Welcome back to another fantasy hockey week in review. Here, we will cover the week in fantasy hockey, including the latest streaks, trends, and anything else that catches my attention.
Let’s dig in.
Fantasy Hockey Week In Review
NHL Three Stars of the Week
First Star: Kirill Kaprizov, LW, Minnesota Wild
Kaprizov picked up right where he left off before his injury. Kaprizov ended last week with five goals in two games, including a hat-trick Sunday versus the Carolina Hurricanes. In total, Kaprizov had five goals, and three assists for eight points in four games. Four of those points came on the power-play.
He has ten goals in his last ten games going back to December 19th (he missed two weeks due to injury). Kaprizov is righting the ship and is closing in on that familiar 40-plus goal pace.
Second Star: David Pastrnak, RW, Boston Bruins
Pastrnak also had five goals last week, including a hat-trick last Thursday, versus the Colorado Avalanche. He also had 18 shots in those three games, which averages six per game—his 233 shots in 46 games projects to 415 over a full 82-game season. This would be a second straight 400-shot season.
While Pastrnak is on pace for 56 goals, he hasn’t gone on a crazy goal-scoring streak. His shooting percentage (SH%) is 12.9%, a tad below his career 14.1% average. We could see another level unleashed down the stretch.
Logan Thompson, G, Vegas Golden Knights
Thompson went a perfect 3-0-0 last week, with a 1.34 goals against average (GAA) and a .956 save percentage (SVPct).
He has been holding down the fort admirably in Adin Hill’s absence. Mind you, with Hill returning last night, Thompson’s rest-of-season value just took a big hit. I hope you enjoyed the ride because his starts just got slashed by 60%.
Adin Hill, G, Vegas Golden Knights
He’s only played six minutes and 25 seconds of hockey, before last night, since November 30th. As good as Thompson was for the Knights, Hill is the undisputed number-one on the roster.
He will take over the lion-share of start moving forward. Someone’s fantasy hockey team just got a big boost with his return.
Next to Boston, there isn’t a tandem I’d prefer to own.
Carter Hart, G, Philadelphia Flyers
He has taken an indefinite leave of absence for personal reasons. You don’t have to look hard on X/Twitter to speculate as to why.
This likely spells the end of the season for Hart, and possibly longer. Until anything is official, that’s as far as I’ll go on this subject.
Fantasy hockey owners in keeper and dynasty pools will have a tough decision. In one-year leagues, Hart is a clear drop.
Samuel Ersson, G, Philadelphia Flyers
Is the number-one goal in Philadelphia, at least for the rest of the season. The catch here though, in his first full season, expect John Tortorella to try to limit his starts.
Ersson goes from a 45-55 time share with Hart to more of a 60-40 with Cal Peterson, who has been called up in Hart’s absence.
Player Streaks
Nathan MacKinnon, C, Colorado Avalanche – Hot
MacKinnon has the longest current point streak in the league at 11 games. In those 11 games, he’s registered 21 points, averaging 1.91 points per game. He also has 54 shots in over this stretch, which is pretty much, five shots on goal per game.
There’s nothing to see here, just MacKinnon living up to his top-five player billing.
Sam Reinhart, C/RW, Florida Panthers – Hot
He has points in ten straight. More impressively though, he has 11 goals on 36 shots in those ten games. I know I harp on this but a 27 SH% is not sustainable over a full season. The fall is coming.
Heed or ignore my warnings all you want, but I will add this, there is always an outlier. There is always a player or two that somehow defies the odds and sustains an unsustainable shooting percentage. Look no further than Andrei Kuzmenko, who played 81 games and ended the season with a 27.3 SH%. It’s 13.1% this year, regression hit hard.
John Tavares, C, Toronto Maple Leafs – Cold
Now pointless in eight games, Tavares continues his bland season. His 34 points in 42 games leaves him on pace for his worst offensive season as a Maple Leafs player.
Here’s the thing about Tavares, he rarely blows you out of your chair when you watch him play. He is not swift of foot, nor does he dangle like Trevor Zegras or Connor McDavid, but he gets his.
At the end of the year, we’ll see another season with 27 or more goals and close to or at a point a game. I look at cold windows like these as mini-opportunities to buy low. It is owner-dependent. Some fantasy hockey owners get the big picture, regardless of the cold streak. Others make knee-jerk reactions.
Moritz Seider, D, Detroit Red Wings (Cold)
Pointless in seven, and one point in his last 13. This is not what we have come to expect from Seider. It’s a rough stretch that can be hard to bear. On top of the cold streak, he’s only had 12 shots in those 13 games.
He is still on pace for 40 points, which is nice. It’s just not the big season Seider owners are yearning for.
It takes patience to own a young defenceman.
Dillon Dube, LW/RW, Calgary Flames (Ice Cold/Frozen)
Zero points in his last 24 games. It doesn’t get any better for Dube going forward either. Like Carter Hart, he has also taken an indefinite leave of absence for personal reasons.
He looked like he was breaking out in the second half of last year, but that momentum didn’t translate to this season. He’s been irrelevant as a fantasy option all year. If you were hanging on for any reason, that reason is now gone. It is time to drop Dube in all formats.
Brandt Clarke, D, Los Angeles Kings
Clark was recalled on January 4th, after dropping 32 points in 30 games for the Ontario Reign. Mixed with several healthy scratches, Clarke saw limited ice time in the first two games, at 15:43 and 13:41.
In his last game, Clarke had a season-high of 18:02 and five shots. He isn’t getting any looks on the power play, so his limited value is compressed even more.
They will continue to integrate Clarke and increase his ice time. Unless Drew Doughty suffers an injury it is best to punt expectations on Clarke to 2024-25.
Sheldon Rempal, LW/RW, Vegas Golden Knights.
I am ending on a nostalgic note. Last night, Rempal registered his first career NHL point and first career NHL goal.
He spent three years with the Nanaimo Clippers, one season in which he scored 110 points. It is also my adopted hometown. The number of Clippers in recent years to make the NHL and score a goal is limited.
Rempal lit up Frank Crane Arena on a nightly basis. Congrats from Nanaimo.
That will do it for this week. Thanks for reading.
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