It’s no surprise that an ex-Sabre destroyed the Sabres in their first game against their former team. I’ve seen it for the better part of the decade. The surprise was that the Sabres stormed out to a 3-0 and 4-1 lead, only to blow the game. Sam Reinhart had a goal and three assists with two shots in the comeback, but that’s not what makes me excited. Four points doesn’t make me excited? Well, it does, but what really excites me is that Reinhart moved onto the first line once the game was 4-1. The line change sparked the Florida comeback, and I’d have to think they keep Reinhart there to start next game. I’ve already been holding Reinhart, but he is available in a fairly large number of leagues. I’d grab him now because if he stays on the top line, we could see him push towards a point per game.
Additionally, be sure to check out JKJ’s post for streaming this weekend here! Let’s take a look at what else happened over the last two nights:
Wednesday’s Games
Nazem Kadri – Two goals on five shots. Kadri’s dream season continues.
Nathan MacKinnon – Two assists with five shots in his return playing over 21 minutes. MacKinnon looked back to normal; get him in your lineups immediately.
Darcy Kuemper – Scratched last minute with a lower body injury. It’s amazing to me that Colorado is still rolling with Jonas Johansson as a backup. Don’t use him, he’s the worst goalie I’ve ever seen get regular NHL run. Hopefully Pavel Francouz comes back sooner than later.
Auston Matthews – Hat trick on eight shots. The entire top six for Toronto had 2+ points as Johansson was busy allowing terrible goal after terrible goal. Matthews can obviously go on a massive run at any time.
Michael Bunting – Three assists with a shot and two PIM. Bunting is an elite streamer as long as he’s on Matthews’ wing.
John Tavares – Goal and two assists with two shots and two PIM. Four straight multi-point games for Tavares has his numbers looking excellent across the board.
Igor Shesterkin – 33 saves on 34 shots in the 4-1 win over the Flyers. Prince Igor looks like the best goalie in the league right now. It wouldn’t shock me if he finishes as the #1 goalie, and I’m expecting top three at this point.
Artemi Panarin – Goal and an assist with four shots. Panarin has been piling up the shots lately to get close to last season’s shot rate. The points keep coming in so no reason to worry about him.
Kappo Kakko – Two assists with six shots. Kakko is on the first line right now and has eight points in the last seven games. Could he finally be breaking out? I’m bumping him to a solid streamer for now.
Ryan Donato – Two goals. He played on the first line with Jaden Schwartz and Jordan Eberle out, but still played only 14 minutes in an overtime game. Middling streamer at best.
Dylan Larkin – Two assists with two shots. Amazing start to the season for Larkin who is over a point per game, doing well at even strength, and maintaining his shot rate of three per game.
Moritz Seider – Two assists with a shot. It’s very assist heavy right now, but I’d have to hold Seider.
Quinn Hughes – Four assists with two shots. The assists are through the roof for Hughes and he’s actually over two shots per game. It looks like he’s going to stay as a solid #2.
J.T. Miller – Goal and two assists with five shots. Miller is right around a point per game, and his shot rate is way up from last season. Despite Vancouver’s struggles, Miller is living up to expectations.
Luke Schenn – Goal and an assist with two shots. And there’s your annual Schenn update!
Conor Garland – Two assists with five shots. Garland is starting to round into form and is back to a hold for me.
Connor McDavid – Goal and three assists with two shots, +5 in a 5-2 win. It felt like McDavid was contained for most of the game, and he still ended up getting four points. Ridiculous.
Zach Hyman – Two goals on three shots with two PIM. Hyman missed a hat trick by a millimeter causing an overturned goal on offsides. Give everyone their hats back that threw them on the ice! Hyman is crushing as expected.
Evan Bouchard – Goal and an assist with three shots. I’m a huge fan of Bouchard long term, and he’s on the fringe for now. With all of their current injuries, I see Bouchard as a short term hold.
Max Pacioretty – Goal and an assist with eight shots. Patches is in fine form right after coming back from injury. He’ll be a borderline top 20 player.
Mattias Janmark – Goal and an assist. Janmark’s role isn’t big enough at the moment to warrant fantasy consideration.
Sonny Milano – Three assists, as did Trevor Zegras. Zegras is an easy hold now, while Milano is an elite streamer while he finds success on Zegras’ wing.
Jamie Drysdale – Goal and an assist. Drysdale is right on the fringe, but I have little doubt that he’ll be a hold starting next season for the next decade.
Thursday’s Games
Dylan Cozens – Goal and an assist with two shots. Cozens was the best player in the first period which is large praise for somebody against the Panthers. He’s going to be a stud in real life, but probably a bottom end hold type of guy in fantasy.
