Merry Christmas everyone! May each of you unwrap a 12-game points streak from your most disappointing player, an early return from your injured star, and a lights-out performance from your latest waiver pickup.

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Beginning today will be our Decades series, with three feature articles today from Rick Roos, Cam Robinson and Mario Prata, melding into Boxing Day with pieces from Tom Collins and Ian Gooding. On New Year’s Day you’ll see Mike Clifford’s piece, culminating in the overall Top Players of the Decade for Fantasy Hockey penned by yours truly!

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The 91 goals that were scored in the NHL on Monday. This was the most goals scored on a Monday in NHL history. This beat the record of 84 set on December 23, 2013. And 31 goals were scored in the first period of Monday’s games – the record for that in any one day is 39 (from 1981 and again in 2017).

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In putting together the Top Fantasy Hockey Players of the Decade article, one thing I did was gather my Top 50 projections for each year of the decade. Pretty cool seeing some of the results there, even though much of it would closely mimic actual results (since I’m so great, right? JK). Nine players were in my projected Top 50 each and every year of the decade. And here they are:

Steven Stamkos, Phil Kessel, Patrick Kane, Anze Kopitar, Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Taylor Hall, Nicklas Backstrom and John Tavares.

Two players hit on nine occasions: Claude Giroux and Ryan Getzlaf

With another five players getting into the Top 50 projected scorer’s list eight times: Jonathan Toews, Tyler Seguin, Jamie Benn, Blake Wheeler and Jakub Voracek

Erik Karlsson was the defenseman hitting the list the most, with seven

Retired (officially or unofficially) players hitting the list a lot included Henrik Zetterberg (five), Henrik Sedin (five), Jarome Iginla (four), Thomas Vanek (four – not officially retired yet), Pavel Datsyuk (four – still playing in the KHL) and Rick Nash (four).

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Top 20 players in terms of BLKS/60 minutes of ice time:

Name	Pos	Team	GP	TOI	BkS/60	SHTOI	%SH	BkS
IAN COLE	D	COL	32	17:45	7.9	2:32	49.7	75
CALVIN DE HAAN	D	CHI	29	19:55	7.6	2:41	50.9	73
ALEXANDER EDLER	D	VAN	28	23:30	7.5	3:06	53.9	82
OSCAR KLEFBOM	D	EDM	40	25:48	7.4	2:49	55.9	127
MARK BOROWIECKI	D	OTT	38	18:02	7.4	2:34	44.4	84
KORBINIAN HOLZER	D	ANA	31	16:55	7.3	2:05	38.5	64
RYAN GRAVES	D	COL	36	17:30	7.2	2:51	56.3	76
KRIS RUSSELL	D	EDM	39	17:33	7.1	2:33	50.3	81
ANDY GREENE	D	N.J	32	19:52	7.1	3:32	67	75
CHRISTOPHER TANEV	D	VAN	38	19:51	7	3:37	65.8	88
CONNOR MURPHY	D	CHI	26	21:10	6.8	2:51	56.8	62
ALEC MARTINEZ	D	L.A	24	21:00	6.7	1:58	37.9	56
ROBERT HAGG	D	PHI	21	15:01	6.7	1:08	21.9	35
JOHNNY BOYCHUK	D	NYI	34	17:54	6.5	2:08	44.1	66
MICHAEL STONE	D	CGY	20	15:12	6.5	1:04	24.7	33
ADAM PELECH	D	NYI	35	21:06	6.3	2:43	54.9	78
TRAVIS HAMONIC	D	CGY	33	21:01	6.3	3:24	61.5	73
BRENT SEABROOK	D	CHI	32	18:09	6.3	1:32	30.5	61
NOEL ACCIARI	C	FLA	33	15:06	6.3	2:28	62.2	52
MARK GIORDANO	D	CGY	39	24:27	6.2	2:56	55.9	99

This is for minimum of 20 games played. Of interest – Acciari is the only forward on the list. Seabrook is at least good for something.

(Get that Report yourself right here)

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Top 30 Players in SOG per 60 minutes of ice time:

Name	Pos	Team	GP	PTS	SOG	SOG/60
BRENDAN GALLAGHER	R	MTL	37	30	145 📢 advertisement:	13.9
ALEX OVECHKIN	L	WSH	38	36	182	13.8
MAX PACIORETTY	L	VGK	40	37	161	13.6
NATHAN MACKINNON	C	COL	37	55	168	13
BRADY TKACHUK	L	OTT	38	24	142	12.3
JAKUB VRANA	L	WSH	38	31	110	11.9
JONATHAN MARCHESSAULT	C	VGK	40	27	138	11.8
OLIVER BJORKSTRAND	R	CBJ	36	23	122	11.8
JEFF SKINNER	L	BUF	38	19	127	11.7
DAVID PASTRNAK	R	BOS	38	54	143	11.6
PATRICE BERGERON	C	BOS	29	32	110	11.6
FILIP FORSBERG	L	NSH	30	25	104	11.5
CRAIG SMITH	R	NSH	36	14	92	11.4
JEFF CARTER	C	L.A	39	17	125	11.3
TAYLOR HALL	L	ARI	34	28	121	11.2
JOEL ARMIA	R	MTL	35	21	110	11.1
TYLER SEGUIN	C	DAL	38	30	132	11
BRYAN RUST	R	PIT	22	25	77	11
EVGENI MALKIN	C	PIT	23	31	80	10.9
ANTHONY DUCLAIR	L	OTT	38	30	114	10.9
CLAYTON KELLER	R	ARI	39	29	120	10.9
AUSTIN WAGNER	L	L.A	35	7	74	10.9
AUSTON MATTHEWS	C	TOR	38	43	136	10.8
CAM ATKINSON	R	CBJ	35	21	113	10.8
CONOR GARLAND	R	ARI	38	17	88	10.7
ANTHONY MANTHA	R	DET	29	24	95	10.6
DENIS GURIANOV	R	DAL	33	13	74	10.6
STEVEN STAMKOS	C	T.B	32	32	103	10.5
NIKOLAJ EHLERS	L	WPG	37	28	109	10.4
PATRICK KANE	R	CHI	38	46	137	10.2

I made this list bigger because I think it helps find some gems and identify sustainable trends. First you need to look at the player and ask whether or not his ice time will increase. In the case of Wagner, I would suggest that it won’t. But if it does, pay attention to what happens. If there is any sign of maintaining what he does, then take a flier on him. In the case of Gallagher, I think his ice time is what it is. I don’t expect a big jump there. But players such as Vrana, Bjorkstrand, Armia (the latter two are injured, unfortunately), Garland and Gurianov we are seeing promising signs. And Duclair taking a lot of shots with the ice time given is quite promising.

Rarely does a player who ranks in the Top 50 SOG overall, not put up a decent amount of points.

(You can get this Report yourself right here)

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Anyway, there are tons of reports in Frozen Tools like these, and if you are still waiting at the door for your family to get ready, why not go in there and play around? It’s a rabbit hole – the cool results are endless!

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Treat yourself to a Christmas present right now and pre-order the Midseason Fantasy Guide right here! It’s out on January 10^th in the afternoon.

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Top 10 Player Comebacks of the Decade:

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See you Monday – enjoy your Christmas with the fam!

UPCOMING GAMES

Nov 14 - 19:11	NYR	vs	S.J
Nov 14 - 19:11	T.B	vs	WPG
Nov 14 - 19:11	OTT	vs	PHI
Nov 14 - 19:11	FLA	vs	N.J
Nov 14 - 19:11	BUF	vs	STL
Nov 14 - 20:11	DAL	vs	BOS
Nov 14 - 20:11	MIN	vs	MTL
Nov 14 - 21:11	EDM	vs	NSH
Nov 14 - 22:11	VAN	vs	NYI
Nov 14 - 22:11	SEA	vs	CHI