Hello everyone! Reid joins me once again to provide another update around the NHL. We start off by looking at Carolina's big game against the Caps, the Wild's first line dominating while the Stars top line starts doing what we expected from them. After ripping NBC before, we give credit where it's due before we talk about Gary Bettman and the NHL from a big picture point of view. We then ponder what the Las Vegas team name will be, question why Antoine Roussel is still widely available, a red hot Pekka Rinne and Filip Forsberg finally scoring. Finally, around the 35 minute mark, we look at the Sabres and Avalanche, the two worst offenses in the league at this point, before I try to stump Reid giving him "Who am I?" clues. As always, we conclude with the Three Point Challenge. All of that and more in the newest edition of the Razzball Fantasy Hockey Podcast!
First off, I'd just like to apologize to everyone for not having daily notes on Monday morning. I wasn't feeling too well Sunday night; one minute I'm watching the beginning of the Seahawks game and the next thing I know it's 10 AM! Thankfully there was only one game on Monday night so it wasn't the end of the world. Anyways, Sebastian Aho scored his first two NHL goals on Saturday and added an assist in Carolina's 5-1 win over the Capitals. That brings Aho's totals to 2+7 in 14 games which is great for the 19 year old. Unfortunately, that's accompanied by exactly 2 shots per game and only 2 PIM on the season. Add in the fact that the minutes are low (12:13 in this one) and I don't think you can hold onto Aho in standard 12'ers. That said, he's going to remain a great streamer for assists and is a Razzball favorite for dynasties. Let's take a look at what happened over the weekend plus the one Monday night game.
During last season, it looked like Eric Staal's career was on a steep decline. While he's still not close to the player he was in his prime, the 39 point season he had in 83 games in 2015-16 looks to be a thing of the past. Staal moved to Minnesota this offseason on a three year deal to center the first line and it's no surprise that Bruce Boudreau has helped revitalize his career. On Thursday night, Staal led the way for the Wild scoring a goal and two assists with six shots on goal being +3 in the Wild's 4-2 road win over the Penguins. That boosts Staal's totals to 5 goals and 6 assists in 12 games with almost 3 shots per game. He's shown an amazing ability to stay healthy throughout his career leading me to believe he has a pretty good chance to reach 60 points again. As the frequent readers know, I'm a big fan of the Wild's chances of success, at least from a regular season standpoint, and Staal is a big factor in that. For now, Staal should be considered a borderline top 100 player who should remain a clear hold for the entire season; I would not try to sell high on him. Let's take a look at what happened around the league the last two nights:
Reid joins me once again to look at a few different topics. I promise we kept the election talk to a minimum! Partially because we needed a break from things. Anyways, we start off by looking at the Jets explosion against the Stars, Connor McDavid vs. Sidney Crosby and the Kings dismantling the Maple Leafs. Around the 21 minute mark, we focus on a bunch of different players debating whether or not they are holds or simply streamers. We follow that up around the 33 minute mark by looking at the next tier below the questionable holds, namely guys who are debatable streamers. We then do a quick breakdown of head to head goaltending strategy before finishing things up with The Three Point Challenge. A bunch of people have been hitting it lately so we run through them and the current standings (posted below). All of that and more in this week's edition of the Razzball Hockey Podcast!
There are probably a dozen different players who I could give this lede to. There were a bunch of people who hit the 3 point challenge, my love affair for the Jetse guys is paying off and there were also some shutouts. I decided to take a look at somebody who generates some talk in the comments, Max Domi. Domi finally broke and in a big way with a goal and two assists and two shots. It was shockingly his first goal of the season but he now has 9 assists in 12 games, including 8 in the last 8 games. The shots have slightly increased, not as much as I hoped, but with almost a penalty minute per game as well, he's easily a top 100 player at this point. Domi's minutes are a bit inconsistent but with how thin the Coyotes roster, I expect them to go up as the season progresses. Let's take a look at what else happened around the league the last two nights.
And we're back! Reid and I look at a few different things around the league on this crucial day in the United States. We start off with Columbus destroying the Canadiens (10 goals!) and the Rangers scoring 5 goals in 5 straight games. Then we focus on individual issues with a pile of recent injuries, the red hot returns of Matt Murray and Rickard Rakell, the top line in Washington changing plus whether or not the Colorado goaltending situation could see a changing of the guard. We finish things up with the early season struggles of the Western Conference before making our picks for The Three Point Challenge. All of that and more in the most recent episode of the Razzball Hockey Podcast!
It's no secret that coming into the season, I loved the best players on the Jets. While the team itself is of to a mediocre start, the forward in my top 50 that I was highest on compared to consensus was Mark Scheifele. After a monstrous second half last season, I wrote repeatedly how much I liked him for 2016-17 and dynasties going forward. It was evident looking at Fantasy Pros where I was 16 spots higher than anyone else and 19 spots above consensus, quite a margin for a player who I had ranked 32nd overall. Well, it's been a terrific start to the season for Scheifele and it continued over the weekend. On Friday, Scheifele had a goal, two assists and two shots while being +3 in the 5-3 win over Detroit. He followed that up with a goal and an assist with two shots and +1 on Sunday despite the Jets losing 5-2 to the red hot Rangers. That gives Scheifele a total of 7 goals and 7 assists in 13 games with a +5 rating, 10 PIM and almost 3 shots per game. It puts him easily in the top 20 skaters on the season in the player rater and is making me look smart! I salute you, Mr. Scheifele. With the workload that he's receiving, I have little doubt that he will produce going forward at an elite rate. Let's take a look at what else went on around the league over the weekend.
On the most recent podcast, I talked about how the Stars were going to start riding Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn for big minutes with their depleted depth. I stated that it was only a matter of time until they broke out and despite the tough matchup against St. Louis, they were elite options in the Three Point Challenge. Well, I wish I went with my first thought because Seguin got there and then some while Benn reached it with an empty net point. Seguin finished with 4 assists, 4 SOG and +3 while Benn had 3 assists, 6 PIM, +4 and a shot. Obviously this doesn't come as a shock, both were top 10 players with ease the last two seasons and should continue to say so barring health issues. Look for them to carry the Stars in the next week or so as they have 6 games in 9 nights starting Saturday. Next week, they get Winnipeg, Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver. As someone who has both of those guys in multiple leagues, I'm licking my lips thinking about what they can do. Let's take a look at what else happened the last two nights around the league.
Hello Razzballers! Reid and I are back to hit you with some hockey knowledge! We open up with a quick talk about NBC's hockey coverage before we give a thorough breakdown of Tuesday's games. We look at all 12 games and give our biggest takeaways from all of them. Among the highlights are the Rangers rolling the Blues, the disappointment of Oilers-Leafs (besides for Nazem Kadri owners), the upset wins for the Sabres and Coyotes plus Nashville finally stepping up in a big way. We wrap things up with our Three Point Challenge picks, be sure to leave yours in the comment section. All of that and more in the newest edition of the Razzball Hockey Podcast!
I have a question for everyone reading this. Is two 4 point games in a week good? That's what Nikita Kucherov has done after Tampa's blowout of the Islanders on Tuesday. Kucherov stuffed the stat sheet with two goals, two assists, five shots and two penalty minutes in the 6-1 win. That now puts him in a tie for the league lead in points with 12 in 9 games. Yeah, this kid is really good and at 23 years old, it's only going to get better. That's why he was 18th overall for me in the preseason and is a borderline top 10 player in dynasties. With his time on ice and the power of the Lightning offense, it's going to be a great year for Kucherov owners. Let's take a look at what happened around the league on Tuesday night before we close things out with Wednesday streamers.
Hey everyone! Reid and I are back and after a quick review of something being thrown on the field at the Bills game, we start looking at a bunch of different things around the league that happened over the past five days. Please, blog, may I have some more?
I said on Friday that I don't like leading off with the same person back to back, let alone the same month. Well, Devan Dubnyk deserves to be the lede again with his third consecutive shutout on Saturday stopping all 29 shots against the Stars. For those of you who own Dubnyk in weekly head to head leagues, congrats on winning the goaltending categories this week! Three starts, three shutouts for my most frequently owned goaltender, go me! In the big picture, this doesn't really change things for me; Dubnyk is a #1 goalie and will continue to be so. While it matters less in fantasy hockey (it still has an impact for streaming and matchups), this shows me that the Wild are for real this season. I harped on it in the preseason and on the podcasts (mostly the over-under) but Bruce Boudreau does amazing things for hockey teams. I'm sure we'll be talking about it on Tuesday's podcast. Anyways, let's take a look at everything that happened around the league this weekend.
