On every game day this season, THN Fantasy will highlight players and goalies for fantasy managers to stream or roster for the rest of the season. The recommended players and goalies can be used in standard fantasy leagues or for daily fantasy games.
View the original article to see embedded media.
13 games on Thursday, Jan. 16
* = confirmed
-
Jacob Markstrom, NJ at Joseph Woll, TOR (7 p.m. ET)
-
Logan Thompson, WSH at Leevi Merilainen, OTT (7 p.m. ET)
-
Lukas Dostal, ANA at Andrei Vasilevskiy, TB (7 p.m. ET)
-
Cam Talbot, DET at Sergei Bobrovsky, FLA (7 p.m. ET)
-
Yaroslav Askarov, SJ at Elvis Merzlikins, CBJ (7 p.m. ET)
-
Samuel Ersson, PHI at Ilya Sorokin, NYI (7:30 p.m. ET)
-
Dustin Wolf, CGY at Jordan Binnington, STL (8 p.m. ET)
-
Arvid Soderblom, CHI at Juuse Saros, NSH (8 p.m. ET)
-
Sam Montembeault, MTL at Jake Oettinger, DAL (8 p.m. ET)
-
Joey Daccord, SEA at Connor Hellebuyck, WPG (8 p.m. ET)
-
Igor Shesterkin, NYR at Connor Ingram, UTA (9 p.m. ET)
-
Stuart Skinner, EDM at Mackenzie Blackwood, COL (9:30 p.m. ET)
-
Darcy Kuemper, LA at Thatcher Demko, VAN (10 p.m. ET)
Leevi Merilainen, OTT vs. WSH (17% rostered)
The issue with goaltenders who are on a hot streak — Merilainen has won three straight, including two shutouts — is that it can end at any time without warning. This is a tough matchup against the Caps, but given that quality goaltending can be so difficult to find on the waiver wire, I am always willing to roll with a hot goalie.
The Caps have not won consecutive games many times this season and it’s a weird part of their schedule where they’re alternating home and road games (ie. lots of travel) and Logan Thompson’s carrying the biggest workload of his career. Merilainen is a gamble, for sure, with the upside being a continuation of his hot streak with a win and plenty of saves, and the downside being a loss with at least three or four goals against. If you don’t mind the tradeoff, Merilainen is a good option.
Ersson will be shooting for his third straight win and the Isles are one of the few teams I would have no problems starting the vast majority of goalies against. The Isles have won three of their past four but they continue to be the league’s worst team on offense with a historically bad power play.
This is their first of four meetings and the Isles have dominated this matchup in recent seasons (only three losses in the past 19 games) but I do feel the tide is turning against them. I still don’t fully trust Ersson, but I like this matchup. The Isles offense doesn’t generate a lot so there’s not a lot of opportunity for saves; if you’re streaming Ersson, the big thing you’re looking for is a win.
Cam Talbot, DET at FLA (43% rostered)
I’m not sure why the Red Wings opted for the vulnerable Ville Husso against the Sharks — maybe they thought it would an easy win — because I think it could disrupt Talbot’s rhythm and it ended their seven-game winning streak. The Panthers are struggling a little and unable to generate much offense.
I don’t think Talbot can offer a good save percentage but I think the Wings have a better chance to win this game than they did before Todd McLellan took over. Note the Wings are underdogs and 3-19-0 (!) all-time against the Panthers since 2020; this should be one of the riskier streaming options for Thursday night.
Yaroslav Askarov, SJ at CBJ (20% rostered)
The shine on Askarov has worn off a little bit following a 19-save loss to the Wild, but he remains a high-upside streaming option due to his potential. The Jackets are a very good offensive team, which worries me, but on the plus side, it means Askarov gets a chance to rack up the saves.
To earn the win, the Sharks will have to provide goal support — which should be easier against one of the league’s worst defensive teams — but other than a 6-3 win against the Wings, the Sharks offense has lacked bite. Streaming Askarov means you’re looking for saves, and he should have plenty of opportunities to do so. A win is possible but not probable because it will require the Sharks offense to be better than usual and they’re underdogs.
Lukas Dostal, ANA at TB (42% rostered)
Dostal went from an early-season darling to being rostered in half of Yahoo leagues for good reasons — he’s not piling up the saves like he did, and he’s splitting starts with John Gibson as his roster percentage has dropped back under 50%. I think the Lightning will bounce back from an ugly loss against the Bruins with Brayden Point back in the lineup, and this is a revenge game after losing in Anaheim on Jan. 5 against Gibson; none of this bodes well for Dostal, who has a sub-.900 SP since October even though he’s been strong against Eastern Conference opponents (4-3-2, .936 SP, 2.08 GAA) and on the road (5-5-3, .919 SP, 2.76 GAA).
Given Dostal’s recent trends, I would shy away from this matchup. I think the odds of a win are quite low with poor goal support — the Ducks have not scored more than two goals in regulation since their Jan. 5 win against the Lightning — but Dostal will have an opportunity to make a high volume of saves.
Arvid Soderblom, CHI at NSH (4% rostered)
With the Blackhawks losing four of their past five and allowing a ton of shots, I don’t have a lot of confidence in this matchup. Since moving Steven Stamkos back to center, the Predators offense has also come alive and it’s a continuing trend since December. At the end of November, the Preds were averaging a league-worst 2.32 goals per game, and now they’re second-last at 2.47 goals per game, trailing the Blackhawks at 2.55.
Soderblom was good for a short stretch while Petr Mrazek was hurt, but the Hawks are in a losing streak and he’s allowed 10 goals in his past two games. A win and a good save percentage seem unlikely, though there’s the potential for saves; the Preds rank 12th in shots per game.
Connor Ingram, UTA vs. NYR (34% rostered)
Ingram was solid in his return to the crease (30 saves, .938 SP) following a lengthy absence. Utah is having trouble scoring goals — they have scored more than three goals just once in January — and now face a Rangers team that looks a lot better than they did a month ago.
Their last meeting was a 6-5 overtime win for Utah, and I don’t think they’ll score as many goals this time around. I’m not confident Ingram is back to his usual self without seeing more, so it’s a risk because he’s played so sparingly this season; it’s just a hard matchup to handicap, and Utah has not been good at home (6-10-4).
Ingram might have some ROS value, but he’ll need to unseat Karel Vejmelka first. This is potentially a tough matchup that could go either way; more adventurous managers looking for a good start overall — a win, good save percentage and lots of saves — could be rewarded, but note it could swing the other way easily.
Remember to bookmark The Hockey News Fantasy site for stats, news, analysis, rankings, projections and more, including the Sleepers and Keepers fantasy hockey podcast!
