Week 2: Matthews goes off and the IceCaps cash
Week 2 showed up already stretching. The Leafs' captain treated the schedule like a shooting gallery, last year's 12th-place roster suddenly looked like a first line, and a teenager finally found the net. Welcome back to We The Hockey People.
Player of the Week — Auston Matthews, 31.63
The honor this week goes to Auston Matthews, who put up 31.63 fantasy points and led the league from the bumper of the Leafs' bumper. Four-point night against Nashville, overtime winner with 14 seconds left, and he still had time to slide a pass onto a rookie's stick so the kid could stop hearing about his first three games. That is a captain thing. That is also a Player of the Week thing.
He did this for Austin McNeill and Take Your Kaprizov, a team name that already sounds like a Russian underwear brand. Shame the week's biggest night belonged to Auston Matthews, who is not even the guy on the underwear package. Hagel was right there at 29.61. Lafreniere at 28.98. Close. Not close enough. Matthews took the belt and did not look back to see who was chasing.
$5 to the high score — Raleigh IceCaps, 187.88
The weekly win, and the $5 that comes with it, goes to Bill Blackburn and Raleigh IceCaps. 187.88 points. First in the room. After Week 1 we made fun of the eight-center pile. After Week 2 the pile ate. McDavid, Stutzle, Lafreniere, Oettinger. The construction still looks illegal. The scoreboard does not care.
The champ almost stole it. Eagle Fang finished at 184.60, which is a three-point heartbreak and a very Josh Davidson way to remind the room he is still here. Patrnak Attack beat Shooter McGavin 177.54 to 171.37 in the week's loudest knife fight, and neither of them got paid. Bill, the five bucks is yours. The Front Office would like to formally retract the part where we called your roster a traffic jam. Temporarily.
Around the League
Gavin McKenna scored. Finally. The No. 1 pick in the 2026 draft went three games without a point, heard about it in every Toronto hallway, then took a Matthews dish and went top shelf on Juuse Saros for his first NHL goal. Assist earlier in the period, too. Youngest Leaf to get on the scoresheet that young since 1990. Greg Bishop drafted him in the ninth round of this league, which is either a heist or a dare. Either way, the kid is now an NHL goal scorer. Watch the clip and read the NHL write-up.
— The Front Office