This article is part of our The Daily Puck series.
Around the Rink
This may be a little off the rails in that it's not about fantasy hockey per se, but it is about fantasy sports more broadly, and this is the soapbox I have to stand on, so I'm going to stand on it.
I came away victorious in a fantasy baseball dynasty league this year – please hold your applause – but because of a nickel-and-diming organization you may have heard of called LeagueSafe, I paid more than the league dues and received my winnings as an Amazon gift card instead of cold, hard cash.
Why, you ask? Well, in the ever-glorious tradition of America, these people have figured out that, just like banks, they can charge you to hold onto your money for a while. First, you have the "option" of giving them your bank account information; if you'd like to pay with a credit card instead, that'll be a 3 percent fee, thankyouverymuch. So I started out by paying my league fee, plus 3 percent. Okay, that's annoying, but it's hard to quibble over a couple bucks.
Fast forward a few months, and now it's time to withdraw your winnings. But what's that? It costs $5-7 just for them to cut you a check? That doesn't really sound right; after all, I have a checkbook, and it costs me exactly zero dollars to write a check to someone. But don't worry! You can avoid paying these withdrawal fees… if you take your winnings as an Amazon gift card or prepaid Visa card. (It's the electronic type, just in case you thought they'd spring for a real piece of plastic.) What the hell is this? Why are we making people pay to receive their own money in the form of money? Okay, fine, just give me the damn Amazon card.
Oh, wait, there's another step before that can happen: You need to provide them with a photo of your driver's license as proof of your identity. Yes. Seriously. They had me hold my driver's license up to my laptop's webcam and scan it. Then it goes through some kind of "verification" process, which takes several minutes. This time passes, and I receive an email: "We have successfully verified your identity." Cool, I'm still me. Glad to hear it. One minute later, another email: "Unfortunately, your verification attempt was unsuccessful." Wait, what? Go back, scan it again -- okay, finally this process is completed. Boy, was that ever a parade of the unnecessary.
If you feel that you need to use a third-party website to collect and hold your league fees, it's time to take a long, hard look at yourself and the people with whom you play fantasy sports. Can you really not find one person in your league who can be trusted to hold and properly distribute everyone's money, to the point that you'll pay someone else to serve that role? Do we really need to feed into this system of middlemen instead of handling things among ourselves like adults?
Let those thoughts linger in your minds as we delve into Tuesday's NHL action.
Projected Goalie Starters (all times Eastern)
Coyotes (Mike Smith) at Devils (Cory Schneider), 7:00 PM
Panthers (Roberto Luongo) at Penguins (Marc-Andre Fleury), 7:00 PM
Islanders (Jaroslav Halak) at Blue Jackets (Curtis McElhinney), 7:00 PM
Stars (Antti Niemi) at Philadelphia Flyers (Steve Mason), 7:30 PM
Blues (Jake Allen) at Canadiens (Carey Price), 7:30 PM
Lightning (Ben Bishop) at Predators (Pekka Rinne), 8:00 PM
Capitals (Braden Holtby) at Flames (Karri Ramo), 9:00 PM
For updates on the projected goalies later in the day, check out our Projected Goalies Grid.
