After their situation looked murky earlier in the season causing public turmoil between the front office and their superstars, the Dallas Stars are close to becoming a lock for the postseason. Their super Stars (corny, I know) won the game for them on Tuesday against the Panthers. In the 4-2 win, Tyler Seguin dished four assists while putting six shots on goal and providing two PIM. Alexander Radulov scored two goals and an assist with five shots, while Jamie Benn scored a goal and two assists with two shots. The Stars have a great playoff schedule and these three guys should be massive difference makers in the fantasy playoffs. Let’s take a look at what else happened over the last two nights:
Andrei Vasilevskiy – 28 saves on 29 shots in the 4-1 win over the Coyotes. He’s the #1 goalie for now, next season, and the indefinite future.
Anthony Cirelli – Goal and an assist with two shots. Cirelli has 8 points in the last 9 games despite having a minimal role. It would be nice to see what he could do if given a great opportunity, but on Tampa Bay that remains extremely unlikely.
Alex Edler – Goal and an assist with two shots. Edler has been an excellent value for fantasy this season while on the ice. If he ends up re-signing in Vancouver (I don’t think he can find a better situation fantasy wise), he should be a nice value again next season.
Bo Horvat – Goal and an assist with five shots. The jump in shot rate to almost three per game has solidified Dr. Bo as a hold in all leagues. He seems destined to be a guy like RoR who is normally outside of the top 100 overall but will have seasons where he’s a top 100 guy.
Patrick Kane – Two assists with four shots. That Kane is going to somehow top his 2015-16 season still blows my mind.
Kyle Connor – Goal and an assist with two shots. We’ve seen very marginal improvements from Connor this season, but he’s still only 22 years old. Plus, a 30 goal scorer is nothing to sneeze at.
Reilly Smith – Goal and three assists with five shots. Jonathan Marchessault tallied two goals and two assists with five shots, while William Karlsson had a goal and an assist with four shots. What do they think it is, 2017-18? I would probably hold Smith right now as he’s regained his form from last season lately. Same story with Karlsson while I’ve always been holding Marchessault.
Nate Schmidt – Two assists with two shots. Right on the fringe depending on team needs.
Martin Jones – 8 saves on 11 shots in 12:24 before being pulled in the 7-3 loss to Vegas. Jones has been an outright disaster this season despite the Sharks being a top end team. I won’t be projecting Jones for much of a bounce back next season.
Malcolm Subban – 36 saves on 39 shots getting the win. As long as Marc-Andre Fleury is out, Subban is a strong streamer. He’s put his wretched start behind him.
Bryan Rust – Two assists with two shots and two PIM in his second game back. He’s back with Crosby and Jake Guentzel (1+1, 2 SOG) making Rust a great streamer.
Tuukka Rask – 13 save shutout in the 5-0 win over the Islanders. Talk about outright domination by Boston. Nice way for Rask to get back on track.
Sean Kuraly – Two goals on six shots. Don’t see much here fantasy wise.
Andreas Athanasiou – Two goals on six shots. I am become a big Athanasiou fan over the last couple seasons after he came from off the radar. I expect to still be driving his bandwagon into drafts next season.
Carey Price – 32 saves on 33 shots in the 3-1 win over the Flyers. Fading Price this season did not pay off, but it didn’t really burn me either. His numbers are barely above average across the board despite the team success.
Andrew Shaw – Two assists with three shots. We know what Shaw is at this point. Use him if you need his strengths.
Max Domi – Goal and an assist with three shots. He keeps cruising without many bumps in the road.
Pheonix Copley – 20 saves on 21 shots in the 4-1 win over the Devils. Keep using your goalies against the Devils.
Brett Connolly – Goal and an assist. In Monday’s post, I said that Connolly was worth considering for streaming. Hopefully some of you took advantage.
Jaden Schwartz – Hat trick and an assist with six shots. It’s been quite the disappointing season for Schwartz but he’s still an okay streamer for this reason.
David Perron – Two goals and an assist with four shots. Perron has a point in ten straight games so I would hold Perron right now. The Blues schedule is amazing down the stretch.
Tyler Bozak – Three assists with a shot. Okay streamer solely because of the schedule.
Alex Pietrangelo – Goal and an assist with four shots. Pietrangelo looks like a prime bounceback candidate for next season.
Oskar Sundqvist – Two assists with three shots. Nice player in real life but nothing fantasy wise.
Pekka Rinne – 22 save shutout in the 3-0 win over Toronto. We fully know what Rinne is capable of, we just don’t know what we’re going to get on an annual basis, let alone night to night.
Ryan Johansen – Two assists. With his PIM dropping down to solid territory from elite, Johansen is dropping quickly into AAGNOF territory.
Ian Cole – Goal and an assist. And there’s your annual Ian Cole update!
Philipp Grubauer – 36 saves on 37 shots in the 3-1 win over the Wild. I would stream Grubauer in most matchups now that he’s had a strong month.
Aleksander Barkov – Two goals on four shots with two PIM. Is 17 points in the last 7 games good? Because that’s what Barkov has right now. His offense has found another level this season as he should end up in the 95 point range.
Zach Werenski – Goal and an assist with two shots. Okay season from Werenski. He’s been an easy hold but hasn’t shown any progression from his breakout rookie season.
Michael Frolik – Goal and an assist. Bottom end streamer at this point.
Austin Czarnik – Two assists with three shots. Nothing to see here.
That’s all for now guys. For those who need streaming advice, check out the Playoff Manifesto and this week’s preview. I’ll be back on Friday recapping the action for 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!
