The best line in hockey remains in Boston, but the second best at the moment resides in Vancouver. On Wednesday, they were led by Brock Boeser, who had a hat trick and an assist with seven shots and two PIM in the 5-3 win over the Kings. Boeser is now up to 7+7 in 12 games with over three shots per game, +6, and six penalty minutes. He’s doing a little bit of everything, and with how well the Canucks are playing, there’s no reason he can’t finish with 35+40 or better. I’d bet on Boeser being a top 50 player at this point and it should only get better in the years to come. Let’s take a look at what else happened over the last two nights:
Elias Pettersson – Goal and three assists with five shots. Pettersson has been one of the best players in the league to this point with 4+14 in 12 games. Sixteen of those points have been primary so it’s no fluke. The shot rate is still below average and he doesn’t take penalties, but the points are going to be outstanding.
Quinn Hughes – Three assists. The shot rate is poor, but Hughes is piling up the assists in all phases. AAGNOF!
Bo Horvat – Goal and an assist with six shots. Dr. Bo has been slicing up the competition on the power play now that he’s on the first unit again. He’s also well over three shots per game which is great to see.
Jeff Carter – Two goals on four shots with two PIM. He’s on the first line right now as a winger which puts him back in solid streamer status. The shot rate is excellent and he’s taking penalties.
Anze Kopitar – Two assists with two shots. Nice bounceback from Kopitar so far as he’s at a point per game in the early going.
Drew Doughty – Two assists with two shots and two PIM. Doughty has been fine but it looks like the plus-minus is going to be rough again.
Nathan MacKinnon – Goal and an assist with six shots and two PIM. I’m actually shocked that MacKinnon didn’t top 20 minutes in this one. I assume the minutes are going to be massive while Rantanen and Landeskog are out.
Jonathan Huberdeau – Two goals. The shot rate is down right now, but it’s hard to complain about a guy with 15 points in 13 games.
Aleksander Barkov – Goal and an assist with two shots. Finally a goal! The lack of shots (below two per game) needs to change, but the assists are really piling up.
Aaron Ekblad – Two assists with three shots. He already has seven assists which is quite a jump for Ekblad considering 27 is his career high, and that was in his rookie season 5 years ago. Quenneville’s minutes distrubution has definitely helped Ekblad’s chances to being a #3-4 D for fantasy.
Ondrej Palat – Two goals and an assist with four shots, +4. Palat is a strong streamer while he’s playing with Brayden Point (1+2) and is on the first power play unit, but he doesn’t do enough to be held.
Tyler Johnson – Goal and two assists. Same story as Palat, except with Stamkos.
Kevin Shattenkirk – Two assists with a shot and two PIM. He’s had a nice revival in Tampa, enough so that he should be held in all formats.
Anthony Cirelli – Goal and an assist. Really nice player but isn’t doing enough in fantasy to be more than a decent streamer.
Kyle Palmieri – Hat trick on eight shots. Palmieri is always underrated in fantasy circles as he’s hit all of the categories at a solid clip since coming to New Jersey four years ago. Sure, he has only one assist, but that will surely change. Easy hold everywhere.
Wayne Simmonds – Three assists with five shots. The shot rate is great, but I don’t want much to do with Simmonds at this point of his career. Bottom end streamer.
Mike Smith – 23 saves on 24 shots in the 4-1 win over the Blue Jackets. Do I trust Smith for the rest of the season? Hell no. That said, I feel comfortable using him in quality matchups at the moment.
Leon Draisaitl – Two goals and an assist with three shots. I’m running out of superlatives for Draisaitl. 12+13 in 13 games with 3.5 shots per? To quote the great Noob-Noob, “God damn!”
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – Two assists with three shots and two PIM. RNH is a nice streamer, but he’s not that close to hold level for me.
Alex Pietrangelo – Goal and an assist. Very nice start for Pietrangelo as he’s over three shots per game. Sure, he won’t shoot 13% all season, but even at his usual percentage, he’d be over 15 goals at his current shot volume.
Jordan Binnington – 35 saves on 36 shots in the 2-1 win over the Wild. Solid start for Binnington across the board. Not great in any category, but above average in all of them.
Carey Price – 32 saves on 33 shots in the 4-1 win over the Coyotes. Very similar numbers to Binnington. I probably would start Price regardless of the competition right now.
Shea Weber – Goal and two assists with four shots and two PIM over two games. Weber has contributed nicely across the board in October. Here’s to hoping he can stay healthy because if he can, he could be a top 15 defenseman.
Tomas Tatar – Goal and two assists with five shots and two PIM over two games. Nice revenge game for Tatar on Thursday night. He’s right on the fringe for me, but I’m leaning towards a hold right now.
Cody Eakin – Two assists with a shot. Easy pass.
Alex Tuch – Goal on three shots in his return. He was even getting some PP1 time. That said, Tuch played only 13 minutes and he’s stuck on the third line barring injury. Solid streamer who I love in dynasties, but he’s not close to holding for the time being.
Nate Schmidt – Assist with five shots and two PIM in his return. Schmidt has been right on the fence the last two seasons. Whether you hold him or not comes down to team build and what you’re looking for from your last defenseman spot.
Sean Monahan – Three assists with two shots. Slow start for Monahan like most of the Calgary guys. If I had to guess, I think last season will be his best and he’ll come back down towards where he was the previous two seasons.
Matthew Tkachuk – Two goals and an assist with four shots. Tkachuk has been steady across the board. His game winning goal last night was ridiculous.
You're not going to find a prettier @EASPORTSNHL OT winner than this one from Matthew Tkachuk (@TKACHUKycheese_)! 😍 pic.twitter.com/Lu7YWWK0Vl
— NHL (@NHL) November 1, 2019
Johnny Gaudreau – Two assists with three shots. Slow start by his standards, but Gaudreau should be back above a point per game in no time.
Elias Lindholm – Goal and an assist with three shots. I feel like I haven’t heard much about Lindholm, but here he is with nine goals already. Very nice opening month for one of last year’s breakout stars.
Derek Ryan – Goal and an assist. And there’s your biannual Derek Ryan update!
Austin Watson -Two goals and two assists with three shots. A career night for Watson who probably won’t come close to having a night like this again. Fantasy irrelevant.
Calle Jarnkrok – Two shorthanded goals. He’s on the first line right now so Jarnkrok is an okay streamer.
Colton Sissons – Two assists with three shots. Sissons is rolling right now, but I still have zero interest in streaming him.
Filip Forsberg – Five shots in his return from injury. Get him off IR and back into your lineups immediately if you haven’t done so.
Three Point Challenge: For those who aren’t familiar, for each Tuesday and Thursday of the season, you can make a pick in the comments section. That player needs to get 3+ points for you to win. You cannot take a player in the top 10 in points in the league. For the first month to six weeks of the season, we will use last season’s top 10 in points. That means no McDavid, Kucherov, Kane, Draisaitl, Crosby, Marchand, Gaudreau, MacKinnon, Stamkos, or Barkov. For this week, we are going to do Friday’s games because of only two games on Halloween. You can make your pick in this post or on Wednesday morning’s post. For Friday, I am going to take Taylor Hall against the Flyers.
That’s all for now guys. I’ll be back on Monday recapping the action from the weekend. Feel free to ask any questions, give any comments, or leave any suggestions below. Thanks for reading, take care!
