Celebrini Settles In

An injury on opening night took Macklin Celebrini out of the lineup for a while, but otherwise, his entrance in the NHL has gone swimmingly.  Celebrini scored two goals and an assist with four shots, two PIM, two hits, and two blocks in over 20 minutes of ice time in the 7-2 Sharks win over the Kings on Monday.  Celebrini has six goals and four assists in twelve games this season, and surprisingly, he’s taking over three shots per game.  I was not expecting this type of shot rate out of the gate for Celebrini, which is a game changer for his fantasy value.  The plus-minus has the potential to be ugly, but you can make a good case for holding Celebrini in all formats now.  Here’s to hoping he can maintain this level of play over a long season.  Let’s take a look at what else happened over the last two nights:

Logan Thompson – 20 saves on 21 shots in the 4-1 win over the Panthers.  Thompson has emerged as the top goalie in Washington as I suspected would happen.  Clear hold everywhere.

Jakob Chychrun – Goal and two assists with three shots.  The shot rate is down a bit which is surprising, but so far, Chychrun is crushing it across the board.

Lars Eller – Two goals with two PIM.  Fine depth piece in real life, but Eller only has value in the deepest of leagues.

Ivan Ivan – Two goals on five shots.  Fun fact, Ivan Ivan is the first player in NHL history to have the same first and last name.  He was actually sent back down after this game, so if he’s going to have any fantasy value, it will be down the line.  Welcome to the Razzball Database!

Brandon Hagel – Five assists with five shots.  Alrighty then.  Remember when the Sabres drafted him and then decided he wasn’t worth an ELC?  Another thing on the long list of Sabres failures that I’m all too familiar with.  On the other hand, my bold prediction for a monster Hagel season looks to be coming into fruition.  Hagel has been a top 20 forward so far.

Nikita Kucherov – Goal and two assists with four shots.  Business as usual for Kuch.

Jake Guentzel – Two goals.  The shot rate has really dropped which is disappointing, but Guentzel is still sitting around a 40+40 pace.  We have a long history of Guentzel being over three shots per game so I expect an uptick.

Nick Perbix – Goal and an assist with two shots and four PIM.  Fine depth guy in real life, but provides next to nothing for fantasy.

Ivan Barbashev – Goal and an assist, as did Jack Eichel.  As long as Barbashev is playing with Eichel pushing 20 minutes a night, he’s probably a bottom end hold.  At the least, he’s on the fringe.

Morgan Frost – Goal and an assist with three shots.  I’d like to see what Frost could do with consistent playing time, but Torts has him coming in and out of the lineup. It’s hard to use Frost outside of deep leagues when you don’t know if he’s going to play every night.

Brayden Schenn – Goal and an assist.  Montgomery’s debut couldn’t have gone better for the Blues as they took care of the Rangers.  Schenn played with Kyrou which bumps up Schenn to a middling streamer.

Zack Bolduc – Two goals on seven shots with four PIM.  Bolduc was off to a very slow start this season, but the former first round pick stood out all night.  There’s dynasty value here, but he’s only a bottom end streamer for now.  Welcome to the Razzball Database!

Dylan Holloway – Two assists with three shots.  Bottom end to middling streamer.

Will Cuylle – Two goals on three shots with two PIM.  Cuylle has been a monster this season with 17 points in 20 games despite minimal power play time.  He’s a clear hold in hits leagues and an elite streamer otherwise.

Nico Hischier – Hat trick on six shots.  I was so close to picking Hischier for three points but ended up settling on Hughes.  Whoops!  Hischier’s offense has found a new level under Keefe. With health, he should set a new career high in goals.

Johnathan Kovacevic – Two assists with three shots.  There’s some value in deep banger leagues, but that’s it.

Mason Marchment – Goal and an assist, as did Tyler Seguin.  Matt Duchene assisted on both goals.  I did not have this line being Dallas’ best, but here we are.  Marchment is a clear hold with Duchene now, while Seguin probably is as well.

Miro Heiskanen – Goal and an assist.  Was expecting big things from Miro, but instead he’s at a 40 point pace.  The assists really should fix itself so if I had him, I’d hold tight.

Sebastian Aho – Goal and three assists with two shots.  Sea Bass led the big comeback and now is sitting over a point per game on the season.  Aho is as consistent as they come.

Seth Jarvis – Goal and two assists with three shots in his return to the ice.  If someone was dumb enough to drop him, grab Jarvis immediately.

Shayne Gostisbehere – Goal and an assist with three shots and two PIM.  Despite the smaller workload, Gostisbehere has been even better in Carolina than Detroit.  Easy hold everywhere.

Martin Necas – Goal and an assist with three shots.  Dude just won’t slow down.

Drake Batherson – Goal and an assist with three shots.  The shooting percentage is a bit high, but even with some regression, Batherson is doing enough to be a hold.

Brady Tkachuk – Goal and an assist with five shots and two PIM.  Just a ridiculous stat line across the board from Tkachuk.  He’s currently the #1 forward despite being -5.

Jake Sanderson – Two assists with three shots.  Sanderson has been a real disappointment at even strength, much like Ottawa on the whole.  That said, he still needs to be held everywhere.

Ridly Greig – Two assists with two shots and two PIM.  Bottom end streamer.

Moritz Seider – Goal and an assist with three shots.  Everything is in line with what Seider has done the previous three seasons.  That’s a bottom end hold, yet he constantly gets drafted much higher as people wait for the breakout that’s probably never coming.

Simon Edvinsson – Goal and an assist with two PIM.  There’s a lot of long term value here, but I’d only use Edvinsson in shallow leagues if they have blocks.  Otherwise, leave him to the deep leagues.

Connor Hellebuyck – 43 saves on 44 shots in the 4-1 win over the Wild.  When the rare game happens that the Jets don’t play well, they can always have Hellebuyck bail them out.  He’s lapping the field as the #1 goalie.  In fact, the second best goalie is closer to the 23rd ranked goalie than they are to Hellebuyck.

Alex Iafallo – Two goals.  Iafallo’s role in Winnipeg is much smaller than it was in Los Angeles.  Bottom end streamer at best.

Neal Pionk – Two assists with three shots.  Pionk was finally starting to slow down with no points in the previous five, so it was nice to see him get going again.  He was covered last week in my sustainability post if you want to check that out.

Shane Wright – Goal and an assist.  Wright doesn’t have nearly enough of a role to be fantasy relevant.  Just remember that he’s still only 20 and there can still be a very good player here down the line.

Ryker Evans – Two assists with two shots.  Evans has really stepped up with Dunn out of the lineup.  I’m fine holding for now, although I do think it won’t last when Dunn returns shortly.  Evans has shown a lot to be excited for if you have him in dynasties though.

Troy Terry – Two assists with two shots and two PIM.  I have Terry more in the elite streamer category than a hold.  It’s a boring stat line that isn’t great anywhere.

Adrian Kempe – Two assists with four shots and two PIM.  The Kings are having some problems lately, but it sure isn’t coming from the first line.  Kempe and Anze Kopitar (1+1) have been fantastic.

William Eklund – Two assists, as did Will Smith.  Eklund is top line and top PP which puts him on the fringe.  I lean towards elite streamer.  Smith isn’t getting the minutes yet for redrafts, but there’s massive long term upside for dynasties.

Conor Garland – Goal and an assist with three shots.  Garland is on a roll with points in five straight games.  As long as he stays on PP1, Garland is an elite streamer.

Kevin Lankinen – 32 save shutout in the 2-0 win over the Bruins.  Lankinen stole this game from the Bruins with a fantastic performance.  He’s done enough to be a hold in all formats for the time being.

Dylan Guenther – Goal and an assist with five shots.  After a bit of a rough patch, Guenther has six points in his last three games.  He’s just below a 40+40 pace and is giving me plenty of reason to hold him everywhere.

Nick Schmaltz – Two assists with three shots.  Somehow, a guy who has scored 22-23 goals for three straight seasons doesn’t have a goal yet.  He also has 17 assists in 22 games.  All your assists are belong to Schmaltz!

Three Point Challenge:  We will do the Three Point Challenge for Wednesday’s games, as the schedule this week is different with the holiday.  For those of you that are new here, you pick a player to get three points in one of the games on Thursday.  You can’t pick somebody who is Top 10 in the league in points.  Until the end of the month, we will use last season’s top ten, so you can’t pick Kucherov, MacKinnon, McDavid, Panarin, Pastrnak, Matthews, Draisaitl, Rantanen, Miller, or Nylander.  I’ll go with Elias Pettersson against the Penguins.

That’s all for now guys.  With the holiday, I’ll be back on Monday recapping the action between now and then.  Feel free to ask any questions, leave any comments, or give any suggestions below.  Thanks for reading, take care!