Price as Montreal continues their playoff push.
Tomas Tatar – Two goals and an assist with three shots and two PIM. This gives Tatar a career high in points. Excellent year in Montreal, who was basically a dump in the Patches trade.
Andrew Shaw – Two assists and a shot. They’re using him in an offensive role making Shaw a strong streamer to the finish.
Brett Kulak – Goal and an assist with four shots. And there’s your annual Kulak update!
Craig Anderson – 35 save shutout in the 4-0 win over the Sabres. How bad are the Sabres that they get rolled by the Sens? Good grief.
Brian Gibbons – Goal and an assist. He has 10 points in 14 games for Ottawa, but he had 5 in 44 in Anaheim before that. Sorry, I don’t buy it.
Thomas Chabot – Two assists with three shots. Great season for Chabot, whose only concern is plus-minus over the next couple years given how poor the Senators are.
Leon Draisaitl – Hat trick and an assist with five shots. Connor McDavid had a goal and three assists. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins also had a hat trick, all of which came in the first period! Needless to say the Oilers ravished the Kings. RNH is someone who has gone a bit underappreciated given how big of a mess the Oilers are and how good the first two guys are. I’d be targeting him in a trade if I was an NHL GM.
Oscar Klefbom – Three assists with a shot. Looks like Klefbom is never going to turn the corner offensively as I hoped.
Darnell Nurse – Two assists with two shots. I have a feeling that Nurse is going to be a mainstay on the bottom of my rosters next season.
Alex Chiasson – Two assists with two shots. It will be interesting to see if Chiasson can get a decent contract after this season. I would definitely not want to be the team giving it to him.
Sam Steel – Hat trick. Lot of hat tricks the last two nights. I like Steel a lot in dynasties and he’s a reasonable streamer down the stretch.
Kiefer Sherwood – Goal and an assist with three shots. Not much to see here. Welcome to the Razzball Database!
Josh Leivo – Goal and an assist with three shots. If Leivo stays on the Canucks in a decent role next year, I will be targeting him in deeper leagues.
Troy Stecher – Two assists with two shots, +4 in a 5-4 loss. Stecher is a decent player in real life but he’s not much in fantasy.
Darcy Kuemper – 31 save shutout in the 1-0 win over the Blackhawks. What an incredible season by Kuemper out of nowhere. He should start every game the rest of the way for the Desert Dogs making him a #1G.
Corey Crawford – 28 saves on 29 shots as the tough luck loser. All that matters for Crawford is getting and staying healthy at this point. Hopefully he finishes the season fine and has a nice offseason.
That’s all for now guys. I’ll be back on Friday recapping the action from the next two nights. As always, feel free to ask any questions, leave any comments, or give any suggestions below. Thanks for reading, take care!
