Reinhart Carries The Cats

No Barkov, no Tkachuk, no problem for Florida on Monday and Tuesday.  They posted two consecutive 4-3 wins over Boston and Columbus respectively, with Sam Reinhart leading the way.  Reinhart scored two goals on Monday against the Bruins before scoring a goal and two assists against the Blue Jackets.  It’s an excellent start to the season for Reino despite missing his most common linemate.  I was still aggressive in my Reinhart ranking despite the regression that was coming because I’ve always believed in his ability.  I wouldn’t be surprised if we see a career high in assists to counter the drop off in goals.  He played over 21 minutes on Tuesday and as long as the other two are out, I expect Maurice to lean on Reinhart heavily.  With Tuesday’s performance, he makes me the early leader in the clubhouse for the Three Point Challenge, so thank you Reinhart!  Let’s take a look at what else happened over the last two nights:

Brandt Clarke – Three assists with a shot and two PIM.  This game was off the rails with 15 total goals.  The Kings were vastly outplayed, but their power play was lethal.  Clarke’s assists all came on the power play, and there’s no reason he should ever lose the PP1 spot to Doughty.  That said, he’s going to have to cut down on the dumb penalties for Hiller to trust him with big minutes.

Anze Kopitar – Three assists.  It’s the second three point game of the early season for Kopitar, who isn’t showing signs of slowing down at 37 years old.

Kevin Fiala – Two goals on five shots with two PIM.  Their line wasn’t great at even strength, but Fiala was also great on the power play.  I’m not concerned about them.

Adrian Kempe – Goal and an assist with three shots.  Kempe has quietly turned into the player everyone expected five years ago.  He’s a great reminder that sometimes, it takes time.

Alex Laferriere – Two goals on five shots.  Laferriere received plenty of chances last season in the top six, but I have to say, he looked like he belonged in this game.  He’s even on the top unit in Byfield’s spot right now, which makes Laferriere an elite streamer.

Josh Norris – Two goals and an assist with three shots and two PIM.  All of the big guns for Ottawa went off, with Drake Batherson, Brady Tkachuk and Tim Stutzle all having three points.  His career has been derailed by injuries, but this is a good reminder of what Norris is capable of.  He had 35 goals in 66 games just three seasons ago.

Thomas Chabot – Goal and an assist with five shots playing 29 minutes.  Jake Sanderson also had a goal and an assist in almost 27 minutes.  It’s no secret that their workloads are going to be massive.  Chabot has been very aggressive with his shooting in the early going which is great to see.  I also wouldn’t be surprised if this is the season we get the Sanderson breakout.  The top power play time is firmly in place now.

Zack MacEwen – Two goals with nine PIM.  And there’s your annual MacEwen update!

Jake Allen – 20 save shutout in the 3-0 win over Utah.  Two games, two strong starts for Allen.  The Devils should be very good defensively under Keefe.  Markstrom is the #1, but Allen is worth streaming in almost all matchups.  In certain leagues, you can make a case for holding him.

Nico Hischier – Two goals and an assist with six shots over two games.  He hasn’t been his usual self defensively yet, but Hischier has been solid offensively and that’s what we care about.

Seamus Casey – Goal and an assist on Monday, two shots Tuesday.  Casey is standing out in the early going, although his shooting luck has been absurd.  In dynasties, there’s definitely a player here, but for now, he’s a deep league option only.

Jack Hughes – Goal and two assists with six shots over two games.  While the shot rate hasn’t been bad, he’s only had one game over three.  We need to see Hughes back in the 4-5 range regularly like last season.

Jesper Bratt – Three assists with eight shots over two games.  The shooting luck will come for Bratt, who has a point in five straight games after the opener.

Sean Durzi – Out for “the foreseeable future” with an upper body injury.  Their GM, Bill Armstrong, was vague beyond that.  With Marino as well, we’ll have to see who fills in the void on the top pair.  Expect Sergachev to handle as many minutes as he can.

Anton Lundell – Three goals and an assist with six shots.  Part of me wishes we could see Lundell on a different team where he gets this workload all the time.  He’s a borderline hold as long as Barkov is out, but then it will presumably drop back off.

Mark Kastelic – Three assists.  Kastelic has five points in four games with Boston.  That’s halfway to his total from last season when he played 63 games, and six points off his career high.  Outside of a pile of hits, none of this is sustainable.

John Beecher – Goal and an assist.  See the final sentence above.  Welcome to the Razzball Database!

Mason Lohrei – Goal and an assist with two shots.  Lohrei is a far more interesting discussion.  He’s currently on the top pair with McAvoy, so while I don’t expect Lohrei to light the world on fire, there’s definitely deep league value.

