March 18, 2015
Mike Schmidt
2015-03-18
Mark Scheifele is a must-add, Cory Schneider shuts out the struggling Pens, Lundqvist is ready to practice and more…
I'm baaaaaackk… Before I discuss the latest fantasy hockey news, I just want to take a moment and thank Dobber for the opportunity to tackle the Ramblings twice this week. I appreciate his willingness to let me pinch-hit for him. He, Steve Laidlaw and the rest of the DobberHockey crew do great work day after day, and I hope you all enjoy the timely, relevant and impactful content they put out as much as I do.
Now let's talk fantasy hockey…
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Bryan Little's upper-body injury kept him out of the lineup for yet another night Tuesday. While his owners are understandably concerned about the veteran centerman, they should note that Little's absence has allowed Mark Scheifele to continue his strong play on the ice for Winnipeg. The squad's 2011 first-rounder is playing alongside productive winger Blake Wheeler, seeing action on the Jets' top power-play unit and putting up about a point per game for about a month. Scheifele is available in 85 percent of Yahoo (leagues) for some reason. Little should be back soon, but Scheifele has been, is and will be a viable fantasy forward in all formats. Give him a shot. If you need further proof, Scheifele scored his 12th goal of the season and totaled three points Tuesday evening in a 5-2 home win over the visiting San Jose Sharks. Wheeler added two goals and an assist. These two are playing extremely well together right now.
There was reason to believe that Dustin Byfuglien would return to the lineup Tuesday. Alas, 'twas not to be. He remains day-to-day with what is officially described as an upper-body injury, which has kept him out of the lineup for the better part of two weeks.
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I don't mean to discount what amounted to a great performance in net from Cory Schneider on Tuesday, but the New Jersey Devils goaltender did register a shutout (with 35 saves) against a Pittsburgh Penguins squad that is missing both Evgeni Malkin and Patric Hornqvist from their lineup. Malkin can't return soon enough.
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Obligatory Andrew Hammond fantasy update: 35 saves on 36 shots in a 2-1 overtime victory over the host Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday.
Mark Stone registered his 18th (?!) goal in the extra period to give Ottawa the victory, and Erik Karlsson notched two assists in 32-plus minutes of ice time.
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I find it funny that Tuukka Rask was held out of the lineup Tuesday evening with "general soreness," on the same night his Boston Bruins were set to take on the hapless Buffalo Sabres at home. Niklas Svedberg got the start for Boston… and the game went into overtime… and Buffalo won 2-1 in a shootout (behind 44 saves from Anders Lindback). Yikes. What a disappointing loss for a Boston squad that needs every win it can get right now to stay in the playoff hunt.
He's not quite ready for primetime, but Rasmus Ristolainen has a bright future with the Buffalo Sabres. The 20-year-old Finnish blueliner scored the lone goal in regulation for his team in the winning effort. It was Ristolainen's first goal in his past 20 games, but it was also his second point in as many nights. He's got the size. He's got the speed. He's got the booming shot. His hair game is way strong. The fantasy production is coming. Trust me.
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Aleksander Barkov scored his 12th goal of the season Tuesday evening in Florida's 3-2 loss to visiting Montreal, but Florida's second-year centerman always leaves me wanting more. I keep waiting for his game to take a step forward, but Barkov's production is more or less in line with the numbers he put up a year ago. I like his overall game, but he's not doing much for fantasy owners right now. He's getting the ice time. He's seeing a ton of action on the power play. But hey, Barkov has Unfrozen Caveman Winger Jaromir Jagr playing on the same line as him now! Anyone get that reference? Let's just move on…
Someone named Jacob De La Rose scored two points for Montreal in the win, a fact that's only surprising until you remember Dan Ellis has been manning the net for the Panthers while Roberto Luongo recovers from a shoulder injury. I don't even care that Ellis has played well thus far for Florida. Literally anyone can score two goals in a game against him. Yes, even this guy.
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Charlie Coyle went a month between goals before putting one in a March 6 road win over Carolina. Now he has five points in his past six contests (including two goals in his squad's 3-2 road win over Nashville Tuesday night). What should we make of this? Not much… The Wild have a ton of depth at the forward position (Parise, Pominville, Granlund, Koivu, Vanek, etc.) so don't go expecting the 23-year-old forward to go off in the season's final weeks. The opportunity to do so isn't really there.
Nice night from Nashville defenseman Roman Josi in the losing effort: two goals, a plus-one rating and four shots. He just keeps getting better.
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Jaroslav Halak is day-to-day with a lower-body injury, so Michal Neuvirth stepped in between the pipes for the Islanders on Tuesday night. It… uhhh… did not go well for the former Washington Capital. Jonathan Toews took full advantage of Halak's absence, scoring two goals in the first period. Let's just say things did not get better from there for the Islanders.
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There's no overstating how optimistic I was about Taylor Hall's fantasy outlook heading into the 2014-15 campaign. While others may have been swooning over the potential of a certain second-year player on the Colorado Avalanche, I was projecting 90 points (not a typo) from the Edmonton Oilers star. Bullish? For sure. Misguided? Absolutely. Hall has totaled just 30 points on the season and has not played in a game since Feb. 2. I was in the process of putting his disastrous campaign behind me, until I heard he was skating with the team again. This is how Hall makes me feel right now.
Speaking of Hall, DobberHockey writer Tom Collins named Hall the biggest fantasy hockey dud of the 2014-15 season. Who were the other nine on his list? I'll give you a hint about one of them: his name rhymes with "Jill Tressel."
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Hockey Prospectus's Matthew Coller penned one of the most interesting articles I read this week. Here's Coller's take on Nashville Predators defenseman Shea Weber:
"The eye test is pretty definitive on Shea Weber. He's awesome. Weber is everything you dream a No. 1 defenseman will be. He's huge, can skate, is intimidating and has a shot that nobody on earth wants to step in front of. But his Corsi number stinks."
Read the rest of it here. Thoughts?
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It looks like Henrik Lundqvist is ready to practice. That being said, it could be a week or more before he sees action in a game.
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This was the shootout winner in the Sabres-Bruins game. I watched the whole game, and this is how it ended. It took a second or two for the announcers to figure out what actually happened. So awkward… So anticlimatic…