Guenther Gets Utah First Victory… And Then A Second!

Opening night in Salt Lake City couldn’t have gone any better for Utah HC.  Dylan Guenther will go down in history after their first goal scorer, and he also sealed the game with an empty netter.  Guenther picked up right where he left off last season with those two goals on five shots, playing over 16 minutes.  Then on Thursday, he scored two goals again, including the overtime winner against the Islanders.  To say I’m all in on Guenther is an understatement.  Guenther’s ADP was outside of the Top 200 while I had him ranked 96th overall.  I’m a huge believer in his talent, and with Logan Cooley (4A, 4 SOG, 2 PIM) as his centerman, I think we see fantastic seasons that elevate Utah into the playoffs.  Let’s take a look at what happened over the last three nights:

Tuesday’s Games

Jordan Kyrou – Two goals on three shots.  Kyrou has the talent to be a 90 point player.  I was also quite bullish on him, although I wish the minutes were a little higher with the Blues having the lead.

Justin Faulk – Two assists.  Faulk remains a boring hold at the bottom of rosters.

Joonas Korpisalo – 29 saves on 35 shots in the 6-4 loss to the Panthers.  Swayman should have waited a few more days, he’d have received a few more million on that contract!  I still like Korpisalo as a streamer this season.  At Florida is as bad as any matchup going.

Charlie McAvoy – Goal and an assist with two shots.  I’ve kind of given up seeing McAvoy becoming a top 12 fantasy defenseman, but there’s no denying the talent.

Sam Bennett – Two goals on four shots with two PIM.  Bennett is firmly on the fringe depending on team needs and league format.    Evan Rodrigues (1+1, 2 SOG) is a step below that despite being on the second line with Tkachuk.

Sam Reinhart – Goal and an assist with four shots.  Reinhart picks up right where he left off last season.

Connor Bedard – Two assists with five shots.  I was well above ADP on Bedard simply buying into his talent.  He was buzzing throughout the night and looks destined to put up a massive season.

Barrett Hayton – Goal and an assist with four shots.  Somewhat of an afterthought now, Hayton is still only 24 years old and centering the first line with Keller and Nick Schmaltz (2A, 2 SOG).  Hayton is a bottom end streamer for now, but he could definitely jump up a few levels.

Wednesday’s Games

Samuel Montembeault – 48 save shutout in the 1-0 win over Toronto, beating Anthony Stolarz (26/27).  Toronto didn’t get shutout last season, so of course they get shutout in their first game under Berube!  Ridiculous game from Montembeault, who is capable of games like this, but will also have very low lows.  He’s a fine #3 in 12’ers.  As for Toronto, of course Joseph Woll couldn’t even stay healthy long enough to play the first game.  I was bullish on Stolarz in preseason for that reason (and to be fair, also bullish on Woll), so I’m good with making a spec add with Stolarz.

Igor Shesterkin – 29 save shutout in the 6-0 win over the Penguins.  The game was as bad as the score indicates.  Great to see Igor starting strong as his agent fights with the Rangers over money.

Chris Kreider – Two goals on five shots.  It’s crazy that Kreider is third all-time in Rangers history in goals, but that’s how good he’s been the last three seasons.

Jacob Trouba – Two assists with two PIM, four shots and five blocks.  It was the best Trouba has looked in a while, but I still don’t expect him to put up many points.  His value will come from the banger categories.

Alexis Lafreniere – Goal and an assist with three shots.  I was bullish on Lafreniere going into the season, and still think he could force his way onto PP1 eventually.  As long as he’s with Artemi Panarin (2A, 2 SOG), Laf will be on the fringe despite the lack of PP time.

Alexandar Georgiev – 11 saves on 16 shots in two periods before being pulled.  Woof.  Two of the goals were very soft.  Justus Annunen (2/4) didn’t look much better.  Both of them have super low floors and extremely high ceilings.

Mikko Rantanen – Hat trick on six shots.  Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar both had two assists.  Safe to say that the studs on Colorado aren’t the problem.

