Jeff Skinner was off to a slow start with the Sabres going pointless in his first four games. That said, having watched all of the games, he was generating plenty of chances and it was only a matter of time. That time was on Saturday, as Skinner did all of the work on Rasmus Dahlin‘s first career goal getting his first point as a Sabre, and he followed that up with a smooth backhander in the third period for his first goal. Yes, Skinner played only 13 minutes in this game, but I expect him to settle in the 17-18 minute range as the season progresses. Other players had bigger games on Saturday, but I wanted to highlight Skinner for two reasons. One, if you own him, do not panic and hold onto him. Two, if you don’t, you might be able to buy low, and I think it’s a great opportunity to get a 3 time 30 goal scorer on the relative cheap. Let’s take a look at what else happened over the last two nights:
Saturday’s Games:
Cam Talbot – 23 saves on 24 shots in the 2-1 win over the Rangers. Revenge game for Talbot in the Garden. I have a hard time trusting him most nights, mostly because of the defense in front of him.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – Goal and an assist with four shots. RNH played almost 24 minutes in this game while Connor McDavid (1+1) pushed 25. If the top line gets that kind of run for the Oilers, RNH is going to have a massive season and McDavid will top 120 points without much difficulty.
Marc-Andre Fleury – 26 save shutout in the 1-0 win over the Flyers. This was a big win for Vegas as they were really struggling in the early going. The Flower stole the show, and they’ll need him to play near last year’s level to compete. The bottom of their roster is ugly.
Brian Elliott – 20 saves on 21 shots as the tough luck loser. I don’t think Elliott is any good so I don’t own him anywhere. Hopefully Neuvirth gets more of a chance, or the team says screw it and gives Hart some run sooner than later.
Craig Anderson – 36 saves on 37 shots in the 5-1 win over the Kings. It’s nice that the Sens have had a decent start in terms of wins and losses, but they’re getting destroyed in terms of possession. The regression fairies are coming and Anderson is borderline un-ownable.
Jack Campbell – 7 saves on 11 shots in 30 minutes before being pulled. Yikes, we have an early candidate for worst start of the year. He was on fire before this, so I’m willing to give Campbell a mulligan and see what he does in his next time out.
Chris Wideman – Two goals. They were his first in over a year and he played 8 minutes in this game. Can you say fantasy irrelevant?
Matt Duchene – Two assists with two shots. I don’t love Duchene but he’s still a borderline hold. There’s still a chance he’s traded which should be a big boost if it happens.
Thomas Chabot – Two assists with a shot and two PIM. I know that eventually he’s a plus-minus risk, but he needs to be owned everywhere right now.
Brady Tkachuk – Two assists with a shot. If the minutes start to increase at all, he’ll need to be held in 12’ers. Tkachuk is an elite streamer right now though.
David Pastrnak – Hat trick on four shots. He’s already over 100 goals in his career, and he now has 7 goals in his past 4 games. Patrice Bergeron had three assists and Brad Marchand had two. That line seems good.
Anders Bjork – Goal and an assist with two shots. I like the long term potential of Bjork, but there’s not enough now for Bjork to be anything more than a bottom end streamer.
Jake DeBrusk – Two goals on four shots with two penalty minutes. Slow start for DeBrusk as he was pointless before this game, but I still trust him as a middling streamer with upside from there.
Brandon Carlo – Two assists with a shot. And there’s your annual Carlo update!
Jonathan Bernier – 31 saves on 39 shots in the 8-2 loss to the Bruins. And it wasn’t even the worst start of the day. Hard pass on Detroit goaltending.
Sebastian Aho – Two goals and two assists with five shots. He’s had at least one point in all six games this year. I don’t think we see him go too far past last season’s 70ish point pace, but you can’t rule it out either. Aho is still only 21 years old and the team around him keeps improving.
Justin Williams – Goal and two assists with six shots. I think Williams needs to be held right now in 12’ers. The Hurricanes are absolutely dominating while he’s on the ice, and he played over 20 minutes in this one. I do think you’ll be cutting him eventually, but for now, hold.
Justin Faulk – Two assists with eight shots and two PIM. I don’t love Faulk, but with how bad defensemen are around the league for fantasy purposes, Faulk needs to be held while he’s on the top PP unit.
Teuvo Teravainen – Two assists with four shots. Teravainen has two games with four shots, and four shots in his other four games combined. The shot rate is going to determine if Teravainen stays as a fringe top 100 player or if he can improve from there.
Brett Pesce – Goal and an assist with two shots and two PIM. He’s a nice player in real life, but I’d only use Pesce if you’re desperate. The lack of PP time will eventually slow him down.
Devan Dubnyk – 52 saves on 57 shots in the 5-4 OT loss in Carolina. It’s not often that a goalie allows five goals and is the first start of the game, but Dubnyk absolutely deserved it. I’m not worried about Dubnyk’s tough numbers to start.
Zach Parise – Two assists with a shot. Parise has had a nice start to the season but I remain skeptical in his ability to stay healthy and that he’s even that good of a player right now. I’d stream but wouldn’t hold.
Mikael Granlund – Goal and an assist with three shots. Slow start but I fully expect Granlund to get back into the mid to high 60’s in points again.
Jared Spurgeon – Goal and an assist with three shots. I’m leaving Spurgeon on the waiver wire. Poor PIM, the shots are below average, and his PP time is decreasing.
Evgeni Malkin – Two assists with a shot and four PIM. Just stay healthy!
Phil Kessel – Goal and an assist with two shots. The shots are down right now but I fully expect Kessel to start shooting at a high rate again. Regardless, 4+3 in 4 games is going to play.
Kris Letang – Goal and an assist with five shots. He played 32 minutes in this game as Justin Schultz left the game with what appeared to be a broken leg. Look for Letang to get a massive workload and for Olli Maatta to get PP2 time.
