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Happy Wednesday, Razzball faithful! It was a night to remember for the Sabres and their franchise defenseman on Tuesday night. Rasmus Dahlin scored one in the first, one in the second, and then finished off the hat trick with an empty-netter in the third. The 3 goals and 2 assists were a career high single-game output for the 25-year-old Swede, and brought his point total up to a robust 42 PTS in 48 GP.  It wasn’t all Dahlin, though, as the rest of the Sabres brought their scoring sticks with them on their trip North of the border. Tage Thompson (1G, 1 A), Alex Tuch, Jack Quinn, and newly extended Josh Doan all tickled the twine for the Sabres, and helped to extend their newest win streak to 4 games. 
Happy Wednesday, Razzball faithful! It was an 8-game schedule, so a bit lighter than usual, to peek in on Tuesday night. But that didn’t stop Wyatt Johnston (1 G [26], 3 SOG, his league-leading 16th PPG) and the rest of the Stars from feasting on a steady diet of bear paws on home ice. Jeremy Swayman (19-12-1-1) faced 32 shots on goal…before the third period started. Oh boy. The B’s defense corps looked like they were late to the opening faceoff in this one, then spent the rest of the game spinning in circles trying to figure out which way was up. The 6-2 Dallas win snapped a 3-game losing streak for the Stars and pushed Dallas’ record to 3-5-2 in its last 10 games. 
There's no denying that the previous two seasons have been rough for Trevor Zegras, in terms of both performance and health.  He received a fresh start this offseason being traded to Philadelphia, and it's paying early dividends.  Zegras had two goals and an assist with three shots in the 4-1 win over the Predators on Thursday.  Zegras now has 12 points in ten games on the season with a solid shot rate.  He's also earning trust with Tocchet, as his ice time has been pushing 19 minutes in three straight games.  It wasn't that long ago that Zegras was putting up 60+ point season as a 20 and 21 year old.  This trade might be exactly what he needed, and given the start he's had, he's a must hold in all fantasy formats.  Let's take a look at what else happened on Thursday night:
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 through the Top 100 forwards now, so it's time to mvoe to the blue line.  The plan for the rest of the week is to go through the Top 20 defensemen today, and then 21-40 tomorrow.  Then, MarmosDad is going to be back in the fold and will have his first post on Wednesday.  I'll move onto goalies on Thursday, before what I post on Friday.  It will either be the Top 200 list, or players that I like the most out of the players I've already ranked that you can target in the later rounds.  Let's get to those defensemen!
It was typical Team Canada to leave Thomas Harley off their team in the first place for an aging Doughty, but at the end of the day, Harley ended up playing and playing extremely well.  He's carried that over to the Stars, where he's filling the void left by Heiskanen's injury and then some.  Harley had a goal and an assist with two shots on Tuesday, giving him three straight multi-point games, and bringing him to 14 points in 11 games since Heiskanen went down.  The shot rate is holding him back a bit, but Harley has a real chance to be a borderline top ten defenseman the rest of the way.  He's been doing well at even strength all season, and the Stars power play is starting to get going.  Let's take a look at what else happened over the last two nights:
We were early on the Igor Shesterkin bandwagon when we found out in 2019 that he was going to come over to the Rangers that season.  His numbers were insane in Russia and none of it looked fluky.  He's been fantastic ever since, carrying flawed Rangers teams to elite levels.  This season, he finally had a rough patch, although it was largely influenced by the play in front of him.  The Rangers are bouncing back, and Igor is at the forefront.  Shesterkin saved 33 of 34 shots in the 6-1 win over the Flyers, after having shutouts in his previous two starts.  His save percentage has crossed the .915 mark now, and he's third in the league in GSAA.  Hellebuyck has done enough to say that he's the top goalie in the world right now, but I'm still taking Igor second, and wouldn't be surprised to see that flip at any point soon.  Given that the Rangers are in the thick of a playoff race, expect massive volume and Shesterkin to be a top five goalie the rest of the way in a worst case scenario.  Let's take a look at what else happened over the last two nights:
It has to be a good feeling to kick your rival while they're down.  This is the worst stretch that the Rangers have had in years, and the Devils caused them to have a big postgame discussion amongst the players and coaches.  The Devils won 5-1 on Monday, with their best players leading the charge.  Jesper Bratt had a goal and three assists, Jack Hughes had two goals and an assist with eight shots, while Dougie Hamilton had a goal and an assist with two shots and two PIM.  The most encouraging from a fantasy perspective was Jacob Markstrom, who saved 38 of 39 shots.  He hasn't been a world beater, but Markstrom is up to the 6th goalie overall because of the elite wins and volume.  The GAA is solid as well, and there's room to grow with the save percentage.  I'm bullish on both goalies going forward, but Markstrom should keep getting 2/3rds of the starts with Allen getting the leftovers.  Let's take a look at what else happened over the last two nights:
Dallas was in a mini slump having lost three of their last four games going into Monday night.  Safe to say that they took their anger out on the Penguins.  Dallas scored six goals in the first period, eventually winning the game 7-1.  Mason Marchment led the charge, tying the franchise record for points in a period with four, before tallying a fifth in the third.  Marchment's goal and four assists brought him up to a point per game on the season.  The minutes lead Marchment to being quite streaky, which is a reason why I see him more as an elite streamer than hold.  That said, you can make the case for holding Marchment on the bottom of your roster.  The PIM are excellent, the hits are also very good, and his play at even strength leads to a top plus-minus.  If you can stomach low shots and streaks, you can use Marchment for other team needs.  Let's take a look at what else happened over the last two nights:
Vegas has started off the season extremely well at 6-2-1, and it's no surprise that their best forward (sorry Eichel) is at the forefront.  Mark Stone continued his torrid pace over the weekend, dishing two assists against his old team, before scoring a goal and two assists with three shots against the Sharks.  That brings Stone to a whopping 4+13 in nine games, a point total that actually leads the entire NHL.  Obviously that won't last, but there have been seasons where Stone was above a point per game.  Getting to play with Jack Eichel (1+3 over two games) has both rolling, and their incredible playmaking has Ivan Barbashev (2+1) mooching at a level that has Barbashev on the fringe.  The Vegas schedule is a bit light in games coming up which isn't ideal when they're rolling, but at least they should be well rested to try and maintain this elite level of play.  Let's take a look at what else happened over the weekend:
Today, we're moving up to the blue line.  I'm going to cover the top 20 defensemen today, the top 40 later in the week, with the plan of putting out my Top 150 or Top 200 on Friday.  I'm on the fence between 150 and 200 just because of how much team needs come into play later in drafts.  If I do the Top 150, my plan is to have a separate post early next week about players I'm targeting later in drafts.  Anyways, let's get to the kings of the blue line!
It's safe to say that we've reached the point that nobody doubts Boston anymore.  Their two top centers retired, and yet the team is chugging along at 16-4-3.  Their new captain was the reason they won both games over the weekend.  Brad Marchand scored the overtime winner against the Leafs on Saturday, his eighth shot on goal in the contest.  He followed it up with a natural hat trick, scoring all three goals for the Bruins in their 3-1 win over the Blue Jackets.  That gives Marchand 11+12 in 24 games, almost exactly a point per game.  The big thing is his shot rate is at an all-time high.  In my preseason rankings, I was uncertain on Marchand's ceiling, but speculated his shot rate could improve without Bergeron.  He's at exactly 3.5 per game, and with his elite PIM as always, Marchand is still in the conversation for a top 20 player.  At 35 years old, Marchand is showing no signs of slowing down.  Let's take a look at what else happened over the weekend: