During the longest playoff drought in NHL history, there have been plenty of hot starts from the Sabres. While I still expect that drought to extend for another season, Thursday’s game against the Flames felt different. Coming off a win that they stole in Edmonton, the Sabres came in with house money. They got a 4-1 lead before giving a goal with 1.6 seconds left in the second that the linesman inexplicably kicked into the middle of the ice. Then, the Flames scored a minute into the third. Old Sabres teams would have collapsed, but this one took over the rest of the game, winning 6-3 and being the better team against an elite Calgary team. Leading the way was Alex Tuch, scoring a hat trick to give him five goals in the past three games. Tuch has at least three shots on goal in all four games this season. Buffalo’s schedule for the rest of the month? Vancouver, Seattle, Montreal, Chicago and Detroit. Yeah, Tuch definitely needs to be held for the time being. Let’s take a look at what else happened over the last two nights:
Kevin Hayes – Two assists with four shots. Hayes played over 21 minutes again and has an assist in every game this season. He’s clearly Torts’ top option and is a borderline hold because of it.
Travis Konecny – Goal and an assist with six shots playing over 23 minutes. Konecny has started incredibly well and I feel even stronger about him being a hold.
Carter Verhaeghe – Two goals on four shots and two PIM. Verhaeghe is an elite streamer who will vacillate between holding while he’s hot and streaming.
Aleksander Barkov – Two assists, as did Sam Bennett and Matthew Tkachuk. Bennett is a clear hold for me while Tkachuk is on his wing. We know the deal with the other two.
Neal Pionk – Three goals and an assist with six shots over two games. And like that, Pionk scored as many goals in two games as he did in 77 last season. Or 54 games the year before. He’s been a hold before, but that’s because the assists were quite good. In hits leagues, he’s a no brainer. In standard leagues, Pionk is firmly on the fringe.
Cole Perfetti – Goal and two assists with four shots and four PIM. Perfetti looks great in the early going, but he might be a year away from a true breakout since he’s on PP2. Also, he needs the shot rate to increase. That said, he’s an elite streamer.
Mikko Rantanen – Two goals and an assist with three shots. Rantanen is thriving with 9 points in the first 4 games. I still feel like he doesn’t get the credit he deserves because of MacKinnon and Makar.
Valeri Nichushkin – Goal and an assist with four shots. Big Val has arguably been Colorado’s best player through four games. He hasn’t produced at even strength yet, but it’s only a matter of time.
Vladimir Tarasenko – Three assists with four shots. Robert Thomas dished two assists while Brayden Schenn, who filled in on this line for Pavel Buchenvich, had a goal and an assist. Schenn is arguably the best streamer as long as Buch is out, but his injury seems very minor.
Justin Faulk – Two goals on three shots. The Blues have somehow only played two games so far, but Faulk has looked great. He’s clearly a hold in all formats.
Alex Wennberg – Two assists with a shot. Wennberg’s shot rate is so poor that I can’t bring myself to use him.
Oliver Bjorkstrand – Two assists. I like what I’ve seen of Bjorkstrand so far, but I’m also one of his biggest fans around. At the least, he’s an elite streamer, but I can definitely see holding him.
Vinnie Hinostroza – Three assists with a shot. He’s a bottom end streamer as long as he’s in the lineup playing with Cozens and Peterka, who both look great.
Casey Mittelstadt – Goal and an assist with three shots. Thursday was one of the best games that Mittelstadt has played in his career. He’s on PP1 which makes him a solid streamer.
Jacob Bryson – Two assists with two shots. Not a lot here for fantasy.
Rasmus Dahlin – Goal and an assist with three shots and five blocks. Dahlin became the first defenseman in NHL history to score a goal in the first four games of the season. First all-time! He’s turning into the player everyone expected when he was drafted right in front of us.
Owen Power – Two assists with a shot. After a slow start, it was nice for Power to get a multi-point game. I had a few questions in the comments section about Power’s first three games. The last two he has looked much better, and I would exercise some patience.
Linus Ullmark – 30 saves on 31 shots in the 2-1 SO win over the Ducks, outdueling John Gibson (35/36). Ullmark has been great in all three starts and has been much better than Swayman. He was already a hold, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Ullmark got a few extra starts in the short term.
Travis Boyd – Goal and an assist with three shots. Lawson Crouse dished two assists and added two shots on goal. These guys are both on the first line out of necessity. Boyd is a bottom end streamer while Crouse is a middling to elite depending if your league includes hits.
Erik Karlsson – Goal and an assist. While the points have been good despite the San Jose struggles, Karlsson’s shot rate is alarming. I’m still holding, but it needs to turn around.
Tyler Motte – Goal and an assist with six shots. Motte has always been a nice depth player, but that doesn’t do us much, if anything, in fantasy hockey.
Alex DeBrincat – Goal and an assist with five shots. The shot rate has been there for DeBrincat so it’s only a matter of time until he goes on a hot streak.
Drake Batherson – Two goals on four shots. Batherson has picked up right where he left last season.
