From the Press Box: Flyers Grounded

Toews leads 'Hawks to wins in two marquee matchups

You have to think the Ducks and Lightning both circled their early season visits to Chicago on the schedule. Both teams saw long playoff runs end against the eventual Cup champs, and these October dates would provide early measuring sticks as well as a chance for some revenge.

Both games went to overtime and both were decided early in the extra period on spectacular individual efforts by Chicago captain Jonathan Toews.

While he isn't known as one of the league's premier scorers, Toews has firmly established himself as perhaps the best team leader in the NHL today. His durability coupled with his penchant for making big plays helps him always end up between 65 and 75 points, with a good portion coming on special teams. The cautionary tale is to avoid overrating him in fantasy simply because of name recognition. Players like Seguin and Crosby will outscore Toews because they play more of a one-way game, focusing on offense. Toews has a better overall game.

Ducks flying low

The preseason rankings of Stanley Cup favorites included frequent mention of the Anaheim Ducks, a team that has dynamic scoring leaders (Corey Perry and Ryan Getzlaf), a solid second scoring line (featuring veteran pivot Ryan Kesler) a deep defense (Cam Fowler, Hampus Lindholm, Sami Vatanen) and an emerging goalie (Frederik Andersen). Indeed, this roster looked loaded for a great season.

There's still plenty of time for turn around in their fortunes, but no one can account for the stunning lack of scoring that we have seen out of this roster. Even with three goals in Tuesday's 4-3 loss, they have a total of nine goals in nine games played. To make matters worse, captain Ryan Getzlaf will miss up to two weeks while he has his appendix removed. If you own any of these top names on the Ducks roster, you've probably fielded some trade offers for their services. These players are all proven commodities, so keep that in mind before selling low.

The only person who should be concerned is Ducks head coach Bruce Boudreau, who is accountable for this underperformance. He's on the hot seat and may not have much time to reverse these poor early returns.

Bad luck in Buffalo

The Sabres made a lot of noise in the past few months, brining in some quality young players like Ryan O'Reilly, Evander Kane and goalie Robin Lehner, not to mention drafting Jack Eichel second overall. These and some smaller moves gave their fan base a real sense of optimism on the eve of this season. Yet here we are, less than a month into the campaign, and a pair of injuries is already threatening to write off the whole season.

First, Lehner was sidelined by a high ankle sprain, which is expected to keep him out of the lineup until early December. That means the goalie starts will be handled by career backup Chad Johnson and unproven rookie Linus Ullmark. To provide some perspective, Lehner was expected to be the unquestioned No. 1 backstop and play upward of 55 games this season, with Johnson handling the remaining assignments.

Second, the Sabres were expecting big things from Evander Kane, who was penciled in as the first line left-winger. Yet, he, too, was felled by a knee injury that will keep him out at least 4-to-6 weeks. That's a big blow to the offense, which looked to be markedly improved over last year's anemic attack.

These are two quality young players who are expected to thrive as key components of the Buffalo makeover. As such, they do retain long-term value, so they're worth holding if your roster can handle it.

Flyers' big line injured, sputtering

It wasn't so long ago that observers spoke in glowing terms about the offensive depth and firepower in Philadelphia. That element seems to be lacking in a club that has only scored 19 goals through the season's first eight games.

Claude Giroux has been a perennial top scorer, but has started out a bit off that pace, with only five points in eight games. His partner on the right wing, Jacob Voracek, has no goals and three assists on his stat line after signing a long-term contract in the offseason. Michael Raffl has been the left winger to date, yet managed only one assist before scaring everyone by collapsing suddenly while sitting on the bench during Saturday's game against the Rangers. The Flyers have ruled out any type of concussion injury and allowed him to take his regular shift on Tuesday against Buffalo.

This team doesn't have the same depth up front that it had a few years ago, but we have also seen Wayne Simmonds (five points) and Brayden Schenn (five points) start well. If Voracek and Raffl don't pick things up, one or both could soon lose the privilege of playing with Giroux.

Goalie carousel in Calgary

The Flames began this season with three goalies on the roster, a rare scenario in the NHL that's indicative of the team's inability to settle on just one. Jonas Hiller, with a cap hit of $4.5 million on a deal that expires this season, has been the frontrunner in the past. But Karri Ramo (also on an expiring contract, this one with a $2.85 million cap hit) and Joni Ortio (who would be an RFA next year and is currently on the books for $600,000), challenged him in training camp. Hiller appeared to win the starting assignment, while Ramo was also excellent during the preseason. Things have changed dramatically.

Hiller has backstopped the club's two wins, but has a 3.52 GAA in five starts, while Ramo went 0-3 with a 4.37 GAA before being demoted to the AHL. Ortio replaced Ramo, but has not fared much better, allowing four goals in his only start.

Clearly, this group is in some disarray, but you should not bail on any of the three options if you own one of them. This team was expected to continue its recent upward trajectory and will get things sorted out soon. The one who draws the majority of the starts once the Flames start playing better will have plenty of fantasy value.

Another rookie shines in Edmonton

While much of the fanfare is around last year's top draft pick, Connor McDavid, who has delivered a team-leading 10 points in his first 10 games played, another key piece of the Oilers' future made his debut this week. Darnell Nurse – himself a first-round draft pick in 2013 – is a big, mobile defenseman who could finally be that cornerstone blueliner that every team needs to play big minutes and run the power play.

Well, the Oilers gave him his first game assignment this week and he did not look out of place. He played 19:20, scored a goal and came out of the game with a plus-1 rating despite a 4-3 loss in Minnesota, one of the toughest rinks for opposing players.

Nurse is considered to be another big piece of the puzzle in Edmonton, and now that he has made the grade, he could stick, giving him tremendous value in keeper formats. Govern yourselves accordingly.