In my preseason rankings, this is what I wrote about Mitch Marner and his teammate William Nylander. "Putting them back to back because I’m unsure which one will be on the second and third line. Either way, I think there is value there in redrafts but the one in the top six could end up a hold." Well, it turns out Marner was that guy but both are clear holds at this point. Nylander has been getting the attention with Auston Matthews but Marner has equally impressed me. In my season preview for the Leafs, I said the following: "Marner, the fourth overall pick in 2015, is an incredible offensive talent. He had over two points per game this season in the OHL with 39+77 in 57 games along with 68 PIM. In standard redrafts, I like drafting Marner late. He won’t have the hype that the other young guys do but could be just as good as a rookie, if not better." And that's me quoting me again! In the 3-2 Leafs win on Thursday, Marner dished three assists and added two shots and two penalty minutes. This brings his totals up to 6 points in 7 games with above average shots and great PIM in the early going. Clearly he needs to be held right now and is elite in all dynasty formats. Also, shoutout to frequent commenter Shitwolf for being the first person to ever get a player correct for the Three Point Challenge! Nothing like somebody getting it on the first night we do it. Shitwolf and Mitch Marner go down in Razzball history! Here's what else happened the last two nights in the NHL:
Hey everyone! Reid joins me once again to do a thorough breakdown of the games on Tuesday, October 25th. We look at every single game focusing on the emergence of a new first line threat in New Jersey, the Sabres implosion in Philly, the domination of the Wild, Tampa's big offensive breakout and much more. Now that we're starting to build up a decent sample, there is more to take away from each game giving us a bigger fantasy hockey impact on a daily basis. Once we get through all of the games around the 50 minute mark, we introduce the Three Point Challenge. To copy what our partners at the basketball side of things has done, every night that the podcast comes out, we will attempt to pick a player outside of the top 10 in points in the NHL that will score 3+ points that night. I know it's difficult but I'd rather it be tough! Listen to our picks on the podcast and please put your picks in the comments section of this post. All of that and more in the newest edition of the Razzball Hockey Podcast:
Devan Dubnyk was a big focus of discussion for me in the preseason. I was the highest on him on FantasyPros by 20+ spots over everybody and 80 spots higher than ESPN's staff rankings. That's just insane for a player that I have ranked 41st to ESPN's 122. Anyways, I argued that he was a no-brainer bottom end #1 goalie with the upside for more. Dubs showed what he can do on Tuesday night with a 27 save shutout on the road in Boston. It's only been 5 starts for Dubnyk so far but after that game, he has a 2.01 GAA, .929 sv% and 3 wins. The Wild are playing excellent hockey in front of him right now and considering that he's a workhorse, I wouldn't be shocked if he pushes the top 5 for goaltending at the end of the season. I certainly hope so since I have him on literally every one of my teams! Here's a look at what else happened on Monday and Tuesday night around the NHL:
Hello everyone! Reid joins me once again to look at players who have started on opposite sides of the spectrum. We open up by looking at a bunch of different players who were drafted in all leagues and have started slowly. We look at each player's current situation and decide whether we'd buy low, sell if we had the player or stand pat. Around the 35 minute mark, we flip the table and look at a set of players who have started off better than expected. Should you sell high on the player? Should you try to target the player in a trade? All of that and more in this edition of the Razzball Hockey Podcast. Below are also streamers for Tuesday's games:
It hasn't even been two weeks since the regular season started and the hat tricks are already piling up! On Saturday, we had our most recent hat trick in Calgary as new Blue David Perron scored a hat trick on six shots and added an assist in the 6-4 win for St. Louis. Ken Hitchcock shuffled the lines before the game and the biggest beneficiary was Perron getting to play with Vladimir Tarasenko and Jaden Schwartz. Obviously it worked out better than anyone could have imagined. Perron was horrible to start last season in Pittsburgh but took off in Anaheim so there is fantasy potential here. For now, if I had room, I would grab Perron just to be able to stream him on Tuesday to see what happens. The Blues play the Flames again who are a complete dumpster fire defensively at the moment so it's an excellent spot for Perron to produce and there's a chance he turns into a hold. Let's take a look at what else happened around the NHL this weekend:
Wednesday night saw the first showdown between the first two picks of the 2016 NHL draft, Auston Matthews and Patrik Laine. It looked like Matthews was going to have the best of it when the Leafs were up 4-0 in the second period but then the Jets, led by Laine, turned things around to win 5-4 in overtime. Laine stole the show with his first career hat trick on five shots, including the tying goal with 55 seconds left and the overtime winner. He was moved up to the first line a couple games ago solidifying his minutes and has delivered ever since. I picked him as the better rookie for fantasy over Matthews (assist, seven shots) and still feel strongly about that. Laine is easily a top 100 player for this season and by next year, he's going to be a top 50 player and eventually a top 20 player. Every time he's on the ice, you can see the potential as an Ovechkin-lite. Let's take a look at everything that happened in the Wednesday and Thursday night games:
Hey everyone! Reid and I are back looking at the first week of the season with a focus on the last few days. We start by looking at the high scoring around the league and the teams that will keep playing in wide open games, the dire situation in Los Angeles, Connor McDavid going pointless for two games (bum!) and the ceilings for Brent Burns and Joe Pavelski. After that, we breakdown Thursday and Friday night's games looking at a few different things, namely whether they'll be high or low scoring, what players are worth targeting for streaming and who the best daily fantasy candidates are. All of that and more in the newest addition of the Razzball Hockey Podcast!
Everyone who reads this space knows my love for Brent Burns. His beard brings about a magisterial power that guides him on the ice. The Sharks played on Monday and Tuesday to open the week and their all-world defenseman delivered. In Monday's loss to the Rangers, Burns scored two goals and an assist with seven shots. He followed it up with 2 assists and three shots against the Islanders putting him in the early league lead for points. Burns and Erik Karlsson are in a class of their own right now among defensemen and should battle each other season for top dog status on the blue line. Here's what else I've seen around the league the last two nights:
We're back! After my damn computer froze almost an hour into our talk, Reid and I run through things a second time but a first for everyone else. We start off by taking a look at what has happened around the NHL in the first five days of the season. We talk about Auston Matthews' four goal debut, Richard Panik and Joe Colborne getting hat tricks, some other guys who have started strong and how goals have been plentiful in the early going. After recapping that and more, we take a look at the big picture in regards to streaming (Today's streamers below). Thanks to a commenter's suggestion (Thanks Man Of Steel and everyone, please keep the comments coming), we look at what teams we are looking to take players on, what teams we are looking to target players against and what teams we want to avoid streaming against. All of that and more in this week's addition of the Razzball Hockey Podcast:
In my season preview for the Chicago Blackhawks, I projected that Richard Panik would be the new player that slides into the Blackhawks' top 6. "Panik should get a chance in the top 6 because quite frankly, the Blackhawks don’t have anybody else. He could be a decent streamer but I can’t expect anything more from the 25 year old." And that's me quoting me doing what Grey does! In the long term for the season, I still think that'll be the case, but for now, Panik is must-own. After scoring in the season opener, Panik had an assist on Friday and came back with a hat trick on four shots on Saturday, both against the Predators. He's getting power play time right now and with 5 points in 3 games, Panik should be held for the time being as he rides the hot streak. Here's what else I saw this weekend around the NHL:
When players get interviewed before their first game, they always give the same boring mundane answers. "I'm focused on keeping things simple out there." "I'm just going to play my game," etc. They dream of scoring a goal in their first game. Well, Auston Matthews did just that in his first game. And then he did it again. And again, and again. The first overall pick from this year's draft became the first player in NHL history to score 4 goals in his debut, doing so on 6 shots playing 17:37 against the Senators. And the Leafs still lost! Man, they are horrible. Everyone is going to overreact to this game so I'll be the one to say that you need to lower expectations. Yes, there will be flashes from Matthews but like any rookie, consistency will come and go. He also won't get to play a team as hopeless defensively as the Senators are again any time soon. There's no doubting that Matthews will be a superstar but in the fantasy realm that we live in, don't think he's going to be a top 50 player this season or anything outlandish after one game. Here's what else happened around the league in the first two nights of the season:
Reid and I are back with our latest edition of the Razzball Hockey Podcast! This was recorded on Wednesday afternoon so we won't be talking about last night's game, that'll come early next week. Instead, we look at the latest injury news focusing on Jack Eichel. We even get an update mid-recording! We look at our favorite streamers for tonight's games, then look big picture around the league. We talk about what teams are the most confusing and difficult to peg in the NHL. Then we spend 5-10 minutes at the end talking about random things that either gave us a laugh or made us disgusted. We've ran out of things to talk about, thank God the season has started! All of that and more below:
