Hockey Rambling

The Alex Ovechkin watch continued on Thursday, but unfortunately, he did not score a goal in the Capitals’ 2-1 loss to Dallas. In case you haven’t been following, Ovie has reached 800 career goals and needs just one goal to pass Gordie Howe for second on the all-time goals list. Even without a goal, Ovechkin [...]

The way Tim Stützle went into the boards in Monday’s game against Anaheim seemed to portend very bad news. We have seen players break collarbones and separate shoulders on similar plays and that’s something Sens fans and fantasy owners were worried about. Ottawa provided some very good news about Stützle on Wednesday, though: https://twitter.com/ian_mendes/status/1603053829137879040?s=46&t=pLOniChP5G85ckF5Jd76Rg Depending [...]

The Washington Capitals look to be not far off from icing the healthiest lineup they’ve had all season. *knocks on wood* Tom Wilson and Nicklas Backstrom are skating, and both look to be somewhere between week-to-week and day-to-day. It could be that we see both back in the lineup by the New Year, and by [...]

It looked as if Ottawa would have an excellent top-6 forward group heading into the season thanks to the development of their prospects and adding Alex DeBrincat and Claude Giroux. Unfortunately, Josh Norris injured his shoulder just five games into the season and that left them rotating centers on the second line for several weeks. [...]

Released on Friday, January 13 - my 15th edition of the DobberHockey Midseason Guide! Pre-order it here. No Nathan MacKinnon? No problem for 26-year-old Mikko Rantanen, who posted a hatty on Sunday – all three goals for the win. Rantanen’s last two seasons saw an 82-game pace of 104 and 101 points and if you [...]

Kris Letang might be a certified Band-Aid Boy, but he’s also a medical marvel. Just 12 days after suffering a stroke, Letang was back in the Penguins’ lineup on Saturday. Although he did not record a point, he delivered seven hits and blocked three shots in 22 minutes of icetime. Jeff Petry remained on the [...]

At age 24, Matthew Phillips has paid his dues in both the WHL and AHL. After two 90+ point seasons in the WHL, Phillips has built up his value in the AHL to the point where he is currently tied for the lead in scoring with 30 points in 20 games. The one reason Phillips [...]

There was a lot of injury news that came throughout Thursday so we’re going to take time going through the notable names. First and foremost, Pittsburgh defenceman Kris Letang has been out of action because of the stroke he suffered last week. There is very good news on this front: https://twitter.com/TaylorHaasePGH/status/1600880690547015682 I can understand the [...]

There are a few teams dealing with a slew of injures and the Philadelphia Flyers are one of them. They are still without Sean Couturier, Ryan Ellis, and Cam Atkinson, to name a few, but James van Riemsdyk returned to the lineup on Wednesday night. He had five points in six games before he was [...]

Apologies for the late Ramblings. There was a miscommunication about coverage, so Alex and Dobber double-teamed them to get them out quick. ALEX MACLEAN A lot of the teams that don’t play the Devils often seem to get surprised by how much they are attacking the middle of the ice this year, and how easily [...]