There are a lot of surprises to start this year’s NHL season; from break out players to teams getting off to booming starts that haven’t had a lot of success in recent history. I would like to point out the Islanders getting off to one of the best starts I can remember. Obviously the revamped team with all those off season additions has worked out for the best. The Isles are 6-2 with an NHL high of 32 goals for; only San Jose Sharks have as many goals, but in 2 more games played. On the other end of the spectrum; take note that the Minnesota Wild have only allowed 6 goals in 6 games played, which is incredible. After a slow start to the season, the Edmonton Oilers have managed to claw their way out of the basement and hope to stay there. They have won their last 3 games and have a tough one ahead tonight versus Montreal.
Here is a list of which teams have how many games going forward this week:
(2) Games: Florida - New York Rangers
(3) Games: Boston - Calgary - Carolina - Columbus - Dallas - Detroit - Edmonton - Nashville - New Jersey - New York Islanders - Ottawa - Philadelphia - Pittsburgh - San Jose - St. Louis - Tampa Bay - Toronto - Washington
(4) Games: Anaheim - Arizona - Buffalo - Chicago - Colorado - Los Angeles - Minnesota - Montreal - Vancouver - Winnipeg
Here is a list of players with fantasy value who are injured:
Evander Kane (knee) – Indefinitely (travelling with team – likely a week away) Brooks Laich (shoulder) – DTD David Booth (foot) – DTD Victor Hedman (hand) – DTD Ryan Callahan (lower body) – Possibly November Paul Stastny (shoulder) – Possibly November Beau Bennett (lower body) – Mid November Vincent Lecavalier (foot) – DTD Derek Stepan (leg) – Within next 2 weeks Dan Boyle (hand) – Mid November Michael Grabner (groin) – Indefinitely Josh Bailey (hand) – Possibly November Matt Cullen (upper body) – DTD Josh Harding (foot) – Indefinitely Marian Gaborik (upper body) – DTD Anze Kopitar (upper body) – DTD Johan Franzen (groin) – DTD Valeri Nichushkin (groin) – should be in soon Nathan Horton (back) – indefinitely Boone Jenner (hand) – Within next 2 weeks Brandon Dubinsky (abdomen) – Possibly November Cam Atkinson (eye) – DTD (cut near eye, he is ok) Nick Foligno (upper body) – DTD Corey Crawford (upper body) – DTD Jordan Staal (leg) – January Eric Staal (upper body) – DTD Zdeno Chara (knee) – Likely start of December Martin Hanzal (lower body) – DTD Dany Heatley (groin) - DTD Patrick Maroon (knee) – DTD
As you can see, the list has grown since last week; and I expect it to grow as the season goes on and the bodies continue to crumple. Mind you, there is always getting the rust off from the summer…a lot more groin injuries in the players at the start of the season. Goalies on the other hand can pull that groin if they get worked too much. It’s not only important for teams to have a good backup, but to play them on the back to back games or versus bottom dwelling teams to save their goalie for the big games when it counts the most.
Hopefully you have been paying attention to some of my stand-out players along the way; last week I mentioned a list of players and a number of them have continued to excel. It’s very important to pay attention to the free agents in your fantasy…you never know when you may get an injury let alone someone playing horribly and needs to be removed from your team.
If you are struggling to hold onto a player because they are playing horrible, don’t pull the trigger just because you are off to a slow start…keep them, unless of course something glorious presents itself. Some guys like Mackinnon are off to a horrible start considering the predictions set out for the season. That was James Neal last week, he got a hat trick last week and that quickly silenced the whispers.
Here is a real life example of a big fantasy decision that I made just last night…
In one of my head to head Fantasy pools I was down 3 assists and 10 PIM on the week; he had 5 points more than me (2 goals more). I had only used one of my free agent ‘moves’ out of a possible 4 on the week…So I looked at the match-ups last night as I wanted to try and pick-up a few points and win the week. I looked at the starting goaltenders and noticed that Vancouver was playing versus Washington and that the Capitals were going to start their backup goalie(Peters). Excellent I thought, it’s time to pick up a free agent from Vancouver. After scouring the wire and seeing who was available I noticed Chris Higgins was free and he had been playing decently lately….I also know he plays on the second line with Bonino and gets some power play time on the second unit. I scooped him up and it paid off ever so beautifully: 2 assists and a +2 on the night. Luckily I have Perry in my pool that had a freak out in the feisty Anaheim versus San Jose game and I got more than my share of penalty minutes to secure that column. Sometimes things just work out; this was one of those times...I ended up winning the assists column and was 1 point behind in the total points column; ended up winning the week 7-4.
Be sure to check in for tomorrow’s blog on starting goalies as there is a bundle of games lined up.
Best of luck this week in your fantasy, and don’t forget to setup your HBSL lineup! Thanks again for reading.