Carlson vs. Green; Johnson vs. Stamkos; Comeau vs. the numbers game and more…

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I had a brief little five-day trip to Jamaica – sans kids – and I’m back feeling refreshed. And you’ll get to read Ramblings from the perspective of a fantasy-hockey guy who was somewhat out of the loop for several days, and then suddenly digests everything at once. That being said, I did read the Ramblings every morning from the perspective of a regular reader and I must say – very entertaining and insightful. Thank you Rick Roos and Steve Laidlaw. Other than the Ramblings (each morning when I woke up), the box scores, and the Evander Kane bombshell, I stayed unplugged. I also pretty much stayed in the lounge chair (other than to refill my beer mug). So I leave 27 degrees in Jamaica and arrive Saturday night in Toronto to “feels like” minus-40. So the ol’ 67 degree temperature swing that nearly killed me with shock.

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Thanks to forum member islefan31 for pointing this one out – the Islanders play five games this week in what is an extremely rare event. In my experience, you see something like this maybe two or three times per year across the entire league? Just from setting my own lineups, this week strikes me as a week of extremes – with the Islanders playing five and many other teams playing four… but then LA and ARI playing just two. But you can get all this stuff in our Looking Ahead feature, that’s been rolling weekly since 2008. Here is the latest one.

Anders Lee had four assists on Saturday and has been absolutely flying since joining the Tavares line. He has 15 points in his last 15 games. I’ve maintained all along that he’s been the best fit with JT (other than Okposo, of course). And now we’re seeing it. We won’t have to worry about this for awhile, but I’m curious as to whose place will be taken by Kyle Okposo when Okposo returns – Lee or Josh Bailey?

Bailey has been hot as well, posting 15 points in 16 games.