Rambling about Reimer, Panarin, EJ, Domingue, Wilson, free agent college players and more

***

Working diligently on this year’s Playoff Draft List and I should actually have it done and ready to download today. I would then of course update it Friday and Sunday with injury notes and adjustments. I’ll probably update it Monday and Tuesday as well. I tend to do that. It’s my OCD.

This year your purchase of the Draft List will get you a $10 credit over at our friends at Fantrax if you don’t have an account there yet. Just go there and register. Tell whoever is running your playoff pool to set it up over there too (not a requirement, I’m just asking you to do it). If (WHEN) you like it, you’ll put up your league there in the fall.

*

This season’s DobberHockey pool is about ready to wrap up. If you haven’t checked in a while, head over to OfficePools and take a look. Big prizes to be divvied out, including from Draft Kings ($500), All-Sports Market (signed stick), Cool Hockey (free jerseys) and Fantasy Hockey Geek. Announcement coming next Wednesday as to the winners (we need a couple of extra days for the standings to become official).

*

If you’re wondering about a DobberHockey playoff pool, the plan is to set it up Dobbernomics style. We hope to have the final touches done for Beta 2.0 and launch the playoff version of Dobbernomics in a couple of days. My goal is to get a few hundred of you to try it out, make suggestions as you see them, and then this will be ready for a full launch in September. More info on the playoff pool coming this weekend!

*

The eight teams in the Western Conference playoffs are now finalized. The Wild backed in with a loss last night – because Colorado lost as well. The Avs gave up two decent draft picks and a couple of prospects (plus Alex Tanguay) for rentals that couldn’t keep them in the postseason picture.

You can’t blame the acquisitions though. Mikkel Boedker has 12 points in 16 games for them (60-point pace) and Shawn Matthias has 10 points in 18 games since joining. No, blame the veterans: Gabriel Landeskog had just five points in the last 10 games and has been shut out of seven of those games; Carl Soderberg has five points in his last 11 games; Jarome Iginla has two points in eight games.

And of course goaltender Semyon Varlamov has been far below average over the last month.

What can we say about Erik Johnson? After two pretty promising seasons that led me to believe that his breakout season would happen later in his career (similar to Chris Pronger)…instead he takes a huge step backwards. Just 26 points this year and a minus-19 so far.

Colorado worships Patrick Roy. It’s going to be tough to get him out of there. But I think that’s what needs to be done The Avs will stick by him though, for at least another bad year. Minimum.

*

Colin Wilson picked up two points last night which ends a string of 11 games with just the one point. He didn’t get it going early enough in his career and now it’s probably too late. The Preds have moved on and are leaning on other players for production. The emergence of Filip Forsberg and the acquisition of Ryan Johansen has pushed Wilson out of the top six for good. Here were Nashville’s line combos last night.

#1 30.1% ARVIDSSON,VIKTOR – FISHER,MIKE – WILSON,COLIN

#2 21.2% FORSBERG,FILIP – RIBEIRO,MIKE – SMITH,CRAIG

#3 17.3% JARNKROK,CALLE – JOHANSEN,RYAN – NEAL,JAMES

#4 15% BASS,CODY – GAUSTAD,PAUL – NYSTROM,ERIC

Speaking Johansen, he now has points in four straight games and has 13 points in his last 11 games. Just in time for the playoffs.

*

With the win last night over the Wild, San Jose set a franchise record for road wins. They finish 28-10-3 on the road. Think about that record for minute. On the road!

The shutout was James Reimer’s third since joining the Sharks and third in seven games. His numbers over the last seven games:

6-1-0, 1.42 GAA, 0.945 SV%, 3 SO

Martin Jones is a great goaltender, but his numbers get a huge lift from the coaching system. And you’re seeing that with Reimer. So is Reimer slightly better under this system? Goalie controversy? You tell me. Here is Martin Jones over the last eight games:

3-5-0, 2.02 GAA, 0.913 SV%, 0 SO

I’ll tell you this much – if Coach DeBoer still goes with Jones (I think he will), then Jones will be on a very short leash. Very short.

*

Logan Couture is heating up at the right time. He has six points in his last four games. He’s playing with Joonas Donskoi and Joel Ward.

*

After back-to-back 4-point games, Artemi Panarin slumped tonight, only managing 3 points.https://t.co/Sd30keRyDA

— Dobber (@DobberHockey) April 6, 2016

11 points in 3 games, 75 points on the season…that should about close the door on the Calder Trophy, right?

— Dobber (@DobberHockey) April 6, 2016

*

Thanks to two consecutive blowouts, Arizona rookie goaltender Louis Domingue’s numbers are actually starting to look pretty ugly and it’s a shame. He deserved to come out of this season looking like a potential stud with his confidence high. Instead, after 10 goals in two games (why was he left in?), his SV% is down to 0.912.

*

Down 3-0 the Penguins scored five straight to win. Again. Quickly becoming serious Cup contenders. An underrated part of that – Nick Bonino. He has 15 points in his last 11 games.

Has anyone noticed that Justin Schultz has points in four straight games now? He’s also plus-10 since joining the Penguins 16 games ago. To the non-stats guy, numbers that look better optically I believe have a very positive impact on contract talks for the player. So Schultz getting to 20 points and minus-9 would make all the difference for this summer. He sits at 18 points and minus-12. Still a very disappointing season, but he’s a bubble player when it comes to getting another one-way NHL contract and he needs whatever edge he can get.

*

Bobby Ryan before Christmas: 32 points in 34 games

Bobby Ryan after Christmas: 24 points in 45 games

Somebody had too much turkey, methinks…

*

Jaromir Jagr picked up two more assists. The 44-year-old Jagr during a low-scoring era has 64 points. The 19-year-old Jagr during a wide-open NHL had just 57 points back in 1991.

I guess it makes it easier on him when his linemates Aleksander Barkov and Jonathan Huberdeau are on a seven-game points streak (11 and 10 points respectively).

*

Cooper did not have any update on Hedman or Callahan and didn't say he could guarantee either will play in final two games #TBLightning

— Erik Erlendsson (@erlendssonTBO) April 6, 2016

So the Lightning were without Hedman and Callahan, which means more ice time for Vladislav Namestnikov and Jonathan Marchessault. Actually, Namestnikov only played nine minutes, but that may have been partially influenced by this hit that got Tanner Glass ejected:

Namestnikov did return to the game.

*

The Rangers lost Ryan McDonagh for what I’m thinking in the first round of the playoffs thanks to a broken hand. If he comes back early I’m thinking that he won’t be very effective. And now the Rangers have this:

Alain Vigneault said Dan Girardi is being evaluated. He's not overly concerned after talking with trainers, but no further update tonight.

— Dan Rosen (@drosennhl) April 6, 2016

New York is looking as though they will face the red-hot Penguins…so these injuries don’t exactly help the outlook any.

Chris Kreider does have eight points in his last six games though, and Mats Zuccarello has eight in his last eight. So not all is bleak.

*

Well look who’s back just in time for the playoffs – John Tavares. Just when he was listed on many Top 10 disappointment lists (ahem) he gets back-to-back three-point games. He has nine points in his last five games and now has 67 points. Getting to 70 would still disappoint, but won’t be quite as ugly…

*

I was just looking over my Midseason Guide at the College Free Agent profiles I did. Here is a list of who has signed where so far, each of whom were profiled. Make sure you pick this Guide up next year! Anyway, here they are:

Nick Lappin, F – New Jersey

Alex Lyon, G – Philadelphia (coveted free agent goalie and the Flyers signed him yesterday)

Casey Nelson, D – Buffalo

Tom Parisi, D – Montreal

Andrew Poturalski, W – Carolina (watch him – small but smart, could be another Blandisi)

Brandon Tanev, LW – Winnipeg (brother of Chris)