Not since Bell and Barksdale were running the streets of Baltimore have we seen a group of B's dominate like the current top line for the Blackhawks. Bedard, Burakovsky, and Bertuzzi have recently been put together, and they have been destroying everyone in their path. In the Chicago 4-0 win over the Flames on Friday, Connor Bedard had a goal and three assists, Andre Burakovsky had a goal and an assist, and Tyler Bertuzzi scored twice. They followed that up with a 5-1 beatdown of the Red Wings, with Bedard having a goal and two assists, while the other two each had a goal and an assist. Bedard is leading the league in points now, so it's safe to say that sophomore slump is a thing of the past. Bertuzzi is doing enough to be held right now, having six goals in his last three games. Burakovsky is on the fringe while he's a hot schmotato. His shot rate is going to determine how much he can sustain this fantasy value. For the first time in years, things are looking up for the Blackhawks. Let's take a look at what else happened over the weekend:
Happy Wednesday, Razzball faithful!
I’m back again this week with another Divisional Preview.
Last week, we checked in on the Atlantic Division. If you missed it, you can open that up here.
This week, we’re headed to the Big City to check out the Metropolitan Division.
Can the Capitals charge their way to another divisional title?
Is Jet Greaves going to leave Elvis Merzlikins “All Shook Up” in the Blue Jackets’ crease?
What the heck are we supposed to call Sid “The Kid” Crosby now that he’s 38 years old?!
I might not answer all of these burning questions today, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be checking out the goods in...
We're one day from the season starting! After watching football all day Sunday, I can't wait for hockey to start. What a miserable day of football, culminating with my Bills playing horribly against the Patriots, with the referees trying to take over the game, constantly calling garbage against both teams. Anyways... all of my rankings are out, so I'm going to talk about my ten favorite late round picks. What allows these guys to qualify is that their ADP on Yahoo! or ESPN are outside of the top 200. A couple things for clarification to start: I'm talking about 10 or 12'ers where I'm trying to shoot the moon late. Worst case, we turn the pick into a streamer spot. Best case, we end up holding the guy all season. One of the best calls I had over the years was Victor Oloffson's rookie year, when he has 20+22 in 54 games before the COVID shutdown. In deep leagues, we want to go safer towards the end of the draft because the waiver wire is barren. Guys like Jason Zucker or Trevor Moore, who are middling streamers in 12'ers, become clear holds in deeper leagues and should be your target. Let's look at those lottery tickets!
We wrap up my forward rankings by going through the Top 100 today. As a reminder, there will be a separate post once my rankings are done for my favorite late round targets in 10-12 team leagues, but this post should get us comfortably through round 15 or so when you factor in goalies and defensemen. If you haven't seen the Top 60, you can check that out here. Let's get to it!
Things are shaking out differently than I expected in Detroit. I thought Petr Mrazek was brought in to be the backup to Talbot, but he’s started three consecutive games. After losing to his former team, the Hurricanes, on Friday 4-2 (saved 28/31 shots), he came back with an 18 save shutout victory in the 3-0 win over the Golden Knights. Please, blog, may I have some more?
