In my preseason rankings, I had a bunch of players much higher or lower than their ADP. I will recap these players on both sides of the spectrum at the end of the season but Mike Hoffman appears to be my biggest hit at this point. I had him ranked in the top 100 (97th to be exact) and said "I’d be absolutely thrilled to get Hoffman because if he gets top power play time, he could be a top 50 player." Well, he's getting that time and he's crushing it so far this year. After his two goal,one assist, seven shots and two PIM effort on Thursday, Hoffman has 13 goals and 12 assists in 21 games. Depending on the website, his ADP was 20-40 spots later my ranking so hopefully you all are reaping the benefits. Here's what else happened on Thursday night:
For the last few years, Connor Hellebuyck has been one of the best goaltending prospects in hockey. The former fifth round pick blossomed after being drafted and starred for the United States team in the World Junior Championships last year with a record of 7-1 and a GAA of 1.37 and .948 sv%. While that's clearly unsustainable, he posted a .921 sv% last year in the AHL on an IceCaps team that played wide open. With the injury to Ondrej Pavelec, Hellebuyck was called up to Winnipeg and promptly won two games giving up one goal in each. Yesterday, he stopped 32 of 33 shots in the Jets beatdown of Toronto. I don't have much to base this off of but I have a feeling Hellebuyck takes this opportunity and runs with it. I'm picking him up everywhere I can on the chance that he does; if he doesn't, he'll at least be a great fill-in in the meantime. Here's what else I saw on a short Wednesday slate:
Last year, Filip Forsberg was one of the biggest breakouts of the NHL season. I had him ranked in the top 50 preseason and was a disappointment so far this year. Signs of a return to last year's dominance have been seen in the last few games and it finally happened Tuesday night, scoring two goals on eight shots and adding an assist in the 5-2 win over Arizona. He's up to 24 shots in the last 5 games which is a good sign that the goals are coming. It may be too late after Tuesday but with 5 goals in 24 games, perhaps his owner is fed up with him and you can try to add him in a trade. Here's what else I saw on a busy Tuesday night:
Garret Sparks made Toronto Maple Leafs history on Monday night, becoming the first goalie in franchise history to get a shutout in his NHL debut. The 22 year old former 7th round pick got the nod with James Reimer injured and Jonathan Bernier struggling and he made Mike Babcock look like a genius stopping all 24 shots he faced. Sparks won't be up on the Leafs long unless Reimer's injury becomes a long term issue but he could be a solid streamer Wednesday at the Jets if Babcock goes back to him. We've seen rookie goalies get hot out of nowhere before, most notably Andrew Hammond last year. Here's what else I saw in the four games on Monday night:
I'm back! I hope all of the Americans reading enjoyed their Thanksgiving and that everyone had a good weekend. I have a whole week's worth of games to recap so instead of listing every player individually, I am going to go game by game and highlight the key points in each game. This way, I won't mess up adding up players stats across a bunch of games or miss a player having a big impact in one game. In the latter case, Ryan Getzlaf had arguably the game of the week on Tuesday, dishing five assists in the 5-3 win over Calgary. After his appendectomy, he has 14 points in 12 games (13 assists) so he's getting back to his elite status. The goals should come with 46 shots and only 1 goal on the season. Here's a look at every game at every game from last week:
Out of all players, Devan Dubnyk was on the most fantasy hockey championship teams last season. Dubnyk went from waiver wire fodder to start the season to arguably the best goalie in the league once he went to Minnesota. He started off slow this season in the percentages while accumulating wins but has started to turn things around, including a 23 save shutout against the Predators on Saturday. His numbers are starting to improve and should only get better behind a strong Wild team. He won't approach last year's totals, those are completely unsustainable, but he should still push towards being a top 10 goalie come the end of the season. Here's what else happened on an action packed weekend:
For most of the year, I've been talking about how good the Winnipeg top 6 is. They keep chugging along, putting up solid performances with the occasional big game. On Wednesday, it was Mark Scheifele's turn to have a big game, scoring two goals with an assist and four shots. The former 7th overall pick is starting to round into form. He now has a solid shot rate, 7+5 in 20 games with a +7 rating and 6 PIM. That's close to a 30 goals and 20 assist pace for the season which is excellent, especially for a 22 year old. In dynasty, I think he's safely in the top 50 going forward. For season long leagues, he's pushing the top 100.
Here's what else I saw in Wednesday and Thursday's games:
As far as fantasy disappointments go for this hockey season, Evgeni Malkin may have been right at the top going into this week. In 17 games, he had 12 points, which is far below his normal standards. On Tuesday, Malkin single-handedly beat the Wild, scoring two goals and adding two assists in the 4-3 win. Now, 16 points in 18 games with 18 PIM and a +5 doesn't look as bad. One more big game and Malkin is back to his normal levels. I assume this game kills the chance to buy low but I'd look to add as many of the top Penguins as possible in trades; you can't keep these superstars down.
Here's what else I saw on Tuesday night:
It's isn't rare for a goalie to steal a game in the NHL. That said, I don't think anyone does it more than Roberto Luongo does. Luongo puts up crazy 35 save performances with regularity and on Monday, Luongo posted a 39 save shutout against the Lightning, winning 1-0 on an Aaron Ekblad goal with 21 seconds left (I told you to target him yesterday!) The Panthers were outshot 39-20, the Corsi was 55-34* Tampa and had only one player have a positive Corsi in the game, yet Luongo shut down the Lightning and stole two points for the Panthers. His numbers on the season are about what you'd expect, winning half the time but with a solid goals against average and an elite save percentage. His owners have to be happy so far with his overall performance and thrilled with the great start to the week.
Here's what else happened on Monday night:
In my preseason defenseman rankings
here, I included a detailed breakdown on why I liked
John Klingberg so much for this season. Almost everything I said has come to fruition. Klingberg is definitely a top 10 defenseman next year and is going forward this year, the Stars power play is amazing, he's well on his way to double last year's 12 power play points (he has 10 already) and with 20 points in 18 games, he's well on his way to getting 60 points. He's also exactly at two shots per game so there's no limit to how good Klingberg can finish this season. On Saturday night, Klingberg was involved in all 3 Stars goals, assisting on both goals in regulation before scoring the winner in overtime. He's the #1 defenseman so far this season based on ESPN's player rater, which isn't perfect by any means, but it illustrates just how good he's been. I'd say the number 10 overall player and 5th best skater is even better than what I thought his best case scenario was. I hope you drafted him on some teams because you won't be able to acquire him now.
Here's what I saw in the games this weekend:
For the past two weeks or so, I've been talking about Jason Zucker as someone to pick up in fantasy hockey. The second line on the Wild was dominating possession and it was only a matter of time until they broke out. On Thursday, despite the Wild being dominated by the Hurricanes, they persevered and won 3-2 in OT behind two goals by Zucker, who also contributed five shots. He's up to 13 points so far in 15 games so if it was for debate, it isn't anymore; he's a must add in all leagues.
Here's what else I saw on the big Thursday night slate:
Petr Mrazek was the goalie waiting in the wings, for the Wings, for a couple years until the end of last season. He took over the job and played well through the playoffs until they lost to the Lightning in 7 games. Now, he's on the better side of the Wings platoon in net and he showed why he should get the majority of the starts on Tuesday, stopping all 38 shots against Washington in the 1-0 win, including a whopping 15 shots from Alex Ovechkin. Ideally, you would still own Jimmy Howard with Mrazek but Mrazek looks to be on the better side of the split right now.
Here's what else I saw on the massive slate on Tuesday:
