I know, I know. Nobody likes hearing about other people’s fantasy teams. But my story is riveting (to me). I’ve mentioned it a lot these past couple of weeks. The keeper league is the Forecaster, with a group of knowledgeable guys, many of whom contribute to the magazine. I won the last two years, going for the three-peat and my team is fantastic. But it took me until March to finally get into first place and I extended my lead to 19 points. But then that lead disappeared. Ovechkin, Giroux, Anderson and St. Louis conspired to destroy my chances. With just a few days left, it didn’t look good – I singled those four out in the pool trash talk.

Needless to say, those four combined for 17.5 points last night, and along with Hemsky and Carlson my lead grew to 20 points in a single night. That’s a lead that I assume (and hope) can be held for five days.

That’s not a bad story, but check out this one by reader jcairns in the forum – he had cracked open his beer to celebrate the win…and instead used it to drown his sorrows. Feel free to add your own story.

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Well, Nathan Horton was about to make history by not playing Wednesday. That’s because it’s the makeup game between Columbus and Dallas (the Peverley incident). They play the full 60 minutes, but Columbus keeps their 1-0 lead – and Horton got the goal. So he would be the first player to score a goal in a game that he did not play in. But then he returned Tuesday and picked up an assist. BUT – he left the game in the first period, suffering a setback. All indications are that he will be shut down until the playoffs (or beyond). So history will probably be made tonight.

And while I believe that the assist to James Wisniewski will stand – I don’t know about the goaltending GAA for that 1-0 goal. I would imagine that all personal stats remain, so the goalie gets charged for the goal. But that’s just a guess.

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So Horton returns and Cam Atkinson is back to not scoring. He did have four shots on goal though.

With eight shots on goal last night, Ryan Johansen is now 30th in the league in shots with 225. He also tallied two points.

And while I have the shots-on-goal page open, I notice three defensemen in that Top 30. Obviously Big Buff and Erik Karlsson is there, but without looking it up – who is the third one?

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His assist last night gives Mike Ribeiro the big two points in his last 11 games. Don’t worry Phoenix fans – he only has…three more years on his contract.

After going 2-0-1 in relief of the injured Mike Smith, Thomas Greiss is 0-2-3 in his last five. I really like Greiss and was interested to see his potential as a starter. But he’s not stealing games and it’s looking as though he wears down after several consecutive starts. Regardless of whether he has starter ability – NHL GM’s see that and take note. His odds of ever getting that chance are decreasing.

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Central Scouting released their final rankings of the 2014 draft. I’ll be interested in seeing what Rossy has to say about them over at DobberProspects.

My THN article yesterday took a look at the 10 fantasy-relevant stats that are the most out of whack for this season.

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This is awesome – both Ondrej Palat and Nathan MacKinnon picked up two points last night and were plus-2. Palat has 57 and is plus-30 on the year. MacKinnon has 62 and is plus-24. MacKinnon is going to win the Calder Trophy this year. But is he really gonna walk away with it, as most people say? Awfully hard to ignore Palat.

Palat leads Tampa forwards in both hits (142) and BLKS (63) and he leads the entire team in points (tied with Filppula) and of course plus/minus.

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The Canucks have fired Mike Gillis. I really liked how he played hardball with the rest of the league when it came to his goalies…but he took it too far and didn’t identify when deals were slipping away. The other GM’s were playing hardball back. Sometimes you just have to close the deal no matter the cost, if it helps your team. I know too many GM’s in fantasy hockey who are like that.

Kevin Lowe was like that. And if Craig MacTavish doesn’t trade Sam Gagner by the start of next season, I’ll consider him like that too.

As with Jay Feaster in Calgary…and Brian Burke in Toronto, the next GM of Vancouver will be set up to fail. Not the greatest situation to take over, unless the Sedins can find even 80-point magic again.

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The only 50th goal you’ll see this year:

📢 advertisement:

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I know that Washington is “technically” still in it… but let’s face it, the Top 8 for each conference are set now. Only Dallas/Phoenix is still up in the air, but it’s looking like the Coyotes are on the outs.

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What a season for Victor Hedman – 53 points now. And last night he had three points, was plus-2 with two shots, three hits and three blocks.

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David Backes left last night’s contest with a LBI. Teams are holding info close to the chest these days…so he could be back next game or next year…

Ben Bishop also left last night’s game after stopping three shots. Here is the play – looks like shoulder? TB would be in trouble without him…

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Brad Boyes has two points and is minus-8 in his last 11 games. Why not? He got his two-year contract in early March, so time to coast…

Prospect Colby Robak turns 24 in a couple of weeks and as the season winds down the Panthers called him up to check on his NHL readiness. This could be his last chance to show that he can stick as an NHL regular, but he’s not doing so well – just one point and minus-5 in 14 games. For more on Robak – take a look here.

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The loss last night gives Ryan Miller three of them in his last four games and he’s allowed four goals in each of those three losses. To be honest, I didn’t think that was possible with this team, under this coach, with this goaltender.

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Still undefeated – Ilya Bryzgalov as a member of the Wild. This time he takes down the mighty Bruins. Who cares if Harding, Backstrom and Kuemper are injured? They have Bryz!

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Pavel Datsyuk has been back for three games…and Gustav Nyquist hasn’t scored in three games. Prior to that, Nyquist had goals in nine of 10. Yet Nyquist led all Wings with 7:13 of PP ice time. So Babcock knows where his bread and butter is now. But for some reason, likely the chemistry shift and perhaps some nerves (with the superstar back in the lineup), Nyquist is in a bit of a rut.

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Not a huge fan of this prospect’s offensive upside…but enough plays like this one would change my mind: