It's a light Friday with only two teams playing their season opener. Here are your fantasy hockey roster notes for the Coyotes and Capitals.
Arizona Coyotes
Barrett Hayton will open the season as the No. 1 center, fending off a challenge from Logan Cooley. Hayton's in a great spot; Clayton Keller and Nick Schmaltz form one of the league's best duos, and Hayton is now a two-way center with possible 60-point upside. In deeper leagues, he definitely has some value, especially in banger leagues with his hits. Hayton's rostered in just 13 percent of Yahoo leagues.
Cooley will open the season as the No. 2 pivot between Jason Zucker and Alex Kerfoot. That’s a great spot for him and he’s an excellent choice in keeper leagues; he led the Coyotes in scoring in the preseason with six points in five games. Sean Durzi, who will quarterback their power play, was similarly excellent with four points in five games and weirdly remains under-rostered.
The Coyotes are – shocking – deep enough to have Matias Maccelli and 24-goal scorer Lawson Crouse on their third line. However, with Zucker and Kerfoot also in the mix, Maccelli and Crouse's ice time may be limited. I'm not convinced either will be as productive as they were last season.
There was just simply no place for Dylan Guenther, and he’s better off playing big minutes in the AHL, anyway. The big surprise move was putting Travis Boyd on waivers, who’s scored 69 points over the past two seasons and, at times, served as the team’s top center. Boyd ended up clearing waivers and has re-joined the Coyotes, but that transaction alone indicates Boyd’s on the outside looking in and he will likely sit as a healthy scratch.
Washington Capitals
Nicklas Backstrom is re-united with Alex Ovechkin, and T.J. Oshie will patrol the right side. I double-checked; the year is, in fact, 2023, and not 2016. Time will tell if this line – average age: 36.3 – can hold up for the entire season. I, for one, am not holding my breath that Backstrom or Oshie will be anything more than bench players in fantasy. Ovechkin remains an elite scorer, but note in banger leagues that his shooting rate and hits have declined as he gets older.
Tom Wilson is back and he’s either a great value pick for banger leagues or just a guy who hits a lot. He needs to score 20 goals to have proper multi-category coverage, but is it possible with Evgeny Kuznetsov, the subject of a missing persons case last season, and Connor McMichael, who led the Caps with 19 shots in the preseason but scored just one goal?
Matthew Phillips, a sixth-round draft pick who led the Flames' AHL teams in scoring in each of the past two seasons, had skated on that line but now projects to be a healthy scratch. He's more polished than McMichael offensively, but his 5-foot-7 frame works against him, and the Caps seem more amenable to McMichael, who played 68 games in his two seasons ago. No matter who starts there, neither McMichael nor Phillips seem appetizing streamers at this point.
This pushes Dylan Strome to the third line, which hurts his fantasy value. He’ll be flanked by Sonny Milano, a streaky playmaker, and the hulking Aliaksei Protas, who scored only four goals in 58 games last season. I'd fade Strome right now even though it seemed like he would be their top center after scoring 65 points last season.
Max Pacioretty was placed on LTIR and he’s not expected to return until November or December. He’s worth a stash, but any more injury trouble and we have to start questioning if it’s going to hurt his offensive production, and if he’s worth the hassle anymore.
Rasmus Sandin will open the season with John Carlson. Sandin’s fantasy value takes a hit with Carlson taking PP1, but recoups some value playing on the top pair. He’s quality depth in deeper leagues at the moment.
