It’s no secret that I think Nikolaj Ehlers is the best forward on the Jets and it’s not much of a debate. Ehlers stole the show on Tuesday night, tying the game with the goalie pulled, only to score 19 seconds later and win the game for Winnipeg. Ehlers had an assist earlier in the game bringing him up to 2+2 in six games. The big thing is that he has 25 shots in six games. Ehlers is an absolute stud and the points are going to keep flowing in. Let’s take a look at what else happened over the last two nights:
Robin Lehner – 26 saves on 27 shots in the 3-1 win over the Avalanche. Lehner was excellent in this game. I’d definitely buy low on Lehner as it’s only a matter of time until Vegas gets going.
Chandler Stephenson – Goal and two assists with two shots over two games. He’s an okay streamer, but the poor shot rate and right now, worse linemates, drags Stephenson down.
Evgenii Dadonov – Two goals on nine shots over two games. It’s nice to see Dadonov shooting the puck a lot more than we’re used to. He’s an elite streamer.
Shea Theodore – Goal and an assist with five shots over two games. The shot rate is there for Theodore, but the results haven’t been. I have no doubt that things will work out just fine.
Andrew Mangiapane – Two goals on three shots. Surprisingly, Mangiapane has scored seven goals in six games, including goals in four straight games. I have no problem streaming him while he’s hotter than a pistol.
Dougie Hamilton – Two assists with four shots. Dougie has been solid in all facets through the first five games. No surprise at all.
Pavel Zacha – Two goals on five shots. Zacha played over 20 minutes with Hughes out of the lineup. With a shot rate of three per game, Zacha is moving into elite streamer territory.
Dawson Mercer – Goal and an assist with five shots. I talked about Mercer in my post about holds and streamers. He looks like a nice commodity in the long term and a decent streamer in the short term.
Andrei Vasilevskiy – 28 saves on 29 shots in the 5-1 win over the Penguins. The bounce back is inevitable.
Ryan McDonagh – Goal and an assist with three shots, four PIM, a hit and two blocks. McDonagh filled up the stat sheet in this one. If your league includes blocks, he should be a hold.
Ondrej Palat – Goal and an assist with two shots. Even with Kucherov out for two months, I’d still be holding Palat.
Alex Killorn – Goal and an assist with three shots and two PIM. Killorn has done very well to start the season, but I still lean towards elite streamer over a hold.
Mikhail Sergachev – Goal and an assist with three shots and two PIM. The plus-minus is ugly, but that should fix itself. Sergachev has been great otherwise.
Juuse Saros – 28 saves on 29 shots in the 3-1 win over the Sharks. Saros has been great outside of one rough start in Ottawa. He’ll be just fine.
Roman Josi – Two assists with five shots. Josi has been the best defenseman in the league so far with nine points in seven games, along with almost four shots per game. Do as the Roman does!
Andrew Copp – Goal and two assists with six shots and two PIM. As noted in my post the other day, Copp is definitely a hold while he’s getting big minutes.
Sonny Milano – Goal and an assist with two shots. And there’s your annual Milano update!
Trevor Zegras – Goal and an assist with four shots. It is extremely encouraging that Zegras has at least three shots on goal in each of the past five games. He’s an elite streamer for now, but if he starts to turn these chances into actual production, he can be a hold in no time.
Philipp Grubauer – 23 saves on 24 shots in the 5-1 win over the Canadiens. It’s been a rough start for Grubauer, but I’m not too concerned about it. I wouldn’t be looking to sell him, that’s for sure.
Jamie Oleksiak – Two assists. He’s a decent streamer for hits, but that’s about it.
Yanni Gourde – Goal and an assist with five shots playing over 21 minutes. Well, this is an interesting development. Gourde does have a 64 point season under his belt, the PIM are usually strong, and now the minutes look like they will be. I think he should be a hold now.
Brandon Tanev – Two goals on three shots. I’m still not buying this offensive production, but the hits are extremely good. If you’re in a hits league, then I can see the value in Tanev.
Adam Erne – Goal and an assist. He’s had a nice start to the season in terms of points, but the underlying numbers scream that it’s kind of fluky. For now, I’m keeping Erne as a bottom end streamer.
Sergei Bobrovsky – 30 saves on 31 shots in the 4-1 win over the Bruins. In terms of goals saved above expected, the best goalie in the league so far is… Bob!? Could we possibly be seeing a resurgence from him? It would be more proof that goalies are voodoo.
Gustav Forsling – Three assists with three shots. He’s piling up assists and the shot rate is solid for a defenseman. I guess Forsling should be considered a bottom end hold now? AAGNOF!
Sam Reinhart – Two assists with two shots. Reinhart is carrying the third line right now. That’s not the role I was hoping he’d have, but he has seven points over the last five games. That’ll work.
Seth Jones – Two assists with five shots. The minutes will be there for Jones to be productive in fantasy.
Claude Giroux – Goal and an assist with two shots. Great start for Giroux who has a point in every game so far this season.
Justin Braun – Two assists with a shot, three hits and three blocks. Braun played almost 24 minutes with Ellis out of the lineup. He has five points in five games, but it screams complete fluke. That said, he should be okay in hits and blocks for super deep leagues.
Cam Atkinson – Two goals on four shots with two PIM. Things couldn’t be going better for Atkinson in his start with Philly. The shots are great and the goals are flowing. He’s also been a plus in every game. Easy hold now.
Sean Couturier – Goal and an assist with two shots. He’s a machine, plain and simple.
Connor McDavid – Goal and an assist with nine shots. He played over 25 minutes in a regulation game. It’s getting to the point where I might only write about McDavid when he has 3+ points because he gets two in every game.
Tyson Barrie – Goal and an assist with four shots. It’s been a slow start for Barrie, but not as bad as last season. His role is still there so I’m confident it will turn around quickly.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – Two assists with a shot playing almost 25 minutes. He has at least one assist in the past five games. RNH is an easy hold with this workload.
If you didn’t scroll past this post, you can read JKJ’s streamer post here!
Three Point Challenge: For those that are new or need a refresher, you pick one player to score three points in a game but they can’t be in the top ten in points. We’re going with only Thursday night games right now, and with the Top 10 from last season for the time being. That means you can’t take McDavid, Draisaitl, Marchand, Marner, Kane, Matthews, Rantanen, MacKinnon, Scheifele, or Crosby. Fungazi remains the only one on the leaderboard. I’ll go with J.T. Miller against the Flyers tonight.
To wrap this up, I’d like to show my support for Kyle Beach. I can’t begin to understand what it’s like to experience this tragedy and not have the support of the organization you’re a part of. For him to work up the courage to do that 25 minute interview with TSN is commendable. I can only hope that the NHL takes proper action against Quenneville and everyone else who made fun of the situation at hand, or pushed it under the table to “avoid a distraction.”
That’s all for now guys. Odds are that I’ll be back tomorrow recapping the games from Thursday night, but there’s a chance I won’t be back until Monday. As always, feel free to ask any questions, leave any comments, or give any suggestions below. Thanks for reading, take care!
