NHL Player News

Greaves allowed five goals on 19 shots in 32:03 Tuesday before being replaced by Cam Talbot in a 6-2 loss to Toronto.

The Leafs came in waves early and there was little Greaves could do with his team on their heels. He's had a rough start to the season. In five starts, he's 2-3-0 with a 3.34 GAA, .883 save percentage and one shutout, and he has three games where he's allowed four or more goals. Ugh. The Blue Jackets sit last in the Eastern Conference with a 3-5-0 record -- yes, they're worse than the slow-starting Flyers. And they're tied with Chicago with the fourth-worst record in the NHL. Greaves is good, but this could be a long season.

Stolarz made 35 saves in a 6-2 win over the Blue Jackets on Tuesday.

Stolarz is 3-1-0 in four starts with a 2.99 GAA and .897 save percentage this season. That save percentage is slightly better than the current league average (.892), and his GAA is a hair worse than average (2.91). In a projected 30 starts this season, Stolarz will be as good as anyone you can have in the blue paint and maybe even better once the team in front of him figures things out. The Leafs have been a mixed bag so far, so Stolarz's numbers could even improve with time.

Nylander had a goal and an assist in Toronto's 6-2 victory over Columbus on Tuesday.

Nylander's strong start continues. He has six goals, nine assists and 33 shots in 11 games so far. Five of those points (two goals, three assists) have come on the power play. If he can stay healthy, Nylander could top the 100-point mark point with ease. He's in the NHL's top-10 scorers and on a 115-point pace right now.

Matthews had a goal and an assist in a 6-2 win over the Blue Jackets on Tuesday.

His goal stood as the winner. And the snipe was Matthews' 436th goal in his 700th career game, tying Pavel Bure for the sixth most by an NHL player through that mile marker, behind Hall-of-Famers Wayne Gretzky (589), Mario Lemieux (580), Mike Bossy (542), Brett Hull (504) and Jari Kurri (454). Matthews is on fire so far this season. He has five points (two goals, three assists) in his last two games and 18 points, including eight goals, in 11 contests so far. Both of those marks put him in a tie for second in the league thus far.

Rielly had three assists in Tuesday's 6-2 win over Columbus.

It was Rielly's first multi-point game this season. The elder statesman on the Toronto blue line has seen his role change with the arrival of Darren Raddysh, and Tueday's game was just the second game in his last eight that Rielly hit the scoresheet. His days of 72 and 68 point seasons are long gone, but this performance shows he can still create in transition now and then. Whether that translates into more than last year's 36 points (11 games, 25 assists) remains to be seen, though. This performance gave him seven assists on 14 shots in 11 games this season.

Roslovic had a goal and two assists in Tuesday's 6-2 win over the Blue Jackets.

Both Roslovic and linemate Easton Cowan had three-point nights -- are they this good or is it a function of their pivot? That's a guy named Auston Matthews. Roslovic's best season came in 2021-22 when he put up 45 points, including 22 goals on 131 shots, in 81 games. But he did score at a 58-point pace in the COVID-shortened season when you project it across a full season. Roslovic is worth a waiver squeeze while he's enjoying AM34's company.

Cowan had a goal and two assists in Tuesday's 6-2 win over the Blue Jackets.

The goal came shorthanded to push the score to 4-1. Cowan became the first Maple Leafs player age 21 or younger to score a shortie since Mitch Marner on Feb. 14, 2019. It was also his first NHL three-point game. Cowan is sitting fourth in Leafs scoring with 10 points (four games, six assists) in 11 games. He already has 23 shots in that span. We don't expect Cowan to maintain this pace, but the kid has outperformed expectations at every level.

Marchenko scored a power-play goal in 6-2 win over Columbus on Tuesday.

It was Marchenko's first game back in Columbus after his Sept. 28 trade to Toronto. He is on a modest two-game, two-point streak (one goal, one assist; four shots) and has 11 points (five goals, six assists; 29 shots) in 11 games in his new uniform. At this rate, Marchenko will raise the bar with a new career high. The season is still young, but his 31-goal, 74-point high water mark (2024-25) is well within reach.

Brown (lower body) had an assist in 13:54 of ice time in his season debut Tuesday in New Jersey's 4-3 win over Colorado.

Brown was injured during training camp on Sept. 28. He has some offensive upside -- he did tie his career mark for points (43) last season. But the Devils will ease Brown back into the lineup; right now, he's on the fourth line, and that will stick for another week or so to see if he can perform well enough to slide up the ranks.

Gritsyuk scored a goal Tuesday in a 4-3 win over Colorado.

Gritsyuk picked up the puck in the neutral zone, skated over the blue line and split the D before going to his backhand to put the Devils up 3-1. It was a SportsCenter moment for sure -- his teammates went bananas on the bench watching him dance through Cale Makar and Devon Toews on the Avs blue line. It's that talent that makes Gritsyuk fantasy worthy -- he is on a three-game goal streak (three goals, one assist) and has six points, including four goals, in his last six games.