The Wild West

With the playoffs well underway, we will shift gears for a few weeks and take a look at the most valuable players in the west at their position this year. Using the Fantasy Hockey Geek ranking tool, we are able to get a ranking that combines all of a player’s stats for the searched categories. [...]

  With the first round in the books I thought it was appropriate to check in on the predictions made in the earlier columns.   First up we have the Sneaky Value adds that were depth or under-the-radar considerations once the top players for each team were off the board. The idea being that these [...]

So what do the NHL playoffs have to do with jelly beans? In truth, not much, but more on that in a second. At this time of year we are bombarded with everyone’s playoff takes on who should win and why, and the “X Factor” that all but guarantees it. For the most part though, [...]

Chris Kane makes his DobberHockey Wild West debut... With the regular season wrapping up this weekend our thoughts of course turn to the playoffs. Many of us, who were less fortunate in our individual leagues (hats off to my opponent for the league title, you had a great team) are looking for a little fantasy [...]

With just 11 games remaining on their schedule before the playoffs it sure looks like Nashville will net the West’s top seed. The first NHL team to clinch a playoff spot this campaign, owner of the league’s best record (47-14-10 and 104 points), and with the sour taste of a Cup Finals loss last year, [...]

With Evander Kane in tow, San Jose is making a late year push to up their playoff stock.   There’s little chance they’ll catch Vegas in the Pacific which currently boasts a 12-point lead, but they have a solid shot at the West’s fourth playoff spot and home-ice advantage in the first series at least, [...]

  The West’s most prolific scorer other than Connor McDavid since February 1 is Vegas’ Reilly Smith.      With 22 points (nine goals) in 15 contests, Smith has now registered 60 points in 65 games. As with many of the Golden Knights, this campaign has produced a career high for the age 26, six-year vet [...]

  A quick rundown of Western Conference action so far...   While I’m sure there will be a bounty of other deals taking place Monday that may dwarf those that came shortly before, here are some thoughts on a few trade deadline happenings and how they pertain to the Western Conference as of Sunday evening: [...]

In the midst of a season-high four game win streak, and an 8-5-5 record since the calendar hit 2018, Arizona is salvaging some late success from another year gone wrong.   For a team starting the campaign with 11 straight losses and not earning their fourth win until their 23rd contest it’s hopefully a harbinger [...]

Following Saturday’s 44-save shutout of Chicago, Devan Dubnyk seems recovered from a less-than-stellar first few months of the campaign and in a groove similar to that of last year’s outstanding first half.   His 13-3-2 mark since November 30, coupled with a .927 save percentage and 2.36 goals against aren’t enough to entirely offset some [...]