We had a blockbuster happen on Saturday morning. Patrik Laine and Jack Roslovic are headed to Columbus in exchange for Pierre-Luc Dubois and a third round pick. Three disgruntled players all get fresh starts and all should have a fantasy impact, albeit to differing degrees. Let’s start with Dubois. He’s going to start centering the second line, presumably with Ehlers and Stastny moving to the wing. I presume his minutes will come in around the 18 he was at last season which should be quite productive. The big question is whether or not he’s on the first power play or if Stastny keeps that spot. We’ll have to wait two weeks to find out as Dubois will have to quarantine for that long given Canadian rules right now, but there’s a potential top 50 player in here. I really like the combination of Dubois with Ehlers.
As for how Laine and Roslovic fit into the Columbus lineup, it’s hard to say. My hope is that Laine plays on the wing with Bjorkstrand and Texier, but maybe he goes with Domi and Atkinson? The question is which player is Laine, the guy from the first two seasons or the one from the last two? Either way, he’s great, but it’s two different levels. I doubt the minutes will be as high as in Winnipeg, but will Torts let him be the offensive focal point? I sure hope so, but we don’t know. I assume Roslovic will be the third line center with some combo of other young guys like Foudy or Robinson. I’m not looking to stream him right away, but the first game that Roslovic is in the lineup should give us a good indication of what to expect going forward.
Instead of my usual daily notes recap, I’m going to make my first hold/stream list of the season for 12’ers and comment where necessary. This is for 12 team leagues that do not include hits and blocks. Assume all goalies are holds unless noted otherwise. I am doing the West and Central divisions today and will have the North and East on Tuesday.
Note: Any stats are before Sunday’s games. I wrote most of this before the Bills debacle on Sunday.
WEST DIVISION
Anaheim Ducks
Hold: Shattenkirk
Stream: Getzlaf, Rakell, Silfverberg, Comtois, Henrique, Lindholm
I’m giving Kevin Shattenkirk one more week to start producing as the minutes have been there to this point. Otherwise, the only Duck I’d hold is Gibson.
Arizona Coyotes
Hold: Garland, Schmaltz, Chychrun, Kessel
Stream: Dvorak, OEL
I’ve been extremely impressed with Conor Garland in the early going. He’s been terrific and I hope the minutes go up. Jakob Chychrun looks like he’s found another level as well. Phil Kessel is right on the fringe.
Colorado Avalanche
Hold: MacKinnon, Landeskog, Rantanen, Makar, Kadri, Burakovsky, Girard, Toews
Stream: Byram, Graves
Andre Burakovsky is injured at the moment, but when healthy, I expect him to be a hold. Devon Toews has lived up to expectations in Colorado, and Samuel Girard has been outstanding. On the other side of the spectrum, Brandon Saad has been awful. He should get back to being a solid streamer, but I’ll need to see a few quality games in a row before I use him.
Los Angeles Kings:
Hold: Kopitar, Doughty
Stream: Carter, Athanasiou, Kempe, Iafallo
I don’t even feel good about holding Drew Doughty, but he’s playing over 28 minutes per game so he’ll stumble into fantasy relevance. Adrian Kempe has been a big surprise. He has been buzzing in every game and now finds himself on the first line and first PP unit. He’s my favorite streamer of this group and it wouldn’t surprise me if he turns into a hold at one point when the schedule eases up. I still wouldn’t use one of their goalies outside of desperation.
Minnesota Wild
Hold: Kaprizov, Fiala, Dumba, Suter, Spurgeon
Stream: Eriksson Ek, Parise, Greenway
Like Shattenkirk, I’m giving Jared Spurgeon the benefit of the doubt for now. Zach Parise is still on the fringe as the shots have been there and are bound to turn into goals. As much as I liked him as a prospect, I gave up on Joel Eriksson Ek turning into an offensive player. I still don’t expect it, but this start puts him back on the radar.
San Jose Sharks
Hold: Kane, Hertl, Meier, Couture, Burns, Karlsson
Stream: Labanc, Leonard, Donato
The Sharks are as cut and dry as it can get for fantasy. I’m not using Martin Jones anywhere and there’s no way in hell I would use Devan Dubnyk.
St. Louis Blues
Hold: O’Reilly, Perron, Schenn, Schwartz, Hoffman, Krug
Stream: Thomas, Kyrou, Parayko
I want to hold Robert Thomas and to be honest, I am where I own him. However, as good as the assists can be, three shots in five games isn’t going to cut it. The minutes aren’t great right now either which is giving me pause about Mike Hoffman as well. I’m being a little patient there but the start isn’t encouraging from a usage perspective.
