4. Bye-Bye Pugilists

There are no more meatheads and hamfists on a fantasy hockey roster. To get your penalty minutes now, you need to pick up a power forward or an agitator. And nowhere was this more exemplified then in Toronto, as the team cut both Colton Orr and Fraser McLaren out of training camp. Now the Leafs are the highest scoring team in the NHL, in large part because they can roll out four lines that can score. Right now, Anaheim’s Tim Jackman is the only player with fewer than five points among the Top 20 PIM players – and he has four.

3. James Neal traded to Nashville for Patric Hornqvist and Nick Spaling

Poolies went from “ho hum” about a player to suddenly frothing at the mouth to acquire him. And this happened in the span of a micro-second. As soon as the words “for Patric Hornqvist” appeared on your screen on June 27, his appeal to your fantasy team increased exponentially. And he hasn’t disappointed, as he already has 29 points and is on pace for 69. Easily a career high. Meanwhile, Spaling is on pace for 33 which is also a career high. And as expected, James Neal‘s pace is for just 53 points. The biggest single day drop or rise in value of two players in 2014.

2. Nashville fires Barry Trotz, Hires Peter Laviolette

Really, any of these top three could have made it to the top. But I like this move as No.2 because of the severe shift in attitude in the fantasy world when it comes to the Predators. I’m still having trouble adjusting, as my instinct when I see a Preds player offered to me in a trade is still “no” before I catch myself. They sit 13th in offense and they boast a player (Mike Ribeiro) on pace for 69 points and another player (Filip Forsberg) on pace for (gulp) 80! Suddenly, that Nashville prospect you were offered has so much more appeal to you. He’s no longer “capped” at 55 points. Now his upside is as high as it would be on any other team!

1. John Tavares tears MCL at Olympics

I’m not the only one who lost a run at the title for owning Tavares last season. Thousands of poolies went through the same thing. Injuries to players of this magnitude are champion-killers. Impossible to recover from, you can only hope to have made a few good moves to staunch the bleeding, and that you had a big enough lead that you could hold on.

Honorable Mention (1A?): Dobber launches new player profile pages just in time for 2015! Click on any player name above and see for yourself – everything you need to research a player without opening five different websites to get it. Includes game-by-game stats in previous years, exhibition, hits, blocked shots, line production and more!