Trocheck Turns The Tide

Vincent Trocheck was off to an awful start this season with only four points in his first ten games with no positive signs.  Well, Chytil went down injured, and that set Trocheck off on a resurgence.  Trocheck had a goal and two assists with two shots in the 4-1 win over the Wild.  That give Trocheck six points in his last three games, but more importantly, the playing time has skyrocketed.  He played only 16:46 on Thursday because the game was in hand, but before that, Trocheck had topped 20 minutes in four of the last five games.  Now, it hasn’t been perfect.  The shot rate is down quite a bit, and it hasn’t changed that much with more playing time.  I lean towards holding him again in all formats, but if you include SOG, Trocheck is on the very bottom end of holds towards the fringe.  Let’s take a look at what else happened over the last two nights:

Wednesday’s Games

Tim Stutzle – Goal and three assists with two shots.  He’d had some poor shooting luck, but Stutzle is still off to a tremendous start.

Claude Giroux – Two goals and an assist.  The line shuffling in Ottawa has put Giroux with Stutzle and Mathieu Joseph (three assists).  Giroux is a hold regardless, but this does bump up Joseph to a solid streamer.

Dominik Kubalik – Two goals on four shots.  Kubalik’s usage is down quite a bit in Ottawa, which leaves him a middling streamer at best.

Jakob Chychrun – Goal and an assist with two shots and two PIM playing over 31 minutes.  Safe to say that Chychrun is getting everything he can handle while Chabot and Zub are out.  He’s a fringe #1 while Chabot is out.

John Tavares – Two assists with two shots and two PIM.  Tavares is in line with what he’s been for the last few seasons.  That’s a borderline top 50 player.

William Nylander – Goal and an assist with five shots.  Back up the Brinks truck!

Oliver Ekman-Larsson – Goal and an assist.  OEL has been on the fringe of 12’ers, but his value is going to plummet once Montour and Ekblad are back, so don’t expect anything past the next few weeks.

Sam Reinhart – Goal and an assist, as did his linemates, Aleksander Barkov and Evan Rodrigues.  The one thing to note is that ERod is off the first PP unit with Verhaeghe taking his place (as he should).  That puts him more on the fringe with a lean towards elite streamer.

Anthony Mantha – Two goals, but will miss the next two games at least due to an upper body injury.  He was already only a bottom end streamer at best.

Connor McMichael – Goal and an assist with six shots.  I wish that McMichael would play more because I like what I’ve seen.  As is, he’s a bottom end streamer.

Aliaksei Protas – Two assists with a shot.  And there’s your annual Protas update!

Cam Talbot – 37 saves on 38 shots in the 4-1 win over the Golden Knights.  Talbot has been amazing with a 2.03/.930.  I loved Talbot this season, but he’s blown my expectations away so far.  Somehow he’s still available in almost 1/3rd of leagues which is insanity.  He’s a top ten goalie.

Anze Kopitar – Goal and an assist with five shots.  Congrats to Kopitar on reaching 400 goals.  Just a monster career and he hasn’t slowed down much at all.

Adrian Kempe – Goal and an assist with six shots.  Eight game point streak for Kempe counting Thursday (spoiler alert) while maintaining an elite shot rate.  After being a disappointment for a few seasons, Kempe has turned into the player people expected over the last 2+ seasons.

Jordan Spence – Two assists with a shot.  He’s getting PP2, but I don’t see much here for Spence.  It confuses me why Clarke isn’t in this spot.  Welcome to the Razzball Database!

Thursday’s Games

Charlie Coyle – Hat trick and an assist with six shots.  Coyle is putting up the points, but his shot rate has been poor, this game notwithstanding.  I’m bumping him up to a solid streamer, but I’m still a bit skeptical without PP1 time.

David Pastrnak – Goal and two assists with five shots.  He’s playing as well as anybody in the league so far.

James van Riemsdyk – Two assists with three shots.  JVR is a solid streamer while being on the second line and PP1.  I don’t have him that close to holding though.

Brad Marchand – Two assists with two shots.  He’s at a point per game, and the shot rate is over three per game.  My hope for a bounce back in his shot rate with Bergeron gone has come to fruition.

Trent Frederic – Goal and an assist with two shots and two PIM.  Frederic is currently on the second line, but I have no interest in streaming him.

Michael Matheson – Goal and two assists with five shots.  Matheson is a clear hold in all formats.  The minutes are great, he’s always had an excellent shot rate for a defenseman on a per-minute basis, and the PP1 time is there.

