Fantasy hockey notes for a two-game slate with Lightning at Senators and Hurricanes at Ducks. All four teams are playing the second half of back-to-backs.
Lightning at Senators, 7 p.m. ET
Both teams are playing the second half of a back-to-back. The Lightning are coming off a 6-4 loss to the Wings, falling behind after an atrocious second period and failing to recover. The Sens played an afternoon matinee and limited the Flyers to just 21 shots in a 5-2 win. Momentum and lack of travel gives the Sens the advantage.
A reminder that Andrei Vasilevskiy is still two months away from returning. When the defense isn’t as stout as it should be, it won’t matter who they put in net. Jonas Johansson faced a 41-shot workload against the Wings last night, which means 29-year-old rookie Matt Tomkins might get his first career start. It’s just not an ideal situation in fantasy for either goalie based on their own ability and the porous blueline depth. The Sens offense can be dangerous, and there’s just too much risk in starting either goalie.
With another three points, Victor Hedman is also really pulling ahead of Mikhail Sergachev in fantasy value. Sergachev finished with just one shot, one hit and minus-4 in 21:30. It’s still early, so dumping Sergachev would be too hasty, but he’s looking like a bad value pick for those who thought he had permanently leapfrogged Hedman on the depth chart.
Start both, but Sergachev's trending in a direction where he might be a sell high candidate instead, and there are a bunch of intriguing defensemen this season, from power-play specialists such as John Klingberg (60% rostered) and Calen Addison (7% rostered), to banger league specialists such as Arber Xhekaj (12% rostered).
The Lightning’s lack of depth up front means they often play with 11 forwards, and Conor Sheary (2% rostered) just isn’t taking advantage. He’s averaging 11 minutes per game despite lining up with Brayden Point and Nikita Kucherov at times. Previously a deep sleeper and a streaming option, it's best to just ignore him right now.
Tanner Jeannot (21% rostered) registered just two hits again; the goal scoring was bound to stop, but without 300-hit potential, he has almost zero value in banger leagues.
For the Sens, look for Joonas Korpisalo to get the start after Anton Forsberg started and defeated the Flyers on Saturday. It wasn't a particularly difficult assignment for Forsberg, but with the win, it's shaping up to be some sort of timeshare for the time being. The Lightning's special teams is still terrifying, and in the best-case scenario I'm hoping for a win but not expecting much in save percentage or goals against.
It’s become evident that the Senators’ three-headed monster of Thomas Chabot, Jakob Chychrun and Jake Sanderson will be a headache in fantasy all season. Who do you pick?
Once again, Chabot (3 shots, 5 blocks, plus-2) led them in ice time (25:19) but he trailed Chychrun (2 goals, 1 assist, 3 shots, 1 hits, 2 blocks, plus-2) and Sanderson (1 goal, 1 assist, 1 block) in point production.
The play is to keep starting all three, and the going forward the Sens might just have two equal units. Chychrun has the most offensive upside since he shoots a lot, while Chabot’s ice time means he’ll likely lead in the peripheral categories.
Vladimir Tarasenko (62% rostered) again played limited minutes, but he made the most of it with two assists, both scored on the power play. Only two forwards (Mark Kastelic, Zack MacEwen) played fewer shifts than Tarasenko, and only three (Kastelic, MacEwen, Parker Kelly) played fewer even-strength minutes. Other than power-play upside, I’m not sure Tarasenko has much value otherwise, and there's no way he reaches anywhere close to 30 goals on just power play usage. If this keeps up, I'd consider dropping Tarasenko for someone with more upside.
Hurricanes at Ducks, 8:30 p.m. ET
The league must hate these four teams since the Canes and Ducks are playing the second half of their back-to-back as well. The Ducks lost their season opener to the Knights while the Canes barely defeated the Kings in a shootout after nearly blowing a 3-0 lead.
Look for Antti Raanta to get his first start of the season and this should be a win for him. With Pyotr Kochetkov in the AHL, Raanta’s well on his way to another equal timeshare with Andersen. He’s rostered in only 39 percent of Yahoo leagues and that number should be much higher.
The Canes chased most of the game, but easily the most impressive was Teuvo Teravainen, who played 13:09 in the season opener but played 18:09 last night and has now scored a goal in consecutive games. Against an opponent that’s still not very good, Teravainen (18% rostered) is worth a streaming play and perhaps a stash.
Seth Jarvis (41% rostered) played a quiet game but still played 19:01. His percentage rostered number has already gone up four percent after a big season debut and that will continue to grow. Stick with Jarvis.
Mason McTavish remains the player I like the most on the Ducks. He stuffed the stats sheet (1 goal, 3 shots, 2 hits, 10 faceoff wins) and he's rostered in only 21 percent of Yahoo leagues even though he’s got keeper-level talent and obviously has more value than your typical streamer.
Frank Vatrano’s team-leading 20:41 TOI caught my eye. He’s always been a really good volume shooter with that kind of ice time, he’s going to be a low-key but solid streaming option if you need some offense. He's playing on a line with McTavish and Ryan Strome.
Cam Fowler (51% rostered) versus Jamie Drysdale (13% rostered) was a big debate coming into the season with Fowler as the incumbent PP QB and Drysdale as the heir apparent. Despite missing nearly all of camp due to a contract dispute, Drysdale edged Fowler in power-play ice time (3:08 vs. 2:52) and on the score sheet with an assist. Fowler, however, led all defensemen with seven blocked shots.
With basically a 50/50 split in power play duties so far, Drysdale's fantasy value on offense is at least close, if not better, than Fowler's. In banger leagues, though, it’s still Fowler by a pretty big margin since Drysdale is not a physical player nor a prolific shot blocker. I think Fowler will have more fantasy value as I don’t expect the Ducks power play or offense to be particularly good, capping Drysdale’s biggest advantage over Fowler.
