LOGIN
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.
There are a couple teams making surprising runs to get back into the playoff race.  The most surprising to me, by far, is the Flyers.  In a huge showdown with Detroit on Saturday, the Flyers stomped them early and held on for the win.  Owen Tippett stole the show with a hat trick and an assist with seven shots.  He had two shots in the 2-1 OT win over the Stars, putting Philly two points out of the playoffs, albeit losing the tiebreaker to every team in front of them.  Philly has a bunch of games this week against their direct competition, so expect Tocchet to lean on their studs.  There are only two games on Friday, so Tippett has a real case to be held.  Let's take a look at what else happened over the weekend:
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.
I started the opening paragraph before the Blues game ended and got punished for it.  I was already writing about Dylan Holloway, but his night got a lot better late improving his stat line.  Holloway was playing his first game since January 18th, and only his second since December 12th, and he delivered the best game of his career.  Holloway had a hat trick and an assist with five shots in the 5-1 win over the Kraken.  Holloway broke out last season with 26-37 in his first year with the Blues, but this season has been a huge disappointment both for him and the team.  The Blues are out of the playoff picture, so it's hard to say who will be traded and who will stay.  Holloway is one of the few players that I'd be surprised if they moved.  The 24 year old has the upside of a bottom end hold in 12'ers, as he showed last season.  The Blues play a bunch of poor defenses in the short term, so for now, Holloway is an elite stremer.  Let's take a look at what else happened in the first two nights back from the Olympic break:
Happy Wednesday, Razzball faithful! It’s your favorite Hockey Dad back for a special edition during our Olympic hockey break! I told Viz that I was up for putting together a bit of a trade deadline piece for each conference while the NHL was on its hiatus, and he was up for it, so here we are. Today, I’ll go over all that there is to consider for the Eastern Conference Trade Deadline rumor mill. Next week, we’ll head West to do the same thing for our Pacific pals. Are there teams that have cap space to add to their roster? Which teams have holes to fill due to injuries or ineffectiveness?  Who could use a boost to the power play, penalty kill, or defense corps? Which clubs are looking to add depth players, a top 6 scoring threat, or a bottom 6 grinder to eat up some minutes? I broke the Eastern Conference into three groups:
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.
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:
Brad Marchand was trending in the wrong direction last season, but a trade to Florida rejuvenated his career.  Now, he's on a massive tear and reached a career milestone earlier than expected.  Marchand dished two assists on Thursday night, extending his point streak to nine games and more importantly, reached 1,000 points for his career.  That brings him to a whopping 11+9 in 16 games with almost three shots per game.  Am I going to bet against Marchand falling off?  No.  I think even when Tkachuk returns, Marchand keeps his spot on the first power play unit, and we see Marchand push towards his first point per game season in four years.  Let's take a look at what else happened on Thursday night:
Here is the list of teams that have 0 or 1 loss so far (overtime included): Colorado, Winnipeg, Carolina, New Jersey, and Detroit.  None of the first four come as a surprise at all.  However, Detroit reeling off five in a row after a dreadful opener is a huge surprise.  They've been better defensively than expected, but the big thing so far is Dylan Larkin carrying the top line.  No Raymond for a couple games, no Kane today, no problem.  Larkin had a goal and an assist on Friday, including the overtime winner against Tampa, before scoring two goals and two assists in the 4-2 win over Edmonton Sunday.  That brings Larkin to a whopping 5+6 in six games to go along with 20 shots and a +9 rating.  Despite playing with a recent seventh round pick and a bottom six guy in Appleton while Raymond was out, Larkin has at least one point in every game so far.  It's early to predict career highs from Larkin, but I'm not ruling out his first point per game season.  With his elite shot rate, we could see his first top 50 season in three years.  Let's take a look at what else happened over the weekend:
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…
An injury on opening night took Macklin Celebrini out of the lineup for a while, but otherwise, his entrance in the NHL has gone swimmingly.  Celebrini scored two goals and an assist with four shots, two PIM, two hits, and two blocks in over 20 minutes of ice time in the 7-2 Sharks win over the Kings on Monday.  Celebrini has six goals and four assists in twelve games this season, and surprisingly, he's taking over three shots per game.  I was not expecting this type of shot rate out of the gate for Celebrini, which is a game changer for his fantasy value.  The plus-minus has the potential to be ugly, but you can make a good case for holding Celebrini in all formats now.  Here's to hoping he can maintain this level of play over a long season.  Let's take a look at what else happened over the last two nights: