It’s not too often that we see 23 year old goalies in the NHL. It happens more often now than in the past, but letting them develop in the minors after junior hockey is a must. Jesper Wallstedt just turned 23 on Friday so he’s been in while he was even younger, but this season he has cemented himself as an NHL’er. He is an elite prospect, and the time might already be now. Wallstedt had his second consecutive shutout on Saturday, stopping all 28 shots from the high powered Ducks. Wallstedt has started six games and is 4-0-2 with a 2.10/.924. There are a couple major things working in Wallstedt’s favor. One, the Wild are playing much better hockey as they get healthier. Two, despite a win on Sunday, Gustavsson has really struggled. It’s far from a guarantee that Wallstedt turns into something this season, but if you’re hurting in goaltending like a lot of people are, a speculation add of Wallstedt could pay dividends.
Before we recap the weekend, if you have any suggestions on what I should write about for Friday, let me know in the comments section below. I can do another set of daily notes, look at all of the injuries around the league and their fantasy impact, update my hold/stream list, or something else that you’d like. Don’t hesitate to throw something different out there. Now let’s get to it!
Friday’s Games
Juuse Saros – 16 saves on 17 shots in the 2-1 OT win over the Penguins in Sweden. Nashville is doing a very good job of limiting shots this month, but it’s still resulted in some ugly games for Saros. It’s looking like a bounce back is unlikely.
Elias Pettersson – Goal and an assist. Going from someone who gets over 3 SOG per game to under two is brutal for his fantasy value. I’m still holding because the points are solid, but he’s gone from a former top 20 player to someone that could end up outside of the top 100 again.
Shayne Gostisbehere – Three assists with six shots. Gostisbehere actually played over 26 minutes in this game. If that lasts, his value could be massive. After all, he already has 12 points in 9 games.
Andrei Svechnikov – Two goals and an assist. Svech appears to be back. I was skeptical of that happening, but he has ten points in his last ten games and is back with Sebastian Aho (1+1, 4 SOG). I’m holding again.
Owen Tippett – Goal and three assists with four shots. The new line for Philly scored all five of their goals in this gamae, with Christian Dvorak and Trevor Zegras each recording two goals and an assist (Zegras had 7 SOG while Dvorak had 3). Tippett is in elite streamer range, Dvorak is a solid streamer again, while Zegras is looking like a borderline top 50 player again.
Cam Fowler – Two assists with two shots. Congrats to Fowler on reaching 500 career points. I was expecting better from Fowler with how he ended last season. He’s on the fringe or a step below that.
Jordan Kyrou – Goal and an assist with five shots. Kyrou is dropping towards the fringe now, although I’m still holding because of the upside.
Robert Thomas – Goal and an assist. More bullish on Thomas getting back above a point per game than Kyrou getting back to being a 30+ goal scorer this year.
Jimmy Snuggerud – Goal and an assist with two shots. Solid streamer with plenty of long term upside.
Saturday’s Games
Andrei Vasilevskiy – 22 saves on 23 shots in the 3-1 win over the Panthers. He hasn’t been himself yet, but Tampa is starting to improve. I’m still bullish on Vasilevskiy for the rest of the season.
Matt Boldy – Goal and an assist with five shots. Boldy played over 25 minutes in this game. The usage is insane for the top Wild players so far. Boldy is playing at a 40+40 pace while pushing towards 300 SOG. And that’s why I had him as a top 25 player.
Igor Shesterkin – 24 saves on 25 shots in the 2-1 OT win over the Blue Jackets. The GAA for Igor is very good right now at 2.39. Now if he can get back to the .915 range, we’re talking a slam dunk top 5 goalie again.
Luke Hughes – Goal and an assist with three shots. The shots are great recently for Hughes. Hopefully this is the new norm, even when Dougie comes back.
Alex Ovechkin – Goal and an assist with three shots. We’re a couple big shot games away from Ovechkin getting back towards normalcy.
Connor McMichael – Goal and an assist with four shots. It’s been a really rough start for McMichael, but he did move onto wing with Ovechkin and Strome in this one. He’s a fine streamer for now, but there’s a lot of upside if McMichael holds onto that spot.
Anton Forsberg – 17 save shutout in the 1-0 win over Linus Ullmark (17/18) and the Senators. Zzzzzzz. Man, what a boring game. Forsberg has had two very good starts and four awful ones. I’m not particularly interested in that dice roll.
David Pastrnak – Two assists with five shots. It’s too early for Hart conversations, but Pasta carrying the Bruins (along with Swayman) to respectability would put him in the conversation.
Connor McDavid – Two goals and an assist with five shots. Leon Draisaitl had a goal and two assists with three shots and two PIM. Draisaitl hasn’t been quite to his usual level, and you can argue the same for McDavid, but they just exploded in one of the hardest matchups possible. At the end of the season, I’m sure they’ll end up where they usually do.
Jack Roslovic – Goal and an assist with three shots. The return of Zach Hyman (assist, 2 SOG, 11 hits) didn’t really hurt Roslovic. He’s on the fringe for now with a lean towards holding, but I do think that’ll end once RNH returns.
Tage Thompson – Goal and an assist with six shots. This was a vintage Tage game, as he was absolutely dominant throughout. Hopefully it’s a sign of things to come.
Rasmus Dahlin – Two assists in his return. It was great to see him back after going to Sweden to see his fiance. Get him back in your lineup immediately.
Josh Doan – Goal and an assist with four shots. Doan is down into solid streamer range, but I’m still a big fan.
