Frozen Fantasy: The Future is Bright

The World Junior Hockey Championships always re-energizes my passion for hockey. Young players, without contracts, playing with pure passion. It's the epitome of hope. 

And this year, hope is spelled Connor Bedard. 

Sure, I'm cheering for Canada. That's my team. But I'd be watching and cheering for Connor Bedard every game, no matter what uniform he wore. 

I knew he was good, but not this good. This kid is the next one. I got to see Connor McDavid's exploits at this tourney in person in 2015 and those images are forever etched in my mind.

Dang, it would be great to be in Halifax right about now. 

Bedard is dominating a tourney for 19-year-olds at just 17. He has 18 points (six goals, 12 assists) in just four games heading into the Quarters on Monday. The next player has eight. 

Yah, eight. 

Bedard's vision and skill are in a special class, and he's not afraid to engage off the puck and use his body. Drafting him come June will be a true windfall for one NHL team. So will drafting him to your fantasy squad. 

The World Juniors tourney is a great place to fall in love with hockey all over again. Stream a few games if you can. It's a great antidote for a couple weak weeks from your fantasy teams. 

OK, maybe that's just me. 

Now let's take a look at who caught my eye this week. 

Phillip Danault, C, Los Angeles (30 percent Yahoo!) – Danault stretched his point streak to seven games and nine points, including five snipes, on Saturday night. He's no longer just a face-off guy – he's on a career pace for points at age 29 and still dominating at the dot. As in top-12 in the NHL dominating. Jump if that combo fits your format.  

Alex Iafallo, LW, Los Angeles (7 percent Yahoo!) – Look what a gig on the second line can do for a forward. Iafallo is a winger who can't carry a line, but can sidekick with better players without bringing them down. His five-game, seven-point streak (four goals; three PPP) was snapped Saturday against Philly, but Iafallo is still making fantasy waves. Might as well be with your squad.

Joonas Korpisalo, G, Columbus (7 percent Yahoo!) – Hear me out, because I know this is a desperation reco. Korpisalo has delivered two great starts this past week. Sure, the win was against the lowly Hawks, but he dazzled Thursday night against the Isles. The Blue Jackets have three goalies and a revolving door in the blue paint due to injuries. All have potential; none have stability. But Korpisalo's three goals allowed in only two games are enough lightning in a bottle to fill a desperate, short-term gap in your net - especially Tuesday when they line up against the Sens. After that, it's the Caps (x2), Canes (x2) and the Bolts, and those should keep all Ohio goalies on the shelf, no matter how well they're playing. 

Ilya Mikheyev, LW/RW, Vancouver (6 percent Yahoo!) – West Coast games get missed by a lot of fantasy managers. Late Tuesday night, Mikheyev had perhaps the game of his NHL career with a four-point explosion against the Sharks. Yah, I know – the Sharks. But four-pointers don't come easy against any team. He's skating with Bo Horvat on the Orca's top trio and that's a recipe for results, at least as long as Horvat stays in blue-and-green. Heading into Saturday night, Mikheyev had three goals and three assists in his last five games. And five goals and a helper in his last 10. He came out empty-handed that game, but may still be a decent injury fill-in for your squad. 

Janis Moser, D, Arizona (6 percent Yahoo!) – Moser is a late-blooming, late-drafted Swiss defender who has stayed mostly under the radar in the Desert. But the second-year player is munching almost 22 minutes a night in the 'Yotes top-four and is on a 40-plus point pace including double-digit goals. That tally would have made him a top-32 scoring defender last season. Yup, that's must-roster territory in 10-team leagues. Moser was finally drafted in 2021 after one of the best age-20 seasons ever for a Swiss League defender (for reference, Roman Josi is the only one better at that age). This week, he potted goals in back-to-back games and should be rostered in a whole lot more formats, unless fluctuating plus-minus is too great a risk. 

Gustav Nyquist, LW/RW, Columbus (2 percent Yahoo!) – Last year, Nyquist finally woke up about this time of year and finished with 53 points. So, is that in the making this time? He has five points (two goals, three assists) and 17 shots in his last five games. And he's on PP1. Nyquist is a risk, just like most of the Jackets. But he can help if you need complementary scoring, even if he's a bit boring. Boring can be good if it helps you win.

Antti Raanta, G, Carolina (49 percent Yahoo!) – Carolina makes goalies better. Just look at Alex Nedeljkovic (14 percent Yahoo!) in Detroit this year. And maybe Pyotr Kochetkov (71 percent Yahoo!). But I digress. Carolina is among the NHL's best teams and have allowed the second-fewest goals in the league. And right now, Raanta is their man and he's white-hot. As in two straight shutouts this week and four straight wins. Frederik Andersen (90 percent Yahoo!) is a great goalie, but he can't suit up with a hangnail, let alone a bigger issue. And he has had a lot of "issues".  You need to roll whomever they plunk in their blue paint. And right now, that's Raanta.

Calle Rosen, D, St. Louis (0 percent Yahoo!) – Rosen is the soup-du-jour in St. Louis right now. Does it make him more than a 6/7 defender? Probably not. But a goal in each of his last three games has to be worth something, even if he was a healthy scratch for eight games prior to this run. At minimum, he's going to earn more playing time, at least short-term. And his confidence will be high, so more shots will come. Rosen is a temporary fill-in if your D has been hit with the flu. Or COVID. Or the runs. You weren't expecting that, were you?

Conor Sheary, LW/RW, Washington (12 percent Yahoo!) – Last call. Sheary is still riding shotgun with Alex Ovechkin. He's still going on scoring runs (just not like the ones above). And he's still on pace to equal his career-high in points, set back when he was riding shotgun with Sidney Crosby. See the trend? He can play with stars. Right now, Sheary is on a four-game, seven-point streak that includes six assists. Surely that can help. 

Back to Bedard. And a bright future.

The kid has the most points as a 17-year-old in tourney history. Same as Jaromir Jagr (seven games). One more than Wayne Gretzky (six games) and Eric Lindros (seven games). And on Saturday, he tied Lindros for the most points by a Canadian overall with 31 over 13 games. 

It took Lindros 21. 

And Bedard has at least one more game this tourney (hopefully more). Those names are heady company, and one never really knows with phenoms. But this one? He is doing it the right way. The dominating way. 

His future really is bright. And I can't wait to see him in the NHL. No matter what uni he wears.

Happy New Year! May your fantasy squads keep delivering great things for you. And if not, may your resolution to get aggressive in pursuit of your fantasy goals begin now. 

Until next week.