This article is part of our The Daily Puck series.
It's time. Stop making excuses about how it's the start of the season.
It's not.
Teams are 10 or 11 games into the season. That puts us an eighth of the way in. That means the classic "it's early" excuse needs to go away. The Ducks don't get to use it anymore. You don't get to use it any more for players who are underperforming.
Take a piece of paper. Make two columns. Now go through everyone on your roster who isn't performing up to standards. The column on the left is players who are underperforming but with whom patience can pay off. The column on the right is guys who haven't met your expectations and aren't likely to suddenly get on a 40-goal pace.
The guys on the left are Phil Kessel, Corey Perry, Patrick Sharp. These are guys who aren't where they should be, but you'd be a fool to cut for someone on waivers. Don't put Phil Kessel on waivers. Even if he doesn't score another goal for the rest of the season, you'd be a fool to just drop him at this point (though, he's turning things around and we'll talk about that in a second).
The guys on the right aren't at that elite level and haven't done what you expected. Jakob Silfverberg, Valeri Nichushkin, Tyler Johnson, Ales Hemsky. (Don't start defending Hemsky. I don't want to hear about. He goes on the right. No points in five games and he's been dropped to the fourth line. Put him on the right.)
With the guys on the right, you have a decision to make. Can you get what they're giving you on waivers and is it worth a risk? For a guy like Johnson or Silfverberg there were high expectations and serious skill. If you're in a deep league, you're sitting on it. Johnson is a guy I'm taken a gamble on probably.
That's not to say Nichushkin isn't hugely talented, but his opportunity is shrinking. Ice time is dropping. He's falling down the depth chart. It might be time to see what a Tommy Wingels will give you.
The decision is ultimately about format and depth of your league or the cost to buy a guy. But the guys on the right hand side need to have a coming-to-Cthulu moment. October is over on Sunday and the excuses aren't worth your time. What a Nichushkin can bring to the table isn't negligible, but he's not going to score 70 points at this point and it's time to realize that the season is no longer young.
Projected Goalie Starters (all times Eastern)
For updates on the projected goalies later in the day, check our Projected Goalies Grid
Hurricanes (Cam Ward) at Islanders (Jaroslav Halak), 7:00 PM
Devils (Cory Schneider) at Flyers (Steve Mason), 7:00 PM
Sabres (Chad Johnson) at Penguins (Marc-Andre Fleury), 7:00 PM
Avalanche (Semyon Varlamov) at Lightning (Ben Bishop), 7:30 PM
Ducks (Frederik Andersen) at Blues (Brian Elliott), 8:00 PM
Blackhawks (Corey Crawford) at Jets (Ondrej Pavelec), 8:00 PM
Canucks (Ryan Miller) at Stars (Kari Lehtonen), 8:30 PM
Canadiens (Carey Price) at Oilers (Cam Talbot), 9:00 PM
Injury News For Teams Playing Thursday
Carolina Hurricanes
Andrej Nestrasil, C (knee) - did not play Tuesday
Joakim Nordstrom, C (lower body) - remains out
James Wisniewski, D (ACL) - is expected miss six months
New York Islanders
Thomas Hickey, D (lower body) - will miss at least a month
Eric Boulton, LW (lower body) - is on IR
New Jersey Devils
Patrik Elias, LW (knee) - continues to make progress toward a return
Tuomo Ruutu, LW (foot) - is out four-to-six weeks
Philadelphia Flyers
Michal Neuvirth, G (upper body) - was placed on injured reserve Sunday, but could return Thursday
Sean Couturier, C (upper body) - remains out
Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, C (lower body) - will miss a couple weeks
Buffalo Sabres
Cody McCormick, C (illness) - is out indefinitely
Mike Weber, D (undisclosed) - is out
Zach Bogosian, D (lower body) - has been able to increase his workload, but still has not returned to practice
Evander Kane, LW (MCL) - will miss four-to-six weeks
Robin Lehner, G (ankle) - is still out
Pittsburgh Penguins
Bryan Rust, RW (arm) - is expected to be out a couple weeks
Eric Fehr, RW (elbow) - is close to a return
Colorado Avalanche
Jesse Winchester, LW (concussion) - remains on IR
Tampa Bay Lightning
Andrei Vasilevskiy, G (neck) 0 has been sent to the AHL for conditioning
Cedric Paquette, C (undisclosed) - didn't play Tuesday
Mitchell Stephens, C (foot) - is out indefinitely
Brian Boyle, C (undisclosed) - did not play Tuesday
Anaheim Ducks
Ryan Getzlaf, C (appendectomy) - will miss another 3-11 days
Nate Thompson, C (shoulder) - remains out
Josh Manson, D (upper body) - is on IR
Kenton Helgesen, LW (foot) - is on IR
Simon Despres, D (upper body) - remains on Ir
St. Louis Blues
Jaden Schwartz, LW (ankle) - is going to miss a couple months
Patrik Berglund, C (shoulder) - has been on LTIR since the start of the season
Kevin Shattenkirk, D (groin) - is getting close to a return, but didn't practice Wednesday
Paul Stastny, C (foot) - still out of commission
Chicago Blackhawks
Michal Rozsival, D - skated on Monday
Duncan Keith, D (knee) - is on long-term IR
Winnipeg Jets
Grant Clitsome, D (back) - will not play this season
Vancouver Canucks
Brandon Prust, LW (ankle) - is not with the team on their road trip
Jacob Markstrom, G (lower body) - skated Tuesday
Dan Hamhuis, D (lower body) - didn't join the team for their road trip
Chris Higgins, LW (foot) - has started skating again
Dallas Stars
Patrick Eaves, RW (lower body) - is still out
Travis Moen, LW (upper body) - has been on IR since last week
Brett Ritchie, RW (wrist) - has practiced, but remains out
Curtis McKenzie, LW (lower body) - still out
Montreal Canadiens
Zack Kassian, RW (suspended) - don't look for him on the ice any time soon
Michael Bournival, C (concussion) - has skated, but doesn't appear to be close
Edmonton Oilers
Griffin Reinhart, D (undsiclosed) - has been placed on IR
Rob Klinkhammer, LW (lower body) - was placed on IR Wednesday
Matt Hendricks, LW (foot) - still out
Jordan Eberle, RW (shoulder) - he's skated on his own, but not with the team
Justin Schultz, D (undisclosed) - hit IR on Wednesday
Hot
Phil Kessel, RW, PIT — When you draft Kessel you just want goals. Goals everywhere. You want the Weather Girls to sing catchy dance numbers about his offensive production. The season didn't start that way for Kessel, but over the last four games he has three goals, 14 shots, an even plus/minus and two of those four games saw him on the ice for over 20 minutes. Oh, and two of those goals were game-winners.
The good news is really that Kessel was taken off Sidney Crosby's line two games ago and he's scored a goal in each game he's been on Evgeni Malkin's line. It's no knock on Crosby, but Malkin is more than capable and that combo appears to be going well. There's lots of room for optimism here.
Evgeny Kuznetsov, C, WSH — The 23-year-old forward has had a ridiculous amount of production recently. In the last four games he has four goals and six assists. Add in a plus-6 rating and 15 shots and it'd be tough to find anyone who has been hotter over their last four games.
Cold
Kris Letang, D, PIT — There's no shortage of ice time coming in for Letang, but he's an offensive defenseman and production is what he brings to the table for the high price you paid for him. In the last five games he has no goals, two assists, a minus-2 rating and 12 shots while only falling below 25 minutes once. He needs to produce more with those big minutes.
Matt Stajan, C, CGY — I'm not saying Stajan is cold because he's not on a streak like David Krejci. Stajan's production is very secondary at best, but in some deeper formats Stajan may be a player that has been on some radars in recent seasons. That shouldn't be the case any more. The 31-year-old should be dropped in all formats. He has no points and two shots through 10 games. Some of that is a product of his team struggling, but you can't make excuses for his team. Stajan is a must drop player in almost every format.
Recommended Pickup
Andre Burakovsky, LW, WSH — For a player there was a lot of debate about preseason, Burakovsky has turned it on in the last few games. With two goals and two assists over the last four games, he's worth a look. The red flags are some rough plus/minus and not a ton of shots coming in. The dearth of shots means he has a 25% shooting percentage right now. That's not something he can maintain. If he starts taking more shots, even if he's not scoring, that may be a good sign for his long-term fantasy utility. He's averaging just one shot per game this season.
