The Hellebuyck saga has finally come to an end, and while the fit makes a lot of sense, it’s a team that was on the outside of the inner circle of discussed teams that swooped in and got him. The Devils acquired Connor Hellebuyck from the Jets on Friday for forwards Dawson Mercer and Nick Bjugstad, goalie Nico Daws, the rights to forward Alexander Command, New Jersey’s second-round pick in the 2029 NHL Draft and its seventh-round selection in the 2027 NHL Draft. The Devils have started off the season extremely well, and the cost wasn’t prohibitive, so good for Mehta to swoop in and get the superstar. Hellebuyck should be back in the lineup this week and goes right back to being a top five fantasy goalie. Mercer played on the third line on Sunday, and looks to remain a middling streamer in 12’ers. Bjugstad is a cap dump who is injured, and Daws is just depth for the Jets. Command was the 12th pick in last draft, and projects to be a middle sixer. This trade doesn’t affect his value. The biggest impact of this trade comes to Jake Allen and the goalies on teams that didn’t acquire Hellebuyck. Allen isn’t worth holding anymore outside of deeper leagues, although I’d stream him in almost all matchups. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen remains the Buffalo starter, at least until Lyon returns. It’s been a dreadful start for UPL, but I would still hold for now. Karel Vejmelka has been even worse than UPL, but the wins are better, so for now, we hold there too. I wouldn’t be surprised if Cossa eventually works his way into a platoon though. Let’s take a look at what else happened over the weekend:
Friday’s Games:
Jake Guentzel – Two goals on seven shots with two PIM. Hot start shooting wise for Guentzel, who is right above a point per game, as we’re accustomed to.
Brayden Point – Two assists with three shots. It looks like the days of Point pushing three shots per game are over, as he’s at two per game for the second straight season. The points are still good enough to make him an easy hold, but his days of fantasy superstardom are done.
Charle-Edouard D’Astous – Goal and an assist with three shots, two PIM, five hits, and three blocks. Unbelievably, D’Astous has been on PP1 in place of Carlson for the last couple games. If you need D help, grab D’Astous now.
Nathan MacKinnon – Goal and three assists with four shots. Martin Necas had a goal and two assists, while Artturi Lehkonen also had a goal and an assist. The top line is crushing at the moment, which comes at no surprise.
Devon Toews – Goal and an assist with two shots and two PIM. Toews is must-own in all formats again. Malinski has started slowly and Toews looks like the defenseman we saw in his first five seasons in Colorado.
Jacob Fowler – 20 saves on 21 shots in the 4-1 win over the Blackhawks. Fowler is clearly the #1 goalie for the Canadiens right now and needs to be owned everywhere.
Jake Evans – Two goals and an assist. And there’s your biannual Evans update!
Kaiden Guhle – Goal and an assist with two shots. Guhle has some deep league value in banger leagues for his very good hits and solid blocks, but he’s provides little offense.
Saturday’s Games:
Tristan Luneau – Goal and two assists with two shots. Luneau has some upside, as evidenced by Anaheim giving him a big contract while only having 14 NHL games under his belt. For now though, there’s not enough here.
Leo Carlsson – Goal and an assist with two shots and two PIM. The shot rate is really poor so far, but Carlsson has 13 points in 11 games, so here’s to hoping that the shots fix itself.
Matvei Michkov – Two goals on three shots. Michkov is playing so well that Tocchet has no choice but to play him real minutes. Finally!
Trevor Zegras – Two assists with three shots playing over 21 minutes. After a slow start, Zegras has turned it around with seven points in his last four games.
Porter Martone – Goal and an assist. Really rough start for Martone. I’m giving it another week or two before I cut him just because of how he ended last season.
Arseny Gritsyuk – Goal and an assist. Gritsyuk has a goal on five straight games, resulting in a bump up to the top line with Hughes and Bratt. That makes him an elite streamer for the time being.
