At this point in the season, we've seen a ton of players bounce back from poor years in 2015-16. There are a couple guys in the forefront and one of them is Jakub Voracek. He went from 81 points to 55 (only 11 goals) in part to a dreadful first 20 games. Well, the people that bet on a return to his previous status are reaping massive dividends in the early going. In the 6-5 win over the Oilers Tuesday night, Voracek scored a goal and three assists with five shots. He's now sitting on 28 points in 29 games; add in a 90 PIM and ~300 shot pace and Voracek looks like he's on the verge of being a top 25 player again. Given the quality of the Flyers power play unit and his linemates, I don't see Voracek slowing down. Shoutout to Veritas for picking him to get 3 points! Here's what else happened over the last two nights:
And we're back! As always, Reid joins me to take a look at what's developed around the league the last couple nights. We start off with a talk about the Thursday games we are looking forward, focusing mostly on the Jets, before doing our usual injury rundown. After that, we get to recaps of the last two nights with Pittsburgh's crazy 8-5 win over the Senators on Monday getting the focus before we touch on every game on Tuesday night. We conclude with more discussion of Thursday night's games including our Three Point Challenge picks. All of that and more in the latest edition of the Razzball Hockey Podcast!
There have been plenty of defensemen this season who have frustrated their owners due to lack of performance. A player who looked on the verge of a breakout after last season was Rasmus Ristolainen. The Sabres agreed with that take giving him a 5 year deal and early dividends were not there. Risto was accumulating assists but not much else. However, things are starting to change and it's no coincidence that it has occurred when Jack Eichel returned to the lineup. On Tuesday night, Ristolainen scored his first goal of the season, an amazing slapshot in overtime, and added two assists and three shots in the 4-3 OT win against the Oilers. That gives Ristolainen 1 goal and 6 assists in the 5 games with Eichel in the lineup. He played almost 30 minutes in each of the last two games showing how important he is to the Sabres depleted blue line and with how the top power play unit moves the puck, I expect Ristolainen to be a #2 defenseman the rest of the way with the upside to be a #1. Let's take a look at what else developed over the last two nights.
Reid and I are back and as always, we open by starting with the newest injuries around the league. Sadly, there were a bunch of them, including to Corey Crawford and Alex Galchenyuk. Johnny Gaudreau and Taylor Hall returned over the weekend so we break down the impact for both the Flames and the Devils respectively. Next, goalies become the focal point with Steve Mason, Mike Smith and Chad Johnson all on fire. After that, we both rank a set of players who have played their way into must-own status. Things wrap up with Reid and I picking players for both No Halftime and The Three Point Challenge. Be sure to join No Halftime with our promo code and to post your Three Point Challenge pick in the Razzball comments section. All of that and more on the latest edition of the Razzball Hockey Podcast!
When Johnny Gaudreau underwent surgery for his finger injury, the expectation was that he was going to miss six weeks. Flames fans and fantasy owners had to be thrilled when he came back on Sunday in less than three weeks. The team did surprisingly well in the 10 games Gaudreau missed, mostly due to Chad Johnson between the pipes, but they didn't score than 3 goals in any game during that stretch. That changed in a big way Sunday night against a strong Ducks team. The Flames scored a whopping 8 goals beating the Ducks 8-3 with Gaudreau scoring the opener and adding an assist later on. He was finally playing well before his injury so hopefully this is a sign of things to come. We know that he's a top end player but the impact of his return will be felt throughout the lineup. More on those guys later in the Sunday section, let's get to the games!
The general rule of thumb in these parts is when you score a hat trick, you're getting the lede. Vladimir Tarasenko was a clear first round pick this season (at least for me) and that's because of his consistency plus upside. Before Thursday night, Tarasenko was sitting at a point per game with elite shots. The penalty minutes have disappeared but overall, his owners had to be happy. Thursday night he showed his game to game upside scoring a hat trick and adding an assist in the 5-4 win over Tampa. After tonight, Tarasenko sits third in the league in goals and points. The scary thing is that he doesn't turn 25 for a couple weeks; we haven't seen his prime yet. Let's take a look at what else happened around the league the last two nights:
There's a bunch of excitement in these parts! Reid and I are back once again and this time, we're back with a sponsor! No Halftime, a daily fantasy sports app that baseball listeners should know, teams up with Razzball once again. More details on that in the podcast; you can find their website to take a closer look at things here. As always, we run through the latest injury news before we look at some recent developments. Some of those include the Sabres PP with Jack Eichel back, Columbus exploding again, Anthony Mantha showing his upside and John Klingberg scratched yet again. We follow that up with a segment about players who are back in form, most notably Mike Hoffman. To wrap things up, I talk about No Halftime and what they're doing for us Razzballers before closing things with The Three Point Challenge. All of that and more in the newest edition of the Razzball Hockey Podcast!
