The Philadelphia Flyers announced yesterday that they signed free agent winger Michael Bunting to a one-year, $1.2 Million contract. Wing is the position where the Flyers need the least help right now, but it’s all that’s left available on the free agent market, and with there being no quick-fix call up options at the key positions, Bunting provides a low risk shakeup option for a team that has started out the season at 0-3.
Bunting likely starts game one on line four, but he could also be a natural swap for Denver Barkey on line two (currently also featuring Trevor Zegras and Owen Tippett). Maybe some fantasy value here in deeper leagues, but likely not worth sacrificing a waiver priority for in standard sized leagues. The Flyers play next on Thursday, so we might get some lines today to see where he’s slotted. Keep an eye out.
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Danila Yurov was questionable to play against the Sabres on Tuesday, but he ended up playing and scored his first of the season – on the power play. He’s centring Kirill Kaprizov and Max Shabonov at even strength, and while it hasn’t translated to much scoring there yet, the plum deployment is a good sign. Shabonov scored his first of the season as well for the Wild. Shabonov only has two shots in three games, but has added four hits for good measure – unexpected for his five-foot-nine frame.
After the second intermission it was all Buffalo, with Tage Thompson and Owen Power each scoring once and adding an assist in the OT win. Colten Ellis got the win in his first game of the year, which was a risky game to start him in for any fantasy owners or goalie streamers out there. The brave ones were rewarded with an 18-save win last night.
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Dylan Larkin returned for the Red Wings to a chorus of boos, but he scored early which changed the narrative a little – he would add an assist later for good measure. This is a completely different team with Larkin in the lineup. Take notes for if/when Larkin ends up getting traded.
Justin Faulk, Viktor Arvidsson, Lukas Raymond, and Alex DeBrincat each added multi-point games, with 15 combined shots between them. Part of that for Faulk was the bit of time where he went out in placeof Moritz Seider on the first power play unit and they ended up scoring. Seider was the only one from the top unit without a point, and if Faulk continues to thrive then he could supplant Seider on PP one for the rest of the season.
William Eklund and Carter Yakemchuk each notched their first points of the season for the Senators in response, but it wasn’t enough in front of Samuel Ersson, who has been thrust into a starter’s role with Linus Ullmark out. That goaltending could get them into trouble over the next stretch.
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Without Ivan Demidov for the Home opener, the Habs ran a second line of Juraj Slafkovsky, Alex Newhook, and Kirby Dach. Newhook and Slafkovsky each picked up points with other lines though, while Dach was de-emphasized and played the second-fewest minutes of any Montreal forward. Florian Xhekaj was the unfortunate recipient of the least ice time among the forward core. He drew in on the fourth line for his season debut and went minus-three with three Hits.
The Hurricanes were led by three points from Sebastian Aho, while Taylor Hall scored his first two points of the year (both goals). Neither goalie had a great game, but Pyotr Kochetkov pulled out the win with only 16 saves thanks to the Canes dominting the shot share as usual, as well as some visible over-passing by the Canadiens.
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Utah’s offence has been fantastic lately, and that’s despite top-line Vincent Trocheck not having gotten up to speed yet. He has been lining up at RW too, so he may end up getting that designation in Yahoo at some point. He did score his first goal of the season last night, bringing him to two points through four games. Maybe look to buy low on him while you can.
Last night Mikhael Sergachev led the way with three assists (before leaving the game with an injruy), while Nick Schmaltz picked up a goal and an assist to up his season totals to five goals (leading the league) and now one assist through the first four games.
New Jersey meanwhile is still really struggling on the defensive side of the puck, and instead of addressing the actual defence anytime soon, they will likely cycle through their four NHL goalies (counting David Rittich too) and hope that one of them can stop the bleeding. At this point the best bet might be the relatively unknown Remi Poirier.
At least they had Luke Evangelista to score two goals for them. He has started well, fitting in on a line with Jack Hughes and Jesper Bratt. He’s getting premium deployment, and is putting up a point and three shots per game as a result.
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I enjoy the couple of games a year where my two favourite teams play against eachother. These are also two of the teams this year that are the toughest to project. Toronto finished at opposite ends of the standings over the past two years, while Nashville looks like they are trying to go in three directions at once. That can make it tough for fantasy, especially if you’re looking at goalies or plus-minus.
Both teams put up a handful of goals last night, with Gavin McKenna picking up his first assist on John Tavares‘ marker early, then added his first career goal later in the game:
Auston Matthews ended up taking over the game at the end, with four points including the OT winner. Even if he’s not the same player he was three years ago, he’s better than he was the last two seasons.
Nils Hoglander and Steven Stamkos each scored a pair of goals for the the Preds. Two players on opposite ends of their careers. Stamkos jumped to 17th all-time on the NHL goals list, while Hoglander already has more goals (three) in three games this year than he did in 38 games last season. He’s fitting in well in Nashville.
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There was a change up on the top power play yesterday, with Adam Jiricek taking over for Cam Fowler. Still no luck for the top unit though. The second unit scored later in the game however, with Connor McMichael potting his first of the season, assisted by Philip Broberg. It was too-little too-late though with the Blackhawks taking the 3-2 victory on goals from Sam Rinzel, Anton Frondell, Frank Nazar, and Cole Smith (first of the season for all four of them).
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The Rangers weren’t supposed to be a bad team last year, and they improved their depth from that roster, and it has paid off well to start the year. A rested Igor Shesterkin, a healthy Adam Fox, and a more balanced set of support players has made this team into one that could and should be around the playoff bubble by the end of the year. They pulled out a close one against the New York Islanders yesterday, thanks to an Alexis Lafreniere hat-trick (two into the empty net), and a pair of goals by Oliver Bjorkstrand (both on a goalie). Bjorkstrand added a fight for good measure, showing he doesn’t think he deserves to be dropped down the lineup at this point.
Cole Beaudoin made his NHL debut with the Rangers, playing nine minutes as the fourth-line center, throwing a few Hits and winning the majority of his faceoffs. The only Ranger with less ice time than Beaudoin? The aforementioned Bjorkstand. Go figure.
On the other end of the sheet, Semyon Varlamov started his first game in 676 days. He allowed three goals on 19 shots in the loss. Brayden Schenn put up two points, while Victor Eklund was held pointless (now at two points in three games) but continues to show that he belongs in the NHL by stuffing the stat sheet with a plus-one rating, two Hits, two SOG, a Blk, and a penalty.
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I have had a tough time so far with my goalies this year, rostering in multiple leagues: Yaroslav Askarov (five goals against on Monday), Dan Vladar (two losses and a GAA over five), Tristan Jarry (bad, bad, bad) and Nico Daws (only one game so far and six goals against). Luckily MacKenzie Blackwood has looked good, and Logan Thompson has been his fantastic self.
I haven’t been one to pay up much for goaltending in recent years, and while there are always goalies who come out of the woodworks every year to post fantasy relevant numbers, it does feel like the higher and lower end goalies have a growing gap between them. If you’re starting off with some questionable goaltending like me, it might be worth circling around the trade block to see if there are any big swings you can make early to acquire a top goalie while filling a skater hole for the other team.
Frederik Andersen is also another option, though more so in H2H leagues if you can hold out until the mid-way mark of the year and then make the big push at the end. He is due to return around the New Year, and by that point in the season either Mike Babcock will be gone, or the team will have settled into his system just in time to have the rested veteran goalie step in to steady the ship.
Linus Ullmark may be a good buy-low option right now thanks to his injury, as long as you have an interim plan to tide your team over for the uncertain return timeline.
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Aleksander Barkov‘s injury timeline was updated yesterday with a post from Darren Dreger, and it sounds like Christmas might be coming by early December for his owners – a 6-8 week recovery timeline is the new expectation. The injury doesn’t need surgery, so rest and rehab for now. Florida also lost Brad Marchand to a knee injury after a collision at center ice. The boxscore was rather bland on the night, with goals from Matthew Tkachuk and Seth Jones for the Panthers, while Alex Laferriere countered for the Kings.
Darcy Kuemper rebounded though after his awful start to the year, and has dropped his GAA to 5.11. After his numbers tanked last year, there were some questions entering the season about whether Anton Forsberg would take a larger share of the goaltending load. Through three games, neither has make a great statement to earn more time. I guess that’s what happens when you play behind Cody Ceci and Brian Dumoulin every night, and then also have Brandt Clarke with a minus-four rating through the first three games.
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Tomas Hertl and Jack Eichel each posted four points (including two on the power play) as Vegas cruised to a 6-2 win over the Seattle Kraken. Shane Wright broke Carter Hart’s shutout bid early in the third period, and then Jared McCann added a late marker to keep his hot streak going.
Marc Gatcomb took a boarding penalty 15 seconds into the game and finished with one Hit and seven PIMs as he continues to provide peripheral value with a regular lineup spot that he didn’t have the last few years with the Islanders. It set the tone for a penalty-filled game, including a game-misconduct boarding call on Ben Meyers for taking out Victor Olofsson (who already had two goals in the game). These two teams don’t play again until January 9th, but I doubt the bad blood will be forgotten.
Mitch Marner was held pointless across his team’s six goals, leaving him with only two on the year across his team’s first four games. His shot rate and ice time are up though, so the points will come.
Joey Daccord started the season with two fantastic games of only one goal against, but was lit up for five in the first two periods last night before ceding the crease to Philipp Grubauer for the third. Grubauer is a free agent at the end of the season, and would have some additional motivation to outplay Daccord and steal a larger share of the starter’s role this year.
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All stats courtesy of Frozentools.
Hope all of the Canadian readers enjoy a happy Thanksgiving weekend coming up. See you next Wednesday, and if you have any fantasy hockey questions or comments you can find me on BlueSky @alexdmaclean.