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!
The regular season wraps up on Thursday with the playoffs starting on Saturday! I hope that everyone has had fantasy success and if you're in contention over the last four days, best of luck! Over the rest of the month, I will be doing some recap work on the season. I'll be looking at my bold predictions, where I went wrong in my rankings, what went great, and some main things I'm looking for this offseason that will shape my 2026-27 rankings. For today, I'm just going to say that if you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, please let me know at the bottom of this post and I'll be sure to answer.
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
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.
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.
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!
Happy Wednesday, Razzball faithful!
The time is ticking away, and according to my chronological calendrical system (AKA the NHL schedule), we’ve got FIVE more Tuesday night round-ups before the playoffs begin!
I've long been a fan of Bobby McMann, but the early returns for Seattle blew my expectations out of the water. McMann scored two goals and an assist with four shots in his Kraken debut on Saturday against Vancouver, and followed it up with a goal and an assist with four shots against Florida on Sunday. He played over 18 minutes in both games slotting right onto the first line and second power play unit. With Seattle in the thick of a playoff race, I see no reason to expect McMann's workload to decrease. That means a 20-25% boost in playing time compared to what he was getting in Toronto. Over the last three seasons, McMann is in the top 50 in the league in even strength goals per 60 minutes. Given that, I think he should be held in all formats for the time being. Let's take a look at what else happened over the weekend:
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