Ramblings: Panthers Remain Undefeated with Brunette; DeAngelo, Kreider, Norris, Stephenson (Oct 30)
Ian Gooding
2021-10-30
The NHL has announced that Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff will not face any discipline for his role in the Blackhawks sexual assault scandal. Even though Cheveldayoff wasn't considered the authority figure at that time that he is today, his reputation will be affected simply by his knowledge of and presence in the situation as an assistant GM at the time. I wouldn't rule out Cheveldayoff being asked to resign if it substantially affects the business of the Winnipeg Jets.
In what is 100 percent the right move, the Blackhawks have asked the Hockey Hall of Fame to cover up the name of former video coach Brad Aldrich on the Stanley Cup. It's important to remember out of all of this that Aldrich is the guiltiest party of all as the convicted sex offender. Want to know what he’s up to today? You can check out this article from Rick Westhead of TSN from July. Scary.
It seemed inevitable with more information surfacing about his role in mishandling the sexual abuse allegations during the 2010 playoffs, but Joel Quenneville is out as Panthers coach. You can check out the fantasy take here.
Whether he is only there for the interim or longer, Andrew Brunette made his debut behind the bench for the Panthers on Friday. His debut was a success, as Aleksander Barkov scored this smooth overtime winner (his second goal of the game) to secure a 3-2 win and keep the Panthers undefeated at 8-0-0.
Sergei Bobrovsky now has six wins in six games, all of which are quality starts. He also has a .944 SV% and 1.81 GAA. If you drafted him for the wins and were willing to sacrifice something in ratios, he's exceeded your expectations so far. Could he finally be rounding into form in his third season with the Panthers?
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The team at the center of this week's firestorm remains winless, while their opponents on Friday are the only other team to remain undefeated. Six goals were scored in the first period (four by Carolina, two by Chicago), then the Hurricanes scored two more in the second period before hanging on to a 6-3 win. The Canes are now 7-0-0, while the Blackhawks are a sorry 0-6-2.
The star of this game was one Tony DeAngelo, who earned a Gordie Howe hat trick with a goal, two assists, and a fight. He also finished with a plus-2 and three shots on goal. He also provided another kind of shot in his fight.
Hope Johnson was wearing a protective cup over his (younger me giggling).
Back to DeAngelo (as if we haven’t covered enough controversial topics this week). If you rolled the dice on him, he has paid off so far. He's scoring at over a point per game (8 PTS in 7 GP), which ties him for second in scoring among defensemen. A high scoring pace all season seems sustainable, as he is leading the Canes in power-play time while the Canes are near the top of the league in offense with over four goals per game. Five of TDA's eight points have been on the man advantage, which is tied for the league lead among defensemen. If you're concerned about his 12:52 in icetime on Friday, keep in mind that the Canes had a 6-2 lead midway through the game and would have been in lockdown mode after that. Now all he has to do is play hockey and behave himself.
Jesperi Kotkaniemi moved to the top line with Sebastian Aho and Teuvo Teravainen in this game, scoring a first-period goal. If he continues to be used on that type of scoring line, don't hesitate to add him in your league.
Nino Niederreiter left this game with a lower-body injury late in the third period. Something to keep an eye on if you stacked your lineup full of Hurricanes because of their four home games this week.
After a promising preseason due to line and power-play deployment, Tyler Johnson has cooled off with just a single point in his past six games. He was forced to leave Friday’s game in the second period with an upper-body injury. He’s not expected to play on Saturday against St. Louis. You’re probably okay looking for another option at this point.
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Washington is the only other team that remains without a regulation loss, and they earned a shutout on Friday night. Ilya Samsonov stopped a relatively easy total of 16 shots to pick up his first shutout and quality start of the season. After Capitals coach Peter Laviolette leaned toward Vitek Vanecek to start the season, Samsonov may be regaining the upper hand with starts in two of the Caps' last three games.
Both of the Capitals' goals didn't happen until the third period. John Carlson scored a power-play goal with eight minutes left in regulation, while some guy named Alex Ovechkin scored his league-leading ninth goal into an empty net. Ovie is shooting the puck at his usual high pace, taking at least five shots in each of his last three games while leading the league with 36 shots. He's also riding an eight-game point streak to start the season.
