When it comes to the fantasy playoffs, you're looking for two things. One, you want to get as many starts from your players as possible. Getting one or two extra starts from your bottom end guys / streamers goes a long way. The other thing you want is your superstars to carry you. Because I was in California for the last four days, my time for writing was non-existent. The good news is two fold. One, I got to meet Grey! He is the man, plain and simple. Secondly, I'm here to catch up on everything that's happened since last Thursday and it starts with Sidney Crosby. On Friday, Crosby scored two goals and an assist with four shots to push the Penguins past the Devils. He followed that up on Sunday with a hat trick on six shots against the Panthers. Both are huge wins for the Penguins given their current injury situation and it was massive for people in the fantasy playoffs. Here's to hoping you have Crosby because you're ahead of the field right off the bat. He's the number 1 skater at the moment and as of now, I'd rank him first overall going into next season. That can be debated at a later time but there's no denying that Crosby is having one of the best seasons of his illustrious career. Here's what else happened over the last four days:
Reid and I are back from a snowy Buffalo and we're bringing the freezing temperatures to the podcast. After our usual injury rundown, we take an extensive look at ten players that are in the midst of a cold streak. Among the notables are Auston Matthews, Matt Duchene and Oliver Ekman-Larsson. For all of these players, we look at the impact in regards to the last month of the season and for dynasty leagues going forward. As always, we wrap things up with The Three Point Challenge. Be sure to make your picks in the comments section below. All of that and more in the latest edition of the Razzball Hockey Podcast brought to you by Harry's Razors, SeatGeek and Draft!
I know evisceration seems like I'm going too far but the Panthers had control of their game against Toronto from the first shift of the game. Florida scored 18 seconds in and led the rest of the way winning the game 7-2. Their leading scorer was Thomas Vanek who notched four assists, a career high, with four shots on goal finishing +3. Vanek was struggling since arriving in Florida with only one point in five games while being -7. Now, his overall stat line seems pretty good after this explosion. The Panthers schedule is very fantasy-friendly down the stretch making Vanek as good of a streamer as there is. Is he worth holding? Well, that's to be determined. While the matchups are tough, the Panthers have three games in four nights starting on Thursday morning. I'm probably going to grab Vanek, ride him through the weekend and then proceed from there. Here's what else happened around the league on Tuesday night:
We're back and after one funny mishap in the beginning, we're all business. As always, we run down the recent injuries, focusing on Henrik Lundqvist and Aaron Ekblad. From there, we debate whether Brad Marchand is a first round pick next season, talk about Jaccob Slavin's huge game, some wingers in Pittsburgh that are must-own, a new streamer in Vancouver and Brayden Point's emergence. The cold streak for the Capitals and the red hot Flames garner our attention before we make our Three Point Challenge picks. Be sure to make your pick in the comments section below. All of that and more on the latest edition of the Razzball Hockey Podcast brought to you by Harry's Razors, SeatGeek and Draft!
We've been talking up Jaccob Slavin over the past couple of weeks on the podcast as someone who can help your team if you're in need of assists. The increased workload as the season has progressed has push Slavin onto the fringe but his playoff schedule was enough to justify grabbing him. Well, if you were fortunate enough to do so, he just started off the fantasy playoffs with the game of his career. Slavin scored more goals than he had in the first 65 games of the season, registering his first career hat trick and added an assist in the 8-4(!) win over the Islanders. Look, despite this game, it's not going to be anything incredible down the stretch, but Slavin just had a five game assist streak. Add in that he's +18 and as mentioned above, the Hurricanes have more games left than anyone else the rest of the way, and I'd grab Slavin if you need defenseman help. Here's what else happened on a randomly busy Monday night around the NHL:
Antti Raanta has been very good when called upon this season for the Rangers. After recent developments, he's going to have a massive impact in the fantasy playoffs. Henrik Lundqvist is out for the next 2-3 weeks due to a hip injury allowing Raanta to be the guy for the Rangers. His strong play continued on Sunday stopping 23 of 24 shots in the 4-1 win over the Red Wings. Even after the recent rush of people going to grab Raanta, he's still available in two-thirds of leagues. If you're fortunate enough to be in your fantasy playoffs, stop reading right now, add Raanta and then come back and see what else happened over the weekend:
Loyal Razzballers know the love that the writer, editor and chief of Razzball Hockey has for Sebastian Aho long term. He hasn't taken the league by storm but his rookie season has been incredibly impressive for a 19 year old. Aho had his second best game to date on Thursday scoring two goals and an assist with six shots in the win over the Rangers. That gives him 19+19 on the season with over 2.5 shots per game. He's been a great streamer most of the season but right now I would grab him for the rest of the season. Why? If you recall, the Hurricanes have the best schedule over the last four weeks by a country mile (schedule breakdown here). Aho will be a solid contributor at his current pace given the volume but as we've seen, there is plenty of upside as well. He's still available in over 75% of leagues so go pick up that Aho! Here's what else happened around the league the last two nights:
Reid and I are back and we are fired up about a bunch of stuff! We run down some injuries to start, notably in Pittsburgh, before we hit on the latest developments over the last few days. Among the notables are big games from Evgeni Malkin, Jack Eichel and Ryan Getzlaf, an under-the-radar hot streak from Henrik Zetterberg, three straight shutouts from Sergei Bobrovsky and Josh Ho-Sang's first career goal. Then we each let out some anger about Tom Sestito, the league hiding the expansion protection lists and NBC's simulcasting. From there, we close things with a preview of Thursday's games and make our Three Point Challenge picks. Be sure to make your picks in the comments section below. All of that and more in the latest edition of the Razzball Hockey Podcast brought to you by Harry's Razors, SeatGeek and Draft!
