Every sunday this season, we’ll share 20 Fantasy Thoughts from the writers at Dobber Hockey. These thoughts are curated from the past week’s “Daily Ramblings” on DobberHockey.com.
1. The Senators’ top line of Mike Hoffman, Kyle Turris and Mark Stone was dynamite in their first game. Turris scored a pair, while Hoffman and Stone drew assists on both goals. They flashed some excellent chemistry and very creative passing. The line accumulated five more points against the Maple Leafs on Saturday. It’s looking good so far for the young wingers to avoid the dreaded sophomore slump.
2. Justin Schultz looked pretty good in the first game of the year, jumping up into the action at every opportunity. He led the Oilers in ice time at 22:15, with 2:13 on the power play. Looking good for a breakout season despite the minus-2 rating.
3. The Vladimir Tarasenko – Paul Stastny – Alexander Steen line is monstrous. Toss an offer to the Stastny owner in your league now that he hasn’t scored a goal in two games. It’ll be worth it. This line is buzzing.
4. With the top pairing of Zdeno Chara and Dennis Seidenberg out, Torey Krug had to step up by skating a team high 24:33 in Game 1 and 23:05 in Game 2. I never had Krug projected as more than a power-play specialist so this development is intriguing. If Krug can pump up his even-strength production towards 30, then a 50-point total becomes possible. If he doesn’t improve at even strength, he’ll be limited right around the 40 points he’s averaged in his first couple of seasons.
5. Patrick Sharp managed three shots but no points in his first game of the season. I wonder if he can sneak out a couple more years of elite production, even as his skills wane, if given the opportunity to ride the coattails of Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin. He is present on the top power play unit so there will be points.
6. Also worth monitoring: Kris Letang’s ice time. He skated 28:18 in his first game and fired eight shots on goal. The only other Penguin defenceman to skate more than 20 minutes was Ian Cole at 20:27. I can’t see Letang remaining healthy all season skating all these minutes.
7. Remember when Mattias Ekholm was stealing minutes from Seth Jones and threatening fantasy relevance last season? Let’s close the book on that. Jones notched a pair of assists in his first game and skated 21:04, including 2:36 on the power play. In Game 2, he skated 19:00 and had 1:46 on the power play. Those ice time figures are still behind Roman Josi and Shea Weber, but there’s no getting ahead of those two. However, Jones is now firmly in the third slot and given how the Predators roll their power play units, that can be a productive position.
8. Artemi Panarin scored in his debut for the Blackhawks and indeed skated on a line with Patrick Kane and Artem Anisimov. The outlook is good so far. It’s important to note that Panarin skated on the second power play unit, which lowers his ceiling.
9. Dougie Hamilton had a tough first game, going minus-2 and taking a couple of bad penalties. He skated 21 minutes alongside Mark Giordano so he’s been put in a great spot to succeed. Disconcertingly, Hamilton ranked fourth among Flame defenders in power play ice time.
10. Eddie Lack‘s extension sure makes me feel more comfortable having him as a third goalie on my fantasy squad. In desperate times, I’d even be OK with him as my No. 2 now (if the pickings are slim).
11. Colin Greening cleared waivers and was sent to the AHL, meaning Shane Prince made the squad. I don’t see a Mark Stone there, obviously, but he could turn into a Mike Hoffman-type later in the year.
12. Vancouver’s Ben Hutton has a bit of upside and had five points in six pre-season games – eighth among defencemen. I’ve taken a closer look at him and adjusted my projection, putting him closer to 25 to 30 points for the 2015-16 season.
13. Jimmy Howard only had to make 22 saves in his season debut, but the shutout goes a long way to show that he’s back and will help him to hold off Petr Mrazek. As is always the case with Howard, the big question is if he can keep making starts without getting hurt because we know he’s got a good team ahead of him.
14. Don’t go bonkers over Mark Scheifele. He’s good, but he’s still a second-unit guy in terms of power play time. In a one-year scenario Mathieu Perreault isn’t as sexy an option, but he’ll be much more productive given his deployment on the top unit. Perreault has two assists so far.
15. Oscar Lindberg now has four goals in his first three games. He’s only averaging 13:37 in ice time, though, so I’m still skeptical. Not of his talent, but of the opportunity. Just as an example, Anthony Duclair got off to a hot start as a fourth-liner for the Rangers last season, but he got sent down by December. I don’t think Lindberg will get sent down, it’s just an example of how guys can produce for short periods with limited minutes, but it doesn’t typically last.
16. Of note in Columbus, Ryan Murray and Jack Johnson have both seen way more power play time than big money man David Savard.
17. Staying with the Blue Jackets, no one was sleeping on Brandon Saad or Nick Foligno or even Cam Atkinson, but Murray is a guy you could conceivably still pluck off the waiver wire, even in deeper pools. Definitely worth a look as Columbus’ power play has a ton of fire power.
18. It wasn’t a power play goal, but Marek Zidlicky scored in his Islander debut. I’m bullish on his production, even though he logged just 15 minutes of ice time.
19. Max Domi had a successful debut notching his first NHL goal and adding an assist. My only concern is that he’s not yet a top-unit guy in terms of power play time.
20. Oliver Ekman-Larsson might score 30 goals this year. He is so active jumping into the play and can shoot the crap out of the puck. In the first game of the season, he skated all of the minutes for the Coyote power play. He also skated almost no penalty kill minutes, so he can really conserve energy for offence. By the way, I’m mostly being facetious when I say 30 goals, but another 20-goal season looks very achievable.
For more thoughts, visit the Daily Ramblings page at DobberHockey.com.
