Welcome back to the Weekly Wrap-up, where we dive into the previous seven days, which was the week in fantasy hockey.
So let’s dive in.
Fantasy Hockey Week in Review
NHL Three Stars of the Week
First Star: Tyler Toffoli, RW, New Jersey Devils
Powered by back-to-back three-point games, Toffoli dropped six goals and seven points over four contests, and now has 10 in eight games. He also has 30 shots, just under four per game, leaving him on pace to push 300 shots for the first time in his career. Saddled next to Jack Hughes and entrenched in the Devils’ potent top-six, he’s showing last year’s 73 points with Calgary was no fluke.
The one flag is his 23.3% shooting percentage (SH%). That sits 11.9% above his career average. Expect some regression, but don’t be surprised if he shoots closer to 17 or 18% by the end of the season.
Second Star: Jonus Johansson, G, Tampa Bay Lightning
Two wins, two shutouts. Johansson had an impressive week. This doesn’t change my opinion about him long term. My opinion aside, Johansson is keeping the Lightning close during Andrei Vasilevsky’s absence.
If he can keep his team in games and put in competitive performances it should help Tampa Bay’s load management with Vasilevsky once he returns.
This is a feel-good story, not a breakout performance. Don’t hold your breath if you grabbed him off the wire a month ago. If I’m wrong, I’ll happily eat my words. I always cheer for the underdog. Johansson’s on his fourth team in four years, that puts him in underdog territory.
Third Star: Ryan Hartman, C, Minnesota Wild
Five goals and two assists in four games on a struggling Wild team. He looks much more like his 2021-22 self, who scored 65 points, than his 2022-23 self who had 37 points in 59 games.
Centering Kirill Kaprizov certainly helps.
I’m not a very skeptical person… but, I wasn’t a believer of his breakout in 2021-22 when it happened. Similar to Toffoli, it appears Hartman has another 60-point season in him after all.
Goalie Streams
In case you missed it, Rob Couch covered your best goalie streaming options on Monday.
Early Breakout Trends
Frank Vatrano, LW, Anaheim Ducks
Last year he set a career-high in points, with 41. This year, he looks destined to smash that total. His nine goals on 29 shots, nine games, is unsustainable, and so is his 29 SH%. Still, career highs in most statistical categories could be in store. He’s also riding career highs in Time on Ice (TOI) and power play TOI (PPTOI).
Evan Rodriguez, LW, Florida Panthers
He logged over 21 minutes in Sam Bennett’s short-lived return. Bennett played seven minutes before leaving Monday’s game with an upper-body injury. A breakout has been expected from Rodgriguez for two years. In 2021-22, the Pittsburgh Penguins were ravaged by injuries and Rodriguez stepped up in a big way. It was short-lived though, players returned and he dropped in the lineup. He showed flashes last year in Colorado in similar circumstances.
Now, given steady, big minutes, Rodriguez is showing he deserves to keep them.
Travis Sanheim, D, Philidelphia Flyers
At 6’3″ Sanheim squeezes into the definition of ‘big man’ (6’3″ or taller & 215lbs or heavier). There’s a theory that exceptionally sized players (applies to players 5’9″ & 165lbs or smaller, as well) take longer to break out. Most players do so, if they will at all, around 200 games.
Sanheim sits at 425 games played. He has been jacked up to 26:00 TOI per game. His PPTOI is also sitting at a career-high. It all seems to be coming together for Sanheim, who has 7 points in his first 8 games.
He did have 35 points in his first full NHL season, back in 2018-19, so there has always been offensive potential in his game.
Shayne Gostisbehere, D, Detroit Red Wings
I think he likes Detroit. Gostisbehere is rocking in Detroit with 9 points in 10 games, including two goals and four assists, six points, already on the powerplay.
He’s well on his way to another 50-point season. Gostisbehere is one of those defencemen that leaves your hit-and-block categories empty and dry. As I mentioned in last week’s Slappers and Bangers article, you’ll want a peripheral category stuffer to fill the void he has left.
More Fantasy Hockey Stories:
Jack Hughes, C, New Jersey Devils
He’s off to an incredible start, with 18 points in eight games. Only injuries will hinder Hughes from surpassing 100 points for the first time in his career.
Maybe someone not wearing an Oilers jersey will push Connor McDavid for the scoring title.
Connor McDavid, C, Edmonton Oilers
Speaking of McDavid, I think he saw Hughes’ start. After all, he was listed as out 1-2 weeks with an injury and expected to miss 3-5 games. He missed two, picking up an assist in his return at the Heritage Classic.
McDavid fans… crisis averted.
Philipp Grubauer, G, Seattle Kraken
He picked up his first win of the season Monday night. He now sits at 1-4 with a 3.00 GAA and .901 SVPCT. With Joey Daccord breathing down his neck for playing time, Grubauer desperately needed this win to try and right the ship.
Pavel Mintyukov, D, Anaheim Ducks
His transition to the NHL so far has been close to seamless. As nice as the six points in nine games are, it’s the 21 hits and 15 blocks that really stand out. Minyukov is showing full category coverage.
His ice time remains all over the map, from 16 to 23 minutes a game. Expect that to stabilize over the next month or two, and then increase steadily.
Jack McBain, C, Arizona Coyotes
It was a beatdown by Arizona’s bottom six against the Black Hawks on Monday night. They scored five of the eight goals. A few more games like Monday and McBain should see an increase in ice time.
One of the most impressive 11-minute performances in recent memory, with two goals, two assists, five shots, five penalty minutes, and two hits.
Now up to six points in eight games, McBain is a deep sleeper in multi-cat pools. For most casual pools, unless you are desperate for hits he’s not much of an option. In deeper pools, it’s buy now or miss out later.
Paul Cotter, C, Vegas Golden Knights
He’s in a similar spot to McBain, with extra roadblocks from increases in ice time. Cotter has already turned in a goal-of-the-year candidate and has six points in his first 10 games.
The real kicker is his 37 hits in those ten games. Those are mega numbers.
I’m a big fan of both Cotter and McBain in deep dynasty pools. These are the type of multi-cat forwards that help bring home home championships.
It might be another year or two, but both have 50-plus point potential on top of big hit totals.
Don’t Panic
Yes, I am repeating myself (from last week), intentionally.
Trust your stars. Everything is magnified in the first month of the season. But nothing is going to feel worse than jumping ship on a fantasy stud because he crapped the bed for the first ten games of the season.
Imagine how it will feel to trade Filip Forsberg and his one goal on 36 shots, only to look at his end-of-season numbers and see his standard 30-goal, 80-point pace. Don’t sell.
Look, I get it. I own Nazem Kadri. Lucky me, he picked his first goal of the season in a 5-2 loss versus Edmonton at the Heritage Classic. I can’t drop him, he does too much. I have to trust he will get things rolling.
He always does.
Kadri was dropped in one of my other pools. His start has been so cold he cleared waivers. The league is a limited keeper with a salary cap so that $7M salary is a hard pill to swallow from someone putting up donuts in most games. I’m still looking for the cap space to add him.
Thanks for reading.
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