The Vancouver Canucks are a wagon.
Heading into Thursday night, the trio of Quinn Hughes, J.T. Miller and Elias Pettersson were all tied for the league lead in scoring and perhaps more surprisingly, Brock Boeser was tied for the most goals in the NHL, at 13.
Boeser, who has struggled to meet expectations for years in fantasy, finally appears poised to deliver on the talent most felt he possessed. He was pegged by many to be a 30-goal scorer, yet he never quite got there, with his past two seasons being particularly disappointing. Now, Boeser is capitalizing on three teammates playing at an elite level and a red-hot Canucks power play. Boeser has already scored six goals with the man advantage after only recording six power-play goals all of last season. He seems destined to finally hit the 30-goal mark.
Yes, a 28.3 shooting percentage is probably not sustainable, but Boeser’s torrid start is still remarkable, given it seemed certain the Canucks were going to trade him at some point for a fresh start and some felt he would never reach his potential.
Just enjoy it while it lasts.
Time for your questions.
I think Matthew Poitras has more upside. Jake DeBrusk played a ton at even-strength with Patrice Bergeron last season, so I’m not surprised to see him get off to a slow start. DeBrusk may be playing a little more than Poitras, but Poitras has still out-produced him. Plus, I think Poitras will get more responsibility, trust and minutes as the season goes on.
Much like the question above, I’d go with Cole Perfetti for upside. Tomas Hertl should be fine this season, but there’s only so much he can give you on that San Jose Sharks team. Perfetti is on an incredible run and is in the better situation by a mile. He has much more value than Hertl in keeper leagues, too.
It should be someone very substantial if you’re going to move Kyle Connor. While I agree he won’t keep up this pace, I still think Connor is in for a big season. His down year in 2022-23 came on a bit of a low shooting percentage and he’s only two years removed from a 47-goal season. I think he can be a 50-goal scorer someday. I’d only move him for a top-25 fantasy player.
I wouldn’t go down this road unless what you’re giving up is very insignificant. In theory, it’s a smart strategy, but Jonathan Huberdeau hasn’t shown any signs since arriving in Calgary that he can get back to the player he was in Florida. I suppose if you’re giving up a player you have to drop anyway it might be worth a shot, but just temper your expectations.
I’d probably go with Zach Werenski here, but it’s close. I think both Werenski and Darnell Nurse should have a fairly comparable plus/minus, but Werenski will be better for points. The Edmonton Oilers look out of sorts defensively and I think that’s going to hurt Nurse in the plus/minus category.
Jared Spurgeon has been on pace for 50 points before in his career, so it’s not like he doesn’t have offensive talent. The question is going to be, how much power-play time will he get? Calen Addison is gone, so that opens things up for Spurgeon, but right now the Minnesota Wild are using five forwards on the top power play. In a best-case scenario, if Spurgeon works his way back to the top group, maybe he scores at that 50-point pace again, but I don’t see much more.
If it were me, I’d drop Cody Glass out of the three. Given he was a 2017 draft pick, I find it less likely he’ll eventually have a huge breakout. Connor Zary has produced well this season and William Eklund just turned 21 and is a highly touted prospect. I’d take my chances on those two.
It’s getting close. The Minnesota Wild rank 31st in goals against and simply aren’t playing good hockey right now. We also knew this would be a risk with Filip Gustavsson this season, given his small sample size and the fact that replicating last season's numbers would be almost impossible. If there are better options available it’s probably time to look into them.
John Klingberg is too risky to hold any longer. He’s definitely dealing with an injury that’s lingering and Morgan Rielly has been taking over his spot on the first power-play unit. Klingberg has also been struggling defensively and he likely won’t see big minutes, while being at risk to get scratched here and there. I hear the concerns about Travis Sanheim, but at least he’s playing a ton and should be safer for category coverage than Klingberg.
It hasn’t been a great year for Juuse Saros and this was a concern with taking him this season. We knew the Nashville Predators were heading into a bit of a retooling phase and turning over their roster to some young players, and they sit in last place in the Central. Their overall play certainly hasn’t helped Saros in the win column but there are other more concerning signs as well.
Nashville has actually been quite good at limiting high-danger shots, giving up the third fewest in the NHL. That should be helping Saros’ numbers, but that simply hasn’t been the case. Saros also ranks dead last in goals saved above expected among goalies who have played at least eight games this season. He ranked first in that category in 2022-23.
There’s still time to turn things around, but there aren’t a lot of positive signs to hold onto if you’re rostering Saros at the moment.
I think the points will be hard to come by if John Carlson is still in front of him for power-play time. That said, if he continues to play this much, Rasmus Sandin could still be worth rostering in deep multi-cat leagues. Especially in leagues with blocks, as he’s been great there.
Pavel Zacha might have the better deployment and be on the stronger team, but I’m going with Mason McTavish. He looks like a breakout star on an Anaheim Ducks team that is playing much better than expected. I think McTavish is going to be very valuable for years to come.
He’s a talented player on a team that’s going to be good very soon if they aren’t already there. The challenge with Jamie Drysdale is that we’ve seen very little of him in the past two seasons because of injuries. Drysdale still has plenty of upside, so I’d just try to hang onto him as a stash if your roster allows it.
We mentioned Sandin earlier who’s been a great find for blocks. There’s also Ryan Graves of the Pittsburgh Penguins. He typically provides steady coverage in most of those areas and is widely available in a lot of leagues.
I wouldn’t make that move if it’s a categories league. Robert Thomas doesn’t provide much outside of points and Vincent Trocheck should have a fine season offensively playing with Artemi Panarin. I like Trocheck the most out of the three, especially for hits and faceoff wins.
I think some people overvalued Jonathan Marchessault because of his great playoff run, but that pace was never sustainable. Marchessault is a reliable option, though you shouldn’t expect him to be a point-per-game player over a whole season. I think he is a 55-60-point player at most.
My strategy is that it never hurts to stash a player if you have the roster space. It just gives you more options when they get healthy. Gabriel Vilardi was off to a promising start before he went down, so it’s worth grabbing him to see if he can pick up where he left off when he’s back.
I’d go for Stuart Skinner, if you still can. The Oilers are going to really start clicking eventually and we saw what value Skinner had last season when Edmonton was playing well. Skinner has played much better of late with three straight solid outings, so he still probably has a lot more upside than anyone on your waiver wire.
I’ll admit to getting off the Matt Duchene bandwagon too early. Duchene has been on a huge heater, but there’s no way he keeps up this pace. He’s still not in the top six or on the first power play. Even still, just ride this wave as long as you can. There aren’t many players hotter than Duchene right now.
I think it’s a cold stretch and maybe a defence that’s too good actually. The Colorado Avalanche don’t give up many shots, so if Alex Georgiev gives up two or three goals, his numbers look a little worse than they probably should be. There’s also the fact that Georgiev may be a bit rundown, as he’s started every game but two. At the end of the day, he’s going to play a lot on a strong team, so it’s best to keep him and wait this out.
I think the perfect scenario for Ryan Johansen is playing on the top power-play unit and with Mikko Rantanen at even-strength. With Rantanen getting moved up and down, Johansen will probably go through some cold stretches when Rantanen is moved off his line. If Rantanen stays on the top group permanently, it’s possible there are better options on the wire.
I really don’t see any of those as huge upgrades. If you’re looking to really bolster your blocked shots, then maybe Esa Lindell is worth a shot. Otherwise, I think I’d just stand pat.
COMMENTS
When submitting content, please abide by our submission guidelines, and avoid posting profanity, personal attacks or harassment. Should you violate our submissions guidelines, we reserve the right to remove your comments and block your account. Sportsnet reserves the right to close a story’s comment section at any time.