Sports Mount Rushmore’s are always a hot topic for debate, but the more time goes on, the more I think Sidney Crosby has to be on it. Here we are one month into the season, and Crosby is carrying a horrible Penguins team to a 9-4-2 record while leading the league in goals. Crosby scored two more times on Thursday against the Capitals, putting six shots on net in over 22 minutes of ice time. He’s been a top five forward to this point, and while I don’t expect that to last, it’s a good chance that Crosby finishes as a top 20 player again. Not bad for someone in his age 38 season. Let’s take a look at what else happened over the last two nights:
Wednesday’s Games
John Tavares – Goal and an assist with three shots and two PIM. William Nylander and Matthew Knies also had a goal and an assist each. Tavares and Knies have 18 points in 14 games, while Nylander has a whopping 20 in 11. Safe to say these guys aren’t the problem.
Jake McCabe – Two assists. McCabe’s offense isn’t sustainable, but he’s still a fine deep league option for the blocks.
Matias Maccelli – Goal and an assist. Being under a shot per game, Maccelli is a bottom end streamer.
Logan Thompson – 23 saves on 24 shots in the 6-1 win over the Blues. Thompson has erased any doubt that he’s a top ten goalie for fantasy.
Jakob Chychrun – Three assists with three shots. Fantastic start for Chychrun across the board. It’s nice to see the assists surging in the early going.
John Carlson – Goal and an assist with three shots. Carlson is only two goals behind last season’s total already. He’s looking like a solid #2 in 12’ers.
Tom Wilson – Two goals, as did Anthony Beauvillier. Wilson is off to a preposterous offensive start. I’m certainly not expecting this to sustain, so if you can sell high, I could get behind it. I also get holding just because of the massive hits and PIM.
Dustin Wolf – 42 saves on 43 shots in the 5-1 win over the Blue Jackets. Wolf is a fantastic goalie, but the numbers are looking rough because of the team in front of him. I love him in dynasties, but he’s looking more like a bottom end #2 or ideally a #3. I didn’t expect Calgary to be such a mess defensively.
Yaroslav Askarov – 28 saves on 29 shots in the 6-1 win over the Kraken. Askarov is capable of these kind of games, but the Sharks are a dumpster fire defensively. Like Wolf, I love him in dynasties, but I wouldn’t want to roster Askarov in redrafts.
Macklin Celebrini – Goal and two assists with two shots and two PIM. He has to be on Team Canada, full stop. Celebrini is already at that level.
Tyler Toffoli – Goal and an assist with three shots and two PIM. Toffoli looks to be settling into elite streamer range. The shot rate isn’t quite there for the fringe / bottom end hold.
John Klingberg – Goal and an assist. I’m leaning towards holding Klingberg right now since he’s running that PP1. The problem is that the unit looks way better with Orlov, so Klingberg’s grasp is tenuous.
Will Smith – Goal and an assist with three shots. Smith is worthy of being a bottom end hold while he’s just under a point per game and up to two shots per game. Hopefully that rate continues to increase.
Tyler Bertuzzi – Hat trick on four shots with two PIM. Bertuzzi has played his way onto the fringe with his hot start.
Ryan Donato – Two assists with a shot. It’s discouraging that Donato played just over 11 minutes in this game. He’s still a solid streamer, but he can’t approach being a hold with that workload.
Connor Bedard – Goal and an assist with five shots. It’s great to see Bedard back to the player everyone expected. He has a six game point streak, putting him well over a point per game and over three shots per game. Bedard should be a slam dunk top 50 player with the chance to be top 25.
Thursday’s Games:
Joel Hofer – 28 save shutout in the 3-0 win over the Sabres. The Blues goalies have been a dumpster fire this season, but the Sabres solved that really quickly. Granted, they hit the post four or five times, but Hofer made some incredible saves. Regardless, I’m not ready to use Hofer yet.
Mathieu Joseph – Goal and two assists. Joseph flashes from time to time, but still nothing for fantasy.
Justin Faulk – Goal and an assist with three shots. Faulk is on the fringe in standard leagues, but a definite hold in blocks leagues.
Noah Dobson – Two assists with two shots. The shot rate is down quite a bit, but Dobson is piling up assists at least. He looks like a great D3 in 12’ers despite the lack of top PP time.
Jesper Bratt – Goal and an assist with three shots. Jack Hughes had two assists with six shots. Typical Bratt start sitting right around a point per game, while it’s just a matter of staying healthy for Hughes.
Matt Boldy – Two goals on three shots. His line has been a mess defensively, but Boldy is looking great offensively. I had him ranked as a top 25 player, and I feel about that now.
Sean Walker – Goal and an assist. If you need short term help, Walker is worth grabbing in 12’ers. Once the Canes get healthy on the blue line, it’ll definitely end, so it’s only for the short term.
Jackson Blake – Goal and an assist. Solid streamer, but it’s hard to see Blake going past that averaging 16 minutes per game.
Claude Giroux – Goal and an assist with three shots. Giroux is under two shots per game, the minutes are trending down, and Ottawa is struggling offensively. He’s down into middling streamer range.
Andrew Peeke – Two assists with two shots. And there’s your annual Peeke update!
Dylan Strome – Goal and two assists with five shots and two PIM. Strome looks to have settled into being around a point per game player. His workload is through the roof right now as well, getting over 23 minutes in this one.
Alex Ovechkin – Two assists with three shots. It’s been a slow start by Ovechkin’s standards, especially in shot rate. It’ll get better, but don’t expect anything crazy like last season.
Bryan Rust – Goal and two assists with five shots. Rust is re-establishing himself as a clear hold.
Ben Kindel – Two assists with two PIM. Kindel was a first round pick this year and has already worked his way onto the first line with Crosby and Rust. He’s also getting top power play time too. If you want to gamble on the upside, I’m fine with holding Kindel. We’ve seen Crosby make holds out of players far less talented than Kindel. At the very least, Kindel is an elite streamer for the time being. Welcome to the Razzball Database!
Dan Vladar – 23 saves on 24 shots in the 3-1 win over the Penguins. Vladar has been fantastic so far, working his way into being a clear hold. Buy into Tocchet’s system.
Travis Konecny – Goal and an assist with two shots. Six game point streak for Konecny, putting his slow start behind him. I fully expect him to get back into his usual range of being a top 50-75 player.
Cam York – Two assists with two shots. York is piling up the assists so far, but he has only seven shots in eleven games. He is the definition of assists ain’t got no face right now. It’s really, really hard to stomach a shot rate that poor, even with strong assists and great blocks. I would only consider it in head to head.
Miro Heiskanen – Four assists with two shots and two PIM. It’s nice to see Heiskanen back putting up the offensive numbers we had for a couple years before last season’s dropoff. He’s looking more like a #2 again.
Wyatt Johnston – Two goals and an assist with three shots. Mikko Rantanen had a goal and two assists with five shots and two PIM, while Jason Robertson dished two assists. The three of them weren’t on a line anymore with Hintz back in the lineup, but they crushed on the power play. If anything, I expect things to get even better for the group, as Robertson has been quite unlucky in the early going.
Alex Killorn – Two assists. Killorn has dropped off quite a bit in the early going, despite the Ducks offense going off. He’s a bottom end streamer at best.
Leo Carlsson – Goal and an assist. The entire top six for the Ducks had two points besides McTavish, who scored a goal. Carlsson is literally the #1 overall forward right now, which is incredible. Sennecke and Kreider are elite streamers, while the rest are all clear holds.
Nikita Kucherov – Two goals and an assist with five shots. It’s funny that 14 points in 12 games is a slow start for Kucherov, but it’s the truth. Zero concern about it.
Brandon Hagel – Two goals and an assist with four shots. He even had a power play assist while on the top unit. With six goals in his last six games, I think everyone who had Hagel can stop panicking.
Dominic James – Goal and two assists. James is a former sixth round pick who is currently their 3C while Paul is out. He has no points in his first seven games, so we’ll have to see some sustained offensive success to put him on the fantasy radar. Welcome to the Razzball Database!
Oliver Bjorkstrand – Two assists with four shots. He lost his spot on the top PP unit to Hagel, knocking Bjorkstrand down to a bottom end streamer.
Ivan Barbashev – Two goals and an assist with three shots. Mitch Marner had 1+2, while Jack Eichel dished two assists. Barbashev continues to be the top mooch in the league. You can hold him while he’s putting up all these points, but don’t expect him to continue shooting 30%.
Brad Marchand – Two goals on three shots with two PIM. Career resurgence from Marchand in his age 37 season. He’s doing his best to keep Florida afloat until Tkachuk returns.
Niko Mikkola – Two assists. And there’s your biannual Mikkola update!
That’s all for now guys. I’ll be back on Monday recapping the action from the weekend. As always, feel free to ask any questions, leave any comments, or give any suggestions below. Thanks for reading, take care!