Vinnie Hinostroza – Two goals on three shots. He’s put up decent point totals, but I have little interest in Hinostroza.
Jonathan Huberdeau – Goal and four assists with three shots and two PIM. Decent game for Huberdeau, one would say. He completely took over the game.
Aaron Ekblad – Two goals and an assist with six shots and two PIM. MacKenzie Weegar had two assists with six shots, three hits, and four blocks. The top pair for Florida also took over the game. Every shift, they were down in the Buffalo end generating chance after chance. Weegar has solidified himself as a hold.
Carter Verhaeghe – Two assists with a shot. Verhaeghe would be more fringe if Reinhart does stick on the first line.
Anton Lundell – Two goals on five shots. I was very impressed with Lundell in this game. He has a bit more speed than I gave him credit for. He’s a decent streamer for now and should end up a very good #2 center in real life sooner than later.
Lucas Carlsson – Goal and an assist with two shots. Not much to see here.
Jonas Johansson – 19 saves on 20 shots in the 4-1 win over the Canadiens. This is purely an indictment on Montreal. Don’t even think about it.
Valeri Nichushkin – Goal and an assist with five shots. Big Val was a force in this game. He’s played his way into elite streamer status while he’s a hot schmotato.
Robert Thomas – Two assists with two shots. All your assists are belong to Thomas!
Scott Perunovich – Two assists with two shots. With Justin Faulk going on the COVID list, Perunovich is locked into PP2 and decent minutes. He’s a reasonable deep league option. Welcome to the Razzball Database!
Victor Hedman – Two goals and an assist with five shots and four PIM. Hedman has dominated this season in the way that we’ve come to expect. He’s crushing every category.
Seth Jones – Goal and an assist with three shots playing almost 30 minutes. Same story for me with Jones: I don’t think he’s a quality defenseman in real life, but it doesn’t matter in fantasy with that workload.
Alex DeBrincat – Goal and an assist with seven shots. DeBrincat has cemented himself as one of the top goal scorers in the entire league.
Garnet Hathaway – Goal and an assist with four shots and two PIM. And there’s your biannual Hathaway update!
Nic Dowd – Goal and an assist with two shots and two PIM. No thanks.
Timo Meier – Two assists with four shots. Nothing can stop Meier right now.
Adin Hill – 24 saves on 25 shots in the 2-1 OT win over the Isles. Hill has been worse than I expected. He’s taking the worse end of a timeshare right now with Reimer standing on his head. I can see him being a hold at some point this season, but it’s not right now.
Jeremy Swayman – 42 save shutout in the 2-0 win over the Predators. That’ll play. Swayman has been back in a split lately, but a performance like that could keep him on the front foot.
Alex Formenton – Two goals, both assisted by Tyler Ennis. Formenton could be a decent player in time, but he played under 10 minutes in this one. Hard to use either of these guys with that type of workload.
Anton Forsberg – 47 saves on 49 shots in the 3-2 win over the Hurricanes. Absolutely ludicrous performance by Forsberg in this one. That said, he’s a hard pass from me.
Sebastian Aho – Two assists with a shot. You couldn’t get me one more point!?
Dougie Hamilton – Two assists with four shots. The minutes are lower than I expected after New Jersey gave him all that money, but Hamilton has been excellent.
Ryan Hartman – Goal and two assists with ten shots and two PIM. Good lord, the Wild first line is dominant. Hartman is arguably the biggest surprise of the season. Easy hold in all formats.
Kirill Kaprizov – Two goals and an assist with four shots. Karprizov is quickly shooting up the list of the best players to watch in the league. Every night, you see something creative and spectacular plays.
Alex Goligoski – Two assists. Gogo rarely shoots the puck, but he’s piling up assists. If that’s what you need, you can hold him at the bottom of your roster. Assists ain’t got no face!
Jason Robertson – Two goals on six shots, both assisted by Joe Pavelski. The top line keeps on rollin’, baby.
Andrew Mangiapane – Goal and an assist. Mangiapane having 16 goals and 3 assists this season is completely unexpected. You’d think he get more minutes than he does with how he’s performing, but either way, he has to be held.
Alex Edler – Goal and an assist with two shots and two PIM. Edler’s days of being relevant in 12’ers or less are over. There’s a bit of deep league value though.
Viktor Arvidsson – Two assists with four shots. The second line had a nice performance in this game, which is hard to do against the Flames. Arvidsson is averaging four shots per game and with decent points coming in, he’s a slam dunk hold.
That’s all for now guys. 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!