Injury News For Teams Playing Tuesday
Arizona Coyotes
Joe Vitale, C (upper body) – Placed on injured reserve
Jordan Martinook, LW (lower body) – Didn't practice Sunday
New Jersey Devils
Jon Merrill, D (illness) – Feeling better, but Tuesday status uncertain
Tuomo Ruutu, LW (undisclosed) – Won't play Tuesday
Patrik Elias, LW (knee) – Skating, but no timetable for return
Florida Panthers
Pittsburgh Penguins
Pascal Dupuis, RW (lower body) – Back at practice; no timetable, though
Eric Fehr, RW (elbow) – Remains timetable-free as well
Beau Bennett, RW (undisclosed) – Lingering quietly on IR
New York Islanders
Eric Boulton, LW (lower body) – On IR; no timeline
Columbus Blue Jackets
Brandon Dubinsky, C (illness) – Didn't practice Monday
Alexander Wennberg, C (concussion) – Practiced fully Monday
Dallas Stars
Brett Ritchie, RW (wrist) – Practicing without contact
Curtis McKenzie, LW (lower body) – Out for a while yet
Patrick Eaves, RW (lower body) – Out about another week
Travis Moen, LW (upper body) – Back at practice Monday
Philadelphia Flyers
Steve Mason, G (personal) – Expected to start Tuesday
R.J. Umberger, LW (upper body) – Unlikely to go Tuesday
St. Louis Blues
Paul Stastny, C (lower body) – Won't play Tuesday
Patrik Berglund, C (shoulder) – On LTIR
Kevin Shattenkirk, D (lower body) – Skated on his own Monday
Robby Fabbri, C (concussion) – Timetable uncertain
Montreal Canadiens
Zack Kassian, RW (suspension) – Remains suspended without pay
Michael Bournival, C (concussion) – Skated after practice Monday
Tampa Bay Lightning
Victor Hedman, D (head) – Appears likely to play Tuesday
Nikita Nesterov, D (suspension) – Will wrap up two-game ban Tuesday
Nashville Predators
Ryan Ellis, D (leg) – Out of practice Monday
Washington Capitals
Chris Brown, C (hand) – Should be back soon per original timeline, but no updates recently
Calgary Flames
Micheal Ferland, LW (undisclosed) – Didn't practice Monday
Sam Bennett, LW (upper body) – Game-time decision Tuesday
Ladislav Smid, D (neck) – Practicing; nearing a return
Joe Colborne, C (thumb) – Game-time decision Tuesday
Lance Bouma, C (leg) – Out three months
T.J. Brodie, D (hand) – At the rink Monday, but return not imminent
Hot
Vladimir Tarasenko, RW, STL – I'll take every chance I get to talk about Tarasenko, who's unsurprisingly off to a fabulous start this season. He's on a six-game point streak to open the campaign, though he'll surely have a tough time trying to push it to seven against Carey Price in Montreal on Tuesday night. Only three players in the league have taken more shots than Tarasenko's 26, and no one has more points than his nine in the early going (though David Krejci's got the same amount in only five games). We're rapidly running out of superlatives to describe Tarasenko, so I'll give you the best one I can at this point: He's the best fantasy winger in the NHL this side of Alex Ovechkin.
Bryan Little, C, WPG – After he started the season with three straight games of the scoresheet, fantasy owners needed to exercise patience with Little, who's been one of the Jets' most reliable scoring threats for years. One of a dwindling group of players who once suited up for the Atlanta Thrashers and is still with the organization, Little's overcome his slow start to put together five points over the course of a three-game point streak, starting with two goals in last Tuesday's win over the Rangers. And if your league counts faceoff wins, he's even more valuable, as he easily clears 700 on an annual basis.
Cold
Mikko Rantanen, RW, COL – The top-ranked European skater in this year's draft, Rantanen fell to the 10th spot, where he was snatched up by the Avs. The 18-year-old Finn then surprised by making the big team out of camp, but he's been limited to fourth-line minutes – just 8:54 a game – over his first five NHL contests and seems likely to end up in the AHL sooner rather than later as the Avs look to avoid burning a year of his entry-level deal. At a sturdy 6-foor-4, he's got impressive long-term upside as a power forward with great playmaking skills, but he needs the development time to get there.
Recommended Pickup
Anders Nilsson, G, EDM – The Oilers quietly traded for Nilsson's rights in July, then immediately signed him to a dirt-cheap, one-year contract that brought him back from the KHL, where the Swede was marvelous last year. That looks like it's going to work out nicely for both sides, as Nilsson's submitted two masterful outings so far, using his outstanding size to block a whole lot of the net while displaying the agility to stay with the play and make tough saves. The results so far: 81 stops on 85 shots, good for a .953 save percentage. Cam Talbot's drawn four of the six starts in goal to this point and has been solid, but fantasy owners would be wise to follow Edmonton's lead by quietly snatching the 25-year-old off their waiver wires before he inevitably wins a 50 percent share of the netminding duties.