Samuel Girard – Two assists with a shot.  The Deputy is on the fringe for 12’ers, although I lean towards leaving him on the waiver wire.

Ivan Barbashev – Two goals and two assists.  The top line went off with Mark Stone having two goals and an assist, while Jack Eichel dished four assists.  I still can’t get Barbashev over a middling streamer despite being on the top line.  He’s not on the first power play which is a huge drain.  That spot is taken by…

Victor Olofsson – Two goals on three shots.  Olofsson should be a good source of PPP, but he did play only 13 minutes.  The minutes are going to be limited because of his flaws.

Shea Theodore – Three assists with a shot.  Wisdom finally prevailed with Vegas having Theodore on their first power play unit.  If that holds, he should be an elite #2 with top ten defenseman upside.

Nazem Kadri – Two assists with two shots.  Crazy comeback from Calgary that I never saw coming.  Kadri is the one forward who is a no-brainer hold on the Flames.

Anthony Mantha – Goal and an assist with seven PIM.  A Gordie Howe hat trick is a great way to win your team’s fans over right away.  It was a very good goal, but I can’t get Mantha past a middling streamer by now.

Rasmus Andersson – Goal and an assist with three shots and six blocks.  Talent wise, Andersson is a very good player, and he should be held in almost all leagues.  I just think the team around him will drive him down, but maybe talent will prevail.

Martin Pospisil – Goal and an assist with two shots and two PIM.  Middling to bottom end streamer.

Connor Zary – Goal and an assist with three shots.  Great move from Zary in overtime to get the victory.  The former first round pick is on the second line and first power play unit so the opportunity is there.  For now, he’s a middling streamer, but there is upside.

Brock Boeser – Two goals on three shots.  J.T. Miller also had a Gordie Howe hat trick while Quinn Hughes dished two assists.  The top guys on Vancouver picked up right where they left off.

Connor Hellebuyck – 30 save shutout in the 6-0 win over the Oilers.  There’s something about the Oilers and getting blown out on opening night apparently.  If you needed any proof that you should just blindly start Hellebuyck in every matchup in roto, this is it.

Mason Appleton – Goal and two assists with three shots.  The third line was excellent for Winnipeg, with Nino Niederreiter and Adam Lowry each having two points.  Not a ton of fantasy value here, with Nino having the most.  Lowry does have some value in faceoff leagues.

Mark Scheifele – Goal and an assist with four shots.  The four shots almost makes me more excited than the two points.  Getting back to 2.5+ shots per game is what will swing Scheifele’s value, because we know he’s going to be around a point per game.

Josh Morrissey – Two assists with a shot.  Morrissey has done from being a #4 fantasy defenseman for four years to all of a sudden becoming a fringe #1.  Meteoric rise seemingly out of nowhere.

Thursday’s Games

Linus Ullmark – 30 saves on 31 shots in the 3-1 win over the Panthers.  Not a bad debut for Ullmark, who just received a big contract extension.  I am bullish on Ullmark, mostly because I saw how good he was with the Sabres.  He’s an injury risk, but I think he’ll be a #1 in fantasy.

Tim Stutzle – Two goals on three shots.  I think we see Stutzle get back to the 90 points he had two seasons ago instead of the below ppg he was last season.

Steven Lorentz – Goal and an assist with two shots.  And there’s your annual Lorentz update!

Brendan Gallagher – Two goals on four shots.  I used to be a big Gallagher fan for fantasy, but despite this game, he’s more washed up than anything at this point.

Joel Armia – Two assists with two shots and two PIM.  Meh at best.

Kaiden Guhle – Two assists.  Guhle is a block machine, but otherwise, he carries more value in real life than fantasy.

Lane Hutson – Two assists with a shot and two PIM.  I’m extremely bullish on Hutson in the long term, but I think he’s capable of playing to a bottom end hold level this season.  Time will tell.

Elias Lindholm – Goal and two assists.  Safe to say that Lindholm is liking life in Boston so far.  Clear hold.

