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?
Like most of the Rangers, Mika Zibanejad has been extremely frustrating this season. Before Friday's outdoor game in Miami, he had one shot on goal in the previous five games combined! So naturally, he had one of the games of the season so far, scoring a hat trick on six shots and adding two assists in the 5-1 win over the Panthers. The top line for the Rangers was dangerous throughout, and just like that, Zibanejad is ahead of last season's points pace. He's just shy of a 30+40 pace now and the shot rate is back up towards three per game. It's not exciting, and it's definitely close to the fringe, but I lean towards bottom end hold still. The minutes are through the roof at the moment and with their lack of depth, I can't imagine that changing any time soon. Let's take a look at what else happened over the weekend:
I celebrated the end of 2025 in the best way imaginable: watching hockey for the entire day. There were a lot of highlights, starting with my Sabres winning their tenth game in a row. Yes, Billy Bob, 10! More on that later. The most incredible performance though was another Avalanche beatdown. Not that it was surprising at all against the Blues, but that they scored four goals (and have a fifth disallowed) before the Blues even had a shot on goal! What a powerhouse. Nathan MacKinnon had his usual 2+2 with seven shots, but the notable performance for a non-superstar was Valeri Nichushkin. Big Val had a hat trick on six shots in the 6-1 win. He now has 11+15 in 31 games with a very good shot rate. He's still available in almost two-thirds of leagues, and that simply needs to change. Nichushkin is back on PP1 so if there was any doubt, he's must own everywhere. Sure, he could get injured again, but you have to ride him until that happens. Let's take a look at what else happened over the last two nights:
I liked the acquisition of Mason Marchment by the Kraken in the summer, but for whatever reason, it just wasn't working out. They shipped him to Columbus, and Marchment looks like the player we are used to from his time with Dallas. Marchment scored two power play goals on Monday, putting four shots on goal. He has three goals in two games with Columbus now, and he's gone right onto the top line with Fantilli and Marchenko. I don't expect him to get to hold status, but Marchment is an elite streamer while he's on fire. Let's take a look at what else happened over the last two nights. Also, apologies for not having my usual Monday post, but I am back home now and will be on my usual schedule going forward.
There's not much that a slam dunk Hall of Famer can do to surprise you, but with how poorly the last two seasons have gone for Steven Stamkos, last night qualified. Stammer scored four goals by the end of the second period on Thursday, finishing with nine shots on goal in the 7-2 win over the Blues. Look, it couldn't be going worse in Smashville overall. That said, he's getting some trade buzz, and a game like yesterday is going to do wonders for the chances of someone taking on his contract. He did have six points (4+2) in the seven games before Thursday, so it didn't come completely out of the blue. For now, he's in elite streamer range while he's hot. Let's take a look at what else happened on Thursday night:
Happy Wednesday, Razzball faithful!
We had some red-hot NHL action last night with 10 games on the schedule!
But no one was hotter than that little devil, Arseny Gritsyuk: 1 G (7), 2 A (9), +3, 3 SOG.
The New Jersey rookie is still getting bottom-six minutes (14:33 TOI) and PP2 time (2:19), but he’s making the most of his limited action. The three-point night pushes his first-year total to 16 PTS in 30 GP and puts him on pace to record a respectable 50 points by the time April rolls around.
Arseny was certainly on fire last night, but with a deep forward group ahead of him on the depth chart, Gritsyuk is going to have to add another couple of points on that 9.7 shooting percentage to get an increase in playing time.
If he can consistently put up more nights like this one, and one of New Jersey’s Top 6 forwards has a setback, get ready to pounce on the 24-year-old Russian in those deeper leagues if you need some scoring help.
Was that the only Devil to bring the heat last night? Did we have any other players setting the fantasy hockey world on fire?
The Utah Mammoth have been struggling lately, with four consecutive losses and only two wins in their last ten. They snapped that streak in a big way on Wednesday, winning 7-0 in Anaheim. Leading the charge for Utah was J.J. Peterka, their big offeseason acquisition. Peterka scored two goals and two assists with six shots. It hasn't been the best start in Utah for Peterka, who was down on the third line for a couple weeks recently. Besides the obvious of it being a big game, this was notable for Peterka for a couple reasons. One, he was on the first line with Keller and Schmaltz. That's always a help. The other big boost is that Peterka was on the first power play unit. One of his goals came with the top unit. The Utah power play has been atrocious for the last few weeks, so it wouldn't surprise me if Peterka gets an extended look there. The goals have been there, but that's because of a high shooting percentage. The assists have also dried up significantly compared to where they were in Buffalo. My hope is this boost in role can cancel out the inevitable shooting regression, which can get Peterka back into clear hold territory. For now, Peterka belongs on the fringe, although I lean towards bottom end hold for the upside. Let's take a look at what else happened over the last two nights:
It was ridiculous enough that Tom Wilson set career high in both goals and assists in his 12th season in the NHL, especially after coming off a horrible 2023-24. So of course, Wilson is blowing last season out of the water so far in his age 32 season. Wilson had a goal and an assist with two shots on Friday against Toronto, before scoring two goals and an assist with three shots and two PIM against the Isles on Sunday. Wilson is somehow sitting with 15 goals already, adding 14 assists, in only 26 games. Add in 54 PIM and 69 hits already and Wilson is having a top five fantasy season for a forward as we enter December. Am I buying this? Definitely not. Guys just don't go from a 40-50 point player to 65 and then blow that 65 out of the water at age 32. However, I also wouldn't be looking to move him without getting an insane return. The PIM and hits are locks to be elite and he has turned into a good play driver. With where you drafted Wilson, you're already playing with house money, so let it ride! Let's take a look at what else happened over the weekend:
Happy Wednesday, Razzball faithful!
We had an 8-game schedule to dip into on Tuesday night, and none had a bigger asterisk in the record books than the New Jersey Devils’ visit to Tampa Bay to face the Lightning.
Coming into Tuesday night’s game, superstar Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov: 1 G (9), 1 A (9), 2 PIM, 2 SOG, 1 PPA, 1 GWG, 1 HIT - sat tied for third place on the all-time Tampa Bay goal-scoring list with 365 goals.
It was only a matter of time before Kucherov blew past an old legend, and current Montreal bench boss, Martin St. Louis. The good news is it didn’t take Tampa’s active star RW very long to snap #366 past the Devils’ giant netminder, Jakob Markstrom, on their way to a 5-1 win.
If you can guess which two players sit above Kuch on the All-Time Lightning Lamp-Lighting List, throw it in the comments below. I messaged Viz last night and said I really wished it were Brian Bradley. Alas, he’s 14th (111 goals) and nestled between Vaclav Prospal (127!) and Brandon “Cream Cheese” Hagel (102).
Hello again, Razzball faithful!
I’m very excited to be back on the hockey side of things for the 2025 season! When Viz sent out the ‘puck-beacon’ into the night sky, asking if anyone was down to help write some words about our beloved frozen fandom, I got that Flame in the belly again.
After I realized it was not indigestion, or Jarome Iginla, all it took was a quick message from Grey asking if I’d be interested in jumping back in on the word-Zamboni, and I was in.
Some of you might remember me from a few years ago when I wrote up some DFS for Viz here. Since then, I’ve been hammering out words on the baseball side most recently as our Top 100 Starting Pitchers writer for the last two years. You can check that stuff out here if you have a lot of time on your hands and/or have read through the divisional preview 25 times already.
As for me, I told Viz that I would be happy to preview the divisions and bring you names and some notes to help you get your squad up to snuff for the 2025-2026 season. After that, I’ll be coming back each Wednesday to do the Tuesday night recaps.
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 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:
