If you want proof that no NHL coach has job security, look at what’s happened over the last week. Boston is off to a slow start but after setting records two seasons ago and winning a playoff series six months ago, nobody saw him getting fired before American Thanksgiving. However, the news broke early on Tuesday that Boston was moving on with Joe Sacco as the interim coach. Then, on Sunday, St. Louis made a quick move to hire Montgomery. You have to feel bad for Drew Bannister, who only coached 76 games with the Blues and was a shocking 39-31-6 despite a weak roster, even though he was only 9-12-1 this season.
In terms of a fantasy impact, it’s been over a decade since Sacco was coaching the Colorado Avalanche. If the first two games are any indication, Boston are going into a defensive shell. In his first game, Boston won 1-0 over Utah with Joonas Korpisalo saving all 22 shots he faced. Then on Saturday, Jeremy Swayman saved 19/20 shots in a 2-1 win over the Red Wings. Now, those teams aren’t offensive juggernauts, but that low shot volume shows the the low event hockey the Bruins were playing. I give a boost to both goalies, who I already liked for a bounce back anyways, and a slight downgrade to their offensive streamers. We’ll have to give it a bit more time to see how the minutes shake out.
For St. Louis, I’m not expecting much change. I wonder if Joel Hofer gets some more run as Montgomery has generally used his backup more than most. That could matter in deeper leagues. Otherwise, I think he’ll get the best out of their top players, but we’ll have to see how things shake out with their three games this week. Let’s take a look at what else happened over the weekend:
Friday’s Games
Connor Hellebuyck – 18 saves on 19 shots in the 4-1 win over the Penguins. The numbers are lapping last season’s totals when he won the Vezina. Hellebuyck has been the top fantasy player by a mile to this point.
Kyle Connor – Goal and an assist with three shots and five PIM. The craziest part of this game was Connor fighting Crosby! Connor is playing at a 50+50, 300 SOG pace. He’s a top ten player right now and it doesn’t look that outlandish in terms of underlying metrics.
Alex Tuch – Goal and an assist with two shots. With Tage out, Tuch has stepped up in a big way. He’s up to a point per game and has bumped up into a hold in all formats.
Owen Power – Two assists with three shots for the birthday boy. It’s gone under the radar, but the Power offensive breakout is happening. He leads all defensemen in even strength points with 15.
Saturday’s Games
Pat Maroon – Goal and an assist. Somehow, Maroon has 8 points in 17 games, but I have no interest.
Lukas Reichel – Goal and an assist with five shots. Reichel’s role is still small so he’s a super deep league guy at best.
Travis Konecny – Two assists with two shots playing almost 23 minutes. It’s not single handedly, but Konecny is carrying the Philly offense right now. He’s a top 20 forward for the time being.
David Rittich – 19 saves on 20 shots in the 2-1 win over the Kraken. Rittich is down to a 2.24 GAA despite a .901 sv%. If he was playing fairly well, he’d be a top ten fantasy goalie. This is why I’m always bullish on Kings goalies in the preseason. Rittich should be held everywhere with Kuemper out.
Anze Kopitar – Two assists with a shot. The shot rate has Kopitar as a bottom end hold despite 23 points in 21 games. He has to be held at over a point per game, but if he dropped to a 70 point pace, it’s fringy.
Kirill Kaprizov – Day to day after avoiding serious injury. It looked awful, so what a relief that Kaprizov’s time away should be minimal.
Matt Boldy – Two assists with three shots and two PIM playing over 25 minutes. Safe to say that Hynes will be running his top guys into the ground all season. JEEK played 26 minutes while MoJo played 22:30.
Marco Rossi – Goal and an assist. Rossi is up to the fringe. The shot rate is a bit poor and he’s not on PP1 normally, but he’s turned the corner towards being a real top six forward.
Mikko Rantanen – Goal and three assists with three shots. Rantanen is top ten in the league in both goals and assists. Full blown superstar who is still underrated.
Valeri Nichushkin – Goal and two assists with two shots. Nice to see Big Val finally go off after his return. He’s a clear hold in all formats.
Jonathan Drouin – Two goals on four shots playing over 23 minutes. Drouin is on the fringe while he’s on PP1. That role could flip with Lehkonen, which would make Drouin a solid streamer.
Devon Toews – Two assists with a shot. It’s been a disappointing quarter of the season for Toews. He’s down to the fringe, but I’d still hold for the upside.
Oliver Kylington – Goal and an assist with two shots. While I do think there’s a quality player here, Kylington is going in and out of the lineup. There’s no fantasy value for the time being, but great to see him back in the league.
Samuel Girard – Goal and an assist. Girard is getting close to a hold in 12’ers, and definitely is if you have blocks.
Cale Makar – Two assists with four shots. The 30 goal, 100 point season I predicted last season for Makar looks to have a chance for this year.
Matthew Tkachuk – Two assists with five shots and two PIM. The shot rate is really starting to climb for Tkachuk which is what we need to see for him to get back to the fantasy superstar we’re accustomed to.
Anton Lundell – Goal and an assist with four shots. Solid streamer, but I can’t get Lundell towards being a hold when he’s down around 15 minutes. Bennett and Barkov are soaking up too many minutes.
Mackie Samoskevich – Two assists with a shot. The first multi-point for the former first round pick, his role is too small to be more than a deep league option and dynasty play. Welcome to the Razzball Database!
Sebastian Aho – Goal and an assist with four shots and four PIM. The shot rate dropping with his shooting percentage isn’t helping Aho’s cause in terms of goals. The assist rate is right around last season’s career high, but the goals are way down. Here’s to hoping he starts shooting so he can get back to a 30+ goal pace.
Martin Necas – Two assists. He just won’t slow down.
Kirill Marchenko – Two goals on four shots. He scored with the goalie pulled late before Columbus won in overtime. Marchenko is a clear hold everywhere.
Kent Johnson – Two assists with a shot and two PIM. In six games, Johnson has nine points. Very nice. Elite streamer for the time being.
Juuse Saros – 23 saves on 24 shots in the 4-1 win over the Jets. The Predators have been a disaster, but it certainly isn’t Saros’ fault. He’s sitting with a 2.43/.918, which are elite numbers.
Roman Josi – Two goals on three shots. I’d much rather target Josi in a trade than sell low on him. He’s still been solid and should only get better.
Jonathan Marchessault – Goal and an assist with six shots. Finally some pucks go in with Marchessault on the ice! That was covered last week, by the way. He’s still on the fringe.
Rasmus Dahlin – Goal and an assist with five shots and two PIM. Dahlin looks like the fantasy player that was the #2 defenseman two seasons ago. He’s crushing across the board.
Bowen Byram – Two assists with two shots. Byram has really found his game again under Ruff with 13 points in 21 games despite no PP production. He’s a bottom end hold, although the shot rate is so poor that it’s close to the fringe.
Tomas Tatar – Goal and an assist with two shots. Tatar is on the 4th line so right now, he’s a bottom end streamer at best.
Matt Duchene – Goal and an assist with two shots. Duchene continues to defy the odds in terms of shooting regression. He’s a clear hold regardless, but the shot rate does need to go up to maintain anything close to this pace.
Anthony Cirelli – Two goals on eight shots, both assisted by Brandon Hagel. Hagel has been dominating across the board, which gives me a good chance of hitting one of my preseason bold predictions. I covered Cirelli last week here.
Karel Vejmelka – 27 saves on 28 shots in the 6-1 win over the Penguins. Vejmelka has been playing so well that he started again on Sunday, saving 32/35 against Toronto. He’s a clear hold in all formats again as he looks have taken over the reigns from Ingram, at least for the time being.
Clayton Keller – Three assists with a shot. The shot rate being way down is a concern, but this version of Keller is still a clear hold.
Dylan Guenther – Two goals and an assist. Guenther is right in line with my preseason hopes, so even if it’s a big fringy so far, I’m definitely holding for that upside.
Nick Schmaltz – Two assists with three shots and two PIM. Schmaltz somehow has zero goals so far, yet has a whopping 15 assists in 20 games. He’s on the fringe depending on team needs, as his shot rate is still around two per game.
Logan Cooley – Two assists with three shots. He had been on a bit of a cold streak, but there’s no denying Cooley’s upside. He’s on the fringe depending on team needs.
Jake DeBrusk – Two goals and an assist with five shots. This has to be a relief for the Canucks. DeBrusk is an elite streamer for this kind of upside, especially with Miller out increasing his role.
Elias Pettersson – Two assists with a shot. After an extremely slow start, Pettersson has ten points in his last seven games. Very encouraging to see.
Kiefer Sherwood – Goal and an assist with ten hits playing over 20 minutes. Sherwood has a four game point streak and while playing with the previous two guys, he’s an auto hold in hits leagues. He’s averaging over six per game! In non-hits leagues, Sherwood is a solid streamer while he’s hot.
Claude Giroux – Goal and an assist with five shots. There were a lot of penalties in this game, but Giroux played over 24 minutes in this one. Clear hold in all formats again.
Drake Batherson – Two assists with three shots. Same story with Batherson as Giroux, although I do prefer Drake if it was between the two.
Ivan Barbashev – Goal and two assists. I guess Barbashev has to be considered a bottom end hold right now, although in shallower leagues, I’d go elsewhere because I’m still not buying this. Nonetheless, he’s certainly an elite streamer which I didn’t see coming.
Jack Eichel – Goal and two assists with three shots. This has easily been the best stretch of Eichel’s career, as he’s traded away some shots for much better playmaking. He’s a top 20 forward right now and pushing the top 10.
Shea Theodore – Two assists with three shots and two PIM, +4. This level of play is Theodore’s baseline now. If anything, I see it getting better, not worse.
Noah Hanifin – Two assists. Bottom end hold.
Brendan Gallagher – Two assists with three shots. I can’t believe Gallagher has eight goals. He’s a middling streamer with real deep league value for now.
Ilya Sorokin – 24 saves on 25 shots in the 3-1 win over the Blues. Much like Saros, the numbers from Sorokin have been very good, but the team in front of him hasn’t been. Sorokin’s numbers would be even better if the Isles weren’t clowning around in overtime every other game too. I think he settles as a bottom end #1.
Brock Nelson – Goal and two assists with four shots. The goals are right around what we’re used to, but the assists have dried up. I’m still holding, but it’s at the top of the fringe.
Kyle Palmieri – Two goals on four shots. Palmieri is an elite streamer, although there’s clearly more downside than upside.
Artemi Panarin – Two goals on six shots. Panarin has been even better at even strength this season, but the power play points are on pace to be cut in half. I’m assuming there will eventually be an uptick there, although most of the guys on the top unit are really struggling.
Connor McDavid – Two goals and an assist with three shots. He started slow in the goal scoring department, so of course McDavid scores eight in eight games while putting up ten assists in the same span.
Connor Brown – Two assists with four shots. He played 18 minutes in this one so as long as Brown is with Leon Draisaitl (1+1), Brown is a middling to solid streamer.
Mattias Janmark – Two assists with two shots. And there’s your biannual Janmark update!
Evan Bouchard – Goal and an assist with three shots. I can’t help but think the assists are going to jump up quite a bit from here. The goals are actually ahead of last year’s torrid pace, so as bad as Bouchard has been defensively, his fantasy stats are only lagging a bit.
Sunday’s Game
Logan Cooley – Goal and an assist with three shots. The shot rate is up a bit the last few weeks which is encouraging. As mentioned above, Cooley’s value depends on team needs.
Mitch Marner – Two goals on four shots. We never hear much about Marner except when things are going poorly. He has seven multi-point games in his last eight.
William Nylander – Goal and an assist with five shots. After 40 goals in each of the past two seasons, Nylander is on pace to blow by that. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if he pushes towards 50.
Three Point Challenge: We will do the Three Point Challenge for Monday’s games, as the schedule this week is different with the holiday. For those of you that are new here, you pick a player to get three points in one of the games on Thursday. You can’t pick somebody who is Top 10 in the league in points. Until the end of the month, we will use last season’s top ten, so you can’t pick Kucherov, MacKinnon, McDavid, Panarin, Pastrnak, Matthews, Draisaitl, Rantanen, Miller, or Nylander. I’ll go with Jack Hughes against the Predators.
That’s all for now guys. Be sure to ask any questions, leave any comments, or give any suggestions below. I’ll more than likely be back on Wednesday recapping the action from the next two nights, although there’s a chance I’m back tomorrow looking only at tonight’s games. Thanks for reading, take care!
