The first Winter Classic between the Sabres and Penguins in 2008 will always be the top outdoor game for me. Everything about the game was perfection. Sunday's Stadium Series game in Tampa moved to #2 on my list. After Hagel scored 11 seconds into the game, Boston scored five in a row before Tampa mounted a huge comeback, winning 6-5 in a shootout. There was even a goalie fight! Boston's problem was that they couldn't stay out of the penalty box, and that's a death sentence against Tampa. Unsurprisingly, it started with Nikita Kucherov, who had a goal and three assists with eight shots in the victory. It might sound blasphemous, but Kucherov has a real chance to be the best European forward ever. He'll certainly be in the discussion. He's currently the #3 overall forward for fantasy behind MacKinnon and McDavid. I had him ranked 4th going into the season in a tier with Draisaitl, who is currently 4th overall. Very chalky season at the top besides the Celebrini big breakout. Anyways, Kucherov is a top 5 player until further notice. He's showing no signs of slowing down at 32. Let's take a look at what else happened over the weekend:
It hasn't been a good year for Columbus, but they seem to have solved their goaltending issue going forward. Jet Greaves stole the show on Thursday night, shutting out the juggernaut Stars in the 1-0 win, making 28 saves. After that performance, Greaves is the #11 goalie for the season. One of my ten bold predictions from the preseason was that Greaves would finish as a top 12 goalie. There's no guarantee it holds, and some of my predictions were truly awful (I'll take a look at them during the break), but this one has a good chance of hitting. Hopefully you all drafted Greaves as your third goalie and you're reaping the benefits. Let's take a look at what else happened over the last two nights:
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's not that often that you see a team score 10 goals in a game. In fact, it didn't happen all of last season. It did on Saturday, with the Bruins smashing the Rangers 10-2 in the afternoon. It's no surprise that the two highest game scores of the season were Bruins in this game. It's definitely not a surprise that one was David Pastrnak, who dished a whopping six assists in the game, adding five shots on goal. The huge surprise was Marat Khusnutdinov, who scored four goals and an assist, finishing +6. While he didn't record any stats in Boston's game on Sunday, Khusnutdinov did have three assists in his previous four games. He's currently on the first line with Pasta, so he's worth bumping into the middling streamer range. There's some upside here, but he only had seven shots in his previous eight games combined, so that will need to drastically change for anything more. Let's take a look at what else happened over the weekend:
Patrick Kane hit the next milestone in his illustrious career on Thursday night, scoring two goals to reach the 500 goal mark for his career. He became the fifth American and 50th player ever to score 500 goals. Kane has been very good for the surprising Red Wings, totaling 8+18 in 30 games with an above average shot rate. He's firmly on the fringe, meaning whether or not you hold him comes down to team needs. If anything, he's been a bit unlucky with his shooting percentage, so there's a bit more upside here. Just don't expect any more empty net goals, as the only reason he was on the ice with one in this game was to get him to 500. Let's take a look at what else happened over the last two nights:
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.
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?
First off, I just wanted to apologize to everyone for not having the usual Monday morning post this week, but after traveling this weekend, I wasn't able to carve out the time to do a proper summary of things around the NHL. The good news is I'm here now, and it's time to heap some more praise on the #1 goalie in fantasy right now, Logan Thompson. Thompson recorded his 100th win on Sunday, getting a 39 save shutout in the 2-0 win over Columbus. Thompson is sitting with an outrageous 1.96/.925 on the season, proving last season wasn't a fluke. There's just no way Hockey Canada keeps him off the Olympic team now, right? No matter how much politicking kept him off the Four Nations team because McPhee was butthurt about Thompson being mad he had to backup for Hill, he's clearly one of the three best Canadian goalies. Do I think he'll finish as the #1 overall goalie? Probably not, but I'd be stunned if he's not in the top 5. He's in elite form and the team in front of him is playing very well. Let's take a look at what else happened over the last couple of nights:
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?
Twenty-two games. One regulation loss. That's what the Colorado Avalanche have done so far, cementing themselves as the best team in the the league. In fact, the teams tied for second place as closer to 25th in the standings than they are to Colorado. They're in the midst of a nine game winning streak, with two wins over the weekend, both by shutout. It started with a MacKenzie Blackwood masterpiece on Saturday, making 35 saves in the 3-0 win over Nashville, before Scott Wedgewood had an easier 22 save shutout in the 1-0 win over Chicago. Wedgewood has been the #1 overall player so far because why not? Yay goalies. Blackwood is back now from injury and getting his fair share of starts. Yes, right now Wedgewood is the #1, but it should only be a matter of time until it flips back. Regardless, both of them are clearly must own for the time being, and barring injury, both should be for the rest of the season. Let's take a look at what else happened over the weekend:
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!):
