Frozen Fantasy: Better Late Than Never

I'll make this quick. This column is late this week because I was visiting my elderly mother after not getting there for Christmas because of a bad snowstorm. 

Mom is always a good reason, but I know it messed up your weekly wire pickup. 

For speed alone, I won't spend much time with a story and jump straight to potential wire pickups. And I'll be back in the regular groove on the regular day next weekend. 

Let's take a look at who caught my eye this past week (and a bit). 

Jordan Eberle, RW, Seattle (25 percent Yahoo!) – Who knew that a Thursday mid-winter game between the Kraken and Bruins would be must-watch streaming? Eberle rolled into the contest on a four-game, seven-point streak and his line, with Matty Beniers (57 percent Yahoo!) and Andre Burakovsky (46 percent Yahoo!), had been the best in the NHL in that span (seven goals, 14 assists total). He's cooled a touch since then, but the Kraken are for real. Eberle is on track for just the second 70-point season of his career, but he's only rostered in one-of-four leagues. Surely there's room on your roster for that kind of success. 

Ryan Graves, D, New Jersey (16 percent Yahoo!) – Graves is a massive shutdown defender who's great in possession and simply makes guys around him better. He has enough offense to deliver almost 30 points a season, on top of 100 hits, 135 blocks and a killer plus-minus. Case in point? He's already plus-30 in just 40 games. Plus-30! That leads the NHL alongside Joe Pavelski and Adam Larsson. Graves is also on a five-game, six-point streak (two goals, four assists) that also includes four PIM, six hits, 10 shots, 16 blocks and a plus-10 rating. There's real value here in deep formats. 

Sam Montembeault, G, Montreal (10 percent Yahoo!) – Hear me out. Yes, Montembeault is playing for one of the worst teams in the league. But the guy put on a show at Madison Square Garden on Sunday and walked away with a 2-1 win over the great Igor Shesterkin. He almost outdueled another great Russian — Ilya Sorokin — on Saturday, allowing just two snipes. Montembeault has stopped 150 of 159 shots (.943) in his last four games — consecutive games, by the way — and won twice. He outplayed starter Jake Allen in November, even though coach Marty St. Louis stayed loyal to Allen. But pretty soon, the Habs need to figure out what they have in Montembeault, so more ice time is coming, and if he can stand toe-to-toe with Igor and Ilya, he can stand with just about anyone. 

Juuso Parssinen, C, Nashville (5 percent Yahoo!) — Parssinen has all of 28 games of NHL experience and guess what gig he's got — yep, he's the Predators' top pivot. That's more of a condemnation of the Preds' offense than Parssinen's skill, but he's delivering points regardless. The kid was on a six-game, eight-game streak (one goal, seven assists) heading into Monday night and already stretched that to a nine-game streak when this article was submitted. He may not be the Preds' top-line pivot come deadline day, but Parssinen is a lot more than his bottom-six scouting report. And hot is hot. 

Brett Pesce, D, Carolina (5 percent Yahoo!) – Like Ryan Graves (above), Pesce isn't usually on the fantasy radar, but he's been putting up sneaky points over the last week or so. He has 10 points (two goals, eight assists) in his last 11 games, and six in his last six. And he's still blocking shots (16) and even putting up shots (25) in those 11 contests. Pesce has even ascended to the top power-play unit and a couple of those assists have come from there. He won't stay there long — Brent Burns (96 percent Yahoo!) will be back in that saddle soon. But Pesce can help short-term and worst case, he'll see time on PP2. 

Lucas Raymond, RW, Detroit (46 percent Yahoo!) – Raymond was hard to trust coming back from the December break. After all, he had stumbled into it with just four points in a 12-game span. But in nine games since then, Raymond has caught offense in a bottle and needs to be rostered fast. He has 12 points, including five goals, in 10 games since and finally looks like the player he was last season when he was everyone's darling. Raymond will deliver short-term value and might even become a decent trade chip for you if you can find the right deal.   

Evan Rodrigues, LW/RW/C, Colorado (18 percent Yahoo!) — Rodrigues has gone from almost not having a job this year to having the most impressive 21 points of the season. OK that's a stretch, but 12 of those points have come in his last nine games. And he's on a five-game, seven-point scoring streak (plus-10, 14 shots). Yes, Rodrigues is always an injury risk — he missed a couple of games in the middle of this stretch. But he's Nathan MacKinnon's right-hand man. That's about all you need to know. 

Damon Severson, D, New Jersey (17 percent Yahoo!) — Severson's five-game points streak (seven points) may have come to an end Saturday, but it was a real relief for anyone who drafted him based on last season's 46 points. He was never really that guy — that was a career season. But he's also not a 26-point player, even though that's about his current pace. My gut says Severson's second half could be better than the first, given his talent. I've got him rolling on two of my rosters — there aren't many better options available off the wire right now. 

Until next week.