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:
Happy Wednesday, Razzball faithful!
With today’s post, we’ve officially come to the end of our Divisional Previews for the 2025-2026 season!
If you’re looking for the other Divisions, you can click here to check them out.
One way to prove last season's breakout wasn't a fluke? Get an early hat trick. Kirill Marchenko did just that, scoring three times on four shots in the 7-4 win over the Wild. Yes, Marchenko didn't get any points in the Columbus opener, but the eight shots on goal also goes a long way. I was neutral compared to consensus on Marchenko going into the season, but I already kind of regret not being bullish. Columbus is playing a wide open, attacking style, and their best forward will continue to benefit from it. Let's take a look at what else happened over the weekend:
We're one day from the season starting! After watching football all day Sunday, I can't wait for hockey to start. What a miserable day of football, culminating with my Bills playing horribly against the Patriots, with the referees trying to take over the game, constantly calling garbage against both teams. Anyways... all of my rankings are out, so I'm going to talk about my ten favorite late round picks. What allows these guys to qualify is that their ADP on Yahoo! or ESPN are outside of the top 200. A couple things for clarification to start: I'm talking about 10 or 12'ers where I'm trying to shoot the moon late. Worst case, we turn the pick into a streamer spot. Best case, we end up holding the guy all season. One of the best calls I had over the years was Victor Oloffson's rookie year, when he has 20+22 in 54 games before the COVID shutdown. In deep leagues, we want to go safer towards the end of the draft because the waiver wire is barren. Guys like Jason Zucker or Trevor Moore, who are middling streamers in 12'ers, become clear holds in deeper leagues and should be your target. Let's look at those lottery tickets!
We're through the Top 100 forwards now, so it's time to mvoe to the blue line. The plan for the rest of the week is to go through the Top 20 defensemen today, and then 21-40 tomorrow. Then, MarmosDad is going to be back in the fold and will have his first post on Wednesday. I'll move onto goalies on Thursday, before what I post on Friday. It will either be the Top 200 list, or players that I like the most out of the players I've already ranked that you can target in the later rounds. Let's get to those defensemen!
After some brutal injury luck, Patrik Laine was able to return for the Canadiens on Tuesday, scoring a goal in his Montreal debut. On Thursday, Laine did the same, scoring a goal on three shots in the win over the Predators. Laine has stepped into a 17 minute role right away, including top power play time. I'm not going to say it's going to be completely smooth, but Laine has undeniable upside. He's available in about 50% of leagues, which seems too high. In 10'ers, he's definitely on the fringe. In 12'ers, I lean towards holding for that goal scoring upside, but it is also fringy. It depends on the bottom of your roster and your team needs. Let's take a look at what else happened over the last two nights:
We're going to move right into the Top 40 defensemen, following the Top 20 defensemen that you can read here. Let's get right into it!
21) Shea Theodore - This tier started with Montour in the top 20 and finishes with Theodore. If I was coaching Vegas, Theodore would be ranked much higher because he would never leave the first power play unit. He's clearly better than Pietrangelo and Hanifin, but to close the season, Hanifin was on the first unit. Theodore is risky because of that, but he's coming off 42 points in 47 games. It's hard to keep him any lower than this.
If you missed Part One covering the Eastern Conference, you can check that out here. Today, I wrap up the offseason by looking at the major changes in the West. Let's get to it!
ANAHEIM DUCKS
The Ducks are planning on having growth from within. Robby Fabbri could end up being a decent streamer depending on his role, but Cutter Gauthier as a full-time player is the big addition. With how bad the team is, he should get huge minutes and could be a bottom end hold as early as this season. He's a viable late round pick. Also, keep an eye out for a potential Cam Fowler trade.
Before the season, if you told me I was going to be writing about an Ingram, I would have assumed I was needed to write about basketball in an emergency. Instead, we're two months into the season, and the #3 overall goalie is a 26 year old who played 30 mediocre to bad games in his NHL career. Connor Ingram posted a 26 save shutout in the 6-0 win over the Capitals on Monday. Ingram now has an 11-3 record with a 2.23/.930. I was bullish on an Arizona goalie in preseason, turns out I should have looked at the backup. Do I expect it to last? I would lean towards no, but crazier things have happened. Arizona is playing excellent hockey, and it's not only because of Ingram. Somehow, he's still available in over 50% of leagues. Even if he turns into a pumpkin in two weeks, it was worth the speculative add, because the upside is through the roof. Let's see what else happened over the last two nights:
Towards the 2020 NHL trade deadline, the Maple Leafs acquired Campbell and Clifford for the Kings for two draft picks and a former undrafted player who looked like a AAAA player. He was coming off a big season for the Marlies, but was struggling at the NHL level. That player was Trevor Moore. Now, he's a top six player on one of the best teams in the league. Moore scored two goals on five shots against the Coyotes on Monday. That brings him up to 9+6 on the season with a shot rate pushing towards three per game. Moore is certainly on the fringe, but right now, I'm leaning towards holding. The big reason is that Kevin Fiala moved onto a line with Moore and Phillip Danault (1+1). Moore and Danault are both good play drivers, but Fiala is right there with them with an elite skill set. Albeit in a short sample, this line is generating opportunities at a rate as high as any in the league. They also get the bonus of going against weaker competition because of the Kopitar line. While this start looks like an outlier based on Moore's previous stats, the underlying numbers suggest that he should continue to produce. Let's take a look at what else happened Monday night:
Vincent Trocheck was off to an awful start this season with only four points in his first ten games with no positive signs. Well, Chytil went down injured, and that set Trocheck off on a resurgence. Trocheck had a goal and two assists with two shots in the 4-1 win over the Wild. That give Trocheck six points in his last three games, but more importantly, the playing time has skyrocketed. He played only 16:46 on Thursday because the game was in hand, but before that, Trocheck had topped 20 minutes in four of the last five games. Now, it hasn't been perfect. The shot rate is down quite a bit, and it hasn't changed that much with more playing time. I lean towards holding him again in all formats, but if you include SOG, Trocheck is on the very bottom end of holds towards the fringe. Let's take a look at what else happened over the last two nights:
I was extremely bullish on Tyler Toffoli's fit with the Devils, even though he wasn't a lock to be on PP1. "Before last season, Toffoli had never topped 31 goals or 29 assists, so expecting a repeat for a guy entering his 11th season in the league seems farfetched. That said, it’s hard to pick a better spot to be in than New Jersey right now for even strength play. People were worried about Toffoli’s power play role to open, but it looks like the Devils are starting with the two balanced unit approach. Personally, I hate it, but it’s a big boost to the value of the guy who normally would be on PP2, which Toffoli looked to be. I’m all the way in." And that's me quoting me in my bold predictions saying Toffoli averages at least a point per game. He was off to a solid start, but he had his first big game on Tuesday. Toffoli scored a hat trick on six shots in a revenge game against the Canadiens. That brings Toffoli to 4+2 in five games with 4.5 shots per game. There's a real chance that he ends up as a top 50 player. Let's take a look at what else happened in the Monday game and the Frozen Frenzy.
