News and Notes – Fantasy hockey scouting report on all 32 teams

Reaching the midpoint of the season provides the perfect opportunity for another edition of Fantasy 32. For that reason, here’s a rundown of one viable fantasy piece from each NHL team.

The Ducks begin a six-game road trip on Monday, starting in Pittsburgh. Goalkeeper John Gibson has won zero matches away from home so far. Zero. On the road, Anaheim’s No. 1 is 0-9-3 with a 4.36 GAA and .889 SV%. Those of you still clinging to Gibson in fantasy may want to bench him for the foreseeable future. At the very least.

Moving forward, Barrett Hayton is your best streaming/DFS option in the desert right now. Now in Clayton Keller’s line, Hayton has four goals – including one in each of his previous three contests – and five assists in eight games. The 2018 Fifth overall draft pick is available in nearly 99 percent of ESPN.com’s fantasy lineups.

They’re using the “T” word in Boston again. Tandem/timeshare guys Linus Ullmark and Jeremy Swayman split the opportunities evenly for Stevens again these days. While Ullmark is overwhelmingly talked about in the ESPN.com fantasy book, Swayman is not. And the 24-year-old performs well.

Three is not yet a crowd in Buffalo. As of Friday afternoon, AHL part-time Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen will continue with the Sabres. This means that Luukkonen, Craig Anderson or Eric Comrie shouldn’t be trusted as a consistent fantasy presence in the Sabres’ crease.

Only four games left and Max Pacioretty is already back in the hospital. The sharpshooter suffered a lower-body injury and left Thursday’s game in Columbus after just three minutes. Stay tuned for more details, but we’re told it’s unrelated to his past Achilles issue. What is good. Teuvo Teravainen has returned to the top for now with Sebastian Aho.

Skating on the line of Nazem Kadri and Jonathan Huberdeau, winger Milan Lucic (0.5%) has been serving as a somewhat valuable fantasy asset lately. With two goals and an assist over his last four games, the physical winger has averaged 1.9 fantasy points/contest. That includes Thursday in St. Louis. Lucic has value in deeper leagues, especially in a competition that rewards hits and scoring.

Never mind the IR tag, Patrick Kane is expected to return to the Blackhawks lineup Saturday against Seattle. This is what coach Luke Richardson says. Later, Lukas Reichel has been sent back to the AHL, where the promising guy should stay until someone gets hurt again or, ahem, gets traded.

Kirill Marchenko scores for the Blue Jackets. I do not know. There’s not much to like about the fantasy and stuff going on in Columbus right now. The 22-year-old newcomer is one bright spot.

Versatile forward Evan Rodriguez (8.6%) makes the best of his place on the scoring line with Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen. Rodriguez, who played an average of almost 22 minutes per game, has scored three goals and provided six assists in his previous seven games. And it doesn’t look like Gabriel Landeskog or Valeri Nichushkin will be back healthy anytime soon.

While Roope Hintz recovers on the spot, Tyler Seguin (66.2%) will shoulder the responsibility of centering the top line with Jason Robertson and Joe Pavelski. Not coincidentally, he has scored and assisted in two games as a substitute. Sometimes there’s an argument to be made for ditching Seguin when tough lineup decisions have to be made. Not right now though.

Robby Fabbri (3.0%) is back from a knee injury. Skating in the top six with Andrew Copp, he has scored in three straight. If only this guy could stay healthy for any significant amount of time. Fingers crossed.

According to TSN’s Darren Dreger, Evander Kane could return to the Oilers lineup as early as January 19. It’s next week. A top-tier fantasy force, Kane had five goals and eight assists on 50(!) shots in 14 games before suffering a torn wrist. Check his availability in your league ASAP. Meanwhile, Dylan Holloway serves as a fine Daily Fantasy asset as Connor McDavid’s linemate.

Keep Anthony Duclair (3.2%) on your radar. Once he recovers from his Achilles injury – talk about a post-ASG comeback – the feisty striker could provide an immediate fantasy spark to welcome the top six scorers. Duclair had 31 goals and 27 assists in 74 games for the Panthers last season.

Don’t sleep on Quinton Byfield (1.3%) as a fantasy streamer / member of the scoring line of Anze Kopitar and Adrian Kempe. The 2020 second-round draft pick had a goal and an assist — while earning first-star honors — in Wednesday’s 4-3 win over the Sharks. Keep the awesomely built star of the future in your Daily Fantasy branches for the time being as well.

Filip Gustavsson is currently sharing time evenly with Marc-Andre Fleury. And another wild netminder is win. Like Thursday night against the Islanders, when he allowed just one goal on 20 shots. Gustavsson is listed in 16.6 percent of ESPN.com leagues, while Fleury is talked about in 63 percent.

Defenseman David Savard (28.6%) blocks a good number of shots. He also occasionally participates in the leaderboard. Of Montreal’s few fantasy figures these days, Savard deserves a little more love in leagues that reward shot-blocking and scoring stats.

Only three healthy games played – give Ondrej Palat a minute. His role in scoring with Nico Hischier is too rich not to pay dividends soon. The former Lightning skater is also good at swinging his body around and blocking shots (relative to other forwards).

The rookie Juuso Parssinen, who is centering the top line with Filip Forsberg, is on a five-match scoring streak with a goal and six assists. Parssinen is overwhelmingly available in ESPN.com’s NHL fantasy universe.

The Islanders’ third-line center is scoring and throwing hits and blocking more shots than any forward these days. In fact, Jean-Gabriel Pageau is currently averaging more fantasy points/game in traditional leagues (2.7) than any other skater on his team. The versatile asset is only mentioned in 40 percent of ESPN.com’s contests.

Need a fantasy D? Consider K’Andre Miller (23.1%) steep. Visibly turning into the player we predicted he would eventually become, Miller is riding a five-game point streak with three goals and four assists. The third-year defenseman also shoots and blocks shots. Catch him before it’s too late.

Anton Forsberg has won more than not, but so far is playing better than Cam Talbot in 2023. If this trend continues, the Senators’ No. 2 will also play a lot more often. Ottawa still considers itself a playoff contender. Coach DJ Smith is filling his crease with whoever he believes will give the Senators the best possible win.

Hot Travis Konecny ​​has 12 goals and eight assists in his last 10 games, but is still available in 12 percent of ESPN.com leagues. But probably not yours. Joel Farabee (3.8 %), who also works as Konecny’s linemate, describes it.

Stay tuned to see how Dustin Tokarski does Friday night against the Jets. If the third baseman plays well, he should replace the struggling Casey DeSmith as Mike Sullivan’s main man until Tristan Jarry (lower body injury) is fully recovered. Which could make the AHL stand out as a solid streaming option/Daily Fantasy resource for one or a few games.

How about those Kraken! It seems like every skater deserves a piece of Seattle’s current tear, including rookie Eeli Tolvanen. After being waived by Nashville via the waiver wire, but having yet to taste defeat with his new club, the former Predator has four goals and two assists in seven games. Tolvane has a role to play in your deeper fantasy league.

Starting Friday night and ending next Sunday, the Sharks will face the Oilers, Devils, Stars, Blue Jackets and Bruins. With the exception of next Saturday’s battle against Columbus, any San Jose net player should be firmly attached to your bench.

The Brandon Saad/Brayden Schenn/Ivan Barbashev line was in good shape prior to the Flames, combining for nine goals and seven assists in four games. The Blues will need more of the same from their second scoring unit if they have any hope of fighting for a playoff spot. Especially Vladimir Tarasenko and Ryan O’Reilly on the sidelines. Schenn (50.8%) is my fantasy favorite of the three because he also skates on the club’s top power play.

For those who could still benefit from getting this memo, Brandon Hagel is a fresh fantasy gem this season. Skating with Brayden Point and Nikita Kucherov on the top line, the former Blackhawk is fourth in team points since October 22. He has 16 goals and 18 assists on 111 shots in 35 games. And yet he’s available in 48 percent of ESPN.com’s leagues. The man is serious, people. Take your fantasy for a spin.

Center Auston Matthews is both sick and banged along ESPN’s own Emily Kaplan. Don’t be surprised if the Maple Leafs rest here and there between now and the postseason. Especially if Toronto becomes more comfortable securing a playoff spot. As a fantasy asset, Matthews’ condition should be monitored regularly.

Trade talks are reportedly heating up over Brock Boeser (48.9%). A move away from the Vancouver mess would undoubtedly do the underachieving forward some good. If you’ve stuck with Boeser this long, you might as well now see how it all works. A top six showdown with a challenger would be nice.

Striker Mark Stone was injured. We don’t know any details or the severity of the injury yet, just that he left Thursday’s game against Florida with an upper body issue. If you’re invested in big-league forwards, check the updates ahead of Saturday’s showdown with the visiting Oilers before posting your own fantasy lineup.

Have you seen the Jets upcoming schedule? Starting Sunday, Winnipeg faces games against the Coyotes, Canadiens, Maple Leafs and Senators before heading to Philadelphia the following weekend. Of that gaggle, only Toronto finished in the top half of the league for a winning record and goals allowed. If you’ve been trying to sign top six skaters like Nikolaj Ehlers, Blake Wheeler or even Cole Perfetti from deeper leagues, now would be an opportunity to make such a move.

Two games left and Tom Wilson (27.7%) already has 10 hits. It won’t be long before the physical forward adds a good amount of shots and goals to his fantasy rsum as well. Catch him while you still can.