Welcome back to the third installment of your weekly fantasy wrap-up. In a way, it feels like the first one. We’re finally getting into a rhythm with the schedule.
So let’s go, there’s no shortage of storylines.
Fantasy Hockey Week In Review
Slow Starts – Don’t Panic
Most teams have only played five or six games and yet the concerns are growing around certain players and cold starts.
Don’t Panic. Be Patient.
Nico Hischier has no points in four games, and Jason Robertson picked up a lonely assist in each of his last two games. Nazem Kadri has one point in five games.
Your stars will produce. Don’t make short-sighted decisions because of a few quiet games. If you’re in a one-year league, the rope should be shorter, but it is still too soon to drop anyone with a reliable track record.
Every year – even in keeper and dynasty pools, teams drop players that have no business ever seeing the waiver wire.
Don’t be that person.
Patience is a virtue in dynasty pools.
I’ll tag onto this, as it relates, do not try and trade a cold player. You won’t get the full value of that player, instead, you will collect nickels on the dollar.
Buy low, sell high.
My advice is to start searching your league for cold players to see if you can acquire one for nickels. Come January players will balance out and value should revert to its rightful place. Just one or two of these deals could be the difference between making your playoffs or not.
NHL Three Stars
First Star: Alex DeBrincat, LW, Detroit Red Wings
I guess he likes playing for his hometown Red Wings. With five goals and three assists in four games, DeBrincat is on fire. For multi-catters, he added 12 shots and three of his points came on the power play (1 goal, 2 assists).
I wasn’t bullish on DeBrincat in the pre-season. Looking at the roster I didn’t see anyone that could push beyond a point-per-game pace. DeBrincat’s only such season came alongside Patrick Kane. With 12 points in his first six games, I might need to revisit my expectations.
Second Star: Alexei Georgiev, G, Colorado Avalanche
The Avalanche are back. There’s no other way to put it. They are off to a scorching 5-0-0 start. A lot of this is due to the stellar play of Georgiev, who ran out a 3-0 record, with a 1.67 GAA, .940 SVPCT, and a shutout.
Even though he picked up the win on Saturday, four goals on 27 shots isn’t the greatest of performances. The .852 SVPCT brings that point home. Apparently, his first two games last week were strong enough to hold onto the second star of the week.
Third Star: Sam Reinhart, RW, Florida Panthers
Reinhart has slowly and consistently become a very consistent goal-scorer. He is well on his way to his third consecutive 30-goal season.
He’s also trending toward a third straight year of increased shots per game. In 2021-22 he averaged 2.4 per game. In 2022-23 he averaged 2.8 per game. It’s early, but he’s averaging 3.8 per game through his first six games.
His shooting percentage at 13.7% was also a four-year low. If that bumps back up anywhere close to the previous three-year average of 17.4% (2020-21 to 2022-23), and he maintains this shot per-game pace, (3.8 x 82 games = 311.6 shots), Reinhart should eclipse 40 goals for the first time.
NHL Player News
Auston Matthews, C, Toronto Maple Leafs
Talk about player of the week hangover. After back-to-back hattricks to start the season, Matthews has seen nothing but donuts since—no points in his next three games, 17 shots but no twine. Don’t worry, they’ll come. And in bunches. Two points Tuesday night, and like that, things are back to normal.
Connor McDavid, C, Edmonton Oilers
If you thought the Oilers’ start couldn’t get worse, you were wrong. McDavid suffered an upper-body injury Saturday and is expected to miss one to two weeks.
Luckily, the 1-4 Oilers face a light schedule in those two weeks. They have three games this week (@Minnesota Wild, New York Rangers, Calgary – losing in the 3rd vs. Minnesota while as I write), two the following week (Dallas, Nashville). With no games between Sunday to Thursday, there’s a good chance he will only miss three games.
McDavid owners, breathe. You need him the most in March. This is the time of year you want to lose him for a week.
Connor Bedard, C, Chicago Black Hawks
Talk about rookie initiations. How about your first road trip taking you through Boston, Toronto, Montreal, Pittsburgh, and Colorado? Three of his first six games include teams with undefeated records (more to say about this in a moment).
Look, this was always going to be the growing pains of owning Bedard as a rookie. The Hawks aren’t an offensive powerhouse. They were going to struggle to score. It should surprise no one they are struggling to score.
They’re a terrible team with a super rookie. There are going to be a lot of growing pains for Bedard and the team. It should be mentioned, that Bedard is only one of SIX rookies on this roster.
Taylor Hall, LW, Chicago Black Hawks
Turns out that commenting he escaped serious injury last week only jinxed him, and he is now week to week with a shoulder injury.
Brad Marchand, LW, Boston Bruins
Someone forgot to tell Marchand the Bruins were supposed to be bad this year. We should know better than to count Marchand or the Bruins out.
Imagine if the entire team takes on a Marchand mentality. This could become the feistiest, hardest-working team in NHL history. Marchand is well on his way to another point per game season.
The Hall of Fame conversations are about to heat up.
Linus Ullmark, Jeremy Swayman, G, Boston Bruins
Just wow. Ullmark is 3-0 with a ridiculous 1.00 GAA and .962 SVPCT. Barely outdone, Swayman has been brilliant as well going 3-0, with a 1.34 GAA and .957 SVPCT. He also picked up his own shutout Tuesday night.
These are stupid numbers that cannot be sustained. But don’t expect either to fall off a cliff. After all, Ullmark is the reigning Vezina Trophy winner. He is coming off a season with a 1.89 GAA and .938 SVPCT. Swayman ran out his own very respectable .920 SVPCT. They are an elite tandem to own.
Adin Hill, G, Vegas Golden Knights
Unsurprisingly, all three undefeated teams have lights-out goaltending in the first two weeks. There is no Stanley Cup hangover for Hill or the Golden Knights. Very few expected Hill to continue his playoff dominance into the new season. But he has done just that.
With a 4-0-0 record, 1.73 GAA, and .934 SVPCT, Hill is demonstrating exactly why Vegas re-signed him for two years, $4.9M.
Ryan Johansen, C, Colorado Avalanche
Sometimes players need a change of scenery. It is early, but this appears to be the case for Johansen. With two goals tonight, he has four goals and five points in six games. The one stat I am immediately drawn to is his shots on goal. He has 15 in those six games. That doesn’t seem like much until you realize he hasn’t averaged two shots per game in a season since 2015-16, the year he was traded to Nashville.
If we also consider he only scored 20 goals once with Nashville there is a lot of potential sitting buried here. What a reclamation this would be. I don’t expect him to maintain 2.5 shots per game, but even two per game would be such a breath of fresh air.
He is really solid in face-offs as well. So if you’re in a deep stat pool, Johansen is likely sitting on the waiver wire.
Joseph Woll, G, Toronto Maple Leafs
I suggested Woll was a sleeper and would challenge Ilya Samsonov for the starting job this year. Saturday, Samsonov let three goals in on four shots. Woll replaced him and shut the door allowing the Leafs to come back for the win.
Tuesday night, Woll was the star of the game with 36 saves on 37 shots. That’s one goal on 66 shots in five and a half periods. Expect Woll to get the next start.
I don’t expect Samsonov to roll over and give up the net but I also don’t expect Woll to give much of an opening. This is only a good thing for fantasy owners and Leafs fans.
I’ll end on a hockey note, not a fantasy note. The NHL backtracked on its ban on players supporting social causes, specifically on their equipment. This includes players using the Pride tape on their sticks.
Travis Dermott of the Arizona Coyotes was the first player to break the policy by using the tape Monday night. Huge props to him.
The ban on players supporting social issues was the dumbest thing the NHL has done in a long time. They should never have put themselves in the position to have to rescind this policy. Hopefully, lessons learned by the league.
That’s all for this week, thanks for reading.
Follow me on Twitter (X) @doylelb4