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This is Backstrom's sixth Player of the Week nod on the Newsletter all-time and his third one in the last season and two weeks of this early campaign. There is little doubting his recent value, as his numbers have been quite staggering lately.
Backstrom and the Capitals played four games in the week and he had points in all four games, putting together a nice 5-game points streak already. He started the week with a goal and a couple assists against Tampa on Monday, had an assist on Wednesday against the Penguins, popped a goal and 3 assists against the Devils on Friday and capped it all off with another goal against Philadelphia on Saturday.
Scott B. saw a pretty good bounce back from a rough start in Week One, thanks in large part to having the Player of the Week, making gains from 24th to 14th in the standings.
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The forwards have been the key position to start the season for Clayton's team, despite him picking goalies with his first two selections, a pair of picks that had done nothing for him in this week. Clayton's forwards currently rank tied for 3rd in the pool with 37 points and his defense, which didn't score a point in Week One, finished with 9 points in the week and is currently ranked tied for 11th through Week Two.
Getting a healthy start to the season is also key, with Clayton's team being one of eight teams in the pool to have 60 or more skater games played and one of ten teams to have over 400 minutes played by their goalies as well. If you can get a team that can stay relatively healthy, it should go a long ways to a successful campaign.
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Six players on their roster have yet to register a point in this season, while three players have still yet to play a game. Alexander Wennberg of the Blue Jackets was tops for their team, finishing the week with 3 points.
Currently, the duo rank last in skater games played, with only 43 games to their credit, well behind the leader, Brian, who sits at 65 games. Things are starting to look up, as Erik Karlsson has resumed full contact and should be back in the Ottawa lineup this week, while Alex Steen could be back for the Blues on Wednesday and Patrice Bergeron is penciled in to returning to the Bruins lineup on Thursday. If these three can get back into their respective lineups, things could turn around for the duo.
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Brian, who sits at 53 points, isn't safe at his position at all, as 6 points is all that separates his 2nd place team to Stacey C.'s 11th place team and that's short work on a bad week for a team to make up. Chris kept his spot in 3rd place in the week and he'll open the week only a point back of Brian and only 2 points up on Clayton, Cam and Derek B..
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The team on the bubble heading into this week belongs to Scott B., who has lost his number one goalie, which you can read about below, which leaves him with only two projected possible starts and if there are only two starts for one team and you have the backup, like Scott does in this situation, it seems unlikely that he'll make it out of Week Three.
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Stacey M.'s team has not been doing so good on the defensive side of the puck, collecting a -15 rating in Week Two, dropping her total down to a pool-worst, -20.
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
The initial scoring spree in the NHL has seemed to have quieted down a little bit, as the eventual scoring downturn came and we dropped down from 14.9 collected points per NHL game, down to 13.1 points, staying relatively consistent in games played and minutes played by both our skaters and our goalies.
This week, the schedule is a bit light, with only 43 games on the docket, Monday to Sunday, which will keep the overall point levels down, especially if you have a lot of Anaheim Ducks, who only play once this week... on Friday. Detroit, Tampa Bay and Vancouver all have four games this week, but it's pretty light throughout the league, so be mindful of that, when you see your team doesn't have enough points.
NEWS AND NOTES
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Wes' team is still suffering a little bit in his first two weeks of the season, down in 24th, but his team is only 17 points behind the money, so there's no room for panic just yet. Okposo has yet to register a point in six games and is a whopping -6 in the plus/minus pool, which isn't helping either.
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Derek B. has had a pretty good week, as he is hovering around the money spots and is in striking distance of 2nd place. Ferland has a goal in five games for Derek's team, but is a -2 in the plus/minus department, as his team is tied for 17th in this mini-game.
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The German rearguard had a decent 2017 season, but has yet to make his mark in the 2018 season, thanks to a deep blueline, to which he hasn't been able to crack yet. For Neil, this hasn't helped him climb out of the bottom half of the standings, but his team isn't too far off yet.
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That's got to be disappointing for Chris, as his team has looked pretty sharp through the first couple weeks, in the conversation for the money early on. Losing a man to the minors won't help, but he won't be too far away, if necessary.
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The Vancouver Canucks lost the services of veteran forward Loui Eriksson to a knee injury against the Flames on Saturday night, leaving the game early on in the 1st period, not to return. There hasn't been any updates, as of yet, but it seems doubtful that he will be ready to go on Tuesday, when they visit the Senators. He'll be listed as day-to-day, unless the Canucks say otherwise.
More bad news for Tony's team, which just can't seem to catch a break. Tony's team has been pretty good in Week Two, despite his bad week for injuries, picking up 27 points, but still down in the bottom half of the standings. His team will really have to fight through these injuries, if it is going to keep the pace.
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Really bad news for Scott B., as his goalie was certainly keeping him afloat in Week Two, as the Golden Knights have been outperforming the early season expectations put upon them. Scott's team saw a big recovery after a poor opening week and Fleury was a big help there, so it could be a big loss. For Benson, Marchessault has yet to find his stride in Vegas, but his team is still in good shape with a cold (and now injured) Vegas forward.
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Grant's team didn't have a great Week Two and the injury was not the icing he wanted on his cake. If the loss of Perreault is significant, he would certainly lose a significant scoring threat in his team, as Perreault has 3 points in five games already this season.
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Wes hasn't been overly lucky in the first couple weeks either, having some slight injury problems, albeit minor problems, to start the year. His team is tied for 13th in skater games played, not quite yet moving past the 60 games mark.
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