The Golden Knights have played a lot of poor teams, especially defensively, to open the season, but you still have to take care of business. Right now, they are scoring a ton of goals, and are being led by their franchise center. Jack Eichel scored a goal and three assists with two shots in their victory over the Kraken on Tuesday, before scoring a goal and an assist with six shots against the Maple Leafs on Thursday. He has twelve points in five games so far, playing as well as anybody in the league. Life seems to be good for Eichel under Ryan Craig. Props to Fungazi 2.0 and Surfer Dude for picking Eichel for 3+ points on Tuesday. Let’s take a look at what else happened over the last two nights:
Wednesday’s Games
Jaden Schwartz – Goal and an assist with two shots, as did Fedor Svechkov. Both of these guys have started their Avalanche careers well. I’m not too excited about streaming either, but I definitely lean towards Schwartz. Svechkov has looked very good for deep leagues, but I can’t see him having a bigger role. Schwartz could.
Kyle Connor – Two goals on four shots, both assisted by Mark Scheifele. I’m going to hate myself if Connor has a huge season, as I’ve been on the high end of ranking him for years.
Dylan Samberg – Two assists with two shots and two PIM. Samberg played massive minutes with Josh Morrissey going down. It’s something to monitor.
Stuart Skinner – 32 saves on 34 shots in the 3-2 win over Colorado. I’m not going to tell you that Skinner is going to be consistently good this year, but I spec added in my 10 man roto league. In other words, for now, he should be owned everywhere.
Tom Wilson – Goal and two assists with two shots. I think it’s telling that Wilson played the most minutes of all the Washington forwards. Their depth is so good that I don’t expect anyone to get huge minutes, but Wilson might.
Pierre-Luc Dubois – Goal and an assist with three shots and two PIM. Top line and PP1 for Dubois right now puts him as a bottom end hold.
Leon Draisaitl – Four assists with two shots. The Edmonton superstars played like men on a mission after their first round loss to the Ducks last season, as Connor McDavid had 1+2 while Evan Bouchard scored two goals and added an assist. I wrote in the preseason that I expected the Oilers to take the regular season more seriously under Babcock, and early returns are good.
Beckett Sennecke – Two power play goals on seven shots, both assisted by Leo Carlsson. Great start for Sennecke, who I expect a massive season from, assuming he stays on PP1. He already has more power play goals than last season!
Thursday’s Games
Jake Oettinger – 26 save shutout in the 4-0 win over the Sabres. The Stars are completely dialed in defensively so far. This is the first season I had Oettinger in tier two, albeit at the top of it. It would be fitting that this is the season he finally breaks into tier one. The talent is certainly there for it.
Mikko Rantanen – Goal and three assists with two shots. Absolutely love watching Moose playing with Wyatt Johnston (three assists). Now imagine if they had another stud to play with instead of carrying Sam Steel.
Quinn Hughes – Goal and an assist with four shots. In a game that ended in regulation, Hughes played over 32 minutes! Just an insane workload at the moment.
John Carlson – Two goals on nine shots. I ranked Carlson extremely high this season, and it’s paying off so far. You can’t beat getting to play on the Tampa power play.
Nikita Kucherov – Two assists with a shot. Six shots in four games is a bit concerning, but who can complain about six points?
Linus Ullmark – 28 saves on 29 shots in the 2-1 win over the Flyers. The Senators are arguably the best defensive team in the league. The upside for Ullmark is huge if he can play his B game or better.
Steven Stamkos – Two assists with two shots. Great opening to the season for Stammer. Perhaps his first season in Nashville really was the outlier?
Roman Josi – Two assists with two shots. The secondary stats haven’t been as good as we’re accustomed to from Josi, but he’s had at least one point in every game. I assume it will all balance out.
Alex Kerfoot – Goal and an assist. He was taking shifts on the top line, but I can’t get Kerfoot past being a bottom end streamer. The shot rate is dreadful.
Adam Edstrom – Two goals. Props to Edstrom for the two goal game, but I doubt he has another two point game this season. In his first 100 games before tonight, Edstrom has 16 total points. Welcome to the Razzball Database!
Jake DeBrusk – Two goals on four shots, both assisted by Elias Pettersson. DeBrusk looks to be a middling to solid streamer. It’s very early, but this is the best Pettersson has looked in a long time. Perhaps the stench of Tocchett and Foote being replaced by Malhotra is what he needed? I do think that the plus-minus will be ugly eventually, but he’s a clear hold everywhere again.
Sean Walker – Four assists. It’s good to play a lot of minutes for the defending champs against the worst team in the league. Sometimes you stumble into four points!
Logan Stankoven – Hat trick on five shots. The smelly oven is still loving life with Taylor Hall and Jackson Blake (two assists each). I lean elite streamer, middling streamer, and on the fringe respectively, with Blake getting the boost because he’s on PP1. I’m fine with holding Stankoven if you are bullish though.
Jeremy Swayman – 36 saves on 37 shots in the 6-1 win over the Mammoth. Three great starts, one rough start. Fantasy owners will be thrilled if Swayman can maintain that ratio.
David Pastrnak – Two goals and two assists with four shots. It feels dumb to type that Pasta is underrated, but I really feel like he is. He doesn’t get mentioned with the other superstars enough.
Morgan Geekie – Goal and two assists. He moved back onto the top line with Pasta, which obviously did Geekie wonders. He’s going to have stretches where you question whether you should hold him, like his first four games where he had one assist and only five shots on goal. Then, he’s going to go on some insane run. I’m not the biggest fan in general, but if he sticks with Pasta, I believe.
Matthew Poitras – Goal and an assist with two shots. He’s being used as a fourth line center, so nothing for Poitras for now.
Ilya Sorokin – 22 saves on 23 shots in the 4-1 win over the Blackhawks. This is the exact kind of game you expect from Sorokin against a team like Chicago.
Bo Horvat – Two goals on four shots. Nice little heater for Horvat to open the season.
Logan Stanley – Two assists with ten PIM, two hits and two blocks. Look, you can’t convince me that Stanley is good at hockey. But right now, he has a huge role for the Islanders, and I don’t see that changing with Alexander Romanov likely to miss the entire season. Stanley played almost 24 minutes in this game and was mostly partnered with Schaefer. In banger leagues, he can quickly get fringey. Without hits and blocks, I’m leaving him for the deepest of leagues.
Tyler Toffoli – Goal and an assist with four shots. I assumed Toffoli would be pushed into a marginal role this year, and to be fair, he’s off PP1 and not getting huge minutes. However, he’s been a solid goal scorer for well over a decade now, and I think Toffoli should perform well on a per-minute basis. He’s a solid streamer.
Jaden Schwartz – Two goals. It doesn’t really change what I wrote above, but he has more of my attention.
Nathan MacKinnon – Goal and two assists with two shots. A team like Calgary has no prayer against a guy like MacKinnon or Cale Makar (two goals and an assist).
Brett Kulak – Two assists. And there’s your monthly Kulak update!
Devon Toews – Two goals on three shots with two PIM. Last season was tough for Toews, but if his start is any indication, he can get back to where he was for the previous five seasons. That’s a surefire hold in all leagues despite the lack of PP1 time.
William Nylander had three points on Tuesday, so shoutout to Ranah for nailing that prediction! Same goes with Ashtray, who picked Sebastian Aho. Love to see four correct picks on the same day!
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!
