Looking Ahead: October 11 through October 23
All fantasy owners need help in the short term AND the long term. The Looking Ahead feature identifies one player to plug into lineups in the short term, a second to invest in for the long term, a third to bench for the coming week, and a fourth who will struggle to meet expectations [...]
Frozen Tools Forensics: Looking for fourth-year breakouts
Is it too early in the season to look at the top ten candidates for fourth-year breakouts? Probably, but we will do it anyway. When I say breakouts, it’s not about players like Mitch Marner, Matthew Tkachuk or Sebastian Aho who have already had stellar seasons and should duplicate or slightly improve upon them. [...]
Ramblings: Point’s spectacular return; Neal and Mantha rolling; giving thanks – October 11
Tampa Bay looked… ok?... through their first few games. And then Brayden Point returned, slotting on the top line with Steven Stamkos and Nikita Kucherov. I think most people would expect Point to have at least a little bit of rust to his game, not being sure how he and the line would fare [...]
Capped: Early-season reactions in fantasy hockey cap leagues
A week into the season and we have some surprises – both positive and negative – as well as some early season line changes and injury news. With all of this, it is easy to overreact, and hamstring your chances of bouncing back from a bad start. Like with driving on ice, sometimes you [...]
Ramblings: Hart shines; Point possible to return; Shattenkirk; Keller – October 10
As it’s been for much of the start of the season in Buffalo, it was the Top Line Show on Wednesday night against the Habs. Jack Eichel combined for three points (2+1) while Victor Olofsson scored his fourth power-play goal of the season and Sam Reinhart picked up a PP assist. Just as a [...]
Injury Ward: Point’s Imminent Return, Malkin’s Soft Tissue, Raanta, Rask, & Morrissey (Oct. 9)
Breaking news this week: Penguins can’t fly! By that I mean a large portion of Pittsburgh’s hockey team won’t be doing any sort of travelling as they’re currently sidelined with injuries. To see the latest injury updates from around the league as soon as they’re made public, follow me on Twitter @BrennanDeSouza ** [...]
Goldipucks and the Three Skaters: Duchene, Lee, & McAvoy
After a week's delay due to my 2019-20 Fearless Forecasts column, “Goldipucks and the Three Skaters” is back. For first time readers, or those needing a refresher, this column is a play on the Goldilocks and the Three Bears story, except instead of there being three bowls of porridge I’m covering three skaters and [...]
Ramblings: Neal’s Strokable Night, The Jets’ PPQB Situation, Aho, Hronek, & Hintz (Oct. 9)
There’s nothing like rolling out a mediocre AHL defensive unit and hoping for the best. That’s exactly what the Jets are doing these days. Winnipeg didn’t have a single defenseman that was in their top-eight on a minute-basis last season in the lineup on Tuesday evening. However, if you’re going to roll into action [...]