We're back with a special Valentine's Day podcast and by special, I mean our usual selves. With a lack of news on the injury front, we start off by looking at some players who have played well since they've returned, notably Jonathan Huberdeau and Craig Anderson. The big weekend for Viktor Arvidsson is discussed next before we play Hold, Stream or Don't Care. Among the players looked at include Patrik Berglund after a strong two months, some trade candidates and a few young players who have been solid lately. After that, we wrap things up with The Three Point Challenge. Be sure to post 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 SeatGeek, Draft and FanPicks!
Viktor Arvidsson has been among the best waiver wire pickups of the season, especially at the forward positions. He's thriving in Nashville seemingly out of nowhere. A late bloomer, which caused him to be drafted at 21 years old in the 4th round by Nashville, Arvidsson first made his name in the league by scoring an overtime goal in Game 6 against the Sharks last season, his rookie campaign. Now, in his sophomore season, we're seeing upside that I quite frankly didn't know what there. On Saturday, Arvidsson scored his first career hat trick on eight shots, albeit in a 7-4 loss against Florida. He came right back on Sunday to record an assist with six shots. That brings his totals to 18+21 in 54 games with well over 3 shots per game and a +16 rating. Arvidsson moved back onto the first line Saturday which helped sparked this surge. He's a clear as day hold at the moment and should be even if he eventually drops down a line. Regardless, Arvidsson is available in over 50% of leagues so do your part to fix that and pick him up. Here's what else I saw around the league this weekend:
Reid and I are back and this time I'm fired up! We talk about a wide variety of topics ranging from J.T. Miller's ceiling, Max Pacioretty and Jeff Carter with four point nights, laughing at the Stars for scoring on their own net and the ridiculous offsides review in the Wild-Blackhawks game. As always, we finish things up with The Three Point Challenge for Saturday's games. Be sure to make your picks in the comments section below before the player's game starts on Saturday. All of that and more in the latest edition of the Razzball Hockey Podcast sponsored by Seatgeek, Draft and FanPicks!
Jeff Carter has been a top 100 fantasy player for almost ten years running. His high floor of 25 goals and 30 assists with great shots made him a staple of the early rounds. That said, I don't think anyone saw this type of upside from him at 32 years old. Carter had one of the best games of this season with two goals, two assists, four shots and two PIM in the 6-3 win over the Panthers on Thursday. This puts him one goal off the league lead and into the top ten in points. Carter is playing like a top 20 player and I see no reason for that to drastically slow down for the rest of the season. Sure, his shooting percentage will probably drop, but his workload is conducive to top end production. Next season, I'm not sure he'll even be in my top 50 but the stability shall remain. Here's what else happened the last two nights:
Early in his career, Jason Pominville was one of the most underrated forwards in the league. You could lock him in for 60+ points in his prime and he even reached 80 in a season. In recent years, there's been a fairly big drop off but for the last month, it's been a blast from the past. Pominville had a massive game on Tuesday night scoring two goals and two assists with three shots in the 4-2 win over the Jets. Going back exactly one month, Pominville has 5 goals and 12 assists in 14 games. Pretty, pretty, pretty good. There's only one game tonight and the Wild are in it. If he's still available in your league, pick him up to stream. Since they play Friday and Sunday as well, I'm definitely holding Pominville for the rest of the week and then reevaluating on Sunday night. Here's what else I saw around the league the last two nights:
We're back with a Tuesday afternoon edition of the Razzball Hockey Podcast. Today, we start off by looking at the firing Claude Julien in Boston before we talk about the impending expansion for Vegas. From there, we discuss Robby Fabbri's torn ACL, Jason Spezza's mysterious injury and the red hot Jamie Benn plus Anders Lee. Goaltending becomes the focal point from there with what to do to Peter Budaj and dynasty talk focusing on some younger goalies. As always, we wrap things up with The Three Point Challenge. Be sure to make your picks in the comments section below. All of these things and more in today's podcast brought to you by Seatgeek, Draft and FanPicks!
We talked about Mikael Granlund on last Friday's podcast for a few minutes. Granlund was on an 11 game point streak, the longest of any player during this season, going into Saturday's game. You can say that he extended it in style. Against the Canucks, Granlund scored his first career hat trick on six shots while also having an assist and finishing +4. That brings his totals to a ridiculous 15+33 in 51 games while being +30. He's now a top 10 forward on the season based on RCL categories finally delivering on the hype surrounding him entering the league. As for where he'll be ranked going into next season, check out the podcast. Here's what else happened around the league this weekend:
Welcome back to the Razzball Hockey Podcast! Reid joins me per usual to talk about the recent developments around the league. We start off with injury news, notably Conor Sheary going down and the return of Aleksander Barkov and Jonathan Huberdeau. From there, we look at the longest point streak of this season, Shayne Gostisbehere being scratched and the coaching change for the Blues. After that, we run down a list of players who are on the fringe and decide whether they are holds, top end streamers or bottom end guys. We finish up with our picks for The Three Point Challenge for Saturday's Games. 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 Draft, SeatGeek and FanPicks!
Dating all the way back to the preseason, I called Pekka Rinne the biggest wild card of the fantasy hockey season. In some seasons, he plays like the #1 goalie. In other seasons, he's been a detriment to fantasy rosters. This year, he's settled more in the middle but closer to the good side. We saw that top end ability once again on Thursday night when Rinne posted a 31 save shutout in the 2-0 win over the Oilers. So what do we do with him going forward? Honestly, nothing really changes. One, Peter Laviolette has already said that he wants to play Juuse Saros more down the stretch. Two, his variance is so high that any game or even any month doesn't change his long term prognosis. Basically, if you want to gamble, Rinne is someone worth the shot based on the high upside. If you want stability, stay the hell away. In dynasties, I'm down on him only because I'm a huge believer in Saros but for the rest of the season, I'm more on the side of Rinne being a top 10 goalie the rest of the way. Here's what else happened around the league the last two nights:
Remember how poor Max Pacioretty was playing the first six weeks of the season? Despite the incredible start from the Canadiens, Patches was struggling to find the back of the net, mostly due to his shot rate falling off a cliff. While he's not at his normal levels, he's back over three shots per game and on Tuesday, Patches had a huge night. He scored on all three of his shots leading the way in Montreal's destruction of the Sabres. All of a sudden, Pacioretty is tied for second in the league in goals (at the time of this writing) being a plus contributor in all categories. While he's not pushing the top 25 like he was a couple years ago, Patches is firmly in the top 50 going forward. Here's what else I saw around the league on a massive Tuesday slate:
Reid and I are back after All-Star weekend hitting on some recent topics. We start off with a quick discussion of the All-Star Game before talking about the Islanders being potentially booted from Barclays Center and their extension with Thomas Greiss. Andre Burakovsky's hot play is the next topic before talking about some players who were must-own that should be dropped at this point. From there, my playoff schedule breakdown piece is looked at before we make our Three Point Challenge picks. Be sure to make your own in the comments section. All of that and more on the latest edition of the Razzball Hockey Podcast brought to you by Draft, Seatgeek and FanPicks!
Hey everyone! I'm back following the All-Star break and with no games since last Thursday (recapped here), I need something else to talk about! Well, I thought something that would be very helpful is an in-depth look at the schedules for every team in the NHL the last four weeks of the season. I picked those weeks because at least the last three weeks (the last 4 if you're in an RCL or any league with two week long playoff matchups) are your playoffs in head to head leagues. By giving you this information now, this gives everyone a few options. One, it helps everyone make decisions at the bottom of your roster. Don't let the schedule be the final decision, but it's a useful tiebreaker. Two, if you're in top position, it allows you to make a trade that would greatly benefit you in the playoffs. Lastly, it shows you what teams will be the best to stream from at certain points in the playoffs. You're going to want to bookmark this page for when you make it and use it as a guide. If a player finishes the week with three games in four nights, he'll obviously make a great streamer for multiple days. Let's look at every team and see what they're working with:
