Hat tricks aren’t that uncommon in the NHL. First period hat tricks are. Evander Kane became the first player in Sharks history to do so, scoring three goals and adding an assist with five shots in the 5-2 win over the Hurricanes on Wednesday. Kane has long been a player that I rate higher than consensus because of his shot rate and penalty minutes. Kane has four goals and two assists in four games since returning from suspension to go along with four PIM and 13 shots. Pretty, pretty good. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the Sharks went 0-3 without Kane and are 3-1 since. With their current depth issues, Kane should be leaned on heavily giving him a great chance at a top 50 fantasy season. Let’s take a look at what else happened over the last two nights:
Sidney Crosby – Goal and an assist with five shots playing over 24 minutes. Crosby has at least one point in every game so far this season and I wouldn’t bet on the streak breaking any time soon with his current workload.
Kasperi Kapanen – Goal and two assists. Kapanen started the game on the third line but ended up moving to the second later in the game. He’s a strong streamer but far from a hold.
John Carlson – Goal and two assists with four shots playing 28 minutes. Carlson is on an absolute tear in the early going with 3+11 in 8 games. The Capitals blue line is remarkably thin meaning 26 minutes a night should be the norm. He’s a great DFS option in any matchup given the prowess of the Washington power play.
Nicklas Backstrom – Goal and an assist with three shots. Backs is currently at 2.5 shots per game which is a massive upgrade from his usual two per game. If that holds, he has a chance to be a top 50 player. I still think he’ll be outside of that but he’ll have plenty of value regardless.
Alexander Radulov – Two assists with a shot. Montgomery has been shuffling the lines constantly on the hopes of finding anything that works. Personally, I would just keep Seguin, Benn and Radulov together because we know they can dominate. I like Radulov plenty but his value can change quite a bit depending on role.
Jakub Voracek – Two goals and an assist with seven shots. This game was out of hand quickly but Voracek managed to have an excellent game. The Flyers have quietly been excellent so far in terms of possession and generating quality chances. That makes me want to buy most of their top guys if possible.
Claude Giroux – Two assists with two shots. Giroux has started slowly but as mentioned above, it should turn.
Connor McDavid – Goal and four assists. McJesus now has 17 points in 7 games. That’s a 199 point pace. I don’t expect that to continue, but would anyone be shocked if he got to say, 130 or more? Nothing is off limits for him.
Leon Draisaitl – Two goals and an assist with three shots. His 15 points would be the talk of the league if not for his teammate being ahead of him. I may have ranked Draisaitl too low having him 8th overall.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – Goal and an assist with four shots. RNH has a point in four straight games but the shot rate has been poor before Wednesday’s game. I consider him an elite streamer but not a hold.
Tomas Hertl – Goal and two assists with two shots. His slow start has been erased with Kane’s return. He should play close to a point per game pace for the rest of the season.
Brent Burns – Two assists. He’s -4, but otherwise Burns has been as good as expected.
Jakob Silfverberg – Goal and two assists with three shots. Silfverberg is off to a hot start but I still only consider him to be a middling streamer. Very valuable player in real life for his defensive abilities, but that doesn’t do us much good for fantasy.
Adam Henrique – Two goals with four PIM. He’s off to a decent start but I think even less of Henrique than Silfverberg.
Rickard Rakell – Goal and an assist with two shots. I’m absolutely buying Rakell for this season going forward. He’s over 3.5 shots per game and if he keeps that up, he’s almost a lock for 30+ goals.
Josh Manson – Two assists with two shots and two PIM. And there’s your bi-annual Manson update!
Carter Hutton – 47 save shutout in the 3-0 win over the Kings. Lot of low quality shots for the Kings, but they also had some really good opportunities and Hutton locked it down. That’s his second consecutive shutout and hopefully you grabbed him after Monday. Easy hold right now.
Casey Mittelstadt – Two goals and an assist with three shots. Mittelstadt was buzzing all night and showed his true potential. He’s a bottom end streamer for now but let’s not forget that he’s still only 20 years old.
Brayden Point – Goal and an assist with five shots. After two duds, Point had another multi-point game. He’s staring down another top 20 season.
David Pastrnak – Two goals and an assist with four shots. I wrote about Pasta for Wednesday’s post and he had another monster game. Absolutely dominate performance on the power play. Brad Marchand, Torey Krug, and Patrice Bergeron each had two points as well. Their studs will give them a chance every night.
Carey Price – 17 save shutout in the 4-0 win over the Wild. Doesn’t get easier than that for Price. My main takeaway is that the Wild are a disaster offensively right now. This was the first game that Price gave up less than three goals so I’m not a big fan of what’s going on in Montreal.
Matt Tennyson – Two assists. I can’t believe I’m writing about Matt freakin’ Tennyson. He’s one of the worst defensemen I’ve ever seen. That’s enough on that.
Semyon Varlamov – 32 saves on 33 shots in the 3-1 win over the Jets. Varly has had three great starts and one dud in his first four for the Islanders. I still think he could be a bottom end #1 this season.
Mathew Barzal – Two goals on three shots. After a slow start, Barzal has five points in his last three games. My money is on him getting back to a point per game.
Josh Bailey – Goal and an assist with three shots. The points are coming in for Bailey but I still consider him a middling streamer because of the poor shot rate.
David Rittich – 27 saves on 28 shots in the 5-1 win over the Red Wings. Rittich is looking like a poor man’s Frederik Andersen. Poor GAA but a good SV% and wins. It’s pretty clear he’s the #1 in Calgary making him a solid #2.
Mark Giordano – Goal and an assist with four shots. He’s been very good in the early going as expected.
Sean Monahan – Two assists and a shot. Boring Sean Monahan remains boring.
Derek Ryan – Goal and an assist with three shots. He got some power play time on the first unit but I don’t expect that to continue. Peters likes him plenty, but I still only see a bottom end streamer.
Ryan Ellis – Two assists with two shots. Ellis is killing it so far with 1+8 in 7 games. We could finally see his full offensive potential with Subban out of town.
Phil Kessel – Two goals. The shots are there so the goals should come for Kessel. I’d like to see more than 16 minutes though.
Derek Stepan – Two assists with three shots. Mediocre streamer at best right now.
Nick Schmaltz – Two assists with three shots. Schmaltz is an solid streamer while he’s a hot schmotato, but the minutes are too low for more than that.
Clayton Keller – Two assists. Keller has really disappointed me after his rookie season. I’m not loving him going forward which puts him right on the fringe for me.
Colin White – Two assists with five shots playing over 23 minutes. White is a nice streamer because of the big minutes he gets.
That’s all for now guys. I’ll be back on Monday recapping all of the action from this weekend. As always, feel free to ask any questions, leave any comments, or give any suggestions below. Hopefully everyone gets a chance to watch some hockey over the next few days. Enjoy your weekend, take care!
