My latest Dynasty/Keeper draft was finished the other day and I have to say I am pleased with how it turned out considering I didn't have picks in Rounds 3, 4 and 6. Starters 2LW, 2C, 2RW, 4F, 5D, 2G (17) Standard scoring categories (G, A, SOG, +/-, W, SHO, GA, SV). My 12 NHL + 5 rospect keepers were Matthews, Scheifele, Rakell, Hoffman, Eberle, Seth Jones, Krug, OEL and Sergachev.  Murray, Vasilevskiy and Allen completed my pro keepers.  I kept only 1 prospect TOR-D-Timothy Liljegren.  Didn't have good prospects on my team which is unusually rare for me.  In my other Dynasty league I had Sprong, Juolevi, Abramov, Steel and Demko. So my Defense and Goalies were set going in for the most part. We draft until our roster is at 30, with 5 having to be prospects (less than 83 games for skaters and 41 for goalies). Round 1, 3rd pick.  Was hoping for Svechnikov (went 2nd) but also was targeting Mittelstadt or Pettersson.  Took Mittlestadt. Pettersson went 2 after my pick. HAPPY. Round 2, 8th pick.  Was looking for another forward, and since I wasn't drafting for another 24 picks, I wanted to pick a solid wing with potential.  Grabbed Travis Konecny from Philly.  He should be playing on a line with Giroux and Couturier.  I think he will have a good year, but then heard some others that really like him this year, which made my picking him easier.  HAPPY. On to Round 5...Best player time for the most part, and since not much was left on defense, I was hoping I'd start a defense and goalie run which would leave some decent forwards coming back since I only had my 5th round pick and no wrap around pick in the 6th round, having tosee 19 players come off the board before my next pick.  I loved Reinhart there but since there were plenty of forwards and not many GOOD D-men left I decided to go D. (This is where the Tiers come in handy).  Forwards still available were players like Saad on Chicago, Atkinson on CBS, and Ty Rattie which would have been maybe too early to pick him in the 5th round, and Hornqvist on Pitt maybe. All those I knew I could get later, or at least I was hoping to.  I went with Duncan Keith, who should rebound this year.  I only need a good year from him to round out my 5 starting defensemen to go with my 4 keepers mentioned aboce.  SENSIBLE, since I got the D and G run I wanted after. ROUND 7.  Now I'm getting into the flow of things and got my desired defense and goalie run.  Taken after my Keith pick in ROUND 5, (with Muzzin, Hart-G on PHI and ...

Duncan Keith, Chicago- fantasy owners must be overjoyed to hear that the All-Star could be available to play over the weekend as he looks almost fully recovered from his meniscus tear in his knee. There is no sugarcoating how detrimental his absence has had in most fantasy leagues as he is tough to replace. I say get him back as soon as he gets into game action. Brent Seabrook could see a slight reduction in fantasy worth as he was gobbling up the extra minutes on special teams. Close to returning   Kevin Shattenkirk, St Louis-the return of another fantasy blue-chipper from injury has owners feeling better about their blue line production as KS is among the top 3-5 fantasy defensive options in the NHL. Last season saw Shattenkirk miss 26 games but he still put up  44 points in 56 contests. Safe to say, he is a difference-maker for that Blue's power-play and all fantasy teams aside. Start him ASAP   Cody Franson, Buffalo- have any of you cut bait already with the Toronto/Nashville castoff after a slow start to his Buffalo career? The truth of the matter is, that the offensive minded rearguard drives coaches crazy with his lack of commitment to the decisive zone. However, he has more than proven that he is s very valuable pp asset and that's what most fantasy owners care about. His seven points have all come over the last nine games so he is definitely on the rise. Don't sleep on him   TJ Brodie, Calgary- the youngster has played superb since returning from injury, collecting 4 points in 7 games while logging over 24 minutes a night. The surplus of scoring defenseman for the Flames does lessen our expectations for Brodie, but it's not like new acquisition Dougie Hamilton is lighting it up. For now, Brodie will be relegated to 2nd pp minutes but that could change in a hurry. On the rise   Tobias Enstrom, Winnipeg- four points over the last five games doesn't make up for a huge scoring slide by Enstrom over the last few years. However, two time 50-point d-men don't grow on trees and he can still go on decent streaks. Never the quickest starter, the "pick up and stash" option could be the way to go with the 31-year old. Don't expect him to revert back to his elite point days but he could surprise moving forward. On the rebound?

