Ramblings: Perry Keeps Stars Alive, Wings Sign Gagner and Trade For M. Staal (Sept 27)

Ian Gooding

2020-09-27

We get to watch at least one more hockey game… until who knows when.

Dallas 3, Tampa Bay 2 – 2OT (Tampa Bay leads series 3-2)

Corey Perry might be your least favorite player on the Stars. Yet he's the guy you can thank for ensuring that bubble hockey will continue with a Game 6 on Monday evening. Perry's second goal of the game at 9:23 of the second overtime sealed the victory for a never-quit Stars team that is losing bodies. All of Roope Hintz, Blake Comeau, and Radek Faksa missed Game 5, while Andrej Sekera left the game for a while after blocking a shot in the first period.

Say what you want about Perry being past his prime, but he stepped up in a major way. His Game 5 statline shows two goals, a plus-2, three hits, and nine shots on goal. Perry has now scored three goals in his past two games after going 19 consecutive games without a goal. His contract with the Stars was only for a year, so it's anyone's guess where he might end up next season.

Dallas' 33 shots might seem okay, but keep in mind that they played four and a half periods. Dallas only took six shots total in the period and a half of overtime. They didn't even record their first overtime shot until late in the first overtime. But it's not about how many shots you take – it's about how many goals you score.

Joe Pavelski's huge game-tying goal with 6:45 in regulation also deserves mention here. He is now your postseason leader in goals with 13.

Replacing Tyler Seguin with Pavelski on the top line with Jamie Benn and Alexander Radulov in Game 4 has helped both Pavelsk and Seguin. With the goal, Pavelski has three goals over his last two games and a four-game point streak. The "demotion" to the Perry line has also boosted Seguin, who with three helpers in Game 5 now has five assists over his last two games (but still no goals in 14 games). I mentioned yesterday that I thought Seguin would score a goal before this series ends, and I'll stick to my word on that.  

Early in the day, there were rumblings that Ben Bishop could possibly make his way into the Stars lineup as they faced elimination and Anton Khudobin possibly facing fatigue. However, the Stars decided to go with the goalie that got them to this point. Khudobin's standout play has been a major storyline during the playoffs; however, he allowed five goals in back-to-back games entering Game 5. Although he earned the huge Game 5 win, he will most certainly be tired.

Brayden Point kept on doing his thing, recording two assists in Game 5. With his third consecutive two-point game and seven points over his last four games, Point is making a serious push for the Conn Smythe Trophy. Point has one fewer point than teammate Nikita Kucherov but has played two fewer games. Kucherov should also be in the Conn Smythe discussion. And of course, Victor Hedman.

As expected, Steven Stamkos did not suit up for the Lightning again. Could we see him in Game 6? Probably not, but I'm thinking there's a chance if this series goes seven.

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The Red Wings have signed Sam Gagner to a one-year contract extension worth $850,000. After being traded to the Wings from Edmonton, Gagner scored a goal with no assists while averaging 15 minutes per game over six games. He seems like he will help bridge the gap in Detroit's rebuild while possibly even fetching a small futures return at the trade deadline.

The Red Wings weren't done after the Gagner signing, acquiring Marc Staal and a 2021 second-round pick from the Rangers for good ol' future considerations. Staal has a year remaining with a cap hit of $5.7 million, so this is simply the Rangers clearing much-needed cap space. The Rangers have their share of RFAs to take care of this offseason, including Tony DeAngelo, Ryan Strome, Brendan Lemieux, and Alexandar Georgiev.

Acquiring Staal helps the Red Wings get closer to the cap floor while adding to their prospect base. The Wings have 20 draft picks combined over the next two drafts. Staal finished 2019-20 with 11 points (2g-9a) in 52 games, so he's really not a fantasy option. He could, however, log significant minutes with the Wings. In related news, Steve Yzerman has confirmed that the Wings will not be bringing back either Trevor Daley or Jonathan Ericsson.

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According to Elliotte Friedman on the HNIC broadcast, it's "doubtful" that Dustin Byfuglien plays again. This is hardly a surprise, but just in case you're hanging on to the 35-year-old blueliner in your keeper league.

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If you're in a salary cap league, you need to check out Alex MacLean's Top 200 Cap League Skater Rankings. He's had these going for a few months, but this weekend he's also added Cap League Goalie Rankings! It can be difficult to determine which players and goalies give you the most bang for your buck, but Capped writer Alex will help you with that.

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I haven't discussed the top Frozen Tools searches in a while. Here they are for the week that just passed.

There are plenty of names you'd expect to see here, such as the recently traded Mike Matheson and playoff sensation Khudobin. However, one name that caught my attention (because he probably doesn't a lot of attention in fantasy leagues at the moment) is Sharks defenseman Mario Ferraro.

In his rookie 2019-20 season, the most notable stat for Ferraro was his 120 hits, which worked out to an average of about two per game and the fifth-highest total on the Sharks. Otherwise, he finished with a modest 11 points (2g-9a) in 61 games. So I'm genuinely curious as to why he was such a popular search.

Ferraro showed strong offensive upside during his first NCAA season for UMass (Amherst), scoring 23 points in 39 games. However, his stock fell in his second season, dropping to 14 points in 41 games. The presence of Cale Makar had a lot to do with that.

Of course, Ferraro's path is currently being blocked by the two-headed defensive monster known as Erik Karlsson and Brent Burns. Ferraro could squeak in some second-unit power-play time, but that situation hasn't exactly led Tim Heed to success. Given the current state of the Sharks defense (big minutes for Burns, Karlsson, and Marc-Edouard Vlasic, but not much after that), Ferraro might be in line for a greater role in 2020-21. That could make him a possible in-season waiver-wire add in deeper leagues.

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Enjoy Game 6 on Monday. For more fantasy hockey discussion, or to reach out to me, you can follow me on Twitter @Ian_Gooding.

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