Welcome back to the Weekly Wrap. When you look across fantasy matchups and your team could beat 10 of 11 fantasy hockey teams—but you lose—you know fantasy hockey is officially in full swing. Week two of fantasy hockey has some early surprises, standouts, and not-so-big surprises.
I decided to scrap the formal review of the NHL Three Stars of the Week this year. Something about it felt too mechanical. I prefer to keep things more free-flowing this year.
Having said that, there is no shortage of storylines to dig into, so let’s get to it.
More great fantasy hockey analysis: Slappers and Bangers | Fantasy Hockey Waiver Wire | Goalie Streams | Weekly Wrap-Up | NHL Injury Report
Week Two of Fantasy Hockey
Sam Reinhart, RW, Florida Panthers
I’m not ready to admit I was wrong, but Reinhart is doing his damndest to make me eat my words. In the last seven days, his nine points led the NHL in scoring. Of those nine points, four were goals. He has five goals on 19 shots and a 26.3 shooting percentage (SH%). After dropping a 24.5 SH% last season, I expected regression. I still do. Only Craig Simpson in 1987-88 and 1988-89 managed back-to-back seasons with a shooting percentage over 25%. It just doesn’t happen. What is interesting about last week is that Alexander Barkov, C, Florida Panthers, and Matthew Tkachuk, RW, Florida Panthers didn’t play last week. If I end up eating my words, I’ll carve them into fried chicken so I can at least enjoy the flavor.
Cale Makar, D, Colorado Avalanche
In the one pool I own Makar, I had my ass handed to me. So I didn’t even notice he had eight points in four games. He’ll need to be all-world every game if the Avalanche are to overcome their goaltending issues. With 12 points in his first six games, he’s doing his best to will the Avalanche to victory.
Artemi Panarin, LW, New York Rangers
Panarin’s big week has some fans really excited. His eight points (four goals, four assists) came in just three games. The Rangers are a deep team with strong team chemistry. He looks poised to repeat last season. Although, his 37.5 SH% is not sustainable. That will surely fall as the season progresses. Still, it’s great to see Panarin capitalizing early.
Kevin Fiala, LW/RW, Los Angeles Kings
Over the last seven days, Fiala led the NHL in shots. Unfortunately for Fiala, the Kings, and fantasy owners, he didn’t score on any of them. Over the last four years, he’s averaged around three shots per game. We’ll need to keep a close eye on this increased volume to see if it’s a new trend or a soon-to-fade fad. If it were a trend, his career-high of 33 goals would be in jeopardy.
Ross Colton, C/LW, Colorado Avalanche
Who had Colton tied for second in NHL goals after week two of fantasy hockey? Yet here he is. In the absence of Artturi Lehkonen, LW/RW & Valeri Nichushkin, RW, Colorado Avalanche, Colton is receiving 5:34 more ice time than his previous career high of 13:43 (last year). He’s also seeing 3:13 on the power play. At worst, Colton is a short-term option to run with. Lehkonen doesn’t have a specific timetable and Nichushkin remains suspended. At best, Colton is making the most of his opportunity and is positioning himself to remain higher in the lineup once the Avalanche reach full strength. Either way, he won’t maintain 19 minutes a game. He could surpass his career high of 22 goals and 40 points (different seasons).
Filip Gustafsson, G, Minnesota Wild
How do you review week two of fantasy hockey without mentioning the fifteenth goalie goal in NHL history? You don’t. With more fantasy pools moving to a points-based scoring system, goalie goals provide immense value. In the pool I Commish, a goalie goal is worth 10 points. In another pool, it’s worth six. He also went 2-0-1 last week, giving up four goals in total. Gustafsson is putting a soft 2023-24 season behind him fast.
Kevin Lankinen, G, Vancouver Canucks
This was always the concern with Artur Silovs, G, when Lankinen was signed. Lankinen has put up back-to-back stellar starts, including a 3-0, 26-save shutout against the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday night. That should be enough to swing the pendulum in Lankinen’s direction to become the unofficial starter while Thatcher Demko, G, remains out. Currently, he is only rostered in 42% of Fantrax pools—up 9% from week one. If you need a short-term replacement Lankinen might not be a bad option.
Juuse Saros, G, Nashville Predators
Speaking of bad options, Saros is off to a horrible start. In four starts, he’s 0-4 with a 3.64 goals-against average and a .875 save percentage. A couple more bad outings, and Saros becomes a strong buy option. For some fickle owners, he’s already there. He’s been too good too long to dissolve into a bad goalie. The Predators as a whole have been underwhelming. If you need a goalie, Saros is a great buy-low option. He’ll bounce back. He and the Predators are too good to remain this bad.
Steven Stamkos, C, Nashville Predators
Speaking of poor starts, Stamkos scored his first goal as a Predator on the power play on Saturday. After five games and 20 shots, that remains his only point. Stamkos will find his rhythm. It will take time. There’s a human factor to the NHL that we often lose sight of. Stamkos has spent his entire career with the Tampa Bay Lightning. This is a significant change for him to adjust to. We might need to practice patience with Stamkos over the first couple of months.
Jake Sanderson, D, Ottawa Senators
He is off to a helluva start with seven points in his first five games, including three assists on Saturday against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Sanderson has already cracked 26 minutes in ice time three times this year. Things are trending toward a huge breakout season for Sanderson early. I know, it’s early. I don’t like to place high expectations on young players without a more established trend to support a breakout. Still, it’s hard to ignore how much the Senators are relying on Sanderson early.
Elias Pettersson, C, Vancouver Canucks
Whatever was ailing Pettersson in the playoffs versus the Edmonton Oilers has followed him into the regular season. He looks like a shell of himself. He only has two assists and a lonely eight shots. This is not the ‘alien’ we have come to expect. Patience wears thin quickly with the Vancouver media. He’s too good not to snap out of this. As of right now though, he’s showing little sign of that happening any time soon.
John Beecher, C/LW, Cole Koepke, LW, Mark Kastelic, C/RW, Boston Bruins
I don’t think anyone expected the Bruins’ bottom six to be this effective. In the obscure stat of plus/minus, week two of the fantasy hockey season belonged to them. They were a combined plus 18. They also provided strong depth scoring with four goals and five assists and mashed out 30 combined hits. Folks, this was a three-game week for the Bruins. All in under 14 minutes per game. If you’re in a deep fantasy hockey league, any of these three offer depth multi-cat production. Beecher provides the best long-term offensive upside of the three.
Connor McDavid, C, Edmonton Oilers He’s off to a quiet start, with one goal and five assists through six games. In Connor fashion though, he’s pieced together a five-game point streak. We all know he’ll get his. It’s not a matter of time, it’s a matter of how many.
That will do it for fantasy hockey week two. Thanks for reading.
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