It’s been years since Jack Campbell was the hot goaltending prospect. Seemingly out of nowhere, Campbell has been thrown into the fire and has come out hotter than a pistol. Campbell had his best game to date on Thursday, recording a 40 save shutout in the 3-0 win over the Canadiens. He now has 117 saves on 121 shots over 3 games. Jonathan Quick is week-to-week, so while it might only be a short term thing, Campbell is worth owning in virtually all leagues until Quick returns. The Kings aren’t the powerhouse they used to be, but they’re still a strong possession team making their goal automatically worth owning. Let’s take a look at what else happened over the last two nights:
Jakub Voracek – Two goals and three assists with six shots. I could have easily led this off with one of the finest ginger beards in the league, but we all know he should be owned everywhere. He’s on the first line in Konecny’s place right now, so this is more of a note to downgrade Konecny than anything.
Radko Gudas – Three assists with three shots., He’s still scum, and we can’t count on him for points, but he does have value in certain leagues for the extra categories.
Claude Giroux – Goal and an assist with seven shots. Not much to say about Giroux at this point.
Dale Weise – Two assists with a shot and two PIM. And there’s your biannual Weise update!
Scott Laughton – Two goals on five shots with two PIM. I don’t care, plain and simple.
Shayne Gostisbehere – Two assists with six shots. The shot rate has improved every year, and if this strong start is a sign for the rest of the season, there’s no reason Ghost Bear can’t put up a top 5 season for defensemen.
Chris Tierney – Three assists with two shots and two PIM. I like Tierney as a depth piece in real life, and he does have a point in all four Sens games to this point, but I still don’t expect much. The shot rate has always sucked, and I don’t see the offensive role necessary to be fantasy relevant outside of the deepest of leagues.
Brady Tkachuk – Two goals and an assist with six shots and four PIM. Talk about stuffing the stat sheet. I like Tkachuk going forward, but in redrafts I don’t have much interest right now.
Mikkel Boedker – Two assists with four shots and two PIM. Meh, still passing until I see more sustained production.
Maxime Lajoie – Two goals and an assist with four shots. Lajoie is a very tough case. The former 5th round pick is only 20 years old (almost 21) and has little track record of being a big producer. On the other hand, Ottawa seems content on playing wide open games (that they’ll lose on the whole), and the shots have been nice. I’m fine with taking the gamble right now, but if you grab him, don’t expect him to be more than a hot schmotato. If he is something, it’s a bonus.
Evgeny Kuznetsov – Goal and three assists with three shots (NOTE: All Caps stats are Wednesday only given they were shutout Thursday). He looks really good in the early going. Would it shock me if he topped 90 points? No.
Alex Ovechkin – Two goals on seven shots. The GOAT goal scorer has started off the season in fine form.
Brett Connolly – Two assists with two shots and two PIM. He’s on the first line right now with Wilson suspended making Connolly a viable streamer, especially in deeper leagues.
Nicklas Backstrom – Goal and an assist. Same story for Nicky Backs to start. Great points, poor shots.
John Carlson – Two assists. The shots haven’t been good to start, but six points in four games is nothing to complain about.
Pheonix Copley – 30 saves on 36 shots in the 6-0 loss to the Devils. I’ll keep this short and sweet: Copley is terrible. Don’t stream him, and start guys against him in DFS. He should lose his job to Samsonov sooner than later.
Ryan Kesler – Goal on three shots in his return. I haven’t been a fan in fantasy for years, especially now with hip issues at 34 years old. I am fine with streaming him and owning in deeper leagues but don’t rush to grab him.
Patrice Bergeron – Goal and an assist with four shots. Since the debacle in the season opener, Bergeron has 5+3 in 3 games. Seems good.
Matt Grzelcyk – Two assists with a shot. He’s on the first power play unit but there’s nothing else. I’m okay gambling in 16+ team leagues for those PPP’s but I’m not touching him in shallower leagues.
Jaroslav Halak – 25 saves on 26 shots in the 4-1 win over the Oilers. Great start to the season for Halak. He looks to be following in the footsteps of his predecessors. Meaning, he’s an auto stream any time the Boston backup gets the start.
Nathan MacKinnon – Two goals on four shots with two PIM. His linemate Mikko Rantanen had three assists with Tyson Barrie dished two. There’s no reason why the big guns on the Avs can’t repeat last season’s breakouts.
Semyon Varlamov – 30 saves on 31 shots in the 6-1 win over the Sabres. They bring in Grubauer but Varly has been incredible to open the 2018-19 season. He’s a clear own in all formats, but I do expect regression sooner than later.
Kyle Palmieri – Two goals on five shots. Palmieri is as steady as they come and remains one of the most underrated players in the league.
Brian Boyle – Goal and an assist with four shots. Guy Fawkes is well past the point of carrying about him for fantasy.
Keith Kinkaid – 21 save shutout in the win over the Caps. Kinkaid remains in the “desperate for starts” category.
Brent Burns – Two assists with six shots. Brent Burns finally doing Brent Burns things! I fully expect him to get going sooner than later.
Jonathan Marchessault – Two assists with three shots and two PIM. The team has stunk to start, but Marchessault has been great for Vegas to open the season.
Phil Kessel – Hat trick on four shots, all assisted by Evgeni Malkin. The boys look like they’re going to ravish the second lines and second pairs of the opposition again. We know they’re both great and should remain so for the foreseeable future.
Justin Schultz – Two assists. Meh. I want to care about Schultz, but the shots are terrible and the minutes aren’t great. I’m okay with holding him because defensemen suck on the whole, but keep expectations tempered.
Artemi Panarin – Goal and three assists with five shots. The Brinks truck is starting to get backed up for Panarin. Dollar, dollar bills, y’all.
Cam Atkinson – Goal and an assist with four shots. Nice for Cam to get off to a solid start after how poorly he opened last season.
Zach Werenski – Goal and an assist with three shots. I like Werenski plenty, and should continue to roll while he’s the top gun.
Evgenii Dadonov – Goal and two assists with two shots. The Panthers have moved around the pieces in the top six, but Dadonov has remained with Aleksander Barkov (1+1, 4 SOG) in all of the permutations. No-brainer hold.
John Tavares – Four assists with three shots. Every single big gun for the Leafs had 2 points (or 4 in Tavares’ case). The team is just rolling offensively right now and it’s the studs carrying them.
Nicklas Jensen – Two goals on five shots. He moved into a bigger role with Cholowski out, but I don’t care about Jensen until we see some consistency from him.
Jeff Carter – Goal and two assists with four shots. Nice for Carter to finally have a big game after a dreadful start. He’s getting up there in age, but Carter will remain a hold for at least the rest of this season.
Anders Nilsson – 33 saves on 34 shots in the 4-1 win over Tampa. We might not see a bigger upset this year than Vancouver winning in Tampa Bay. Nilsson has hot streaks, but the bad is really bad, so I’m not interested in him.
Jake Virtanen – Goal and an assist with two shots. I was a fan in his draft year, but it’s going to take a lot more from Virtanen to be fantasy relevant.
Ryan Hartman – Goal and an assist with two shots. Hartman played less than 10 minutes in this one, so until those minutes go up, I can’t care about Hartman for redraft fantasy leagues.
Pekka Rinne – 29 save shutout in the 3-0 win over the Jets. It’s not the playoffs, but nice for Rinne to get revenge against the team that embarrassed him last year.
David Perron – Hat trick. He had an amazing year last season, but everything screamed regression. I’m fine streaming him, but not looking to hold Perron.
Brayden Schenn – Three assists with two shots and two PIM. Fingers crossed that Schenn can repeat his opening year in St. Louis instead of back to his Philly value.
Alex Steen – Goal and an assist with two shots. I like him, but Steen is very far from his prime and is more streamer than hold at this point.
Alex DeBrincat – Two goals and an assist with four shots. My man! Love DeBrincat going forward, including this year while he’s getting the minutes he deserves. Glad that Jonathan Toews (2A, 2 SOG) and DeBrincat are hitting it off together.
Jason Zucker – Two goals and an assist with ten shots. The top line for the Wild destroyed the Blackhawks last night, and Zucker was at the forefront. He’s closer to top 50 player than anything else right now.
Eric Staal – Goal and two assists with two shots. I still expect a fairly big regression from Staal given last season’s bonkers numbers, but he’ll still carry plenty of value.
Ryan Suter – Goal and two assists with three shots. The minutes remain massive, but I would sell high off this if I could. Dumba should run the PP and there’s no reason for the Wild to push Suter offensively.
Zach Parise – Two assists with three shots. The minutes are big right now, and the shot rate is great to open the year, but I’d still rather stream Parise than hold.
That’s all for now guys. I’ll be back on Monday recapping all of the weekend’s action. I still can’t believe there are no games tonight: nice schedule NHL! Ugh. Anyways, feel free to ask any questions, leave any comments, or give any suggestions below. I’d like to thank all of you who are asking questions in the comments section, and I hope you continue to do so! Enjoy your weekend, take care!
