Tuesday marked the return of The Frozen Frenzy, where every team in the league plays in a stand alone time slot. It's a cool concept, but I can't understand for the life of me why this doesn't happen on a Saturday instead? I digress. The second game of the night was Florida against the Blue Jackets, and the Florida superstars destroyed Columbus 7-3. They were led by the Tkachuk brothers, with Brady Tkachuk scoring a hat trick, his first goals as a Panther, while Matthew Tkachuk dished five assists. Matthew was off to a very good start, while Brady started woefully. I haven't seen anything to think the switch to Florida is going to bring a drastic change to Brady's fantasy value. He does seem to be shooting the puck a bit less, mostly cutting up the hopeless, bad angle shots. His spot on the top power play unit is locked in as long as Barkov is out, so for now, enjoy the production that you're getting. Let's take a look at what else happened on Tuesday night:
Happy Wednesday, Razzball faithful!
Well, yesterday was my final Top 100 Starting Pitchers article and Year in Review. (Click on that link if you want to check it out!).
Now, I can officially, and undistractedly, present to you a fully focused MarmosDad who has shifted entirely into hockey gear!
Does that mean I’m fully invested in tracking the ins and outs of the preseason rankings that I ran through in September?
You betcha!
Will I be ready to answer any questions you throw at me here each week with nothing but my day job, fatherhood, mentoring, planning, coaching in school and winter workouts for our baseball team, and the general ridiculousness of life getting in the way?
Absolutely!
It was a very difficult start to open the season for the Ducks, opening at Vegas before hosting the Panthers. Here we are on Sunday night with the Ducks winning both games. They stormed out to a 4-0 lead against Vegas, holding on to win 4-3, before beatong the Panthers 3-2 in overtime. Leading the charge? The man who broke the NHL pay scale this offseason, Leo Carlsson. Carlsson had a goal and an assist against the Golden Knights before dishing three assists against Florida. Last season, Carlsson started the year with 34 points in his first 25 games before injury derailed him. If he can stay healthy and play to his potential, the 21 year old has a chance to reach 100 points. I had him ranked just outside the top 50 overall because we saw that he could be a fringe top 100 guy for an extended period, but I'd bet on him being inside the top 50 come the end of the season. Let's take a look at what else happened over the weekend:
We move onto blueliners now, starting with the top 20 defenseman for fantasy hockey. I'd argue this is the best overall group of defensemen since I've been writing for Razzball over a decade ago. This is surely going to be a long post, so let's get to it!
Happy Wednesday, Razzball faithful!
It’s your guy, MarmosDad, back for another preseason rundown of aggregate rankings and additional information for 2026-2027 Fantasy Hockey.
Last week I shared that the tentative plan was running an aggregate of rankings from various sources around the internet, and giving some input as to which ones made sense to me or, more likely, which players were going to be underdrafted in your fantasy drafts this year.
Last week, I wrote up The Top 50(ish) Forwards. You can click there to peek at that one if you missed it.
This week, we’re headed to my personal favorite position, and the one where I spent most of my games when I was playing.
Happy Wednesday, Razzball faithful!
Are you ready for a Fantasy Hockey Playoff Pool preview? Do you need a primer for drafting your playoff pool roster?
Well, I have some good news for you!
Welcome to the first annual (maybe) MarmosDad NHL Playoff Preview!
I’ll go through some notes on how to strategize when making your picks for the playoff pool, then do a rundown of each playoff team, with names to look out for during your drafts.
Let’s get to it!
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:
The Anaheim Ducks have taken a big step forward this season. Lucky for them, they're geographically located in the right place. In the Eastern Conference, they'd be on the outside looking in for the playoffs. In the West, specifically the Pacific Division, they're close to a lock. The Ducks won their fourth straight game on Thursday, with Mikael Granlund scoring all three goals in a 3-2 OT win. Granlund now has seven goals in his last four games and continues to get big minutes. We've reached the point of the season where most of the fringe are streamers because we need to make a push in the fantasy playoffs, but with Anaheim having four games next week, Granlund is making a real case to be held while he's on fire. Let's take a look at what else happened on Thursday night:
After missing the playoffs for fourteen straight seasons, I keep waiting for the Sabres to slump, but instead, they keep getting better. On Friday, they had a big 3-2 regulation win in Florida. If that wasn't enough, on the second of a back to back, they absolutely destroyed Tampa 6-2, including a 5-0 lead less than two minutes into the second period. Only the Colorado Avalanche have more regulation wins this season than the Sabres. What's been different this week is that Josh Norris has actually been in the lineup. Norris had an assist with three shots against the Panthers, before scoring two goals against the Lightning. As has been the case for Norris for four straight seasons, he's been hampered with injuries. The good news is that he's dominated when he's played this season, sitting with 8+12 in 22 games. The shot rate is poor so I wouldn't necessarily hold, but he's an elite streamer who probably belongs on the fringe. Ride the production while you can. Let's take a look at what else happened over the weekend:
I celebrated the end of 2025 in the best way imaginable: watching hockey for the entire day. There were a lot of highlights, starting with my Sabres winning their tenth game in a row. Yes, Billy Bob, 10! More on that later. The most incredible performance though was another Avalanche beatdown. Not that it was surprising at all against the Blues, but that they scored four goals (and have a fifth disallowed) before the Blues even had a shot on goal! What a powerhouse. Nathan MacKinnon had his usual 2+2 with seven shots, but the notable performance for a non-superstar was Valeri Nichushkin. Big Val had a hat trick on six shots in the 6-1 win. He now has 11+15 in 31 games with a very good shot rate. He's still available in almost two-thirds of leagues, and that simply needs to change. Nichushkin is back on PP1 so if there was any doubt, he's must own everywhere. Sure, he could get injured again, but you have to ride him until that happens. Let's take a look at what else happened over the last two nights:
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.
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…
