Hockey Rambling

Only one game of playoff pucks on Thursday… and it was quite the night for Leafs fans. Maple Leafs 2, Bruins 1 (series tied 3-3) Maybe losing Auston Matthews was what the Leafs needed to figure out how to dig deep and play with passion. Of course it’s not as simple as that, but the [...]

The finalists for the Norris Trophy were announced and without much surprise, they are Roman Josi, Quinn Hughes, and Cale Makar. It is quite the trio of defencemen who all have some argument to being the winner: Josi was probably the best defenceman in the league after the Christmas break, Makar led the league in [...]

One of my friends asked me if I thought Steven Stamkos was going to retire. To me it seems like a ridiculous notion, but I can see where that discourse has come from. For a player in his mid-30s, who has won two cups, played a lot of hard hockey over the last few years, [...]

The finalists for the Vezina Trophy were announced on Monday. In no particular order, Vancouver’s Thatcher Demko, Winnipeg’s Connor Hellebuyck, and Florida’s Sergei Bobrovsky were all voted as the top-3 goalies this season. The winner will be announced at the NHL Awards at the end of June. This is Demko’s first time finishing in the [...]

Avalanche 5, Jets 1 (Colorado leads 3-1) A dominant performance on Sunday gave Colorado a commanding 3-1 lead in their first-round series against Winnipeg. The Avalanche were led by a hat trick from Valeri Nichushkin, who moves into a tie with Zach Hyman as the leading goal-scorer of these playoffs. Both players have six goals through four [...]

Playoff pucks again… Saturday featured four more games as the first round continues. Islanders 3, Hurricanes 2, 2 OT (Hurricanes lead series 3-1) The Islanders staved off elimination on Saturday, avoiding a sweep with a double-overtime goal from Mathew Barzal. The point shot from Robert Bortuzzo appeared to be deflected in by Barzal at 1:24 [...]

It’s all playoff pucks today. I’ll use that term because it was the name of the very first fantasy hockey article that I wrote way back in 2006 for a website that no longer exists. Canucks 2, Predators 1 (Canucks lead series 2-1) Just gotta catch my breath here… okay, I’m good. After looking a [...]

Chicago has signed defenceman Alex Vlasic to a six-year deal with an AAV of $4.6M per season. I wrote about him yesterday when discussing the Blackhawks so read that for more on him.   In salary cap leagues, this could be fine. It isn’t a heavy cap hit and he was just shy of two [...]

It was announced that Carolina defenceman Brett Pesce is likely to miss the first round of the playoffs. Carolina has a 2-0 series lead and has been in command of the game, if not the scoreboard, since the second period of Game 1. Pesce’s loss shouldn’t change a whole lot about that series, but it [...]

The Rangers have been the better team thus far, but the Capitals are hanging around and still haven’t lost at home yet. With the makeup of their team, the Capitals really need to get the matchup game right to have a chance at climbing back into the series. Especially if Jack Roslovic is making shots [...]