Missing one game looks to be the perfect reset for Adrian Kempe. After missing Saturday’s game against the Sabres, Kempe came back with a vengeance on Wednesday, scoring a hat trick and an assist with four shots and two PIM in the 7-2 blowout against the Sharks. This was on the back of three pointless games and no goals in his previous five. Life for Kempe has been great with Panarin, as he has 6+6 in 13 games. He’s also well over three shots per game. Kempe looks to be a guy who should settle in the bottom part of the top 50. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if we see career highs this season because of Panarin’s presence. Let’s take a look at what else happened over the last two nights:
Frank Nazar – Two goals on three shots on Wednesday. After looking like he could break out after last season, Nazar has struggled to open the season. He’s stuck as a middling streamer.
Ethan Del Mastro – Three assists with a shot and four PIM over two games. Nothing to see here.
Sandis Vilmanis – Two goals and two assists. He played with Sam Reinhart (goal and two assists with six shots) and Carter Verhaeghe (1+1, 4 SOG), but this was more points than Vilmanis had in his previous 14 games combined. The upside is there if he sticks in this spot, but for now, bottom end to middling streamer. Welcome to the Razzball Database!
Samuel Ersson – 23 saves on 24 shots in the 2-1 win over the Sabres. No matter how good the Senators are defensively, I am not doing the dance with Ersson.
Joey Daccord – 25 saves on 26 shots in the 2-1 OT win over the Flames. Daccord and Grubauer are in about an even split right now. Even after this game, Daccord’s numbers are ugly, so he’s in the desperation tier.
Dmitry Orlov – Two assists. There’s some decent deep league value if you can stomach the horrible plus-minus. The points are decent and the hits plus blocks are solid.
Michael Misa – Two assists with two shots. Misa’s shot rate is killing his value. On the bright side, he did finish the game with Celebini and Smith. Solid streamer in the short term to see if he sticks on the top line.
Artemi Panarin – Four assists with three shots and two PIM. Panarin’s shot rate is fantastic, leading to eight goals in 14 games. We know the assists will be there, so that will be the driving force between Panarin being a top 50 player or pushing towards a top 25 player.
Erik Gustafsson – Two assists with two PIM and two hits. Gustafsson played over 20 minutes and is currently on PP1. The shot rate is horrendous so I’m only holding if you’re desperate for PPP.
Erik Haula – Goal and an assist with two shots. Bottom end streamer.
Quinton Byfield – Two goals on four shots. It’s been a terrible start for Byfield, but he has four points in his last three games. He also has 15 shots in his past four, so there are some encouraging signs. Right now, I think more elite streamer, but if you want to be stubborn for the upside, I get it.
Cam Talbot – 27 saves on 28 shots in the 2-1 SO win over Casey DeSmith (29/30) and the Stars. Talbot has been solid so far, and because of that, he’s cutting into Greaves’ workload. If you need starts, I guess I’d be okay using Talbot. I’m not really buying it. DeSmith is a solid streamer in almost all matchups.
Dawson Mercer – Goal and an assist. Mercer hasn’t had a big role since arriving in Winnipeg, keeping him in the middling streamer range.
Mark Scheifele – Goal and an assist with three shots. Kyle Connor had two assists with two shots and two PIM. Before tonight, Scheifele had a 5.6 shooting percentage. His lowest of his career is 16.2%. Goals are coming.
Dylan DeMelo – Two assists with two shots, +4. He’s stumbling into points right now, but DeMelo should only be used in the deepest of leagues.
Andrei Vasilevskiy – 25 saves on 26 shots in the 4-1 win over Chicago. I wouldn’t expect anything else from The Big Cat against Chicago.
Erik Cernak – Two assists with three shots. And there’s your annual Cernak update!
Ilya Mikheyev – Two goals on three shots. That’s a deep cut revenge game right there. Bottom end streamer at best.
Kaedan Korczak – Two assists. Korczak is piling up the assists, but isn’t really contributing elsewhere besides blocks. Deep league guy.
Pavel Zacha – Two goals with two PIM, both assisted by J.J. Peterka. Zacha is in elite streamer range. If the shot rate was better, he’d be on the fringe.
David Pastrnak – Two assists with four shots. Business as usual for Pasta. He isn’t put in the discussions that he belongs in as far as superstars go.
Morgan Geekie – Goal and an assist with two shots. Geekie is on the fringe depending on team needs. The shot rate is too low for a player with his shot, so I lean towards elite streamer.
Adam Fox – Two assists with a shot. All your assists are belong to Fox!
William Carrier – Goal and an assist with two shots. We’re still seeing Carrier primarily play on the top line, but with far less minutes. There’s deep league value, but nothing for 12’ers or shallower.
Sebastian Aho – Two assists with four shots. Andrei Svechnikov had a goal and an assist with seven shots. Even with a passenger in Carrier on the wing, nothing is stopping these two at the moment.
Jalen Chatfield – Goal and an assist. Decent player in real life, but Chatfield has never carried much fantasy value.
Brayden Schenn – Goal and an assist with two PIM. Middling streamer through and through.
Victor Eklund – Goal and an assist with three shots. There’s plenty of ling term upside here, but for now, Eklund is only a bottom end streamer.
Philip Broberg – Goal and an assist with three shots. Broberg has been everything I hoped for going into this season. He looks like a top 25 D with upside from there. Broberg played over 28 minutes in this one.
Mason McTavish – Goal and an assist with four shots and two PIM. McTavish has bounced back nicely in St. Louis. He’s on the fringe again, although I do lean towards holding for the very good shots.
Anthony Mantha – Two goals and an assist with three shots. It’s been a slow start for Mantha in New Jersey, so it’s nice to see him have a huge game. Middling streamer for now.
Brett Pesce – Two assists with a shot. There’s some deep league value as long as he’s playing with Luke Hughes (1+1, 2 SOG).
Jesper Bratt – Goal and an assist with two shots. Jack Hughes had two assists with six shots. Safe to say that anyone who ignored last season’s disappointment has been rewarded with all of the Devils so far.
Logan Cooley – Hat trick and an assist with two PIM. Another hat trick for Cooley! Apparently he’s going to shoot over 30% forever.
Nick Schmaltz – Goal and two assists with three shots. Schmaltz is getting killed at even strength, but it doesn’t matter with how good the Utah power play is. Schmaltz is well over a point per game and it doesn’t look fluky.
Nick Suzuki – Goal and two assists with four shots in his return from injury. Nice to see Suzuki pick up where he left off before his injury.
Noah Dobson – Two assists with a shot. Dobson still looks to be a bottom end hold.
Kirby Dach – Goal and an assist with two shots. It’s a shame Dach had that major knee injury because it’s zapped his career. Zero fantasy value now.
Lane Hutson – Two assists with three shots. To the surprise of nobody, Hutson is sitting right at a point per game. Keep those shots up!
Carter Hart – 25 saves on 26 shots in the 2-1 win over Detroit. Hart’s GAA is respectable despite a below average save percentage. He looks to be a #2 in 12’ers.
Pavel Mintyukov – Two goals and an assist with four shots and five PIM. A Gordie Howe hat trick plus another goal! Sadly, that equals the amount of points that he had in his first 11 games, and he only had seven shots in the first eleven. Easy pass.
Beckett Sennecke – Two goals and an assist with four shots. The top power play continues to do damage for the Ducks. The Sennecke breakout is in full progress.
Leo Carlsson – Two assists with two shots. The goals are down quite a bit, but Carlsson already has 19 assists in 16 games. Ridiculous stuff.
Cutter Gauthier – Goal and an assist with three shots. Hotter than a pistol!
Connor McDavid – Goal and three assists with three shots. I really want McDavid to obliterate all of the non-Gretzky and non-Lemeiux records. He’s playing at a level I’ve never seen before.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – Two assists with a shot and four PIM. Leon Draisaitl and Evan Bouchard each had a goal and an assist. Business as usual for all of the Edmonton superstars.
Ryan O’Reilly – Two assists with two shots. RoR is sitting above a point per game in the early going. It’s great to see him playing at this level.
That’s all for now guys. I’ll be back on Monday recapping the action from the weekend. As always, feel freeto ask any questions, leave any comments, or give any suggestions below. Thanks for reading, take care!
