Last season, Leon Draisaitl had a massive breakout with 50+55. It seemed naive to expect better, but he’s going to blow 105 points out of the water. Draisaitl scored two goals on six shots on Friday before dishing four assists with three shots on Saturday. That brings him to 29+54 in 52 games. That’s over an assist per game! Sure, the penalty minutes have dried up and he’s -7, but who cares!? He has four points more than his teammate for the most in the NHL and is now over three shots per game. It’s not a lock that the Oilers make the playoffs, but they’re a clear favorite to make it now, mostly on the backs of Draisaitl and McDavid. Even with the poor plus-minus and PIM, Leon is still the fourth best skater for the season. At this point, his floor is a top ten forward which puts him in a class of the world’s truly elite. Let’s take a look at what else happened over the weekend:
Friday’s Games
Robby Fabbri – Goal and an assist with two shots. In a wasted season for Detroit, Fabbri has been a rare bright spot. He has 25 points in 36 games looking like the player he was before he tore his ACL. He’s still only 24 so the long term upside is there. For now, he’s a middling streamer because the plus-minus is ugly.
Mika Zibanejad – Goal and two assists with three shots. Mika is amazing as is, but getting to play Detroit makes life so easy.
Chris Kreider – Goal and two assists with four shots. Kreider left Saturday’s game against Detroit and didn’t return. The Rangers already made a recall which is generally a bad sign. Hopefully it’s a short term injury as Kreider is rolling right now, plus it drastically changes the trade deadline.
Artemi Panarin – Goal and an assist with seven shots. The Bread Man looks like he’s going to set career highs across the board, and destroy previous career bests in some categories.
Tony DeAngelo – Two assists with a shot. If there was one thing I did well this season in rankings, it was predicting breakouts for a lot of middling to lower end defensemen. DeAngelo already has career highs in goals and assists. Here’s to hoping the Rangers keep him as a trade will more than likely reduce his role.
Matt Niskanen – Two assists with a shot. Niskanen comes up again in this post (spoiler alert!) but he’s still a top end waiver guy for me. He’s slightly below average in most categories which actually has some use, but I’d rather gamble on upside at the bottom of my roster.
Tyler Pitlick – Goal and an assist with two shots. He played nine minutes in this game. Moving on…
Sidney Crosby – Goal and two assists with two PIM, as did Evgeni Malkin. Neither of these guys has shown signs of slowing down in their 30s. Pittsburgh has been one of the biggest surprises of the season considering the injuries they’ve suffered.
Kris Letang – Goal and an assist with two shots. The points are down a bit lately, but Letang has been strong per usual.
Bryan Rust – Goal and an assist with three shots. I always liked Rust, but nobody could have seen this breakout coming. He’s playing at a 49+49 pace!
Paul Stastny – Goal and an assist with four shots. He’s with Jonathan Marchessault (G,A, 4 SOG) and Reilly Smith (2A, 4 SOG) while Karlsson is out. It’s not exciting, but I’m holding Stastny for now.
Teuvo Teravainen – Goal and an assist. Some bad shooting luck is the only thing keeping Teravainen below the point per game mark right now, albeit barely.
Sebastian Aho – Goal and an assist with four shots and two PIM. The assists have really dried up for Aho, but he’s also on pace for 40 goals so it’s hard to complain. I expect the goal rate to drop ever so slightly and the assists to bump up a bit.
Alex Ovechkin – Two goals on eleven shots. The Great Eight doing Ovechking things! Teams like Ottawa has zero chance of stopping him.
John Carlson – Two assists with a shot. We haven’t seen a season like this from a defenseman in quite some time.
Jakub Vrana – Two assists with a shot. The breakout season for Vrana continues as he has solidified himself as a slam dunk hold in all formats.
Thomas Chabot – Goal and an assist with two shots and two PIM. Tough season for Chabot as the points are way down. Whether you hold him or not comes down to whether you can stomach the plus-minus. I still love him long term as the Senators will eventually have more talent on their roster.
David Pastrnak – Two assists with five shots. He’s been the best player in fantasy hockey this season and it’s not even that close.
Tuukka Rask – 37 saves on 38 shots in the 2-1 win over the Jets. On a per-game basis, Rask has been as good as it gets. He’s the #1 goalie despite playing only 27 games; that’s how good his ratios are.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – Two assists with five shots playing almost 23 minutes. Eight game point streak for RNH who needs to be held while he’s getting this many minutes.
Nikita Kucherov – Goal and an assist. It feels like this season has been a disappointment for the Kuch, yet he’s the #7 skater on the season. That’s why you take him as a top two pick: safety.
Anthony Cirelli – Goal and an assist with two shots. Cirelli is right on the fringe now. The shot rate is the only thing keeping him down.
Ryan Getzlaf – Two assists with two shots. The team sucks, but Getzlaf has been okay. He’s right on the fringe depending on team needs.
Michael Del Zotto – Goal and an assist with three shots. And there’s your annual Del Zaster update!
Rickard Rakell – Goal and an assist with three shots. Rakell is right on the fringe along with Getzlaf. If you need more shots, go with Rakell. If you need PIM and assists, go Getzlaf.
Saturday’s Games
Carter Hutton – 22 saves on 23 shots in the 2-1 OT win over the Blue Jackets. The Sabres are playing some boring hockey really limiting the shot attempts against, but it’s going to take more than two good games for Hutton to get off the super desperation tier.
Nikita Zadorov – Goal and an assist with three shots. It must be the first three game point streak of Big Z’s career. In deep leagues for hits and PIM, he’s a fine streamer. That’s about it.
Andre Burakovsky – Goal and an assist with two PIM. He’s closing in on career highs. The minutes are lower than I’d like lately which puts him firmly on the fringe.
Kevin Hayes – Two goals and an assist. Hayes has been mediocre in his first season in Philly. Middling streamer at best.
Sean Couturier – Three assists with a shot. A big run lately has Couts closing in on a point per game, and I’m not going to rule him out from getting there.
Matt Niskanen – Goal and an assist with three shots. Same as above: some value here, but I’d rather gamble on someone on the bottom of my roster or simply stream the spot.
Joel Farabee – Two goals on three shots. Five game point streak from Farabee who is really putting together a nice stretch of hockey. He’s a decent streamer at the moment, but there’s some real long term upside for the 19 year old.
Quinn Hughes – Two goals on three shots. He’s leading rookies in points right now. You can’t rule out Hughes in the Calder race just yet.
J.T. Miller – Goal and an assist with three shots. He hasn’t slowed down at all since the season started.
Brock Nelson – Goal and an assist with three shots. Nelson is on a nice roll with nine points in his last seven games. He’s had a great season to this point establishing himself as a hold.
Carey Price – 29 save shutout in the 4-0 win over the Panthers. Price’s numbers are inching towards average everywhere. Looking like a pretty clear middling #2 now.
Jeff Petry – Four assists with two shots. Petry is having a great season playing his way to being a no doubt hold.
Nick Suzuki – Goal and an assist with two shots and two PIM. The minutes are starting to climb and Suzuki is finding scoring consistency. Middling streamer with upside from there this season.
Henrik Lundqvist – 33 save shutout. The King! Well, it is Detroit, so this doesn’t really change anything.
Jonathan Bernier – 30 saves on 31 shots as the tough luck loser. Yeah, just don’t use a Detroit goalie.
Michael Hutchinson – 24 saves on 25 shots in the 2-1 OT win over the Senators. His GAA is 3.56 and his save percentage is .890. Yeah, easy pass unless he’s playing Detroit.
Jack Roslovic – Two goals and an assist with four shots. I’ve always been intrigued by Roslovic’s talent, and he’s still only 23 years old. I’m not giving up in dynasties, but he’s a bottom end streamer at best right now.
Blake Wheeler – Goal and an assist with two shots. He’s showing signs of aging, but the dropoff hasn’t been nearly as steep as for some others. Wheeler is still a top 100 player relatively easily.
Mark Scheifele – Two assists with a shot and two PIM. Scheifele is right in line with his usual level of play.
Sami Niku – Two assists with two shots and two PIM. Nothing to see here.
Brandon Saad – Two goals on five shots. He’s playing with Patrick Kane (2A) at the moment which alone makes him a quality streamer. He’s not top end because of the lack of assists, but the goals have been very good.
Marc-Andre Fleury – 19 save shutout in the 3-0 win over the Predators. Fleury is back to being a #2 goalie, but he can get back to being a #1 because of the volume he’s going to get over the last two months of the season.
Jaroslav Halak – 25 saves on 26 shots in the 6-1 win over the Wild. I’ll have to be honest, the Wild performance in this game was one of the worst of the season. It was downright embarrassing. Halak has been elite again on a per-game basis.
Torey Krug – Two goals and two assists. Krug has had a big shift from a volume shooter to more selective, but the assists have remained among the best. He’s a #2 but even with the points being at an elite level, it’s hard to imagine him being a top 10 guy.
David Pastrnak – Goal and two assists with two shots. Hasn’t slowed down one bit and he already matched his previous career high in goals.
Brad Marchand – Goal and an assist with two shots and two PIM. This was his first multi-point game in a while, but Marchand has been the master of consistency this season in every category.
David Krejci – Two assists. All comes down to team needs.
Jake DeBrusk – Goal and an assist with five shots and two PIM. Third straight game with a goal as DeBrusk shows signs of life. He’s an elite streamer now with the current shot rate.
Mark Giordano – Two assists with three shots. Giordano has been slightly above average in all categories as a defenseman. Sure, that’s a step back, but there’s still value in it.
Mike Smith – 15 saves on 18 shots in almost two periods before getting ejected… for a goalie fight! At least from his perspective he beat the piss out of Cam Talbot.
Connor McDavid – Two goals on four shots. When I saw the Oilers had eight goals and Draisaitl had four points, I expected McDavid to have a bunch of points too. Nevertheless, he’s been outstanding as expected.
Oscar Klefbom – Two assists with two shots. Klefbom has bounced back in a nice way. He’s going to blow his previous career high in assists out of the water.
Kailer Yamamoto – Goal and an assist with three shots and two PIM. The Oilers are on a massive tear lately, and coincidentally or not, it started with Yamamoto’s recall. He has 10 points in 11 games making him an elite streamer. Just needs to get those shots up.
Gaetan Haas – Goal and an assist with three shots. Nothing to see here.
Ryan Miller – 46 saves on 47 shots in the 3-1 win over the Kings. Miller has been decent this season, albeit in only 12 appearance. He’s a nice streamer against the other bottom feeders, but that’s about it.
Curtis McElhinney – 30 save shutout in the 3-0 win over the Sharks. His numbers on the season are disappointing, but given how well Tampa is playing now, he’s worth streaming in most matchups.
Steven Stamkos – Goal and an assist with three shots. A heater from Stamkos (seven game point streak) is getting back towards last season’s 98 point pace.
Sunday’s Games
Lars Eller – Two goals with two PIM. Eller has had a very nice offensive season by his standards. That still leaves him as a mediocre streamer barring an injury.
Warren Foegele – Two assists with two shots. Foegele has worked his way into being a solid depth player, but he’s still only a bottom end streamer.
Oscar Fantenberg – Two assists with two shots. This doubled his point total for the season. And there’s your annual Fantenberg update!
Elias Pettersson – Two goals on six shots. There hasn’t been a lot of talk about Pettersson, but he keeps chugging along over a point per game with no signs of slowing down.
Pierre-Luc Dubois – Two goals and an assist. Dubois is really starting to heat up with eight points in his last four games. He hits all the categories very well besides SOG which gives him great long term upside. Easy hold everywhere.
Tomas Tatar – Goal and an assist with two shots and two PIM. What a season from Tatar despite Montreal taking a big step back. He’s been a hold since the early going and it hasn’t changed.
Three Point Challenge: Feel free to make picks for Tuesday’s Games. Reminder that it can’t be someone in the top 10 in the league in points. I will take Mikko Rantanen against the Sabres.
That’s all for now guys. I’ll be back on Wednesday recapping the action from the next two nights. As always, feel free to ask any questions, give any comments, or leave any suggestions below. Thanks for reading, take care!
