Recap of the Playoffs, Scott Darling to Carolina, Max Pacioretty, and More

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Nashville-St. Louis

A game where the stars stood out, Vladimir Tarasenko scored the game-winner with under four minutes left in the third period, his second of the contest. He and Filip Forsberg were forces for their respective teams all night, with the St. Louis sniper contributing heavily to his team’s Game Two win. Ryan Ellis had a goal and an assist in a losing cause. This has all the makings of a fun series.  

In what seems to be a theme these playoffs, Colton Parayko was the recipient of a rather vicious hit to the knee from the hero of Game One, Vernon Fiddler, with under two minutes left in the first period. Other hits haven’t been as blatant, but this one was as plain as day. No significant juke or dodge, just a direct hit that resulted in a five-minute major.

Fiddler kneeing major on Parayko. pic.twitter.com/YbLuYJcYvC

— Marc Dumont (@MarcPDumont) April 29, 2017

Parayko would leave for the dressing room, and Tarasenko would score on the power play about a minute later. He would, thankfully, return for the second period.

Edmonton-Anaheim

Cam Talbot was the star of this second game of the series as the Oilers hung on to win a game they were thoroughly dominated. With a little help from the posts, Edmonton goes back home with a 2-0 series lead after a 2-1 win. 

After having some good offensive moments these playoffs, Drake Caggiula left Game Two after crashing into the boards following a net drive. He did not return. There is no update at time of posting, let’s just hope it’s nothing serious.

Getzlaf was an absolute beast in this game. Sure, McDavid had his moments, but it really seemed that the top Anaheim centre was creating something almost every shift. I'm curious to see what he does next year, fantasy-wise. Pat Eaves is likely gone, and Silfverberg may be gone in the expansion draft. With Perry looking to be on the downside, there may not be a lot of scoring on the wing outside of Rickard Rakell. Is 2017-18 the year his assist totals finally fall off? 

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The Carolina Hurricanes acquired the rights to Chicago Blackhawks goaltender Scott Darling. The cost was a third-round pick in this year’s draft, and Darling is a pending unrestricted free agent. They have until July 1^st to sign him.

The #Blackhawks have acquired a third-round pick in the 2017 #NHLDraft from the Hurricanes in exchange for goaltender Scott Darling. pic.twitter.com/Ab5RWHgoKs

— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) April 28, 2017

Needless to say, the impact of a trade like this for the franchise could be massive. Over the last three seasons, out of the 90 five-on-five team save percentages, the team owns the third-worst, sixth-worst, and 10^th-worst marks. By aggregate, they are last over those three campaigns with a .912 mark. For a reference on how awful that is, Anaheim’s team save percentage when playing down a man this season was .908.

This franchise is on the way up. The defence corps is one of the strongest in the league considering Justin Faulk, the anchor, is the elder statesman at 25 years old. The rest of the core will be in their age-23 year or under. They have finally developed some scoring that has been lacking thanks to not only Jeff Skinner, who has been a constant, but players like Sebastian Aho, Elias Lindholm, Victor Rask, and Teuvo Teravainen. What was missing this past season was goaltending, and Darling could provide that.

Darling’s sample size is still small – just over 3300 minutes over the last three seasons at five-on-five – but he does sport a .932 save percentage in those minutes. His high-danger save percentage, which has been shown to be a good indicator of long-term success, is second in the league in that sample. In short, though he hasn’t played a bevy of games, the games he has played has shown us a very good goaltender.

Going to Carolina could give us a fantasy-relevant goaltender from that team for the first time in years. With an improving squad as a whole, and a good defence corps in particular, this is a good situation for him, and for fantasy owners. We’ll see if he ends up signing, but if he does, this is a goalie with top-15 potential next season assuming he’s the full-time starter. Handling a 55-plus start workload is another discussion, but this is a step in the right direction for a franchise that has been with very few successes over the last decade.  

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It was a bad year for several players from the Kings, fantasy-wise. Jeff Carter had a very good year with 32 goals, Tanner Pearson was a solid late-round pick, ending up with 24 goals and 44 points, and Drew Doughty was his solid self. We can add Alec Martinez as well with a career-high 39 points. Other than that, Anze Kopitar failed to reach 60 points for the first time in his career, Jake Muzzin finished with 28 points, Marian Gaborik was injured most of the season, as was Jonathan Quick. Injuries also seemed to hamper Tyler Toffoli as well, managing just 16 goals in 63 games, a year removed from a 31-goal campaign.

John Stevens has taken over as the coach of the team. In an interview a few days ago, there were a few quotes that stood out. To paraphrase, one of them concerned the team’s lack of scoring chance generation. He’s not wrong, either; according to Corsica, the team generated the sixth-most adjusted shot attempts at five-on-five, ranking between Washington and San Jose. The problem is that they ranked 12^th in adjusted scoring chances. While they’re due for a bit of a luck turnaround anyway in the conversion department, turning more shots into scoring chances is the team’s focus. He specifically brought up having control with the puck entering the zone, and creating more from the slot.

This should be good news for fantasy owners. Players like Muzzin and Kopitar, coming off less-than-stellar offensive seasons, should come at a discount at the draft table next year. With a healthy Gaborik (if that’s possible) and Toffoli, another solid season from Pearson, and the consistency in Carter, this is still a good top-six. A change in offensive philosophy should help the fantasy-relevant players, and that is music to the ears of the fantasy community.  

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Speaking of discounts on draft day, I’ve been thinking about this with regards to Max Pacioretty next season. He is coming off his fifth straight 30-goal season in 82-game campaigns. He is one of two players to do so, and the assumption is everyone knows the other guy. He is, however, coming off a playoff performance that saw zero goals in six games on 28 shots. I wonder if people remember this once September swings around.

Going goal-dry in the playoffs is nothing new: Jaromir Jagr had zero goals on 58 shots in 2013, and scored 24 goals the following year; Brad Marchand had zero goals on 28 shots in 2014, and 24 goals the following year; Tyler Seguin had one goal on 70 shots in 2013, and the rest is history. Sometimes, the bounces don’t work in your favour in short samples, and Pacioretty just couldn’t find the back of the net. While the shots per game took a hit this year, there still isn’t really cause for concern with the Canadiens captain, and should still be viewed as a 30-goal scorer. He was a top-40(ish) pick in most drafts this past year. I’m intrigued to see where he goes next year.

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One thing I want to hear about from readers is how they’re dealing with the pending expansion draft. To be sure, that team would be a few years away from really being playoff contenders, and those types of teams don’t often produce a lot of fantasy relevance.

A couple of the players that could find themselves in Las Vegas that have fantasy value include Jakob Silfverberg and Jason Zucker. Anyone out there in keeper/dynasty leagues trading assets they’re concerned about, or devaluing players like this? Let me know in the comments.

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Not fantasy-related, but Mike Milbury was at it again last night. During warmups for Game Two, PK Subban was more or less dancing on the ice between drills. Lest we forget what he did in Game One, or what he’s done his entire career, it’s safe to say he’s figured out how to prepare for a hockey game. Milbury would call Subban a ‘clown’ for doing so.

The NHL has a star problem. Sidney Crosby, Auston Matthews, and Connor McDavid could all be considered in some way to be the faces of the league. Which one of them exudes personality on or off the ice? The closest to that is Alex Ovechkin, and he seems to save it for the All-Star Game, or at least doesn’t get widespread recognition for it.

Subban is a wonderful hockey player, an ambassador for the game, and has fun while he does it. This is the exact type of player the NHL should be promoting as hard as it can, especially considering he plays in a non-traditional hockey market (though Smashville looks awesome to visit). Does he warmup the way most players do? No, but it doesn’t seem to be affecting his play. So, what does it matter? Embrace this type of personality. There are far too few of them among the elite in the league.