Rambling about awesome goalies in Western Canada, a prospect I'm watching, and a successful strategy I just nailed …

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Alex Ovechkin is in one of his mini-slumps, managing just four points in the last seven games and he’s been shut out of seven of the last 12 games. And so Evgeny Kuznetsov (six points in four games) has passed him as we approach the midpoint. This reminds me of the epic Stamkos vs. Johnson battle of a year ago. Who will win?

John Carlson is out, and of course Matt Niskanen steps in. The guy is the king of filling in when star defensemen get hurt. Letang, Green, Carlson… if a star goes down, Niskanen goes from a 30-point player to a 45-point player or better. He’s currently on a four-game points streak.

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Three games without David Krejci. Three games with at least a point for Ryan Spooner.

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Mikko Koivu left the game last night after going back-first into the boards here:

All we have on this from the coach is that he’s “hopeful” it won’t be a long-term injury.

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I’m not a believer in Corban Knight. At all. But I have to give props to him as he’s up to six points in 10 games. But he’s doing this on a checking line, so little or no hope for the future. Here were Florida’s line combos last night:

#1           25.9%    BARKOV,ALEKSANDER – HUBERDEAU,JONATHAN – JAGR,JAROMIR

#2           17.8%    BJUGSTAD,NICK – PIRRI,BRANDON – SHAW,LOGAN

#3           15.1%    HOWDEN,QUINTON – KNIGHT,CORBAN – MACKENZIE,DEREK

#4           13%        JOKINEN,JUSSI – SMITH,REILLY – TROCHECK,VINCENT

And what can be said about Jaromir Jagr? He has 29 points now. We should start a pledge drive or something, for if he can hit 60 points at the age of 44 – say we each pledge $10 for cancer or something, see if we can get a million people on board. What he’s doing is epic. Legendary. And something should be done in his name, but what can you give a guy who has everything? Answer: give to charity. Just a thought…

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Jonathan Huberdeau, with two points last night, has 22 in his last 27 games. A 66-point pace.

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Jack Eichel has 12 points in his last eight games and points in all but one of those games. Well somebody’s crawling back into the Calder race! I mused last month that when he ever started scoring, he would really take off. It sure seems that way now…

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Daniel Carr (scouting outlook here) had two points last night for the Habs. The 24-year-old was a college star and is off to a tremendous start in his second AHL season (17 points in 21 games) before getting called up. I have him firmly on my radar, not quite ready to make a move yet.

The Ghost kicked a career-high three-game pointless streak to the curb with two points Tuesday. Shayne Gostisbehere will have plenty of slumps like that in his career, but probably not nearly as many as most NHL defensemen the way things are looking so far. Already up to 16 points after just 22 games.

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Derek Stepan had just one point in six games since his return from injury, so coach Alain Vigneault shook up the lines a little, pretty much to accommodate him.

#1           29.1%    BRASSARD,DERICK – MILLER,J.T. – ZUCCARELLO,MATS

#2           19.4%    MEGNA,JAYSON – NASH,RICK – STEPAN,DEREK

#3           18.9%    FAST,JESPER – HAYES,KEVIN – LINDBERG,OSCAR

#4           17%        GLASS,TANNER – MOORE,DOMINIC – STALBERG,VIKTOR

I don’t mind this, as a Derick Brassard and Mats Zuccarello owner. I think JT Miller is improving daily and I’ve always thought of Rick Nash as a tad overrated. So put Nash with Stepan and see if you can get both of them going.

Jayson Megna is a complimentary player with some upside. He couldn’t get anything going with Crosby so I doubt he can keep this up with Stepan and Nash. But that’s a pretty good start (two points in his first game with them).

Chris Kreider missed the game with a cut on his right hand. The way Megna played (and the Rangers won big against a great team) I wonder if Kreider doesn’t get held out again…

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Love this. Was turned down a couple of weeks ago when I offered up Kris Letang. I should send him a belated Christmas card thanking him for turning that offer down. Letang has 10 points in his five games since returning from injury. As an added bonus, he has 22 shots and 12 PIM in that span too.

Sidney Crosby now has 12 points in eight games and 22 in his last 20. Still a ways to go to get back up above a point-per-game but I think he’ll get there. I think he just woke up one day and said “Screw this, I’m not passing to the pylon on the left (Perron) or the pylon on the right (Kunitz) anymore – I’ll just drop it back to Letang!”

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We break from these Ramblings while I click “accept” on a trade offer I just received.

*ACCEPT*

And now back to our regularly scheduled Ramblings.

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Oh, the deal? I mentioned last month that I grabbed Louis Domingue off of the wire even though I didn’t need a goalie, because I thought he’d be a good one while Mike Smith was hurt. And boy was I right – I didn’t expect to be so damn right. So I’ve been offering him around in my “Keep 12” keeper as part of a package. I need to upgrade Hanifin immediately. I need that D spot to get me points, and Hanifin isn’t doing it. So I offered Hanifin, Domingue and a late draft pick around for different defensemen ranging from Muzzin to Stone to Gostisbehere. The Ghost owner turned that down, but countered with Yandle instead. So – yes please. I’d rather have Yandle, to be honest. Proven guy. Steady guy. Even his “bad” year this season is double what Hanifin was doing. I didn't dominate this deal or even win it really (he got goaltending that he needed and a damn good defenseman). But I helped my team by addressing a weakness

So that claim of Domingue has officially paid off. And that, my friends, is why you get assets whenever you can even if you don’t need them.

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By the way, my six D are now: Barrie, Suter, Carlson, Green, Yandle, Franson – with Del Zotto, Theodore and DeAngelo as my extras. It’s a 14-team league, I won three of the last four years but was second last year by six points.

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Hoo boy. The Predators outshot the Jets 44-18 and it was even worse than that early on – yet the Jets won the game 4-1. In fact, at one point I think it was like 22-6 in shots and the Jets were up 2-0. And so there you have it – Connor Hellebuyck has stolen the top job, unless he hits a slump and loses it again. I may have an unhealthy bias towards smaller players with skill, and I may be pretty bad at providing long-term outlooks on defensemen…but man, I seem to really nail goaltenders and the situations they’re in and potential opportunities.

Just six goals allowed in his last four games. Look at his career numbers so far:

9-4-0, 1.93, 0.935

Ridiculous! If Paul Maurice wants in the playoffs, then Hellebuyck is starting 35 of the last 42 games. Minimum. Right now the Jets are five points out and they just beat the team they’re trying to catch (it’s very telling that Hellebuyck even got that start).

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Mathieu Perreault has just one point in his last nine games. He’s a streaky player and I think he’ll get back his mojo – right now he could be had for cheap.

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Interesting to see Colin Wilson play a season-high 22 minutes last night. He has six points in his last seven games but is showing signs of snapping out of it with his six SOG last night (and he had five SOG just three games before that). He’s a second-half player. I don’t think he’ll go nutty, but I think he’ll be that decent producer we thought he’d be back at the draft. Another buy-low suggestion for ya.

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Anton Stralman has eight points in his last 10 games.

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Karri Ramo since November 13:

12-6-1, 2.07, 0.926

I know I keep updating you on him every week. But at some point you have to start believing me – he’s not bad.

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Jaroslav Halak was activated off the IR Tuesday and for once I’m glad they delayed it. Had they done it Monday then I couldn’t have picked up Riley Sheahan for a free assist Monday. Halak wouldn’t have been active, so his staying on IR for another week in our league pretty much gives me whatever points Sheahan can pick up for me until Sunday over three games instead of whatever Bailey would have gotten me in two games. Ah the subtle nuances of fantasy hockey…

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Seth Griffith was the AHL’s player of the month with 17 points in 11 games for Providence. Talk about trying to earn your way back up. He lost his spot on the pecking order to Frank Vatrano.

And Griffith isn’t the only hot Bruins’ prospect either. Alexander Khokhlachev has six points in two AHL games – games that were before and after his NHL appearance at the Winter Classic. So that’s a pretty good week for him I’m thinking…

Read up on Khokhlachev here and on Griffith here.

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The Midseason Guide now has all the articles in place. Now I delve into the stats and projections. Pre-order it here! Features prospect updates (plus over 60 prospect profiles), need-to-know analysis on the first half for each team and key players, KHLers possibly coming over next season, NCAA free agents of interest, players on the trading block, goaltending situations, on and on and on…lots of gold!

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Did you see this? Ties an NHL record – two goals in TWO SECONDS: