20 Fantasy Thoughts: Stutzle's torrid start is erasing doubts from last season

I’ll raise my hand as being wrong about Tim Stutzle this year.

Heading into the season I had a choice as to who my final keeper would be and it came down to Stutzle or Joel Eriksson Ek. I had my doubts about Stutzle because of his regression in 2023-24 and even with a low shooting percentage, his numbers were still down in almost every metric. Plus, my league counts faceoff wins and Eriksson Ek is one of the best options available for category coverage, so I ultimately went with him. It’s still early, and I try to avoid looking back in fantasy hockey, but I’m definitely starting to feel some regret.

Stutzle has been a force of nature this season. He has points in all but four games (some would argue it should be three after a questionable disallowed goal on Saturday), five multi-point games and is starting to look like a legitimate superstar. The Ottawa Senators forward is exerting himself physically as well, on pace for a career-best 148 hits. Stutzle is really starting to develop into a multi-cat stud who should be a high-end draft pick across all leagues.

The Sens have also moved Stutzle around in their top six this season, jumpstarting their top two lines at different times throughout the year. He’s been split pretty evenly between Matthew Tkachuk and Ridly Greig, as well as Claude Giroux and Drake Batherson. Stutzle can play just about anywhere and with anyone, and still help drive his line.

Maybe we shouldn’t be that surprised about Stutzle’s start because he does have a 90-point season to his credit already. That said, he hasn’t produced anything close to that in his other three campaigns and it’s always fair to wonder if that was an anomaly until you see more consistency from a player. There’s still a long way to go, but right now Stutzle is providing massive value for where he was taken in drafts for 2024-25. Stutzle is on a 102-point pace while sitting in the top 20 in league scoring with no signs of slowing down. I’m certainly not doubting him anymore.

1. A bounce-back campaign could be in the cards for John Tavares. The Toronto Maple Leafs forward had just 65 points a year ago, after posting 80 in 2022-23, and clearly looked like he was losing a step. He very well may be, but Tavares does look a little fresher this season and is close to a point per game once again with nine goals already.

Maybe relinquishing the captaincy to Auston Matthews has actually done him some good. Tavares already has three power-play goals this season, which is a third of his total on the man advantage from 2023-24. If Toronto’s power play can maintain its recent pace, there’s a good chance Tavares could easily surpass all his totals on the man advantage from last season.

2. In the six games that Matthews has missed, Mitch Marner has multi-point games in five of them. Most players’ value would take a massive hit after losing their superstar centre, but Marner is thriving. His contract negotiations, whenever they heat up, are going to be fascinating.

3. It’s tough to justify rostering Max Domi at this point. He doesn’t have a point in 13 games, hasn’t scored yet this season and wasn’t able to take advantage of a promotion to the top line with Marner when Matthews was sidelined. Domi had some value coming into the season in leagues that count penalty minutes and the fact that he had some chemistry with Matthews last year, but any upside is quickly eroding.

4. After a slow start, Rasmus Dahlin has now tallied 14 points in his past 10 games. The Buffalo Sabres forward regressed offensively a bit last season, which bumped him down in drafts from that top tier of blue-liners in drafts. If Dahlin can get anywhere close to 70-75 points, he’ll be a steal in 2024-25 because of the hits and blocks coverage he provides.

5. It looks like the net was going to be Alexandar Georgiev’s again in Colorado before he sustained an injury. He recently made four starts in a row and won three straight games. I think the plan was to always try to get him going again because he gives them the best chance to win right now. If Justus Annunen is to remain fantasy-relevant, he’s going to have to make the most of any playing time he gets with Georgiev sidelined.

6. The Avalanche got some reinforcements back this week, too. Jonathan Drouin and Valeri Nichushkin returned, with both starting on the second power-play unit. That means Artturi Lehkonen and Casey Mittelstadt remain on the coveted power play one for now with Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen. Maybe most encouraging was Gabriel Landeskog joining the morning skate the other day for a few drills. Perhaps he’s getting closer.

7. Matvei Michkov returned from his two-game stint in the press box and promptly recorded five points in his next three games. He’s up to 15 points in 16 contests now, so there’s major value there when he’s in the lineup. It wouldn’t shock me at all if Philadelphia Flyers head coach John Tortorella sits him here and there again throughout the season, but Michkov is still important enough to hang onto.

8. If you need help between the pipes, Ivan Fedotov is worth a short-term look with Samuel Ersson sidelined. He’s now 3-0-0 with a .918 save percentage in his past three starts. The trouble is the Flyers have a tough schedule next week, with games against Colorado and Carolina. Not an ideal time to add him but if you’re desperate, there are worse options than Fedotov right now.

9. Jordan Martinook is on an incredible recent scoring surge. The Carolina Hurricanes forward has six goals and eight points in his past six games while playing on the third line and getting virtually no power play time. It’s hard to see this lasting long term, especially now that Seth Jarvis is going to miss some time, but Martinook could be a good streamer for Sunday and then see where this goes next week. 

10. Do you take a gamble on Spencer Martin? Pyotr Kochetkov and Frederik Andersen are both injured, so Martin could get a handful of starts here for a team known for being very goalie-friendly. It seems like a low-risk, high-reward move that could help you in net in the short term and Martin is off to a good start with a shutout Saturday.

11. Joey Daccord is starting to take over the crease for the Seattle Kraken. After alternating starts with Philipp Grubauer at the start of the year, Daccord has now played in nine of the past 11 games with excellent results. If you look a little further down the road as well, the Kraken have a great schedule to close out November. Seattle has back-to-backs with San Jose and Anaheim, which could give Daccord a really good stretch to help you win a matchup or two.

12. William Eklund is getting some crazy ice time right now and has notched 13 points in 18 games. He’s gaining the trust of the San Jose Sharks coaching staff, averaging over 20 minutes per night so far. Add in the fact that Eklund is getting top time on the power play as well, and I think he’s more than just a streamer. Eklund is worth hanging onto and is especially valuable next week with the Sharks being one of the few teams to play four times.

13. Give Logan Thompson the edge in the Washington Capitals crease. He’s been better than Charlie Lindgren and recently started two in a row, as the Caps deviated from alternating between the two for the first time this season. I’d still keep the tandem if you can as Washington appears to be a strong team and things could always shift back to Lindgren, but if you’re choosing between them, Thompson is the guy to roster right now.

14. There’s still plenty of value with Vegas Golden Knights forward Pavel Dorofeyev, especially while Mark Stone is injured in the top six. Dorofeyev is already up to nine goals and has very consistent shot volume. Maybe he drops back down when Stone comes back, but right now take advantage of the fact that Dorofeyev is skating next to Jack Eichel.

15. I certainly didn’t have Dallas Stars forward Mason Marchment scoring four points in a period on my bingo card for this week. The Pittsburgh Penguins are giving up a lot of high-quality chances and goals, so it’s worth considering anyone going up against them as streamers in one-game scenarios. Marchment actually finished with four goals and nine points in three games this week, probably winning a whole bunch of matchups essentially all by himself.

16. Tristan Jarry’s return to the Pens crease didn’t go so well, giving up five goals to the Columbus Blue Jackets. I saw a few people scoop him back up off waivers in the hopes he can find his game, but I just don’t see any Penguins goalie having value this season.

17. There are some very encouraging signs that Elias Pettersson is breaking out of his funk. He recently had back-to-back multi-point games and has four goals in his past six contests, while upping his shot volume in the process. Pettersson also looks like he’s playing a bit more North and South and I noticed he was really demanding the puck last Saturday against Edmonton. Jake DeBrusk was also moved back to Pettersson’s line and now has points in six of seven games.

DeBrusk is an important piece for Pettersson to build chemistry with, as the Vancouver Canucks typically play J.T. Miller and Brock Boeser together. When DeBrusk was also moved up with Miller and Boeser, that didn’t leave much for Pettersson to work with. Hopefully, DeBrusk sticks and he and Pettersson can continue to feed off each other offensively.

18. Thursday was a tough night if you’re rostering Josh Morrissey. The Winnipeg Jets defenceman played almost 27 minutes and had zeros across the board in his statline. I’m not even sure how that’s possible. You’d think Morrissey would’ve accidentally bumped into someone with all that time on the ice or a puck would’ve hit him by mistake for a hit or a block. There are few things more frustrating in fantasy when a player gets a ton of ice time but produces absolutely nothing.

19. Only Edmonton, Utah and San Jose play four times next week, so there won’t be that many options on the waiver wire to maximize the schedule. If you need help in goal I’d take a look at Karel Vejmelka, who’s been excellent lately. Vejmelka had 49 saves in a win over the Hurricanes this week and is starting to get more playing time.

I mentioned Anders Lee last week as a short-term option, but he’s starting to look like he’ll be tough to drop. The New York Islanders forward has 10 points in his past eight games and ranks in the top 20 in the NHL when it comes to shots on goal. I’d grab him while you can.

Is this the week you drop Quinton Byfield in one-year leagues? It’s a tough call. The Los Angeles Kings play only twice and Byfield is down to 36 per cent rostered, while being on pace for 39 points. That said, he does have triple-position eligibility and has the talent to get on a hot streak going forward. He’s just tough to keep right now with his low-shot volume, as he doesn’t fill enough categories. Go with your gut.

20. I’d take a look at Frederick Gaudreau as a short-term fill-in if Eriksson Ek is out for a few games with an injury. Gaudreau has nine points in his past nine games playing mainly in the bottom six, so he should hopefully be able to get close to maintaining that pace if he gets a promotion in the lineup.