On its face, Evan Rodrigues having an assist with four shots and two PIM in the 4-3 win over the Devils doesn’t stand out as anything special. However, it was another data point that the Panthers are going to heavily depend on Rodrigues. He’s remained on the first line and first power play unit which alone puts you on the fringe. While I think he’s a poor offensive finisher, Rodrigues loves to take horrible shots which is a big value in fantasy. Rodrigues is available in over 80% of leagues, but I’ve seen enough for him to be a hold in all formats. It could dry up when Bennett returns, but based on where Rodrigues is playing on the PP, I don’t see Bennett taking that spot. There’s a chance Rodrigues is the best fantasy player who went undrafted in most leagues, so get him now. Let’s take a look at what else happened over the last two nights:
Monday’s Games
Sam Reinhart – Two goals on five shots. Great start from Reinhart, and I’m loving the heavy shots early on. He’s never going to be good at hits or PIM, but Reinhart can be a point per game guy again.
Matthew Tkachuk – Two assists, four shots, five hits, two PIM. Classic Tkachuk game.
Erik Haula – Goal and an assist with six shots and two PIM. Haula is an early beneficiary of the Devils balancing out the power play units. With his quality of linemates also improving, Haula is a solid streamer.
Jesper Bratt – Goal and an assist with five shots. Great start to the season for Bratt whose minutes are through the roof.
Igor Shesterkin – 26 saves on 27 shots in the 2-1 win over the Coyotes. Two strong games from Igor sandwiched by a dud against Columbus. The Rangers are about to go on a long road trip which should see him face more shots than he has.
Arvid Soderblom – 34 saves on 35 shots in the 4-1 win over the Maple Leafs. The Blackhawks have been respectable so far, but I still don’t have interest in either of their goalies.
Andreas Athanasiou – Two assists with three shots. Athanasiou is stuck on the fourth line right now so even with PP2 time, he’s a deep league streamer only.
Matthew Phillips – Goal and an assist with two shots. An excellent revenge game from the diminutive Phillips, but I don’t see anything here for fantasy. Welcome to the Razzball Database!
Dillon Dube – Goal and an assist with three shots. Adam Ruzicka also had a goal and an assist, while Noah Hanifin had an assist on both of their goals. Dube is in the middling streamer range, Ruzicka is bottom end, and Hanifin is a hold.
James Reimer – 23 save shutout in the 4-0 win over the Blue Jackets. It’s hard to know what Reimer has left after spending last season with the dreadful Sharks. I’m certainly not adding Reimer, but he could play his way into being a viable streamer again.
Tuesday’s Games
Carter Hart – 25 save shutout in the 2-0 win over the Canucks. Hart is definitely going to be up and down. The Flyers roster is simply poor, but Torts will have them playing hard enough to have games like today. Ideally, Hart is your #3.
Kirill Kaprizov – Goal and two assists with six shots. Dominating performance from the Wild stars as they played down a forward. Mats Zuccarello dished three assists, while Joel Eriksson Ek had two goals on four shots with three hits and sixteen penalty minutes. All three of them are clear holds in all formats. I would not be surprised in the slightest if Kaprizov gets back in the 110 point range.
Kirby Dach – Out for the season with a torn ACL and MCL. Brutal luck for Dach, who was poised for a big role for Montreal. Here’s to hoping for a smooth recovery so he can be back next season.
Ilya Sorokin – 14 save shutout in the 1-0 win over Karel Vejmelka (33/34) and the Coyotes. Couldn’t have been any easier for Sorokin, while Vejmelka did what he could to give his team a chance. As frequent readers know, I’m bullish on Vejmelka being a #2 fantasy option this year. It’s nice to see two solid starts to open the year.
Zach Hyman – Goal and three assists. All of the big guns for the Oilers went off in his game, including Leon Draisaitl (2+2) and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (1+2). Hyman was fairly dependent on playing with McDavid last season so it was nice to see a big game playing on the second line. The minutes were down, but it had more to do with the game being out of hand.
Jack Campbell – 42 saves on 43 shots in the 6-1 win over Nashville. That’s the full Campbell experience in two games, standing on his head after being pulled in the previous game. There’s no denying the upside, but he can also torpedo your team. Personally, I don’t have much interest, but there are worse dice rolls out there.
Cam Talbot – 26 saves on 27 shots in the 5-1 win over the Jets. Pretty much every preseason post that covered goalies showed my love for Talbot this season. Nice to see him get on track here.
Gabe Vilardi – Left the game due to injury and did not return. He was ruled out quickly, which is an ominous sign. Fingers crossed it isn’t serious as I’m all in on Vilardi this year.
Trevor Moore – Two goals and an assist with three shots and two PIM. Moore is bumped up to elite streamer now. The minutes were massive in the first two games, and they only weren’t in this game because it was out of hand.
Phillip Danault – Goal and two assists with two shots. Danault is a middling streamer unless your league has faceoffs as a category, then he gets a big boost.
Arthur Kaliyev – Goal and an assist with two shots. With Arvidsson out indefinitely, Kaliyev is getting a chance with the previous two guys. His shot is deadly, but he doesn’t have full trust of the coaching staff. I like him more as a DFS punt than a contributor in season long.
Alexandar Georgiev – 37 saves on 38 shots in the 4-1 win over the Kraken. Georgiev has been the best goalie in the league so far with three outstanding performances.
Michael Bunting – Two assists. Sebastian Aho missed this game with a minor injury, but Bunting didn’t miss a beat on the make shift top line with Seth Jarvis (2G) and Teuvo Teravainen (A, 3 SOG). Bunting’s role is bigger than I anticipated with Carolina which puts him on the fringe.
Fabian Zetterlund – Goal and an assist. Nothing to really see here.
Tomas Hertl – Two assists with a shot and two PIM. If your league doesn’t have plus-minus, then Hertl is probably a bottom end hold. Something close to last season’s 63 points and -36 is certainly possible.
William Karlsson – Goal and an assist with four shots. Decent start for Karlsson with four points in four games, but I still expect a middling streamer at the end of the day.
Kaedan Korczak – Goal and an assist with two shots. I don’t see much here fantasy wise outside of hits. Welcome to the Razzball Database!
Three Point Challenge: We will do Thursday’s games per usual. For the first few 4-6 weeks of the season, we will use last season’s top 10. That means you can’t select McDavid, Draisaitl, Kucherov, Pastrnak, MacKinnon, Robertson, M. Tkachuk, Rantanen, RNH, or Pettersson. I will take Hintz against the Ducks.
That’s all for now guys. I’ll be back on Friday recapping the action from the next two nights. JKJ’s weekend streaming post will be out on Thursday so be sure to check that out as well! As always, feel free to ask any questions, leave any comments, or give any suggestions below. Thanks for reading, take care!