Tomas Tatar – Two goals and an assist with six shots. He played 21:30 in this game which is pretty interesting. Tatar has produced in the past, and Montreal is so devoid of offensive talent that Tatar could continue to get big minutes. I’d stream him for now, but there could be more here.
Jeff Petry – Two assists with a shot. He was -1, and he’s a big risk there, but Petry probably should be owned right now despite that downside.
Brendan Gallagher – Goal and an assist with six shots. Still a big Gallagher fan despite being in a poor situation.
Sergei Bobrovsky – 23 saves on 31 shots in the 8-2 loss to Tampa. Woof, Bob took the lead for worst start of the year. I doubt you’ll be able to buy low, but I’d much rather do that than sell him. Duds happen, especially at Tampa.
J.T. Miller – Goal and two assists with three shots. Don’t see the point in listing every Tampa guy with multiple points, but Miller is a notable. Miller was down on the fourth line, but received a ton of power play time where he scored all three points. I think we see him on the first line again sooner than later, but I’m still holding Miller even if he’s on the fourth line just because of that PP upside.
Brayden Point – Two goals and an assist with two PIM. Not great that Point is down on PP2, but there’s plenty to go around in Tampa for Point to remain a 60+ point guy with upside from there.
Auston Matthews – Goal and an assist with three shots. Can’t be stopped right now.
Kasperi Kapanen – Goal and an assist with two shots. Needs to be owned while he’s on Matthews’ wing.
Jake Gardiner – Two assists with a shot. This was Gardiner’s first shot on goal of the season in six games. That makes him a waiver guy, no way around it.
Evgeny Kuznetsov – Goal and an assist with five shots. Look at how absurd this is:
https://twitter.com/BarSouthNCelly/status/1051273954600439809
What a beauty.
Alex Ovechkin – Two assists with two shots. Strong start for The Great Eight. All of the partying isn’t going to stop the greatest goal scorer of all time from wrecking the opposition.
Vincent Trocheck – Goal and an assist with two shots and four PIM playing over 23 minutes. Trocheck is such a machine in real life and fantasy with the massive minutes Boughner gives him.
Hampus Lindholm – Two assists with a shot. He now has six points in his past four games counting Sunday (spoiler alert!). Lindholm is still only 24 years old so perhaps we could see some more consistent offense this year. He should be owned everywhere.
Tyler Seguin – Two assists with nine shots. The other members of the Big Four in Dallas, Jamie Benn. Alexander Radulov, and John Klingberg, each had a goal and an assist. The big guns are rolling right now for the Stars, and I’m loving how Montgomery is using them. I feel better each day about my 95 point prediction for Seguin.
Filip Forsberg – Two goals on seven shots with two PIM. His linemates, Viktor Arvidsson and Ryan Johansen, each had two points as well. I’m still not a big Johansen fan for fantasy, but I love the other two and this line should continue to dominate at even strength.
Brayden Schenn – Two goals on seven shots playing over 23 minutes. He got some time with Tarasenko in this game which would be big for his value going forward. Schenn will be fine regardless, but he could be a bit yawnstipating.
Alex DeBrincat – Two goals on six shots with two PIM. Oh baby, I love me some DeBrincat! Q played him over 20 minutes in this game, and if the minutes remain, the goals are going to keep flowing.
Artem Anisimov – Goal and an assist. At this point, it would take a move back to the second line in Schmaltz’ place for me to care about Anisimov for fantasy.
Linus Ullmark – 36 save shutout in the 3-0 win over the Coyotes. First career shutout for Ullmark, who should get 25-30 starts this season as Hutton’s backup. He’s not in the elite tier of goaltending prospects, but he’s probably in tier two. Given the amount of juicy matchups in the Atlantic Division, Ullmark should be a strong streamer.
Sunday’s Games
Kyle Palmieri – Two goals on six shots playing over 22 minutes. That’s two goals in each of the first three games for the Devils. He’s playing with Taylor Hall (2A, 3 SOG) to start the year which is obviously great for Palmieri’s upside for this season. I was a fan before the season for his floor, but now it looks like the ceiling has rose significantly. I can’t imagine he’s available in any league, but if he is, get him immediately.
Keith Kinkaid – 37 save shutout in the 3-2 win over the Sharks. That’s three strong starts in a row from Kinkaid to start the season, but I expect regression sooner than later.
Hampus Lindholm – Two assists. See Lindholm, Hampus above.
Josh Morrissey – Two assists with a shot. I like Morrissey in real life, and he now has four assists in five games. The problem is that he has five shots on goal in those five games and he’s always been a low volume shooter. For now, leave Morrissey on the waiver wire, but he could end up being ownable down the line.
Laurent Brossoit – 42 saves on 43 shots in the 3-1 win over the Hurricanes. Great game from Brossoit, although I wouldn’t be counting on that going forward. He’ll be a solid streamer solely for wins, but the numbers will probably be below average.
Monday Streamers:
Kasperi Kapanen (12.3%) – As discussed above, I think he should be owned everywhere so use him tonight.
Tomas Tatar (7.0%) – The matchup against Detroit is excellent, and the minutes are there for Tatar to continue his strong start.
Jason Spezza (1.3%) – I’m not a Spezza fan at this point in his career, but he’s still the fifth wheel on the first PP unit. That alone makes him worth considering, and you won’t get a better spot than against his old team in Ottawa on a short slate.
That’s all for now guys. I’ll be back on Wednesday recapping the action from tonight and Tuesday. Lackeydrinksonme will have a streamer piece for this week coming out in the afternoon, so be sure to check that out! As always, feel free to ask any questions, leave any comments, or give any suggestions below. Thanks for reading, take care!
