After Tuesday’s discussion of goalie fatigue, I got to thinking about the most important traits a goaltender can have. Undoubtedly, you want a goalie playing on a good team. We’ll never completely parse the impact of goalie talent, player talent, coaching and systems, but for fantasy owners you’ll do well in goalie stats by playing [...]
Goaltender fatigue has become one of the big discussion points late in this season. Braden Holtby has had a miserable run, leading to Philipp Grubauer taking over the crease. Frederik Andersen’s heavy starting load has been a hot button issue in Toronto. Andrei Vasilevskiy has discussed how fatigue has affected his second half play: [...]
Great timing from Wayne Simmonds to return for the fantasy playoffs. Simmonds’ return pushed Nolan Patrick back onto the second power play unit, and likely off of many fantasy teams. Looking forward, the Flyers play tonight and on Saturday, both densely packed slates where you’re unlikely to slot Patrick in. Even though he notched [...]
Tank re-enforcements for the Canadiens yesterday with Max Pacioretty being ruled out 4-6 weeks with a knee injury and Victor Mete ruled out six weeks with a broken finger. Their seasons are done! Good riddance for Pacioretty. I couldn’t bring myself to drop him despite a run one goal and six points in 15 [...]
That was quite the smackdown that the Bruins laid on the Penguins last night. Eight goals! Including a hat-trick for David Krejci. Krejci has quietly been good when healthy, he just has not been able to stay healthy. He has 33 points in 44 games, a 60-point pace, which is near the high end [...]
The Niemi-ssance continues! Other than getting roasted by Mathew Barzal, which could and does happen to anyone, Niemi stopped 27 of 28 to defeat the Islanders. Niemi has made eight starts since joining the Canadiens, winning four of them and putting up a quality start in seven of the eight games. The one blip [...]
Was there a bigger loser of this year’s trade deadline than Vladislav Namestnikov? I don’t think so. The biggest possibly opening is the one left by Namestnikov as the net-front presence on the Lightning’s top power play unit. There isn’t as much of an opening in the top-six considering Namestnikov fell out of favour [...]
Fantasy Impact: Another three-way trade has gone down with the Edmonton Oilers acquiring Pontus Aberg from Nashville, sending Mark Letestu to the Columbus Blue Jackets, and the Predators landing Columbus’ 2018 fourth-round pick. The Oilers get: A speedy 24-year-old winger who has scored at every level outside the NHL. The Blue Jackets [...]
EDITORS NOTE: THIS POST HAS BEEN UPDATED TO REFLECT THE ADJUSTMENTS FROM THE INITIALLY REPORTED TRADE Fantasy Impact: The Pittsburgh Penguins acquire Derick Brassard, Vincent Dunn, Tobias Lindberg and a 2018 third-round pick in a three-way trade including the Vegas Golden Knights and Ottawa Senators. Vegas gets Ryan Reaves and a 2018 fourth-round [...]
Shea Weber has been ruled out for the season and Carey Price is now out with a concussion. The tank is on in Montreal! It would be nonsense to say this is intentional on the Canadiens’ part. They have way too much money invested in these two to play games. They are out because [...]