Lucas Raymond – Three assists with three shots. Raymond is in line with last season’s performance besides trading a few goals for assists. I’d like to see his shot rate go up.
Alex DeBrincat – Two goals on five shots. We got the full DeBrincat experience in this game, with DeBrincat finishing -3 after getting owned by Tage in OT. Thankfully, his defensive warts don’t really matter in fantasy so enjoy the goal scoring binge.
Moritz Seider – Two assists with four shots. Seider is a monster in banger leagues and extremely overrated in standard leagues. I’ve believed that for half a decade now.
Akira Schmid – 22 saves on 23 shots in the 4-1 win over the Blues. Schmid is worth holding for now just for the wins. That could dry up quickly though if Hart comes up right away when he’s eligible December 1st.
Reilly Smith – Two assists. No thanks at this point in his career.
Pavel Dorofeyev – Two assists with three shots. That’s more assists than Dorofeyev had through the whole season before Saturday! The goals and shots are great and that’s why we’re holding him.
Jake Oettinger – 20 saves on 21 shots in the 5-1 win over the Flyers. The sv% is rough by his standards, but I think we see Oettinger continue this mini-surge towards being great again.
Jason Robertson – Three goals on six shots. “Robertson has been very unlucky so far, so it’s nice to see him have some good fortune. I’m buying all the Robertson stock I can get.” And that’s me quoting me from Friday. The regression to the mean is in full effect.
Roope Hintz – Three assists with three shots. Amazing start to the season for Hintz, who is over a point per game and sitting with over three shots per game. If anything, he’s been unlucky to not have more goals.
Tyler Seguin – Goal and an assist with two shots. These three guys are a current line, which is great for Seguin. He’s into solid streamer for the time being.
Matt Murray – 6 saves on 7 shots before leaving the game injured late in the first period. Philipp Grubauer saved all 19 shots he faced. There hasn’t been an update yet on Murray, so we should get one on Monday.
Chandler Stephenson – Three assists with a shot. Solid streamer again because of the quality assists. That’s because he’s close to 1.5 shots per game at least.
Jaden Schwartz – Two goals on six shots. Nice resurgence from Schwartz, who has 7+7 in 18 games. That’s enough to get him into elite streamer range, although there’s a better chance of him falling off than reaching the fringe or being a hold.
Jamie Oleksiak – Two assists with a shot. And there’s your biannual Oleksiak update!
Josh Morrissey – Two assists. I’m still in shock that Morrissey had turned into a top ten fantasy defenseman after five years of being a bottom end hold. The shot rate is down a bit, but there can’t be any complaints while he sits over a point per game.
Kyle Connor – Two assists with five shots. Connor is doing even better than last season, which says a lot.
Morgan Frost – Two assists with three shots. Bottom end streamer.
Matt Coronato – Goal and an assist with four shots. Coronato is pushing towards three shots per game, and played 20 minutes in this game. It’s not holdworthy, but Coronato is into elite streamer range. His last five shot totals: 4,4,6,5 and 11.
Sunday’s Games
Sergei Murashov – 21 save shutout in the 4-0 win over the Predators. This was Murashov’s second career start. He had good numbers in the ECHL and AHL last season, his first in North America. I’m not grabbing him now, but he’s worth monitoring for both the short and long term. Welcome to the Razzball Database!
Quinn Hughes – Four assists with four shots and two PIM. The goals aren’t there right now, but Hughes has ten assists in his last five games, including seven in the last two. The shots are great, so Hughes is definitely going on a goal scoring binge sooner than later.
MacKenzie MacEachern – Goal and an assist with twelve PIM. MacEachern has barely had NHL time in his career, and he’s 31 years old. Nothing to see here. Welcome to the Razzball Database!
Filip Hronek – Two assists. On the fringe.
Elias Pettersson – Two assists with a shot. Same story as under Friday’s notes.
Mats Zuccarello – Two assists with three shots. Zuccarello is on the fringe depending on team needs.
Lucas Raymond – Goal and an assist with seven shots. And that’s what we like to see, a huge shot total.
Cam Talbot – 18 saves on 19 shots in the 2-1 win over the Rangers. Quick deserved better in this one as the Rangers were outshot 42-19. Talbot’s wins have been good, but the numbers are pretty rough. He’s splitting with Gibson, and despite the good start for the Red Wings, I’m pretty low on them.
Scott Wedgewood – 28 saves on 29 shots in the 4-1 win over the Islanders. Bednar said that for now, they’re rolling with Wedgewood while he’s playing at this level. At some point this season, he’ll lose the job to Blackwood, but Wedgewood will still be an elite streamer at that point. For that reason, I wouldn’t sell high.
Brock Nelson – Goal and an assist with three shots. Nelson has been great in a defensive role, but that doesn’t help us for fantasy. He’s down to a middling streamer as he lost his PP1 spot.
Three Point Challenge: We will do the challenge for Tuesday’s games. We will transition to the current points leaders, which means that you can’t take MacKinnon, McDavid, Celebrini, Rantanen, Pastrnak, Nylander, Bedard, Carlsson, Eichel, Necas, Scheifele, Tavares, or Makar. That’s what happens when you have a massive tie for 9th in points. I’ll go with Connor against the Blue Jackets.
That’s all for now guys. MarmosDad will be back on Wednesday, so please check out his notes and give him some feedback and questions! As noted in the intro, I will be back on Friday. If you skipped over the top of the post, please check it and give me your thoughts below. Thanks for reading, take care!
