Props to Philadelphia’s James van Riemsdyk, Claude Giroux and Shayne Gostisbehere. Ditto for Carolina’s Nino Niederreiter. Over the last couple of days, each player was able to rid themselves of the dreaded goose egg in the goal department.
Beer league or not, there’s no worse feeling than being snake-bitten, especially to start a season. Just ask Colorado’s Valeri Nichushkin, who while with Dallas last season, failed to score a goal in 58 contests. By the way, not much cooking so far this year either – he’s 0-for-7. Ouch.
[snippet id=4269767]
Bottom line – the longer a drought goes, the more it weighs on a player. As we approach November, there are still several notable players in search of goal number one:
Meantime, from a team perspective, Dallas and Chicago have to be the two biggest fantasy disappointments thus far.
Despite making some major offseason acquisitions, the Stars have potted just 25 goals on 361 shots scattered across 13 games. Yes, they’re firing at a robust 6.9 per cent clip right now. That’s not good.
As for Chicago, they’ve mustered only 20 goals in nine games.
1. Can you say BUY LOW OPPORTUNITY? Let’s start with a look at the Dallas Stars:
2. The numbers aren’t any prettier when it comes to the Blackhawks. Might as well take your shot at acquiring Patrick Kane and Alex DeBrincat while you can.
3. For what it’s worth, I’m not as bullish on Jonathan Toews and Erik Gustafsson returning to form from last season. Also, until Chicago commits to playing defence, I’d stay away from both Corey Crawford and Robin Lehner at this time too. Have fun!
4. J.T. Compher has two assists in two games since replacing the injured Mikko Rantanen on Colorado’s top-line. The 24-year-old is getting the first shot to play with Nathan MacKinnon and Gabriel Landeskog. Grab him!
5. Looking for an in-house Vladimir Tarasenko replacement? Consider Oskar Sundqvist or Robert Thomas.
6. Outside of St. Louis, there are plenty of right-wing options to test out. Kevin Labanc, Nick Schmaltz, Blake Coleman and Jason Zucker are all worth a look. You all know how I feel about Schmaltz.
7. Ottawa newcomer Vladislav Namestnikov is providing sneaky category coverage early on. In eight games with the Senators, the 26-year-old has four goals and seven points to go with six penalty minutes and 18 shots on goal. Take a flier, especially when the Senators are busy like this past week.
[snippet id=4167285]
8. Carolina’s Nino Niederreiter should be on your radar too. After a 10-game goalless drought to start the year, the 27-year-old broke through with a one-and-one showing in Saturday afternoon’s victory versus Chicago. In 47 total regular season games so far with the Hurricanes, Niederreiter has notched 15 goals and 20 assists for 35 points.
9. As Devan Dubnyk nurses an upper-body injury, Alex Stalock is worth a trial run, at least. After Saturday night’s 30 save victory against Los Angeles, the 32-year-old is now 2-2-0 on the season with a 1.98 goals-against and a .928 save percentage in six outings.
10. Another veteran netminder – Brian Elliott – has been stealing away starts from youngster Carter Hart. The 34-year-old has won three straight games. In five appearances, he’s 3-1-0 with a 2.53 goals-against to go along with a .915 save percentage. Stream away!
11. Even with this hot start, I’d still sell high on San Jose’s Evander Kane. At this point in his career, we know what the 28-year-old is; 30/30 is a fair expectation. You might as well cash in on the current stock price.
12. Speaking of the Flyers, now’s an excellent time to acquire defenceman Shayne Gostisbehere. The 26-year-old has one goal and two assists in nine games. Make the move before it’s too late!
13. I’m a believer in what Travis Konecny is doing and you should be too! He scored another goal on Saturday night, making it five goals and 12 points to start the season. The 22-year-old has seen a steady increase in production in each of his first three years in the NHL. For my money, a 60-point output isn’t out of the question.
14. On Broadway, David Quinn jumbled up line one and two:
Chris Kreider – Mika Zibanejad – Kaapo Kakko
Artemi Panarin – Ryan Strome – Pavel Buchnevich
Just be mindful that line combinations in the NHL change on the regular. That said, Kreider and Kakko stand to gain a bump in stock if they remain intact.
[snippet id=4167285]
15. Staying in the Metro, the Penguins are getting healthier. Bryan Rust and Nick Bjugstad returned from injury on Saturday night in Dallas. Alex Galchenyuk is just around the corner too.
16. The sample size – last year and the beginning of this one – is large enough for me to suggest that the New York Islanders are the real deal. I would do everything in my power to try and obtain Mathew Barzal. In the midst of a contract year, it’s my expectation that the 2015 first rounder will return to the point-per-game pace from his Calder winning campaign.
17. Also, because no one ever seems to respect the Islander crease, Thomas Greiss and Semyon Varlamov can usually be had for less than market value. Do it. You won’t regret it.
18. Take note of the new top-six for Tampa:
Ondrej Palat – Brayden Point – Nikita Kucherov
Tyler Johnson – Steven Stamkos – Mathieu Joseph
Jon Cooper continues to look for answers. We’ll see what happens.
19. You can drop pretty much anyone not named Thomas Chabot in Ottawa. The Senators have just one game this week.
Additionally, there are seven teams with quiet two-game dockets (BOS, LAK, NYI, NYR, PIT, TOR, & VGK).
20. In general – due to Halloween – it’s a quiet week in the NHL with just 43 games in total. Vancouver and Calgary are the lone teams with four-game weeks:
Vancouver Canucks:
Mon (FLA), Wed (@LAK), Fri (@ANA), Sun (@SJS)
Waiver Looks: Micheal Ferland (6%), Thatcher Demko (9%)
SN Fantasy Pool: Elias Pettersson (3), J.T. Miller (2), Quinn Hughes (1)
Calgary Flames:
Tues (@CAR), Thurs (@NSH), Sat (@CBJ), Sun (@WSH)
Waiver Looks: Andrew Mangiapane (0%), Sam Bennett (3%)
SN Fantasy Pool: Johnny Gaudreau (4), Sean Monahan (3), T.J. Brodie (1)
[relatedlinks]
