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!