It was a rather light night on the National Hockey League slate Tuesday after the afternoon slate of games on Monday due to Dr. Martin Luther King’s birthday being observed in the United States. We’re rounding the corner for the All-Star break, too, so this was the penultimate day of action before all teams get a much-deserved rest. Despite the short stack of games, it was rather action-packed, and there were plenty of outstanding fantasy performances, two hat tricks in the same game and, one team decided to make a major personnel decision. Let’s get started!
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The Edmonton Oilers fell 3-2 against the Detroit Red Wings and that was the last straw for the team’s brass, as they relieved general manager Peter Chiarelli of his duties. It wasn’t a huge surprise, as the Oilers have been underperforming, and there were some moves that the fans didn’t seem to care for, and that uneasiness from the fan base didn’t help. The Brandon Manning-Drake Caggiula deal wasn’t terribly popular in Edmonton, or with superstar Connor McDavid for that matter, and the fact the team has been underachieving wasn’t helpful, either. The Oilers have the Wayne Gretzky of this era, a 100-point perennial scorer in this day and age, but they’re not getting nearly the same success on the ice. It’s no fault of McDavid, it’s the pieces surrounding him. Perhaps the next GM will pick up the pieces and start to right the ship. With McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and recently extended Mikko Koskinen, at least the Oil have a nice base to work with.
Tuesday’s Fantasy Five
Tomas Hertl had a giant game for a Sharks team running on fumes. He notched three goals, including two on the power play, and he added an assist with a plus-2 rating, seven shots on goal, a blocked shot and three hits in a wild 7-6 overtime victory in Washington against the defending champions. He saved his best for last, erupting for a goal in overtime to seal the trick and give San Jose a nice bounce-back victory after being roughed up in Florida by a 6-2 count on Monday night. The Sharks were squeezing in a big road trip before their town is ready to host the All-Star Game this weekend. Hertl has two hatties in the past five games, sinking both the Pens and Caps, two of the Eastern Conference’s best teams. Overall he has 22 goals and 45 points, and the goal total already matches a career best set just last season. He is just one point short of a new career high, too.
[[ad:athena]]Alex Ovechkin bagged goal Nos. 34, 35 and 36, extending his NHL lead, although his hat trick came in a losing effort. The Capitals have also dropped six in a row to head into the All-Star break, and it’s their longest skid since 2013-14 in a campaign when they missed the Stanley Cup playoffs. On a positive note, it was Ovie’s third trick of the season and the 23rd of his career, and he is now up to 643 career goals to rank 14th on the NHL’s all-time list. One of his goals came on the power play and he added an assist, too, but it wasn’t enough to snap Washington out of its week-long funk. Perhaps the All-Star break will be a huge help to the skidding Caps.
Alex DeBrincat picked up two more assists in a 3-2 shootout victory at home against the red-hot New York Islanders. While he failed to light the lamp, he was good for six shots on goal over 17:13 of ice time across 21 shifts. The right winger has caught fire in the month of January, registering seven goals with 10 points in 10 games. He is also good for four power-play goals and two assists on the man advantage, as the youngsters in Chitown are starting to come together and jell together. Dylan Strome, the former No. 1 pick of the Arizona Coyotes at No. 3 overall in 2015, is still just 21 years old. He had a power-play goal and assist, giving him two goals and five points over the past four, too. The young duo, barely old enough to qualify for buying an Old Style twak at Binny’s, helped make a winner of stodgy Cam Ward, who won to move to 8-8-4 with a 3.87 goals-against average and .888 save percentage in a roller coast unofficial first half in his first season with the ‘Hawks.
As mentioned above, Draisaitl has been outstanding win or lose, and he is one of the huge building blocks in Edmonton for the incoming GM. The Oilers fell 3-2 to the visiting Red Wings on Tuesday, but it was no fault of the German pivot. He posted a goal, an assist and a plus-1 rating to give him six goals and 12 points through 12 games in the month of January. In fact, Draisaitl has managed at least 12 points in each of the first four months so far this season. He is very consistent and fantasy owners love his frequent scoring.
