Another trade domino fell on Sunday as Blake Coleman was traded to Tampa Bay for a first round pick (Vancouver's conditional first from the Miller trade) and Nolan Foote. Coleman is in the midst of a breakout season with 21+10, 40 PIM and over three shots per game. So how much will this move help him? On one hand, going to Tampa Bay is good for any player. On the other hand, his ice time is surely going to decrease. While he won't play Monday, I'd still hold Coleman to see what develops. He's signed for only 1.85m for next season which I assume is a big factor in the price. This is a great return for New Jersey, as Foote should end up as a second line winger who is a goal scorer. He has an elite shot and knows how to use his big frame. For now, I assume Jesper Bratt moves onto the first line, but he's still only a middling streamer. Let's take a look at what else happened over the weekend:
Mark Stone has had a pretty good season by his standards, albeit not as great as I had hoped. Perhaps that'll change now that he had his best game of the season. Stone went off on Thursday scoring two goals and three assists while adding five shots on goal and two PIM. That brings him up to 20+33 in 56 games while being +10 and well over 2.5 shots per game. Stone used to be a two shot per game player, but it has taken a big jump since last season, and especially when he went to Vegas. He should be a clear top 50 player going forward, and I think there's a good chance he ends up topping 80 points for the first time in his career. Let's take a look at what else happened over the last two nights:
For years, I've been predicting the big breakout from Filip Forsberg. All of the talent is there, but for whatever reason, be it injury or just inconsistency, it hasn't happened yet. Can it still happen? Absolutely. Forsberg is still only 25 years old and we've seen the upside over long stretches. Forsberg dished two assists against Washington on Wednesday before scoring two goals on four shots against the Devils on Thursday. That gives Forsberg nine points in his last nine games. The shot rate is elite and the points are around a 70 point pace. I'm still hopeful that he can have a season where he stays healthy and goes for 35+45 or even better. Nashville is about to start a crucial road trip so I'm expecting Forsberg's minutes to increase and the points to keep flowing. Let's take a look at what else happened over the last two days:
It was only a matter of time before Vegas got on a heater. The Golden Knights won their fourth straight game on Tuesday night and Jonathan Marchessault led the way. Marchesssault scored a hat trick on a whopping 9 shots on goal to beat the Devils 4-3. While Marchessault hasn't quite gotten back to the level he was at in his first season in Vegas, he has been very good this season. He has 8+13 in 30 games with an elite 104 SOG. If anything, we should expect more goals because even after this hat trick, he's still at a career low shooting percentage. I'm expecting Vegas to go on a massive run soon and Marchessault should be at the forefront. This is also a good point for anyone looking to make a futures bet to place a wager on Vegas to win the Cup. No, I don't think they're the best team, but you can get them at 20 or 22-1 at the moment and they might have the best chance in the league to make the Conference Finals given the weak division. Let's take a look at what else happened on Tuesday night:
It's time for the first hold/stream post of the year. For those unfamiliar, I will go through every team and list every player who is a hold or streamer, and comment on individuals where necessary. This will certainly be a long post, so let's get right to it!
Not sure David Pastrnak even knows who Christopher Columbus is, but he sure dominated on his day Monday. Pastrnak won the game for the Bruins scoring all four goals on five shots. Two of those goals were on the power play, he chipped in two penalty minutes, and finished +1. I generally don't like to lead off posts talking about superstars, but I feel obligated to give Pasta props for a four goal game. The top seven going into the season were pretty clear for me but who was eighth was a debate. I ultimately decided on Draisaitl but went with Pastrnak in the nine spot. So far, so good. Look for the Bruins top line to dominate on a nightly basis. Let's take a look at what else happened over the last two nights:
We're one week away from the season starting! I have all of the excites. This post is going to be shorter since I covered a bunch of the recent developments around the league on Tuesday, but I'm going to hit on a few other things of interest in this post. Let's get to it!
Immediately after signing a three year deal, the Lightning announced that Brayden Point will be out for most, if not all of October. Point still should be going around 50th overall despite the missing time. The interesting thing to note is that Patrick Maroon is taking his spot on the first power play unit for the time being. We've seen Maroon contribute offensively when given quality opportunities in the past, so I'm expecting him to get off to a hot start. Taking Maroon as your last pick in drafts as a streamer of sorts seems like a great idea.
Hey guys! Over the next month, I will be taking a look at each team’s players to watch out for going into the 2019-20 fantasy hockey season. This analysis features everything from surefire studs, to sleepers, to streamers, deeper league holds, even to rookie-eligible prospects that may make an appearance at some point this season. Please let me know if you guys enjoy this type of material! Reminder that the stat totals are from last season.
Last year my previews went alphabetically, but this year we’re going to go division-by-division, starting with the top team. On our ninth stop on the 31 in 31 tour, we start up our Central Division breakdown in Music City with the Nashville Predators. The Preds are still on the cusp of something great, but their results have only regressed since their 2017 Finals appearance. To land one of the free-agent big fish, they had to salary dump a big fish of their own. In a Central that looks as competitive as ever, here’s who the Preds will rely on to finish back on top.
Welcome to my favorite post of the year, my live trade deadline post! From now until all of the trades come through later today, I will provide all of the details for each trade with my instant analysis. I will launch this post with everything from over the weekend as well since I haven't given my thoughts on those at this point. Be sure to keep checking this page as I will be constantly updating it. Any questions can be asked in the comments section and I'll get to them as soon as I get a chance. Here we go!
As a chance of pace, instead of doing a big weekend recap, I'm going to highlight some injuries, trades, and line shuffling that could have some impact on teams and players for fantasy hockey. I'll be back to my usual set of daily notes on Wednesday morning. Let's get to it!
Being the stand alone game on Thursday afternoon, I was watching the Jets-Panthers game in Finland closely. For the first half of the game, Patrik Laine looked awful. He was so bad that he didn't even get 4 minutes of ice time in the first period. Well, Laine ended up making the natives who came to watch him happy, as he ended up scoring a hat trick on seven shots. That matched his total from the first 12 games of the season. Obviously I wasn't panicking about Laine, but my hopes that his ice time would take a nice jump this season isn't looking promising. There's still plenty of time, and I wouldn't be surprised if Laine goes on a run where he scored 9 goals in 10 games. His floor is just a bit lower than I hoped because the Jets are so good that Maurice doesn't have to give him big minutes. I said he would score 50 in the preseason, and the shot rate has jumped to the point where it's possible if he can get his time on ice back up. Let's take a look at what else happened over the last two nights:
Phil Housley's shakeup of the lines last Saturday has worked extremely well. The Sabres have won three straight and carried the play in all three of those games. One of those moves was putting Jason Pominville on the first line and he's delivered and then some. Pominville scored two goals on five shots on Thursday, giving him 3+3 in his last three games. Now, I'm not saying he's going to be a hold all year, it's 2018, not 2008. However, he's a hot schmotato right now, and first line plus first power play time is nothing to be ignored. If you need a streamer on Saturday, Pominville is a great option, and if the heater continues, use him next week. The Sabres schedule is pretty soft over the next two weeks. Let's take a look at what else happened over the last two nights:
