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"Boldy is the type of player that I love to have on my team.  Boldy’s extremely safe across the board with plenty of upside."  And that's me quoting me from my preseason rankings copying what Grey does!  Nothing like a career high in goals for Boldy before the Olympic break.  Boldy was outstanding on Wednesday, scoring a hat trick in the first period against the Predators, later adding an assist in the victory.  While the shots are slightly down, Boldy is still over three per game, and already has 32+30 in 54 games.  That's a borderline top 10 forward.  I had Boldy in my top 25 overall going into the season, slightly ahead of his ADP.  Granted, when it's this early in drafts, slightly ahead put him on a bunch of my teams.  He should only continue to get better going forward and has the chance to be reach superstardom during the Olympics.  Let's take a look at what else happened over the last two nights:
We're very accustomed to Vegas making a big trade every season at this point.  Surprisingly, we got their big move on Sunday already.  Since they were willing to acquire Rasmus Andersson without a contract extension, the Flames sent him to the desert, acquiring Zach Whitecloud, a first round pick, a second round pick (turns to another first if Vegas wins the Cup), and a prospect that projects to be an AHL'er.  It's a good return for Calgary, taking advantage of Andersson bouncing back from a dreadful 24-25 season.  For Vegas, the fit is kind of weird to me.  It's a team that doesn't even play a forward on their top power play unit, so are they really going to jam Andersson with Theodore on the second unit?  Probably to make him happy, at least with their current injuries, but I don't see a lot of gain there.  Scoring goals hasn't been a problem, and Andersson has still been bad defensively.  He should play with Hanifin which maybe helps a bit?  Overall, I think this is a net negative for Andersson's fantasy value, but I'm still holding him for the time being to see how it looks for the next couple weeks.  For Calgary, Weegar takes over the top power play unit by default.  He's on the fringe.  Whitecloud could gain some deep league value.  My assumption is he gets a top four role, and with that, some quality hits and blocks.  Let's take a look at what else happened over the weekend:
Not everybody can step into the league and score 105 points like Crosby or 52 goals like Ovechkin did.  Even for #1 overall picks, it can take some time for them to learn the league and figure out how to play to their strengths.  If the last week is any indication, it looks like Jack Hughes has started to figure it out.  After a three point game earlier in the week, Hughes followed that up with another three point game; two goals and an assist with seven shots against the Oilers. On Sunday, Hughes kept the multi-point streak going with two assists against the Capitals.  That brings to 8+8 in 16 games.  You don't need a math major like me to tell you that's a 41+41 pace over 82 games.  The minutes are starting to reach first line minutes on a regular basis.  Missing a lot of time will keep his overall value down, but Hughes has a reasonable chance to be a top 50 player this season on a per-game basis, and he'll be ranked extremely high from yours truly in 2022-23.  Let's take a look at what else happened over what was hopefully a great New Years weekend for everyone!
It wasn't hard to figure out who to feature in the opening paragraph tonight.  Andre Burakovsky started off the weekend with two goals on six shots against the Red Wings and finished it off with a hat trick on six shots against the Panthers.  That brings Burakovsky to 12+8 in 24 games on the season, quite the respectable total.  He's still available in 40% of leagues and that needs to change immediately.  With Gabriel Landeskog out for two weeks, Burakovsky is playing on the top line and top power play unit.  That's enough to make him must own in all formats, and he showed why on Sunday, getting a hat trick in a tough matchup.  It should be an excellent December for Burakovsky and hopefully it continues into the New Year.  Let's take a look at what else happened over the weekend: