Week One Recap/Week Two Preview
Well, hockey fans, Week 1 of the 2026/27 season is in the books. It was an action-packed week, featuring tight, playoff-hockey-like games, good ol' fashioned barn burners, and everything in between.
Beyond the play, the Red Wings keep raising the question: is it possible to run an organization worse than this? Where Buffalo used to be the historical paragon of ineptitude, I think Detroit has surpassed them at their worst over the past six months. It's hard to fathom how this storied franchise has turned into the laughing stock of the league. It's a great time to dive into fantasy right now as reality is just a bit too real.
Anyways, I'll get back to our regularly scheduled programming... right after I figure out which team I'm rooting for this year.
Week 1 Recap
Yahoo slated Seider House Rules and Kim Kardashian as the Matchup of the Week, and it was closer than I expected, but the real battle turned out to be between Rebuilding Since 2019 and Big Macs, so let's start there.
Rebuilding Since 2019 (Matt) vs. Big Macs (Kevin)
The Big Macs ultimately prevailed thanks to their stars delivering. Shesterkin played lights out (and even scored a goal(!), though that doesn't count toward the point total), Eichel put up solid numbers, and MacKinnon and Necas proved the Colorado double stack was a wise strategy. These are consistent producers, leading me to believe Big Macs are here to stay this season.
Rebuilding's week was nothing to scoff at, though maybe a little less sustainable. His second-biggest point-getter was Nick Schmaltz. A good player to be sure, but I can't imagine he'll be matching MacKinnon's production all season. Kyle Connor was Rebuilding's top hero of the week, and there are similar concerns with his output. But Matt has long used the waiver wire to his benefit. We'll see how he manages it this year.
A fun battle!
Seider House Rules (Brent) vs. Kim Kardashian (Rich(ie))
At first it seemed that Seider House Rules was going to walk away with this one. Bouchard jumped out of the gate with a wild first game of the season, notching a hat trick and two assists (a reminder that he's a defenseman), but his teammate McDavid decided to be his normal self, helping even things up for Kim K.
It was the depth of Kardashian's team—and Seider House Rules' poor goalie decisions that decided the fate of this one.
Meanwhile, Wolf shit the bed and then Bussi followed suit, putting up a combined -16.08. Had those goalies managed just 1.5 points, Seider House Rules would've taken the week.
Battle of the New Names: King Booby's Ice Reign (Myles) vs. Geri-hat-tricks (Brian)
This was a rich matchup. After a strong critique of Geri-hat-tricks' draft last week, and after King Booby talked about maintaining his crown, Brian won through solid performances across his team. Wallstedt led the way with 27.57 points while Kaprizov, Marner, Malkin, Dunn, and Hronek all scored between 12 and 20 points. The big question mark lies with Hronek and Dunn, who both topped 15 points. That isn't likely to happen too often.
King Booby's team struggled without his first-round pick providing the leadership it desperately needed. Kucherov managed an uncharacteristically low 10.01 points for the week—though he only had a chance to play two games. Myles will be hoping that Brady Tkachuk can click with his brother sooner rather than later. It looked like Matt was looking for him on every power play. It also looked like that wasn't working.
Singin' the Blues (Justin) vs. Gus Chychruns (Ben)
Justin had a strong Week 1, scoring the fifth-most points. Sorokin and Draisaitl played up to expectations, contributing 67 points combined. They should continue to be the backbone of this team, though Keller and Panarin showed scoring depth. Once Boldy (and Matthews?) warms up, Justin will keep putting himself in a winning position—that is, as long as Sorokin can put together a Vezina-worthy season again.
Likely the biggest surprise of our opening round of bouts was the newly-named Gus Chychruns posting the fewest points. A perennial contender, Ben's team underperformed despite a solid week from Celebrini. The team saw some life from Tage, M. Tkachuk, Stone, and Chychrun but ultimately will look for more from virtually everyone else.
And that brings us to something new.
Introducing a weekly segment for the 2026/27 season: Bozo of the Week. It's probably self-evident, but this section will spotlight someone (whether it's an NHL player or fantasy hockey manager) who looked like an absolute BOZO.
I wrote this segment on Friday night because there was essentially no way there would be a bigger Bozo in Week 1 than Gus Chychruns. Maybe I built him up a little too much in the season preview because Ben seemed to think he had insider information that Devon Levi could be the panacea to Edmonton's goaltending woes.
Instead, the former Sabre put up (or down?) a whopping -19.59, giving up 7 goals on 22 shots. Did we start off the season with the biggest bozo of all? Stay tuned. In the meantime, make sure to point and laugh if you have the chance. But not too hard. You could be next.
Not Gavin a Good Time (Andy) vs. Dostál in the Wind (Alan)
Dostál won this week despite not having its namesake on the roster. Is Alan waiting on finding the perfect pun or is this a hint that he's just waiting for the right time to pick him up?
There was some good back-and-forth in this matchup but ultimately Leo Carlsson and Matthew Knies helped lift Dostál to victory. It's great to see Carlsson picking up where he left off, and it's also fun to watch Knies fit in with his new squad. Now that I've seen him in action, it feels like he was born to play for Columbus. Not sure what that means for him.
Andy's team didn't come out on top, but there were things to be hopeful about. For starters, Will Smith had a strong week. Hopefully he'll carry over last year's form and make the Sharks even more fun. Stützle and Cooley didn't have big weeks, but it's early and should only improve from here on out.
Jason Robertson was essentially nowhere to be found this week. I have to think that will change soon, too.
Three Stars of the Week
Two of our three stars of the week owe their massive point totals to the home-and-home battle between Edmonton and Vancouver, which saw a 6-5 OT victory for Vancouver and a 9-7 Edmonton win that, despite the Oilers scoring 9 goals, has given reason to seriously doubt them this year. But, don't we feel that way about Edmonton at this time every season?
1) Evan Bouchard, EDM (42.28 points, Seider House Rules)
2) Connor McDavid, EDM (40.87 points, Kim Kardashian)
3) Ilya Sorokin, NYI (34.77 points, Singin' the Blues)
Introducing the Waiver Wire Wizard, where we recognize managers who showed a bit of magic in their pickups.
Our first Waiver Wire Wizard is Myles, who grabbed Joey Daccord off free agency Sunday morning, cut Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen to make room, and watched Daccord turn in 18.06 points (32 saves on 33 shots). It took four goalie pickups in four days (Schmid, Hart, Luukkonen, then Daccord) to find the right one, but persistence paid off—just not enough to beat Geri-hat-tricks. Maybe that same persistence will pay off in the dating world!
Honorable mentions go to Ben, whose waiver claim on Mackenzie Blackwood netted 14.91 points, and Matt, whose Vasily Podkolzin claim produced 12.08 points before Matt dropped him Saturday afternoon. Podkolzin scored another 6.32 that night.
Introducing Benchwarmer Blues, where we shine a light on the managers who left points sad and alone on their benches, just like Red Wins fans every May.
The Big Macs led the league with 38.42 points on the bench. Jeremy Swayman sat for both of his starts (26.62 points), and Thomas Chabot put up 11.80 from the bench on Saturday before Kevin dropped him the next day. Kevin still won, though, so he can hang his hat on that. Had he maximized his team, he would've been our first team to crack 200 points.
The biggest single game from the bench belonged to Nick Suzuki, whose 19.64 points on Saturday went to waste for Geri-hat-tricks. Brian won anyway, too. Must be nice.
And in the interest of full transparency... Seider House Rules left 22.52 points on the bench, all from Juuse Saros, who watched Wolf and DeSmith get the starts. Had SHR started Saros both nights, that's 22.70 more points, which would've more than covered the 17.57-point loss. Yet another what-if for Brent.
Week 2 Preview and Commissioner Picks
There's a lot of drama in store this week with interesting matchups and the first full week of hockey.
Seider House Rules (Brent) vs. Big Macs (Kevin)
If Week 1's numbers are any indication, this could be MIB's Matchup of the Week (and Yahoo agrees). That said, I don't see any way that Seider House Rules can overcome the diverse and deep scoring threat the Big Macs possess. There are members on that team that don't have down weeks. And when the depth starts to warm up, it'll be trouble.
Geri-hat-tricks (Brian) vs. Dostál in the Wind (Alan)
While it wasn't his best performance, Alan was one of our strongest managers last season. He caught a couple of tough breaks in the playoffs, but made savvy moves throughout the year to finish the regular season with a top seed. I think he'll make some moves this week to secure a win. (Sorry, dad.)
King Booby's Ice Reign (Myles) vs. Gus Chychruns (Ben)
While I could make the very same case for Ben as I did for Alan above, I think Kucherov is going to get back to form this week and put up big numbers. If that's the case, I don't see how Gus Chychruns could make enough adjustments to win. I have been wrong about Ben before, though.
Rebuilding Since 2019 (Matt) vs. Singin' the Blues (Justin)
The battle of the Blues fans.
This is probably the true Matchup of the Week for that reason and because these are two balanced teams. I'm going with Matt's team here only because goalies scarred me this past week. I don't know that I can trust Sorokin to carry Singin' the Blues for the second week in a row.
Kim Kardashian (Rich(ie)) vs. Not Gavin a Good Time (Andy)
Connor McDavid has already started doing Connor McDavid things. And if this past week was a sign of what's to come, the Oilers will put up massive offensive numbers to compensate for their abysmal goaltending. Expect more of the same this season.
Thanks for reading, crew. Good luck this week and we'll see you back here next Monday.
-The Commish