October 31, 2014
steve laidlaw
2014-10-31
Thoughts on Marchand’s expanding fantasy value, MacKinnon getting on the board, Evander Kane’s return to the lineup and more…
***
LAST DAY – to take advantage of my refunding you your earlier Fantasy Guide /Ultimate/ Keeper Pack purchase. Details here
Dobber’s latest for Puck Daddy – find it here. Great picks on the waiver wire for you
*
Thumbs up to Brad Marchand who had one heck of a game when he was questionable to even go last night. Marchand tied the game up late in the third and then added the overtime winner. You hate to call any game against the Sabres a big game but the Bruins really needed that one and Marchand delivered. Big game player.
Marchand was skating on the third line with Loui Eriksson and Carl Soderberg. The Bruins shuffled up the lines with Chris Kelly moving up to play wing with Patrice Bergeron. What’s really promising is the power play time Marchand has been seeing lately. He might have another gear for fantasy value yet.
On defense, the big minutes went to Dougie Hamilton and Dennis Seidenberg who each notched assists. No surprises there given the injuries on the backend. Seidenberg, in particular had a fantasy impact with five SOG to go along with that assist. He did so with just 17 seconds of power play time. Impressive.
Joe Morrow, one of the Bruins' call-ups skated 17:51 with no power play time. Instead it was another call-up, David Warsofsky who got the power play chance but he came up empty. Not even a SOG for Warsofsky. Despite the lack of power play time, Morrow managed four SOG, which ain't bad for his first NHL game.
*
The Sabres continue to get solid goaltending from their duo of Jonas Enroth and Michal Neuvirth. They might only win 20 games between the two of them, mind you, and they'll almost certainly be rocking GAA around 3.00 but they are stopping enough pucks for some solid save percentage numbers. There's value here if your league counts saves at all.
Congratulations are in order for the Sabres, by the way. Drew Stafford's power play goal to open the scoring was the Sabres' first score on the man advantage this season. That leaves just the Minnesota Wild as the lone team that has yet to score a man up. So they've got that going for them.
That goal was also Stafford's first of the season. You're tempted to like Stafford because he's a top line option but the Sabres are just so terrible at scoring you can't make the investment. And really, the reason that the Sabres are so bad at scoring is because Stafford is on their top line.
I really do feel for Tyler Ennis though. He had a goal and an assist. The assist was his first of the season. Just not a lot to work with. I don't know that Ennis should necessarily be a #1 center, mind you, but he's got enough skill to score more than 60 points in a season. It won't happen with these linemates. Ennis might flirt with an Ovechkin-lite sort of line with something like 30 goals and 10 assists this season. It'll probably be closer to 20 and 20 but I want to see that 30/10 so bad.
*
I'm sorry to say I only caught the tail end of the Jets-Devils game but wow that was a lot of fun.
Ondrej Pavelec played really well in goal taking away several late-game opportunities from Jaromir Jagr. Apparently Pavelec had a really nice save on Patrik Elias earlier in the game as well. Credit where it's due. Pavelec was solid.
Evander Kane made his return to the lineup for the Jets. He looked okay in his return but I wasn't overly impressed. Not that I was expecting for Kane to be flying out there coming off the knee injury. I was just hopeful we might see the wrecking ball Kane we know and love.
Instead, it was Kane's linemate, Blake Wheeler, who impressed the most. Not surprising though as he's the Jets best player. He scored the lone goal and had five SOG. Just another night at the office.
Mark Scheifele is lucky to have Wheeler and Kane as his wingers right now. We haven't seen results yet but I might try to add him off the wire in a deeper league to see what he might provide.
We haven't seen results yet but I swear they are coming for Dustin Byfuglien. Skating on the third line with Mathieu Perreault and rookie Adam Lowry isn't much but he gets to play the point on the power play, which is where he'll make his money as the season rolls along. Buy low!
*
As mentioned, Jagr had some excellent opportunities to win this one for the Devils. It just wasn't to be. You've got to be impressed with just how often Jagr is the Devils' best player at his age. It'll be a sad day when he finally hangs them up.
New Jersey had their lines scrambled at the end as they pushed for the late equalizer so I can't really speculate on the lines with Mike Cammalleri out. Reid Boucher got into his second game in a row though but he isn't playing much of a role for the Devils right now. He's one to monitor in the future as he definitely has goal-scoring touch.
Cory Schneider really hasn't made good on the promise he showed last season, which had him pegged as favourite sleeper in many fantasy drafts. So far it seems like he's still sleeping himself. Games against the punchless Jets will go a long way to restoring his numbers though. And look, he scored a shootout win! That never would have happened last season.
*
Just an excellent performance by the Penguins against the Kings last night. Or was it a bumbling performance by the Kings? Probably a little of Column A and a little of Column B.
The Kings really didn't generate much in the way of offense until the third period and by that point the Penguins were in lock down mode having scored a couple of early power play markers thanks to some undisciplined play by the Kings.
