Ramblings: Niederreiter Scores Thrice and Preds Win Twice, Kunin, Valimaki, Addison (Oct 9)  

Ian Gooding

2022-10-09

The Nashville Predators have taken both games from the San Jose Sharks in Prague, winning Saturday's game by a score of 3-2. Both teams will fly back to North America, where they will resume their seasons later next week while readjusting to the time change.

Your way-too-early goal scoring leader is Nino Niederreiter, who scored three goals over the two games. In his first two games as a Predator, Niederreiter has been playing on Ryan Johansen's wing, so there already appears to be a good match. I "nearly" added Niederreiter in one league, opting instead for Philip Tomasino, who for some reason was a healthy scratch for both games. That shouldn't take anything away from Niederreiter, who so far appears to be clicking with his new team. Niederreiter might be that guy that gets added to a lot of teams as a result of this early-season success, but keep in mind that his 120+ goal pace is very much unsustainable.

Eeli Tolvanen, featured in this week's Journey as a potential deep sleeper, recorded points in back-to-back games. You could call him a post-hype sleeper as well, given the time it seems we've been waiting on him. He's already 23 or only 23, depending on whether you think the glass is half empty or half full.

Ex-Predator Luke Kunin also recorded points in back-to-back games, including a power-play goal on Saturday. Kunin has also been playing on the first line with Tomas Hertl and Timo Meier, taking the spot that the injured Alexander Barabanov had for some of last season. Kunin also saw some first-unit power-play time during the first game. He seems like a good option for the Sharks in front of the net because of his physical ability. He is definitely worth a flier in bangers leagues (223 HITS last season), as he is rostered in only 24% of leagues on Fantrax and 10% in Yahoo.

During the two games, Alexandre Carrier has seen his power-play icetime percentage creep up from under 20% to over 40% on the Preds' second unit. Conversely, Mattias Ekholm has seen virtually no power-play time over these two games (2 seconds, to be exact). That's more than Dante Fabbro, a potential deep sleeper who hasn't seen the ice at all during a power play.  

I didn't watch either game, so I'm relying exclusively on boxscore information. Sportsnet didn't pick up these games because a certain baseball team that coughed up a huge lead on Saturday was taking up space on many of their channels. That’ll be the extent of my baseball talk for today.

Following up on the team I wrote about yesterday, I've made a few waiver-wire pickups since the team was drafted. Because I drafted Charlie McAvoy, I was able to move him to IR right away. I discovered that Max Pacioretty had not been drafted, so I decided to use my waiver-wire priority to add him (I rarely use waiver priority in-season). Pacioretty might play less than half the season, but I think I'll be able to hang onto him for that long since this league is fairly generous with IR slots (3 IR and 2 IR+ slots – ask your commissioner about IR+ slots if you don't have them).

The other two waiver-wire pickups were simply about stacking players for the Nashville-San Jose matchup. Mikael Granlund and Tomasino were my picks. Granlund recorded an assist in each of the two games, so he's contributed something. The same can't be said about Tomasino, who I discussed above. I might have dropped Tomasino sooner, but I have a limited number of adds per week on this team. In addition, it's not unprecedented for a player to be healthy scratched to start the season, then take off after that. Brock Boeser in his rookie season is an example of that. It's about coaches overthinking and worrying about defensive mistakes as opposed to letting the cream rise to the top. It's why I occasionally say on Twitter that Coach (insert name here) doesn't care about your fantasy team.

This scenario got me thinking about short-term and long-term adds. If your focus is the long term or even season-long, then the youngster with more upside might be the way to go. But if your focus is on today or even the upcoming week, the reliable veteran is the better play. That's why I should have gone with Niederreiter instead of Tomasino here.

The Flames have signed coach Darryl Sutter to a multi-year extension. Sutter won the Jack Adams Award last season, leading a Flames team that had missed the playoffs the season before to a Pacific Division title. Like him or loathe him, Sutter will be in Cowtown for a while.

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Also in Flames news, Juuso Valimaki has been placed on waivers. Although injuries have derailed his career somewhat, he's proof that not every top prospect will pan out. Calgary might not be the right spot for him anyway, as they have a deep defense and don't have to wait on him. He seems like a strong bet to be claimed, since defensemen with upside don't grow on trees. Our Journey writer Ben Gehrels recently discussed the downfall of Valimaki here, pointing to the Sutter hiring as something else that negatively impacted Valimaki's spot on the Flames.

I'll take the time to answer a question from yesterday on ranking "Zero G" goalies in a league with W/SV%/GAA/SO. Maybe this helps someone out there with a late draft as well.

  1. Linus Ullmark – I mentioned that I picked him on my own team because he has the contract and could earn more starts than Jeremy Swayman. I'll add that his ratios are projected to be the strongest out of this group. I think that Boston should be at least a bubble playoff team, even with the injuries.
  2. Jordan Binnington – He has the potential to start the most games out of this group, but which Binnington will we see? The one from 2019 and last year's playoffs, or the one who lost his starting job last season? Based on volume and reputation, he's probably the goalie being selected first among this group. I think he'll lead this group in wins and shutouts, so he’s at the top of the list for leagues that emphasize those categories.
  3. Vitek Vanecek – Could be in a timeshare with Mackenzie Blackwood. If the Devils are any good this season, he could rise up the rankings.
  4. Eric Comrie – Another potential timeshare, possibly splitting starts with the ageless Craig Anderson. Like Vanecek, he could rise up the rankings if he takes the wheel.
  5. Philipp Grubauer – He might have been the absolute worst goalie for fantasy teams last season. Starts shouldn't be an issue, but will you be able to trust his ratios? If Seattle improves, particularly on the defensive side, he will rebound to some degree. Goalies are more likely than skaters to far surpass their draft-day value, which is the whole idea behind Zero G.

I'll admit that I've been slow to catch on to Calen Addison, but it looks like there's something there. If you've been wondering what all of the interest is all about and why he's at the top of the Frozen Tools list, he's been used on the Wild's first-unit power play all throughout the preseason. The Frozen Tools game log also shows preseason games, where Addison has taken over 50% of the available power-play minutes in all five of his games. On Saturday, he took on over 70% of the minutes in the Wild's 5-1 win over Dallas.

This recent game might be a reflection on what the early part of the regular season looks like. That means that Addison could be prioritized over veterans like Jared Spurgeon (PP2 minutes on Saturday) and Matt Dumba (no power-play minutes on Saturday) on the power play. Dean Evason is being more careful with Addison's even-strength minutes, as he has received just 15:27 and 18:05 overall over each of his last two games on what appears to be a third pairing with Jacob Middleton. If the scoring dries up like it can for rookies, Evason might revert to veterans Spurgeon or Dumba on PP1 and Addison's short-term fantasy value would thus evaporate. Long-term, he seems like a great bet as the Wild are building a strong foundation.  

Follow me on Twitter @Ian_Gooding for more fantasy hockey.

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