Hockey Is Back
Farabee, Nylander, Stamkos star on opening night
The National Hockey League returned to action Wednesday and it was fun to not only have hockey but lots of scoring in the process. 37 goals were scored across five games, so let’s take a look at what happened:
Stars
PHI RW Joel Farabee 1 G, 3 A in a 6-3 win vs. Pittsburgh. 6 iCF, 4 SOG
TOR RW William Nylander 2 G, 1 A in a 5-4 OT win vs. Montreal
TB RW Steve Stamkos 1 G, 2 A in a 5-1 win vs. Chicago
TOR C John Tavares 1 G, 2 A
Farabee is a second-year winger out of Boston University who had 21 points in 52 games as a rookie. He had 36 points in 37 games at BU the season before and all of that is perfectly fine. He’s a solid NHL winger who can move up and down the lineup but he’s not likely to be a big scorer. While some might race to the waiver wire to grab someone after a four-point game on opening night, that’s probably not necessary.
Pittsburgh 3 Philadelphia 6
PIT RW Brandon Tanev and PIT C Mark Jankowski both 1G, 1 A
PHI D Erik Gustafsson recorded 2 A
Tristan Jarry allowed 6 GA on 25 SOG
PHI C Nolan Patrick returned after missing all of last season with migraines. He played 14:06 and scored a goal.
PIT RW Evan Rodrigues led Penguins forwards in ice time (18:48).
Montreal 4 Toronto 5 (OT)
TOR C Auston Matthews 1 A but had 14 iCF, 7 SOG, played 25:16 (Marner played 24:46)
MTL RW Josh Anderson 2 G, 9 iCF, 7 SOG
MTL LW Jonathan Drouin 3 A
MTL D Jeff Petry 2 A
TOR LW Alexander Barabanov wasn’t very good for the Leafs but he played 5:27.
MTL D Alexander Romanov was impressive for the Habs, played 22:49, second-most on the team behind Shea Weber.
Chicago 1 Tampa Bay 5
TB C Brayden Point and C Anthony Cirelli 1 G, 1 A
TB D Victor Hedman and LW Alex Killorn 2 A
Killorn and Mikhail Sergachev 3 GF, 0 GA
Vancouver 5 Edmonton 3
VAN RW Brock Boeser 2 G
VAN C Bo Horvat 1 G, 1 A
VAN D Quinn Hughes 2 A
VAN LW Tanner Pearson 2 A
VAN RW Nils Hoglander scored a goal and looked like a good fit in his NHL debut.
EDM C Connor McDavid didn’t record a point and finished with 5 SOG with 9 iCF.
St. Louis 4 Colorado 1
STL RW Oskar Sundqvist 2 G
STL C Robert Thomas 2 A
STL LW/RW Mike Hoffman didn’t play.
COL C Nathan MacKinnon held off the scoresheet 6 iCF, 4 SOG
Injuries/roster adjustments
Hoffman Sits
Mike Hoffman did not play for St. Louis in the opener due to work visa issues. Apparently waiting until the eve of the season starting to get Hoffman signed to a contract had its own complications. I understand the LTIR aspect of it, just an unintended consequence of having to wait to make the one-year, $4 million deal official.
Yandle’s Streak In Jeopardy
Reports suggest that Panthers D Keith Yandle is on the outside looking in at Florida’s top six on the blueline. That puts him behind Riley Stillman and Gustav Forsling and if Yandle doesn’t play Sunday that will end his ironman streak at 866 games, the longest active streak in the league.
With Yandle on the ice during 5-on-5 play in his four seasons with the Panthers, they have outscored the opposition by 10 goals. His shot differentials aren’t great but it should be better than being relegated to the seventh spot on the defensive depth chart and he is only there because Markus Nutivaara is on the injured list, too.
Yandle has three seasons, at a cap hit of $6.35M per season, remaining on his contract. The Panthers may want to move him out if Coach Q has had enough but that won’t be easy and that’s a big salary to eat for nothing.
Injuries
ANA LW Max Jones has a lower-body injury and the Ducks still sent Trevor Zegras to an AHL team that isn’t playing yet. Can you tell that I drafted Zegras to multiple fantasy teams? Late rounds, but still.
ARZ LW Lawson Crouse is on the COVID-19 list.
FLA G Sergei Bobrovsky made his practice debut on Wednesday after being absent for nearly all of camp. Chris Driedger and Sam Montembault could have short-term value if Bobrovsky isn’t ready to go to start the season in Florida’s first game on Sunday.
LAK G Cal Petersen and D Sean Walker are day-to-day but “unfit to play”. Both are sleeper types for deep leagues.
NYI LW Michael Dal Colle deemed “unfit to play”.
PHI D Shayne Gostisbehere sat out the opening night win against Pittsburgh due to Covid-19 protocols.
TB RW Tyler Johnson didn’t play in the Lightning opener. Mathieu Joseph moved up to what was expected to be Johnson’s spot on the second line and played well.
VAN LW J.T. Miller and D Jordie Benn were both “unfit to play” for the Canucks in Edmonton.
WPG LW Nikolaj Ehlers is currently “unfit to play” due to Covid-19 but uncertain what this means for his status on Thursday.
Probabilities for Thursday:
Underdogs have my attention:
NJ +160 vs. BOS
NYR -102 vs. NYI
DET +180 vs. CAR
ANA +184 at VGK (Golden Knights going with 13 F, 5 D – Alex Pietrangelo, Shea Theodore, Brayden McNabb, Alec Martinez, Zach Whitecloud on the blueline.)
DFS Tips
Draft Kings
SJ C Logan Couture $5600 at ARZ
CBJ C Max Domi $3200 at NSH
EDM RW Kailer Yamamoto $4500 vs. VAN
MIN LW Kirill Kaprizov $2900 at LA
WPG RW Patrik Laine $5600 vs. CGY
SJ D Erik Karlsson $4800 at ARZ
EDM D Tyson Barrie $3300 vs. VAN
WPG G Connor Hellebuyck $7800 vs. CGY