20 Fantasy Thoughts: Korpisalo’s strong finish offers glimmer of hope for next season

Everyone loves a good story and Josh Doan is certainly that.

The Arizona Coyotes forward scored a pair of goals this week in his first career game in front of his father, Shane Doan, who is the franchise’s most decorated player. It was a great moment for a team that hasn’t had much to cheer about both on and off the ice in recent years.

Beyond the cool moment for Doan and his family is that he could become fantasy-relevant in a short-term scenario. Doan followed up his impressive debut with another multi-point performance in his second contest and now has five points and 12 shots in three games played. He isn’t really getting any power play time, but the Coyotes are looking explosive offensively of late, scoring 19 goals in their past three games.

We see players like Doan capture lightning in a bottle all the time during a late-season callup and if you can capitalize on it in fantasy, it can give you a huge edge. Last year someone like Rafael Harvey-Pinard was productive during a second-half callup. Specifically, he scored five goals in a four-game stretch in late March a year ago and became a valuable late-season streamer.

Could Doan do the same?

1. If you were building an all-underrated fantasy team, Adrian Kempe would probably be one of the first selections. Kempe is on a run of 10 points in six games, which gives him a good shot to finish with around a point per game on the season. The Los Angeles Kings forward has also already reached 100 hits for the third straight year. Despite having 40-plus goals in 2022-23 and 119 hits, Kempe only had an ADP of 78 going into 2023-24. He should probably be taken in the top 50 in a lot of leagues this fall. 

2. Mike Matheson finally broke through with a big three assist game this week. He had previously only recorded one point in six games and I know many were considering dropping him. If that cold stretch was the middle of December no one would be panicking, but in the fantasy playoffs there’s no time for patience. You have to make tough decisions. Players like Matheson eventually come back around and finding that delicate balance of when to move on and when to hold a player is key at this time of year. 

3. Timo Meier is officially back. The New Jersey Devils forward has really turned his game around since Travis Green took over behind the bench, scoring 13 goals in his past 15games. His shot and hit volume are much improved, as Green is giving Meier a lot more ice time than Lindy Ruff did. Meier is also a fixture now on the Devils' top line and first power play unit. I think you could make an argument Meier was one of the most frustrating players in fantasy this year, as many pondered dropping him at different points of the season. Now he looks like the player he was in San Jose, but on a much better team. Meier may end up making an even bigger impact in 2024-25. 

4. Has anyone in the NHL had a better contract year than Sam Reinhart? He’s now a 50-goal scorer and in for a big payday this summer. The challenge will be finding the right spot to draft him next year, as Reinhart is shooting over 25 per cent. That’s almost certainly going to come down and Reinhart probably won’t get anywhere close to 50 next season. 

5. Add Roope Hintz’s name to the list of players who broke out of a slump this week. After recording just a single assist in seven games, Hintz bounced back with five points in three games this week, as the Dallas Stars are really rolling. It was only a matter of time before Hintz got back on track. 

6. Cam York is starting to become fantasy-relevant. The Philadelphia Flyers defenceman has played more than 25 minutes in nine of his past 11 games and is on the top power-play unit. The offence isn’t quite there yet, but York could be a valuable piece if your league counts blocked shots. 

7. Joey Daccord posted a 12-save shutout earlier this week against the Anaheim Ducks. Not something you see every day. It’s great if your league has shutouts as a category and just okay if it doesn’t. The shutout is helpful but with that few shots, it doesn’t move the needle as much in categories like saves, save percentage and goals against average. 

8. If you’ve gone down the path of streaming goalies during the fantasy playoffs, both Jake Allen and Kaapo Kahkonen deserve a look. Allen because he’s played so well and Kahkonen because of the New Jersey Devils schedule. The Devils have two back-to-backs next week, meaning both netminders should play twice. It’s tough finding a goalie off waivers at this time of year that will give you more than one start in a week. 

9. Seth Jones is having a nice finish to the season. He’s notched six goals and 11 points in March and has stabilized where plus/minus is concerned. It’s not my favourite stat in fantasy by any means but if your league has it, it makes someone like Jones difficult to roster. Jones has actually only had a minus rating in two of his past 10 games. 

10. After five goals in his past five games, JJ Peterka has a legitimate shot at a 30-goal campaign. He’s been playing big minutes with Alex Tuch and Tage Thompson of late and could be a nice streamer down the stretch if your team needs scoring. 

11. Alex Lyon has lost 10 games in a row. The slump is not all on him, as the Detroit Red Wings have really struggled lately, but it’s simply hard to rely on Lyon right now. Making matters worse, the Wings face Tampa Bay and the New York Rangers in their first two games next week. Not ideal. 

12. After Vegas added Anthony Mantha and Tomas Hertl, most people probably thought Pavel Dorofeyev’s spot in the lineup would be in jeopardy. To his credit, though, Dorofeyev has hung around with three goals in five games and some time on the power play. However, what happens to Dorofeyev when Hertl is ready to return?

13. That’s now four straight starts for Alex Nedeljkovic and he’s been good in his past three, including a big win over the Carolina Hurricanes. The Pittsburgh Penguins are barely hanging on in the playoff race, but if there’s still a chance they can get in, we may see a lot less of Tristan Jarry down the stretch if Nedeljkovic can keep playing well. 

14. Even with two goals and four points in his past three games, this season can’t be considered anything other than a disappointment for Matty Beniers. He’s had a very underwhelming sophomore campaign and the only silver lining is you may be able to get Beniers as a buy-low option in the final round of your drafts next season. The talent is still there and Beniers would be a low-risk, high-reward gamble. 

15. You have to wonder where the Ottawa Senators would be if Joonas Korpisalo played the way he has recently all season. Korpisalo is 6-2-0 with a .911 save percentage in his past eight outings, which includes seven quality starts. This recent run is too little, too late for Korpisalo’s fantasy value this year, as he still owns an abysmal .891 save percentage on the season with a goals-against average well over three. 

That said, this stretch at least provides a glimmer of hope of what Korpisalo could offer next year if he can turn things around and stabilize his game. The Sens netminder has proven in the past he’s capable of some strong campaigns, and as recently as last season. He was impressive on the Columbus Blue Jackets in 2022-23 in a tough spot and his game really took off when he joined the much more formidable Los Angeles Kings later that year. 

As rough as it’s been at times for Korpisalo, the Sens really haven’t given him much help. Ottawa ranks 26th in high-danger chances allowed and is not a very strong defensive team. The Senators have been tabbed as a team to make the jump to the playoffs for a couple of years now and we know it’s coming sooner or later. When it all starts clicking for the group Korpisalo is going to benefit and could end up becoming a huge fantasy asset. You just may have to go through a few more growing pains along the way before everything falls into place. 

16. We return to a more balanced schedule next week with more games on each day throughout the week. The Arizona Coyotes specifically play games on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday, making it easy to squeeze someone like Nick Schmaltz into your lineup. Schmaltz has 21 points in his past 15 contests.

The St. Louis Blues play four games, which includes a pair on off nights and friendly matchups against Anaheim and San Jose. Brandon Saad is worth a look at 2 oer cent rostered, as he has goals in four of his past five games. 

Vegas is the lone team to play just twice and it could be time to move on from Alec Martinez. He seems to be the odd man out on the Golden Knights blueline and has been scratched in four of his past five contests.

17. There were probably quite a few wild swings in the penalty minutes category on Saturday. Jack Eichel received 15 PIM for spearing Kirill Kaprizov and everyone on the ice near the end of the Toronto Maple Leafs/Buffalo Sabres game were handed 10-minute misconducts during a skirmish late in the contest. This is why it’s important to try and at least stay within 10 PIM or so during your matchup even if you think you have no chance of winning the category. You never know what can happen. 

18. How many disappointed people were there Saturday night after they streamed Samuel Ersson or Joel Hofer? Both had great matchups against the Chicago Blackhawks and San Jose Sharks respectively, but each netminder suffered an ugly loss that no doubt cost some folks their playoff matchup. Streaming goalies is always tough, no matter how friendly the matchup seems. 

19. Andrei Svechnikov is struggling. He’s managed just two assists in nine games and he’s had six contests during that stretch where he failed to record a hit. Svechnikov was dropped to the third line briefly but is now back on the second group and on the top power play. There’s definitely too much upside there to drop Svechnikov, but I think you can consider benching him for others with more favourable matchups until Svechnikov shows signs of coming out of this funk. 

20. There’s not enough talk about how good Frederik Andersen has been since returning from a blood clotting issue. He’s 7-0-0 with a .957 save percentage after being sidelined for four months. Impressive stuff.