Entering the 2018-19 fantasy season, no one expected much of David Rittich. In fact, his average draft position (ADP) is rather non-existent in all preseason draft guides, because Mike Smith was expected to be the unquestioned starter with Rittich fighting simply for a backup job. My how things have changed. Rittich allowed just two goals on 35 shots against the Carolina Hurricanes in overtime, improving to a gaudy 19-4-4 with a 2.47 GAA and .918 save percentage. It’s hard to believe Rittich won’t be jumping a plane for the Bay Area to participate in the All-Star festivities this weekend, but fantasy owners don’t mind seeing him get plenty of rest. Hopefully he’ll fire out of the gate and finish what he has started. It’s hard to believe that, statistically, Rittich and Robin Lehner of the New York Islanders could seriously be considered for the Vezina Trophy at this point.
Fantasy Game of the Night
Hertl and Ovie were doing their hat dances in D.C. but they were far from the only fantasy relevant players doing big things in a fire wagon hockey fantasy fiesta in the nation’s capital. Logan Couture notched his 19th goal of the season while adding two assists with a plus-3 rating, a blocked shot and a hit across his 21:41 of ice time. He hits the All-Star break on a high note with at least one goal in three of his past four outings. One of his helpers came on the man advantage. Evander Kane picked up two more goals while tying a game-high with seven shots, and of course he spent two minutes in the sin bin, too. He has been sensational in January, rolling up 10 goals with 16 points and a plus-11 rating while logging 26 PIM, too. Joe Pavelski also had a huge game, racking up a goal with four points and a plus-3 rating, and he was feeling frisky stepping in front of three shots while dishing out two hits. Brent Burns and Timo Meier were each good for two assists, and Meier was the big winner in terms of plus/minus rating, finishing with a plus-4. Martin Jones survived for the victory despite the fact he coughed up six goals for the second consecutive evening.
For the Caps, sure, Ovie scored half of their total goals, but there were plenty of fantasy stars. T.J. Oshie racked up a goal with a pair of assists with six shots on net, and he dished out seven bone-crushing, teeth-chattering hits in the contest, too. That’s back-to-back multi-point performances for Oshie, who has four goals and 10 points in 11 games so far in January. Evgeny Kuznetsov joined him in the multi-point club with a goal and an assist while posting a plus-1 rating. Fantasy owners hope he can carry over the momentum into Wednesday’s game against Toronto, as Kuz has been struggling of late. Jakub Vrana also stayed hot by his standards, picking up two assists with a plus-2 rating, as he has three goals and seven points across the past eight outings. Nicklas Backstrom picked up two more assists, too, although he was dinged for a minus-2 rating to throw a little cold water on his stat line.
Quick Hits: Vinnie Hinostroza was likely stunned when he was dealt from his hometown team, the Chicago Blackhawks, to the desert and what is considered a hockey outpost. However, he is getting situated in his new surroundings, and starting to be super productive. He had two goals with an assist and a plus-3 in a win at Ottawa, giving him three goals and four points with a plus-4 rating and a game-winning tally over the past two. … Derek Stepan had the game-winner tonight in Ottawa, and he added a plus-3 rating and three blocked shots. … Darcy Kuemper allowed just two goals to picked up victory, moving to 6-0-2 with a 2.07 GAA and .928 save percentage in eight starts in the month of January. If you hadn’t believed until now, please start. He is worth a roll of the dice as a low-end No. 2 backstop at best. … Oliver Ekman-Larsson left Tuesday’s game due to an undisclosed lower-body injury. He will be re-evaluated on Wednesday. Disaster nearly struck the rearguard corps of Arizona twice, as Niklas Hjalmarsson took a puck to the grill, forcing him to leave. He was able to return and finish the game, however. … Sebastian Aho continues to star for the Hurricanes. He posted a goal late in the third with an extra attacker, forcing overtime and grabbing the team a point. They eventually lost in OT, but he now has seven goals, 16 points and a plus-5 rating in 11 games in January, serving as a must-start in all hockey pools. … Dougie Hamilton returned to Calgary for the first time since an offseason trade landed him in Carolina. He scored a goal with four shots, a blocked shot, two PIM and two hits, obviously pumped to be back in the Saddledome. Micheal Ferland also returned briefly, but was blanked before leaving with an upper-body ailment. … Luke Glendening registered two goals in a win against the Oilers in Edmonton, his first two-goal outing since March 27 of last season against the Penguins. … Andreas Athanasiou posted two assists with a plus-1 rating, giving him four goals and eight points over the past 10 games. There aren’t many trusted offensive fantasy players in Motown, but Athanasiou has certainly been one of them.
