With no NHL action to discuss Laidlaw shares 12 fantasy hockey thoughts that make him smile.

Looks like my last ramblings until after Christmas. Happy Holidays everyone!

No hockey last night, or until this weekend. With no games to cap, instead I will be looking at things that make me smile. Some are new developments. Some are old hat but require revisiting but all are important.

1. Marc-Andre Fleury turning into the Penguins’ MVP

For how long did we believe Fleury was going to be the reason the Penguins didn’t win multiple Cups? And to be fair to the critics back then, Fleury had some really rough years. It could have derailed him entirely. Now the Penguins are committed to him long term, and he looks like the one guy they absolutely should not trade.

With a save percentage above .920 for the past two years, Fleury has carried an otherwise disappointing Penguins club as Sidney Crosby seemingly transitions into another (underwhelming) phase of his career. You never would have guessed it but it’s fantastic to see.

2. Shoot or get off the point

The phrase coined by Sean McIndoe in a recent grab bag. Basically, any defenseman manning the point on the power play, who cannot or will not shoot the puck. No one has drawn my ire in this regard more than the Islanders’ Nick Leddy.

Leddy can move the puck but he just isn’t a fit on a team that centers around John Tavares on the half-wall. He doesn’t have the right-handed shot to facilitate one-timers off passes so instead he is just a bumper to move the puck from one side of the ice to the other. What’s sad is that Leddy can really shoot the puck, as evidenced by his 10 goals last season, but he does it better on the rush. His strength is his mobility. The power play just doesn’t play to that strength.

Having Leddy on the point is really inefficient. Because he doesn’t have the one-timer teams don’t respect his shot, which means they sag off and clog everything else. You need big shooters at the point for two reasons:

1) Actually being able to beat goalies from out there, either with the shot or on tips.

2) The gravitational pull to draw defenders to the point and opens up passes elsewhere, for instance, cross-seam passes.

Now, no team should be building their power play on cross-seam passes. Just ask the Tampa Bay Lightning who went a sad 1/10 on power-play chances the other night against Vancouver. Everyone knows you are trying to get the puck to Steven Stamkos for the one-timer. What can make you special is what Stamkos’ gravity can open up for everyone else. And then, once the puck gets moving like crazy you can get it over to Stamkos for the big rip.

The Lightning power play ranks in the bottom third of the league at just 16.7%. They are greatly missing anyone with puck distribution skills to play quarterback from the half-wall. Valtteri Filppula has done it in the past but no one respects his shot enough for it to work. Nikita Kucherov is too methodical in setting up his passes. Tyler Johnson has the skills but as a righty the fit isn’t perfect for setting up on the right half-wall.

Not every team is blessed with a guy like John Klingberg or John Carlson who possess a good shot from the point and the puck distribution skills needed to get an opponent moving but teams should at least settle for willing shooters playing the point. The Islanders have one in Johnny Boychuk. They even use Boychuk on the point on five-on-three power-plays. Why he is held in reserve for these rare situations is beyond me.

Maybe I am wrong about this. We should trust NHL coaches to understand the Xs and Os better than us. It’s just frustrating as all hell watching guys like Leddy soak up valuable power-play minutes and not take full advantage. Shoot or get off the point.

3. Jaromir Jagr, still going strong

I referenced this a few weeks back but Sportsnet’s oral history of Jagr is now available in digital form with some absolute beauty quotes:

HARTNELL

I remember him coming to me in practice. I was having a bad practice, and he called me out in front of a couple of guys, telling me to wake up and practise better, because that’s how we’re gonna play in the game. I was kind of taken aback a little bit. I was thinking, like, “Talk to me with a little more respect than that.” But he opened my eyes. I had to hold myself accountable for every day that I put on my skates. I had to be the best Scott Hartnell I could be, because he was always on. I took that to heart and I tried to be the hardest-working guy on the ice and to score every time I shot the puck. Yeah, no big deal. [Laughs.]

Make sure, before the season is out, you take some time to watch a Panther game, just to take in Jagr, in all his beauty, one last time. We have no idea how long he will continue to play, let alone play effectively but he is doing it right now. Enjoy it!

4. Eric Staal fossilizing before our eyes

This is one is a frowner. I have not enjoyed this experience at all. As a long time fantasy owner and genuine fan, it has been painful to watch Staal’s skills erode. I have had some fun with depreciating old stars in the past, like Dany Heatley. This one hits too close to home, and not just because I still have Staal on nearly all my teams. He has gone from dependable star to borderline waiver fodder and it is sad to see. But Father Time is undefeated so it was going to happen eventually.

Fingers crossed for a trade and one last hurrah!

5. Being wrong about Leon Draisaitl

I never would have predicted that Draisaitl would make an impact so soon. Watching him flounder last season, I figured Draisaitl was at least three years away from making a significant impact, let alone achieving legitimate stardom. Teaming with Taylor Hall (and don’t underestimate the importance of Hall in this) Draisaitl has formed one of the league’s most potent duos.

This was actually a discussion in the forum recently, who are your favourite duos in the league today?

For my money, Hall and Draisaitl are right there. As a fan, you can’t put a price on being relevant and these two have made the Oilers relevant. It’s been a long wait.

Other duos I like:

Artemi Panarin/Patrick Kane

This is my single favourite duo. They are just so darn slick with the puck. So fearlessly creative. To have two such players on the same line is dynamite. It captures your imagination. Anything might happen with those two on the ice. Have I mentioned before how they even look alike? Crazy.

Daniel Sedin/Henrik Sedin

Still. The twins are still at it. How many years of this do they have left?

Jamie Benn/Tyler Seguin

The very best in the league today.

Nicklas Backstrom/Alexander Ovechkin

It really feels like this is the year they finally accomplish something in the playoffs. Maybe they even hoist the Cup. A duo this talented should probably accomplish that once.

Johnny Gaudreau/Sean Monahan

This is mostly just Gaudreau although Monahan is impeccably talented.

Shea Weber/Roman Josi

They rank sixth and seventh in defenseman scoring respectively. Can we get these guys a top centerman to skate with and push Nashville into serious contention? Let’s all put that on our Christmas wish list.

Also, remember when folks lost their mind over the Josi contract? How hilarious is that now? What a gem.

6. Trade rumours, founded and unfounded alike

There’s nothing quite like a good trade rumour. The latest is that Wayne Simmonds is on his way to Montreal after the holiday trade moratorium. Never mind the fact that Philly is rolling right now, just three points back of a playoff spot.

Trade rumours don’t have to make sense. They just have to draw a reaction. Intrigue? Outrage? It doesn’t matter the reaction as long as it preoccupies your time. This stuff is fun. Enjoy an absurd trade rumour every now and again!

7. Rasmus Ristolainen breaking through the glass ceiling

I figured Ristolainen had this kind of potential but I never thought he would get here this soon. He is currently eighth in defensemen scoring and on pace for 58 points. Whether he gets there or not is irrelevant. At this point no matter what you acquired him for, Ristolainen is outperforming that standard. You are playing with house money.

Actually, I know one guy who that is not true for. In one of my leagues the guy with the second overall pick accidentally took Ristolainen second overall. Yeah, that happened. Ahead of Seguin, Benn, Crosby, Giroux, etc. Online drafts… dangerous.

8. The World Junior Hockey Championships

Love this tournament. Junior hockey is so fantastic when played at this high a level. The players are all so damned skilled but so many of them lack the maturity, experience and temperament to coldly and efficiently execute a coach’s game plan. They make mistakes and it makes for an exciting game because the opponents are skilled enough to make you pay for those mistakes.

Take yesterday’s pre-tournament game between Canada and Sweden. It was wild, it was exciting. The Canadians got up 5-1 and pissed it all away only to win 7-6. This game wasn’t FOR anything but it mattered all the same. It was a bunch of kids, playing a kids game. That’s what this is all about.

9. Patriotism

This is in conjunction with the WJC. Patriotism is such a strange concept. How is it that I get so darned excited cheering for a bunch of kids I don’t know because they happen to call the same country (even one as massive as Canada) home?

The origins of patriotism no doubt track back to our hunter/gatherer ancestry. When you couldn’t really trust another person unless they came from your tight knit tribe. It just feels like maybe these days we would be enlightened enough not to let something like a passport dictate our feelings towards something. And yet, I was out barbecuing the other night and a neighbour couldn’t help but comment:

“Barbecuing, eh?”

“All year, my man. It never stops.”

“Well, I can tell you are a Canadian.”

And with that simple exchange I was filled with pride.

10. Elliotte Friedman’s 30 Thoughts

Here’s his latest column with some more great thoughts:

9. I went back and re-watched Steven Stamkos’s shifts from Tampa’s 5-4 win in Toronto last week. Just figured he’d have much more of an impact in that game and wondered if I missed anything. Included are the Lightning’s first two goals.

Nikita Kucherov gets wide open to make it 1-0 because Matt Hunwick is preoccupied with Stamkos at the top of the screen. And, when Anton Stralman makes it 3-2, he’s allowed to walk in because the defenceman won’t leave Stamkos in front. (That one’s not all on Hunwick; you have to wonder what everyone else was doing.) Stamkos’s numbers are down, but it’s clear opponents still key on him. Maybe they were secretly asking him if he really wants to play there.

That’s the gravity effect that I was talking about earlier.

11. Daily Fantasy Hockey

Is it a skill game? Is it gambling? Irrelevant. I’m an adult who can spend money how he sees fit and if I want to spend a couple of bucks a night to get way more out of the games I would be watching anyway, well I don’t think that’s hurting anyone.

I got into fantasy hockey for the social aspect but also to get more involved as a fan of a sport that I enjoyed. Yearlong pools fulfill that to a certain extent but there reaches a point where some players, maybe even whole teams just become off limits to you because of the fixed nature of such pools. What if you really like Vladimir Tarasenko and can never seem to get him on your team? Maybe he’s marooned on the roster of that guy who barely sets his lines, let alone responds to trade offers. Every player is available in daily fantasy.

I definitely feel like playing daily fantasy has made me better at yearlong fantasy. It forces me to consider players I would otherwise neglect because they aren’t on any of my teams. It also really makes you evaluate who you trust.

For instance, in the early stages of Draisaitl’s emergence I was saying he would slow down eventually and yet was using him in my daily fantasy lineup on a nightly basis. Kind of a mixed message there. It has been really valuable to recognize that and learn from the mistake.

12. Family

My mother hasn’t played a lick of fantasy hockey. I mean, she hasn’t even gone so far as being the clueless lady who somehow takes down your playoff pool because she took all the players with cute names. For some crazy reason she tunes in to listen to my Fantasy Five segment on the Hockey Unfiltered show each week even though the information is meaningless to her. I guess she just likes to see her son doing something he is passionate about. Or maybe she just misses me.

The lesson, especially at this time of year, is: give your mother a call.

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Happy Holidays everyone! You can follow me on Twitter @SteveLaidlaw.