Ther're Baaaack

We are baaaaaack!

It’s another start to the NHL season and this is the first column of the regular season. There’s lots to look forward to this season including the return of Ilya Kovalchuk to the NHL after five seasons in the KHL, John Tavares in Toronto, Erik Karlsson in San Jose, Max Pacioretty in Las Vegas and so much more.

It will be interesting to see if the Golden Knights are capable of coming even close to last year’s Cinderella story (don’t think so) as well as how much damage has been done to the Ottawa Senators franchise.

There is a lot of information to get to so let’s get started.

WEEK OF OCTOBER 1-7


3 Games - Carolina, Chicago, New York Rangers, Toronto

2 Games – Anaheim, Arizona, Boston, Buffalo, Calgary, Colorado, Columbus, Dallas, Detroit, Los Angeles, Minnesota, Montreal, Nashville, New York Islanders, Ottawa, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, San Jose, Vancouver, Vegas, Washington, Winnipeg

1 Game - Edmonton, Florida, New Jersey, Tama Bay

INJURIES

Corey Perry is out about five months after undergoing knee surgery. (Click here to see the rest of the injury list.)

Note: A tired team is one that has played the day or night before and is going against a team that did not play the previous day or night. The reverse is true for a rested team.

ANAHEIM

Games this week
@ San Jose, @ Arizona

Rested Team: None
Tired Team: None

Notes
The loss of Corey Perry will hurt the Ducks. Perry has lost plenty of fantasy value in the last couple of seasons and was having trouble keeping up in the faster NHL but he was still a big contributor on and off the ice. Nick Ritchie is one of two RFA’s still unsigned and the Ducks could really use him now with Perry out of action. Ryan Kesler (hip) is likely to miss the start of the season but he is skating. Patrick Eaves (shoulder) could skate with the Ducks this week and if so, will be back 7-10 days later. He missed all of last season save for two games with Gullain-Barre Syndrome so it will be great to see him back in action. Troy Terry is seeing first line action alongside Ryan Getzlaf and Rickard Rakell.

ARIZONA

Games this week
@ Dallas, vs. Anaheim

Rested Team: None
Tired Team: None

Notes
The big trade the Coyotes made in the off-season was to pick up Alex Galchenyuk from Montreal in exchange for Max Domi. Unfortunately, Galchenyuk suffered a lower-body injury in training camp and is currently week-to-week. Christian Dvorak is also out of action and that will give Lawson Crouse a boost on the depth chart. The Coyotes in the interim have moved their rookie sensation from last season, Clayton Keller, to the middle as Dylan Strome has also been hobbled by injury. Jordan Oesterle is someone to watch on the blueline as is Ilya Lyubushkin who had 73 penalty minutes in 50 KHL games.  Hopefully Antti Raanta will be healthy this season and provide the Coyotes with solid netminding.

BOSTON

Games this week
@ Washington, @ Buffalo

Rested Team: None
Tired Team: @ Buffalo (Thursday)

Notes
Torey Krug has missed training camp action with an ankle injury but was in the lineup Wednesday and should start the season healthy. The same goes for Patrice Bergeron who is expected to return to the ice on Friday as he has been hampered during camp with back spasms. The Bruins have one of the best lines in hockey with Bergeron centering Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak. John Moore could be paired with Charlie McAvoy on the blueline. Don’t forget about Ryan Donato. He played 12 games at the end of last season with five goals and nine points and should be a top-six forward by Christmas if not earlier. Anders Bjork has been unable to see any action due to injuries and his chances of making the Bruins out of camp are slim.

BUFFALO

Games this week
vs. Boston, vs. New York Rangers

Rested Team: vs. Boston (Thursday)
Tired Team: None

Notes
The Sabres are one of the unknown and exciting teams coming into this season. After missing the playoffs yet again last season and getting the first overall pick in Rasmus Dahlin, they finally have the stud defenseman every team needs. Add to that another rookie Casey Mittelstadt, who was taken in the first round by Buffalo in 2017 and is very highly regarded, and all of a sudden there is plenty of hope in the Queen City. The Sabres added sniper Jeff Skinner from Carolina, UFA goalie Carter Hutton from the Blues as well as Tage Thompson, Patrik Berglund and Vladimir Sobotka from St. Louis in the Ryan O’Reilly deal, and Conor Sheary from the Penguins. That is a lot of change and it’s for the better. Look for Sam Reinhart and Jack Eichel to have big years.

CALGARY

Games this week
@ Vancouver, vs. Vancouver

Rested Team: None
Tired Team: None

Notes
The Flames open the season with back-to-back games against the Vancouver Canucks. Matthew Tkachuk will likely start the season off with some penalty minutes in the two game set. The Flames made a big deal with Carolina, giving up Dougie Hamilton and Micheal Ferland while getting back Elias Lindholm and Noah Hanifin. Lindholm should be on the top line with Sean Monahan and Johnny Gaudreau and that should up his fantasy value. Dillon Dube has had a great pre-season and could get a shot out of camp. That being said, he should start the season on the waiver wire in your fantasy league. The Flames inked James Neal as a UFA and he will head up the second unit. The Flames look like playoff contenders this season.

CAROLINA

Games this week
vs. New York Islanders, @ Columbus, vs. New York Rangers

Rested Team: vs. New York Rangers (Sunday)
Tired Team: None

Notes
The Hurricanes play three games in four nights to start the NHL season so look for Scott Darling to play twice while Petr Mrazek makes his Carolina debut. As mentioned above, the Hurricanes picked up Micheal Ferland and Dougie Hamilton from Calgary. Hamilton will get first power play time in Carolina and should get 15-20 goals and 45-55 points. Teuvo Teravainen and Sebastian Aho will once again lead the Hurricanes offensively. Warren Foegele has had a terrific camp and should make the team but his status to start the season could be in jeopardy as he has a two-way contract. The Hurricanes selected Andrei Svechnikov second overall in the draft and he is a goal scorer. Draft him high in big keeper leagues.

CHICAGO

Games this week
@ Ottawa, @ St. Louis, vs. Toronto

Rested Team: None
Tired Team: None

Notes
The Blackhawks start the season off with three games in four nights. Corey Crawford is still suffering the effects of a concussion that sidelined him on December 23 and has yet to play. Therefore expect Cam Ward to play in two games with Anton Forsberg seeing action in one. The Blackhawks had a horrible season in 2017-18 and missed the playoffs by a healthy margin so they need Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook to rebound big time. Patrick Kane also slumped last season but should get 85-90 points this campaign. Keep an eye on Dominik Kahun who has been skating on a line with Jonathan Toews and Alex DeBrincat. Gustav Forsling (wrist) is expected to be out until November.

COLORADO

Games this week
vs. Minnesota, vs. Philadelphia

Rested Team: None
Tired Team: None

Notes
The Avs surprised many last season by making the playoffs after finishing dead last in 2016-17. The big line of Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen and Gabriel Landeskog. They made a great trade by dealing Matt Duchene and picking up rookie defenseman Samuel Girard among others. Girard will be a top-two defenseman in the NHL.  Philipp Grubauer will back up Semyon Varlamov this season and should get plenty of action with as Varlamov tends to be injured quite a lot. Tyson Jost needs to step it up this season. Alexander Kerfoot was a pleasant surprise in 2017-18 and hopes to build on his 19 goal, 43 point season.

COLUMBUS

Games this week
@ Detroit, vs. Carolina

Rested Team: None
Tired Team: None

Notes
This is an important year for the Blue Jackets as their top two players, Sergei Bobrovsky and Artemi Panarin head towards unrestricted free agency on July 1. Both do not seem to give an indication that they are willing to re-sign with the Blue Jackets at this time so Columbus has a very limited window of opportunity. A big strength of the Blue Jackets is their blueline with Seth Jones and Zach Werenski leading the way. Jones will miss the first three-five weeks of the season with a knee injury while Werensk underwent off-season surgery on his shoulder and could start the season on the sidelines. Pierre-Luc Dubois is looking to build on a solid rookie campaign and Cam Atkinson will attempt to hit the 30-goal mark again after only 24 last season.

DALLAS

Games this week
vs. Arizona, vs. Winnipeg

Rested Team: None
Tired Team: None

Notes
The Stars have disappointed over the last two seasons as hopes have been high in Dallas. This year is no different with Tyler Seguin, Jamie Benn and Alexander Radulov leading the way offensively, while John Klingberg leads the blueline corps. All have big fantasy value and should be taken quite high. The Stars will put Miro Heiskanen in their lineup this season. The defenseman was drafted third overall in 2017 and is very highly regarded. His name came up a lot in trade rumors, especially when the Stars were interested in Erik Karlsson but the Stars would not part ways with the youngster. Ben Bishop should give the Stars excellent goaltending and they finally got away from Kari Lehtonen in net as Anton Khudobin was signed as a UFA, giving the Stars a solid backup.

DETROIT

Games this week
 vs. Columbus, @ Los Angeles

Rested Team: None
Tired Team: None

Notes
The Red Wings are not the Detroit team of old as they have missed the post-season two years in a row after going 26 straight seasons in the playoffs. They are a young team and got even younger when veteran Henrik Zetterberg called it quits earlier in the month due to back woes. They had a great draft as Filip Zadina, who many thought was the third best player in the draft, fell to them at number six. He is a scorer and should stick with Detroit out of camp. Add in youngsters Dylan Larkin, Anthony Mantha, Michael Rasmussen and Tyler Bertuzzi and the future up front for the Wings is strong. Detroit is lacking on the blueline and need some youth in net as Jimmy Howard is now 34. Don’t expect the Red Wings to make the playoffs this season.

EDMONTON

Games this week
@ New Jersey

Rested Team: None
Tired Team: None

Notes   
The Oilers play only once this week and that’s in Scandinavia, so there is only one chance to see the great Connor McDavid. Talk out of camp was that McDavid was better and faster than last season and if true, he should be close to the 120 point mark if he can remain healthy. Ty Rattie looks to be matching up with McDavid on the top line and if so, his fantasy value goes through the roof. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins is slated to be on the other side and that gives him nice value as well. Leon Draisaitl heads up the second unit and look for Jesse Puljujarvi to take a big step forward and show why he was selected fourth overall in 2016. The blueline should be okay with Darnell Nurse, Oscar Klefbom and Adam Larsson leading the way. Cam Talbot needs to bounce back after a tough 2017-18 season and should get a decent backup in Mikko Koskinen who has returned after playing in the KHL for the last five seasons.

FLORIDA

Games this week
@ Tampa Bay

Rested Team: None
Tired Team: None

Notes
The Panthers are quite talented up front with the likes of Aleksandar Barkov, Jonathan Huberdeau and Evgenii Dadonov as their top line, as well as Vincent Trocheck and the recently acquired Mike Hoffman heading up the second unit. Their blueline of Aaron Ekblad, Keith Yandle and the emerging Michael Matheson is also quite encouraging but they are old in net with Roberto Luongo and James Reimer. If the duo can hold it together one more year then the Panthers are definite playoff contenders, but if not, they could struggle Barkov was named captain of the Panthers at the start of training camp. Jamie McGinn is out indefinitely after undergoing back surgery.

LOS ANGELES

Games this week
vs. San Jose, vs. Detroit

Rested Team: None
Tired Team: None

Notes
The Kings received a couple of unbelievable seasons last year from Anze Kopitar and Dustin Brown and that led them to the playoffs. After scoring 118 points over the previous four seasons, Brown had 61 points last season, a comeback beyond anyone’s expectations. Kopitar had a career year as well with 92 points, 11 better than any other year in his career and 40 points better than in 2016-17. The Kings signed veteran Ilya Kovalchuk and he should be the third member of the line. Jeff Carter missed most of last season with injury but he should return to the 30-goal mark this season. The defense had a re-birth from Jake Muzzin and Drew Doughty is still one of the best in the business. Jonathan Quick is a top-ten goalie, if he can stay healthy, which he managed to last season but not the year before.

MINNESOTA

Games this week
@ Colorado, vs. Vegas

Rested Team: None
Tired Team: None

Notes
The Wild are a veteran team with some youth sprinkled in. Eric Staal led the way last season and has proven to be a great signing despite a lot of pundits thinking he was finished as an elite player two seasons ago. He had 42 goals and 76 points last season. Mikael Granlund has been terrific in his last two seasons while Jason Zucker took a leap forward last season with 33 goals and 64 points. The Wild have been disappointed with the play of Zach Parise who looks to be well beyond his prime. A return to glory would be great news for Parise and Wild fans. The blueline is led by Ryan Suter but Matt Dumba had an outstanding season last year with 50 points. The netminding is solid with Devan Dubnyk between the pipes. Look for Jordan Greenway to possibly do some damage this season.

MONTREAL
              
Games this week
@ Toronto, @ Pittsburgh

Rested Team: None
Tired Team: None

Notes
The Habs are in a free-fall due to some more than questionable trades and the demise last season of Carey Price. If Price can regain his form (hopefully the Montreal defense will be a lot better) then the Habs will be competitive but a playoff spot is still unlikely. They traded away P.K. Subban and Mikhail Sergachev from their blueline in the last few years and that has hurt as Shea Weber has been injured throughout his stay in Montreal, while Jonathan Drouin seemed lost during most of last season. The trading of Alex Galchenyuk could hurt as he is a better player than Max Domi, who they received in the Galchenyuk deal with Arizona. Max Pacioretty is also gone from the scene as he is now a Golden Knight with Nick Suzuki the big piece they received coming back. The Canadiens did pick up Jesperi Kotkaniemi with the third overall pick in the 2018 draft and he should stick but it appears the Canadiens are in for a few bad years.

 NASHVILLE

Games this week
@ New York Rangers, @ New York Islanders

Rested Team: None
Tired Team: None

Notes
The Predators were the best team in the West during the regular season last year but could not get past division rival Winnipeg in the playoffs.  They return with a similar team and that bodes well as they are one of the best teams in the NHL. They are strong in net with Pekka Rinne and have Juuse Saros coming on to give them a strong backup. The blueline is one of the best in the NHL with P.K. Subban, Roman Josi, Ryan Ellis and Mattias Ekholm leading the way. The Preds have Ryan Johansen and Kyle Turris as their top two centers while Filip Forsberg, Kevin Fiala, Victor Arvidsson and Craig Smith fill out a strong top-six. They have Eeli Tolvanen in the minors but need to bring him back before he plays 10 AHL games or he has the ability to return to the KHL this season.

NEW JERSEY

Games this week
vs. Edmonton

Rested Team: None
Tired Team: None

Notes
The Devils were one of the big surprises of last season with Taylor Hall, the Hart Trophy winner, leading the way. They were a speedy team and some of their opponents were surprised by how good they were, especially early in the season.  There is a worry in net as Cory Schneider was unable to secure a victory after December 29 in the regular season but did so in the playoffs. He underwent hip surgery in May but it appears that he will not be ready for the start of the season. Keith Kinkaid was exceptional last season until the playoffs where he struggled. The Devils had a few surprises last season from rookies Will Butcher and Jesper Bratt but they may be regression candidates. Blake Coleman was a pleasant surprise last season, especially in goals and hits. Nico Hischier will look to improve on his first season in the NHL and should as he was selected number one in the 2017 draft.

NEW YORK ISLANDERS

Games this week
@ Carolina, vs. Nashville

Rested Team: None
Tired Team: None

Notes
The Islanders got hit and hit hard in the off-season as they lost their captain and  best player John Tavares to free agency and then to the Maple Leafs. That makes things a lot tougher this season, especially for Mathew Barzal who was the Calder Trophy winner. He had 85 points but never saw the opponents top defensive line as Tavares drew that look. It will be different this season five-on-five for Barzal and he may struggle to get to 70 points. The Islanders are weak in net with Thomas Greiss staying and he will be backed up by former Sabre Robin Lehner. The defense will be okay with Nick Leddy and Ryan Pulock leading the way. There is still plenty of offense with Anders Lee, Josh Bailey and Jordan Eberle as part of the top-six.

NEW YORK RANGERS

Games this week
vs. Nashville, @ Buffalo, @ Carolina

Rested Team: None
Tired Team: @ Carolina (Sunday)

 Notes
The Rangers play three games in four nights so look for the veteran Henrik Lundqvist to play twice with Alexandar Georgiev getting one start. The Rangers are in a big re-build and there is a plethora of young talent available including Lias Andersson, Filip Chytil and Pavel Buchnevich up front. Ryan Spooner was very good for the Rangers after he was acquired from Boston as part of the Rick Nash trade and should be a valued member of the Rangers this season. It should be interesting to see how well Kevin Shattenkirk returns from knee surgery this season. We think he should get around 50 points and should be worth a middle round draft pick.


OTTAWA            

Games this week
vs. Chicago, @ Toronto

Rested Team: None
Tired Team: None

Notes
The Senators are in shambles and could be the worst team in the NHL. To makes matters worse, they traded away their first round pick in the Matt Duchene deal and could lose out on Jack Hughes who is projected to go first overall in the 2019 Draft.  The Senators also dealt Mike Hoffman and the great Erik Karlsson away, both to San Jose in different deals but the Sharks quickly sent Hoffman to Florida for more than they gave up to Ottawa. Hmm. Matt Duchene and Mark Stone will lead the Senators offensively (if they are not traded at some point this season) and first round pick Brady Tkachuk looks to be the real deal. The blueline will be led by youngsters Thomas Chabot and Cody Ceci while Craig Anderson will look to rebound from a poor 2017-18 campaign.

PHILADELPHIA

Games this week
@ Vegas, @ Colorado

Rested Team: None
Tired Team: None

Notes
The Flyers start the season out west again this season but instead of three games in California like last season to start the year, they are in Vegas and Colorado. They are strong up front and on the blueline but could struggle in net with Brian Elliott and Michal Neuvirth okay goalies at best. They have a stud in Carter Hart but he has yet to play in the NHL and is only 20 so he should get some seasoning in the minors. Claude Giroux had a career year last season so expect a big regression. Sean Couturier exploded last season when given his opportunity and should get 70-75 points this season. Look for big things from Nolan Patrick in his second NHL season. The blueline is strong and led by Ivan Provorov and Shayne Gostisbehere. The future is extremely bright in Philadelphia and the Flyers should make the post-season, especially with some half-decent goaltending.

PITTSBURGH

Games this week
vs. Washington, vs. Montreal

Rested Team: vs. Washington (Thursday)
Tired Team: None

Notes
The Penguins are aging but still have Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin to lead them as they are two of the best in the NHL. The rest of the forwards are led by Phil Kessel who actually out-pointed Crosby last season as he had 92 to Sid’s 89. They need Jake Guentzel and Patric Hornqvist to be better as both failed to hit the 50 point mark. There are high hopes for Daniel Sprong but he struggled in training camp and will start the season on the fourth line. The blueline will be headed by Kris Letang who is healthy and should outperform his 51 points of last year. I like Olli Maatta as well and keep an eye on Jamie Oleksiak who should get 20-25 points and plenty of penalty minutes. The netminding will be handled by Matt Murray who struggled last season but won Stanley Cups in each of his first two seasons.
 
ST. LOUIS

Games this week
vs. Winnipeg, vs. Chicago

Rested Team: None
Tired Team: None

Notes
The Blues were busy in the off-season as they acquired Ryan O'Reilly in a trade from Buffalo and then signed UFA’s David Perron, Tyler Bozak and Patrick Maroon to fill out their offense. O'Reilly will slot into a top-two center spot with Maroon and Vladimir Tarasenko. That has the makings of a strong line. Brayden Schenn should have another strong season and theBlues hope that Robby Fabbri is healthy. Jaden Schwartz will be strong and the Blues hope to squeeze another good season out of Alexander Steen. Alex Pietrangelo will head up the blueline and should be a top-ten fantasy blueliner. The Blues could struggle in net with Jake Allen and Chad Johnson. Either do not give us any confidence between the pipes.

SAN JOSE

Games this week
vs. Anaheim, @ Los Angeles

Rested Team: None
Tired Team: None

Notes
The Sharks keep on improving and the trade that brought Erik Karlsson out west has to be one of the best ever in San Jose history. Their power play will be outstanding with Karlsson and Burns manning the point and Logan Couture, Joe Pavelski and Joe Thornton up front. They are very strong at forward with Evander Kane, Tomas Hertl and Timo Meier expecting to excel. Add to that Antti Suomela who should be their third line center and capable of much more after leading the Finnish SM-liiga in scoring last season. The aforementioned blueline is also very good and adding the strength of Marc-Edouard Vlasic to the mix gives the Sharks a team capable of winning the Stanley Cup. Martin Jones is strong in net and will be backed up by the competent Aaron Dell. 

TAMPA BAY

Games this week
vs. Florida

Rested team: None
Tired Team: None

Notes
The Lightning head into the season among the favorites for the Stanley Cup and rightfully so as they are strong everywhere. It starts in net with one of the best goalies in the NHL in Andrei Vasilevskiy who was strong last season, his first as a regular in the NHL. They have a very good defense led by Norris Trophy winner Victor Hedman and he is backed up ably by Ryan McDonagh and Mikhail Sergachev who is only 20. The power of the team is up front as they are a strong group of forwards. Steven Stamkos, Nikita Kucherov and J.T. Miller should make up the top line and the second unit is not too shabby either with Brayden Point centering Ondrej Palat and Tyler Johnson. Add in Yanni Gourde who had 64 points last season and you can see why the Lightning could be playing in June.

TORONTO

Games this week
vs. Montreal, vs. Ottawa, @ Chicago

Rested team:  None
Tired Team: None

Notes
The Maple Leafs open the season with three games this week so look for Frederik Andersen to play twice. The Leafs led the way in off-season signings by inking the great John Tavares to a seven-year deal. They lost a few players in free agency like James van Riemsdyk and Tyler Bozak but they are easily replaced as the farm system is deep.  In addition to Tavares up front, the Leafs have Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, Nazem Kadri and Patrick Marleau and also have RFA William Nylander who is at home in Sweden awaiting a new contract. The blueline is a bit suspect but Toronto still has Morgan Rielly and the improving Travis Dermott to lead the way, along with veteran Ron Hainsey. Andersen should provide good goalkeeping. The Leafs are also Cup contenders but there are still a few question marks surrounding the team.

VANCOUVER

Games this week
vs. Calgary, @ Calgary

Rested Team: None
Tired Team: None

Notes
The Canucks have a home-and-home series against the Calgary Flames to start the season and look for newcomer Antoine Roussel to make his presence felt right away with some fisticuffs. The Canucks lost their past last season when the Sedin twins retired at the end of the season but there is plenty of hope as they have a lot of young studs to build around. Elias Pettersson is one of the favorites (he is my pick) for the Calder and when you add him to Brock Boeser and Bo Horvat, you see why there is plenty of hope in Vancouver. Adam Gaudette will be part of the group as well but he was sent to the minors on Thursday for more seasoning. The Canucks have so-so goaltending but are relying on their goalie of the future, Thatcher Demko. He will start the season in the minors as well so Jacob Markstrom and Anders Nilsson will be in charge of the cage to start the season. The Canucks have young talent on the blueline as well but they will start the season in the minors or college as Olli Juolevi and Quinn Hughes are their future.


VEGAS

Games this week
vs. Philadelphia, @ Minnesota

Rested Team: None
Tired Team: None

Notes
Well, the Golden Knights will be hard pressed to repeat last year’s run to the Stanley Cup Final and do not be surprised if they are unable to make it to the playoffs as I expect a lot of players to regress, especially Marc-Andre Fleury. Of course, I thought they would be dead last in 2017-18 and they won the Western Conference. William Karlsson led the Golden Knights in goals with 43 after picking up only six in 81 games with Columbus in 2016-17. They had a strong off-season in picking up Max Pacioretty via the trade route and Paul Stastny in free agency. They lost James Neal to free agency as well. The Golden Knights will have a good blueline but will miss Nate Schmidt for the first 20 games due to a suspension for taking a performance enhancing substance. He is appealing.

WASHINGTON

Games this week
vs. Boston, @ Pittsburgh

Rested team: None
Tired Team: @ Pittsburgh (Thursday)

Notes
The Washington Capitals are finally the Stanley Cup champions! No one was happier than captain Alex Ovechkin as the team finally got the monkey off their back. The Capitals should be strong in net with Braden Holtby but he was mediocre in the regular season last year with a 2.99 GAA and a .907 save percentage, peripherals that put him near the bottom of the goaltending stats. He was great in the playoffs and that redeemed his season but there is some concern heading into the regular season. John Carlson was outstanding offensively with 68 points to lead all NHL defensemen and then inked an eight-year deal with Washington. Nicklas Backstrom was erratic last season as he had some lengthy slumps to go with some nice scoring streaks. His 71 points were a low total for him. Tom Wilson is a penalty minute machine and Jakub Vrana is due to break through. If not, he could be dealt.

WINNIPEG

Games this week
@ St. Louis, @ Dallas

Rested team: None
Tired Team: None

Notes
The Jets are also Stanley Cup contenders. They are outstanding in all areas of the ice starting in goal where Connor Hellebuyck seized the moment last year and never gave the net back to Steve Mason. Mason is now gone and Hellebuyck will be backed up by Eric Comrie or Laurent Brossoit at times. The blueline features Dustin Byfuglinen, Tyler Myers, Jacob Trouba and Josh Morrissey while up front, the stars are Mark Scheifele, Blake Wheeler, Patrik Laine, Nikolaj Ehlers and sophomore Kyle Connor. That’s a lot of firepower and the Jets are one of the top teams in the league because of their overall strength. They could easily be Western Conference champions (they lost to the Golden Knights in the WCF last season) and lifting Lord Stanley’s Cup at the end of the season.
Late Note: Comrie was sent to the minors so it will be Brossoit backing up Hellebuyck to start the season.

New Kids on the Block

Jason Botterill has experienced both sides of the spectrum in confronting the challenges of building a competitive NHL team versus trying to sustain one.
In Buffalo, the Sabres' second-year general manager is attempting to rebuild from scratch a team in the midst of a franchise-worst, seven-year playoff drought. In his previous job as assistant GM in Pittsburgh, the test was keeping together a
-led core of a team that became the first in nearly 20 years to repeat as Stanley Cup champions in 2016-17.
Botterill noted the common denominator for both comes down to scouting.
"You're always searching for talent," Botterill said. "So it gets back to the importance of finding players that are going to join your system."
Teams at the bottom need to stockpile young talent, and hope it eventually jells. The Sabres, for example, enter this season with the top new player to watch in 18-year-old defenceman
, the No. 1 pick in this year's draft.
Other rebuilding teams are counting on their youngsters to make immediate impacts.
In Ottawa, the Senators are turning to rookie first-round pick Brady Tkachuk. In Vancouver, there's centre.

The Carolina Hurricanes, meanwhile, are counting on forward, the No. 2 pick, to help a franchise snap a nine-season playoff drought — the NHL's longest active streak.

There's pressure on the league's elite, too.
Winning teams lack the luxury of high draft picks, and are required to discover hidden gems in the draft and signing European and college free agents.

As Penguins GM Jim Rutherford also noted, the NHL's salary-cap system means successful teams have a more difficult time retaining their own talent.
"You want to keep those players, but you can't," Rutherford said. "We went through it two years ago when we lost a bunch of real key players. There's nothing to do about it. You can't."
Valuable as they were, forward, goalie Marc Andre-Fleury, defencemen and , and in this off-season's case, forward were among the players the Penguins were unable to retain.

Hall of Fame coach Scotty Bowman, who won nine Stanley Cup titles between three teams, said the salary cap makes it more difficult to maintain a contender, though it's not all that different since winning his first championship with the 1973 Montreal Canadiens.
"The challenge is you have to have players coming in the front door," Bowman said. "When I was in Montreal, they had a slogan that was in the dressing room. It said 'And the kids go marching on.' That was 50 years ago, but it's so much more now."

A list of some of the top newcomers (and one familiar returnee) to look out for this season:

The Future King

RASMUS DAHLIN, Buffalo Sabres defenceman
He's a smooth-skating, heads-up play-making Swedish-born blue-liner, who has shown a fearless ability of jumping into the rush. Dahlin will require time to adapt to the smaller NHL ice surface and has shown signs of being a little too cavalier with the puck in committing turnovers. He is improving as a defender, and expected to quarterback the top power-play unit. The Sabres intend to allow Dahlin to learn from his mistakes in giving him plenty of playing time this year.

ELIAS PETTERSSON, Vancouver Canucks centre
With Vancouver's 2018 first-round draft pick defenceman Quinn Hughes committed to playing this season at Michigan, there's plenty of buzz over Pettersson, the No. 5 overall pick in 2017. He's coming off a season in which he helped Vaxjo win the Swedish Elite League championship and earned regular-season and playoff MVP honors.

RYAN DONATO, Boston Bruins forward
After spending three seasons playing at Harvard for his father, former NHL player Ted Donato, the 22-year-old got a head start on his NHL career by scoring five goals and nine points in 12 games for the Bruins last season.

WARREN FOEGELE, Carolina Hurricanes left wing
Though the jury remains out as to whether Svechnikov will spend the entire season in Carolina, the Hurricanes are high on Foegele, their 2014 third-round pick.
"He's what we want in a Hurricane," first-year coach Rod Brind'Amour told The Charlotte Observer this week. Foegele had two goals and an assist in his first two NHL games last season, and also finished second in AHL Charlotte with 28 goals as a rookie.

BRADY TKACHUK, Ottawa Senators forward
Selected with the No. 4 pick in the draft, the son of former NHL star Keith Tkachuk is considered a key building block of a Senators team rebuilding from scratch. At 19, he overcame a slow start in his freshman year at Boston University to score eight goals and 31 points in 40 games. Ottawa's youth movement also includes
, a 2015 first-round pick, who had two goals and four assists in 21 NHL games last season.

ILYA KOVALCHUK, Los Angeles Kings left wing
He's back. After spending the past five seasons playing in the Kontinental Hockey League, the NHL's 2001 No. 1 draft pick has returned to North America after signing a three-year contract with the Kings. At 35, Kovalchuk showed he's not lost a step in splitting two Vegas defenceman and scoring his first preseason goal in a 7-2 loss last week. Kovalchuk has 417 goals and 816 points in 816 career games.

Looking in the crystal ball

Red Wings - Leafs next opponent

Let’s peer into the crystal ball and predict what opposing National Hockey League coaches will be preaching to their players when the Maple Leafs are on the other side this season.

Discipline.

Failing that, head to the penalty box at your peril.

The Leafs’ top power-play unit of John Tavares, Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, Nazem Kadri and Morgan Rielly got down to business against the Montreal Canadiens on Wednesday night, scoring on Toronto’s first power play at the Bell Centre.

In the second period, with Tavares and Rielly on the bench, parts of the unit scored again, as Matthews took a pass from Marner and went high on goalie Carey Price.
In the first period, it was Kadri scoring, with Matthews and Marner assisting.
The goals with the man advantage helped the Leafs, resembling greatly their opening-night roster, emerge with a 5-3 win.

While the potential of the power play is scary, coach Mike Babcock was saying this week that the Leafs have lots of work to do in the final days of the pre-season.
Babcock was bang on, as the Leafs’ five-on-five play, especially in the defensive zone, left plenty to be desired.
The Leafs don’t have a captain, yet Matthews sure sounded like one afterward.
“If you don’t do things right, play the right way, make plays, take care of the puck, all that high-powered offence is kind of pointless,” Matthews said. “We have a lot of work to do. This is a probably a good little wake-up call for us going into the final pre-season game and the regular season.”

The Leafs’ main group is expected to play the Detroit Red Wings’ best group on Friday night at Scotiabank Arena, with Toronto and Detroit meeting the following night in Motown to finish the pre-season.
A hallmark of the Leafs is their quickness, but the Canadiens, who also used a majority of NHLers, often were quicker and more determined, forcing the Leafs into errors at both ends.
Frederik Andersen had to be sharp to cover up for his teammates, making 33 saves.

“Their team worked harder than our team and we turned the puck over way too many times,” Babcock said. “We got better as the game went on, but Andy had to be real good and you don’t want to play like we did. We got skill. Now we have to learn how to play right.”
Is one remaining pre-season game for the main group enough to work out the kinks?
“We should be able to iron it out (Thursday), right?” Babcock said with a smirk, referring to practice.


FROM THE HASH MARKS

Toronto scored goals 20 seconds apart in the first minute of the third period — with forward Josh Leivo sitting in the penalty box serving a slashing minor. Marner’s ability to read the play, coupled with his speed, make him a threat to score while killing penalties, and he did that when he jumped on a Jeff Petry/Price miscue and put the puck in the net at 16 seconds. Marner did not know he had scored and had this funny comment: “I heard the goal siren, uh, of our teammates.” … At 36 seconds, Par Lindholm set up Kasperi Kapanen, who roofed the puck over Price. Leivo got to see one more goal from the box, as Canadiens defenceman David Schlemko ripped a shot past Andersen at 1:16 … Igor Ozighanov had some interesting moments. He lost a step on Jonathan Drouin and then caught up to the Canadiens forward to take away a scoring chance; later, Ozighanov took too long to make a decision along the boards and was forechecked by Michael Chaput into coughing up the puck before the Leafs recovered … Ozighanov’s partner, Calle Rosen, offered zero resistance as Brendan Gallagher held him off to score the goal that made it 2-2 at 6:59 of the second period … The Canadiens took a 1-0 lead at the four-minute mark when Tomas Tatar scored on a screened Andersen during a Montreal power play … Tavares was shaking a hand in pain after blocking a shot but said later there was not an issue … Patrick Marleau scored Toronto’s fifth and only goal at even-strength … Marner had four points and led Leafs forwards with 20 minutes four seconds of ice time.


POINT SHOTS

Marner made a key point on what the Leafs can do better at even-strength. “We have to realize we are a team that can also do a lot down low and off a heavy cycle, so we have to get to that.” … The Leafs had two goals on six power plays. “It’s making sure everyone is doing their job and we are executing at a high level and understand the work ethic and predictability we have to have for each other,” Tavares said of the first unit. “Hopefully that allows your skill to come out naturally.” … The clock hasn’t started ticking on the William Nylander negotiations only now. That clock has been ticking for a while — it’s just getting louder with the regular season looming — and it’s a shame for the player that general manager Kyle Dubas and agent Lewis Gross have not yet agreed on a new contract, costing Nylander the benefit of training camp. It’s not as though Nylander’s status changed over the summer. He’s the same player that he was when the Leafs were eliminated by the Boston Bruins in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs, and his statistics have not got better or worse. Argue that this sort of thing is not out of the ordinary, but it still doesn’t have Dubas or Gross smelling like roses.

Lines, Lines and more lines

We’re at the stage of training camp where teams are trimming their rosters, but haven’t made any noteworthy cuts yet.  We’ll have to wait a bit longer before we get a real sense of who will win roster spot battles, but in the meantime, there have been some interesting storylines emerging that could end up having a substantial impact in fantasy circles.  Let’s take an opportunity to look at some of them now.

Brock Nelson emerging as a second-line center

With John Tavares now in Toronto, sophomore Mathew Barzal will need to anchor the top line.  If his rookie campaign is any indication, Barzal should be able to handle that role, but the bigger issue in New York is the lack of skilled centers beyond him.  There’s no great option to serve as the Islanders’ second-line center, but it seems like Brock Nelson will attempt to fill that void.  He’s gotten looks with both Tavares’ old linemates of Anders Lee and Josh Bailey and a combination of Lee and Jordan Eberle so far during training camp.

Nelson only had 19 goals and 35 points in 82 games in 2017-18, but he was also averaging just 14:44 minutes per game.  It wouldn’t be shocking to see him jump to 50 points if he consistency serves in a top-six capacity.

Ty Rattie has excelled on a line with Connor McDavid

The two have played together in two preseason games thus far and Rattie has managed to record an incredible seven points over that span.  Of course that has to be taken with a grain of salt, but the big thing here is that McDavid and Rattie have meshed well and impressed Oilers coach Todd McLellan.  Rattie also got some ice time with McDavid during his 14-game stint with Edmonton towards the end of the 2017-18.  Going into this season, Rattie hasn’t even established himself as a regular in the NHL yet, so he’s a gamble, but one that could pay off handsomely given the opportunity he appears to have.

Max Domi gets suspended

Domi will miss the rest of the preseason after sucker punching Aaron Ekblad in Wednesday’s preseason game between Montreal and Florida.  While Domi isn’t missing any games that matter, the fact that he couldn’t keep his cool even in an exhibition game can’t be encouraging for the Canadiens.  He’s also new to the team after being acquired from Arizona, so this costs him an opportunity to better mesh with the team before the preseason.

Yahoo has shifted from using penalty minutes as a default category to using hits, which significantly hurts Domi’s fantasy value in those leagues.  Domi had 73 penalty minutes in 82 games last season, but was credited with an underwhelming 49 hits.

Erik Karlsson settling in with the San Jose Sharks

San Jose’s acquisition of Karlsson has moved them from being a strong team capable of pleasantly surprising in the playoffs to a top-tier Stanley Cup contender.  Having Brent Burns and Karlsson, arguably the two best offensive defensemen in the league today, on the same roster just feels unfair, though it also raises questions about how the ice time will shake out, particularly with the man advantage.

That’s something we’re going to keep an eye on during the early portion of the season, but for now we’re getting our first glimpse of how the Sharks’ defense will be utilized this season.  Karlsson has been practicing with Marc-Edouard Vlasic and we might see Burns be paired with Joakim Ryan given that the duo spent a fair amount of time together last season.

The defenseman that might stand to lose the most in that scenario is Justin Braun, who had 33 points and averaged 21:20 minutes last season.  Vlasic might also take a small hit because while he’ll likely play with Karlsson in 5-on-5 situations, Vlasic might end up losing his role with the man advantage.  Fortunately that’s not a huge deal because despite the fact that Vlasic did get an okay amount of power-play ice time in 2017-18, 28 of his 32 points were recorded on even-strength.

Ilya Kovalchuk off to a strong start with the Los Angeles Kings

When Kovalchuk left the NHL following the 2013 campaign, he was one of the league’s top goal scorers and it won’t be long before we find out if he’s still an elite forward after five seasons in the KHL.  Certainly he excelled in Russia, most recently recording 31 goals and 63 points in 53 KHL contests, but he’s also 35-years-old.

For what it’s worth though, Kovalchuk has looked good in the preseason thus far and found the back of the net on Thursday.  He was playing on a line with Anze Kopitar and Dustin Brown, which could continue to be the Kings’ top unit once the campaign starts.

Flyers might be in for more goaltending health headaches

It’s too early to actually say that with any degree of confidence, but there have been some discouraging signs in the early going.  Alex Lyon will miss the next four weeks with a lower-body injury and now Michal Neuvirth is questionable for Friday’s game and his availability beyond that is uncertain.  Under other circumstances, Neuvirth being questionable for an exhibition contest wouldn’t really be news, but he’s coming off arthroscopic surgery on both hips and has endured far more than his share of injuries over the past couple seasons.

Of course, the Flyers have Carter Hart, who is one of the top goaltending prospects in the league and is projected to open the campaign in the AHL.  There’s a chance that Hart could end up starting the season with the Flyers if Neuvirth is hurt, especially given that Lyon doesn’t appear to be an immediate option.  The Flyers have a ton of goalie depth though and may turn to Anthony Stolarz rather than risk asking Hart to do too much, too soon.  Stolarz, 24, missed most of the 2017-18 campaign, but he’s a very promising goaltender in his own right and might be able to step up if Neuvirth ends up being unavailable.

It was a normal night in Key Bank Arena

Once the Sabres and the Maple Leafs ceased their dueling on Saturday, Mike Babcock could get down to some real cutting.

With his team’s record of 4-0 in exhibition play making some of his decisions harder, Toronto’s coach will use a day off Sunday to determine separate NHL and AHL groups of the 40-plus still in camp.

“Then we’ll get our team together at least two times going into the season so we can be up and running,” Babcock said after a 3-2 win at the KeyBank Center. “We have to get the power play and penalty kill together. You need the (important) people in the same game to do that.”

The Leafs, who have not won six exhibition games since 2009, play the Canadiens twice early this week, before facing Detroit twice, the games in which Babcock hopes to have as close a version of his final roster ready for Oct. 3 as he can.

On Saturday there was more success for Tyler Ennis on Auston Matthew’s right wing, hooking up for Toronto’s first goal, and a new wrinkle, partners Calle Rosen and Igor Ozhiganov playing a strong positional blueline game.

Better wake up Nylander, Ennis is stealing your limelight.

 

Rosen scored the power-play winner in the third and started the play that led to Jeremy Bracco’s second period goal. Rosen and Ozhiganov were also out in the final minute with the Buffalo net empty.

“Those are different players, but they’re going in the right direction,” Babcock said of the Swede and the Russian.

STAR GAZING

Friendly foes Matthews of the Leafs and Jack Eichel of the Sabres, both alternate captains for this match, had a point each and played well, but it was a more vital outing for Rosen, Ozhiganov and Justin Holl.

“It’s fun to be here and play every game,” Rosen said. “Igor and I only had one practice together and we had to adjust.”

Countryman Rasmus Dahlin, Buffalo the No. 1 overall pick, had a terrible early giveaway to Matthews in the slot, but recovered to tie his stick up.

Toronto starter Frederik Andersen made 19 saves through two periods before Calvin Pickard finished with a bang, bailing out a few teammates with 14 third-period stops.

Here is William Nylander, remember him ?

ENNIS THE MENACE

A local mall’s sporting goods store had a No. 63 Ennis Buffalo sweater buried in its clearance rack on game day, but the latter was not going to shy away on Saturday.

With an assist, a couple of close calls around the net, some shot blocks and a few hacks exchanged with giant defenceman Rasmus Ristolainen, Ennis was quite visible to his former teammates and fans.

“Nice to see some of the staff, the trainers, a lot of great people,” Ennis said. “(Ristolainen) is a great guy. He hit me hard and sometimes no matter who it is, you get a little upset. I just tried to throw my small frame back at him.”

In his last season as a Sabre, Ennis completed a fall from one of the team’s top offensive players to fourth-line status. Three 20-goal seasons had turned into long stretches without putting the puck in while Buffalo had missed the playoffs six straight years.

A trade to Minnesota last year didn’t work out either, with the Wild buying him out, before he got a lifeline from the Leafs. The injuries that contributed to his difficulties the past few seasons, including groin surgery, have been so far under control with a different sports science staff in Toronto.

It helps he’s getting prime time ice with Matthews and left winger Patrick Marleau in William Nylander’s absence, at least for now, instead of vying for a lesser role as a checker.

PAR FOR THE COURSE

Babcock thinks the inclusion of Swedish Hockey League veteran Par Lindholm has helped form the nucleus of a fine fourth line, flanked by Andreas Johnsson and Kasperi Kapanen, who’ve been in North America longer.

“For sure. I just think Lindy is a very intelligent player,” Babcock said Saturday morning. “His English is good, so it’s easier for him, but he gets up to speed quickly and he is really smart. His hockey senses and his edges are unreal. It looks like we got ourselves a good player.”

Lindgren was a big part of Saturday’s penalty kill, three straight after the unit gave up an early goal to Kyle Okposo.

IS OZ UP TO IT?

Babcock was keen to see how Ozhiganov would perform in his second NHL exhibition, on NHL ice after his first game in the Lucan band box. The coach was asked what signal he is looking for that the Russian is ready.

“I don’t know. What’s going to tell me Rosen is ready, what’s going to tell me (Andreas) Borgman is ready? I’m just going to keep watching and put them in situations.”

Ozhiganov went after Ristolainen after the latter’s first encounter with Ennis and timed a couple of hard checks as Sabres tried to squeeze past him down the wall.

LOOSE LEAFS

Leafs winger Emerson Clark, who has made shift disturbing his specialty in the minors, went toe-to-toe with a taller Tyler Randall in a free swinging second-period scrap. Rochester Americans’ GM Randy Sexton told The Athletic Buffalo “the day of the enforcer is long gone, but we want to create a team identity. We’ve added a few players (such as Randall) we think will help accelerate that process” … Leaf Andrew Nielsen and Tage Thompson also tangled briefly … With eight Swedes in the game, it made sense the Scandinavian newspaper Aftonbladet had a reporter in Buffalo … Rosen looked like Cal Ripken Jr. in the second period when he gloved down a hard clear by the Sabres and turned it up ice in one motion. That play ended with Jeremy Bracco tipping his second goal of the of the pre-season past Carter Hutton on a Holl point shot … Andersen had to go post to post a few times with plays developing behind him. 

On one Nathan Beaulieu shot from a tight angle — intended to create a rebound for Sabres near the crease — Andersen knew to direct it up and out of play … Matthews took 20 draws, winning 11.

McJesus walking on water

McJesus

We’re at the stage of training camp where teams are trimming their rosters, but haven’t made any noteworthy cuts yet.  We’ll have to wait a bit longer before we get a real sense of who will win roster spot battles, but in the meantime, there have been some interesting storylines emerging that could end up having a substantial impact in fantasy circles.  Let’s take an opportunity to look at some of them now.

Brock Nelson emerging as a second-line center

With John Tavares now in Toronto, sophomore Mathew Barzal will need to anchor the top line.  If his rookie campaign is any indication, Barzal should be able to handle that role, but the bigger issue in New York is the lack of skilled centers beyond him.  There’s no great option to serve as the Islanders’ second-line center, but it seems like Brock Nelson will attempt to fill that void.  He’s gotten looks with both Tavares’ old linemates of Anders Lee and Josh Bailey and a combination of Lee and Jordan Eberle so far during training camp.

Nelson only had 19 goals and 35 points in 82 games in 2017-18, but he was also averaging just 14:44 minutes per game.  It wouldn’t be shocking to see him jump to 50 points if he consistency serves in a top-six capacity.

Ty Rattie has excelled on a line with Connor McDavid

The two have played together in two preseason games thus far and Rattie has managed to record an incredible seven points over that span.  Of course that has to be taken with a grain of salt, but the big thing here is that McDavid and Rattie have meshed well and impressed Oilers coach Todd McLellan.  Rattie also got some ice time with McDavid during his 14-game stint with Edmonton towards the end of the 2017-18.  Going into this season, Rattie hasn’t even established himself as a regular in the NHL yet, so he’s a gamble, but one that could pay off handsomely given the opportunity he appears to have.

Max Domi gets suspended

Domi will miss the rest of the preseason after sucker punching Aaron Ekblad in Wednesday’s preseason game between Montreal and Florida.  While Domi isn’t missing any games that matter, the fact that he couldn’t keep his cool even in an exhibition game can’t be encouraging for the Canadiens.  He’s also new to the team after being acquired from Arizona, so this costs him an opportunity to better mesh with the team before the preseason.

Yahoo has shifted from using penalty minutes as a default category to using hits, which significantly hurts Domi’s fantasy value in those leagues.  Domi had 73 penalty minutes in 82 games last season, but was credited with an underwhelming 49 hits.

Erik Karlsson settling in with the San Jose Sharks

San Jose’s acquisition of Karlsson has moved them from being a strong team capable of pleasantly surprising in the playoffs to a top-tier Stanley Cup contender.  Having Brent Burns and Karlsson, arguably the two best offensive defensemen in the league today, on the same roster just feels unfair, though it also raises questions about how the ice time will shake out, particularly with the man advantage.

That’s something we’re going to keep an eye on during the early portion of the season, but for now we’re getting our first glimpse of how the Sharks’ defense will be utilized this season.  Karlsson has been practicing with Marc-Edouard Vlasic and we might see Burns be paired with Joakim Ryan given that the duo spent a fair amount of time together last season.

The defenseman that might stand to lose the most in that scenario is Justin Braun, who had 33 points and averaged 21:20 minutes last season.  Vlasic might also take a small hit because while he’ll likely play with Karlsson in 5-on-5 situations, Vlasic might end up losing his role with the man advantage.  Fortunately that’s not a huge deal because despite the fact that Vlasic did get an okay amount of power-play ice time in 2017-18, 28 of his 32 points were recorded on even-strength.

Ilya Kovalchuk off to a strong start with the Los Angeles Kings

When Kovalchuk left the NHL following the 2013 campaign, he was one of the league’s top goal scorers and it won’t be long before we find out if he’s still an elite forward after five seasons in the KHL.  Certainly he excelled in Russia, most recently recording 31 goals and 63 points in 53 KHL contests, but he’s also 35-years-old.

For what it’s worth though, Kovalchuk has looked good in the preseason thus far and found the back of the net on Thursday.  He was playing on a line with Anze Kopitar and Dustin Brown, which could continue to be the Kings’ top unit once the campaign starts.

Flyers might be in for more goaltending health headaches

It’s too early to actually say that with any degree of confidence, but there have been some discouraging signs in the early going.  Alex Lyon will miss the next four weeks with a lower-body injury and now Michal Neuvirth is questionable for Friday’s game and his availability beyond that is uncertain.  Under other circumstances, Neuvirth being questionable for an exhibition contest wouldn’t really be news, but he’s coming off arthroscopic surgery on both hips and has endured far more than his share of injuries over the past couple seasons.

Of course, the Flyers have Carter Hart, who is one of the top goaltending prospects in the league and is projected to open the campaign in the AHL.  There’s a chance that Hart could end up starting the season with the Flyers if Neuvirth is hurt, especially given that Lyon doesn’t appear to be an immediate option.  The Flyers have a ton of goalie depth though and may turn to Anthony Stolarz rather than risk asking Hart to do too much, too soon.  Stolarz, 24, missed most of the 2017-18 campaign, but he’s a very promising goaltender in his own right and might be able to step up if Neuvirth ends up being unavailable.