Every Sunday during the regular season, we’ll share 20 Fantasy Thoughts from our writers at DobberHockey. These thoughts are curated from the past week’s “Daily Ramblings.”
1. Drake Caggiula might be a great short-term pickup at the moment. Why? The Oilers’ most recent line shuffle has him playing alongside Connor McDavid. Caggiula took full advantage on Saturday, scoring two goals. McDavid assisted on them both and scored a goal of his own. This was only the second game all season that Caggiula has scored a point, so he probably hasn’t been on your radar. But he’s at least worth keeping an eye on in case this sticks.
2. Johnny Gaudreau, with nine goals and 20 assists, is now third in NHL scoring behind two guys named Stamkos and Kucherov. Oh yeah, and Gaudreau now has a nine-game point streak, as well as points in all but three games this season. If you need points – particularly assists – there aren’t many options better than Johnny Hockey.
3. After averaging just 14 goals a season over his first two full years, Teuvo Teravainen is on pace for 27. That is a gigantic increase. The thing is, three years ago, if someone were to say, “Teravainen will push for 30 goals in a few years,” most people would have nodded their head in agreement. He was highly thought of when he was making his way up Chicago’s system once upon a time. It was tenuous at best, however, whether he’d achieve the levels projected for him after an underwhelming start to his career.
Teravainen is an easy sell for me. He’s taking just two shots per game and is far from a lock to stay on the top line (with Jordan Staal and Sebastian Aho of late). With eight points in his last four games, including a hat trick, maybe a fantasy owner in your league thinks he’s starting to live up to the hype he had three or four years ago. It doesn’t hurt to ask.
4. It’s hard to evaluate any player on the Ducks at this point with all those injuries. Still, Rickard Rakell is pacing to a 27-goal, 68-point season. With what this team has had to go through, his moving all around the lineup, and expected regression from his shooting percentage last year, he still should have himself a fine season. That’s impressive.
5. I would be a lot more optimistic about Max Domi’s production if we knew that he, Derek Stepan, and Clayton Keller were to remain a line. Of late, the three have been split across three lines and Domi’s centre last game was, and I kid you not, Zac Rinaldo. I don’t care what Domi’s expected goals are, if he’s skating at five-on-five with Rinaldo, he’s droppable in all re-draft formats.
6. I thought Brayden Schenn would push for 70 points. Barring an injury, he should have no problem reaching that. Schenn and Jaden Schwartz are among a group of five players that are tied for fourth in NHL scoring with 25 points. Believe it or not, Vladimir Tarasenko is the weak link on that Blues’ top line with just 22 points.
7. Is Tuukka Rask about to become part of a goaltending timeshare in Boston? Probably not, but it’s worth mentioning that Anton Khudobin has now started and won back-to-back games for the Bruins. Khudobin stopped 36 of 37 shots in the Bruins’ win in San Jose Saturday.
For now, it might just be coach Bruce Cassidy playing the hot hand. Yet, the Bruins could use every bit of good news they can find, as they currently sit outside of a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. As a Rask owner, I might have to look up Khudobin as a handcuff anyway. Could Khudobin start Boston’s next game on Wednesday against New Jersey? You’d have to think he might.
8. Zach Werenski looks primed to push close to 50 points again. But if the Columbus power play doesn’t pick up, or he stays off the top unit has he was on Friday, then maybe not.
9. Nolan Patrick returned from injury Thursday night, skating just eight minutes. He definitely won’t be fantasy relevant this season, but I don’t necessarily see Patrick being sent back to junior. That night was his 10th game, clearing one major hurdle by burning a year off his entry-level deal. The next hurdle is game 40, which gets him a year closer to arbitration and unrestricted free agency. I do wonder if they’ll release him for the world juniors, however.
10. The Nashville Predators assigned Juuse Saros to the AHL, recalling Anders Lindback. This is neither surprising, nor alarming. The backup life is a hard one, especially for a young goaltender still in development. Saros has made four starts and has not been good but that doesn’t mean he’s suddenly a bad prospect. He remains one of the better goalie prospects out there. If Pekka Rinne got hurt tomorrow, Saros would be the top option for the Predators.
Saros doesn’t need waivers to go to the minors, but he does need to get into games to keep in a rhythm and to continue developing. With the flexibility to send him down, the Predators would be foolish not to use it. Their next back-to-back isn’t until Dec. 4 and 5. They have three that month. What we might see is Saros play a few weeks in the minors keeping his game fresh and building some confidence before popping back up to start a few at the NHL level. Coach Peter Laviolette indicated that this will be a short-term move. If anything, view this as a positive way to get Saros’ season back on track.
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11. After a hot start, Jakub Vrana has just two points in his last 14 games (plus one healthy scratch) and has been dumped from the Alex Ovechkin/Evgeny Kuznetsov line. Skating 13 minutes a night with secondary PP time and limited exposure to the Caps’ top skaters won’t keep him relevant. Intriguing prospect, though.
12. Rookie Mathew Barzal continues to be perfectly situated as the Isles’ No.2 centreman behind John Tavares, while seeing top unit power play time. His ownership sits at 30 per cent on Yahoo, which is somewhat understandable given the glut of talent available at the centre position, but also not because he is really freaking fantastic!
13. Colorado coach Jared Bednar suggested Wednesday that Samuel Girard would be sticking around for the year with the Avalanche. Great news for folks in keeper leagues and in deep one-year settings. I don’t doubt that Girard could push 25-30 points this season.
14. I’m not in love with Rick Nash’s usage, but it’s hard to argue with the hot run he’s on with six goals and 10 points in his last nine games. He had just one point through the first 11 games of the season. Ultimately, I have Nash as a 45-point/200-shot guy. There’s value in that sort of player in plenty of leagues. He’s a high-floor option because of the shot volume he provides.
15. Anthony Mantha is probably the best Red Wings forward to own given his big body and nose for the net in tight. He’s skating most of his shifts at even strength with Henrik Zetterberg and Gustav Nyquist, as well as seeing use as a net-front man on the power play.
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16. For a team with a 25th-ranked power play (entering Sunday’s action), the Canucks sure have a ton of “power-play specialists.” They signed Sam Gagner and Thomas Vanek during the off-season. The Sedins are basically power-play specialists at this point in their career (yes, I said it). Then you have to give Bo Horvat, Brock Boeser and Sven Baertschi time with the man advantage. And I also forgot about $30-million man Loui Eriksson. Hasn’t Derek Dorsett earned some power-play time as well?
17. Ryan Johansen finally scored his first goal of the season Thursday in a breakout three-point night that fantasy owners desperately needed. He’s now on pace for 47 points.
Johansen should be just fine. I expect him to score around 15 goals and 60 points, as he has the past two seasons, but he’s trending into Alexander Wennberg/Joe Thornton territory with how much his shot volume has eroded. He has just 24 SOG through 19 games, a 104-shot pace. This guy regularly used to top 200 SOG. Some of this is the result of playing alongside shot demons in Filip Forsberg and Viktor Arvidsson, but some of it is just weird.
Johansen’s shot volume did drop when he joined the Predators, but through his first season and a half he averaged two shots per game. He’s down to 1.2 this season.
18. With 21 points in 19 games, Jonathan Huberdeau is well on his way to cracking that 60-point barrier that has eluded him throughout his career. The one that we at DobberHockey know is going to happen.
19. There have interesting discussions lately about Sidney Crosby being a potential buy-low candidate. I can certainly vouch for that. But here’s something to ponder during your downtime: Is there any player on your fantasy roster that you wouldn’t trade if you were offered Crosby in a one-for-one deal? The list has to be very short, but worthy of debate. Connor McDavid? Nikita Kucherov? Anyone else?
20. Alexander Wennberg is mired in a slump, barely shoots (on pace for a career-high 129 SOG), and is now battling injury. The upside for him at this point is somewhere around 50-55 points. I’m sure they exist, but there aren’t too many leagues where it’s worth it to ride it out for that type of player at the centre position.
Wennberg is a low-shot volume player, heavily reliant on assists. When he’s not racking up assists, he’s mostly useless. Wennberg doesn’t have the telltale low on-ice shooting percentage indicative a player due to rebound, however he should find some more assists in the future as his IPP (percentage of goals with him on the ice that he gets a point on) is down to 42.9 per cent after a couple of seasons up in the 65 per cent range.
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