I certainly won’t be doing any victory laps after the first weekend, but Sam Bennett made me look good on Saturday, scoring a hat trick on six shots in the 5-1 win over the Islanders. Bennett finds himself in the same role as last season when he blew up after the trade deadline. Remarkably, he’s still available in 40% of leagues on ESPN. I assume nobody that reads my posts would be in a league where Bennett is on the waiver wire, but if he is, grab him right now. Let’s take a look at what else happened over the weekend:
Friday’s Games:
Jack Hughes – Two goals on three shots. Absolutely wonderful performance from Hughes who had a goal of the year contender in overtime. It’s only one game, but Hughes is must own.
Dougie Hamilton – Goal on three shots with two PIM, +3. Not a bad debut for Dougie as he scored 17 seconds in. Maybe this is the year he’ll finally get the credit he deserves.
Patrick Kane – Two assists with seven shots, -3. We got the fully Kane experience in this one. Offensive wizard (on the power play this time), brutal defensively.
Tyler Johnson – Two assists with a shot and two PIM. Johnson is on PP1 right now making him an elite streamer.
J.T. Miller – Goal and two assists with two shots playing almost 24 minutes. Any questions about Miller’s role have been answered.
Alex Chiasson – Goal and an assist with three shots. He only played 11 minutes, but was on the first power play unit. Chiasson is a nice streamer in deep leagues for PPP.
Elias Pettersson – Goal and an assist with six shots playing almost 24 minutes. Pettersson has been more aggressive shooting the puck in the early going which is a great sign.
Ryan Ellis – Two assists with three shots. Ellis played over 28 minutes which is a clear indication that Provorov and him are going to play all the minutes they can handle. I feel better about ranking Ellis as a top 20 defenseman now.
Keith Yandle – Two assists with two shots. Yandle has deep league value, but he played under 15 minutes so I’m not looking to use him in a 12’er.
Sean Couturier – Two assists. Couturier is as safe as they come for the non-superstar tier.
Cam Talbot – 28 saves on 29 shots in the 2-1 win over the Ducks. Big fan of Talbot who should finish as a solid #2 goalie. There’s a legitimate chance that he ends up as a #1.
Saturday’s Games:
Dustin Tokarski – 20 saves on 21 shots in the 2-1 SO win over the Coyotes. The Sabres dominated the battle of the projected bottom feeders. I still want nothing to do with their goalies.
Karel Vejmelka – 32 saves on 33 shots as the tough luck loser. The 25 year old Czech rookie had a solid debut, but I also don’t want a Coyotes goalie. Welcome to the Razzball Database!
David Perron – Two goals on four shots. Perron picked up right where he left off last season. He’s a quality first liner that still goes under the radar.
Jordan Kyrou – Two assists with a shot. Really disappointed he only played 14 minutes, but I still believe in a breakout.
Justin Faulk – Goal and an assist with five shots. He’s probably worth holding as a bottom end guy in standard leagues, but I don’t see a path to a top 25 defenseman season from Faulk barring injury to Krug.
Nazem Kadri – Two assists with a shot and a fight. Quality start to the season from Kadri. Nathan MacKinnon is still out as he still hasn’t had a negative COVID test so expect Kadri to keep getting all the minutes he can handle.
J.T. Compher – Goal and an assist with two shots. Compher played 21 minutes in this game making him an elite short term streamer.
Gustav Forsling – Two assists with a shot. Forsling is a nice player, but that’s more in real life than fantasy. He’s a deep league option only.
Sergei Bobrovsky – 29 saves on 30 shots earning the win. Bob was solid in this game and it was telling that he started for the second straight game over Knight. Quite frankly, I don’t understand it, but here we are. Maybe Bob randomly bounces back and is a fantasy league winner? I’m still expecting Knight to at least split.
Jeremy Swayman – 27 saves on 28 shots in the 3-1 win over the Stars. Swayman getting the start in Boston’s first game is also telling. It looks like he’ll be splitting with Ullmark for now making Swayman must own.
Brad Marchand – Two goals on five shots with two PIM. He’s easy to hate, but Marchand remains a fantasy monster.
Thomas Greiss – 40 saves on 41 shots in the 3-1 win over the Canucks. Greiss should be a solid streamer in the right matchups. He was decent last year on a really bad Detroit team; they should be a bit better in front of him this time around.
Igor Shesterkin – 31 saves on 32 shots in the 3-1 win over the Canadiens. It looks like the Rangers are going to be more dependent on Igor than I originally anticipated. The good news is that he’s good enough to prop them up.
Mika Zibanejad – Two assists with four shots. Solid start for Zibanejad with the top line playing the best hockey on the Rangers at the moment.
Patrick Kane – Goal and an assist with three shots. Kane doing what he does two nights in a row.
Brock McGinn – Goal and an assist with two shots. McGinn played over 17 minutes with the Penguins decimated by injuries right now, but I don’t see any fantasy value.
Drew O’Connor – Goal and an assist with three shots. He played only 10:26 in this game so there’s no fantasy value here. Congrats on the first career goal and welcome to the Razzball Database!
Jack Campbell – 20 saves on 21 shots in the 3-1 win over the Senators. With Petr Mrazek out at least 14 days, expect Campbell to play almost every game for the time being, solidifying himself as a top 10 goalie for October.
Alex Kerfoot – Goal and an assist. He’s a middling streamer even with the expanded role because his shot rate is so poor.
Andrei Vasilevskiy – 32 saves on 33 shots in the 2-1 OT win over the Capitals. The bounce back from Vasilevskiy was inevitable.
Steven Stamkos – Goal and an assist with four shots. Stammer has started on an absolute tear with seven points in three games. Just stay healthy!
Elvis Merzlikins – 19 saves on 20 shots in the 2-1 OT win over the Kraken. Strong start to the season for Elvis, and with Detroit on deck, it could definitely continue. He looks to be the clear #1 in Columbus.
Ryan Johansen – Goal and an assist with two shots. At this point in his career, Johansen is only a bottom end streamer. The opportunity is there, but he hasn’t been good the past two seasons and his shot rate is brutal.
Brett Pesce – Two assists with a shot. There could be some deep league value, but nothing in standard leagues.
Connor McDavid – Hat trick on eight shots with two PIM. Leon Draisaitl had three assists with five shots, while Jesse Puljujarvi had a goal and two assists with two PIM. It comes as no surprise that Calgary was ran over by the Edmonton top line. The question is whether or not Puljujarvi is a hold. He played less than 14 minutes which shows that he’s not fully trusted by Tippett. On the other hand, he was out there with the goalie pulled late so they have some trust in him. I would stream him Tuesday against the Ducks and see what happens.
Tomas Hertl – Goal and an assist with three shots and two PIM. Strong start to the season by Hertl without Kane on his wing. He’s a good enough player that he should be a hold all season regardless of what happens with Kane.
Jasper Weatherby – Goal and an assist in his NHL debut. Not a bad way to enter the league. Weatherby played only 10:25 so there’s nothing here for now. He’s worth monitoring for dynasties to see how the Sharks use him after playing at North Dakota the past three years. Welcome to the Razzball Database!
Anze Kopitar – Goal and an assist with three shots. Drew Doughty dished two assists. these guys have turned the clock back to open the season. I’m still a bit down on Doughty despite the usage, but I’m buying in on Kopitar.
Sunday’s Game
Radek Faksa – Two assists with three shots. I had high hopes for Faksa in his draft year, but the offense never developed for him to be a fantasy asset.
Michael Raffl – Goal and an assist with two shots and four PIM. Don’t see enough of a role for Raffl to be relevant.
Connor Brown – Three assists with a shot. Brown had a massive hot streak last season where he was a solid streamer. I have him more on the lower end for the time being.
Chris Tierney – Two goals on three shots. Tierney is a bottom end streamer at best.
That’s all for now guys. With there only being four games on Monday, I’ll be back on Wednesday recapping the action from both Monday and Tuesday. As always, feel free to ask any questions, leave any comments, or give any suggestions below. Thanks for reading, take care!