Vegas Golden Knights:
Hold: Stone, Pacioretty, Karlsson, Marchessault, Smith, Theodore, Pietrangelo, Lehner, Fleury
Stream: Stephenson, Tuch, Martinez
DeBoer seems intent on playing Marc-Andre Fleury every other game to open the season. Why, I have no idea because Fleury is a replacement level goalie at this point and Lehner is one of the best in the league. Anyways, he’ll get enough wins that MAF probably needs to be owned. I’m close to put Alex Tuch in the hold category. A few more games getting these minutes and I’d bump him up.
CENTRAL DIVISION
CAROLINA HURRICANES
Hold: Aho, Svechnikov, Teravainen, Trocheck, Hamilton
Stream: Niederreiter, Slavin
Pretty straight forward here. The only debate is Vincent Trocheck, but I’ve been driving the Trocheck bandwagon for years here and the minutes are up right now in Carolina, so I think it’s easy.
CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS
Hold: Kane, DeBrincat, Kubalik
Stream: Suter, Strome, Keith, Murphy
Pass on all of these goalies. I soured on Dominik Kubalik early, and I still don’t feel great about it because of the minutes. That said, he’s got some top PP time so I’m giving him a bit more. Pius Suter looks great on the top line so he’s closer to a hold than anything while this lasts. Worst case, he’s a top line streamer.
COLUMBUS BLUE JACKETS
Hold: Laine, Bjorkstrand, Werenski, Jones, both goalies
Stream: Texier, Jenner, Atkinson, Foligno, Roslovic
I am glad I was extremely low on Seth Jones going into the season because his start has sucked. I don’t own him anywhere, but I’d try to move him based on name value. I really like Alexandre Texier, and it’s been very good so far, but I have him as an elite streamer due to lack of shots. Cam Atkinson normally shoots plenty, but it hasn’t happened yet, and he’s only playing 16 minutes a game. It’s fringe, but I’m not liking what I’m seeing.
DALLAS STARS
Hold: Pavelski, Benn, Radulov, Klingberg, Heiskanen
Stream: Hintz, Gurianov, Kiviranta
The Stars power play set a record for goals in the first two games of a season with eight goals against Nashville. Obviously they’re due to regress, but it’s a great start. With their next two games against Detroit, I’d be looking to stream all three of those guys.
DETROIT RED WINGS
Hold: Larkin, Mantha
Stream: Bertuzzi, Ryan, Hronek, Fabbri
Very straight forward here. The goalies aren’t necessarily holds, but they’re both options if you really need starts.
FLORIDA PANTHERS
Hold: Barkov, Huberdeau, Hornqvist, Yandle, Ekblad
Stream: Verhaeghe, Duclair, Vatrano, Gudas
Another easy list. As long as Keith Yandle is in every night, he needs to be held. That said, I’d try to sell high on him because it could go very bad very quickly. Carter Verhaeghe is only a stream as long as he’s playing with Barkov.
NASHVILLE PREDATORS
Hold: Forsberg, Arvidsson, Josi, Ellis
Stream: Duchene, Kunin, Ekholm, Granlund, Rinne
I’m higher on Mikael Granlund than most. Ever since Hynes took the head coaching job, Granlund has received massive minutes. He’s a nice target in deeper leagues and someone I’m looking to stream in shallower leagues.
TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING
Hold: Point, Stamkos, Palat, Hedman, Sergachev
Stream: Cirelli, Killorn, Gourde, Coleman, Goodrow, Joseph, Johnson, McDonagh
If Anthony Cirelli received better power play time, he’d be an easy hold. As is, he’s right on the fringe. Mathieu Joseph is only worth streaming while he’s in the top six. Really like how Ryan McDonagh has played so far but again, no power play time, so I can’t call him a hold everywhere.
That’s all for now guys. I’ll be back with a hold/stream list for the other two divisions. As always, feel free to ask any questions, leave any comments, or give any suggestions below. We will do the Three Point Challenge for Tuesday, so if you want to make a pick in this post, feel free, just remember no top 10 guys from last season. I really appreciate all of the questions in the early going from everybody as the comment section is quite busy, makes it feel worthwhile writing. Thanks for reading, take care!
