It was a very difficult start to open the season for the Ducks, opening at Vegas before hosting the Panthers. Here we are on Sunday night with the Ducks winning both games. They stormed out to a 4-0 lead against Vegas, holding on to win 4-3, before beatong the Panthers 3-2 in overtime. Leading the charge? The man who broke the NHL pay scale this offseason, Leo Carlsson. Carlsson had a goal and an assist against the Golden Knights before dishing three assists against Florida. Last season, Carlsson started the year with 34 points in his first 25 games before injury derailed him. If he can stay healthy and play to his potential, the 21 year old has a chance to reach 100 points. I had him ranked just outside the top 50 overall because we saw that he could be a fringe top 100 guy for an extended period, but I’d bet on him being inside the top 50 come the end of the season. Let’s take a look at what else happened over the weekend:
Friday’s Games:
Dylan Garand – 22 save shutout in the 2-0 win over the Red Wings. I was shocked that nobody claimed Garand after the Rangers waived him. Luckily for the Rangers, they still had Garand after Koripsalo was injured (out week to week). I don’t expect him to get a ton of starts with Igor off to a strong start, but Garand could be a solid streamer when he does play. I’m not sure the Rangers are going to be able to sneak him through waivers again either.
John Gibson – 19 saves on 20 shots as the tough luck loser. The Red Wings are a massive disaster right now, and being a Sabres fan, I’ve witnessed disasters up close and personal before. I was very low on Gibson because of the mess the Red Wings currently are, and I see no reason to change that.
Alex Tuch – Two goalsa on three shots in his Capitals debut. I have no doubt that come the end of the season, Tuch will be right around the same numbers he had in Buffalo.
Dylan Strome – Two assists with two shots. Strome is getting heavy offensive zone starts to start the season, playing with Ovechkin and Leonard. Since he’s on PP1 too, Strome should be a bottom end hold with upside of pushing a point per game as he did two seasons ago.
Pierre-Luc Dubois – Two assists with a shot and four PIM. PLD is also on PP1 right now, which puts him on the fringe. I have a slight lean towards holding early in the season because of his upside.
Jakob Chychrun – Goal and an assist with three shots and two PIM. Great start to the season for Chychrun.
Nikita Zadorov – Two assists. Don’t get used to getting any offense from Zadorov. He’s a deep league streamer for banger categories.
David Pastrnak – Two assists with four shots. After a slight dip in shooting last season, it’s nice to see Pasta have 4+ shots on goal in each of his first three games.
Adam Lowry – Two assists with two shots. I’m expecting very little from Lowry offensively.
Kyle Connor – Goal and an assist with nine shots. And this wasn’t his best of the weekend (spoiler alert!). The Jets were very close to winning this one, and they’ve looked strong to open the season despite the chaos around Hellebuyck.
Joel Hofer – 25 save shutout in the 2-0 win over the Stars. I was quite bullish on Hofer compared to consensus, so it was nice to see have him a great start against one of the most difficult opponents in the league.
Pius Suter – Goal and an assist with four shots. The goal was an empty netter and the assist was secondary, so I’m not changing my opinion that Suter is a deep league only guy.
Jimmy Snuggerud – Goal and an assist with four shots. Snuggerud playing almost 19 minutes is fantastic to see. He’s on the fringe in 12’ers, but like Dubois, I lean towards holding for the upside.
Jack Eichel – Two assists with two shots. He only has six shots on goal over three games so far, but it’s hard to complain when Eichel also has six points.
Saturday’s Games:
Sebastian Cossa – 17 saves on 18 shots in the 4-1 win over the Blue Jackets. Cossa is a top prospect who was traded from Detroit to Utah for a first round pick. He’s the future #1, and with how strong the Mammoth look, he’s an elite streamer in most matchups. Welcome to the Razzball Database!
Dylan Guenther – Goal and two assists with five shots. Utah’s power play owned this game, with all five members getting multiple points. Nick Schmaltz scored twice on eight shots, Mikhail Sergachev had a goal and an assist with four shots and two PIM, while Clayton Keller and Logan Cooley each had two assists. There’s plenty to like with all of these guys, although I do have a slight preference for Guenther.
Claude Giroux – Two assists with four shots and two PIM. Giroux is on the third line and second power play, so at this point in his career, he’s a solid streamer.
Thomas Chabot – Goal and an assist with two shots and seven blocks. With Jake Sanderson injured, Chabot should be a top 20 defenseman again for the time being. Congrats to Chabot on becoming the Ottawa captain as well.
Andrei Vasilevskiy – 20 saves on 21 shots in the 3-1 win over Washington. After a rough opener against the Rangers, the Lightning dominated the Capitals on Saturday. It’s back to business as usual for Vasilevskiy.
Jake Guentzel – Goal and two assists with two shots. Guentzel played extensively with Brandon Hagel (2A, 6 SOG) and won the game for the Lightning. Cooper is already playing 7D, meaning the workload for the top Tampa forwards is going to be massive. That’s why I had both of these guys extremely high.
Nick Suzuki – Goal and three assists with four shots. The top line killed Pittsburgh, even though Montreal lost the gamae. Cole Caufield scored two goals on three shots, while Chris Kreider had a goal and an assist. The talking point is Kreider, who gets to play on the top line. He’s an elite streamer even without PP1 time.
Lane Hutson – Three assists with three shots. All your assists are belong to Hutson!
Ivan Demidov – Goal and an assist with three shots. The sky is the limit for Demidov this season.
Evgeni Malkin – Goal and two assists with two PIM. Just stay healthy!
Tommy Novak – Two goals and an assist with three shots. Novak is centering Malkin to open the season, and he’s actually getting PP1 time over Malkin to start. I don’t know if it’ll last, but for now, Novak is an elite streamer.
Erik Karlsson – Two assists, as did Kris Letang. The old guard is still doing it for the Penguins. Of the two, I clearly prefer Karlsson, but the balancing of the power play units does help Letang.
Sebastian Aho – Two goals and an assist with six shots and two PIM. Nice to see Aho step up in a big way while the Canes were looking slow to open the season.
Andrei Svechnikov – Two assists with four shots. The shots are coming in at full force, so the goals should be showing up sooner than later.
Devon Levi – 19 saves on 20 shots in the 3-1 win over the Kraken. I think it’s telling that Levi received a second start in a row despite giving up seven to the Canucks the other day. As covered a lot recently, I’m owning Levi everywhere on the hope that it clicks.
Connor McDavid – Goal and an assist with four shots. Yawn.
Alex Vlasic – Two assists. He’s playing top pair minutes so Vlasic will stumble into some points, but I don’t have much expectation for Vlasic.
Anton Frondell – Two assists with a shot. I like the long term upside a ton, but I see him as a middling to solid streamer in 12’ers right now.
Tage Thompson – Goal and an assist with four shots. He hasn’t looked his best to open the season, so it’s encouraging that Tage was still able to score a couple points.
Jack Quinn – Goal on five shots. I usually don’t talk about guys who only get one point, but Quinn has been dominant in both Sabres games so far. I’m owning him everywhere.
Ilya Sorokin – 37 save shutout in the 6-0 win over the Devils. The change to DeBoer could definitely get Sorokin back into the top tier of goalies instead of being in tier two.
Brayden Schenn – Goal and an assist with four shots. Schenn is getting top PP time at the moment, so he’s a middling to solid streamer.
Casey Cizikas – Goal and an assist with four shots. And there’s your biannual Cizikas update!
Logan Stanley – Two assists with a shot and two PIM. No, just no.
Simon Holmstrom – Goal and an assist. Middling streamer.
Matthew Schaefer – Two assists with two shots. Nice to see Schaefer off to a good start, and they didn’t have to push his minutes in a blowout.
Victor Eklund – Goal and an assist with two PIM. The just-turned 20 year old brother of William is getting the chance to stick with the team. I don’t see a lot in the short term, but I do like him plenty long term. Welcome to the Razzball Database!
Jesper Wallstedt – 26 saves on 27 shots in the 4-1 win over the Bruins. Two fantastic starts to open the season for Wallstedt. I w0 as aggressive in ranking him as a top five goalie, so here’s to hoping he can run with the job and be the clear #1 even when Gustavsson comes back.
Kirill Kaprizov – Two goals on three shots. Great start for Kaprizov, which comes as no surprise.
Quinn Hughes – Goal and an assist with four shots. Nice to see Hughes taking a ton of shots early. The Wild have to be a bit nervous that they haven’t signed Hughes yet though.
Juuse Saros – 29 saves on 30 shots in the 2-1 win over the Stars. Saros has a wide range of outcomes, both in terms of the team defense in front of him, and his own play. Yay goalies!
MacKenzie Blackwood – 25 saves on 26 shots in the 6-1 win over the Blues. Very interesting to see Blackwood start both games to open the season. I’m not taking victory laps yet, but that’s why I had him ranked ahead of Wedgewood.
Nathan MacKinnon – Three assists with four shots. Martin Necas had two goals and an assist with four shots. There will be nights where the other team is drawing dead against these two. Arturri Lehkonen is currently the third wheel, and he scored a goal and an assist with two shots. That puts Lehkonen on the fringe for the time being.
Josh Manson – Goal and an assist with two shots. No thanks.
Nic Roy – Goal and an assist with three shots and two PIM. Roy is only a very deep league option because he’s not getting the minutes right now, even with Colorado playing 11 forwards.
Parker Kelly – Two assists with a shot. I can’t believe how Kelly’s offense has blown up since going to Colorado. Do I buy it? Not at all, but it’s fun to see a fourth liner consistently putting up points.
Leevi Merilainen – 23 saves on 24 shots in the 4-1 win over the Flames. Meralainen was atrocious for Ottawa last season, and I have a hard time seeing that improving in Vancouver. The Canucks do look competent, which is very impressive from Malhotra.
Linus Karlsson – Two assists with two shots. Karlsson has four assists in four games playing on the first line and power play two. I’m still not that interested in streaming Canucks, so he’s a bottom end to middling option.
Liam Ohgren – Goal and an assist with three shots. With the Canucks rebuilding, Ohgren is going to get a chance to develop with big minutes. For now, I see a bottom end streamer.
Tom Willander – Two assists. Easy pass for this season, but there’s some long term upside. Welcome to the Razzball Database!
Adrian Kempe – Goal and an assist with six shots. Artemi Panarin and Quinton Byfield also had a goal and an assist each, with both putting four shots on goal. They all played over 22 minutes in the game. It’s safe to say that they could all have massive seasons.
Brandt Clarke – Two assists with five shots. Please just keep feeding him minutes Laviolette.
Igor Chernyshov – Two goals and an assist with two shots. While he’s not on the first line like I anticipated when I started my rankings, Cherynshov is getting PP1 time at least. He’s an elite streamer.
Tyler Toffoli – Goal and an assist with three shots. Toffoli is a middling streamer, but his big role is gone with all of the young guys taking charge now.
Macklin Celebrini – Two assists with two shots and two PIM. Fantastic start for Celebrini, with five assists in two games.
Sunday’s Games:
Kyle Connor – Two goals and an assist with five shots. Jets-Pens has my attention on Monday now.
Cole Perfetti – Goal and two assists with two shots. Perfetti is on the first line and top power play right now, putting him as a bottom end hold.
Josh Morrissey – Two assists with seven shots. It’s a good time to be facing the Red Wings. Morrissey is gunning early in the season which is great to see.
Vladislav Gavrikov – Goal and an assist with three shots. He’ll stumble into some points playing with Fox, but I’d keep my Gavrikov usage to deep leagues.
Joey Daccord – 32 saves on 33 shots in the 6-1 win over the Flames. Boy, Calgary is clearly the worst team in the league right now. They might not have a player score 50 points. I need to see Daccord play some teams besides Calgary before I change my expectations.
Mackie Samoskevich – Two goals on three shots with two PIM. He played massive minutes in this one, but there’s no PP time. Samoskevich looks like a bottom end streamer.
Chandler Stephenson – Two assists with a shot. I’m so out on Stephenson in real life and fantasy.
Brandon Montour – Two assists with three shots. I like Montour for almost all team builds as a bottom end hold.
Berkly Catton – Goal and an assist with two shots. The former 8th overall pick gives Seattle some upside in their lineup. Catton is getting top PP time, so he’s a middling to sold streamer.
Cutter Gauthier – Two goals and an assist with four shots. Business as usual for Gauthier.
Three Point Challenge: We will bring back the Three Point Challenge for Tuessday’s Games! For anyone who doesn’t know, you pick a player to score three points in their game that night, but it can’t be somebody in the top ten in scoring. For a while, we will go with last season’s top ten in points, so you can’t select McDavid, Kucherov, MacKinnon, Celebrini, Scheifele, Suzuki, Necas, Pastrnak, Draisaitl, or Robertson. I’ll go with Boldy against the Sabres while my team is giving up a ton of grade A opportunties.
That’s all for now guys, as my first daily notes are over 2,500 words. MarmosDad will be back on Wednesday, while my next post will be on Friday. As always, feel free to ask any questions, leave any comments, or give any suggestions below. Thanks for reading, take care!
