The Sabres may be struggling but Bowen Byram certainly hasn't, scoring an assist in each of his past three games.
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.
Brady Skjei, NSH vs. NYR (44% rostered)
Skjei has not scored a point in eight games and the Preds offense has no bite, but his deployment is trending up and the matchup is good because one of the few teams that might be struggling more than the Preds is the Rangers. While Skjei has not been promoted to PP1 in Roman Josi's absence - they're running five forwards instead - he has been skating a bit more minutes lately and firing the puck a bit more with seven shots in his past three games. Skjei is a low-upside player but perhaps with more minutes and some added motivation playing against his former team, Skjei can snap his scoring drought.
Lane Hutson, MTL vs. BUF (42% rostered)
Finally - it took Hutson his 34th shot of the season to score his first NHL goal, boosting his shooting percentage from zero to 2.7 percent. When a player is having such tough luck scoring, the goals usually will come in bunches, and for such a talented offensive defenseman, Hutson should also be shooting higher than 2.7 percent.
Those two things combined leads me to believe that more goals are going to come quickly for Hutson, and even if he doesn't score, he's playing a lot of minutes and assisting on goals. The Habs get a plus matchup against the Sabres, who are looking to avoid losing their 11th (!) straight game.
Bowen Byram, BUF at MTL (32% rostered)
Owen Power was the preferred PP1 QB but now it might be Byram's turn to show what he can do. He's certainly been more productive with a three-game assist streak and he's also skated more minutes lately. The issue with Byram - the Sabres' struggles notwithstanding - is that he doesn't shoot the puck a lot and doesn't offer a whole of peripherals. You're hoping Byram stays hot and the Habs continue to struggle, though note their PK isn't actually that bad, ranking 14th though they do allow the eight-most shots per game.
Alex Vlasic, CHI vs. WSH (18% rostered)
There's still plenty of time to roster Vlasic because much of the hockey community is sleeping on him. With two assists against the Isles on Sunday, Vlasic now has four assists in four games to go with his usual diet of blocks and hits, and he's registered at least one shot every game this season since Nov. 6.
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