Walker, 23, a Sydney, Australia native will make his NHL debut vs. the Canadiens on Saturday. The 5-foot-8, 186 lbs. winger showed some good offensive talent in the AHL in 2015-16, collecting 41 points (17G / 24A) in 73 games but had a more difficult time last season, posting just 11 goals and 12 assists (23 points) in 58 games.
Zadorov was a healthy scratch in the Avs’ opening night win in New York, but will draw into the lineup in New Jersey tomorrow. Zadorov, who stands at 6-foot-5, 230 lbs. has great shutdown ability and posted 10 assists in 56 games with Colorado last season. He is expected to replace Andrei Mironov on the back-end.
In his first and only season with the Ducks, Bernier filled in well for John Gibson when he was unavailable and went 21-7-4 with a 2.50 GAA, .915 SV% and two shutouts. The 29-year-old signed with the Avalanche this season, where he is one Semyon Varlamov injury away from being a No.1 netminder again. Bernier’s numbers will surely take a hit, but he’s a reasonable spot-start in his first start as he takes on a Devils team that is typically low-scoring.
After his first three seasons in New Jersey, Schneider was tied for second in the NHL in SV% (.924) and third in GAA (2.14) He fell apart in his fourth season with the Devils, posting a 2.82 GAA and .908 SV%. As a result, the 31-year-old fell down the draft board and has went from overvalued to undervalued as the Devils look to take a step forward in 2017-18. Last year, Schneider was 14-12-6 with a 2.67 GAA and .911 SV% on home-ice.
Anderson surrendered four goals on 28 shots in the Senators’ shootout loss to the Capitals on Thursday. It was not a great start to the season for the veteran netminder, who will make his second start of the season tonight vs. Detroit. The Red Wings looked surprisingly good in their opener, but this is a pretty solid matchup for Anderson.
Fleury spent the first 13 years of his NHL career in Pittsburgh but now becomes the face of the Golden Knights after being selected in the expansion draft this summer. Fleury has carried a 2.58 GAA and .912 SV% across his lengthy NHL career but will likely struggle in his first season with Vegas because the team in front of him needs a lot of work.
Despite being on the non-roster injury list, Neal will play in the season opener after participating in the last few practices. Neal will be expected to carry the Golden Knigts offence for much of the season and he will start on a line with Cody Eakin and David Perron.
When the Golden Knights submitted their regular season roster and sent Shipachyov to the AHL, everyone expected their No.1 centre to return in advance of their season opener. However, because of a number crunch—they are carrying nine defensemen right now—Shipachyov remains in the AHL and will not play tonight.
Price stopped 43 of 45 shots in the Canadiens’ 3-2 shooting win in Buffalo on Thursday. It was an outstanding start to the season for one of the league’s top netminders. He gets the nod again tonight as the Canadiens continue their road-trip in Washington—he was 1-2-0 with a 2.69 GAA and .911 SV% in three starts vs. the Capitals.
Howard turned aside 37 of 39 shots in the Red Wings’ win over the Wild on Thursday. It was an excellent start to the season for Howard, who has a 1.11 GAA and .967 SV% in his last five October starts (dating back to last season). Tonight he will take on a Senators team that lost to the Capitals in a shootout in their season opener.
Last season, Halak started the year 6-8-5 with a 3.23 GAA and .904 SV% and that led to him being placed on waivers and assigned to the AHL for a period of time. Upon his return to the NHL, Halak finished the season on a good note and comes into 2017-18 in a battle with Thomas Greiss for starts. Halak came in and replaced Greiss last night, stopping all 11 shots that he faced in the loss to the Blue Jackets. His first start comes against a Sabres team that lost in a shooting in their season opener.
From October through January, Greiss was one of the best netminders in the NHL a season ago. In his first 25 starts he was 15-7-3 with a 2.24 GAA, .928 SV% and two shutouts, but then came crashing back to earth from February on. Entering 2017-18, he’ll once again be splitting starts with Jaroslav Halak which limits his fantasy upside, but he has shown he can be a serviceable fantasy asset so he’s worth taking a chance on. His season starts with a difficult matchup vs. a Columbus team who was among the Eastern Conference’s best last year.
Prior to the 2016-17 season, Bishop was one of the best fantasy goalies around. He was tied for the league-lead in wins (112), tied for fifth in SV% (.922) and sixth in GAA (2.20) in the three previous seasons. The wheels fell off in Tampa Bay last year due to injuries to stars like Steven Stamkos, but now Bishop finds himself behind another high-powered offence and in a goalie-friendly system under new head coach Ken Hitchcock. He’s a must-start in the Vegas Golden Knights inaugural game.
Columbus has been one of the teams who tend to take the morning off and makes it difficult to get a read on their starting goalie. However, there were two players on the ice this morning, one of which was Sergei Bobrovsky. This suggests that Joonas Korpisalo may get the nod tonight, saving Bobrovsky for tomorrow's game in Chicago. Head coach John Tortorella will speak to the media around 5 p.m. ET and is expected to announce his starter at that time.
Bobrovsky is coming off of a Vezina-winning season in which he started a career-high 63 games, 41 wins with a 2.06 GAA, .931 SV% and seven shutouts. Injuries have been a bugaboo for the 29-year-old netminder, who ranked 24th in games stared (86) in the two years prior. If he can stay on the ice, the Russian netminder has as good of a shot as any to finish as a top-5 fantasy netminder.
Throughout the last week, Ho-Sang was skating on the third line with Brock Nelson and Anthony Beauvillier, but will sit in Columbus. The Islanders are going with an experienced lineup for opening night, meaning Jason Chimera will replace Ho-Sang in the lineup for at least one game.
Chimera has been skating as an extra forward since the end of training camp, but the Islanders will go with an experienced roster vs. the Blue Jackets, meaning Josh Ho-Sang will sit. Chimera is coming off of a shocking 20-goal, 13-assist season while shooting 16.5 percent.
Luongo enters his 18th NHL season and is no longer the workhorse he once was. Luongo will start opening night, but is expected to basically split starts down the middle with James Reimer. In 39 starts last season, Luongo was 17-15-6 with a 2.68 GAA and .915 SV%. The Panthers are a completely different looking team and have a new head coach, who brings a fast paced style of hockey with him. This could lead to more work for Luongo on a nightly basis.
Quick will look to have a better season opener tonight than he did last year. Quick left last year’s game No.1 with a groin injury and ended up missing four and a half months as a result. Upon his return, Quick was 8-5-2 with a 2.26 GAA and .917 SV% and two shutouts. Those are very Quick-like numbers for the veteran who will face the Flyers, who are on the wrong end of a back-to-back after beating the Sharks last night.
With Brian Elliott starting the Flyers’ season opener last night, Neuvirth is expected to go tonight vs. the Kings. Neuvirth and Elliott are expected to split time this season, but Neuvirth will need a good game to keep pace with the veteran, who stopped 32 of 35 shots in a win in San Jose last night. Neuvirth was 11-11-1 with a 2.82 GAA and .891 SV% last year—he simply needs to be better in 2017-18 because Anthony Stolarz lurks around the corner.
