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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...
Hello again, Razzball faithful! I’m very excited to be back on the hockey side of things for the 2025 season! When Viz sent out the ‘puck-beacon’ into the night sky, asking if anyone was down to help write some words about our beloved frozen fandom, I got that Flame in the belly again.  After I realized it was not indigestion, or Jarome Iginla, all it took was a quick message from Grey asking if I’d be interested in jumping back in on the word-Zamboni, and I was in. Some of you might remember me from a few years ago when I wrote up some DFS for Viz here. Since then, I’ve been hammering out words on the baseball side most recently as our Top 100 Starting Pitchers writer for the last two years. You can check that stuff out here if you have a lot of time on your hands and/or have read through the divisional preview 25 times already. As for me, I told Viz that I would be happy to preview the divisions and bring you names and some notes to help you get your squad up to snuff for the 2025-2026 season. After that, I’ll be coming back each Wednesday to do the Tuesday night recaps. 
Tuesday was a rare day in the NHL where every team plays  Thankfully, they stagger all of the game times, marketing it as "Frozen Frenzy."  Arguably the marquee matchup of the night was Tampa Bay at New Jersey, and it certainly was the craziest game.  The Lightning fell behind 2-1 before scoring five goals within ten minutes in the second period.  In that stretch, Brandon Hagel had a natural hat trick, finishing the game with an assist as well.  And yet, that still hasn't put him on the first power play unit .  Regardless, Hagel is off to a fantastic start.  I wasn't as far ahead of ADP on him as Guenther, but I was very bullish on Hagel.  I'm not sure he'll get to the 90 points I attempted to wish into existence with my bold predictions post, but it's in play if he gets that top power play time eventually.  Come on Cooper, do it already!  Let's take a look at what else happened in the one Monday game and Tuesday night.
The Leafs were coming off a dominant victory over the Rangers heading into a home game against Columbus.  They managed to go down 5-0 in the second, and it was that way heading into the third period.  Then, as we've seen in the past, Toronto made a massive rally, tying the game with 45 seconds left to earn a point.  Then, like usual, they managed to lose anyways.  The 6-5 OT win for Columbus is one of the craziest games you'll ever seen.  Auston Matthews led the comeback with two goals and an assist with nine shots.  Patrik Laine scored an early goal before leaving the game injured, while Kent Johnson was the hero.  The former fifth overall pick had two goals and an assist, including the game winner.  It's undeniably been a slow start to Johnson's career.  However, for most players, it takes time, and we're starting to see the signs.  Johnson now has six points in his last four games, and if Laine is down for a while, we could see Johnson becoming a fantasy factor.  For now, I'm bumping him up to middling streamer, but he's definitely worth monitoring.  Let's take a look at what else happened over the last two nights:
Steve Yzerman can't ask for a better start from his big offseason swing.  After his first game without a point as a Red Wing, Alex DeBrincat followed it up with a hat trick and an assist with five shots in Sunday's win over the Flames.  That brings DeBrincat to a whopping eight goals and four assists in his first six games with Detroit.  He's clicked with Dylan Larkin (two goals and three assists over two games) to give Detroit an elite first line.  We've seen DeBrincat score 41 goals twice before playing with Kane, so it's not like this is completely out of nowhere.  While this shooting percentage won't last, given how much Detroit is rolling the first line, I'm expecting career highs across the board for DeBrincat.  There's a real chance Detroit plays its way into the playoff picture this season if the first line can win its matchups on a regular basis.  Let's take a look at what else happened over the weekend: