Happy Wednesday, Razzball faithful!
And they say triples are a baseball thing.
It was once, twice, three times a natural hat trick for Jason Robertson (3 G, 1 A, 5 SOG) and the Dallas Stars last night.
According to the broadcast, J-Rob’s natural triple trouble in just 5:42 of time in the second period was the third-fastest natural hat trick in Stars history.
Despite Robertson’s dominance on the scoresheet, the Capitals tried to make a late push. Ryan Leonard’s 5th goal of the year with 1:02 left in the third made for an exciting finish, but in the end it was Dallas with a 6-5 win on the road.
The Stars bounced back from a rough last week (back-to-back losses to NJ and MTL) and have now won back-to-back games.
Is there any truth to the whispers that the Stars and Lightning have talked about a straight swap of Robertson for Kucherov?
Maybe. Or maybe not. But despite the number of trade requests/demands piling up in the hockey world these days, there was much more to report from another 11-game NHL schedule.
Happy Wednesday, Razzball faithful!
If you’re looking for an LW/RW-eligible breakout with goal-scoring potential, a high volume of minutes, and a healthy dose of power-play time, you may not need to look much further than the Columbus Blue Jackets’ first line.
With 10 points in his last 10 games, it’s becoming pretty clear that opposing teams Kent stop, and won’t stop Kent Johnson (2 G, 1 A, +3, 2 SOG, 2 H, 1 BLK).
The 24-year-old forward is in his 5th full season (excluding a 9-game cup of coffee in 2018-2019), and he’s ready to prove last year’s 22 points in 76 games was an outlier in his development path.
I mentioned in Viz’s post on Monday that I had a dynasty league trade offer involving his Johnson (hey-now) for my Quinton Byfield, but that it felt a bit light.
Will I regret turning down that deal? Maybe.
Is this Columbus forward headed for an increase in his “weekly rostered percentage” of 47% this week? Certainly, if he keeps this up.
Should you be looking to add Kent Johnson in straight points leagues? I think that’s a definite yes.
Are we seeing any other point-scoring, statsheet-padding skaters from an 11-game schedule last night? Well…I’m gonna say that’s a yes. Because…
Happy Wednesday, Razzball faithful!
It’s double duty for your guy, MarmosDad, this week!
After writing just under 4000 words on this past weekend’s NHL action, I’m back again for our Tuesday night roundup!
I managed to squeeze in a quick snooze before the 7:00 games started up, but I guess I didn’t tune in early enough as the Leafs were already down 1-0 when I turned the game on 5 minutes after puck drop.
But don’t worry, fans. The Blue Jackets Fam door was wide open, and the torrential downpour that followed soon after soaked everyone in Leaf showers.
Sure, Columbus got the chickens and pigs in before it got too muddy. But they couldn’t get the Cowan.
Happy MONDAY, Razzball faithful!
Let’s start this one out with one of Friday night’s goalies.
Clay Stevenson - 34 saves on 37 shots in a 3-2 loss to Carolina…Ah, who am I kidding? With all due respect (and with apologies to Grandma Stevenson), no one wants to read a Clay Stevenson update.
It’s true. There’s no need to add your name to the Razzball database just yet, Clay.
Happy Wednesday, Razzball faithful!
It’s your guy, MarmosDad, back for another preseason rundown of aggregate rankings and additional information for 2026-2027 Fantasy Hockey.
Two weeks ago, I shared that the tentative plan was running an aggregate of rankings from various sources around the internet, and giving some input as to which ones made sense to me or, more likely, which players were going to be underdrafted in your fantasy drafts this year.
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.
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:
Happy Wednesday, Razzball faithful!
I can say that I’m glad I didn’t take a sick day last Friday to watch the “excitement-challenged” trade deadline unfold the way that it did. I suppose for something to unfold, it would have needed to be packaged up neatly to begin with.
All that means is the asking prices were far too high on the “sellers” pieces, and the buyers were not willing to pay them.
Nicolas Roy for a conditional first-round pick? No thanks.
Corey Perry for a second-rounder? Wow.
Is there ANY Perry worth that kind of premium?
"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!
What did the Buffalo say to his boy before dropping him off at college?
I don’t know for sure. I mean, I’m not a creeper or an obsessive stalker of bison, but I do know one thing.
Despite the frosty January nights in Western New York, there’s one group of hockey players that is about as hot as the surface of the sun and is certainly not saying, “Brrr.”
The Columbus Blue Jackets spoiled Buffalo’s win streak on Saturday (5-1 CLM), but the Sabres were BACK Tuesday night at home vs Vancouver.
Early on, I had things written up looking like we'd get a blowout from Buffalo, but the Canucks made it interesting with a late push and three straight unanswered goals after the 10-minute mark of the third period.
In the end, it was the Sabres’ 11th win in their last 12 games, and a leapfrog over the Panthers into the top four spots of the Atlantic division.
Was that the only exciting bit from last night’s schedule?
Happy Wednesday, Razzball faithful!
With today’s post, we’ve officially come to the end of our Divisional Previews for the 2025-2026 season!
If you’re looking for the other Divisions, you can click here to check them out.
