Despite the Stars coming up short, Jake Oettinger had arguably the best goaltending performance in a playoff series ever last season against the Flames. Oettinger was at that level again on Thursday, stopping 45 of 46 Washington shots in the 2-1 win. While the wins are a little lower than you’d expect given Dallas’ record, Oettinger has established himself as a clear #1 in fantasy. It’s not quite in the top tier in redrafts, but it’s not far off. Oettinger, who turns 24 on Sunday, is right near the top in dynasties. Dallas has their entire core locked up, including Oettinger, and they’re thriving under DeBoer. Let’s take a look at what else happened the last two nights:
Wednesday’s Games
Alex DeBrincat – Three assists with five shots. Brady Tkachuk and Drake Batherson each had a goal and an assist with four shots, as the Ottawa power play thrived against Montreal. DeBrincat is going to smash his previous career high in assists, and if his shooting percentage regresses towards his norm, we could see him take another step. I’m buying DeBrincat stock.
Filip Gustavsson – 16 saves on 17 shots in the 4-1 win over the Red Wings. Detroit is hopeless offensively without Larkin. Gustavsson had allowed one goal or fewer in four of his last five starts. If you need goaltending help, own him.
Frederick Gaudreau – Two goals on four shots. He’s off the first line making Gaudreau a bottom end streamer.
Nils Hoglander – Two assists with two shots and two PIM. Hoglander is showing some signs of life, but he’s been an afterthought in Vancouver this year, occasionally being scratched. He’s worth monitoring, but not worth using right now.
Dillon Dube – Two assists with two shots. I was expecting better from Dube this season, but he hasn’t taken a step forward. He’s also in bottom end streamer territory.
Thursday’s Games
Tage Thompson – Goal and an assist, as did Rasmus Dahlin. The Sabres played down a player with Owen Power a late scratch, but that didn’t stop them from pulling off the upset against Colorado. Dahlin is the #1 defenseman now while Tage has been the #3 overall forward to this point. Crazy times in Buffalo.
Valeri Nichushkin – Two assists with three shots. Big Val played over 24 minutes in this game. With that kind of workload, it’s only a matter of time until he scores his first goal since returning from injury.
Adrian Kempe – Two goals on three shots, both assisted by Kevin Fiala. A line shuffle helped L.A. come back against Boston. Kempe is more of an elite streamer for me, while Fiala has been a stud and should continue to be going forward.
John Klingberg – Two goals with two PIM. It has been a disaster for Klingberg in Anaheim. I wouldn’t hold him in 12’ers still, at least until closer to the trade deadline where he should get moved to somewhere more useful.
Adam Henrique – Goal and an assist with four shots. The minutes are massive, but Henrique doesn’t do enough to be more than a bottom end streamer.
Frank Vatrano – Goal and an assist with five shots playing over 21 minutes. Vatrano is a great source of shots that is available almost everywhere. If these minutes keep up, he’ll be a middling streamer bordering on elite streamer.
Trevor Zegras – Two assists with three shots. Zegras is closer to the fringe than I imagined. It’s only a step above that, but I still wouldn’t really consider dropping him.
Mason McTavish – Two assists with three shots. Still a big fan long term, but the minutes need to go up for McTavish to be a regular contributor.
Cole Caufield – Two goals on five shots. Caufield has been fantastic with 18 goals on the season despite playing difficult competition. He doesn’t have an assist in his last ten games, but he still is a no-brainer hold.
Carter Hart – 48 saves on 49 shots in the 2-1 win over the Devils. Talk about stealing a game. We saw in October that Hart is capable of going on long runs of dominance, but the floor is quite low because of how weak Philly is.
Noah Cates – Two assists with two shots playing over 20 minutes. Cates is doing very little with his big minutes. No thanks.
Igor Shesterkin – 22 saves on 23 shots in the 3-1 win over Toronto. The Rangers are getting back on track defensively so it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Igor go on a tear.
Jimmy Vesey – Two goals on three shots. And there’s your annual Vesey update!
Vincent Trocheck – Two assists. The shots are down quite a bit lately which is concerning, but the points are strong with seven in his last five. That’s despite weaker linemates. It’s definitely on the fringe, but I’m still leaning hold.
Brian Elliott – 24 saves on 25 shots in the 4-1 win over the Blue Jackets. Elliott’s numbers are quite bad, but he’s still 7-1. In head to head leagues, I’d stream him in almost every start. Roto, I’d be more selective.
Nikita Kucherov – Three assists with four shots. Nothing can slow Kuch down right now.
Brandon Hagel – Two goals and an assist with three shots. Hagel is firmly in the elite streamer range now that he’s locked onto the first line.
Victor Hedman – Two assists with a shot. Hedman has been a big disappointment so far, but would it really shock anyone for him to turn it around? I do think the goals are risky given the shot rate drop, but I expect the assists to start to pile up again.
Jake Guentzel – Two goals on eight shots. The studs carried the day for the Pens as Evgeni Malkin, Sidney Crosby, and Kris Letang all had two points. Pitt is on a seven game win streak due to their core. It must be nice to be a Pens fan and not have a bad year for the past 15.
Kyle Connor – Goal and an assist with eleven shots playing almost 27 minutes! Connor is due to go on a massive goal scoring binge. Taking eleven shots in a game is a good place to start.
Connor Hellebuyck – 25 saves on 26 shots in the 2-1 OT win over the Predators. Huge game from Saros on the other side, but Hellebuyck has firmly been the #2 goalie to this point. It’s great to see him at the top of his game again.
Logan Thompson – 24 saves on 25 shots in the 4-1 win over the Blackhawks. Thompson has clearly established himself as a top goalie as a rookie. He’s a #1 in fantasy through and through.
Reilly Smith – Two goals, both assisted by William Karlsson and Jonathan Marchessault. Marchessault remains a bottom end hold, Smith is pushing towards being an elite streamer, while Karlsson is a step behind that.
Jordan Kyrou – Goal and two assists with four shots. The plus-minus is brutal, but Kyrou has been excellent otherwise. I’m still holding because I can’t help but think they turn it around.
Tyson Barrie – Three assists. It’s not exciting most nights, but Barrie needs to be held everywhere.
Three Point Challenge: We’re going to do things a little different this weekend. I’m going to add Saturday’s games as eligible for the contest. However, you have to make your pick on MarmosDad’s DFS post that will come out either late tonight, or Saturday morning. When you make your pick, it would be appreciated if you ask him a question, or give him some feedback on his post, whether it’s the content or format. The players you can’t pick are McDavid, Draisaitl, Thompson, Robertson, Kucherov, Pastrnak, Crosby, M. Tkachuk, Karlsson, Rantanen or Marner.
That’s all for now guys. I’ll be back on Monday recapping the weekend’s action. As always, feel free to ask any questions, leave any comments, or give any suggestions below. Thanks for reading, take care!
