Welcome back to another fantasy hockey week in review. Here, we will cover the week that was 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: Connor Ingram, G, Arizona Coyotes
One of my favorite sleepers coming into the season. I had him stealing the starting job from Karel Vejmelka by mid-season. It appears he has done so earlier than anticipated.
Last week Ingram went 3-0 with a 1.63 goals against average and a .947 save percentage. He followed his first star honors with a shutout Monday night against the Washington Capitals. The Coyotes find themselves on a four-game win streak due largely to Ingram’s incredible run.
He is now 11-3-0 on the season, with a 2.33 goals against average, a .930 save percentage, and two shutouts. He is currently a top-five goalie in the league.
He is a must-start in all formats and one of the best fantasy hockey stories of the first 20 games.
Second Star: Mathew Barzal, C/RW, New York Islanders
Barzal and the Islanders only played two games last week but he made the most of it with two goals, and five assists, for seven points.
It has been a hot minute since Barzal put a streak together like this. He’s now up to 23 points in 23 games and is on pace for his first point-per-game season since 2017-18, his rookie season.
He is also on pace for 256 shots this year. This would be the first time in his career that Barzal eclipsed the 180-shot mark, let alone 200.
Moving to the wing was the best thing that could have happened to Barzal owners.
Third Star: Jack Hughes, C, New Jersey Devils
He didn’t miss a beat returning from injury. In three games Hughes put up three goals, and four assists, for seven points.
With 30 points in 17 games, Hughes is looking to chase down the scoring leaders. His 81 shots put him on pace for 390 (82-game pace).
He’s going to make the Hart Trophy race very interesting this year.
Joonas Korpisalo, Anton Forsberg, G, Ottawa Senators
Is struggling mightily. He’s given up nine goals in his last two games for an .852 save percentage.
It’s not just Korpisalo, the Senators as a whole haven’t lived up to expectations. One saving grace is, that they have played the less games than any other NHL team.
Meanwhile, Forsberg has been playing better of late. Coming off a 39-save shutout, he was given the starting nod Tuesday night versus the New York Rangers. His third consecutive start. and his solid play continued giving up two goals on 35 shots, for a .943 save percentage.
Expect Forsberg to get the majority of the starts in the short term. Ottawa will likely run the hot goalie all year rather than declare a number one.
Michael Carcone, LW, Arizona Coyotes
He is one of the biggest ‘come out of nowhere’ players this year. Carcone has taken full advantage of his NHL opportunity. Now with 12 goals in 23 games to start the year he is tied for 16th in the NHL for goals.
He is rocking an inflated 35.3 shooting percentage, which is completely unsustainable. This includes five goals in his last four games, on seven shots.
The floor is going to fall out of this streak. But let’s also consider he’s averaging 10:55 per game and no power play time to speak of. He isn’t entirely a flash in the pan though, he ripped up the AHL to the tune of 85 points in 64 games. At 5’9”, his penalty minute total is surprising, 127. There’s feistiness to his game to go along with skill. Of those 85 points, Carcone had 31 goals.
At 27, he’s a late bloomer. As mentioned, there will be a free-fall in regression with that shooting percentage. Yet, there’s room for him to bully his way up the Coyotes’ lineup to receive more minutes.
Andrei Vasilevskiy, G, Tampa Bay Lightning
His return hasn’t exactly been all roses. With back-to-back games against the Dallas Stars, we saw a full Jeckle and Hyde routine. After getting shelled on Saturday, giving up six goals on 25 shots, he returned two nights later with a 25-save shutout. Vintage Vasilevskiy.
Expect more bumps over the next few weeks as Vasilevskiy returns to game form and his foot continues to improve. There’s no way it feels one hundred percent right now.
Mikael Granlund, C/RW, San Jose Sharks
It’s not all doom and gloom in San Jose. Granlund is on a mini-heater with one goal and six assists in his last three games. He is also a plus-five in those three games. If you need a short-term injury replacement Granlund is only rostered in 17% of Fantrax leagues. Some sneaky value here.
Yakov Trenin, LW/RW, Nashville Predators
At first glance there’s not much to see, Trenin only has seven points in 24 games. When you look a little bit closer, those seven points have all come in the last ten games.
It is hard to trust Trenin at this point, his ice time is all over the place. From one night to the next you don’t know if he is going to play 12 minutes or 19. At 247 career games, he has just surpassed his breakout threshold. In deep pools, this is a player to watch. There could be depth value here. He does provide a solid amount of hits, regardless of his production, averaging over 2.5 hits a game.
Matt Boldy, LW, Minnesota Wild
He is finally finding his form. At the time of writing, Boldy had two goals and an assist through two periods versus Calgary. The coaching change is doing wonders for him.
Jacob Markstrom, G, Calgary Flames
He suffered a fractured finger and is out 4-6 weeks. Daniel Vladar will get the majority of the starts during his absence.
But, Dustin Wolf has been recalled. After back-to-back MVP seasons in the AHL, Wolf has little left to prove. A couple of solid games and we should see the time share shift closer to 50-50 during Markstrom’s absence.
Robby Fabbri, C/LW, Detroit Red Wings
His end-to-end goal on the rush will be on highlight reels for the rest of the year. With all the injuries he has battled it is great to see him have some success. His two points Tuesday night give him ten in his last ten games.
Now, his eight goals on 20 shots equate to a 40% shooting percentage. See my comments above on Carcone. This will tumble back to earth and quickly.
He’s buried on a deep Red Wings team. Gaining meaningful ice time will be tough. He has moved onto the second power-play unit, which does provide him with limited offensive opportunities.
Oliver Bjorkstrand, RW, Seattle Kraken
He hasn’t lived up to the hype. A couple of years ago he was expected to break out and break into the 70-point range. It just hasn’t happened.
After a couple of years of underwhelming play, Bjorkstrand sits with seven goals and 20 points in 26 games.
What really caught my eye though, was his 20 shots in the last three games. That’s tied with Nikita Kuckerov and Nathan MacKinnon for the most over the last seven days. He is slowly returning to fantasy hockey relevance.
Thanks for reading.
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