All of the loyal Razzballers know my infatuation with Dylan Guenther in fantasy. It’s been a tough month with him on the injured list, but he came back in a big, big way. Guenther tied the game against the Flyers on Tuesday before scoring with one second left in overtime to win the game. He finished with two goals and an assist with six shots and more importantly, 22:37 of ice time. It was great to see him handle that kind of workload right away. Utah still has three games before the Four Nations break, so if you’re in one of those leagues without IR spots and Guenther is available, grab him immediately. There’s easily top 100 upside here for the rest of the way. Let’s take a look at what else happened over the last two nights:
David Perron – Goal and two assists with five shots over two games. He did very little in the first month before being injured. For now, Perron is a bottom end streamer at best.
Thomas Chabot – Three assists with six shots over two games. Chabot probably deserves to be on the fringe, but I still rate him as a bottom end hold since the stat line is good across the board.
Filip Forsberg – Goal and an assist with four shots and two PIM. He’s back to the level we’re accustomed to, right around a point per game. The drop in goals is mostly shooting percentage related.
Victor Hedman – Two assists with four shots. Hedman was in a mini rough patch, but there’s no reason for concern.
Sam Bennett – Goal and an assist with seven shots. Elite streamer who you can potentially hold depending on team needs and format.
Nic Dowd – Goal and two assists. And there’s your annual Dowd update!
Andrew Mangiapane – Goal and an assist with two shots. I was hoping for a bounce back from Mangiapane, but it hasn’t happened. Even in super deep leagues, I’m not particularly interested.
Aliaksei Protas – Goal and an assist. Protas has nine points in his last eight games. Even with a poor shot rate, he has to be held everywhere.
Jack Hughes – Two goals on five shots, both assisted by Jesper Bratt. Both of them keep chugging along doing what we expect.
Jeremy Swayman – 35 save shutout in the 3-0 win over the Wild. It’s been a lot more up and down for Swayman than we’re used to, but there’s not much else we can do besides start him and hope for the best.
Matthew Poitras – Two assists with three shots. There could be something here eventually, but with Poitras under one shot per game on the season, I have no interest right now.
Ilya Sorokin – 33 saves on 34 shots in the 2-1 win over Vegas. It’s been a lot more good than bad lately for Sorokin. In his last six starts, he’s allowed seven goals. It was also his eighth win in his past nine starts. Love to see him salvaging his season.
Eric Comrie – 29 save shutout in the 3-0 win over Carolina. It is stunning how bad Comrie’s record is. Even as one of the worst goalies in the league, nobody should be that bad on Winnipeg. Because of that, I’d only stream in the best of matchups despite this game.
Nino Niederreiter – Goal and an assist with five shots. A nice revenge game for Nino. He’s done well for his role, but currently, it’s hard to get him past a middling streamer, and he’s probably a bottom end one. He’s much more suitable as a deep league option than a 12’er streamer.
Connor McDavid – Goal and two assists. Leon Draisaitl had a goal and an assist with eight shots, while Evan Bouchard had two assists with six shots. Safe to say, like most teams, that the Blues didn’t have an answer for the Oilers top players. Bouchard has really been thriving lately with ten points in his last ten games and a whopping 41 SOG.
Mikhail Sergachev – Goal and two assists with two shots. The points have been as good as I hoped for Sergachev in Utah, but his secondary contributions aren’t as good. That has him as a bottom end #2 / top end #3 in 12’ers.
Barrett Hayton – Two assists with four shots. Hayton is a middling streamer for now, but there’s a lot of talk about Utah looking to improve his spot in the lineup which would crater his value. I’d be a bit worried in dynasties that his value gets even lower.
William Nylander – Hat trick on six shots. That’s ten goals in the last eight games for Slick Willy. He’s established himself as a truly elite winger.
Auston Matthews – Three assists with three shots. As always, it’s just a matter of health for Auston.
Matthew Knies – Goal and an assist with three shots. Knies is firmly on the fringe depending on team needs. If you can afford the lower PPP, then I’m all for holding him.
Nazem Kadri – Two assists with six shots. Kadri is also on the fringe depending on team needs. With him, you have to accept a rough plus-minus.
Jonathan Huberdeau – Two assists with two shots. Huberdeau is getting buoyed by shooting over 20%. He’s a solid streamer.
MacKenzie Weegar – Two assists with three shots and two PIM. Good enough across the board to hold in all formats.
Shane Wright – Two goals with two PIM. That brings Wright to a six game point streak. With Seattle out of it, I’d really like to see them give Wright a lot of minutes. The shot rate is so poor that he’s only a middling streamer, but there’s no denying the long term upside.
Thatcher Demko – 25 save shutout in the 3-0 win over the Avs. It has been a really rough go for Demko this season. He did look like vintage Demko in this game, so if you need goalie help, I’m good with spec holding him and hoping for the best.
Jake DeBrusk – Goal and an assist with five shots. DeBrusk gets a bump with him locked into PP1 now in Miller’s departure, but he’s still only a middling to solid streamer.
Filip Hronek – Two assists with three shots. With Hughes out, it’s no surprise that Hronek is putting up better stats. When he returns, I’d leave Hronek to 14’ers or deeper. It’s hard to stomach the poor PPP and SOG in a 12’er.
John Gibson – 26 saves on 27 shots in the 2-1 win over the Stars. I’m genuinely stunned the Ducks limited Dallas to 27 shots. Gibson’s save percentage is the best it’s been in six years. I would grab Gibson if you need goalie help as he’d get a big boost if traded.
Kirby Dach – Two assists with a shot. Sad fall for Dach because of injuries, but nothing to see here.
Alex Newhook – Goal and an assist with two PIM. After a good first season in Montreal in the points department, Newhook has really fallen off this season. I’m not really interested even in deep leagues anymore.
Tyler Toffoli – Goal and an assist with four shots. Toffoli has eight points in his last seven games. He’s a solid streamer the rest of the way.
Macklin Celebrini – Goal and an assist with three shots and two PIM. It’s going to be very difficult to rank Celebrini next season. He’s not far off a point per game this season and pushing three shots per game. The Sharks will be adding another top pick and it could be the time for them to start leaving the rebuild and adding to their young core.
Ivan Provorov – Goal and an assist with three shots. Provorov played over 28 minutes with Werenski out. His value is completely dependent on Werenski’s availability.
Alex Tuch – Two goals and an assist with five shots. Tuch stepped up with Tage out following the hit he took on Sunday. Tuch is in the elite streamer range for 12’ers. You could argue the fringe because he hits all of the categories decent enough.
Bowen Byram – Goal and an assist. The shot rate is poor, but Byram is still on the fringe because everything else is decent enough.
Jason Zucker – Two assists. Zucker has been a godsend for the Sabres this season. He’s on the fringe if you have PIM. A trade would certainly hurt his value as he’d go to a contender and have a smaller role than he does with Buffalo.
Three Point Challenge: We will do Tuesday’s games per usual. You can’t select MacKinnon, Draisaitl, Kucherov, Marner, McDavid, Connor, Eichel, Rantanen, Pastrnak, or J. Hughes. I’ll go with Point against the Senators.
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!
Thanks, Viz!
At this point in the season, with a race to last place, would you consider dropping Bedard for Guenther in a roto 10 team?