Thatcher Demko made his long-awaited return from his “unique” lower body injury. It’s great to see him back and I hope he has a long career moving forward, but I don’t think that injury is something I am going to take my chances with, so I doubt he ends up on any of my fantasy teams for at least the next couple years. 

This also likely spells the end of Arturs Silovs‘ minimal fantasy value for the rest of the season. Meanwhile, Kevin Lankinen has likely earned himself a sizeable role the rest of the way. It would surprise me to see either goalie get a higher than 60% share of the starts either way. Demko may be the golden boy, but there’s no need to over-exert him at this point, risking wearing him out or aggravating the injury. 

Vancouver plays too late for us East Coasters to watch the whole game, but halfway through Demko had allowed two goals on 12 shots, and was getting no help from the D-core in front of him. Give it a few games for Demko to shake off the rust before you can start him with confidence.

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Gustav Nyquist is out with an illness, and the top line was loaded with the rest of the supposed fantasy relevant players in Filip Forsberg, Jonathan Marchessault, and Steven Stamkos (as Ryan O’Reilly is also still out). Intriguingly, the second line was an all youngsters group: Fedyor Svechkov centring Zachary L’Heureux and Jusso Parssinen. The Predators have some room for a rookie or two to step up, right now the best bet looks like Svechkov, though L’Heureux is your safest bet in multicat leagues. 

The top line led the way for Nashville, with Marchessault scoring twice and Forsberg assisting on both. It was a small victory though compared to the loss overall, and the big news that Roman Josi wouldn’t return to the game as a result of an injury. Hopefully we have an update later today. 

With Andrew Brunette’s latest comments from earlier on Tuesday, I wanted to touch on what I think about what’s happening in Nashville. Thus far, they’re in the race for first overall pick, but that’s the opposite of where they wanted to be. 

I’m a fan of Andrew Brunette, and he seems to take any team in his first year there and turn them into a high scoring team to be reckoned with, punching above their weight on paper. However, he hasn’t had a long shelf life anywhere, and it feels like his expiration date is closing in. 

Normally a coach in his second year with a team where the team gets off to a slow start is something where I would preach patience. However, GM Barry Trotz seems to have made it clear from his roster moves that the team is in a win-now window. Unfortunately, the team played above their heads last year, and the new additions just haven’t gelled. 

At this point though, the Predators look like they have to pivot. The hole is too deep in the West to realistically have playoff expectations this year, so selling off a piece or two that won’t be around next season anyways like Gustav Nyquist and some of the extra depth forwards send like the way to go. The draft lottery could be a bonus, but sorting out the second line centre role is a must, or even transitioning Ryan O’Reilly there and bringing in someone for the top line. 

Filip Forsberg only seems to have a star year every second season anyways, might as well continue to aim for next year. 

Last year in my dynasty league I stumbled out of the gates. I had playoff aspirations going into the year, but i could tell really on that my team was going to have up

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Vince Dunn has been back for the Kraken for six games now. He played the first four games of the season, recording three points, but then missed six weeks with an upper body injury. 

While Dunn’s return might have a modest impact on Brandon Montour‘s numbers, it’s Ryker Evans who stands to lose the most, with a bigger drop in ice time, and a near-full removal of his power play time. He played only three of the five games since Dunn returned (missing two games with a hand injury) and had one point in those three games. 

Dunn is technically on the top power play, but for a team that splits their units fairly equally, being the QB of unit one vs unit two isn’t a huge difference. Montour holds the puck and shoots enough that regardless which unit he’s on, he’s going to be getting points. As for Dunn, with his six points in his first five games upon returning from his injury, he has quashed any worries managers might have about any rust or lingering issues. Montour has four points over the same stretch, which is actually a bit above his season-long pace. 

On the rest of the roster, it seems Shane Wright has really picked things up over a similar time frame, just as Jared McCann and his line have cooled off. McCann has come back to earth after a really hot start. He’s a 75-point player who only gets the minutes of a 60-65 point player. That cold streak should snap very soon, perhaps starting with last night's secondary assist on the opening goal. 

Four other forwards are also on recently hot streaks, including Oliver Bjorkstrand and his recent four-point game. Overall the team scored 20 goals in those first five games. If that’s any indication of what the roster can do at (near) full strength, then look out for them to continue shooting up the West standings. 

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Five points each last night from Mikko Rantanen and Nathan MacKinnon in a 6-2 win over the Penguins. Sidney Crosby was held off the scoresheet against his Nova Scotia counterpart. Tristan Jarry had his win streak snapped at four games – he’s still impossible to trust in fantasy. 

Mackenzie Blackwood hasn’t played a game yet for the Avalanche but he’s already facing a bit more competition than some might have expected as Scott Wedgewood is making a push for posting time with two goals against over his last two games. He’s looking more and more comfortable in Colorado.

The recent goalie trades by Colorado also highlight how volatile goalie value can be, and how much it is tied to their team. If you are a top team in your win-now window, then owning a sure thing goalie that isn’t moving anywhere, like Andrei Vasilevskiy or Connor Hellebuyck, locks you in best. If you don’t own those sure things, then a trade can destabilize your player’s value. 

On the flip side, if you need to swing for the fences or want to take as many longshot chances in the offseason in order to make up ground with a sub-optimal roster, then having a few middle and lower tier goalies can allow you to have one either get traded or flourish, gifting you a top tier goalie that you can then insulate. It’s a lot cheaper and quicker to take risks with goalies, so for those of you in rebuilds for example, stock up on netminders and watch at least one or two of them turn into valuable assets within a year – just don’t hold them too long. 

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Cody Glass did get his first goal as a Penguin last night against Wedgewood. He now has two points in the last three games, but still isn’t seeing a lot of minutes or power play usage. 

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Looking at other reclamation projects that have had success this year, Dante Fabbro‘s emergence in Columbus has been great to watch. He has a point every second game after notching an assist last night, and is averaging 22 minutes per game. 

Luke Kunin also has seven points in his last 14 games after scoring twice last night. He has a ton of multicat appeal was well, averaging about two shots, three hits, and one block per game over that span, plus some faceoff wins to boot. He’s generally lining up with Barclay Goodrow and Alexander Wennberg, but his goals last night were assisted by Macklin Celebrini and William Eklund respectively. The Sharks should try him with one of those two for a more extended stretch. 

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See you next Wednesday, and if you want to keep up with it you can find me on BlueSky here, or Twitter/X here if you have any fantasy hockey questions or comments.