As good as the Jets have been, Friday was a huge boost for their team. Not only did they get Wheeler, Schmidt and Perfetti back, Nikolaj Ehlers returned for his first game since the second game of the season. He immediately went onto a line with Pierre-Luc Dubois and Kyle Connor, and it worked out as well as it has in the past. In the 4-2 win over the Lightning, Dubois scored two goals with four shots and four PIM, with Connor having a goal and an assist plus four PIM of his own. Sunday was even better with Connor scoring a hat trick, Dubois dishing four assists, and Ehlers scoring a goal and two assists. This line has the potential to be one of the best in hockey yet again, and with Dubois playing the best hockey of his career right now, it can be even better than last season. All of them are easily top 50 players with Connor in the top 20, and the other two with the potential to push towards that, but probably a step behind that. Let's take a look at what else happened over the last two nights:
Who would have thought that a seven point game wouldn't get the opening? It would take something extravagant and that's what happened, with Jason Robertson scoring back-to-back hat tricks. R0bertson carried the Stars to victory on Friday scoring three on seven shots, including the overtime winner. He capped it off with an empty netter to seal the game against Minnesota on Sunday, totaling six shots and two PIM with his hat trick. That brings Robertson to a whopping 29+25 in 47 games and three shots per game. Robertson seemingly came out of nowhere last season to earn a second place finish in the Calder race. Now, the sky appears to be the limit. Robertson is still only 22 years old and has his center of the present and future already with him. It looks like the Stars have their new Benn and Seguin. They can only hope Hintz and Robertson reach that level, but it's not out of the realm of possibility. I don't think Robertson quite cracks the top 20 for the rest of the season and next year, but he's a slam dunk top 50 player. Let's take a look at what else happened over the weekend:
Remember when the Kraken took Vitek Vanecek in the expansion draft and then traded him right back to Washington? Imagine where Washington would be if they only had Samsonov. Vanecek had a 36 save shutout in the 4-0 win over the Hurricanes. He missed some time recently, but Vanecek is approaching a 2.30/.920 line. He's been miles better than Samsonov despite Samsonov winning at a much higher clip. Amazingly, Vanecek is still available in over 70% of leagues at the time of this writing. I'm not saying that he's going to be a workhorse, but Vanecek will be splitting at the very least, and his numbers are clearly good enough to hold. This season has been quite encouraging for Vanecek's long term prospects as well. He's not a lock to be the Washington goalie of the future, but it's certainly in play now. At the least, he looks the part of a capable tandem. Let's take a look at what else happened over the last two nights:
Hey, hockey nerds!
This is the first installment of my new weekly streaming column to hopefully give you an edge at the tail end of your weekly matchup (or to pad those roto stats as the week finishes out). The idea is to focus on teams that play both Friday and Sunday (hence the "Sundae" pun...boy I'm funny) so you can get the most bang for your waiver-pickup buck, but this week the schedule is a little odd since it's the first one. So, no one plays both Friday and Sunday this time around. It's all good, we'll just roll with it! In addition to Friday/Sunday targets, I'll do a quick look at the week ahead to give you insight into teams that are playing the most (and least) desirable schedules. Again, the purpose of this column moving forward will primarily be teams playing both Friday and Sunday each week. I think the snapshots are useful for planning ahead, but I won't be taking the time to target each every streamer worth your while.
Hello again, Razzfolks!
Wrapping up the Western Conference today. Time for Part 2 of the Central Division previews, finishing things out with the Wild, the Predators, the Blues, and the Jets.
If you want to check out (or look back over) the other previews thus far, links are below:
Hey folks!
We're chugging right along with team previews, moving over to the Central and checking in on the Yotes, the Hawks, the Avs, and the Stars this time around.
If you missed out on the Pacific installments, you can find them both right here:
Mika Zibanejad was looking like the biggest bust of this season near the halfway point. Well, it's changing pretty quickly and amazingly, it wasn't the Sabres that turned it around. Last week, Zibanejad had three goals and three assists against the Flyers. It was so fun that he did it again eight days later! On Thursday, Zibanejad doubled down with his second natural hat trick and six point game in rapid succession against Philadelphia in the 8-3 win. That brings him up to 10+16 in 32 games, not exactly lighting the world on fire, but within reason. He's still over three shots per game, so while a repeat top 20 season is out of play, a top 50 season is still within reason. As I said at the time, Zibanejad is prone to huge hot streaks, and I think 17 points in 7 games qualifies. Let's take a look at what else happened over the last two nights:
I don’t think most people know that Travis Konecny led the Flyers in both goals and points last season. He’s on his way to a repeat in the early going. Konecny had a hat trick against the Penguins on Friday night which also dishing an assist. Please, blog, may I have some more?
We’re going to keep the rankings rolling today with my defensemen tiers. As a reminder from the goaltending rankings, I will be ranking the guys in order, but I am putting more focus on tiers than the exact rankings of players. Please, blog, may I have some more?
I was expecting a big bounce back from Nazem Kadri this season in Colorado after being stuck on the third line in Toronto last season. It hasn't been spectacular, but Kadri has been a hold all season. He was going through a rough patch with only one point in seven games before Monday, but he broke out in a big way. Kadri scored two goals on four shots and added an assist in the Colorado victory over Detroit. Sure, it's Detroit, but three points is three points. Kadri has already surpassed last season's goal total in 27 less games and the penalty minutes are through the roof. His spot on the top power play unit appears locked in, therefore making him a hold for the foreseeable future. The big offseason trade has been a huge win for the Avalanche, no doubt about it. Let's take a look at what else happened over the last two nights:
It was only a matter of time until Mikko Rantanen had a big game. The Finn had his second career hat trick on Saturday, scoring on all three of his shots against the Devils. Please, blog, may I have some more?
Life without Couturier hasn't been as good without Claude Giroux. He started the turnaround on Thursday night. Giroux scored two goals and two assists with three shots and two PIM in the 5-3 win over Carolina. That brings Giroux up to 17 points in 22 games, not exactly lighting the world on fire, but the shot rate is the best of his career. 75 shots in 22 games is a huge step forward, and if that continues, we could be looking at a new career high in goals. Yes, he only has 7 to this point, but we could be on the verge of a heater. Let's take a look at what else happened over the last two nights:
