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After some brutal injury luck, Patrik Laine was able to return for the Canadiens on Tuesday, scoring a goal in his Montreal debut.  On Thursday, Laine did the same, scoring a goal on three shots in the win over the Predators.  Laine has stepped into a 17 minute role right away, including top power play time.  I'm not going to say it's going to be completely smooth, but Laine has undeniable upside.  He's available in about 50% of leagues, which seems too high.  In 10'ers, he's definitely on the fringe.  In 12'ers, I lean towards holding for that goal scoring upside, but it is also fringy.  It depends on the bottom of your roster and your team needs.  Let's take a look at what else happened over the last two nights:
The Jets are off to a perfect 3-0 start and they have their best players to thank for it.  They've only given up two goals in three games (more on that guy later), and Mark Scheifele has been the difference maker in both games over the weekend.  Scheifele tied Friday's games with just over a minute remaining before scoring the overtime winner against the Blackhawks.  Then, on Sunday, he scored with one second on the clock at the end of the first period before setting up Connor for the overtime winner.  Scheifele has two points in each of the three games so far, and the eleven shots is quite encouraging.  At the end of the day, we should expect Scheifele to be around a point per game, so the shot rate will go a long way between being a top 50 player and being a top 100 player.  Let's take a look at what else happened over the weekend:
Today, we're moving up to the blue line.  I'm going to cover the top 20 defensemen today, the top 40 later in the week, with the plan of putting out my Top 150 or Top 200 on Friday.  I'm on the fence between 150 and 200 just because of how much team needs come into play later in drafts.  If I do the Top 150, my plan is to have a separate post early next week about players I'm targeting later in drafts.  Anyways, let's get to the kings of the blue line!
When the Flames acquired Yegor Sharangovich and a third round pick for Toffoli, the consensus was the Flames didn't get nearly enough for Toffoli off a 34 goal season.  Well, here we are at the midway point of the season, and Sharangovich has more goals than Toffoli.  Sharagovich had a hat trick on six shots on Thursday in the 6-2 victory over the Coyotes.  That gives him 17+30 in 42 games.  The minutes have been through the roof lately, and Sharangovich has rewarded Huska with 6+5 and over three shots per game in his last ten appearances. His speed is an absolute weapon and he's starting to be a focal point on the power play.  At the end of the day, Sharangovich is probably somebody who is on the fringe, but for now, he's a definite hold.  Let's take a look at what else happened over the last two nights:
Before we start, I just wanted to highlight two posts that came out on Monday much later than scheduled because of technical difficulties with the website.  Jules' weekly streaming post can be read here, while I also updated my hold/stream list.  Now back to the scheduled daily notes... It looks worse because of their record, but in reality, Carolina is playing very close to the same level as last season.  The difference is that their goaltending has been dreadful for the better part of three months, and that's from all three goalies.  Thankfully, when they needed it most as Andersen was out with blood clots and Raanta completely lost his game, Pyotr Kochetkov has rounded back into form.  On Tuesday, Kochetkov saved 28 of 29 shots in the Carolina 6-1 win over the Rangers.  Going back to Kochetkov's last ten starts, he's allowed only one goal five times, and has only one game allowing more than three.  Kochetkov has a 2.00 GAA in that stretch so it's no surprise to see Carolina back in second place in the division.  There's a very reasonable chance they finish atop the division again.  Kochetkov is still owned in less than 50% of leagues, and that doesn't make any sense to me.  He's a top five goalie for the last month and should be owned in all leagues.  Let's take a look at what else happened on Tuesday night:
Hello everyone. Welcome to the seventh edition of JOT This Down! Thank you to everyone who provided feedback in volume six. I appreciate it.  Keep the questions, comments, and concerns coming. I’ll be here all week to answer any and everything you may have.
We know that Jack Hughes has dominated the first three weeks of the season, but his older brother has started off extremely well, while his teammate and younger brother is starting to get going as well.  Let's start with Quinn Hughes.  On Friday, Hughes scored two goals on four shots, adding two PIM.  Against the Rangers, he had three shots on goal, which sounds disappointing, but it illustrates a large change in Quinn's game.  The one thing that has been holding Quinn back for years in terms of fantasy value is his shot rate.  This was his sixth straight game with 3+ shots, and 7th in eight total games.  It signifies a huge chance in his game, one that does fantasy owners wonders.  He has eight points in eight games and certainly can come close to repeating last season's 76 points in 78 games, if not topping it.  He was always an elite #2 with flaws, but now, he's a #1.  Sure, the hits are dreadful, but everything else is magical.