Nick Suzuki – Goal and an assist with four shots.  After being around two shots per game the past few seasons, Suzuki is inching towards three per game.  It makes him a clear hold everywhere with much high upside long term.

Louis Domingue – 25 saves on 26 shots in the 4-1 win over the Wild.  Igor is still DTD and now Quick is as well.  Domingue shouldn’t be up for long, but I would stream any Rangers goalie right now.

Alexis Lafreniere – Goal and two assists with four shots.  Laf is on a decent run lately with Trocheck and Artemi Panarin (1+1, 3 SOG), but it’s still only middling streamer worthy.

Elias Pettersson – Goal and two assists with two shots.  Pettersson has taken the league lead in points back.  He’s been that good.  Ilya Mikheyev had two goals on four shots while Andrei Kuzmenko dished two assists playing with Pettersson.  Kuzmenko remains on the fringe while Mikheyev is a solid streamer.

Phil Di Giuseppe – Two assists.  PDG is playing on the second line with J.T. Miller (1+1) but he’s still only a bottom end streamer at best.

Connor Bedard – Two goals and two assists with five shots.  Bedard is starting to come into his own with six points in the last seven games.  He’s going to be outstanding once he gets real linemates.

Nick Foligno – Three assists with two shots and two PIM.  Even playing with Bedard, Foligno is a middling streamer if your league has hits and lower if it doesn’t.

Philipp Kurashev – Two assists with two PIM.  Bottom end streamer.

Anthony Cirelli – Goal and an assist with ten PIM.  I had high hopes for Cirelli a few years ago, but it looks like his offense is never going to come around.  He’s a deep league option only.

Matt Duchene – Goal and two assists with four shots.  Nice run from Duchene with eight points in the last seven games.  That puts him into solid streamer territory bordering on elite streamer.

Tyler Seguin – Goal and an assist with two shots.  Seguin has really been struggling this season.  I don’t see him as more than a bottom end streamer right now.

Nils Lundkvist – Two assists with two shots.  I believe in Lundkvist’s offensive ability, but he hasn’t received much of a chance to showcase it to this point.  He’s still only 23, so it could happen eventually, but right now, I have no interest outside of dynasties.

Joel Hofer – 19 saves on 20 shots in the 2-1 win over the Coyotes.  After a rough first start, Hofer has been solid for the Blues.  I like him in dynasties, and I’d stream him in most matchups at the moment.

Filip Forsberg – Two goals on three shots.  Forsberg has been unlucky this season with shooting percentage, even after this game.  Considering he’s over a point per game, things look really good for Forsberg.  Just stay healthy!

Tyson Barrie – Two assists with a shot.  Even being PP1, Barrie hasn’t done much.  He’s on the fringe but he’s only helpful if you really need assists at the bottom of your roster.

Mark Scheifele – Four assists with four shots.  Kyle Connor had a hat trick with an assist and seven shots, while Alex Iafallo dished two assists, adding four shots.  This line is on an absolute tear lately.  I think Iafallo needs to be held right now while he’s a hot schmotato.

Dylan DeMelo – Two assists with a shot.  I can’t buy Demelo’s strong offensive start at all.  There’s some deep league value with decent hits and blocks, but he’s at a shot per game.

Jaden Schwartz – Goal and an assist with three shots and two PIM.  Schwartz is on the fringe while his minutes are through the roof.

Adam Larsson – Two assists with three blocks and two PIM.  Larsson is a hits and blocks monster, but these were his first two points of the season.  It’s hard to use him given that.

Oliver Bjorkstrand – Two goals.  Very good start for Bjorkstrand to the season.  I wisht the shot rate was what it used to be, but as is, he’s a solid streamer approaching the fringe.

Vince Dunn – Two assists with two shots and two PIM.  Dunn hasn’t been as good at even strength, but his points are great once again.  He’s a #2 because the shot rate isn’t good enough for him to be more.

Nathan MacKinnon – Goal and two assists with three shots.  It’s been somewhat of a slow start by MacKinnon’s lofty standards, so I fully expect him to go on an insane tear sooner rather than later.

Artturi Lehkonen – Assist before going to the hospital following a head first collision into the boards.  Here’s to hoping that Lehkonen is okay and back on the ice in relatively quick fashion.

Sidney Crosby – Goal and an assist with two shots and two PIM.  It’s early, but Crosby is pushing towards four shots per game.  Granted, there’s an 11 shot game mixed in, but it’s possible he could be even better than lasts season, which is remarkable at 36 years old.

Tomas Hertl – Goal and an assist, as did Fabian Zetterlund.  We’re starting to see some signs of life with the Sharks, but I still don’t want to stream any of them in 12’ers.