Happy Wednesday, Razzball faithful!
It’s one final Wednesday write-up from your guy, MarmosDad, and things are starting to get interesting in the first round. Sens and Kings fans are ready to watch a lot more baseball, and a few other teams are headed in the same direction.
Today, there will be more updates on the leading scorers from each series, along with notes on some of the names I outlined in the 2026 Fantasy Hockey Playoff Pool Review.
That means updates for all the Must Have skaters and any of the Worth the Gamble or Under the Radar guys who need them.
Will we get a clearer picture of who we’ll be seeing in Round Two? Did the Bruins copy the Penguins by staving off elimination and forcing a Game 6?
Let’s have a look!
Happy Wednesday, Razzball faithful!
We’re blade deep in the first round of the NHL Playoffs, and hopefully your pool rosters and brackets are slotted neatly into the “so far so good” territory.
The timing of the start of Round One was a bit unfortunate, as some pairings weren’t finalized until after I wrote up our 2026 Fantasy Hockey Playoff Pool Review (try saying that one 5 times fast with a mouthful of ginger ale).
But guess what?! It’ll be a full report of the postseason dance partners today!
I’ll have each First Round matchup with updates and check-ins on our players I mentioned in the guide.
That means updates for all the Must Have skaters, and any of the Worth the Gamble or Under the Radar guys who need it.
Let’s go!
And just like that, the regular season is over! Playoffs start on Saturday already and I can't wait. As an aside, how the hell isn't the full playoff schedule out yet? It's 11:15 PM EST and we only know the start times for Saturday. Anyways, I hope all of you won your fantasy championships so you have full bragging rights for the next year. Today, I'm going to start my year in review posts, starting with my bold predictions. Before I get to them, two things... check out MarmosDad's playoff pool post if you're joining one, and join the Razzball Bracket Challenge! Links are below:
Happy Wednesday, Razzball faithful!
Are you ready for a Fantasy Hockey Playoff Pool preview? Do you need a primer for drafting your playoff pool roster?
Well, I have some good news for you!
Welcome to the first annual (maybe) MarmosDad NHL Playoff Preview!
I’ll go through some notes on how to strategize when making your picks for the playoff pool, then do a rundown of each playoff team, with names to look out for during your drafts.
Let’s get to it!
Happy Wednesday, Razzball faithful!
As Viz said on Sunday, we’re officially 1.5 weeks from the end of the regular season!
Hopefully, you finished up your head-to-head playoffs on a strong note, or you have enough of a lead in your roto-points leagues that you can enjoy the final 3-4 games without feverishly refreshing your league app.
If you have the luxury of being able to relax, enjoy it! More than a few NHL teams are facing a tough road ahead for the next 9 days.
Why? Well, it's time for the playoff push!
We've got three teams tied for first place in the Atlantic division.
One point separates three teams at the top of the Pacific Division.
And our wild card spots could be filled by any of a half dozen teams in either conference.
Quite a few teams were jockeying for playoff position Tues
We're down to the last two weeks (well, 1.5ish weeks) of the regular season, meaning we're down to the nitty gritty of the NHL season. Doing a long weekend recap isn't going to provide as much value to everyone as a look at this week's schedule and how it affects our roster decisions. For that reason, I'm going to highlight the spots where you can gain an edge, specifically in head to head leagues, but also some advantageous spots for roto leagues as well. Let's get to it!
With Draisaitl out for the regular season, somebody in the Oilers supporting cast had to step up. There's been a few depth guys that have, but nobody more than Matt Savoie. The former ninth overall pick from the Sabres has started to come into his own. Savoie had a goal on five shots in the 3-1 win over the Blackhawks. This was his fourth game out of five that Savoie scored a goal, but the most important things for projecting going forward were his role. In this game, Savoie played with McDavid and registered over 19 minutes, including on the top power play unit. The Oilers schedule is pretty spread out so I'm not going to say he's an automatic hold, but Savoie has a Tuesday/Wednesday back to back next week, which is a prime spot to stream him. Let's take a look at what else happened over the last two nights:
Happy Wednesday, Razzball faithful!
Apparently, all we needed to do to wake up the sleeping Panther kitties was to reunite the Tkachuk brothers in the Sunshine state (even if one was only visiting) and to tell Linus Ullmark that he was back with the 2020 Buffalo Sabres.
Our favorite Swedish goalie, whose name rhymes with a giggle-worthy body part, had one of the roughest starts of his career in Florida on Tuesday night.
Florida struck with pointed claws just 63 seconds into the game, and Mr. Ullmark was yanked after allowing 5 goals on just 16 shots. Oh, Linus.
It was a kick in the stomach for a surging Sens squad, who found themselves out of a wild-card spot by just two points when they started the day. By the end of the night, Ullmark and the rest of his Senators brethren were on the wrong side of a 6-3 loss to the back-to-back Stanley Cup champs.
There are a couple teams making surprising runs to get back into the playoff race. The most surprising to me, by far, is the Flyers. In a huge showdown with Detroit on Saturday, the Flyers stomped them early and held on for the win. Owen Tippett stole the show with a hat trick and an assist with seven shots. He had two shots in the 2-1 OT win over the Stars, putting Philly two points out of the playoffs, albeit losing the tiebreaker to every team in front of them. Philly has a bunch of games this week against their direct competition, so expect Tocchet to lean on their studs. There are only two games on Friday, so Tippett has a real case to be held. Let's take a look at what else happened over the weekend:
The Anaheim Ducks have taken a big step forward this season. Lucky for them, they're geographically located in the right place. In the Eastern Conference, they'd be on the outside looking in for the playoffs. In the West, specifically the Pacific Division, they're close to a lock. The Ducks won their fourth straight game on Thursday, with Mikael Granlund scoring all three goals in a 3-2 OT win. Granlund now has seven goals in his last four games and continues to get big minutes. We've reached the point of the season where most of the fringe are streamers because we need to make a push in the fantasy playoffs, but with Anaheim having four games next week, Granlund is making a real case to be held while he's on fire. Let's take a look at what else happened on Thursday night:
Happy Wednesday, Razzball faithful!
Matthew Knies (2 G, +1, 2 PIM, 4 SOG, 2 H) is one of the only bright spots shining on the sinking ship that is the Toronto Maple Leafs’ season. His second-period shorthanded goal was a thing of beauty. Knies intercepted a weak Bruins pass, pushed aside Mason Lohrei, who looked a lot less powerful than his 6’5” frame would suggest, like an empty paper plate, and threw a nifty head fake on Jeremy Swayman before roofing a nice lickety-split wrister over the netminder’s glove.
As much as this was a nice opportunity for the Bruins to pad their lead over Columbus, Montreal, and Detroit in the extremely tight playoff race, this tiny snapshot in time was an equally important reminder for Leaf fans that the team needs to do a lot of other “retooling or rebuilding” that DOES NOT involve trading their 23-year-old sniper.
Thanks to Gary Bettman, the favorite to win the Pacific Division bracket isn't even a team in the Pacific Division. Sure, this is a hot take, but give me the Utah Mammoth over any other team in the Pacific to make the final four assuming Utah is the first wild card team. On Sunday, the Mammoth beat the Kings in overtime, with Lawson Crouse leading the way with two goals, an assist, five shots, three hits, and two blocks in almost 18 minutes of ice time. Crouse has been on the first line for an extended period now and continues to deliver. In hits leagues, I would hold him almost everywhere. In non-hits leagues, he's an elite streamer. Let's take a look at what else happened over the last two nights:
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