Hooray to the great Martin Brodeur for picking up his first win For St. Louis, after stopping 14 of 16 shots in relief of an ineffective Jake Allen. Somewhere way inside me, I have a feeling he can push Allen for playing time given his tremendous future HOF pedigree but am not sure how it would play out when Brian Elliott returns. I would say that if you any room on your bench, stashing him for now might not be the worst idea.. To stay on this game, Kevin Shattenkirk's three points has vaulted him to second amongst NHL defensemen in scoring with 22 points. For fantasy formats that reward power-play points, he actually leads all d-men in power-play assists with 14. As elite as they come.. Up-and-coming Florida defenseman Aaron Ekblad is making quite the rookie impact with three more assists, giving him 17 points in 26 games. While its unreasonable to expect the youngster to maintain that level of production, I could easily see him pull off a "Tyler Myers"... Chicago's other great line came up huge for the second straight match, as Marian Hossa scored two goals in the 3-1 win over Nashville. Patrick Kane and Kris Versteeg have been dynamite on the second line, but the impending return of Patrick Sharp to the top unit might give them the edge going forward. Nonetheless, plenty of goals to go around as the Blackhawks are explosive.. While Sidney Crosby and Jakub Voracek have been battling for the NHL scoring lead seemingly all season long, studly Tyler Seguin roared past the two with a three-point effort and now also leads in goals scored with 21. There is a subtle "change of the fantasy guard" going on here, as the Dallas center making a bold statement for universal top-three selection in next year's fantasy drafts... Maybe it's time to change Mark Giordano's first name to "Norris" as the Calgary defenseman continues to prove that his breakout season of 2013-14 was no fluke. With his goal last night, he now leads all defensemen with 28 points. His point-per-game production last year-.73- ranked third only behind Erik Karlsson and Duncan Keith, so he keep your faith in this guy. He's legit elite and not worth trading under most circumstances... Shades of heavy-duty Vezina form for goalie Sergei Bobrovsky lately, as he turned aside 33 shots in the improbable victory in Tampa. He has now won three straight for an injury-plagued Columbus squad and should only get better as the team gets healthier. Your "buy-low" window is closing rapidly... MORE COMING..

Chicago just about made it to their second straight Stanley Cup Finals appearance last June when a Game 7 dagger by the Kings prematurely ended that dream. There weren't many glaring weaknesses with last season's version of the Blackhawks, but they indeed addressed their need for a no. 2 center when they picked up ex-Ranger Brad Richards via free agency. Their offense is incredibly stacked with all sorts of talent, ranging from elite (Patrick Kane & Jonathan Toews) to on the verge of breaking out (Brandon Saad). Throw in two-time Norris Trophy winner Duncan Keith who leads an upper echelon defense plus underrated goalie Corey Crawford and you have yourself an elite team that could be back on top. In fantasy, high-end options prevail in every position, so pay special attention to the Blackhawks. GOALIES Among the best goalies in the business, Crawford had another stellar campaign with 32 wins, 2.26 GAA, and a .917 SP. While there was a slight drop-off from his career best marks of 1.94 and .926 set in 2012, he should again be regarded as a top-ten fantasy option. Because he usually falls under the radar and gets chosen somewhere between the 10th and 15th goalie taken, Crawford packs a lot of value. When you get your hands on the starting goalie of arguably the best NHL team, you are doing something right. You can also do better if you select backup Antti Raanta in the late rounds strictly for insurance if Crawford would to get injured. DEFENSE On defense, you can't do much better than Keith. While it's unreasonable to expect him to duplicate his Norris Trophy winning feat of 61 points, he is a sure lock to post 45+ points on this prolific scoring team. He will probably be drafted 1-2 rounds earlier than he should, but he is a safe lower-tier first option on defense. Man, does he get a boatload of secondary assists! Brent Seabrook plays on the top defensive pairing with Keith and while not as offensively gifted, he usually gets his faire share of points. His ceiling tops off in the mid 40's but most likely expect in the 30-35 range with a great plus/minus. Nick Leddy is on the rise as made evident by another 30+ point season, but he needs to show more consistency. Take a chance on him late as he has the ability to play on the top power-play. FORWARDS RW Kane remains the Chicago forward with most upside, even though he has only surpassed the 80-point mark once in his NHL career. Still, even after missing 13 games due to injury last season, he still managed...

