Tuesday Sit/Start/Stream/Stash Late Edition (Oct. 17)

After two straight losses, including an embarrassing 8-1 drubbing in the season opener against the Canucks, Jay Woodcroft has already uploaded the nuclear launch codes and put Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl on the top line with Evander Kane. The Oilers are practically saying: “Look, Nashville’s a great city and they’ve got a quaint yet likeable team, but we need to wreck the next team to get our season on track and it’s gotta be you.” And, yeah, this team's problem is their inability score goals, not their defense or goaltending or anything like that.

Anyway, enacting Code McDraisaitl means both Zach Hyman (98% rostered) and Connor Brown (29% rostered), now moved to the third line with Dylan Holloway and Ryan McLeod, lose a ton of fantasy value at even strength. I’m definitely fading Brown in this matchup, and hoping the Preds take a lot of penalties to justify starting Hyman.

The Preds are, surprisingly, not such a disciplined team. They took the ninth-most penalties last season and the most penalties in the previous season. This is why Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, now centering his own line, doesn’t take as big of a hit in fantasy value because he essentially feasts off the power play.

It won’t matter if Jack Campbell or Stuart Skinner starts this game. It’s probably going to be Campbell based on their rotation, but neither are advisable at this moment, even against a very mid Preds offense. It looks like Mattias Ekholm (22% rostered) was rushed back, and he was minus-1 with just 15:47 TOI in his season debut. I still like Ekholm as a season-long add playing next to Evan Bouchard; Ekholm covers multiple categories, so we’ll just have to be patient until he’s 100 percent healthy.

Meanwhile, this might be a good offensive showcase for the Preds’ top line, including Juuso Parssinen (2%) rostered, who scored a goal in two straight games to start the season. The Preds’ reliance on their top line also makes Filip Forsberg (71% rostered) and Ryan O’Reilly (24% rostered) worth picking up; both are under-rostered relative to their past history, and with both averaging 21 minutes per game on L1 and PP1, there should be tons of value there.

Tyson Barrie is averaging 21:27 per game and playing PP1, but it’s really not working out. They’re 1-for-14 after finishing 27th last season, and running two defensemen on a power play that already features Roman Josi seems so unnecessary. Neither player has scored a power-play point yet; Barrie’s not getting the boost he should be moving from PP2 to PP1, and Josi’s value drops because he’s got another defenseman demanding the puck at the point. Let’s wait another week to see how this unfolds, but it’s not an ideal start for the two most rostered Preds players.

Pierre-Luc Dubois returns to Winnipeg, and he’s been enjoying the Cali lifestyle perhaps a little too much: zero points, five shots, minus-2 and winning just 40 percent of his faceoffs. Okay, so his starts aren’t as bad as it really looks, but for $8.5 million, more was expected.

The more interesting Kings are the ones who are expected to push the team to greater heights: Quinton Byfield (4% rostered), has already scored a goal and averaging three shots per game; and Arthur Kaliyev (2% rostered), who has served his two-game suspension and ready to play. Byfield’s definitely worth a speculative add playing on the top line.

I would be wary of starting Cam Talbot or Pheonix Copley. It was impressive to see the Kings bounce back from a 3-0 deficit to secure a point, but they shouldn’t have fallen so far behind in the first place and they won’t be able to make comebacks all season. I would sit both goalies until they can find their groove.

The bigger story right now is what the Jets got in return, and Gabriel Vilardi (14% rostered) is averaging over 20 minutes per game playing L1 and PP1. He had a strong debut with seven shots, then notched his first point in the following game. There’s a lot of upside to be had, and he’s now a fixture next to Mark Scheifele and Kyle Connor, both of whom are off to strong starts.

Meanwhile, Nikolaj Ehlers remains one of the most frustrating players in fantasy. If you’ve ever rostered him before, you’ll know he just never gets the requisite ice time to be a consistent producer. He was hurt late in the season opener and, perhaps related, played just 11:32 against the Panthers. He’s only rostered in 40 percent of Yahoo leagues for good reason and, trust me, he’s not being overlooked or under-rostered.

Neither team were able to score in their previous games, but for vastly different reasons. This will be Philipp Grubauer’s first real test, and he’s a big reason why they were able to upset the Avs last playoffs. I’m betting the Avs have a bone to pick with him, and it’s unlikely they’ll face another goalie as hot as Mackenzie Blackwood, who made 51 saves amidst 100-plus shot attempts.

If Grubauer falters, I’m very curious about Joey Daccord (2% rostered), who stopped 24 of 25 shots in his season debut against the Blues. My hot take is that Daccord takes over the net by December, which have been very unkind to Grubauer in the past two seasons.

Keep an eye on Vince Dunn (94% rostered). He scored 14 goals last season, all at even strength, and it’s rare for defensemen who score so many goals to not score a single one on the power play. It’s not like Dunn’s an elite shooter. With two equal power play units, also note Justin Schultz (3% rostered) is getting slightly more ice time and quarterbacking the unit with Matty Beniers and Jared McCann, which is the far more dangerous unit. There’s no panic yet since the Kraken should bust their offensive slump, but selling high on Dunn has entered my mind.

For the Avs, Jonathan Drouin (26% rostered) and Ryan Johansen (13% rostered) remain intriguing season-long adds. Drouin’s playing on the top line and he’ll certainly rack up the assists in that spot. Johansen is can be really good in leagues that count faceoffs, and there’s definitely some offensive value playing PP1.

Teuvo Teravainen (44% rostered) is on an absolute tear and needs to be rostered now. He’s scored four goals in three games and has already seen his rostered percentage climb from 19 percent to 44 percent in one day. An injury to Andrei Svechnikov has Teravainen playing top-six again in a contract year.

Seth Jarvis (40% rostered) has been relatively quiet since his season debut but I still like him as a season-long hold. He can provide multi-category coverage in banger leagues. Two other players worth rostering, or at least streaming: Michael Bunting (57% rostered), who played over 20 minutes last game and playing on one of the two equal power-play units, and Tony DeAngelo (78% rostered), who is arguably the best power-play merchant on the blueline right now with an assist in three straight games.

The Canes’ possession game suits them very well against a very poor Sharks team that was buried by the Avs – literally – and needed a career game from Blackwood to avoid getting embarrassed. Whichever Canes goalie gets the start should get an easy win.

The Sharks are devoid of fantasy options and should be avoided altogether. In fact, they’re the only team without a single player who’s rostered in at least half of Yahoo leagues, and their most rostered player, Logan Couture (48% rostered), is currently injured.

But, fine, if you really want a Shark on your roster, go for upside. Go for William Eklund (4% rostered), their best prospect and playing in the top six with PP1, or if you’re feeling extra frisky and desperately need a defenseman, check out Henry Thrun (1% rostered), who’s the only defenseman expected to get any power-play minutes with the second unit since the Sharks play with five forwards on the top unit.

Roope Hintz is set to make his season debut, so fire him up in what should be the best game of the night. This might be a preview of the Western Conference final, and with Hintz’s return, look for Matt Duchene (42% rostered) and Tyler Seguin (34% rostered) to play together. The Stars should be well-rested after playing only once in Week 1.

Brett Howden (0% rostered) will return to the lineup after serving his suspension, knocking Pavel Dorofeyev to the press box and Jonas Røndbjerg to the AHL. In a second-line role, Howden can now add scoring to his physical play for some value in banger leagues. The Vegas lineup is balanced and deep, and even role players tend to get a slight bump. This is also the case for Paul Cotter (0% rostered), who is a great source for hits in a pinch in head-to-head leagues, and he’s a step up from players such as Matt Martin or Nic Deslauriers because Cotter has a chance to score the occasional point.

By the way, both Ivan Barbashev (57% rostered) and Chandler Stephenson (48% rostered) are criminally under-rostered for what they can provide. Barbashev’s been a great fit on the top line and continues where he left off with a goal and seven hits so far, while Stephenson already has five points and 27 faceoff wins. Both need to be rostered yesterday.