Four Fantasy Thoughts After the First Few Games of the Season

At long last, the NHL regular season is well underway, which means Fantasy Hockey is as well.

Teams’ first handfuls of games in the 2022-23 campaign have resulted in some pleasant surprises and some disappointments around the league, so let’s run through four early-season thoughts in the fantasy hockey world.

1. Bruins make interesting goaltender choices early on

Heading into the year, the Boston Bruins were widely expected to rely on Jeremy Swayman at goaltender over Linus Ullmark. Fantasy league GMs have shared that sentiment in the early goings, as Ullmark is only rostered in 34% of ESPN leagues while Swayman is at 75%.

Interestingly, Ullmark got the start in the season opener with Swayman manning the position in the Bruins’ second game of the year.

Four NHL Fantasy thoughts after the first few games of the season.

While both players got the win in their respective starts, Ullmark fared quite a bit better than Swayman, allowing just two goals and making 33 saves (good for .943 SV%) against Swayman’s three goals allowed and 21 saves (.875 SV%).

As the year goes on, both players are likely to get their fair share of starts, with a 50/50 split seeming likely in the long run.

2. What is going on with Marc-André Fleury?

Marc-André Fleury is no stranger to the big stage in the NHL. The 37-year-old goaltender has three Stanley Cup titles and nine All-Star Game appearances under his belt over the course of his 19-year career.

To start off the 2022-23 season, there is perhaps nobody in the league struggling to get going more than Fleury. In two games, he has somehow already allowed 11 goals on 49 shots against, tied for most in the entire league with Arizona Coyotes goaltender Karel Vejmelka.

The longtime NHL veteran was pulled from the Minnesota Wild’s game on Saturday after surrendering four goals in just 14 shots. This was just the second time in 152 games that Wild head coach Dean Evanson has pulled a goalie for a non-injury reason.

Amongst fantasy hockey players, Fleury’s consecutive poor performances have caused his stock to plummet, and quickly at that. Heading into today, the Quebec native is rostered in just under 77% of ESPN leagues, down nearly 9%.

Fleury is currently in the first season of a two-year, $7M contract extension signed back in July of this season, which also comes with a full no-trade clause. If he is unable to return to form, this contract will become a major eyesore very quickly.

3. Tage Thompson faltering, not earning many points amongst Buffalo fans

24-year-old Tage Thompson has only two appearances under his belt during the current campaign, but his stock is already beginning to fall, as he has yet to register a single point in 36 minutes on the ice so far.

Per ESPN, he is still shown to be rostered in 91% of leagues, nearly three full percentage points less than he had been prior to the first two games of the year.

Buffalo Sabres fans on Twitter have also begun to make their voices heard with Thompson’s, as of now, scoreless run in the current season.

The 6’7″ center is coming off of a strong 78-appearance season last year in which he scored 38 goals and 30 assists, so the talent is clearly there.

Fans and Fantasy NHL GMs are always going to cut bait on struggling players, but history suggests that Thompson may be worth hanging on to while he finds his mojo in the 2022-23 campaign.

4. Alex Ovechkin off to slow start, fantasy stock not yet dropping

Alex Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals scored his 781st career goal on Saturday, one that he quickly had taken back after the Canadiens challenged that the Capitals were offsides and the referees agreed.

With the would-be goal taken off the board, Ovechkin currently sits at just a single point on the year thanks to an assist in Saturday’s contest against Montreal.

This goalless run for Ovechkin is rare for him, as this is just the third time in his entire career that he has made it through three games to start a season without a goal (the last being in 2013).

Of course, a performance (or lack of) like this is always going to be slightly concerning, even when it’s coming from one of the NHL greats in Ovechkin.

ESPN fantasy GMs are not pulling the plug on “Ovi” just yet, as he remains at 99.9% rostered entering today, but that can always change amongst the impulsive fantasy players who can’t stand watching this legend continue to bog down their roster.