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:
For almost two whole months now, the Sabres have been taking the league by storm, having the best record in that time frame. On Thursday, the Sabres have their third five game win streak since December (if you count their ten game win streak as two five game streaks), beating the Kings 4-1. Alex Tuch led the charge for the team, scoring a hat trick on seven shots. Tuch moved back onto the top line with Thompson recently, and he's been delivering. In his last ten games, Tuch has eight goals, and even without PP1 time, Tuch is a clear hold in all formats. I'm fascinated to see what happens with Tuch come the trade deadline, and not just because I'm a Sabres fan. I assume the team will keep him even if he doesn't have an extension signed, and there's no doubt that the Brinks Truck is getting backed up for Tuch one way or another. I'd be hesitant to give him the eight figure salary he wants, assuming it's long term, but it's also hard for the Sabres to just walk away. Either way, things continue to look up in Buffalo for the first time in a decade. Let's take a look at what else happened on Thursday night:
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.
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:
So there's just one game on tonight?
And it's Dallas? As in Dallas, Texas? The leading oil-drilling state?
Versus Edmonton? Also known as the “Oil Capital of Canada”?
On Tuesday night, right before the holiday where everyone drops their freshly plucked birds in a giant vat of boiling…
WAIT, WHAT?!
Ok, so I guess it’s officially “Deep Fried Tuesday” on the NHL schedule. I would have said, “Welcome to the War of Oil Wranglin!”, but I was worried about copyright infringement.
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).
Atlantic Division Preview here
Metropolitan Division Preview here
Happy Wednesday, Razzball faithful!
It’s your new/old hockey writing friend, MarmosDad, back with another divisional preview as we start knocking games off of the NHL calendar.
Last week, I gave you the final Eastern Conference preview with the Metropolitan Division (you can click it to check it out!).
This week, we head West with a peek at the Central division, and boy, am I excited to get rolling on this one!
I nearly jumped the gun and went straight to the Central when I started writing these up, just because I’m kind of obsessed with a certain Winnipeg Jets prospect who opened some eyes in training camp.
That should be enough of a teaser to get us through this preview, especially because the Jets round out our teams at the bottom of our profiles today.
So let’s close our eyes, take a deep breath, and try to find our Central, er, center, as we head out to visit the place with the least creative division name of all…
Hi all, and welcome to week 9 of the NHL season. We’re back to a more normal schedule this week, no Holidays, lots of games, and a few good streaming options.
As it’s a typical weekly schedule of games our off-days this week are Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Sunday. With the remaining days being busy days around the league.
The top 9 teams by strength of schedule (which encompass all of the teams playing the league high of 4 games this week) are listed in the table below.
The 3 three teams who play only 2 games this week are: Anaheim, L.A., and Tampa.
We keep things moving in these parts with the rest of my forward rankings. I am going to put these guys into tiers with comments on players that I think are worth discussion. For example, I'm not going to talk about Scheifele because at this point, we know he's going to be right around a point per game with his goals coming down to how effective the Winnipeg PP is. For the Top 40, you can read that here. Let's get to it!
In honor of Opening Day in baseball, Filip Forsberg continued an elite season with a 40/40 of his own. Nashville is in the midst of their best run in franchise history with Forsberg leading the charge. On Wednesday, they fell down 3-0 against the other wild card team in the West, the Golden Knights, before the Preds stormed back to win 5-4 in overtime. Forsberg had a goal and two assists, scoring to make the game 4-3 Vegas, then assisting on the tying and winning goals. That brings him to 40 goals and 41 assists and into being the 10th overall forward in fantasy this season. There are a few different things that have caused Forsberg's big season that are different from two seasons ago, when he had 42+42 in 69 games. One, he's over four shots on goal per game. His current shooting percentage is right in line with his career average, unlike two seasons ago when he was running hot. Two, his time on ice is up a bit. Three, the coaching is much better with Brunette. Four, he's stayed healthy, the most important thing. Lastly, he's clicked with RoR, an elite defensive center who can hold his own offensively. This is letting Forsberg crush even strength while continuing to perform on the power play. Forsberg is still only 29 years old, giving us hope that he can repeat this season for the next 1-2 years. Just stay healthy! Let's take a look at some things that happened over the last two nights. A reminder that if you want to maximize your streaming, check out the entire Playoff Manifesto. Let's get to it!
Towards the 2020 NHL trade deadline, the Maple Leafs acquired Campbell and Clifford for the Kings for two draft picks and a former undrafted player who looked like a AAAA player. He was coming off a big season for the Marlies, but was struggling at the NHL level. That player was Trevor Moore. Now, he's a top six player on one of the best teams in the league. Moore scored two goals on five shots against the Coyotes on Monday. That brings him up to 9+6 on the season with a shot rate pushing towards three per game. Moore is certainly on the fringe, but right now, I'm leaning towards holding. The big reason is that Kevin Fiala moved onto a line with Moore and Phillip Danault (1+1). Moore and Danault are both good play drivers, but Fiala is right there with them with an elite skill set. Albeit in a short sample, this line is generating opportunities at a rate as high as any in the league. They also get the bonus of going against weaker competition because of the Kopitar line. While this start looks like an outlier based on Moore's previous stats, the underlying numbers suggest that he should continue to produce. Let's take a look at what else happened Monday night:
Nobody was expecting much from the Ducks this season, but they're currently on a five game winning streak to get them to a 6-4 record. On Wednesday, their best player (for now) carried them, as Troy Terry scored a hat trick and an assist with six shots in the 4-3 OT win. That brings Terry to 5+4 in ten games, averaging exactly three shots per game. Terry is one of those guys who is always close to the fringe one way or the other. Right now, I have him as a bottom end hold, but I don't expect that to hold for the rest of the season. However, unlike the past few seasons, the talent around him is at such a higher level that he has more upside than usual. While it probably won't last, you can see the core coming together for the Ducks, and it's only a matter of time until they become a force again. Let's take a look at what else happened over the last two nights:
