20 Fantasy Thoughts: Hellebuyck a pillar of consistency for surging Jets

Kudos to the Vancouver Canucks on a stellar celebration inducting Roberto Luongo into the Ring of Honour this week. 

Luongo’s Gold medals and his trip to the Stanley Cup final with the Canucks will be remembered fondly by many fans, but there’s something else that stands out to me when people talk about him as a fantasy hockey tie-in. I can remember Luongo being one of the first goalies people used save percentage to discuss how good he was. I know there were others like Dominik Hasek who owned the save percentage category, but the stat really illustrated how strong Luongo’s play was early in his career. 

In his first four seasons with the Florida Panthers, Luongo had save percentages of .920, .915, .918 and .931. During that same stretch on a not-very-strong Panthers squad, Luongo’s record was 73-124-32. So much of how a goalie was valued in fantasy hockey back in the day was based on wins and losses, and to a large extent rightfully so, but Luongo helped prove goalies on bad teams could still be valuable. And now save percentage is a staple category in the majority of fantasy leagues. 

Luongo also had four straight seasons where he played more than 70 games. That seems unfathomable today and I’m sure we’ll never see anything like it again. Imagine being able to just draft one goalie in fantasy and never really having to think about the position again for the rest of the season? What a time it was. 

1. Ross Colton couldn’t have done less with a promotion to the Colorado Avalanche top six last week. He got a shot centring Mikko Rantanen at even strength and some power play time with the top unit, but managed just a single shot and no points in three games before being banished to the bottom six again. Colton actually played over 20 minutes in two of those games as well, which was five minutes more than he had played in a game all year. Then on Monday back in the bottom six he barely plays 11 minutes, and he ends up with a goal and an assist. Go figure.

2. Is there a goalie controversy brewing in Colorado? Alexandar Georgiev’s numbers have not been good this season and Ivan Prosvetov has been fairly strong in limited action. He even earned a start this week after a strong appearance in relief and got the first game of a back-to-back this weekend. His most recent start didn’t go particularly well and I’m not sure I’d go as far as saying Prosvetov has a chance to take over the net, though he’s certainly made a strong case overall to play more. It’s something to monitor if you need help in net given how strong the Avs are. 

3. Travis Sanheim’s offence has returned. After being held without a point in nine of 10 games, Sanheim now has five points in his past five. Given the amount of ice time Sanheim receives, it’s inevitable he’s going to go on some solid point streaks. Add in his coverage for blocks and Sanheim is probably worth holding as long as his minutes remain high. 

4. As big of a roller coaster as the Edmonton Oilers season has been so far, Evan Bouchard has been completely unfazed. Bouchard has come completely as advertised, on pace for 94 points and living up to all the hype that surrounded him this past summer. Everyone was anxious to draft him based on his potential, strong finish to 2022-23 and an unchallenged spot on an incredible Oilers power play. Still, Bouchard hadn’t exceeded 43 points before, so you can’t blame people if there was a little trepidation about him delivering. Bouchard, though, has given those rostering him absolutely nothing to worry about. 

5. How quickly things can change. After being sent down to the AHL to work on his game, Devon Levi was recalled by the Buffalo Sabres when Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen was sidelined and has produced four straight quality starts, which include impressive wins over Vegas and Boston. Levi is definitely worth picking back up if he keeps this going. 

6. Tom Wilson is quietly having a pretty solid season. He’s been somewhat forgotten about in recent years because of an inability to avoid injuries, but he’s been healthy and productive this year. Wilson has 10 goals and is on pace for around 240 shots and 240 hits. He’s trending towards a new career high in penalty minutes as well, which is a huge bonus if your league counts those. 

7. Tough news for those rostering Kyle Connor, as the Winnipeg Jets forward is set to miss two months with a knee injury. He had a legitimate chance at 50 goals this season. Gabriel Vilardi has already stepped up in Connor’s absence, though, picking up six points in his past two games. He also has C/RW eligibility and is only 20 per cent rostered. I’d have a look at Vilardi if you lost Connor. 

8. Connor Hellebuyck is the very definition of dialled-in at the moment. That’s 10 straight games now where he’s allowed two goals or less and 11 in a row with a save percentage above .900. With so many fantasy squads struggling with consistency between the pipes, Hellebuyck is a tremendous comfort to those who drafted him. 

The other impressive part of this streak is how much Hellebuyck plays. We all know how the league is gravitating more and more to tandems, which limits how much value even a strong goalie can give you in that scenario. Hellebuyck, though, is an unrivalled No. 1 netminder playing in 22 of the Jets 29 games thus far and not letting his play dip with a heavy workload. 

The list of goalies you can trust seems to be getting shorter and shorter in fantasy with each new season, but Hellebuyck remains one of the few you can truly count on night in and night out. 

9. Perhaps you could also temporarily use Chandler Stephenson’s services to replace Connor’s offence. Stephenson has picked it up of late, recently recording back-to-back multi-point games and six points in his past five contests. He’s been solid for shots and power play points, too. What makes Stephenson challenging to add is he only has centre eligibility this season, as opposed to last year where he also had a left wing designation. If you do have space for him, though, Stephenson could be a game-changer. He’s recorded more than 60 points in back-to-back seasons, so the talent is there. 

10. Matty Beniers is officially in a sophomore slump. He has just a single point in nine games and is pacing for only 33 points on the year. He’s also a minus-20, which is disastrous if you have that category in your league. Beniers’ shooting percentage is fairly low, so that should eventually improve a little, but I don’t see a reason to roster him in one-year leagues right now. 

11. I’ve mentioned JJ Peterka as a good streaming option before, but he really has staying power. Peterka has been very consistent this year, only once going more than two games without recording a point, and that was back in October. Not to mention he’s also provided very strong shot volume in the process. It’s starting to feel like Peterka could be this year’s Dylan Cozens. 

12. As quickly as Jake Neighbours burst onto the scene a few weeks ago, it appears his fantasy relevance is waning just as fast. Neighbours now has one point in eight games and the coaching change for the St. Louis Blues has done him no favours. He’s been relegated to the third line and the second power-play unit. With players like Neighbours, you have to take advantage of the hot streaks and then move on when their circumstances change. 

13. Look no further than Yegor Sharangovich if you need a waiver wire add. He’s up to six goals in his past five games and has eight points on a six-game point streak. Sharangovich possesses the always-beneficial dual eligibility as well, with C/LW as an option to work him into your roster. He’s taking advantage of big minutes on the top line and first power play for the Calgary Flames. 

14. It’s safe to say Kent Johnson’s trip to the AHL helped him get his confidence back. Johnson has notched six points in five games, including a beautiful overtime winner against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday. He’s worth a short-term look in deep points leagues.

15. I’m not sure what’s going on with Tim Stutzle, but he doesn’t seem like himself. Stutzle recently had a stretch where he didn’t register a hit in seven games and that’s not like him at all. Perhaps he’s a little banged up. 

16. Next week’s schedule sees only Detroit and Minnesota play four times, while everyone else has three games. I’d look at Joe Veleno from the Red Wings as a streamer, as he’s taken advantage of injuries to J.T. Compher and Dylan Larkin, playing more than 22 minutes in three of his past four contests. He’s also notched three points over that span.

When it comes to the Wild, I’d consider Brock Faber if you need help on the blue line. He’s played more than 30 minutes in back-to-back games with Jared Spurgeon and Jonas Brodin sidelined and is starting to get more and more responsibility. 

17. Jake Oettinger’s injury thrusts Scott Wedgewood into fantasy relevance. It remains to be seen how much time Oettinger will miss, but Wedgewood will have a good team in front of him and the Dallas Stars have a fairly friendly schedule for the rest of the month. That includes games against Seattle and Chicago twice before the end of the year. 

18. Antti Raanta found himself on waivers Saturday thanks to a nightmare of a season that was punctuated by a tough outing Friday. This clears the way for Pyotr Kochetkov to officially grab the bulk of the starts, though a trade may be coming as well. The Carolina Hurricanes aren’t very deep in goal with Frederik Andersen injured, so perhaps they add someone eventually. 

There were rumblings Saturday that teams have shown interest in Karel Vejmelka of the Arizona Coyotes and he would indeed make a lot of sense for the Canes. If Carolina does bring someone in, they’re going to have decent value also. 

19. Is Brent Burns droppable? The Hurricanes scored five times Friday night and Burns failed to record a point. He’s still stuck on one point in his past seven and hasn’t scored since November 22^nd. I know waiver wires are thin, but Burns is on just a 37-point pace and trending towards less than 200 shots over a full season for the first time in more than a decade. He’ll also be 39 in a few months, so banking on a resurgence is risky. If this continues, those rostering Burns will have a tough decision on their hands. 

20. Morgan Geekie has stepped up with Pavel Zacha sidelined. He has four points in four games and has joined the top line with David Pastrnak and the top power-play unit. Geekie is also recording a ton of faceoff wins and should have decent value as long as Zacha remains out.