In the weekly piece “Eastern Edge”, TJ Branson breaks down the latest fantasy information from the standpoint of the Eastern Conference – the streaks, the slumps, the line combinations and much more.
Taking a fantasy hockey look at Lars Eller; and why Martin Erat and Brooks Laich will form a fine second line
This week the Eastern Edge discusses the Eastern Conference goaltending situation.
Russ Miller eats a bit of crow - the Islanders are better than he thought
Only two weeks ago on this very platform, I wrote with confidence that the New Jersey Devils would make the playoffs and the perennially sad sack New York Islanders would not. With the Jets only one point back of three teams, but also with one less game remaining, the playoff fates of several teams will not be determined until the coming weekend. I would love to eat crow on this one (medium-well, thank you).
Miller finishes up his look at the East playoff race, with Isles, Sabres, Flyers and Jets
With the regular season rapidly winding down, only three Eastern Conference teams can say with much certainty that they will make the playoffs - Pittsburgh, Montreal and Boston. Conversely, only three teams have all but mathematically eliminated themselves from playoff contention - Carolina, Tampa Bay and Florida.
This week (in two parts - you can take a look at the first part here), we'll take a closer look at which of the remaining nine Eastern Conference teams have a real shot at punching one of the five available tickets to the post-season dance or are just pretenders this year. Below is a table of the Eastern Conference standings. I've added games remaining because I hate to do math - simple subtraction drives me to distraction.
Miller takes a deep look at the Eastern Conference playoff contenders
With the regular season rapidly winding down, only three Eastern Conference teams can say with much certainty that they will make the playoffs - Pittsburgh, Montreal and Boston. Conversely, only three teams have all but mathematically eliminated themselves from playoff contention - Carolina, Tampa Bay and Florida.
This week (in two parts - the second part is out later today), we'll take a closer look at which of the remaining nine Eastern Conference teams have a real shot at punching one of the five available tickets to the post-season dance or are just pretenders this year. Below is a table of the Eastern Conference standings. I've added games remaining because I hate to do math - simple subtraction drives me to distraction.
Russ Miller takes a look at young Rangers' forward Derek Stepan.
Lame title aside, Derek Stepan is playing some inspired hockey of late. He's been the Rangers best Centre and is only three points and one goal behind "superstar" Rick Nash's team leading 30 points and 13 goals respectively. In most fantasy leagues, Brad Richards and Rick Nash went many rounds ahead of Stepan, yet here we are about to enter the home stretch of this abbreviated season and Stepan is playing the best hockey of his career.
A revival of the classic Crosby vs. Ovechkin debate - Miller takes a look at the Capitals' turnaround and the Penguins' surge
Over the Capitals last five games, they have four wins and a respectable 2-1 loss to the surging Penguins. In those four victories, Washington has scored 18 goals. So have they turned an imaginary corner or is this just a brief illusion of past scoring success?
Where to begin with this year's version of the Florida Panthers?
Only seven wins and 20 points speaks volumes about this season's lack of success. The next worst team has 10 wins. I could mention their Goals For/Goals Against ratio of minus-39, or as I like to call it, Winnipeg in January. By a wide margin, Florida sports the leagues worst goals-against average of 3.72, the next worst are the Islanders sitting at 3.25. This was a team that won their division last season.
Miller discusses the Hurricanes, the Tavares line, Subban and more...
Last season, the Carolina Hurricanes finished last in arguably the weakest division in the NHL. They were aggressive during the summer and went out and got Jordan Staal, sending promising Center Brandon Sutter to Pittsburgh, plus they also signed unrestricted free agent Alexander Semin. The Hurricanes took a large financial risk signing the enigmatic and oft-injured Russian to a one year, $7-million contract, but it is paying off handsomely for both parties involved.
