Weekend Outlook: Big Saturday, Small Sunday

Happy Friday everyone! This Weekend Outlook is going to look a little bit different because we have a loaded, and I mean absolutely massive, Saturday slate followed by a pretty meager Sunday slate of games. I guess there’s a pretty important episode of NFL football on or something.

Jaroslav Halak, New York Rangers (Rostered in 1% of ESPN leagues, 4% Fantrax, 8% Yahoo) 14 starts, 7 wins, 1 OTL, 2.66 GA/G, .905Sv%, 0 SO

With Igor Shesterkin already confirmed as the New York Rangers starter tonight against the Seattle Kraken, it’s likely that Halak will start tomorrow against the Carolina Hurricanes. With tomorrow’s slate being as large as it is I’m guessing that you most likely have a goaltender on your roster that should be slated to start but if not, I think Halak makes a decent lower rostered play here. Halak looked good in his last start against the Calgary Flames earlier this week if not for a pair of late third period goals that forced overtime. Still, even with sparsely starting he has won his last six outings and looks to have proved that he is solid backup for the Rangers if they need to give Shesterkin a break here or there.

I don’t think it’s out of the question that Shesterkin starts both tonight and tomorrow night, and if that’s the case we’ll wave off and go around on Halak. For the time being though I think he makes for a good lower rostered option in fantasy and in DFS. He may be a bit more on the pricey side on most DFS sites tomorrow and could be more popular, not because of him necessarily but whenever there is a shiny new toy on a different club (Vladimir Tarasenko) people usually rush out to play that person or line, so I wouldn’t be surprised if Halak is the goaltender that’s paired with multiple Rangers top line stacks.

Alexandar Georgiev, Colorado Avalanche (Rostered in 93% of ESPN leagues, 99% Fantrax, 94% Yahoo) 35 starts, 20 wins, 3 OTL, 2.67 GA/G, .917Sv%, 2 SO

Alexandar Georgiev did not have his strongest start of the season last night allowing five goals against the Tampa Bay Lightning, but it’s Tampa, it happens to everyone. I do like him here this weekend though as the Avalanche are set to face Florida.

First off is just the volume that Georgiev will likely see, since Christmas (around 20 games played for most clubs), Florida has the most shots on goal. The Panthers are also the most penalized team in the league, flip flopping with the Arizona Coyotes seemingly each week. Sign me up for both volume and a club that should be on the penalty kill a fair bit during the course of a game for either fantasy or DFS. If we come to find tomorrow that Georgiev is not the starter but instead Pavel Francouz I still like the spot but would not make a fantasy add unless I have nobody else starting in net.

Charlie Lindgren, Washington Capitals (Rostered in 6% of ESPN leagues, 30% Fantrax, 19% Yahoo) 19 starts, 12 wins, 2 OTL, 2.67 GA/G, .907Sv%, 0 SO

We’ll call this our Sunday special! It’s difficult to predict out this Sunday because a handful of clubs are still returning from break, on a set of back-to-backs, or could be sitting their primary starter which is what most clubs do on any week. For Washington though I think we have a pretty good idea on who is set to start here. We should see Darcy Kuemper tomorrow on the road against theBoston Bruins and Charlie Lindgren on Sunday at home against the San Jose Sharks. I really like this start here for Lindgren because if December has taught us anything with him, it’s that he is a more than sufficient backup who gives you a good chance to win his start.

Although we haven’t seen Lindgren in action since January 31st, this is the San Jose Sharks we’re talking about here. Their first line can give a club fits but beyond that I can’t see the Capitals struggling much with their depth, potentially putting Lindgren in line for the win. If you need someone in net for Sunday, I think he’s the strongest option available and for DFS I’d imagine he is the most popular option on the slate, so be wary there.

For continued fantasy news and notes throughout the season, follow me on Twitter @ndySanz