John’s List

If you’re a regular listener of this podcast, you’re undoubtedly familiar with “John’s List” – John’s shit list of players past and present. We throw in the occasional Commissioner, GM, Coach, or newsworthy topic from around the hockey world. 

Jordan Binnington. Fined $5,000 for high-sticking Nashville’s Lukas Evangelista.  

Fantasy Lock Of The Week:

🔥Connor McDavid, C, EDM, 100% Rostered (Yahoo), 100% Rostered (Fantrax)

The Edmonton Oilers had 3 games this past week and Captain Connor McDavid led the way offensively. 10 points in 3 games. Averaged 20:13 TOI and 2:09 PPTOI (72% PP Share). McDavid is now on-pace for 136 points on the season and with 81 points to date, is just 13 points behind Nikita Kucherov for the NHL scoring race.  

Honorable Mention this week is: Nico Daws, who was absolutely stellar this week (see breakdown below)! 

Edge Work | NHL Schedule – Week 19

The segment where we put in the work to give you the EDGE in your fantasy hockey leagues! Each week the Hacks will cover the NHL Schedule and Waiver Wire Targets to guide you to victory. 

Need To Know: 

Welcome to Week 19, the NHL schedule follows the familiar pattern this week with a total of 57 games on the schedule. 3 full days (Monday, Thursday and Saturday) and 4 light days. Light days are where 50% or fewer NHL teams in action 

In terms of attempting to optimize the schedule for games played, 19 teams play 4 games next week. Of those teams only CBJ plays all 4 of their games on light days. Three teams (BUF, CHI and WPG) play 3 of their games on off nights. Also of note: ARI, PHI and PIT play 2 of their 3 games this week on light days.

The team to fade this week is SJ as they only play 2 games this week

Just to recap. 

• Monday – 10 Games
• Tuesday – 8 Games
• Wednesday – 5 Games
• Thursday – 11 Games
• Friday – 3 Games
• Saturday – 13 Games
• Sunday – 7 Games

Teams With 4 Games: ANA, BOS, BUF, CAR, CBJ, CHI, DAL, DET, EDM, MIN, NJ, NSH, NYR, OTT, TB, TOR, VAN, VGK, WPG

Teams With 3 Games: ARI, CGY, COL, FLA, LA, MTL, NYI, PHI, PIT, SEA, STL, WAS

Teams With 2 Games:  SJ

Teams With 1 Game: N/A

Edge Work | NHL Waiver Wire Targets For Week 19

Waiver wire targets will be focused on players that are rostered in ~50% or less of Yahoo (or Fantrax) leagues. When considering players to target, we review recent performance, player deployment, upcoming schedule and more.  

Forwards

🎯 Kyle Palmieri (RW), NYI

Rostered: 12% Yahoo (28% Fantrax) | GP: 3 (@PIT, @STL, Vs.TB) | Line: 2 (w/ Brock Nelson & Pierre Engvall, PP1) 

Kyle Palmieri has been on quite the productive run of late, posting 9 points (5 goals) in his last 9 games. Playing alongside perennial 30-goal man Brock Nelson sure doesn’t hurt, and a role in the top power play unit provides some assurance offensive production should continue. Palmieri’s 6.7 tEVSH% also indicates further offense should be expected, and a 9.0 SOG/60 (2.6 SOG/GM) is the best shot rate we’ve seen from the former Devil since 2018-2019. 

🎯 Shane Pinto (C), OTT

Rostered: 20% Yahoo (55% Fantrax) | GP: 4 (@TB, @FLA, Vs.DAL, Vs.VGK) | Line: 2 (w/ Ridley Greig & Vladimir Tarasenko, PP1)

Shane Pinto has 8 points (3 goals) in 10 games played since returning from his questionable suspension. Centering Ridley Greig and Vladimir Tarasenko should be appealing enough, but a role on the top power play unit and nearly 19 minutes of ice time per game over his 5 most recent games should entice most fantasy managers. When you consider a four-game schedule for the upcoming week, this feels like an easy decision. 

🎯 Philipp Kurashev (C), CHI

Rostered: 1% Yahoo (26% Fantrax) | GP: 4 (@CAR, Vs.PHI, Vs.WPG, Vs.DET) | Line: 1 (w/ Connor Bedard & Nick Foligno, PP1) 

If you can’t roster Connor Bedard, the next best thing right now in Chicago is probably Philipp Kurashev. 7 points (1 goal) in his last 5 games, Kurashev is on-pace for 53 points over 82 games this season. Top line and PP1 next to Connor Bedard, along with 4 games on the upcoming schedule make Kurashev a must-add option. 

🎯 JT Compher (LW/RW), DET

Rostered: 15% Yahoo (30% Fantrax) | GP: 4 (@SEA, Vs.COL, Vs.STL, @CHI) | Line: 1 (w/ Alex DeBrincat & Lucas Raymond, PP1) 

JT Compher and the Detroit Red Wings have an enticing 4-game schedule this week, and Compher has notched out an excellent role on this Red swings team in the top 6 and first unit power play. With 32 points in 49 games played, the former Av is on-pace for 54 points, which would be a new career high. 8 points (4 goals) in his last 10 games played. There are some concerns when reviewing his iSH% (20%) and tEVSH% (12%), but as a shorter-term streaming option there is little to complain about. 

🎯 Jake Neighbours (LW/RW), STL

Rostered: 18% Yahoo (38% Fantrax) | GP: 3 (Vs.TOR, Vs.NYI, @DET) | Line: 2 (w/ Brayden Schenn & Kasperi Kapanen, PP1) 

Jake Neighbours is having a fantastic season for the St. Louis Blues, and with 19 goals in 54 games to date he could flirt with 30-goals this season. A first rounder in 2020, the 21-year old has carved out a nice role on the second line and first power play unit. Over his last 9 games Neighbours has 9 points (5 goals), 5 PPP, 60% PP Share, and for bangers leagues he is contributing 1.22 Hits/GM! 

ALSO: Oliver Bjorkstrand (40%/64%), Nicolas Roy (12%/29%)/Ivan Barbashev (43%/60%) – Nicolas Roy has 14 points (3 goals) in his last 10 games and is on-pace for 55 points over a full 82-game season. Vegas plays four games this week, and with a top line, PP2 role with the squad, Roy is a must-add for the upcoming week. 

Defensemen

🎯 Jonas Brodin (D), MIN

Rostered: 5% Yahoo (21% Fantrax) | GP: 4 (Vs.VAN, @WPG, @EDM, @SEA) | Pair: 2 (w/ Zach Bogosian) 

6 points and 2 goals in his last 8 games, along with a 4-game schedule have made Jonas Brodin a popular pickup for the upcoming week. Over those 8 games Brodin has averaged 2 blocks/GM and over 24 minutes time on ice! 

🎯 Torey Krug (D), STL

Rostered: 25% Yahoo (55% Fantrax) | GP: 3 (Vs.TOR, Vs.NYI, @DET) | Pair: 2 (w/ Matt Kessel, PP1) 

Following a career-high 5-assist game against the Montreal Canadiens on February 11th, Torey Krug now has 9 points (1 goal) in his last 8 games and is on-pace for 43 points over 82-games this season. Of those 9 points, 4 of them have come with the man-advantage, where Krug has averaged 3:34 PPTOI (56% PP Share). Chipping in with over one hit and one block per game over that stretch further adds to Krug’s fantasy appeal. Lastly, it’s worth noting that the Blues PP quarterback is shooting at just 1.7% this season, well-down from his 3-year (5%) and (4.8%) career averages. 

🎯 Brandt Clarke (D), LAK

Rostered: 6% Yahoo (47% Fantrax) | GP: 3 (Vs.CBJ, Vs.NSH, Vs.ANA) | Pair: 3 (w/ Andreas Englund , PP2) 

Brandt Clarke has a real nose for offense, and he sure picked a dramatic way to score his first NHL goal – coming out of the penalty box in overtime and scoring the game-winning goal on a breakaway! Clarke has 4 points (1 goal) in his last 4 games, is averaging nearly 1 hit/GM, 2 BLKs/GM and 2:09 PPTOI (39% PP Share)! It’s no surprise that Brandt is nearly 50% rostered in Fantrax leagues where dynasty formats are much more prevalent – this kid is going to be a BIG TIME player in the near future. 

Goaltenders

🎯 Lukas Dostal (G), ANA

Rostered: 6% Yahoo (36% Fantrax) | GP: 4 (@BUF, Vs.CBJ, @LAK, Vs.NSH) | Role: Tandem

John Gibson left Thursday’s contest with an upper-body injury, and it feels like he’s been nicked up way too frequently this season. Lukas Dostal for his part has been better of late, allowing 2 or fewer goals in three of his last four appearances, posting a 3.77 GAA and .904 SV%. Not great numbers, but the Ducks do play three of four games on off-nights this week; and if John Gibson is still dealing with any lagging injury issues, Dostal could play as many as three games this upcoming week. 

🎯 Petr Mrazek (G), CHI

Rostered: 33% Yahoo (46% Fantrax) | GP: 4 (@CAR, Vs.PHI, Vs.WPG, Vs.DET) | Role: Tandem

Connor Bedard returned to the Chicago Blackhawks lineup this past week, making the club a little less pathetic, at least from a fantasy perspective; but also making Petr Mrazek a little more palatable for streaming purposes. Wins will still be hard to come by (Mrazek was 3-7-0 in January), but during the month of January Mrazek posted some impressive numbers – 2.22 GAA, .925 SV%, and a 6.22 GSAA!! February hasn’t been quite as impressive for Mrazek, but it’s hard to argue against a sub-three goals against average and .909 SV% on one of the worst teams in the league this season. With a 4-game week on the schedule he may be an option for deeper leagues, particularly if wins are not a priority. 

ALSO:  Pyotr Kochetkov, CAR (61%/64%) – Coming out of the Christmas break, Kochetkov has been excellent, posting a 7-2-0 record over his last 10 appearances with a 2.06 GAA, .923 SV%, and 4.71 GSAA. With injuries to Frederick Andersen and Antti Raanta (shocker), the crease should largely belong to Kochetkov.

Nico Daws, NJD (18%/29%) – 3 wins in his last 4 starts while posting a 2.02 GAA, .942 SV%, and 5.15 GSAA! Season-high 45 stops against the Flyers on Saturday night.