It's not too often that you see a team up 5-1 halfway through the game and they don't even get a point. In fact, they lost by multiple goals. The Sharks were taking it to the Predators on Tuesday before the firepower we expected from Smashville going into the season showed up, making a 7-5 comeback. They were led by one of their big free agent signings, Jonathan Marchessault, who had a goal and three assists with four shots. It was a brutal start to the season for Marchessault (like everyone on the Preds), but Marchessault is in the midst of a nine game point streak right now. The shot is fantastic, so he's played his way back onto the fringe with a lean towards holding, especially on this hot streak. Let's take a look at what else happened over the last two nights:
It's not too often that a player scores four points in a game. It's even less often that it happens in a losing effort. On Monday, J.T. Miller scored two goals and two assists with three shots, only for the Canucks to lose to the red hot Canadiens 5-4 in overtime. The ongoing speculation around Miller and Pettersson is rampant, and you have to think it's taking a toll on both of them. Reports are that the Rangers were interested in getting him back, but it never reached the point where Zibanejad was asked to waive his no trade because the Canucks didn't want to make a move around those two. At the end of the day, it hasn't been Miller's best season, but he's sitting at a point per game. That shows how high his floor is, despite his shot rate really dropping. Perhaps we see a surge from him now that Quinn Hughes (2A, SOG) is back as well. I was asked about Miller in the comments recently, and I didn't think perception was that Miller's value is down quite a bit. I'd certainly lean towards the buy low side than trading to move Miller if I owned him. Let's take a look at what else happened over the last two nights:
It's been an incredible start for the Jets, and a big part of it is that the Jets coaching staff is finally playing their elite winger on the top unit. Nikolaj Ehlers had a hat trick and an assist with five shots in the 6-2 win over Columbus, before a goal and an assist with three shots in the 7-4 win over the Lightning. Ehlers has a whopping 8-9 in 12 games, dominating at even strength with solid PPP. This is while playing with a second line center who is clearly below average. What is Winnipeg makes an upgrade on Namesnikov eventually? I don't think Ehlers needs it, but it couldn't hurt. Regardless, career highs across the board are a near-certainty, and he could even beat the paces from his 28+27 in 62 games from three seasons ago. Let's take a look at what else happened over the weekend:
Opening night in Salt Lake City couldn't have gone any better for Utah HC. Dylan Guenther will go down in history after their first goal scorer, and he also sealed the game with an empty netter. Guenther picked up right where he left off last season with those two goals on five shots, playing over 16 minutes. To say I'm all in on Guenther is an understatement. Guenther's ADP was outside of the Top 200 while I had him ranked 96th overall. I'm a huge believer in his talent, and with Logan Cooley (2A, 3 SOG) as his centerman, I think we see fantastic seasons that elevate Utah into the playoffs. Let's take a look at what happened over the last three nights:
We keep things moving in these parts with the rest of my forward rankings. I am going to put these guys into tiers with comments on players that I think are worth discussion. For example, I'm not going to talk about Scheifele because at this point, we know he's going to be right around a point per game with his goals coming down to how effective the Winnipeg PP is. For the Top 40, you can read that here. Let's get to it!
"Laf has had the big breakout this season, it just hasn’t been noticed because he doesn’t get real power play time." And that's me quoting me from last week copying what Grey does! Well, I think people have taken notice of Alexis Lafreniere after Saturday. Lafreniere had three goals and two assists with four shots in the 8-5 win over the Coyotes, with Lafreniere finishing +4. That brings him up to 25 goals and 27 assists while pushing towards three shots per game. As discussed previously, the Rangers schedule is awful for the last two weeks in terms of fantasy hockey usage, so I'm probably not holding him. That said, Lafreniere has to be considered now. In dynasties, it's a great reminder that even for #1 overall picks, it sometimes takes time. Lafreniere is still only 22 years old (will turn 23 by the start of next season), so the best is still to come. Where he will be ranked next season is a tough question, but it should be pretty high. Even in his current role, he's on the fringe. If he takes a spot on the top PP unit, whether it's replacing somebody or one of their four forwards get injured, we could be looking at Lafreniere pushing a point per game. It's safe to say that the bust label can go away now.
In honor of Opening Day in baseball, Filip Forsberg continued an elite season with a 40/40 of his own. Nashville is in the midst of their best run in franchise history with Forsberg leading the charge. On Wednesday, they fell down 3-0 against the other wild card team in the West, the Golden Knights, before the Preds stormed back to win 5-4 in overtime. Forsberg had a goal and two assists, scoring to make the game 4-3 Vegas, then assisting on the tying and winning goals. That brings him to 40 goals and 41 assists and into being the 10th overall forward in fantasy this season. There are a few different things that have caused Forsberg's big season that are different from two seasons ago, when he had 42+42 in 69 games. One, he's over four shots on goal per game. His current shooting percentage is right in line with his career average, unlike two seasons ago when he was running hot. Two, his time on ice is up a bit. Three, the coaching is much better with Brunette. Four, he's stayed healthy, the most important thing. Lastly, he's clicked with RoR, an elite defensive center who can hold his own offensively. This is letting Forsberg crush even strength while continuing to perform on the power play. Forsberg is still only 29 years old, giving us hope that he can repeat this season for the next 1-2 years. Just stay healthy! Let's take a look at some things that happened over the last two nights. A reminder that if you want to maximize your streaming, check out the entire Playoff Manifesto. Let's get to it!