Kent Johnson – Two assists. Johnson is getting top line and top PP usage at the moment. I’m intrigued with the former 5th overall pick, but for now, just a middling streamer.
Cam Talbot – 26 saves on 27 shots in the 2-1 win over Vegas. Talbot has been getting some more run lately, although I remain bullish on Greaves. Talbot has two great starts, one average start, and one brutal start. I’d leave him to the best of matchups, despite his performance against the Golden Knights.
Dylan Strome – Two goals and an assist with five shots. Very good start to the season for Strome, who is on the fringe, but with a lean towards holding.
Alex Tuch – Two goals on three shots with two PIM. That just had to happen against the Sabres, even if the first goal was a pass that Tage deflected in. Tuch has been great so far in Washington with seven goals in ten games.
Jakob Chychrun – Two assists with four shots. Chychrun is over three shots per game, so the goals are going to come sooner than later.
Jordan Kyrou – Two assists with three shots. After a slow start, Kyrou has six points in his last four games. Playing with Strome and Tuch, I also see Kyrou on the fringe with a lean towards holding.
Pyotr Kochetkov – 24 save shutout in the 4-0 win over the Blues. Bussi has started the season horribly, which isn’t a surprise. The biggest thing for Kochetkov is health. He can easily be a top 12 goalie.
Sebastian Aho – Two assists, as did Seth Jarvis. Jarvis is on L3 and PP2 right now as they ease him back in, but I have zero concerns about his fantasy value going forward.
J.T. Miller – Goal and an assist with two PIM. Miller’s shot rate is so poor that it puts him on the fringe.
Adam Fox – Two assists. All your assists are belong to Fox!
Will Cuylle – Goal and an assist. In hits leagues, Cuylle is probably worth holding no matter the size of the league. Otherwise, he’s a solid to elite streamer.
Noah Laba – Two assists with a shot. Nothing to see here for fantasy purposes at this point in Laba’s career.
Drake Batherson – Hat trick and an assist with two PIM and four hits. Batherson is sitting right at a point per game, which he’s never done before. He’s increased his point total in each of his first eight seasons, so might as well make it nine!
Jake Sanderson – Goal and an assist. He’s missed time so far, but when Sanderson has played, he’s been great.
Michael Amadio – Goal and an assist. Nice depth forward in real life, but doesn’t provide a ton of fantasy value.
Dylan Cozens – Goal and an assist with two shots. This was Cozens’ first goal of the season. Woof. Right now, I’d have to go more elite streamer than hold, just because I don’t think the upside is huge for you to get burned dropping him.
William Nylander – Two goals on three shots. Incredible start for Nylander, who has 8+10 in 13 games. He’s not far off being a top ten player.
Jack Roslovic – Goal and an assist with two PIM. Excellent start from Roslovic. I don’t expect it to last, but he’s on the fringe right now while being a hot schmotato.
Kirill Marchenko – Two assists with a shot. The media was complaining about Marchenko to start the season. He has twelve points in his last ten games. Ridiculous.
Leon Draisaitl – Two goals on seven shots, with both goals assisted by Connor McDavid and Evan Bouchard. All three of them are cheat codes right now.
Jacob Trouba – Two assists. Trouba has stumbled into a bunch of points so far this season. Since he’s on PP2, I’d probably own him in most places?
Fraser Minten – Goal and an assist with four shtos and two PIM, as did James Hagens. Both of these guys are approaching the fringe pretty quickly.
Vincent Trocheck – Two assists with two shots. He’s currently centering Cooley and Guenther, so Trocheck is on the fringe depending on team needs.
Dmitri Simashev – Two goals on three shots. The first two goals of Simashev’s career, including an overtime winner! The former sixth overall pick isn’t worth holding outside of deep dynasties, but perhaps we look back at this game as the first bullet point in an illustrious career.
Jesper Wallstedt – 23 saves on 24 shots in the 5-1 win over the Kraken. I was all in on Wallstedt, and he’s delivered so far. Even when Gustavsson returns, I expect him to keep at least two-thirds of the starts.
