On to the regular season! For the Wild West Column we are going to take a look at a few potentially recurring segments that will keep you up to date with some of the fantasy comings and goings in the Western Conference. If you see something you like, or want a new segment feel free to comment.

Five days in the books and we have had quite the start to the NHL season, high scoring, shutouts, overtime wins, and impressive power plays. Unfortunately and surprisingly, San Jose has not been in that last category. When they acquired Erik Karlsson there were a number of questions about how exactly the power play would work (but we all assumed it would) and well they still aren’t answered. Through two games and six chances, the power play has yet to score a goal. Most recently they ran a unit with Brent Burns, Karlsson, Joe Pavelski, Logan Couture, and Tomas Hertl, but things have been shifting through the first two games. Now Joe Thornton is out (though he had been on the second unit) and they have still yet to score so I imagine more change is coming. If you own any of those players it is obviously not time to panic. Hold tight, there is too much talent to keep up the goose eggs for long.

Potential Pickups:

Short term streams. We will try and find a low-owned player or two that might be a good add for the upcoming week.

For the week ahead we have three teams looking at a schedule of four games (Anaheim, San Jose, and Las Vegas). On Anaheim, Troy Terry has been getting even strength time with Ryan Getzlaf and Rickard Rakell on the first line, and Jakob Silfverberg seems to be getting top power-play deployment. Over in Vegas, Erik Haula has some potential on a line with Paul Stastny and Max Pacioretty both at even strength and the power play and has put up the second highest shot total of any Golden Knight so far. Tomas Nosek might also be worth a look too, as he has been getting a few turns on the top power play with Jonathan Marchessault and William Karlsson.

Line Combos:

Just a line combo that catches my eye.

There are lots of interesting lines hitting the ice in the Western Conference. I certainly won’t be touching on all of them. Make sure to keep an eye over at the Frozen Tool Line Combos section.

The one I wanted to touch on today was in Vancouver. This line has come up several times recently, but man Elias Pettersson, Nikolay Goldobin, and (to some extent) Loui Eriksson are fun to watch.  With 11 points over their first two games (though admittedly some several on the power play) they have certainly given the Vancouver faithful something to cheer for this season. Chances are Goldobin and Eriksson are not owned in your league though I really can’t recommend either for the long term at this point.

Drop or Not:

Hopefully self-explanatory. We will find a player on a streak and decide what to do with said player.

This week are looking at a player on a hot streak.

Jonathan Toews:

What a start for Captain Serious. In three games he has totaled five goals, one assist, and 13 shots. There have certainly been commentators reporting the fact that Toews came into the season lighter and in better shape (which is great and all), and we have the fact that some of his numbers from last year indicate that maybe a slight bounce back was in order (another positive). But can we expect this streak to continue? 

Hopefully you don’t need me to tell you to take a small sample size with a grain of salt, or that you can’t take three games and extrapolate over the whole season. I can say with some confidence that Toews will not keep up a 38.5 shooting percentage and end the year with 164 points. A bounceback point pace for Toews would be likely be high 60s, maybe 70. If that is what you are hoping for then this start is exciting, keep him or sell high if you want. If you are hoping for something more than that (thought not sure why you would have been), it might be time to part ways with Toews and see what you can get as his value is likely higher right now.

On to week two!

Thanks for reading.