Ramblings: Kane Debut, Bunting Hat Trick, Huberdeau New Scoring Leader (Jan 30)

Ian Gooding

2022-01-30

Controversy aside, Evander Kane's debut with the Oilers on Saturday should be considered a success. Kane opened the scoring in the first period, then finished with a plus-2 and three shots and four hits as the Oilers easily handled the Habs by a score of 7-2. Kane played on a line with Connor McDavid and Kailer Yamamoto, the latter who recorded his first point in five games with an assist on Kane's goal.

Here are the Oilers' even-strength and power-play lines.

EV – FORWARDS

EVANDER KANE – CONNOR MCDAVID – KAILER YAMAMOTO

LEON DRAISAITL – JESSE PULJUJARVI – WARREN FOEGELE

ZACK KASSIAN – RYAN NUGENT-HOPKINS – ZACH HYMAN

DEVIN SHORE – DEREK RYAN – RYAN MCLEOD

PP – FORWARDS              

EVANDER KANE – ZACH HYMAN – RYAN MCLEOD

RYAN NUGENT-HOPKINS – LEON DRAISAITL – CONNOR MCDAVID – JESSE PULJUJARVI

Although the icetime was spread almost evenly between the first and second power-play units with just one power play, Kane ended up on the second unit with the first unit untouched from before the Kane signing. The Oilers also ended up spreading out their scoring on three lines. As a result, Jesse Puljujarvi might not be in as bad a spot with the Kane signing as first thought. That didn't help Puljujarvi in this game, as he was held to under 15 minutes. He is now without a point in five games with just two points in his last 10 games.

Fantasy Take: Oilers Sign Evander Kane

Zach Hyman led the Oilers on Saturday with two goals, an assist, and a plus-3. The newly formed Zack/Zach line with Ryan Nugent-Hopkins seemed to work for Hyman, as the pair of goals was his first since December 1 – a span of 12 games. After a strong first month with the Oilers (8 G and 13 PTS in his first 14 GP), Hyman had cooled off considerably (8 PTS in last 19 GP prior to Saturday).

Evan Bouchard recorded an assist, giving him four points (including three goals) in the four games that Tyson Barrie has been out of the lineup. Bouchard has also received Barrie's spot on the first-unit power play. Bouchard is currently being rostered in about half of Yahoo leagues, so you may want to get on that if he's available in your league.  

The Flyers were finally able to end their losing streak at 13 games with a 4-3 overtime home win over the Kings. To put that into perspective, Carter Hart picked up his first win since December 14 – a span of nine games without a win entering Saturday's game. Hart has been deserving of a win over that span, as he had posted four quality starts over those nine games. The Flyers scored 2, 2, 1, and 1 goals over those four quality starts, so he could have pleaded a case for more goal support.

Cam Atkinson scored two goals and an assist in the win. He has at least done his part over the losing streak, far and away leading the Flyers with 15 points (5 G, 10 A) in 13 games this month. No other Flyer has more than eight points over that span.

Notable cold Flyers include ironman Keith Yandle and Morgan Frost (2 A each in 13 GP) and James van Riemsdyk (4 PTS in 13 GP). You could say that Frost has been frosty cold (I'll be here all week… try the veal).

In a losing cause for the Kings, Viktor Arvidsson scored a pair of goals while also taking a season-high nine shots.

John Gibson made 44 saves in the Ducks' 2-1 win over Ottawa. That gives him eight quality starts in nine games since the holiday break. He appeared to be tailing off in late November and December after a fast start, but he has since posted a 1.99 GAA and .944 SV% over that nine-game stretch. Meanwhile, Anthony Stolarz has posted a 4.39 GAA and .887 SV% in his four starts since the holiday break, so there should be no goalie controversy in Anaheim at the moment.

With his first-period goal, Rickard Rakell snapped a 21-game goal drought. He had recorded just eight assists over that span. I was discussing players to drop in yesterday's Ramblings, so perhaps he was an odd man out as more of your lineup returned to health.

Alex Formenton's five-game point streak was snapped on Saturday. It wasn't from lack of trying, as Formenton took six shots and was also credited with three hits and two blocked shots.

