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Happy Wednesday, Razzball faithful! Apparently, all we needed to do to wake up the sleeping Panther kitties was to reunite the Tkachuk brothers in the Sunshine state (even if one was only visiting) and to tell Linus Ullmark that he was back with the 2020 Buffalo Sabres. Our favorite Swedish goalie, whose name rhymes with a giggle-worthy body part, had one of the roughest starts of his career in Florida on Tuesday night.  Florida struck with pointed claws just 63 seconds into the game, and Mr. Ullmark was yanked after allowing 5 goals on just 16 shots. Oh, Linus.  It was a kick in the stomach for a surging Sens squad, who found themselves out of a wild-card spot by just two points when they started the day. By the end of the night, Ullmark and the rest of his Senators brethren were on the wrong side of a 6-3 loss to the back-to-back Stanley Cup champs.
Happy Wednesday, Razzball faithful! Matthew Knies (2 G, +1, 2 PIM, 4 SOG, 2 H) is one of the only bright spots shining on the sinking ship that is the Toronto Maple Leafs’ season. His second-period shorthanded goal was a thing of beauty. Knies intercepted a weak Bruins pass, pushed aside Mason Lohrei, who looked a lot less powerful than his 6’5” frame would suggest, like an empty paper plate, and threw a nifty head fake on Jeremy Swayman before roofing a nice lickety-split wrister over the netminder’s glove. As much as this was a nice opportunity for the Bruins to pad their lead over Columbus, Montreal, and Detroit in the extremely tight playoff race, this tiny snapshot in time was an equally important reminder for Leaf fans that the team needs to do a lot of other “retooling or rebuilding” that DOES NOT involve trading their 23-year-old sniper.
Thanks to Gary Bettman, the favorite to win the Pacific Division bracket isn't even a team in the Pacific Division.  Sure, this is a hot take, but give me the Utah Mammoth over any other team in the Pacific to make the final four assuming Utah is the first wild card team.  On Sunday, the Mammoth beat the Kings in overtime, with Lawson Crouse leading the way with two goals, an assist, five shots, three hits, and two blocks in almost 18 minutes of ice time.  Crouse has been on the first line for an extended period now and continues to deliver.  In hits leagues, I would hold him almost everywhere.  In non-hits leagues, he's an elite streamer.  Let's take a look at what else happened over the last two nights:
I've long been a fan of Bobby McMann, but the early returns for Seattle blew my expectations out of the water.  McMann scored two goals and an assist with four shots in his Kraken debut on Saturday against Vancouver, and followed it up with a goal and an assist with four shots against Florida on Sunday.  He played over 18 minutes in both games slotting right onto the first line and second power play unit.  With Seattle in the thick of a playoff race, I see no reason to expect McMann's workload to decrease.  That means a 20-25% boost in playing time compared to what he was getting in Toronto.  Over the last three seasons, McMann is in the top 50 in the league in even strength goals per 60 minutes.  Given that, I think he should be held in all formats for the time being.  Let's take a look at what else happened over the weekend:
Happy Wednesday, Razzball faithful! I can say that I’m glad I didn’t take a sick day last Friday to watch the “excitement-challenged” trade deadline unfold the way that it did. I suppose for something to unfold, it would have needed to be packaged up neatly to begin with. All that means is the asking prices were far too high on the “sellers” pieces, and the buyers were not willing to pay them. Nicolas Roy for a conditional first-round pick? No thanks. Corey Perry for a second-rounder? Wow.  Is there ANY Perry worth that kind of premium?
Happy Wednesday, Razzball faithful! Well, fantasy baseball drafts are in full swing (pun relatively unintended), and I’m knee deep in preparations and writing for those. And I’ve been sick for three days. But…HOCKEY IS BACK! And I’m pretty excited to have an 11-game schedule of matchups to run down for y’all on the last Tuesday night of games before the Friday afternoon trade deadline. As for more names on the trade block? Well, I can guarantee this guy isn't going anywhere.
"Boldy is the type of player that I love to have on my team.  Boldy’s extremely safe across the board with plenty of upside."  And that's me quoting me from my preseason rankings copying what Grey does!  Nothing like a career high in goals for Boldy before the Olympic break.  Boldy was outstanding on Wednesday, scoring a hat trick in the first period against the Predators, later adding an assist in the victory.  While the shots are slightly down, Boldy is still over three per game, and already has 32+30 in 54 games.  That's a borderline top 10 forward.  I had Boldy in my top 25 overall going into the season, slightly ahead of his ADP.  Granted, when it's this early in drafts, slightly ahead put him on a bunch of my teams.  He should only continue to get better going forward and has the chance to be reach superstardom during the Olympics.  Let's take a look at what else happened over the last two nights:
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:
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. 
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?