The first week and a half is usually pretty wild in the fantasy hockey world. This year was no different, Ovechkin blasting off with goals galore, Matthews dialing in with two overtime game winners, Kucherov being a consistent force and MAF playing great then hitting the IR.

There were a number of other moments that were great or horrible for fantasy teams around the globe. But one thing is for sure, scoring is up; big time.

Most goalies statistics are horrendous right now; if your tenders are above .900 then you are in good shape!

Let’s get to it:

Key Injuries worth noting:

Anaheim
Ryan Getzlaf (DTD)
Sami Vatanen (DTD)
Ryan Kesler (INDEF)

Arizona
Antti Raanta (DTD)
Jakob Chychrun (INDEF)

Boston
David Backes (DTD)
Patrice Bergeron (DTD)

Buffalo
Kyle Okposo (DTD)

Chicago
Nick Schmaltz (DTD)

Columbus
Boone Jenner (DTD)

Detroit
Evgeny Svechnikov (DTD)

Edmonton
Leon Draisaitl (DTD)

Minnesota
Charlie Coyle (Early December)
Mikael Granlund (DTD)
Zach Parise (DTD/week to week)

Nashville
Roman Josi (DTD)

New Jersey
Travis Zajac (mid February)

Ottawa
Colin White (early October)

St Louis
Jaden Schwartz (DTD)
Alexander Steen (DTD)
Robby Fabbri (done for season)
Patrik Berglund (December)

Vancouver
Alexander Edler (3-4 weeks)

Vegas
Marc-Andre Fleury (DTD)
Jonathan Marchessault (DTD)

Winnipeg
Mathieu Perreault (DTD)

Free Agents: (hot hands)

Bryan Rust
Will Butcher
Anthony Mantha
Alex Killorn
Sven Andrighetto
Mikko Rantenen
Ryan Hartman
Chris Stewart
Sean Couturier
Jesper Bratt
Vladislav Namestnikov
Jakub Vrana
Evgeni Dadonov
Sonny Milano
Clayton Keller
Kevin Labanc
Jan Rutta
Jake DeBrusk
Jordan Weal
Nick Bjugstad

There are a number of players that will work well in deep formats as well as smaller ones. There will be many players who come back to earth after having such dominant starts.

Varlamov has certainly been stellar to start the season; if he’s available he may be worth scooping up before someone else does.

Keep an eye out for any other players who spike in value and scoop them before someone else does.

Starting Goalies:

Penguins (Murray) vs Rangers (Lundqvist)
Panthers (Luongo) vs Flyers (Neuvirth)
Maple Leafs (Andersen) vs Capitals (Holtby)
Lightning (Budaj) vs Devils (Schneider)
Canucks (Nilsson) vs Senators (Anderson)
Avalanche (Varlamov) vs Predators (Rinne)
Blue Jackets (Korpisalo) vs Jets (Mason)
Coyotes (Hill) vs Stars (Bishop)
Hurricanes (Ward) vs Oilers (Brossoit)
Sabres (Johnson) vs Golden Knights (Subban)
Canadiens (Price) vs Sharks (Jones)

Best of luck, hopefully week one went well!

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