Eric Comrie received his first start since December 10, stopping 28 saves in a 4-1 win over St. Louis. Between Comrie's starts, Connor Hellebuyck started 13 consecutive games. Hellebuyck has posted a subpar 3.39 GAA and .897 SV% with just under half of those games (6) being quality starts. Even if new coach Dave Lowry isn't that confident in Comrie, he shouldn't be waiting 13 games until Comrie's next start again. Only Juuse Saros, Tristan Jarry, and Andrei Vasilevskiy have started more games than Hellebuyck this season.  

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Paul Stastny scored a pair of goals for the Jets. He has four points over his last four games.

With Hockey Day in Canada taking place in his hometown of Scarborough, ON, Michael Bunting recorded a hat trick while taking seven shots on goal. The free agent signing seems to be replacing the aforementioned Hyman on the Auston Matthews / Mitch Marner line. Due to his games played total last season (21), Bunting is still considered a rookie even though he scored 10 goals for the Coyotes last season. He's currently tied for fourth in rookie scoring with 27 points. As well, Bunting has five goals and eight points over his last eight games. Just 16 percent rostered in Yahoo leagues, Bunting is worth taking a flier on because of who his linemates are.

Thanks to a third-period explosion of goals by the Leafs, Alex Nedeljkovic was tagged with a loss even though the Wings were leading 4-2 after two periods. Nedeljkovic has now allowed at least three goals in each of his last four starts, none of which have been a quality start. Nedeljkovic had been pulled in his previous start after allowing four goals in the first period to Chicago, so he was in need of a rebound. Prior to his current slide, Nedeljkovic made six consecutive quality starts, so he is capable of playing better. He showed signs of that with this save:

Despite the place in the standings of the two teams (or maybe because of it), were you at least somewhat intrigued by the Buffalo / Arizona matchup? With the Sabres almost out of goalies, Craig Anderson made his long-awaited return to the lineup. In his first game in nearly three months, Anderson stopped 27 of 28 shots in the Sabres' 3-1 win. So if you need a Sabres goalie, it's an easy call right now. But once more goalies return to health, it gets a whole lot more complicated. Anderson has shown the best numbers out of any Buffalo goalie (2.28 GAA, .927 SV%), so he should at least be in the mix.

With a goal and an assist on Saturday, Alex Tuch has 12 points in 11 games with his new team. Tuch has also added 12 shots and four hits over his last two games, so he is also bringing it in multiple categories.

Jonathan Huberdeau is your new Art Ross Trophy leader. Huberdeau scored the game-tying goal and added two assists to go with five shots and three hits in the 5-4 overtime win for the Panthers over the Sharks. Huberdeau leads the NHL with 45 assists and 62 points.

Here's our old friend Cam Robinson explaining the kind of value that Huberdeau brings to cap leagues.

Huberdeau earns $5.9 million this season and next, so he is set for a big raise on his next contract as long as he doesn't drop too far from his current pace. Huberdeau is on my auction keeper team, and he's also delivering great value with the cap hit I was able to secure him for.

Top 200 Cap League Skater Rankings

In a losing cause for the Sharks, Jonathan Dahlen scored two power-play goals while taking six shots. Dahlen now has goals in back-to-back games.

I know I've spilled much of the digital ink of this article on goalies, but the final game of the day was worthy of more goalie performance mentions. Jacob Markstrom posted his league-leading seventh shutout of the season in an overtime win over his former team. Markstrom also has shutouts in two of his last three games and quality starts in three of his last four games. No other goalie has more than four shutouts this season.

A team isn't going to win many games while taking just 15 shots (including just one in the first period!) but that's what happened to the Canucks. They have their goalie to thank again, this time Thatcher Demko, who made his return from COVID protocol. Demko stopped 31 of 32 shots in a hard-luck loss. Demko and Jaroslav Halak's returns mean that Spencer Martin is back on the taxi squad. Because of Martin's sudden emergence (5 GA in 3 GP) in the brief period that both Demko and Halak were out, look for the Canucks to try to trade Halak before the deadline.

For more fantasy hockey discussion, follow me on Twitter @Ian_Gooding

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