Igor Shesterkin – 31 saves on 32 shots in the 4-1 win over the Red Wings.  And after a one game blip, we get a return to the Igor we’re accustomed to.

Mika Zibanejad – Goal and two assists with five shots and two PIM.  Zibanejad was dreadful against Utah and didn’t look great in Pitt despite the Rangers blowout victory in the opener, so it was great to see him back to his usual.

Artemi Panarin – Three assists with a shot.  Monster start for Panarin, who already has seven points in three games.

Evgeni Malkin – Goal and two assists.  The shot rate needs to increase, but Malkin’s playmaking has been fantastic in the early going.  He has six assists over the last three games.

Lars Eller – Two goals on three shots and two PIM.  The Eller revenge game!  I can’t see Eller carrying much value outside of the deepest of leagues.

Matt Grzelcyk – Two assists with two shots.  The depth of the Penguins blue line is very weak so the opportunity is there for Grzelcyk to make an impact, but for now, he’s just worth monitoring.

Michael Matheson – Two assists with two shots.  Matheson is always going to stuff the box score, although I am a bit worried about his fantasy value eventually taking a hit by Hutson taking the PP1 spot.

Nick Suzuki – Two assists with a shot.  Somewhat of a slow start for Suzuki, but I’m not concerned.

Brock Nelson – Two goals on five shots.  Nelson is just below superstar level, but still doesn’t get the credit he deserves.

Mark Stone – Two assists with three shots.  Unreal start to the season for Stone with eight points in four games.  Just stay healthy!

Alex Ovechkin – Two assists with six shots.  It will be interesting to see if Ovechkin can keep his legs throughout the season.  He’s hitting everything that moves so far and has three assists in two games.

Andrei Vasilevskiy – 26 saves on 27 shots in the 4-1 win over the Canucks.  The hurricane has limited the Lightning to two games, with Vasilevskiy being fantastic in both.

Brandon Hagel – Goal and an assist with two shots, as did Anthony Cirelli.  I was extremely bullish on Hagel going into the season and while I’m annoyed that Raddysh played on PP1 for reasons unknown in this one, they went 0-5 so it shouldn’t last.  Cirelli is what he is at this point.

Brayden Point – Goal and an assist with four shots.  Point’s floor has reached an incredibly high level.

Nick Paul – Two assists with three shots.  He should remain a middling streamer as the third wheel on the second line.

Filip Gustavsson – 27 saves on 28 shots and a goalie goal!  While the goal is awesome, the big thing is this is Gustavsson’s third great start in three games.  Last season was a nightmare, but early returns suggest he’ll be closer to the goalie from two seasons ago who was one of the best in the league.

Jamie Oleksiak – Two assists with a shot playing over 26 minutes.  With that workload, Oleksiak becomes a nice deep league option with his hits and blocks.

Oliver Bjorkstrand – Goal and an assist, as did Jaden Schwartz.  Chandler Stephenson dished two assists on this third line.  Things haven’t changed in Seattle despite the coaching change.  Every forward played at least 12 minutes and nobody played 18+.  That severely limits what any of their forwards can do.  Bjorkstrand is a solid streamer with Stephenson below him and Schwartz a step below that.  I don’t want to hold any of them besides Jared McCann (1+1, 3 SOG, 2 PIM).

Matt Coronato – Two goals on three shots.  The former first round pick has looked good, but only in a depth role.  He’s worth monitoring, but nothing for now.

Dustin Wolf – 31 saves on 32 shots in the 3-1 win over the Blackhawks.  Monster performance from Wolf, who took the surprise Flames to 4-0.  There’s no denying the upside, although he is stuck in a split with Vladar so far.  I definitely prefer Wolf to Vladar though because he is the one who has a chance to take the job and run with it.

Matvei Michkov – Two goals on five shots.  Michkov’s first two of his career came on the power play, but having watched almost all of this game, I have to say his overall game was quite good.  He’s certainly not going to be a massive liability, which will see Torts keep him on the ice.  He played 18 minutes in this one, and I think that’ll be the norm.  No brainer hold everywhere.

Morgan Frost – Two assists with two shots.  Middling streamer.

Leon Draisaitl – Goal and an assist with five shots and two PIM.  Wasn’t a good game for Connor McDavid (2A) or Draisaitl, but they tied it up late before winning it in overtime.  I assume this game will be the spark to get the Oilers, and their two best players, going.

Three Point Challenge:  We will bring back the Three Point Challenge with this Thursday’s games.  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.  For the first 4-6 weeks, 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’m on the board with my pick of Reinhart on Tuesday.  I’ll go with Forsberg against the Oilers.  Make your picks in the comment section below!