Jarret Stoll really stepped up with Anze Kopitar out. He was all over the place making great defensive plays and really generating most of what little offense the Kings were able to produce. There was one penalty kill where he generated more scoring chances than the Penguins did. He didn't score but not for lack of trying as he had six SOG.
I don't suspect Kopitar to miss much more time but the Kings do play two more games this weekend and if there is any indication that Kopitar will miss more action then Stoll makes a reasonable pickup.
One thing the Penguins did really well was slow down That 70's Line. I noticed maybe three good chances all game for those guys. Impressive work defensively.
There was one opportunity early in the first period where Jeff Carter got loose on an odd-man rush after the Penguins chased a couple of hits on the forecheck but Marc-Andre Fleury game up with a solid stop.
I really hate when the Penguins chase hits on the forecheck. They do it all of the time against the Flyers and it doesn't work. It all too frequently leads to odd-man rushes going the other way, which puts Fleury in a bad spot. The Penguins were disciplined in that regard for the most part in this one. And that certainly helped Fleury as he recorded his second shutout of the season.
*
Chris Kunitz had himself quite the game with two goals and an assist. His first goal, on a slap pass from Evgeni Malkin was a really great tip.
Malkin, by the way, has points in every single game to start the season. That's just incredible consistency. It can't possibly continue all season as there is no way that their power play will continue to click at 39.5%, nor will they continue to score four goals per game. As that regresses we'll see some goose eggs for Malkin. Hell, Sidney Crosby already has a couple of goose eggs even with all this scoring.
Beau Bennett is back practicing for the Penguins. I think we can pretty much write him off because he keeps getting hurt but could he hinder a guy on a hot streak like Blake Comeau? Possible.
I really like what Comeau is bringing to the Malkin line though. He has incredible speed on the forecheck, which helps with puck retrieval for a possession demon like Malkin. Comeau won't score more than 40 points on that line so I'm not overly interested for fantasy purposes. I just think he helps Malkin.
How about a couple of Conn Smythe winners getting into it?
*
Perhaps Scott isn't the Darling we all thought he was? Actually, Scott Darling didn't play that poorly from what I saw but there were obviously more blemishes than we'd seen before as he allowed four goals on 32 shots in a shootout victory.
This might be the last we see of Darling as Corey Crawford is back. Crawford sat on the bench for this one with Antti Raanta watching from the press box. The Blackhawks do have a back-to-back this weekend so we might see one more game from Darling here.
I don't think that Darling stick as the team's backup though. Raanta has a one-way deal so he's making big bucks regardless of where he is and he's proven capable in the backup slot. If there is an injury though, we now know who the Blackhawks will turn to and that's Darling.
The impact would stretch to his goal total. MacArthur is scoring on a high percentage of 18.5% thus far but that's not so far off his 14.3% career rate to be alarmed. If this shooting keeps up and doesn't hinder his conversion percentage (which it realistically should) then he'd be in for a career year, no question. Maybe he wouldn't score 62 points like he did back in 2010-11 but he'd break last season's career high mark of 24 goals. If he scores at his career average the rest of the way you are looking at a 36-goal season. Fingers crossed.
*
Check out this solid profile on Michael Raffl, who continues to produce for the Flyers on their top line. He scored his sixth goal of the season last night with assists to none other than Jakub Voracek and Claude Giroux. That line is clicking. I think Raffl's upside is ultimately limited by the fact he doesn't skate on the top power play unit but 50 points isn't out of the question if he hangs onto the top line spot.
I think it's safe to say that Shayne Gostisbehere needs more time. He didn't skate a whole bunch in the games he did see action and the team called up Brandon Manning to take his spot in the lineup. All Manning did was notch a primary assist as his lone shot of the game generated a rebound that Voracek was able to bang home. Not a bad season debut. Of course, in no way does Manning have more upside than Gostisbehere, he just appears to be more ready at this moment.
Ray Emery is a lot of good things but #1 starting goalie he is not. After winning four in a row, Emery lost his first game in regulation. That's not to say that Emery was at blame here. The Flyers aren't exactly a great team and the Lightning boast a lot of firepower but I wonder if the Flyers aren't stretching Emery too thin here.
The Flyers announced the signing of Carlo Colaiacovo after the game last night. The only fantasy impact here is that it serves to further light the Flyers goalies on fire.
*
Anton Stralman is working his way out of his candidacy for the Jeff Schultz Memorial Trophy with his brilliant play. He notched another assist last night and went plus-two. Hopefully you took my advice a couple of weeks back when Victor Hedman went down and made Stralman your temporary fill-in because he has definitely brought the goods.
Interestingly enough Jason Garrison is bringing it as well. Both defensemen got out there on the top power play unit, skating over six minutes each with the man advantage. All Garrison did was fire seven of his massive shots on-goal en route to scoring the game-winner and adding an assist.
The goal was his first of the season. What can you say, accuracy isn't always Garrison's strong suit.
Steven Stamkos did Stamkos things, landing seven SOG of his own and scoring two goals. Valtteri Filppula is happily riding shotgun on the top line as he notched three assists last night. Those two are joined by Alex Killorn who had an assist of his own but isn't anywhere near as strong of a fantasy asset.