The Capitals' opponent also remains winless. The hapless Coyotes have just a single point in eight games (0-7-1). That should be no surprise given how they've stripped down their roster for a full-on rebuild. Hopefully you haven't stacked your lineup full of Coyotes.
Adding this after I hit the publish button: Jakob Chychrun has zero points in his first eight games. What’s more, he’s been left out to dry with a league-worst minus-14. I don’t like to bail on players too early, particularly if you used a higher pick on them (within the top 100, as I did in one league). He’s too skilled of a player to be held off the scoresheet for this long, but this season’s version of the Coyotes is obviously dragging him to the ground. I’d say he’s not droppable (yet) unless you are in a shallow league, but he’s probably not going to be who you hoped he would be. One positive is that he’s shooting the puck at nearly the same rate (2.8 SOG/GP) as he was last season.
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Samsonov wasn't the only Russian goalie to record a shutout on Friday night. Igor Shesterkin stopped all 31 shots he faced in a 4-0 shutout win over the Blue Jackets, his first shutout of the season. Shesterkin has a sparkling 1.81 GAA and .944 SV%. Only four goalies (Andrei Vasilevskiy, Robin Lehner, Darcy Kuemper, Connor Hellebuyck) were drafted ahead of Shesterkin on average in Yahoo leagues, and Shesterkin has outperformed all of them so far.
Chris Kreider scored two power-play goals while leading the Rangers with seven shots. Kreider is off to a fast start with six goals, which is tied for sixth with several other players. Kreider seems to be thriving under new coach Gerard Gallant, as his icetime has increased by nearly three minutes per game. Kreider has been dominant on the power-play in particular, as he has scored all five of the Rangers' power-play goals and currently leads the league in power-play goals. Throw in his average of three hits per game and you've got a bangers league superstar thus far.
Artemi Panarin and Adam Fox assisted on both of Kreider's power-play goals and finished the game with three assists apiece.
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Morgan Rielly will not be heading to free agency in the offseason, as he has agreed to an eight-year, $60 million extension. I think this is great news for those who have Rielly on their keeper league teams. For one, they shouldn't have to worry about his value potentially declining with a move to another team, as he is clearly a fit to maximize his value on the Leafs. Although Rielly will become a little more expensive in cap leagues, it won't be as much as what he could have received on the open market.
That being said, five players (Rielly, John Tavares, William Nylander, Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner) will account for 58.9 percent of the Leafs' 2022 salary cap hit. Rielly is a key piece for the Leafs, but it is becoming costlier for this team to keep the band together. This contract could also squeeze Jack Campbell out of the picture after this season when he becomes a UFA. The plan might be for Petr Mrazek and a less expensive option to handle the goaltending in 2022-23.
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Could a Jack Eichel trade be coming soon?
Given Eichel's need for surgery following a trade, why wouldn't the Golden Knights (or some other team with strong odds to make the playoffs) give Eichel the Nikita Kucherov LTIR treatment so that he's ready for Game 1 of the first round? I haven't put a lot of thought or research into this, and I'm sure someone will advise me that this isn't possible for some reason. But I thought I'd put it out there.
Speaking of the Golden Knights, they had a rollercoaster game with the Ducks on Friday. With Vegas up 4-1 midway through the third period, Anaheim responded to score three goals to tie the game in regulation. Vegas would eventually win in a shootout.
No Mark Stone or Max Pacioretty, no problem for Chandler Stephenson. With a goal and an assist on Friday, Stephenson is on a three-game point streak. Not only that, but he's also leading Vegas in scoring with nine points (4 G, 5A) in eight games. No other Golden Knights player has more than four points. Not surprisingly, he's averaging nearly 20 minutes per game. Maybe he's a half-decent player on his own and doesn't necessarily need those kind of linemates to prop him up? Who knew!
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I was debating benching Josh Norris in my weekly starts league because the Senators play only two games this week, but injuries to other players meant that I had to start him. He has made the most of those two games with two points in each game, including a two-goal effort on Friday night. Norris now has a three-game goal streak. It also helps that Brady Tkachuk is back on the wing of Norris' line after Tkachuk missed the first three games because of his contract situation. The Tkachuk – Norris – Drake Batherson line has combined for seven goals over the last two games. This unit could be better than you think.
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Happy Halloween! For more fantasy hockey discussion, or to reach out to me, you can follow me on Twitter @Ian_Gooding