Semyon Varlamov missed Saturday’s game because of taking a shot to the jaw in warmups. The good news is that he was back on Monday, and the better news is that he did exactly what he did in the season opener: get a shutout. Varlamov stopped all 27 shots he faced against Boston to become only the 14th player ever to open the season with two shutouts. I can’t imagine you’d get a good enough return for Varlamov, so for now, ride the good wave and hope it continues. With how the Islanders play hockey, Varlamov should still put up good numbers despite the difficult division. Let’s take a look at what else happened on Monday night:
Tuukka Rask – 16 saves on 17 shots as the tough luck loser. He won’t get the volume of the other top goalies, but on a per-game basis, Rask will be as good as anyone.
Oliver Bjorkstrand – Goal and an assist with five shots and 15 PIM. My man! A Razzball favorite, Bjorkstrand set a career high in penalty minutes in a season… in one game! Don’t expect more PIM, but the shot rate will be elite and the goals will come.
Bobby Ryan– Two goals on three shots with 17 PIM. He got into it with Bjorkstrand at the end of the game. Unbelievably, Ryan has three goals in his first two games in Detroit. I’m not buying in, but he does have two games with Chicago on the horizon where I’d consider streaming him.
Sam Reinhart – Two goals on six shots. Jack Eichel and Taylor Hall each had three assists on the night. Since Reinhart moved to the top line, they’ve been completely unstoppable. Not having to deal with Couts made life easy on them. I doubt Reinhart is available anywhere, but grab him if he is. I expect that these three stay together for the foreseeable future.
Curtis Lazar – Two goals. And there’s your annual Lazar update!
Carter Hutton – 21 saves on 22 shots in the 6-1 win over the Flyers. Linus Ullmark was unavailable due to a personal issue. Krueger said he would give more information tomorrow, but until then, it’s best to just wait and see what the news is.
Frederik Andersen – 27 saves on 28 shots in the 3-1 win over the Jets. Andersen needed this game after a rough start to the season. The GAA is going to be below average, but the wins should be great.
Mitch Marner – Two goals on three shots playing over 24 minutes. The minutes are absolutely insane for Marner right now. If that lasts, I wouldn’t be shocked if he finished in the top ten in points, if not top five. You couldn’t get one more point for me to hit the Three Point Challenge on the first try!?
Justin Holl – Two assists with two PIM. With Holl locked into the top four, he’s not a bad option in deep leagues with his hits and blocks. He’ll stumble into a decent number of points just by being on the ice a lot.
Brent Burns – Goal and two assists with four shots playing over 28 minutes. Brent Burns doing Brent Burns things! With his workload, I think we see him bounce back up to closer to his norms, unlike last season.
Logan Couture – Two goals and an assist with three shots. He’s the one stud that hasn’t got big minutes yet, but it’s only a matter of time. There’s real upside here.
Tomas Hertl – Two assists with two PIM. It’s mostly been due to the power play, but Hertl has six points already in three games. The Sharks are going to be playing plenty of high scoring games so we could see Hertl reach a point per game for the first time.
Kevin Labanc – Goal and an assist with two shots and two PIM. Labanc is a middling streamer in his current role.
Justin Faulk – Two goals on eight shots with two PIM. I haven’t been a fan of Faulk’s in fantasy for years and I’m not expecting that to change this season.
Colton Parayko – Two assists with three shots. The shot rate should be decent for Parayko, but that’s about it. I don’t see much upside here so I’m staying away.
Jordan Kyrou – Goal and an assist with three shots. I really like what I’ve seen from Kyrou in the early going. He’s a decent streamer for now, but that could improve with more ice time.
Vincent Trocheck – Goal and an assist with three shots and two PIM. I’m encouraged by Trocheck playing over 19 minutes. He was a top 50 player in Florida at one point, and it wouldn’t shock me if he got back to that level. He should be owned everywhere.
Sebastian Aho – Goal and an assist with three shots. Aho has done exactly what is expected in the early going.
Andrei Svechnikov – Goal and an assist with two shots and two PIM. He’s scored a goal in every game so far as Svechnikov looks on track for the massive season I’ve been predicting, and I’m far from the only one.
Viktor Arvidsson – Goal and an assist with three shots. I expect him to be a bottom end hold with upside from there.
Johnny Gauderau – Goal and an assist. Nice start from Gaudreau who has a point in every game.
Sean Monahan – Two assists with three shots. Same story as Gaudreau, but I’m still expecting to be solid, yet unspectacular.
Jake Allen – 25 saves on 26 shots in the 3-1 win over the Oilers. Nice debut in Montreal for Allen who can be streamed in most matchups.
John Gibson – 34 save shutout in the 1-0 win over the Wild. Gibson had one awful game against Vegas while he had two other great starts. With how their division is looking, I’m expecting a bit of a roller coaster for Gibson. He’s a great goalie, but he’s only as good as the team in front of him. Gibson could end up being a #1 or #2 and it’s hard to say which happens.
Cam Talbot – 26 saves on 27 shots as the tough luck loser. I regret not ranking Talbot even higher than I did. It’s only been decent against the Kings and the Ducks so far, but I think he’ll end up being a middling #2.
Reilly Smith – Two goals on three shots. Since going to Vegas, Smith has been on the fringe of bottom end hold and elite streamer, shifting more towards bottom end hold. I see no reason to expect a change.
Chandler Stephenson – Goal and an assist. He’s an okay streamer while with Patches and Stone, but the shot rate stinks and the power play time isn’t good enough.
Three Point Challenge: Nobody got it on Monday night. Feel free to make a pick in the comments section below for a player to get three points on Monday night. It can’t be anyone in the Top 10 in points. From now, we will use last season’s top 10, so that means no Draisaitl, McDavid, Panarin, Pastrnak, MacKinnon, Marchand, Kucherov, P. Kane, Matthews, Huberdeau, or Eichel. I’m going to take Mikko Rantanen against Los Angeles.
Tuesday Streamers:
Pavel Buchnevich, Grigorenko again (get that back to back!), Paul Stastny
Wednesday Streamers: Jordan Kyrou, Zach Hyman, Dominik Kahun
That’s all for now guys. Depending on the action tomorrow, I may have a post on Wednesday, but more than likely, I will wait until Thursday. As always, feel free to ask any questions, leave any comments, or give any suggestions below. Thanks for reading, take care!
