Growing up, the Avalanche were always my second favorite team. My grandpa was a huge Peter Forsberg fan and it didn’t interfere with my Sabres since they were in the Western Conference. I’ve always kept a close eye on them even though my rooting interests are now firmly with the Sabres and “Team Whoever I Bet In Game X.” Anyways, Gabriel Landeskog has been a personal favorite of mine in this new Avalanche era. He became the youngest captain in the league when it wasn’t cool to make your young top pick a captain. Landeskog won the Calder and led the Avs on a massive warpath to a shocking #1 seed in 2013-14. When I started at Razzball, things looked on the up for Landeskog at 23 years old. Then, like the rest of the Avalanche organization, Landeskog struggled mightily. Thankfully for all of us fantasy owners, he’s back. Landeskog had the best game of his career on Saturday scoring a hat trick and two assists with five shots against the Lightning. Sure, the Avs lost, but it doesn’t change his stat line for us! The Kog now has 13+11 in 28 games with a strong plus-minus and solid PIM plus shots. In fact, I’d be surprised if the penalty minutes don’t jump soon. It’s amazing that Landeskog just turned 25 so he’s not even in his prime yet. Look for him to be a top 100 player for the rest of the season and for at least the next few years. Let’s take a look at what else happened over the weekend:
Friday’s Games
Elias Lindholm – Goal and an assist. There were a bunch of players for Carolina who had a goal and an assist against the Sabres. Listing them wouldn’t do you guys any good. The major takeaway is that you should stream a ton of guys against the Sabres whenever Chad Johnson (29 saves on 34 shots) gets the start. Lindholm is the best of the bunch and is worth streaming in almost all matchups.
Jack Eichel – Hat trick and an assist with a whopping 11 shots on goal. Eichel showed that he was capable of carrying a team by himself in this game as he willed the Sabres to a point. He had only two shots in the previous three games combined so hopefully this is a sign that the shot rate is going back up. Outside of plus-minus, everything else is great right now.
Evander Kane – Three assists with four shots. Please find a way to lock this guy up, Jason Botterill. Kane is a slam dunk top 50 fantasy player right now.
Jake McCabe – Goal and two assists. And there’s your annual Jake McCabe update! I don’t see much chance of McCabe developing into a fantasy asset going forward outside of the deepest of leagues.
Esa Lindell – Two assists with three shots. He’s right on the fringe of 12’ers right now and am fine with grabbing him if you need power play help. Solid option for DFS as well.
Brian Boyle – Two goals and an assist with three shots and twelve penalty minutes. What a game from Guy Fawkes everybody! He’s a bottom end streamer right now.
Brian Gibbons – Two assists. He’s producing but everything about it screams fluke. He’s an okay streamer while he’s a hot schomato but that’s it.
Marian Gaborik – Goal and an assist with four shots. Gabby is a solid streamer as he’s played well when in the lineup this year.
Jussi Jokinen – Two assists with two PIM. Can you believe it was only two years ago when Jokinen had 60 points? Seems so long ago now. He’s virtually useless in fantasy.
Henrik Lundqvist – 33 saves on 35 shots in the 4-2 win over the Kings. Look for The King to get huge volume going forward since Ondrej Pavelec is atrocious.
Henrik Zetterberg – Two assists with a shot. He’s put together a nice stretch with 5 points in his past 5 but Zetterberg is fringe right now. The rest of the categories outside of assists are lacking.
Jimmy Howard – 25 saves on 26 shots in the 3-1 win over the Maple Leafs. Howard is a #3 right now that you have to pick your spots with.
Brent Burns – Two goals on three shots. Ahh, Burns’ shooting percentage is regressing to the team over the last two weeks. A couple more goals and he’s close to being back on pace for what we were hoping for in the preseason.
Daniel Sedin – Three assists with six shots. He’s a solid streamer but because Sedin isn’t strong in any category at this point, I’m not holding.
Henrik Sedin – Three assists with a shot. The King of AAGNOF is a streamer only late in the week when you need assists.
Markus Granlund – Two goals. He’s starting to get power play time which is nice but Granlund is still off my streaming radar.
Saturday’s Games
Milan Lucic – Goal and an assist with two shots. That gives Lucic 10 points in his past 10 games. Ironically, he doesn’t have any penalty minutes in that stretch. Considering he had 49 in his first 23 games, I don’t think his owner care too much. The points should keep coming in as long as he’s with McJesus.
Matt Dumba – Two goals on three shots. I really hope his role isn’t affected by Spurgeon whenever he returns from his injury. Dumba is really coming into his own at the moment. As I said when Spurgeon went down, Dumba is must-own right now.
Brady Skjei – Two assists with two shots and two PIM. The shot rate jumped which I thought would be the key to Skjei’s fantasy success this year but the assists have dropped drastically. I wouldn’t hold him in a 12’er right now.
Henrik Lundqvist – Same stat line as Friday, this time in a 3-2 OT win over Boston. Like I said above, look for Vigneault to ride Hank right now.
Dalton Heinen – Goal on four shots. He’s a great streamer right now as he has 5 points in his past 5 games and Heinen is on the point of the first power play unit.
Noah Hanifin – Goal on four shots. I can already visualize the “Noah Hanifin, 2018-19 Sleeper Post” that will be coming in 6-8 months.
Scott Darling – 35 saves on 36 shots in the 2-1 win over the Blue Jackets. He’s been a massive disappointment compared to my expectations but there is still plenty of time for Darling to turn it around, especially because Bill Peters has made it clear he’s the #1.
Tyler Toffoli – Goal and an assist with three shots. Toffoli has bounced back incredibly well this year, mostly thanks to a career high (by far) shot rate. Shocking to me because it’s been without Carter. Toffoli looks like a top 100 player again despite having 0 PIM.
John Tavares – Goal and two assists with four shots. Tavares is hotter than a pistol again; this was his third-straight multi-point game. Just like that, Tavares is tied for third in the NHL in points. Among those he’s tied with…
Josh Bailey – Goal and an assist with three shots. Bailey is tied for second in the NHL in assists which is simply remarkable. It’s obviously incredibly assist and PPP heavy but who cares? He was a waiver wire pickup who has 40 points in 33 games!
Anders Lee – Goal and an assist with four shots. Sure, he’s not going to shoot 25% all year, but there’s no reason why Lee can’t have a 35+35 season. That’s a slam dunk top 50 player with his penalty minutes.
Craig Anderson – 28 save shutout in the 3-0 win over the Canadiens. There have been a couple exceptions of the year, but blind betting the under in outdoor games has been profitable. I’m not taking much from this game going forward for Anderson. Ottawa still has a long way to go to turn things around.
Erik Karlsson – Assist, +3, 7 SOG, 8 blocks. Like Burns, expect Karlsson to turn things around soon, and in a big way. Karlsson can’t shoot 1.3% forever.
Shayne Gostisbehere – Two goals on four shots. He’s been a top 5 defenseman to this point, mostly in thanks to Ghost Bear having the most PPP among defenseman in the league.
Jakub Voracek – Two assists with three shots. And your league leader in assists is one Jakub Voracek.
Brian Elliott – 27 saves on 28 shots in the 2-1 OT win over Dallas. He’s hot right now so keep riding Elliott but expect him to cool off sooner than later.
Vladimir Tarasenko – Goal and an assist with five shots. He’s been an absolute stud in every category but penalty minutes. Point per game, +16, well over 4 shots per game. Pretty, pretty good.
Carter Hutton – 48 save shutout in the 2-0 win over Winnipeg. Hutton doesn’t play much but he’s been excellent when he does making him a must-stream whenever Mike Yeo gives him the nod.
Alex Ovechkin – Goal and an assist with four shots. The penalty minutes have randomly dropped but I suspect they’ll start to come back a bit. Regardless, after a 33 goal season last year, Ovechkin is back on pace to top 50 goals again. Sure seems like a guy who deserved to be a first round pick in fantasy.
Braden Holtby – 28 saves on 30 shots in the 3-2 OT win over the Ducks. Wins are right on pace from last year, rest of the numbers are behind but starting to improve. He’s still been the #6 overall starter despite the 2.63/.919 so far.
Evgeni Malkin – Goal and an assist with five shots and two PIM. The goals are down a bit but his shooting percentage should increase. Regardless, point per game, three shots per, great penalty minutes per usual. Just stay healthy!
Anton Stralman – Two goals and an assist with four shots. If you’re desperate for plus-minus help, Stralman is already +24 and shouldn’t kill you in the other categories. Odds are you’re better off leaving him on the waiver wire though.
Yanni Gourde – Goal and two assists with two shots. Gourde has played his way into top streamer status but like Gibbons, his numbers look unsustainable, just to a lesser degree than Gibbons.
Victor Hedman – Goal and an assist with two shots and two PIM. It’s crazy that despite how excellent Tampa has been offensively, Hedman’s numbers are actually down. That said, the shot rate is up to 2.5 per game so it’s still helpful in all six categories.
Nikita Kucherov – Goal and an assist with four shots and two PIM. After he slowed down in the goals department, Kucherov has a goal in four straight. He appears good at hockey.
Mikhail Sergachev – Goal and an assist with three shots. He’s been excellent despite the minutes remaining lower than we hoped. My guess it that the minutes go up to mostly cancel out the impending regression. I’d still sell high in redrafts if you could.
Nathan MacKinnon – Two goals and an assist with seven shots. You can add MacKinnon to the intro about Landeskog, even more so because the Sabres were in contention for MacKinnon following the shortened lockout season. MacKinnon is back in the Matthews, Eichel, Laine tier in dynasties.
Tyson Barrie – Three assists with a shot. After last year’s disaster, Barrie is back on track for over 50 points. It’s very assist heavy but Barrie is a solid #3D right now.
Nikita Zadorov – Two assists. At this point, it looks extremely unlikely that Zadarov ever approaches the ceiling he has. Granted, he’s still only 22, but the lack of development is worrisome.
Pekka Rinne – 32 save shutout in the 2-0 win over the Flames. Calgary hit 4 posts in this game but it doesn’t hurt to have some good luck. Rinne has been outstanding this season and with the team he has in front of him, I’d be shocked if he slowed down.
Sunday’s Games
Connor Hellebuyck – 24 save shutout in the 4-0 win over the Blues. What a performance by Winnipeg in these back to back games putting 94 shots on goal against the Blues. Hellboy keeps cruising along and the only thing we can hope for is more volume.
Jacob Trouba – Two assists with five shots and four PIM. Big Buff going down looks like it will spark Trouba’s season. If he was dropped and is somehow still available, grab him immediately.
Josh Morrissey – Goal and an assist with four shots and two PIM. Anything deeper than a 12’er and Morrissey is must own with Buff out. I don’t even hate the upside play in a 12’er if you want to see what develops.
Andrew Copp – Two assists. I don’t see much offensive potential here despite Copp being 23 years old.
Patrick Kane – Two goals on five shots. He’s right along his usual pace.
Corey Crawford – 27 saves on 28 shots in the 4-1 win over the Wild. He’s been the #2 goalie despite missing some time. Crawford has been spectacular to this point and there’s no reason to expect a change.
Sam Bennett – Goal and three assists with four shots. Like I said before, I’m trying not to get too excited about Bennett. That said, he now has 11 points in his past 10 with over 3 shots per game. Perhaps the 21 year old is finally finding himself in the league? I’d keep streaming him until I see how things go.
Mark Jankowski – Goal and two assists with five shots. I see some long term upside here but he’s a bottom end streamer at the moment.
Mark Giordano – Two goals on five shots. It hasn’t been that good but I think Giordano is a nice buy low candidate.
Dougie Hamilton – Two assists with a shot. He’s been ice cold, but like Giordano, I’d buy low. They’re dominating the puck, the shot rate is there, and they’re contributing in all categories, more so in Hamilton’s case.
David Rittich – 16 saves on 17 shots in the 6-1 win over the Canucks. He’s been solid everywhere he’s been back to his days in the Czech Republic. The starts will be minimal but I’d stream him in nice matchups.
Jonathan Marchessault – Goal and two assists with six shots. His current linemate and former teammate Reilly Smith had two assists with two shots. Nice revenge game for them both and I have no idea what Florida was doing dumping both. Marchessault has been outstanding while Smith is a bottom end hold.
James Neal – Goal and an assist with two shots. He sparked this whole Vegas team carrying them in the early going while Marchessault was out. Neal has shown no signs of slowing down and he’s about to get paid handsomely for it.
Colin Miller – Goal and an assist with four shots and four PIM. I’d hold Miller right now. It’s bottom end but the points are good enough with strong PIM and above two shots per game.
Monday Streamers: LDOM’s streaming post will help you plan out your whole week of streaming. If you are looking at guys solely for tonight, I like Tomas Hertl (if available), Bryan Rust, and Jesse Puljujarvi the most at first glance. If you want other suggestions, ask in the comments section here or ask Lackeydrinksonme.
That’s all for now guys. I’m honestly unsure if I will have a post on Tuesday morning. This slate has only five games so unless there is a ton of scoring, I’m probably going to hold off until Wednesday morning for daily notes. I will give some streamer suggestions here and on LDOM’s post if that’s the case. As always, feel free to ask any questions or leave any comments below and I’ll be sure to answer you. Thanks for reading, take care!