Cole Koepke – Goal and two assists with two shots.  Koepke is a AAAA player who I can’t see making any fantasy impact.  Welcome to the Razzball Database!

Nikita Zadorov – Two assists with two PIM, two hits, two blocks.  With how thin the Bruins are, Zadorov’s minutes should be bigger than we’ve seen lately.  I could see some deep league value.

David Pastrnak – Goal and an assist with six shots.  More of the same.

Brandon Carlo – Two assists.  We know what Carlo is at this point.

Mark Kastelic – Two goals on three shots.  Kaselic has done very little to this point of his career in Ottawa, and I don’t expect anything different in Boston.

Lawson Crouse – Goal and an assist.  While Crouse hasn’t been the hits machine that we are used to yet, he has scored in both games, so no complaints.

Clayton Keller – Two assists with three shots.  The inaugural Utah captain looks terrific so far.

Mikhail Sergachev – Two assists with a shot.  Early returns are as good as I had hoped for in Utah from Sergachev.

Anthony Duclair – Goal and an assist with two shots.  A#1 played almost 20 minutes in his first game for the Islanders.  That makes him an elite streamer with the upside of being a bottom end hold.

Kent Johnson – Goal and an assist with four shots and two PIM.  He’s still only 21 years old for another week, so it wouldn’t be a surprise if Johnson puts it together this season, especially because Columbus is highly incentivized to see what he can do.  He played 18 minutes despite being on the third line because he’s on PP1, so Johnson is a solid streamer for now.

Matt Boldy – Goal and two assists with three shots.  It’s a pristine matchup, but nice to see Boldy get off to a great start.

Marcus Johansson – Two assists with a shot.  Bottom end streamer per usual.

Logan Stankoven – Three assists.  The minutes were low, but there’s no denying the Stankoven talent.  He’s on the fringe because of the questionable workload.

Roope Hintz – Goal and an assist.  Even with low usage for a first liner, Hintz still scores 30 goals a season.  It felt like his value was too depressed all draft season.

Mason Marchment – Two goals with three shots and two PIM.  Marchment is in the same boat as most of the Dallas forwards, although I do have a preference towards Stankoven, Benn, and Seguin over Marchment.

Filip Forsberg – Goal and an assist with four shots.  Nice to see Forsberg pick up right where he left off.

Jonathan Marchessault – Two assists with six shots and two PIM.  It’s only one game, but concerns about Marchessault should be alleviated when he played over 22 minutes in his first game.

Anthony Beauvillier – Two goals.  He’s getting top line minutes which says more about the Penguins than anything right now.  Beauvillier has the talent, but for now, he’s a bottom end to middling streamer.

Marcus Pettersson – Goal and an assist with four shots and three blocks.  Much better in real life than in fantasy, where Pettersson is an afterthought.

Evgeni Malkin – Two assists, as did Sidney Crosby.  The boys still have it, as does Erik Karlsson, who had a goal and an assist.

Alex DeBrincat – Two goals and an assist with five shots.  We know what DeBrincat is at this point, but the encouraging sign was him playing 20 minutes.

Lucas Raymond – Two assists with a shot.  Raymond on the point for the first power play unit gives some hope for another slight uptick in production.

Jordan Kyrou – Two assists, as did Robert Thomas.  A wild Blues comeback was set up by their two best players.  We need more three shot games from Thomas to really drive that value up.

Macklin Celebrini – Goal and an assist with two shots in his NHL debut.  Not bad at all despite the Sharks blowing the game.  Celebrini is worth a bottom end hold spot right now just to see what he’s capable of.

Tyler Toffoli – Goal and an assist with four shots.  Toffoli is firmly on the fringe.  I lean towards because of the huge offensive role he’ll have, but the plus-minus is a risk.

And after 2200+ words, that will wrap things up.  I’ll be back on Monday recapping the action from the weekend.  As always, feel free to ask any questions, leave any comments, or give any suggestions below.  Thanks for reading, take care!