Wednesday's performance could be telling if that is the case
On every game day this season, THN Fantasy will highlight players and goalies for fantasy hockey managers to stream, roster or utilize in standard leagues and/or DFS games. Players and goalies highlighted for streaming in standard leagues are rostered in less than 50 percent of Yahoo leagues.
5 games on Wednesday, January 7
* = confirmed
Casey DeSmith, DAL at Logan Thompson, WSH (7 p.m. ET)
Dustin Wolf, CGY at Sam Montembeault, MTL (7:30 p.m. ET)
Jordan Binnington, STL at Spencer Knight, CHI (9:30 p.m. ET)
Leevi Merilainen, OTT at Karel Vejmelka, UTAH (9:30 p.m. ET)
Yaroslav Askarov, SJ at Darcy Kuemper, LA (10:30 p.m. ET)
Goalies
Sam Montembeault, MTL vs. CGY (34% rostered) - FanDuel $7,600
Don't look now but Montembeault is back on the beam. He notched back-to-back OT wins against Florida and Dallas last week, his first two starts since getting called back from his conditioning stint at AHL Laval. In those two games, Montembeault allowed five goals on 57 shots faced, a stark improvement of his numbers prior to those minor-league appearances. Montembeault may be close to regaining his position as Montreal's top netminder over Jakub Dobes and Jacob Fowler.
Jordan Binnington, STL @ CHI (53% rostered) - FanDuel $7,200
If you are willing to take a risk and hope that the one game is enough to go with a goalie, then Binnington is your man. He notched his first win since Dec. 7 on Saturday, posting his first shutout of the season. Binnington, who has had a disappointing season, punctuated his being named to the Canadian Olympic Hockey team on Friday with that shutout. Maybe that is the springboard to him re-finding his form.
Karel Vejmelka, UTAH vs. OTT (74% rostered) - FanDuel $7,700
Vejmelka hasn't been great the last four weeks, benefitting from Utah's offense, even without Logan Cooley, to notch wins. He is 6-2-0 in his last eight starts with a 2.63 goals-against average (GAA) and an .898 save percentage, though those numbers are actually in line with his season totals. They do lag from what he posted in 2024-25, meaning that he can still take his game to another level.
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