SMC 10/13/2019
GUSHING OIL!
Edmonton, at 5-0-0, will come down to Earth a little but don’t discount the Dave Tippett magic as he has this team starting to believe in themselves.
Lots of enthusiasm for James Neal so far as he has 7 goals in those 5 games (4 of those in 1 game), getting excellent power play time with Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl.
Not surprising that McDavid and Draisaitl sit atop the leading board in points at 12 and 11 respectively.
Surprising to some that Patrik Laine sits at #3. I knew he was keyed in for a rebound but I’m sure the holdout just prior to the start of the season made people shy away especially after last season’s efforts.
Edmonton G Mike Smith is off to a 3-0-0 start but his SP is just above .900, so beware. Not a bad #2 for your fantasy squad though. And goalies usually flourish under Tippett’s system.
Anthony Cirelli was one of my sleeper picks for this year. Playing with that potent lineup in Tampa Bay will surely do wonders for your stat line. 3 assists in Thursday night’s game vs. Toronto.
Nikolaj Ehlers is my favorite since the middle of the summer to be the best breakout player this season. Poolies I’ve helped have known how much I push for him throughout their drafts.
Congratulations to NY Ranger rookie Kaapo Kakko on his 1st NHL goal on Saturday versus Edmonton. Will you remember where you were when KK scored his first NHL goal?
I’ve said it before in last week’s SMC that Leon Draisaitl is in beast mode already with another 2 G and A in Saturday’s contest in New York.
I still look at he box score to make sure that I am reading it correctly when I see the Ottawa Senators beating the Tampa Bay Lightning by a score of 4-2. Like they say, “On any given Sunday”, or in this case, Saturday.
Cirelli only had 22 seconds of PP time in that matchup. Hmmmm, that’s probably why the Bolts didn’t win.
The New Jersey Devils are off to a rough start. Not what I, nor others were expecting. Is John Hynes’ head on the chopping block?
Looking for Goals off the waiver wire? Anthony Duclair is getting decent ice time and top PP time so if he’s available and you need depth…
Patrick Marleau has returned to the San Jose Sharks where he always belonged. And he scored twice in his debut the other day. Class act.
Vlad Namestnikov, in just his 2nd Ottawa game after being traded from the Rangers, had 2 G and A in their win over his other former team, the TB Lightning, now has 4 points in 2 games. Another one of those running into your ex things.
It looks like Namestnikov will be relevant in Ottawa. Change of scenery almost always helps. Had most ice time and decent PP time.
WOW! G Jordan Binnington looked human in Montreal on Saturday night allowing 6 goals.
The LA Kings will hang around for awhile this season but I still think they need to be in some sort of rebuilding. I know they have quite a few youngsters in their lineup. I’m just not sure they are the right ones for a rebuild. They did beat the Nashville Predators 7-4 on Saturday, like I said, they will be competitive for a bit.
Anze Kopitar is an excellent rebound candidate for sure as he scored his 2nd goal and now has 7 games in 4 games. In the DRAFT GUIDE I had him for 75 points. Count on it!
Nashville’s Filip Forsberg had 9 SOG but was -3.
Winnipeg Jets’ Kyle Connor had 7 SOG Saturday in Chicago so look for him to start marking the score sheet on a regular basis.
Carolina loses to Columbus 3-2 ending their 5-game win streak to start the season.
This is officially a BUY-LOW on the Devils!
Can you believe the Anaheim Ducks are 4-1-0 to start this season? With all the others like Edmonton and Buffalo, let’s see where everyone is after 15 games and then around American Thanksgiving before getting too excited.
The Florida Panthers aren’t getting off to the start they, or their fans, hoped for.
6 Toronto Maple Leaf players with 4+ SOG against Detroit. Lots of offense which is nice for fantasy owners, but not good if they want to go deep into the playoffs unless they sure up their defense.
Connor Brown, now on Ottawa, has excellent offensive skillset which was never used in TO, but if the Sens give him more responsibility, he could be an excellent Dark Horse candidate.
Need a D-man? Is St. Louis D Vince Dunn available? He could be an excellent #4-5 D-man on your fantasy squad.
Montreal’s RW Brendan Gallagher gets a G & 2 A Saturday against the Blues and still doesn’t get the love from Poolies as much as he should I think.
Jack Hughes starting to get top PP time. Didn’t take long.
Jake DeBrusk got some decent PP time on Saturday. Another PP breakout player with 30 G and 60+ points predicted.
Sticking with the Js, Jakub Vrana is poised to breakout out this year. Vrana already has 4 points in 6 games.
The Minnesota Wild look lost in the wild as they start out the season0-4-0.
The Penguins had guys like Adam Johnson and Sam Lafferty on their score sheets last night. Who are these guys?
And Minnesota still couldn’t beat them even with home ice advantage.
The only Wild player I’m sticking with is D Matt Dumba. The rest don’t interest me at all from a fantasy perspective. Maybe Ryan Donato if he gets out of the doghouse and starts producing.
Antti Raanta made his first start since last November and looked solid through 2 periods against Colorado but lost in OT 3-2. With Darcy Kuemper, this goaltending tandem look solid with the hopes that the Coyotes return to the playoffs this year
If you haven’t noticed, Colorado rookie D Cale Makar is now up to 5 assists in 4 games with the two helpers last night. Wait until he gets comfortable.
Colorado G Pavel Francouz got his first NHL win in his first start of this season against the Arizona Coyotes. He played in two games last season and had the L hung on him. Bravo Mr. Francouz! His metrics after 3 NHL games; .944 SP and 1.94 GAA. Impressive!
Calling Mr. Claude Giroux. Can Mr. Claude Giroux please come to the scoring table? I know it’s only 3 games into the season, but he only has 1 A.
Give it another week or thereabouts and you will see the Vegas Golden Knights atop the Pacific Division. In fact, you should see some changes to what you see in today’s standings.
And did you know that Philadelphia is off to a 2-0-1 start to the season? It doesn’t even feel like they are even participating in this campaign.
Top 5 scoring teams so far this season: Carolina Jerks, I mean Hurricanes at the top with 24 GF along with the Leafs. Next are the Preds with 23 then the Oil and Jets with 22. I thought the Jets had more goals than that.
Turn araound is fair play. Top 5 teams in GA: The Ducks behind John Gibson and Ryan Miller with 6 against in 5 games played leads the league. Philly also have 6 against but only have played 3 games. Arizona at #3 with 7 GA, then Boston with 8 and the Colorado Avalanche with 9 in 4 games. The Rangers also have only 9 GA but in 3 games played.
The coming of Washington G prospect Ilya Samsonov has arrived as he has only given up a goal in his 2 starts and has a .961 SP. Still only a back up to Braden Holtby. For now.
Good luck to all for the upcoming week and may all your fantasies come true!