Sports Mount Rushmore's are always a hot topic for debate, but the more time goes on, the more I think Sidney Crosby has to be on it. Here we are one month into the season, and Crosby is carrying a horrible Penguins team to a 9-4-2 record while leading the league in goals. Crosby scored two more times on Thursday against the Capitals, putting six shots on net in over 22 minutes of ice time. He's been a top five forward to this point, and while I don't expect that to last, it's a good chance that Crosby finishes as a top 20 player again. Not bad for someone in his age 38 season. Let's take a look at what else happened over the last two nights:
Here is the list of teams that have 0 or 1 loss so far (overtime included): Colorado, Winnipeg, Carolina, New Jersey, and Detroit. None of the first four come as a surprise at all. However, Detroit reeling off five in a row after a dreadful opener is a huge surprise. They've been better defensively than expected, but the big thing so far is Dylan Larkin carrying the top line. No Raymond for a couple games, no Kane today, no problem. Larkin had a goal and an assist on Friday, including the overtime winner against Tampa, before scoring two goals and two assists in the 4-2 win over Edmonton Sunday. That brings Larkin to a whopping 5+6 in six games to go along with 20 shots and a +9 rating. Despite playing with a recent seventh round pick and a bottom six guy in Appleton while Raymond was out, Larkin has at least one point in every game so far. It's early to predict career highs from Larkin, but I'm not ruling out his first point per game season. With his elite shot rate, we could see his first top 50 season in three years. Let's take a look at what else happened over the weekend:
Atlantic Division Preview here
Metropolitan Division Preview here
Happy Wednesday, Razzball faithful!
It’s your new/old hockey writing friend, MarmosDad, back with another divisional preview as we start knocking games off of the NHL calendar.
Last week, I gave you the final Eastern Conference preview with the Metropolitan Division (you can click it to check it out!).
This week, we head West with a peek at the Central division, and boy, am I excited to get rolling on this one!
I nearly jumped the gun and went straight to the Central when I started writing these up, just because I’m kind of obsessed with a certain Winnipeg Jets prospect who opened some eyes in training camp.
That should be enough of a teaser to get us through this preview, especially because the Jets round out our teams at the bottom of our profiles today.
So let’s close our eyes, take a deep breath, and try to find our Central, er, center, as we head out to visit the place with the least creative division name of all…
The Oilers have taken a massive hit lately missing both of their superstar centers, but on Saturday, one returned and picked up right where he left off. In the Battle of Alberta, Leon Draisaitl dominated, scoring two goals and an assist with eight shots in his first game in almost two weeks. It's been a three way battle for the top forward spot on the season between MacKinnon, Kucherov, and Draisaitl. Draisaitl's shot rate resurgence to go with him blowing away the rest of the league in the goals department gives him a real case for #1. Regardless, he's the Hart favorite and has played his way back into tier one going forward. Let's take a look at some players around the league that have had a value change recently:
Things are shaking out differently than I expected in Detroit. I thought Petr Mrazek was brought in to be the backup to Talbot, but he’s started three consecutive games. After losing to his former team, the Hurricanes, on Friday 4-2 (saved 28/31 shots), he came back with an 18 save shutout victory in the 3-0 win over the Golden Knights. Please, blog, may I have some more?
The trade deadline is this Friday, but we saw a couple trades on Saturday, one of which carries some big fantasy ramifications. The Panthers made their annual big swing, acquiring Seth Jones from the Chicago Blackhawks in exchange for Spencer Knight and a first round pick, almost certainly in 2026. Even with Chicago retaining salary, Jones will cost the Panthers seven million a year for the next five years. Long time Razzballers know that I have never been a fan of Jones in real life compared to his reputation. I wouldn't want to commit to him for the next five years for free, let alone giving up a first round pick and Knight. That said, it will certainly help him stepping onto the defending Cup champions. So what can we expect for fantasy?
It's not too often that you see a team up 5-1 halfway through the game and they don't even get a point. In fact, they lost by multiple goals. The Sharks were taking it to the Predators on Tuesday before the firepower we expected from Smashville going into the season showed up, making a 7-5 comeback. They were led by one of their big free agent signings, Jonathan Marchessault, who had a goal and three assists with four shots. It was a brutal start to the season for Marchessault (like everyone on the Preds), but Marchessault is in the midst of a nine game point streak right now. The shot is fantastic, so he's played his way back onto the fringe with a lean towards holding, especially on this hot streak. Let's take a look at what else happened over the last two nights:
I hope that everyone enjoyed their long weekend as much as I got to enjoy the Bills demolishing the 49ers on Sunday night! The Sabres and having to dig out my car, not as much fun. Anyways, I'm going to take a look at one player on each team around the league whose value has changed for the better or worse in the short term. I'll give you their current value and what I'm expecting from them in the near and short term. Let's get to it!
It's not every day that we see a hat trick from a defenseman, but we got one on Tuesday night. The Kraken destroyed the Canadiens from the get go, and Brandon Montour really dug their grave. Seattle's big free agent acquisition had a natural hat trick on four shots, adding an assist and two PIM in the 8-2 beatdown. I was fairly bullish on Montour going into the season, and he's delivered nine points in ten games so far, with over three shots per game. The main reason I wasn't all in on Montour, as you can see in my preseason rankings, is that I was unsure on how Disco Dan would set everything up for Seattle. Well, Dunn ended up getting hurt right away and ended up on LTIR, alleviating any concerns. Montour should be an elite #2 in 12'ers for the time being, with the upside of being a #1. Let's take a look at what else happened over the two nights:
Oh, the irony of the timing. Right as Ryan Smith, owner of the Utah Jazz, puts out a release saying that he's ready to bring a hockey team to Utah, the Arizona Coyotes go on a 14 game losing streak. Over the weekend, they managed to right the ship. The Coyotes snapped their skid on Friday, beating Ottawa 5-3, before defeating the Capitals 5-2 on Sunday. The featured performance was their former 9th overall pick Dylan Guenther. Guenther had a goal and an assist with two shots on Friday before scoring a goal and two assists with five shots and two PIM against the Capitals. Guenther playing over 18 minutes on Sunday was extremely encouraging. With Clayton Keller out, Guenther moved to the point on the first power play unit, and delivered three PPP over the two games. I've been a fan of Guenther's as a prospect and it looks like he's finding his game in the NHL. He's an elite streamer for the time being who you can hold for this week if you'd like. Arizona has four games, including two against the Blackhawks. In dynasties, I see a guy that eventually becomes a hold in all formats. I think he'll be a guy who gets three shots on goal per game on average, resulting in 25ish goals with upside for more with a good shooting percentage. Let's take a look at what else happened over the weekend:
It's been a painful 13 years as a Sabres fan, but Tuesday's game might have been the worst. There were tanking years, there were disappointing years, but for as bad as it's been, there can't be a worse loss than giving up nine goals at home to one of the worst teams in the league missing two of their best players. "Kirill Marchenko is a lone bright spot lately. I’m not holding, but the minutes are going up, the goals and shots are decent enough, and he currently is a key figure on their PP. He’s a solid streamer." And that's me quoting me from yesterday! Well, it's time to give Marchenko a boost. Marchenko had a natural hat trick in this game. One of his goals was on the power play, he put four shots on goal, and he played 15 minutes despite the game being a blow out. Marchenko is now an elite streamer. Let's take a look at what else happened on Tuesday night:
The hockey season is underway with nine total games in the books so far. In this post, I will cover those games quickly at the end highlighting some notables, and will have the same for Friday despite a shortened Thursday schedule. Monday morning will have my first big set of daily notes from the weekend. This post will open with 10 Bold Predictions for the season. These are all meant to be bold; I'd be glad to hit on three of them. Last season, we had some awful whiffs (thanks Cole Sillinger) but also hit on Dahlin being a top 5 defenseman and predicting massive failure for Chicago and Philly from a fantasy (and real) perspective. Let's get to it!