THE ELITE 3 (The top three fantasy players to own in any position) 1. Tyler Seguin C, Dallas   2. Patrick Kane RW, Chicago 3. Shea Weber D, Nashville GREAT BET TO REBOUND (Three players who are solid bounce-back candidates in 14-15') 1. Pekka Rinne G, Nashville   2. Jason Spezza C, Dallas 3. Tobias Enstrom D, Winnipeg HERE THEY COME.. (Three players who should be breaking out with career seasons) 1. Matt Duchene C, Colorado 2. Jamie Benn LW, Dallas 3. Brandon Saad LW, Chicago SLEEPER ALERT (Three players who should be late-round fantasy draft bargains) 1. Mikael Granlund C, Minnesota   2. Darcy Kuemper G, Minnesota   3. Trevor Daley D, Dallas BUYER BEWARE (Three players who will be overvalued in most fantasy leagues) 1. Duncan Keith C, Chicago   2. Jonathan Toews C, Chicago   3. James Neal LW, Nashville

As we enter the third day of free agency, most of the coveted UFA's have been signed and whisked away by the highest bidder, including defenseman Matt Niskanen. He was signed by Washington to the tune of a 7-year/$40.25M deal. However, I need to issue a word of caution to all fantasy owners who think that such a financially lucrative signing automatically signals Niskanen's ascent to the upper echelon of fantasy d-men. While it does appear he is entering a very fantasy-friendly situation with Alex Ovechkin's Capitals, there are clears signs to make fantasy pundits pause. As I was glancing through Niskanen's career stats, I did notice that the 27-year old clearly had his breakout campaign last season with Pittsburgh. His 46 points ranked 12th in the NHL, with a huge assist to Kris Letang who missed a bunch of games due to several ailments. Prior to his prolific campaign, Niskanen had only surpassed 30 points once and 20 points three times in six full seasons. Not much of a past scoring pedigree to draw upon, but maybe, just maybe his monster season is a sign of things to come. Well, I decided to look at the career stats of the 11 defensemen that ranked ahead of him in points last season, and noticed something very interesting. Here is the list of each defenseman and in which full season (over 40 games) in their career did they collect 40+ pts. For example, it took the great Alex Pietrangelo his first full year on the job to surpass the 40-point mark. In comparison, Niskanen accomplished the feat for the first time in his seventh season. Let's see how the rest of the top 11 fared: Erik Karlsson, Ottawa            2nd yr. Duncan Keith, Chicago           4th yr. Shea Weber, Nashville            2nd yr. Dustin Byfuglien, Winnipeg     4th yr. Victor Hedman, Tampa Bay    5th yr. PK Subban, Montreal             4th yr. Keith Yandle, Phoenix            3rd yr. James Wisniewski, Columbus 5th yr. Niklas Kronwall, Detroit          3rd yr. Mark Giordano, Calgary         4th yr. With the exception of Hedman and Wisniewski, the rest of the d-men had their classic breakout season within four years of the start of their NHL career. The fact that Niskanen had his "coming out" party in Year 7 raises a red flag for myself. Also, he had been a member of the Penguins for three years prior, so obviously something just clicked last season. Maybe the dreaded contract year which brings the best out of so many chronic underachievers. I was also alarmed by the fact that he ...

That's why they play the games! The San Jose Sharks imploded after taking a 3-0 series lead.  I wonder if they will shake things up out there? The Chicago Blackhawks look determined to make it back to the big dance in June, don't they? If you're like me, you forgot that the Montreal Canadiens were still in the playoffs. They have had 10 days off since sweeping the Lightning out.  It's almost like starting the season all over again. It's not odd that the NY Rangers ousted the Philadelphia Flyers in seven games. It's just odd that they beat the Flyers in all the odd games.  Odd. The Flyers have to be ecstatic that it looks like they have a franchise goalie after a long hiatus. I'm sure that deep down inside very one of us, there was a glimmer of hope that the Columbus Blue Jackets would have beaten the Pittsburgh Penguins in Round 1. Except for Penguins' fans of course. Congratulations to Patrick Roy and the Colorado Avalanche on a successful season even though they didn't advance. They will be tough to play against for a long while. Matt Niskanen is having some season, eh? He is tied for the playoff lead in points for a defenseman with Paul Martin.  I know Duncan Keith and Drew Doughty will have something to say about the two Pens atop the point charts. Nathan MacKinnon is to be feared. This is why Martin St. Louis was acquired at the trade deadline. Forget his regular season drought with the Rangers.  It's playoff time. I betcha Tampa Bay wishes they had Marty back now. Montreal is still in this, right? I'm always afraid when the Boston Bruins get a few extra days to rest up. I think I will root for a NY-Montreal Conference Finals matchup. Just like old times. Battle of Los Angeles starts this weekend with LA going against Anaheim. Perhaps I'll watch the movie first to get an idea of how explosive this series can be. What are the St. Louis Blues going to do now? Is Ryan Miller not the answer? Was the Miller the answer?  Will they move some pieces around? Congratulations to "Iron Mike" Keenan who won the KHL Gagarin Cup with the Metallurg Magnitogorsk becoming the first coach to win both the Stanley Cup and the Gagarin Cup. He will now be known as "Behind the Iron Curtain Mike" Keenan. Rask and Price, Kopitar and Toews, Niskanen and Keith. Tops at their positions for the playoffs so far. Dan Girardi, Ryan McDonagh, Anton Stralman and Marc Staal had done an amazing job shutting down Claude Giroux. The Rangers won the series without Rick Nash potting a ...