Blake Coleman – Two goals on five shots with four PIM. Coleman looks to be a middling streamer at the moment.
Joel Eriksson Ek – Goal and an assist with two shots. Before this game, JEEK was the unluckiest player in the league in terms of expected goals. Given that he’s with Kaprizov and Boldy, JEEK needs to be held everywhere for the impending heater.
Devin Cooley – 28 saves on 29 shots in the 4-1 win over the Red Wings. Cooley played three times this week, with all three starts being fantastic. If you want to ride the hot streak, I’m fine with it, but acknowledge the downside playing for a team like Calgary.
Joel Farabee – Goal and two assists with three shots. Four game point streak for Farabee, who looks to be their best offensive player. However, that only puts him in the solid streamer range.
Matt Coronato – Two assists with two shots. Coronato also had a four game point streak and is in the same range as Farabee.
Matvei Gridin – Goal and an assist with four shots. I believe in the long term upside, but Gridin is only a middling streamer for now.
Sunday’s Games
Bo Horvat – Two assists with two shots. Great start for Bo, who is on pace for 42+42 and over three shots per game. Pretty, pretty good.
Tyler Seguin – Goal and an assist with two shots. PP1 is gone for Seguin with the Stars healthier up front, knocking him down to solid streamer.
Roope Hintz – Two assists with two shots. At the moment, he’s paired up with Jason Robertson (two goals on three shots), which is obviously good for Hintz’ value. Not that playing with Rantanen is a bad thing.
Wyatt Johnston – Goal and an assist with two shots. Slow start for Johnston, but the shots have been there, so I have no concern.
Jacob Fowler – 33 saves on 34 shots in the 2-1 win over the Jets. It’s become clearer by the day that it’s Fowler’s crease. Tough beat for Dobes owners. I didn’t see this coming after the season he had last year, especially not in October.
Cole Caufield – Two assists. Business as usual so far for Caufield.
Martin Necas – Two assists with two PIM. I don’t understand why Necas is off PP1, but even with that, Necas has 16 points in 12 games. I assume Bednar will fix that sooner than later.
Ryan O’Reilly – Two goals and two assists with five shots and two PIM. The top line absolutely destroyed the Avs, with Steven Stamkos scoring two goals and an assist with four shots, while Filip Forsberg had a goal and two assists with three shots. All three of them have at least one point per game, and all three are clear holds.
Roman Josi – Three assists with four shots and four PIM. Josi is off to an incredible start. Yes, he has only one goal, but the shots are good and he’s averaging an assist per game. Perhaps we get another season of him as a top twelve defenseman.
Kirill Kaprizov – Goal and an assist with two shots. The Oilers have stolen the spotlight, but Kaprizov is playing out of his mind right now. He already has 13+8 in just 13 games.
Quinn Hughes – Goal and an assist with three shots. He just had to score and get his 500th career points against the Canucks. Just had to happen.
Maxim Shabanov – Goal and an assist with three shots. The shot rate has been dreadful, but with eight points in twelve games, Shabanov is a solid streamer as long as he stays on PP1.
Three Point Challenge: We will bring back the Three Point Challenge for Tuesday’s Games! For anyone who doesn’t know, you pick a player to score three points in their game that night, but it can’t be somebody in the top ten in scoring. For a while, we will go with last season’s top ten in points, so you can’t select McDavid, Kucherov, MacKinnon, Celebrini, Scheifele, Suzuki, Necas, Pastrnak, Draisaitl, or Robertson. Fungazi 2.0, Surfer Dude, ashtray, and Ranah all have a correct pick already, with nobody getting a correct pick last time out. Give me Jack Quinn staying hot against the Sharks in a homer pick.
That’s all for now guys. We’re back on the normal schedule now, which means MarmosDad will be back on Wednesday, and I’ll be back on Friday. As always, feel free to ask any questions, leave any comments, or give any suggestions below. Thanks for reading, take care!
