We've reached the last day of the regular season with all 16 playoff teams decided. All that's left for tonight is teams playing for seeding and draft position. With 30 teams playing today, everyone should have a full lineup on the last day of the season. It would be wise to pick up some guys for your bench just in case players sit out and you can make sure you have a full lineup. For those of you that have a lot on the line the last day of the season, best of luck. In my biggest league, I'm up one point in roto with a handful of points that can swing to potentially drop me into second. What better drama than coming down to the bitter end?
2021-22 Fantasy Hockey
Year In Review: Bold Predictions
April 26, 2022 | 2021-22 Fantasy Hockey, Year In Review | 5 Commentsby: Viz
We're rapidly approaching the end of the season which means it's time to look back at what went right and what went wrong for my preseason predictions. Today, we're going to look at my 10 bold predictions, and JKJ's five to see how well we did. If you have any questions for the last three days of the season, please ask them in the comments section and I'll be sure to answer them. For JKJ's, my comments on his predictions from the preseason are italicized. Let's get to it!
The Beginning Of The End: Final Week Preview
April 24, 2022 | 2021-22 Fantasy Hockey, Fantasy Hockey Daily Notes | 12 Commentsby: Viz
We've reached the final week of the season with every team having 2-3 games left. Hopefully you're all still in contention in your leagues so these games matter to you. In this post, I'm going to take a look at each day to see how you can plan accordingly to maximize starts and stream the best players possible. Let's get to it!
Barkov and Huberdeau Carry The Cats
April 19, 2022 | 2021-22 Fantasy Hockey, Fantasy Hockey Daily Notes |by: Viz
The Panthers have won 11 in a row, and 14 of their past 15 games. There's been plenty of crazy games in this stretch that has them tied for the league lead in points. On Tuesday, they tied the game with less than four minutes left before they won it 20 seconds into overtime, and it was the usual suspects. Aleksander Barkov scored all three goals in the 3-2 OT win, with Jonathan Huberdeau assisting on all three goals. Barkov has a new career high in goals, 37, despite playing in only 63 games to this point. Additionally, Huberdeau now leads the league in points. Yes, that's correct, he leads the league in points. Both of them will be in the discussion to be first round picks in drafts next season. It's going to be great to see them in the playoffs, hopefully for longer than last time around. Let's see what else happened on Tuesday:
Fiala Finds Fire Again
April 18, 2022 | 2021-22 Fantasy Hockey, Fantasy Hockey Daily Notes | 5 Commentsby: Viz
Every season, Kevin Fiala finishes on an absolute tear. This season, he's found another level. Fiala had a goal and three assists on Sunday against the Sharks, bringing his totals to 29+44 in 75 games with over three shots per game, all career highs. I've been driving the Fiala bandwagon forever, and I still think it could even get better. He's still only averaging 17:23 per game, a number that's low for a player of his caliber. The Wild have a massive decision this summer with Fiala. They will have to trade players away in order to be able to keep him, and it seems like Guerin has been hesitant to do that since he's taken over. What if Fiala goes somewhere and plays for 20 minutes on somebody's first line? To my amazement, Fiala is still only 25 years old. There are a lot of things that are working in Fiala's favor. Let's take a look at what else happened over the last few days:
Thursday’s For Tarasenko
April 14, 2022 | 2021-22 Fantasy Hockey, Fantasy Hockey Daily Notes | 9 Commentsby: Viz
It wasn't that long ago that Vladimir Tarasenko requested a trade from the Blues. It wasn't that long ago that Tarasenko could have went to Seattle in the expansion draft. Now, St. Louis has to be thanking their lucky stars that he's still on the roster. Tarasenko had his biggest game of the season on Thursday, scoring a hat trick on four shots and adding two more assists in the 6-2 win over the Sabres. Tarasenko now has 31+41 in 67 games, with a great chance of setting a career high in points. It's a remarkable turnaround for the Russian who is certainly a top 100 player for drafts next season. I don't see him cracking the top 50, but it's great to see Tarasenko playing great hockey again. Let's take a look at what else happened over the last two nights:
Seattle Trucked By Tkachuk
April 12, 2022 | 2021-22 Fantasy Hockey, Fantasy Hockey Daily Notes | 14 Commentsby: Viz
I've been aggressive ranking Matthew Tkachuk for years, but I never expected this type of offense from him. Tkachuk had a hat trick on Tuesday, bringing his season totals up to 37+55 in 73 games. He has a chance for 100 points, he's +49, the PIM are strong, and his shot rate is over three per game. Tkachuk is pretty much having a Marchand-esque season. That's the Marchand who has been a top five player for the past 4-5 years. Now, I'm not quite going there with Tkachuk for next season. Gaudreau could leave and this is an outlier in terms of past performance. That said, he's firmly in the first round pick discussion because he smashes every category. I can't wait to see what he does in the playoffs. Let's take a look at what else happened the last two nights:
Notes From Around The NHL: It’s Time For Power
April 10, 2022 | 2021-22 Fantasy Hockey, Fantasy Hockey Daily Notes | 13 Commentsby: Viz
We've reached the home stretch with three weeks left in the season. Today, I'm going to hit on some notable things that'll help you for your fantasy playoffs and other things just to watch for future gain. Let's get to it!
Owen Power signed with the Sabres and should make his NHL debut on Tuesday against the Maple Leafs. It's not the best matchup obviously, but if you need defensemen help, I'm good with adding him. The Sabres finish the week with a back-to-back against the Flyers which is pretty advantageous.
Matthews Makes History
April 7, 2022 | 2021-22 Fantasy Hockey, Fantasy Hockey Daily Notes | 2 Commentsby: Viz
Fifty-six goals. That's how many Auston Matthews has on the season after another two goal performance on Thursday. Not only does he have the most goals in a season in Maple Leafs history, he now holds the record for most goals in a season by an US-born player. Matthews has 49 goals on 49 games, a run that hasn't happened in this millennium. He's locking up the Hart Trophy with this run, and the fantasy question is where he goes in drafts next season. I still couldn't bring myself to take Matthews over McDavid because the floor for McDavid is the highest we've seen in the fantasy hockey era, but I think Matthews has played himself into tier one being worthy of the second pick overall. Can't wait to see how Toronto performs in the playoffs this year. Let's take a look at what happened over the last two nights:
Johansen Gets First Career Hat Trick
April 5, 2022 | 2021-22 Fantasy Hockey, Fantasy Hockey Daily Notes | 2 Commentsby: Viz
There's been plenty of bounce back players this season across the NHL. One of them who hasn't received the attention of others is Ryan Johansen. Johansen's career was strongly trending in the wrong direction the previous two seasons, including only 22 points in 48 games last season. He has been decent most of the season, but really took once he moved to the top line. His best game of the season was on Tuesday night, scoring his first career hat trick on seven shots in the 6-2 win over the Wild. Johansen now has 20+34 on the season with 51 PIM. Yes, Johansen's career has turned out to be a big disappointment with the way it was trending early on in Columbus, but it's nice to see him score 20 goals for the first time since 2014. Remarkably, he's still 29 years old, so this level of play can be repeated next season. For the rest of this one, Johansen is an elite streamer in standard leagues and a hold if your league doesn't include SOG as a category. Let's take a look at what else happened over the last two nights:
Playoff Manifesto, Part Two
April 3, 2022 | 2021-22 Fantasy Hockey, Playoff Manifesto | 3 Commentsby: Viz
I'm going to do the second half of the Playoff Manifesto today. If you missed Part One, you can check it out here. Let's get right to it!
NASHVILLE PREDATORS (4,4,3,3)
This schedule is right up there for best in the league. Fourteen games is as good as it gets. They close each week with a back-to-back. The only nitpick is that there are no games on light days, but few things are perfect. Josi and Forsberg can both push for best player in the fantasy playoffs if things break right. Ryan Johansen and Tanner Jeannot are both elite streamers in the stretches where Nashville has three games in four nights.
2022 Playoff Manifesto, Part One
March 31, 2022 | 2021-22 Fantasy Hockey, Playoff Manifesto | 5 Commentsby: Viz
It's that time of the year again. For those of you who haven't seen this post in the past, I will break down every team's schedule for fantasy hockey playoffs i.e. starting on this coming Monday, 4/4. I will note when a team has a back to back or a light day. A light day is a day where there are four or less games on the schedule, with the exception of Wednesday, 4/27. I am including that day where there are five games because it's the last day of the season where you'll need streaming, as the last two days both have a lot of games. I will do the teams in alphabetical order so it's easy to find everyone, and next to each team, there will be (A,B,C,D). Those numbers will be how many games the team has in each of the four weeks left in the season. For example, (4,2,3,3) means they have four games from 4/4 - 4/10, two games from 4/11 -4/17, etc. This post is going to be extremely long, so it will be broken into two parts, with part two coming on Monday. If you have a specific question about a team next week that will be in part two and you need it answered immediately, please let it be known in the comments section and I'll answer it for you. And away we go!
