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I can't believe the season is already starting today with my beloved Sabres taking on the Devils in Prague.  I've gone through all of my rankings at this point to provide you with assistance for your drafts.  Now, before every team starts their season over the next week, it's time to make some bold predictions for the upcoming season.  For those who haven't read this type of post in the past, these are meant to be bold.  If I hit three of them, I will be quite happy.  On the good side last season, I predicted that Talbot would be a top ten goalie and that Gostisbehere would be more valuable than Seider in non-banger leagues despite going 100 picks after him.  On the bad side, I predicted that Vejmelka would be a top 15 goalie, Devon Levi would get Calder votes, and Binnington would carry negative value.  Let's get to it!
It was great to see Aleksander Barkov back in the lineup on Thursday, and if you didn't get him back into your lineup off injured reserve, well, that one is going to hurt for a while.  Barkov scored a hat trick in the first period against the Canadiens and added two assists in the 7-2 win over the Canadiens.  It hasn't been Barkov's best season to this point, but I'm buying Barkov going forward to get back to being well over a point per game.  Florida has dug itself quite a hole in the playoff race and I expect Maurice to really ride their top six even more.  Barkov's shooting percentage is also much lower than his career sh% (10.3 vs 14.0) so look for some positive regression in the New Year for the Panthers captain.  Let's take a look at what else happened over the last two nights:
David Perron had a horrible start to the season and was shaping up to being one of the biggest fantasy busts of this year.  To say things have turned for the better is an understatement.  Perron scored two goals on seven shots against the Predators before scoring a goal on seven shots against Winnipeg.  Since Perron went back on the top line, Perron has exploded.  He has eight goals and five assists in the last ten games with 35 SOG.  It's good enough across the board that Perron is a clear hold in all formats again.  He's only available in about 25% of leagues, but even in a shallow league, I wouldn't be cutting Perron to keep a stream spot.  The schedule is a little light the next couple weeks, but it really picks up in the last week of March and early April.  Let's take a look at what else happened over the weekend:
My love for Alex Ovechkin is no secret for the readers who frequent these parts.  The best goal scorer of all time continues to torment the opposition as he's in the midst of one of the best starts of his career.  Ovechkin had a goal and two assists with six shots against the Sabres on Monday.  Through twelve games, Ovechkin has a ridiculous 11+10 with 60 shots on goals.  That's five shots per game, which he's had that or more in seven straight games.  The Great Eight is playing his best hockey at even strength in years at age 36.  Don't take Alex Ovechkin for granted!  Let's take a look at what else happened over the last two nights:
It's no secret that I think Nikolaj Ehlers is the best forward on the Jets and it's not much of a debate.  Ehlers stole the show on Tuesday night, tying the game with the goalie pulled, only to score 19 seconds later and win the game for Winnipeg.  Ehlers had an assist earlier in the game bringing him up to 2+2 in six games.  The big thing is that he has 25 shots in six games.  Ehlers is an absolute stud and the points are going to keep flowing in.  Let's take a look at what else happened over the last two nights:
Hey guys! Sven back with another 31 in 31. Over the next month, I will be taking a look at each team’s players to watch out for going into the 2019-20 fantasy hockey season. This analysis features everything from surefire studs, to sleepers, to streamers, deeper league holds, even to rookie-eligible prospects that may make an appearance at some point this season. Please let me know if you guys enjoy this type of material! Reminder that the stat totals are from last season. Last year my previews went alphabetically, but this year we’re going to go division-by-division, starting with the top team. On our seventh stop on the 31 in 31 tour, we’re checking out the Edmonton Oilers. With a new GM at the helm and a new coach in the room, the Oilers are looking to start fresh this season. More moving and shaking will likely need to happen to get them headed in the right direction, but there is a ton of fantasy relevance to this team.
Hey guys! Sven here and we have reached our last team for 31 in 31. Thank you to those of you that were along for the journey! I will be back next week with some buy/sell type articles, but for now enjoy my analysis of the Winnipeg Jets! Over the past month, I have taken a look at each team’s players to watch out for going into the 2018-19 fantasy hockey season: The 31 in 31 daily segment. This analysis features everything from surefire studs, to sleepers, to prospects that may make an appearance at some point this season. Please let me know if you guys enjoy this type of material!  Reminder that the stat totals are from last season.
Happy New Years everyone!  Reid and I are back and after taking a few minutes to talk about our Bills finally making the playoffs, we discuss a lot of things going on in the hockey world.  We start with a massive injury rundown and the fantasy repercussions before discussing the World Juniors, how USA vs Canada would go in the Olympics if NHL'ers were playing, and many other things before making our picks for The Three Point Challenge on Thursday's games.  Be sure to make your picks in the comments section below!
First off, I hope everyone had a Happy New Year's!  As much as I personally don't care for New Year's Eve, this year was different because of the Buffalo Bills making the playoffs.  I wish I had video of me celebrating with my dad or an audio recording of my friend, who is in Paris, who heard us yelling on speaker phone and him celebrating in the Paris streets. Couple that with an amazing USA win in the WJC outdoor game against Canada that I was at and things in the sports world couldn't be better.  Even the Sabres looked competent today despite the loss!  Anyways, let's get to what you're here for... I've talked about Josh Bailey being the waiver wire pickup of the year on multiple occasions over the last couple weeks because, well, the Isles top line is on fire.  That said, William Karlsson is easily #2 in this department.  Wild Bill, a Razzball favorite from the past (aka favorite of mine), scored the first hat trick in Vegas history on Sunday, scoring three goals and an assist in the 6-3 win over the Maple Leafs.  That brings Karlsson's totals to 20+13 in 33 games with a +15 rating.  Sure, it will regress some because he's not going to shoot 26.3% all season, but let's give Karlsson his due.  In the first 183 games of his career, Karlsson scored 18 goals.  He has that beat for the Golden Knights in 37 games.  His emergence is a huge part of Vegas shocking the world as they sit atop the Western Conference.  Karlsson will drop off some in the second half, at least in the goals department, but make no mistake about it, it's not a complete fluke.  Karlsson should be a hold for the rest of the season.  Let's take a look at what else happened over the last three days of the old year:
Hey, everyone. I’m Lackeydrinksonme, a Buffalo sports fan and thus a budding alcoholic. I play fantasy everything, and I’ve been in Viz’s fantasy hockey threads for a while now... I’ve also been handing out intermittent advice based on what I’ve seen and gleaned from the world of hockey. I’ve taken a unique approach to my fantasy hockey this year, and have worked to maximize player starts.
Reid joins me as always to take a look at players who are on the struggle bus. After we run down the injuries, and sadly there are a lot of them (poor Vegas), the focus shifts to players around the league who were high fantasy draft picks that have been underwhelming or flat out disappointing. Five forwards, five defensemen and eight goaltenders are discussed and graded on a 1-10 scale on how worried we are about them going forward. From there, we do The Three Point Challenge for Thursday's games discussing each game since it's the next big slate on the schedule. 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!