The key to success in your fantasy playoff pools is selecting players from teams primed for long runs in the postseason. If you look at my top-ten fantasy list below and accompanying sleepers, you will have an idea of which teams that I believe will challenge for the Stanley Cup in 2014. Plenty of Bruins and Kings, that's for sure. TOP TEN Zdeno Chara, Boston Drew Doughty, Los Angeles Duncan Keith, ChicagoRyan McDonagh, New York RangersTorey Krug, BostonKris Letang, PittsburghBrent Seabrook, ChicagoSlava Voynov, Los AngelesEric Johnson, ColoradoAlex Pietrangelo, St. LouisNotes: Despite missing the last four regular-season games due to injury, King's defenseman Drew Doughty should be available for Game 1 against San Jose on Thursday. An elite playoff fantasy stud and a must-own option if you figure the King's to make a long-term splash in the postseason. If that's the case, Doughty should be coveted as arguably the top defensive fantasy option for this year's Stanley Cup dance... The juggernaut Boston Bruins are also primed for a lengthy ride, meaning that "Big Z" is a top-three pick. Zdeno Chara epitomizes the definition of a big-game performer, making him one of the premium selections out there.. Last season's playoff sensation Torey Krug followed up with an impressive 43-point campaign and added a "shot in the arm" for a previously ailing Bruin power-play. Look for their special teams to remain hot in the playoffs, and Krug to make his mark once again with steady offensive production... Kris Letang remains the premier fantasy wildcard of this year's playoffs. If he is indeed fully back from his horrific stroke incident, he is one of the few blueliners that could contend for the overall scoring title. Enough said.. If you are a fervent believer that the New York Rangers are going to make some noise beyond the first round, you need to consider Ryan McDonagh. The rising defenseman established career highs in goals (14) and points (43), but missed time late in the season due to a shoulder injury. Well, by all accounts, he is back to 100% and that means he needs to be high on your draft lists... Blue's d-man Alex Pietrangelo missed Sunday's game due to an undisclosed injury, but he should be ready to lace up the skates for Thursday's opener against Chicago. The ultra-talented rearguard should get plenty of fantasy consideration, given he had a fabulous season with his second 50+-point effort of his career and plays for a St. Louis squad that is on the "...

Many teams are resting their key players down the stretch so they will be 100 per cent for the playoffs. Keith will sit which likely means David Runblad will be back in the lineup.

One of the hottest lines in the NHL right now combined for 10 points in last night's 7-4 victory over the Ottawa Senators. Thomas Vanek (3A), David Desharnais (G, A) and Max Pacioretty (3G, 2A) exploded after the Habs were down 3-0. These three are must starts in all fantasy leagues. Even without two of their biggest stars in the lineup, the Chicago Blackhawks, behind the Duncan Keith's 3 assists, were able to overcome the pesky Blue Jackets last night. Keith's numbers are very worthy of a second Norris Trophy (6-54-60 +20, 193 SOG, 26 PIM). Cory Schneider came up with a huge victory for the New Jersey Devils last night against Washington in regulation. The Capitals are a team that the Devils are fighting for that last playoff seed in the Eastern Conference.  Schneider has turned his game around after a bit of a slump just after the Olympics.  Look for the Devils to ride Schneider until they lock up a playoff spot or are eliminated.  Start Schneider with extreme confidence. What's up with Jonas Hiller? Last night's performance (13/17 SV) was not a way to instill confidence in your coaching staff as you team heads into the playoffs.  I believed that reliever Frederik Andersen deserved the start, especially after three quality wins in a row, but Hiller got the starting nod. Expect Andersen to see the majority of starts from here on out. You almost have to wish that the Calgary Flames were in the playoff hunt the way they have been playing over the month with an 11-8-0 record. Michael Cammalleri has 22 points over his last 19 games, so get him in your lineup.