Hockey Rambling

Being surprised by an early result is a response to expectations. What a person – in this case yours truly – expected to happen in the first few weeks of the season is directly related to what they were expecting to happen. In that sense, whether this is a surprise to each reader depends on [...]

We are a couple of weeks into the season and there are definitely a few slow starters that I’m looking into, some that I certainly didn’t expect to have to be worrying about this early. Vitek Vanecek – Goalies are the definition of fickle, and that’s especially the case in small sample sizes. When that [...]

We are a couple weeks into the full NHL season and the injuries are starting to pile up across the league. Aaron Ekblad, Nikolaj Ehlers, and Tyler Bertuzzi, just to name a few notable fantasy options, have already hit the IR and will be out for lengthy, if varied, timelines. Ottawa has started to endure [...]

Have you checked out the new Goalie Post yet? Set up your email update notifications now (you’ll have to do it again, with the new platform). Login using only an email address and one-time passcode (that’s it!). Go to your settings, and check off the boxes of teams you want emailed updates on for starting [...]

After a sluggish first few games, Taylor Hall is showing that he still has something to offer. The former Hart Trophy winner scored the overtime winner and added two assists with five shots on Saturday. After recording just one point in his first four games, Hall has goals in back-to-back games. He’s also been on [...]

Eric Staal is officially back for one more season. Following a professional tryout, the Panthers have signed Staal to a one-year contract worth $750,000. He wasn’t in the lineup for Friday’s game against Tampa Bay, but he should make his season debut on Sunday. Staal last played in the NHL in 2020-21, when he split [...]

In yesterday’s Ramblings, we went over some early numbers from different players and lines to look for some early indications of where to pay attention. As mentioned in that Ramblings, it can take several weeks for some numbers to stabilize but if fantasy owners wait several weeks before making decisions on certain players, they could [...]

Early in the fantasy hockey season, there needs to be a balance struck. That balance is between what we thought in the offseason, what we’ve seen in the games so far, and what the numbers are telling us. It has been shown in prior statistical work that it can take about 20 games for expected [...]

The season is well underway now. We have fanbases panicking, parades being planned across half of the continent, and a whole bunch of news to cover. Meanwhile, on a fantasy level, we have at least one week under our belts, so you’re already seeing some direction from your team. Roto leaguers are just starting to [...]

We are through the first week of the NHL season, at least with all the teams playing and not just the teams that made the trip to Europe. As such, I just want to give a handful of first-week observations from around the league. It is still far too early to make determinations about any [...]