Hockey Rambling

For the 15th time in 16 years (damn lockout), I am offering a playoff draft list for your playoff pools. This will be available for download Monday (so it may be available as you read this). I had to quit working on it to write these Ramblings, but even with that minor delay I expect [...]

You could feel it in the air. Connor McDavid would hit 100 points on Saturday, even though he still needed four points to get there. He flew off the blocks by scoring a goal in the opening minute. 97, to match his jersey number. Nearly seven minutes into the second period, he assisted on Jesse [...]

The main beneficiary of Alex Ovechkin’s absence from the lineup (now nearly two weeks) has been Daniel Sprong. With another goal on Friday, Sprong now has six goals in his last six games. Currently he’s on what should be considered the Capitals’ top scoring line with Nicklas Backstrom and Anthony Mantha. Sprong is still only [...]

So… quite the Capitals-Rangers game on Wednesday night. Next season’s rematch should be highly anticipated. Whether you liked it or not, it undoubtedly grabbed your attention. No surprise that the Rangers were fined $250,000 for their statement regarding Tom Wilson and George Parros. As much as publicly calling for someone to be fired from their [...]

Alex Newhook made his debut for the Avs on Wednesday, playing down the lineup. The Avs are deep enough that I don’t expect he’ll crack the regular playoff lineup without injury, but we’ll see how this shakes out. It is always nice having a bevy of options to turn to, and Newhook tore up the [...]

Tom Wilson was fined $5000 by the league for his actions in the game against the Rangers on Monday night. It is the maximum allowed under the current CBA. This is the second extra bit of punishment handed down to Wilson this year, as he had a seven-game suspension. I know it seems like nothing [...]

After months of rehab from his hip surgery, Tyler Seguin made his season’s debut for the Stars on Monday night. He started the game on the fourth line but we know how these things can go. There was a good article over at The Athletic written by Saad Yousuf about Seguin’s road to recovery. It [...]

I’m starting to wonder if it’s better to just swing for the fences with every draft pick. To always go for that Golden Boy, even if it means waiting two to four years. Take the sure prospect and ignore the hunch prospect. Or leave the “hunch prospect” for the final pick, if you really need [...]

Just call it Super Saturday, where all of the NHL’s active 31 teams except Winnipeg were in action. It was the kind of day where Craig Smith was way more valuable to fantasy owners than David Pastrnak. Many fantasy owners (such as myself) made the decision to drop Smith after he had gone five games [...]

Now that it’s crunch time in many fantasy leagues, we’re discussing the schedule more and more. Friday’s schedule featured just four games, which depending on the players you own may or may not be the best day to try to make up ground. My two teams still in head-to-head playoffs featured three or four active [...]