An injury on opening night took Macklin Celebrini out of the lineup for a while, but otherwise, his entrance in the NHL has gone swimmingly. Celebrini scored two goals and an assist with four shots, two PIM, two hits, and two blocks in over 20 minutes of ice time in the 7-2 Sharks win over the Kings on Monday. Celebrini has six goals and four assists in twelve games this season, and surprisingly, he's taking over three shots per game. I was not expecting this type of shot rate out of the gate for Celebrini, which is a game changer for his fantasy value. The plus-minus has the potential to be ugly, but you can make a good case for holding Celebrini in all formats now. Here's to hoping he can maintain this level of play over a long season. Let's take a look at what else happened over the last two nights:
Hey all, and welcome to week seven of the NHL season! This week features a slightly more open-ended schedule Monday through Thursday with just about half the league playing each night. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday are a different story. Friday includes only two games (Buffalo @ Anaheim and Winnipeg @ Pittsburgh), Saturday is very busy and has all but two teams (Anaheim and Toronto) playing, and Sunday has just a single game on the slate (Utah @ Toronto). So take a look ahead at the schedule and plan your streaming pickups accordingly based on your roster!
Back to back wins for the Devils against the defending champions, both in Florida, is quite the accomplishment. Throughout my preseason rankings, I repeatedly stated that I was basically throwing last season out of the window for all of the Devils, and that has proven to be prudent. All of the injuries and horrific goaltending had no bearing on this season, and they look back to the team from two seasons ago. On Thursday, the Devils won 6-2, with Jesper Bratt scoring a hat trick on five shots. In 20 games, Bratt has 8+16 with almost exactly three shots per game. It's a bit skewed because the Devils have played the most games in the league to this point, but Bratt is a top five forward on the season. His teammates, Nico Hischier and Jack Hughes, who each dished three assists in the victory, are both pushing top ten forwards. We've seen superstars in Toronto play at their best under Keefe, and now we're seeing it with the Devils. None of this looks fluky. Let's take a look at what else happened over the last two nights:
Dallas was in a mini slump having lost three of their last four games going into Monday night. Safe to say that they took their anger out on the Penguins. Dallas scored six goals in the first period, eventually winning the game 7-1. Mason Marchment led the charge, tying the franchise record for points in a period with four, before tallying a fifth in the third. Marchment's goal and four assists brought him up to a point per game on the season. The minutes lead Marchment to being quite streaky, which is a reason why I see him more as an elite streamer than hold. That said, you can make the case for holding Marchment on the bottom of your roster. The PIM are excellent, the hits are also very good, and his play at even strength leads to a top plus-minus. If you can stomach low shots and streaks, you can use Marchment for other team needs. Let's take a look at what else happened over the last two nights:
On Thursday, the Florida Panthers brought the Rangers back to earth with a 3-1 win in The Garden. Leading the way was Sergei Bobrovsky, who made 24 saves in the win. Bob became the 14th goalie in NHL history to win 400 games, and set the record for the fewest games to reach 400 wins in the process. Assuming health, Bob will make the top ten all-time by the end of the season, and if he plays a couple seasons after this one, he should become the fourth goalie to reach 500 wins. It hadn't been the best start to this season, but with Tkachuk back and Barkov on the way, it's only a matter of time until the Panthers get rolling again. When that happens, Bob should get back to the top ten fantasy goalie that we're used to, with the upside of being the #1 goalie. 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:
Opening night in Salt Lake City couldn't have gone any better for Utah HC. Dylan Guenther will go down in history after their first goal scorer, and he also sealed the game with an empty netter. Guenther picked up right where he left off last season with those two goals on five shots, playing over 16 minutes. To say I'm all in on Guenther is an understatement. Guenther's ADP was outside of the Top 200 while I had him ranked 96th overall. I'm a huge believer in his talent, and with Logan Cooley (2A, 3 SOG) as his centerman, I think we see fantastic seasons that elevate Utah into the playoffs. Let's take a look at what happened over the last three nights:
We keep things moving in these parts with the rest of my forward rankings. I am going to put these guys into tiers with comments on players that I think are worth discussion. For example, I'm not going to talk about Scheifele because at this point, we know he's going to be right around a point per game with his goals coming down to how effective the Winnipeg PP is. For the Top 40, you can read that here. Let's get to it!
Two division rivals exploded on Saturday, both winning in dominant 9-2 fashion. Not too often nowadays that you see two 9-2 scores. For Toronto, a 9-2 win against the Ducks certainly wasn't expected, but isn't actually shocking either. On the other hand, Florida blowing Tampa Bay out 9-2 after falling behind in the first 30 seconds of the game qualifies as jaw dropping. Florida is arguably the best team in the league right now, dominating in multiple ways. Matthew Tkachuk is fully back, scoring two goals and two assists with ten PIM in the victory, giving him 13 points in the last five games. Carter Verhaeghe scored two goals and an assist with six shots and two PIM against his former team. He's back on the point of the top unit and with Barkov, making him a top 50 player. Sam Bennett had two goals and two assists iwth three shots and ten PIM. Bennett is firmly on the fringe right now as long as he's with Tkachuk. For Toronto, Auston Matthews had a hat trick and two assists with four shots as he scores goals at an unprecedented rate. Bobby McMann had two goals and an assist with four shots, although I'm still not buying in with his workload. He's bumping up to decent streamer for the time being. Also, if you need short term defensemen help, Timothy Liljegren is on PP1 and dished three assists with Rielly still suspended. Let's take a look at what else happened over the weekend:
We're very close to the All-Star break with most teams starting their extended break on Sunday. If you look at defensemen production, specifically in goals, you see notable names at the top. Dahlin leads defensemen in goals, and then there's a four way tie behind him with notables like Makar and Hughes. None of that is a surprise. Weegar is one of those tied with Makar and Hughes, which is very surprising, but he went into the season locked into a big role, so let's assume he had some good fortune. But Thomas Harley? He's a player I really liked in dynasties, but to be one goal off the league lead for defensemen? Not even close to my radar. Harley scored two goals on Saturday, including the overtime winner for a second straight game, in the 5-4 win over the Capitals. That gives Harley a whopping 12 goals in 46 games. "Even with Heiskanen back, Harley was a factor. I’m still holding Harley even though I wasn’t expecting to when Heiskanen came back. He’s been that good for the Stars." And that's me quoting me from three days ago copying what Grey does! Somehow, Harley is still available in almost two-thirds of fantasy leagues. With the pool of defensemen dropping off hard at the bottom, Harley should be owned in all formats. Let's take a look at what else happened over the weekend:
Fantasy Hockey Weekly Newsletter: Week 15
Hello everyone. Welcome to the fifteenth edition of JOT This Down!
Keep the questions, comments, and concerns coming. I’ll be here all week to answer any and everything you may have.
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:
