I hope everyone is enjoying the Olympics! What a wild ride Wednesday was with three overtime games. I won't say that I like 3 on 3 overtime in the elimination rounds, but it certainly was dramatic. In the past, I used to do a big Playoff Manifesto breaking down schedules for head to head leagues, focusing on teams and players to target for streaming. I won't be doing that this year for one main reason: Daily Faceoff already did all of the work. If you go to their site (dailyfaceoff dot com) and click schedule, you can look at everyone's schedule for each week, and if you click strength of schedule, it will separate light days. If you have any specific questions about players to target, I will always be here to help. Instead, I'm going to look at players that I'm buying for the second half. On Monday, I will look at players that I'm selling for the rest of the season, with MarmosDad having a post for Wednesday before the regular season starts going again. And now that you know what the plan is in these parts, let's get to this post!
Happy Wednesday, Razzball faithful!
We’re smack-dab in the middle of Olympic chaos, and Wednesday’s playoff round looks like a doozy.
I’m not even sure which game I’m looking forward to watching more: David Pastrnak vs Team Canada or the Swedish berries/fish/meatballs vs Team USA.
Luckily, we don’t have to look into too much of that for right now, because it’s time to pair up last week’s trade deadline preview with the other side of the league. If you missed it last week, you can click the link here…
Happy Wednesday, Razzball faithful!
It’s your favorite Hockey Dad back for a special edition during our Olympic hockey break!
I told Viz that I was up for putting together a bit of a trade deadline piece for each conference while the NHL was on its hiatus, and he was up for it, so here we are.
Today, I’ll go over all that there is to consider for the Eastern Conference Trade Deadline rumor mill. Next week, we’ll head West to do the same thing for our Pacific pals.
Are there teams that have cap space to add to their roster?
Which teams have holes to fill due to injuries or ineffectiveness?
Who could use a boost to the power play, penalty kill, or defense corps? Which clubs are looking to add depth players, a top 6 scoring threat, or a bottom 6 grinder to eat up some minutes?
I broke the Eastern Conference into three groups:
We have a couple weeks off from the NHL right now, so I thought it was a good time to review my bold predictions and see how they're looking. MarmosDad will be back tomorrow previewing the trade deadline, so be on the lookout for that. As always, feel free to ask any questions, leave any comments, or give any suggestions below. Let's get to it!
"Boldy is the type of player that I love to have on my team. Boldy’s extremely safe across the board with plenty of upside." And that's me quoting me from my preseason rankings copying what Grey does! Nothing like a career high in goals for Boldy before the Olympic break. Boldy was outstanding on Wednesday, scoring a hat trick in the first period against the Predators, later adding an assist in the victory. While the shots are slightly down, Boldy is still over three per game, and already has 32+30 in 54 games. That's a borderline top 10 forward. I had Boldy in my top 25 overall going into the season, slightly ahead of his ADP. Granted, when it's this early in drafts, slightly ahead put him on a bunch of my teams. He should only continue to get better going forward and has the chance to be reach superstardom during the Olympics. Let's take a look at what else happened over the last two nights:
Happy Wednesday, Razzball faithful!
With just 7 games on tap, it was a shorter schedule than usual for our final Tuesday night before the Olympic break.
But that didn’t stop a certain Carolina Hurricanes goalie from saying "neato," checking his libido, and heading to the rink in a new tuxedo.
Brandon Bussi - 22 saves on 25 shots and the 4-3 win vs OTT - did his best 1989 pop-rap impression and Busted a serious Move at home against the Ottawa Senators.
Hopefully, you listened to Viz and me when we said to add Bussi anywhere and everywhere you could, when it looked like he was playing himself into extra time in the Canes’ crease.
The first Winter Classic between the Sabres and Penguins in 2008 will always be the top outdoor game for me. Everything about the game was perfection. Sunday's Stadium Series game in Tampa moved to #2 on my list. After Hagel scored 11 seconds into the game, Boston scored five in a row before Tampa mounted a huge comeback, winning 6-5 in a shootout. There was even a goalie fight! Boston's problem was that they couldn't stay out of the penalty box, and that's a death sentence against Tampa. Unsurprisingly, it started with Nikita Kucherov, who had a goal and three assists with eight shots in the victory. It might sound blasphemous, but Kucherov has a real chance to be the best European forward ever. He'll certainly be in the discussion. He's currently the #3 overall forward for fantasy behind MacKinnon and McDavid. I had him ranked 4th going into the season in a tier with Draisaitl, who is currently 4th overall. Very chalky season at the top besides the Celebrini big breakout. Anyways, Kucherov is a top 5 player until further notice. He's showing no signs of slowing down at 32. Let's take a look at what else happened over the weekend:
For almost two whole months now, the Sabres have been taking the league by storm, having the best record in that time frame. On Thursday, the Sabres have their third five game win streak since December (if you count their ten game win streak as two five game streaks), beating the Kings 4-1. Alex Tuch led the charge for the team, scoring a hat trick on seven shots. Tuch moved back onto the top line with Thompson recently, and he's been delivering. In his last ten games, Tuch has eight goals, and even without PP1 time, Tuch is a clear hold in all formats. I'm fascinated to see what happens with Tuch come the trade deadline, and not just because I'm a Sabres fan. I assume the team will keep him even if he doesn't have an extension signed, and there's no doubt that the Brinks Truck is getting backed up for Tuch one way or another. I'd be hesitant to give him the eight figure salary he wants, assuming it's long term, but it's also hard for the Sabres to just walk away. Either way, things continue to look up in Buffalo for the first time in a decade. Let's take a look at what else happened on Thursday night:
Happy Wednesday, Razzball faithful!
It was a night to remember for the Sabres and their franchise defenseman on Tuesday night.
Rasmus Dahlin scored one in the first, one in the second, and then finished off the hat trick with an empty-netter in the third. The 3 goals and 2 assists were a career high single-game output for the 25-year-old Swede, and brought his point total up to a robust 42 PTS in 48 GP.
It wasn’t all Dahlin, though, as the rest of the Sabres brought their scoring sticks with them on their trip North of the border. Tage Thompson (1G, 1 A), Alex Tuch, Jack Quinn, and newly extended Josh Doan all tickled the twine for the Sabres, and helped to extend their newest win streak to 4 games.
Version 4.0 of this season’s hold/stream list is below. For those of you new to these parts, this is pretty straightforward. This is for standard 12 man leagues so none of the additional categories like faceoff wins, etc. If a player is in the hold category, they are a slam dunk hold, don’t even think about. If they’re on the fringe, you can make a case either way depending on team needs. If they’re a streamer, then you can pick them up when you need starts and potentially hold them for a bit if they get hot, but don’t anticipate keeping them on your roster long term. Also, assume that every starting goalie is a hold unless otherwise noted. If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, leave them below. Let’s get to it!
It hasn't been a good year for Columbus, but they seem to have solved their goaltending issue going forward. Jet Greaves stole the show on Thursday night, shutting out the juggernaut Stars in the 1-0 win, making 28 saves. After that performance, Greaves is the #11 goalie for the season. One of my ten bold predictions from the preseason was that Greaves would finish as a top 12 goalie. There's no guarantee it holds, and some of my predictions were truly awful (I'll take a look at them during the break), but this one has a good chance of hitting. Hopefully you all drafted Greaves as your third goalie and you're reaping the benefits. Let's take a look at what else happened over the last two nights:
Happy Wednesday, Razzball faithful!
It was an 8-game schedule, so a bit lighter than usual, to peek in on Tuesday night.
But that didn’t stop Wyatt Johnston (1 G [26], 3 SOG, his league-leading 16th PPG) and the rest of the Stars from feasting on a steady diet of bear paws on home ice.
Jeremy Swayman (19-12-1-1) faced 32 shots on goal…before the third period started. Oh boy. The B’s defense corps looked like they were late to the opening faceoff in this one, then spent the rest of the game spinning in circles trying to figure out which way was up.
The 6-2 Dallas win snapped a 3-game losing streak for the Stars and pushed Dallas’ record to 3-5-2 in its last 10 games.
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