Friday Fantasy Notebook

The weekend is coming. Who’s hot, who’s not, and who’s ready to make noise? The Friday Fantasy Notebook recaps the week’s biggest developments and sets the stage for the weekend’s must-watch players, matchups and storylines.

Los Angeles Kings

Kevin Fiala made his season debut Thursday against the Islanders after he suffered a broken leg at the Olympics in February. Playing L2 with Quinton Byfield and Mats Zuccarello, Fiala injects some much-needed offensive talent on a team that ranked 25th in goals for per game.

Though he’s a notoriously slow starter, Fiala collected an assist on Byfield’s power-play goal in the second period. Perhaps missing the first month of the season means it’ll take him less time to really get going. Rostered in 34 percent of Yahoo leagues, Fiala should provide plenty of fantasy value as a depth scorer. His ceiling is close to 70 points than 80, but also provides good shot volume averaging 2.9 shots per game over his past five seasons.

New York Rangers

Tye Kartye has emerged as a vital role player for the Rangers, someone who can move up and down the lineup with ease with his ability to both score and hit. I’m not quite sure why the Kraken ever moved on from him, but Kartye has been excellent for the Rangers, scoring three goals in his past four games and averaging 19:50 TOI per game, third-highest among Rangers forwards.

He’s been a fixture with J.T. Miller, and now with Pavel Dorofeyev scoring goals again, it’s given the Rangers a far more balanced scoring lineup. Their offense is capped because they don’t have an elite scorer, but there’s still no shortage of valuable fantasy options. There are plenty of players who can offer hits, but Kartye’s ability to score makes him stand out, especially in multi-category leagues. He’s rostered in 22 percent of Yahoo leagues and that number keeps climbing.

San Jose Sharks

If you’re in a deep league and there’s almost nothing left on the wire for defensemen except for some hits and blocks, I’m intrigued by Eric Pohlkamp, who’s played sparingly in five games so far but has two assists, six shots, five hits, and 10 blocks. He’s playing with defenseman Dmitry Orlov on the third pair and PP2, which is interesting because it means the Sharks see some offensive potential with Pohlkamp even with Sam Dickinson in the lineup.

Jacob Trouba is now the quarterback on PP1, replacing Orlov, and clearly Ryan Warsofsky prefers having a veteran in that spot. Pohlkamp is known for his big shot, and there’s a small chance he might get a look on PP1 if the Sharks continue to have trouble scoring. The Sharks play back-to-back this weekend, which makes Pohlkamp a streaming option worth considering.

Winnipeg Jets

A 7-0 shellacking by the Hurricanes that extended the Jets’ losing streak to nine games was the wake-up call they needed. The post-game message from captain Adam Lowry and head coach Scott Arniel was pretty clear – turn it around or changes will be made.

The Jets suddenly took off, and put on a shellacking of their own on the road against the Stars in an 8-3 win Thursday night. It was their fifth win in a row and Cole Perfetti scored two points for the second straight game to extend his winning streak to four games. In the midst of a breakout season, Perfetti now has 18 points in 20 games, and it’s time to stop dilly-dallying and roster him for the rest of the season.

He was a popular breakout pick before the season and made good with six points in his first four games, but then fell off the map during a big cold spell when he had just two helpers in seven games, but Perfetti’s back on track.

The underlying metrics suggest Perfetti’s offensive production is no fluke, and that he might be even better than his raw stats suggest. He ranks first among Jets forwards in shot attempts share (54.9 CF%) and expected goals (54.41 xGF%) at 5-on-5 per naturalstattrick.com, and he also has the highest percentage of offensive zone starts (70.59%) among Jets forwards. Perfetti was rostered in less than half of Yahoo leagues last week but is now rostered in over 60 percent of leagues.

Dawson Mercer also gets a mention for scoring two goals in consecutive games, including two against his former team in an emotional win, as does rookie center Brayden Yager. I’m skeptical about both Mercer and Yager’s long-term fantasy values, but if the Jets’ new-found second scoring line – they’ve needed one desperately for ages – manages to produce consistently, the Jets (and fantasy managers) might’ve unlocked some untapped potential.

Mercer needs to prove that he can score on a consistent basis because too often he was a dependable but low-event player for the Devils, and Yager needs more minutes to provide significant production, and we all know how loathe the Jets have been in the past to give minutes to young players.

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