Bartender! Shot of Jack. Man, I loved that call growing up, RIP Stuart Scott. This shot is of Jack Eichel who is lapping the entire league when it comes to points over the last month. Eichel now has the second longest point streak of the season after another big game on Tuesday night. He was seemingly the only Sabre who could get anything going scoring two goals and an assist with three shots in the 6-3 loss to the Flyers. Eichel now has 45 points (18+27) in 46 games with over four shots per game. If he has stayed healthy all season, he'd be recognized in the same light as the two rookies going off this season. Eichel has been carrying fantasy teams for weeks now and he has the potential to do that the rest of the season. For where Reid and I think we'll rank him for next season, listen to Tuesday's podcast . Here's what else happened the last two nights around the league:
The time has come for another podcast and we have to start with the great gif ever! Reid joins me to talk about recent developments around the league. We start off with an injury rundown before hitting on Nikita Kucherov's ridiculous shootout move and his ranking for next season, Jack Eichel's 10 game point streak, Jamie Benn's amazing month, Connor Hellebuyck's recent play and the red hot teams around the league. After that, we wrap things up with the Three Point Challenge. Be sure to make your picks in the comments section below. All of that and more on the latest edition of the Razzball Hockey Podcast brought to you by Harry's Razors, Seatgeek and Draft!
For the majority of his professional career, Connor Hellebuyck has gone up and down more than an elevator. He's bounced around the NHL and AHL along with starting and being the backup in Winnipeg despite the fact that he's clearly their best option between the pipes. That's not to say Hellboy has been a great goalie throughout. In fact, he's had plenty of times where he looks rough. That's simply the nature of the beast in the NHL being a young goalie. Hellboy was at the bottom last week allowing five goals in consecutive starts. Naturally, he turns things around this weekend with a 29 save shutout against the Blues and saving 22 of 23 shots in the 6-1 win over the Avalanche. The numbers are poor on the whole but he has won half of his games. Should he be owned right now? I think you have to gamble on the upside in 12'ers. The main point is that this season has done nothing to dissuade me from loving Hellebuyck in dynasties. We all know that the Jets are loaded with offensive talent that is only going to get better and Hellebuyck will be a beneficiary. The prospect cupboard remains full despite all of their recent graduates and most importantly, there are a bunch on the blue line. What do I expect him next season? Probably a #2 goalie with upside to be a #1 who should be owned in all leagues. Long term? He should eventually develop into a guy who is a middling to bottom end #1 year in and year out. Bottom line, I'm still driving the Hellboy bandwagon! Here's what else happened around the league last weekend:
Everything we talked about on the trade deadline podcast regarding Alexandre Burrows came to fruition on Thursday night. In Burrows' debut for the Senators, Burrows scored a brace (two goals for those who aren't aware) on three shots playing 14 minutes in the 2-1 win over the Avalanche. I called him a great streamer for this game (streamer success!) and he performed admirably. Do I think he's going to be a huge difference maker down the stretch? Probably not unless he piles up a ton of penalty minutes. However, I do expect him to be useful. While the next two games for the Senators are tough matchups, the Senators play the Stars, Coyotes and Avalanche next week. That is an excellent opportunity to stream Burrows. I'm even fine with grabbing him now just to make sure you have him for those games. As along as he stays on the first line, there's some fantasy value here. Here's what else happened the last two nights:
