As a Buffalo fan, I experienced plenty of pain in my sports fandom. For the first time this millennium, the Sabres and Bills are doing well at the same time, and while it might only last a few more days (I feel good about the Bills Saturday though!), I'm certainly going to enjoy it while it lasts. I'm a hockey fan first, having gone to games 3, 4, 5 (in Philly), and 6 the last time that the Sabres were in the playoffs. I was in college and wasn't even able to buy a beer at the games! Here we are, almost fifteen years later, and the Sabres are finally looking like a real time. Their best forward led the charge the last two days. Tage Thompson dished two assists and added two shots in the 5-2 win over the Flyers on Wednesday. He followed it up with one of the games of the season on Thursday, scoring a hat trick with two assists in the 5-3 win over the Canadiens. Tage is up to 25 goals and 24 assists in 46 games with a 3.5 shots per game pace. He's now tied for fifth in the league in goals, and second in even strength goals behind MacKinnon. This is after leading the league in even strength goals last season. Now, if only the Sabres power play can ever sustasin some success, and Tage could push for a Rocket Richard. As is, we're looking at a premier goal scorer and a top 20 fantasy forward, which makes him a top 25 player. Let's take a look at what else happened over the last two nights:
It was another 10-game schedule on tap for Tuesday night’s NHL action!
And no one had a better night than the Boston Bruins’ netminder, Jeremy Swayman - 24 saves on 24 shots and the 3-0 shutout vs Detroit.
Swayman’s GAA (2.38) and save percentage (.919) over his last 5 games are as solid as it comes, and were good enough to give him a 4-1 record since New Year’s Eve.
With an 18-11-1-1 season line, Swayman is sitting third overall in wins (behind Karel Vejmelka, Sergei Bobrovsky, and Andrei Vasilevskiy). The shutout was his first of the year, but second in two games for the B’s.
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!
It’s been a bit of a wild ride for Morgan Geekie (2 G, +1, 3 SOG, 1 PPG, GWG).
The Geekie Squad was the 67th overall pick in the 2017 draft and wasn’t considered much of a prospect after a 25-point season (in 66 games) for the 2015-2016 Tri-City Americans of the WHL.
It was the following year’s breakout that put Geekie on the map (72 GP, 35 G, 90 PTS), and convinced the Carolina Hurricanes that he was worth a gamble in the third round of the NHL Entry Draft.
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?
Happy Wednesday, Razzball faithful!
I don’t know if you’ve heard, but there’s a pretty popular show on Netflix these days that the kids are losing their ever-loving minds over.
And as much as I was hoping to roll out a bit about Ivan Demi-dov-Gorgon, the Ottawa Senators had other plans (more on that below).
Well, as they say, Stranger Things have happened than writing up a full round-up without a main star’s full stat-sheet to recount. And thankfully, a Motown defenseman gave us a performance to feature in our lede today.
Moritz Seider took a page out of the alternate universe and flipped the Bruins into the upside down last night in Detroit with 1 G (4), 2 A (15), +1, 4 PIM, 1 SOG, 1 PPA, 4 BLK, and 22:55 of ice time.
It was a nice bounce-back of sorts for the big German blueliner, after being held off the scoresheet in his last 3 games. Seider led the charge for the Red Wings in this revenge game after he was beaten (on the scoreboard and in a fight by Mark Kastelic) on Saturday afternoon.
But was that the only player worth highlighting from a Tuesday night 10-game slate?
The greatest goal scorer added himself to another list on Thursday: players who scored a hat trick at age 40 or above. He became the sixth person ever to do that, joining Jagr, Howe, Selanne, Bucyk, and... Lidstrom! You could have given me 100 guesses, and I'm sure I'd have gotten the first three, and probaly Buyck, but never Lidstrom. Anyways, Ovechkin scored only two goals in his first 12 games, but since then, he has seven in the past six. Add in three assists, and we've seen Ovechkin get back on track lately. An ugly start is now a thing of the past, and while I still think a repeat of last season is too farfetched, a monster season is possible again. MarmosDad covered the early part of the week here, so please check that out if you haven't. Now, it's time for me to recap Thursday night after a depressing Bills loss (fire McDermott!):
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:
Despite seeing nearly a month of games in our NHL schedule, it was a season debut last night that spoiled the Rangers’ modest 3-game winning streak. Pyotr Kochetkov was recalled from the AHL (Chicago) for his first game of the year on Tuesday evening, after getting the green light to return from a lower-body injury. The 4th year backstop made 25 saves on 25 shots and held off the Rangers’ offense for a 3-0 win at NYR. After winning 27 games last year, Kochetkov looked like he hadn’t missed a beat, and is worth an immediate pickup if an impatient manager needed some roster space and cut him loose in a shallow league. Check the FA list as soon as possible, or float out a trade offer before the 26-year-old goes on a run.
We're only about a month into the season, but Pat Verbeek has to be ecstatic by the way the season has started. One of his big swings was acquiring Cutter Gauthier after he demanded a trade for Philly, and the start to the season couldn't be going any better. Gauthier had two assists with six shots on Friday against Detroit before scoring a goal and an assist against the Devils on Sunday. That brings Gauthier to a preposterous 52 shots on goals in eleven games this season, with seven goals and five assists. That screams fantasy superstar right now. I forgot to mention that he's 21 years old as well. I was a big fan of Carlsson going into this season, as well as McTavish, but I'm upset at myself that I wasn't all in on Gauthier. I liked him, but he's the exact player type I always want in fantasy. I'm not sure if he ends as a top 50 fantasy player this season, but it's possible. If not, it's only a matter of time. 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 onto the last position in my rankings, the netminders. Goalies make a huge difference in fantasy hockey, but they also have the most variability from year to year. There's only a handful of goalies that we can consistently count on every season to finish in the top ten, and that floor is why they are ranked as high as they are. Because of their unpredictability, I'm very unlikely to take a goalie in the first four rounds, especially in head to head leagues. Even if your league reaches for goalies early, don't panic. Last season, I was extremely high on Kuemper and was able to get him as my G3 everywhere. He finished as the #3 goalie overall. I liked the Leafs platoon for roto leagues, and Stolarz finished as G4. Meanwhile, top ranked goalies such as Shesterkin and Saros disappointed, and they were far from the only ones. Patience is key for drafting goalies. I'm going to separate all of the goalies into tiers, so let's get to it!