On the most recent podcast, Reid and I talked about the impending return of Jack Eichel. You can get extensive coverage at the link above but to summarize, everything that we expected showed its face in Tuesday's game. In the 5-4 win in Ottawa on Tuesday, Eichel stuffed the score sheet totaling a goal and an assist, both on the power play, in addition to five shots and two PIM. The "Big 5" for the Sabres all had multiple points in this game and it's not a coincidence. I'll get to the rest of them later but with Eichel returning, all of the top Sabres on the first power play unit get a major boost. Now is the time to either add (Sam Reinhart), buy low (Rasmus Ristolainen, maybe Ryan O'Reilly) or hold tight (Kyle Okposo) to the big guns. This should be a top 5 PP unit going forward and with Eichel returning along with 2 of their best 3 defensemen sooner than later, the depth on this team increased drastically benefiting everybody. Here's what else I saw around the league the last two nights along with some big news for the readers / listeners of the podcast:
I hope everyone's long weekend went well! Reid and I are back recapping a massive weekend of hockey. After a couple minutes of football and Westworld talk (no spoilers), we talk extensively about Florida's decision to fire Gerard Gallant and the impact it has on their team in real life and fantasy. From there, we talk about the incredible hot streaks of Michael Cammalleri, Craig Anderson and Milan Lucic. Sadly, there were a ton of injuries over in the last week so we do a thorough rundown on that front plus look at players on the verge of returning e.g. Jack Eichel. As always, we wrap things up with The Three Point Challenge. All of that and more in the latest edition of The Razzball Hockey Podcast!
Holy smokes, over 5000 words! This is quite the recap of the last 5 days of hockey. I had a introduction all set to go around Milan Lucic but I had to erase it and give the lede to Michael Cammalleri. Cammalleri mysteriously missed six games in a row before returning on Wednesday night. It turns out that his 5 year old daughter Chloe had severe pneumonia which eventually required surgery. On this Thanksgiving weekend, we're thankful that she's going to make a full recovery. Dad returned and had a three game stretch for the ages. He started with a remarkable goal and three assists with 9 SOG in the 5-4 shootout win over Toronto. Cammy followed it up totaling a goal, assist, four shots and two PIM in the 5-4 loss to Detroit before scoring 2 goals on 4 shots in the 4-3 shootout loss to Pittsburgh. Just a measly 8 points in 3 games, no big deal. He's almost back to a point per game (just like last season) with three shots per game and solid penalty minutes. Cammalleri is still available in over 50% of leagues and to be blunt, that's a huge mistake. If you're in one of those leagues, go grab him now. Here's a look at the last five days around the league. I'm going to go through day by day but in the format most people like; just note that a player may be mentioned multiple times.
Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! Reid and I back with a Black Friday podcast (recorded on Wednesday). Hopefully everyone has the day off to enjoy some hockey! We each talk about three different things that have happened so far this NHL season that have an impact going forward, notably Auston Matthews and Patrice Bergeron slumping, before we talk about the Vegas Golden Knights. Their team name, the dreadful press conference, the logo, everything. As always, we finish things up with The Three Point Challenge for Friday's games. You have the entire day to make your submission as long as it's before that player's game started. All of that and more on the newest edition of the Razzball Hockey Podcast!
A week ago, I said this about Steve Mason: "Michal Neuvirth is out for over a month so it’s going to be Mason’s show. Perhaps the extra starts will help him get into a flow but he’s certainly in the 'desperate for starts' category for now." After Tuesday's big game, it's been three strong starts out of four. Mason made 38 saves in the 3-1 win against the Panthers and if not for a horrible Matt Read turnover with less than two minutes left, he would have been a good bet for a shutout. Since Neuvirth went down, Mason has saved 107 of 115 shots which is more than solid. I picked up Mason for this start in multiple leagues and for now, I'd definitely grab him in 12'ers. He's less than 20% owned at the time of this writing so odds are he's available in your league. It may not be all peaches and cream but the volume alone has its value and the Flyers have played much better in their last five games. Here's what else I saw on the short Tuesday slate:
