Garret Sparks made Toronto Maple Leafs history on Monday night, becoming the first goalie in franchise history to get a shutout in his NHL debut. The 22 year old former 7th round pick got the nod with James Reimer injured and Jonathan Bernier struggling and he made Mike Babcock look like a genius stopping all 24 shots he faced. Sparks won't be up on the Leafs long unless Reimer's injury becomes a long term issue but he could be a solid streamer Wednesday at the Jets if Babcock goes back to him. We've seen rookie goalies get hot out of nowhere before, most notably Andrew Hammond last year. Here's what else I saw in the four games on Monday night:
Marv: I’ve always been told to start my stud players. Whether one of my studs is having a cold streak, their team has a strong schedule, they’re playing a hot goalie or is coming back from injury, they’re in my lineup. FYI I went against this and sat Michal Neuvirth for Saturday night’s game where he got a shutout, which definitely would have helped me out in this week’s matchup. I know a lot of fantasy managers play the matchups, and I’m definitely not encouraging you to ignore these items listed above or ignoring advanced stats (Corsi, etc.) but I, myself, play them not matter what. So maybe don’t go as hardcore and follow my lead, but try not to throw away a stud on a down week or with at least high potential for turning things around to grab a hot, unproven player on the wire. This might work out half the time, but more than likely you will see this stud get picked up off the wire by your competition. Losing the year is bad (for obvious reasons) but the loss is that much harder to swallow when you lose to a team who grabbed your stud who managed to turn things around.
Marv: This week we’re starting off with some Studs who have fallen out of love with their old fantasy managers and find themselves available in under 50% of leagues.
Welcome to Assume the Position, a new weekly feature that will focus on one specific player position each week. On a personal note, I love a good, deep league, the kind in which it's actually helpful to know who the backup goalie is in Buffalo. We'll be wading deep into the player pool on most weeks, so dynasty and deep redraft league owners, take note.
We’ll start things off with a look at the goaltenders, breaking them up into four tiers, with comments on each.
Below, goalies denoted in parentheses are the clear backup, while teammates that are hyphenated play in a more balanced timeshare. Rating goalies by the numbers alone is tricky business. We’ll revisit the chart throughout the season and hopefully give you a leg (pad?) up on the competition that goes beyond the numbers.
While there were only four games on the schedule on Wednesday, there was plenty of young talent showcasing their abilities around the NHL. Front and center among them all was Connor McDavid, who scored a gorgeous goal, his fourth of the season. I'd like to see a better shot rate but it's hard to find real complaints about an 18 year old having 6 points in 7 games, including 5 in the last 3. The Oilers next four games are all against excellent defensive teams so it'll be interesting to see if he can keep his point streak alive.
Here's what else I saw on Wednesday:
I hate titling the article like something posted on NHL.com... Everything posted there has to be super corny or a terrible pun. Today, I couldn't help myself. There were some surprising performances around the league the first couple nights of the NHL season and one unbelievable, dare I say, Wild, comeback. Okay, I'll see myself out...And we're back! The Wild were down 4-1 going into the third period only to score 4 goals in 5:07 to take a 5-4 lead. Leading the way in the comeback was Zach Parise, scoring the first hat trick of the young season on 6 shots. The Sharks came out and after giving up a goal in the second minute, dominated the Kings for the last 58 . The Jets took it to the Bruins in Boston with a balanced attack leading Winnipeg to a 6-2 victory. The team many were picking to light the league on fire, the Pens, were shut out by my favorite long shot Cup contender, Dallas, 3-0. The biggest thing to do after one game is not overreact but there were some interesting developments and key notes to be made. Let's take a closer look!
Hey guys! The season starts in two weeks, so I wanted to power through these rankings so you have them in time for your upcoming drafts. I am going to keep the comments to each player shorter than in the past unless it's someone I feel most would be surprised at the ranking, but as always, feel free to ask anything in the comments section below. I will do these rankings through the top-200 and then have a separate post coming up for players that I like the most outside the top-200, mostly for upside reasons because that's what you're looking for with your last few picks. Let's get right to it!
Marv: My friend Pesos and I are pretty big into hockey (it's a requirement up in Canada). We are very excited for the new hockey season and we hope you are too. Pesos, you’re really sticking with that name eh? Alright, there have been worse names I guess (Maple Leafs).
Pesos: Really? With a name like Marv you’re going to chirp me? When did we travel back to 1977? Anyways, the season is right around the corner and with the amount of changes league wide things are going to be as interesting and entertaining as ever.
This is our preseason article where we will present some of our targets in our upcoming drafts and some of the guys we are avoiding.
Marv: Can I just list the whole Leafs roster for players to avoid? Does that count?
What fantasy draft prep wouldn’t be complete without checking out
Viz’s Top 75 rankings and
Top 20 defensemen rankings?
So here we are folks. It’s been a great year and some of you are reading this and feeling just as salty as I am after having been burnt by Pekka Rinne’s horrible week and wondering what might have been otherwise. Ah yes, the fickle mistress of fantasy hockey has lured you in with her siren song with high hopes in October only to dash them on the rocks of despair in April while pointing and laughing. Hey, just like your senior prom! Ah, memories. I digress, it’s the final week of the season and all your moves count more now than they ever have. The wire has been picked clean by guys stacking their lineups for yesterday and many of them didn’t survive. Guess what happens to the guys they picked up? They’ll languish unused on those abandoned teams, so your wire might be thinner than you’d expect. In that case, knowing who plays when and how often this week is again central to success because if you can’t beat ‘em with quality, beat ‘em with quanitity. This strategy becomes especially important this week because many actual hockey teams have already clinched their playoff spots and they’re not going to risk their Stanley Cup dreams for your fantasy title hopes, so keep a close eye on the counts and good luck! I’ll be here all week with updates an advice to hopefully guide you through the final leg of this long, grueling, beautiful marathon we call fantasy hockey. Without further ado, here’s the final breakdown of games remaining for the year:
Games Remaining Week 25 Apr 6-Apr 11
4 Games – Los Angeles Kings, Carolina Hurricanes, New York Rangers, Winnipeg Jets, Minnesota Wild, Columbus Blue Jackets
3 Games – New York Islanders, Dallas Stars, New Jersey Devils, Edmonton Oilers, Ottawa Senators, Buffalo Sabres, Calgary Flames, Chicago Blackhawks, Detroit Red Wings, Philadelphia Flyers, Boston Bruins, Arizona Coyotes, Nashville Predators, Vancouver Canucks, St. Louis Blues, Pittsburgh Penguins, Colorado Avalanche
2 Games – Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadiens, Florida Panthers, Anaheim Ducks, Washington Capitals, Tampa Bay Lightning
As you can see there aren’t many teams with four games this week and at the halfway mark in the week there will be even fewer so snatch up guys playing on those teams while you can. I’ll be back again on Thursday with an update on games remaining for the weekend push. Good luck to all of you that are still alive, go win that title and make us here at Razzball Hockey proud! Anyway, here’s what else I saw in the world o’ fantasy hockey recently:
If you hadn’t already seen or heard about the hit yet you’re about to get a heavy dose because the league has levied a four game suspension against Dustin Byfuglien today for his brutal cross-check to the back of the head of the Rangers’ J.T. Miller earlier this week. No one can deny it was a dirty play. It happened away from the puck and Miller was completely defenseless, so the suspension is absolutely warranted. I like Buff but I think he can get a bit out of hand sometimes and this is one of those times. This sort of thing is a risk with his style of play so it’s to be expected in small doses, but to pull this kind of crap when his team is fighting for their playoff lives and worse, fantasy owners are fighing for their own playoff lives and championship dreams this garbage costs his owners in the biggest way at the worst possible time. There aren't many options at this point in the season, but there are moves you can make to mitigate the damage.
For most of the season Rasmus Ristolainen, D (1 G, 2 SOG, +2) has been largely forgettable on a forgettable team. His season line currently sits at 8/9/17/-29 in 73 games played and that’s going to make most owners laugh and look elsewhere for blue line help at this point in the season, but if you did that you’d be making a mistake. As my mantra goes, at this point in the season it doesn’t really matter what has happened, it only matters what’s happening now and right now the talented young rearguard is starting to catch fire and is definitely worth a look in most formats now and should absolutely be on your radar for a breakout campaign in the next season or two.
So you’ve survived the first round of the playoffs and you’re feeling good, but the game isn’t over so don’t slack now. Last week I touched on a few key bits of strategy to help you win your league and promised an update on one of the most important aspects to victory in the playoffs, tracking games remaining for all 30 teams. Since its Monday it should really be “games this week” but you mean what I know. There are a good amount of teams with four games this week, so that’s good, but some key players like Devan Dubnyk and the Wild only get a couple this week, so it’s as important as ever to keep your eyes on the schedule and make sure your key players aren’t left putting up goose eggs on off nights when you need them the most. Anyway, you know I’ve got your back so I won’t waste more time with a bunch of blah blah hoopla, you’ve got lineups to set and moves to make, so without further adieu he’s the breakdown for games remaining this week:
Games By Team For The Week of March 30 - April 5:
4 Games– Washington, Tampa Bay, Vancouver, St. Louis, Colorado, Ottawa, Montreal, Toronto, Detroit, Buffalo, Chicago, Florida, Edmonton.
3 Games– Calgary, Dallas, Carolina, New Jersey, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Columbus, Arizona, San Jose, New York Rangers, Boston.
2 Games– Minnesota, Anaheim, Winnipeg, New York Islanders, Nashville.
I’ll update this list halfway through the week and be back again next Monday with another reminder. Good luck this week! Also, here’s what else I saw in the world o’ fantasy hockey recently:
It can be hard to pivot away from the strategy that helped carry you this far and into the playoffs, but often you have no choice but to leave behind the ways that got you this far and adopt a more drastic approach in the playoffs. When your season starts you must be patient. Have patience with the elite veteran you know will get up to speed to actually get up to speed and start producing. Have patience with for the budding superstar you know will produce, he just needs time to adjust to the North American style. That works if you have the discipline, but now it’s do or die and the moves you make are as critical to your success as the moves you don't make. Now you need to act and learning to know when it's time to cut bait on a guy you really, really don’t want to. It gets a bit hairy in keeper leagues when you have to decide between now and next year, but in redraft leagues it gets pretty simple, pretty quickly; as the clock ticks down on your first round matchup you may have to bite the bullet and ditch your idle big guns for long shot streamers, and that’s okay so long as you make the right moves.