Brady Tkachuk – Two assists with eight shots and two PIM. Despite being just 2-2, Ottawa has looked quite impressive. Tkachuk’s shot generation was already elite, but it looks even better in the early going.
Tristan Jarry – 39 saves on 40 shots in the 6-1 win over the Kings. It was a classic Ryan Miller shutout from Jarry, who was outstanding again. He’s had three excellent starts to open the year.
Jeff Petry – Goal and two assists with three shots. Petry looks like he did to close last season. I’m throwing out the first half of last season out of the window. The hits and blocks have been elite and the points are coming in. He’s a clear hold in all formats.
Nick Robertson – Two goals on four shots. Oh baby! I’ve long been a believer in Robertson. Here’s to hoping Toronto gives him an extended chance on the second line because he has a lot of upside. For now, he’s worth monitoring.
Michael Bunting – Two assists with two shots. Bunting has been fine in the early going. He’s not somebody I looked to draft because of the poor PPP, but if I had him, I would still hold.
Tanner Jeannot – Goal and an assist, as did Yakov Trenin. Colton Sissons assisted on both goals. Jeannot is arguably a hold in hits leagues while Trenin is a great streamer for those targeting hits. In non-hits leagues, Jeannot is a bottom end streamer and I have no interest in the other two.
Johnny Gaudreau – Two goals on seven shots. After Columbus started 0-3 and looked dead in the water, their new superstar helped dig them out of it. Gaudreau has been great.
Yegor Chinakhov – Two assists with four shots. The minutes aren’t there for Chinakhov to make a consistent impact.
Nick Blankenburg – Goal and an assist with two shots. He played on the top pair with Werenski which is immediately noteworthy, but he also missed part of the game due to injury. There could be something here, but first, we need to see if he sticks in this role and what his injury status is. Welcome to the Razzball Database!
MacKenzie Blackwood – 16 saves on 17 shots in the 4-1 win over the Islanders. Dominant performance from the Devils, who made life easy for Blackwood. There is upside here, but I have little interest in using Blackwood.
Nico Hischier – Goal and two assists with five shots. Ondrej Palat scored two goals while Jesper Bratt had two assists. Hischier looks excellent offensively, and as long as Bratt is there, he’s going to have plenty of opportunity. He’s an easy hold, as is Bratt, while Palat is on the fringe.
Dakota Joshua – Goal and an assist with three shots. Nils Aman also had a goal and an assist as the Vancouver fourth line contributed in a big way. That said, they’re both easy passes. Welcome both to the Razzball Database!
Mats Zuccarello – Two goals and an assist with seven shots playing over 22 minutes. Zuccarello has never approached 2.5 shots per game in a season, but he’s near five per game through four games. Is it going to last? Hell no. But a new career high in shots could make Zucc a top 50 player.
Kirill Kaprizov – Goal and two assists with seven shots. Just wait until Minnesota’s first line clicks at even strength, because their top power play unit is off the charts so far.
Calen Addison – Two assists with a shot. I am glad I drafted Addison on every single team that I have. He’s racking up the assists with six in the last three games.
Andrei Svechnikov – Hat trick on seven shots. It’s only natural that Svechnikov would start on fire after saying that I was skeptical he’d ever turn into the 45+ goal scorer I envisioned in his draft year. He has six goals already and looks to be finding another gear, just like the player who went before him, Dahlin.
Sebastian Aho – Three assists with two shots. Props to ashtray for picking Aho for three points!
Brent Burns – Two assists with five shots and two PIM. Burns is getting back to his roots, taking all of the shots. I love a good bounce back, especially from a 37 year old.
Martin Necas – Goal and an assist with two shots and two PIM. Necas played over 20 minutes which you love to see. He’s an easy hold given that the workload is finally increasing.
Connor McDavid – Goal and three assists with four shots. Back to basics for McJesus.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – Goal and three assists with two shots and two PIM. Two of his assists were on the power play, while another was shorthanded. RNH can definitely be a hold if you need the power play points and assists.
Zach Hyman – Goal and an assist with two shots. Solid start for Hyman, who is generating a lot of chances. I’m holding without much thought.
Jack Eichel – Two goals on three shots. The second goal was a laughable mistake by Rittich, but it all counts the same. He’s definitely looking healthy which does wonders for Vegas’ outlook.
Alex Pietrangelo – Two assists. Both of them were secondary, and the shot rate is down. I’m still kind of low on Pietrangelo compared to consensus, but I probably underestimated how many points he can stumble into with an improved Vegas team.
Jonathan Marchessault – Goal and an assist with three shots. Nice to see him reunited with William Karlsson like old times. Karlsson is only a middling streamer though, while Marchessault is an easy hold for me.
That’s all for now guys. Remember that on Saturday’s, MarmosDad will have a post previewing the day’s games with a DFS focus, so be sure to check that out! As always, feel free to leave any questions, comments, or suggestions below. I really appreciate how much the comments section is thriving in the early going of the season so please keep it coming! Thanks for reading, take care!