Of course, Killorn is worth looking at in the short term as he garnered top power play minutes last night. As long as he's a factor there he's worth being in your lineup.
It sure seems like Jonathan Drouin made the most of his limited minutes. He skated just 9:58 with no power play time but managed an assist and four SOG anyhow. For what it's worth I think that this demotion is good for Drouin. He doesn't deserve top line minutes right off the bat just because of his draft position and talents. He has to earn that. Hopefully he does just that but until then I'm happy to see him earning it on the third line.
It was a quiet night for what had previously been one of the hottest lines in hockey as Tyler Johnson, Nikita Kucherov and Ondrej Palat were all held off the board. Johnson was robbed by Emery on what would have been a goal of the year candidate had he finished after carving through the Flyers defense with some zesty manoeuvers. I can't find the clip but it was Nicklas Grossman who he undressed so we shouldn't exactly be impressed. Johnson lost the league-lead in assists to Voracek last night too.
*
It sure is looking like Brandon Pirri is the Panthers' most important player on the power play. The team has played only eight games so far so we aren't dealing with much of a sample size but they were 1/18 in games where he was absent and 3/12 in games where he has been present. Pirri's goal last night was his first power play marker of the season but it was also his third straight game with a goal. It wouldn't be tough but he could easily lead this team in scoring.
Aaron Ekblad led the Panthers with 3:47 on the power play last night. I don't think that his time for scoring is coming yet but whenever this team gets ready to start producing offense I think that's when Ekblad could have a rise similar to what Hedman was doing earlier this year. But I also think that it's a more likely possibility that Ekblad goes the Doughty route instead and is a much better real-life player than he is in fantasy. Of course, we said that about Hedman too.
*
The Coyotes don't have much going for them but I'll be damned if they aren't running a good power play. They currently rank second in the league in power play efficiency clicking on over a quarter of their opportunities. They won't keep that pace up but they can certainly maintain the ranking.
I'm not sure it even matters who the forwards are so long as they have Keith Yandle and Oliver Ekman-Larsson on the points. Those two skated nearly every single minute of power play time the Coyotes had last night with Michael Stone spelling OEL for 1:03 of the 6:26 the Coyotes were up a man.
Both Yandle and OEL landed six SOG and grabbed an assist on the lone Coyote goal. It's going to be crazy when these two both clear 50 points and no forward on the team matches them. Not only do these two lead the team in scoring with nine and seven points respectively but they also lead the team in SOG with 41 and 35. Yandle is landing over four shots on-goal per game. That's insane. Of course, neither will keep this up but I'm enjoying the display all the same.
*
It was a battle of the backups in St. Louis last night… or was it? Jake Allen and John Gibson both started for their respective teams and both seemed to play fairly well.
For Gibson this was his second start in a row and third in the last four games but I'm not losing my mind about it. First, this is a back-to-back situation as the Ducks go again tonight in Dallas so Gibson was going to start one of these two games. After shutting out the Blackhawks on Tuesday turning aside 38 shots, it only makes sense to give the kid another chance right away.
Freddie Andersen almost certainly goes tonight and is the #1 guy as far as you can place that label on this team. I don't care how it looks at any point this season, by the end of the year Andersen will have made between 50 and 60 starts and Gibson between 20 and 30. That's if no one gets hurt.
*
The Blues deserve some applause for fighting off illness and injury to take down a Ducks team that has been rolling through the league. Both David Backes and TJ Oshie were out with concussions, joining Paul Stastny among the injured Blues. That's like a top-line's worth of talent right there.
For Oshie it's more like good riddance though. He has gotten off to a brutal start. Part of that is usage as he is no longer skating regularly with Alexander Steen and Backes and isn't getting the same top unit power play chances. Honestly, it looks like he is headed toward the 45-point level.
Big minutes were awarded to Jaden Schwartz and Vladimir Tarasenko with all of those forwards out. Both skated over 20 minutes in this one over three of which came on the power play. Neither one scored but after the eruption earlier this week they probably didn't need to prove anything. These guys are for real, we just need to know if they'll continue to see this kind of usage when the team gets healthy. My bet is no.
As for Allen, the shutout is awesome and it probably earns him another look soon but I don't think that this necessarily makes him more than a spot-starter right now.
*
The Sharks do seem to have a terrible habit of collapsing when it matters. Whether it's what happened after going up 3-0 against the Kings in the playoffs last year or what's happened in the playoffs for them the last decade or even in games this season, they just cannot hang onto leads. They've allowed as many third-period goals as the Buffalo Sabres, tying them for dead last at 18 against.
Minnesota deserves a ton of credit, this is their second straight comeback win after blowing one of their own in the third earlier this week to the Rangers. And the Wild really were chomping at the bit all night. Ironically, they actually landed more SOG in both the first and second periods on their own than they did in the third period and overtime combined.
Thomas Vanek was demoted to the third line and all he did was notch a couple of assists on both of Kyle Brodziak's third-period goals to tie the game. The second assist was particularly saucy: