Happy Labor Day weekend to all my American friends out there.  I hope you are out enjoying what I hope is good weather, good food, good drink and good family and friends! A few happenings in the NHL the past week or so.  Ex-Montreal Canadien and NY Ranger Center David Desharnais is set to skate in the KHL for the upcoming season. I once highly touted him as possibly the next Martin St. Louis but as you can see that never panned out.  See my Under The Raydar article to see what I wrote all those years ago. Lol. RW Troy Brouwer signed a 1-year deal with the Florida Panthers.  Clearly a depth move and at a cost of $850K, inexpensive as well. Newly acquired Calgary Flame D Noah Hanifin signed a 6-year deal for good money, $4,950,000 per year.  Traded away from the Carolina Hurricanes in a swap of defensemen with Dougie Hamilton coming the other way in the deal.  Perhaps with Flames veteran Defenseman Mark Giordano, Hanifin can emerge as a more complete defenseman with a boost in his offensive game. PrimePucks™ is starting to add their pre-season rankings to the website so keep looking for updates.  SO far we have Team and prospect Rankings available for your perusal. I will be uploading a new, updated Fantasy Draft Guide tomorrow, Sunday September 2nd most likely around noon.  Heading to a family BBQ today then to the Deep Purple & Judas Priest concert afterwards.  Guide is available for purchase, just click here.  At $10.99, you get over 60 pages of fantasy hockey articles and all 31 teams analysis.  The NHL season is just around the corner now, so be caught behind, get ready now for your upcoming fantasy hockey drafts! Enjoy the weekend! Ciao for now, Ray

As leagues begin their drafting process, everyone is on the lookout and guessing at the next breakout player to make a huge difference in their fantasy squad this season. Last year we had the emergence of several players like Sean Monahan and Johnny “Hockey” Gaudreau for the Calgary Flames, Tyler Johnson continued to breakout even further for the Lightning, Tomas Tatar for the Wings, and Filip Forsberg for the Predators. Who’s next? Let’s take a look at several possibilities who find themselves in good positions to emerge. David Pastrnak Look out for this kid. Last year the teenager showed us that he not only belongs at the NHL level, but that he has true star potential. In just 43 games Pastrnak found himself scoring 27 points and with 93 shots on goal (over 2 shots per game). Given that half a season plus of experience and the moves made by the Bruins to get younger, this kid should find himself on the first or second line and definitely will be getting power play minutes. Against the Capitals in preseason action on Tuesday Pastrnak scored both goals and is already showing the Bruins fans that they have a star in the making. At the very least he has more than proven he is going to shoot the puck and shoot it a lot. He is worth a mid-round pick if you find yourself in a good position to take a chance on him. Teuvo Teravainen Teuvo had ample time last year during the regular season to show us the skill that the Blackhawks have been raving about, but in his 34 games he was limited to only 9 points. His one redeeming stat was that he shot the puck nearly two times a game. So why do I think he might break out this year? Due to his playoff performances. It seemed like things really started to click in the playoffs and that he truly understood what Quenneville expected out of him. During their unfortunate run (I’m a Blues fan) to the Stanley Cup, Teravainen showed us that skill on his way to 10 points in 18 games.  Given the cap problems that forced the Blackhawks to ship our players like Sharp, Teuvo, with a good showing in camp, might find himself in a great position to show he can perform in the regular season as well. Chris Kreider With the retirement of Martin St. Louis the Rangers are looking for Kreider to develop into the force they all think he can be. Someone will have to take St. Louis’ minutes and if Kreider can emerge from that pack of contenders he could find himself on the top line with Nash and on the first power play unit as well. If that ...

2015 PRIMEPUCKS™ EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS NEW YORK RANGERS vs. TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING:  There is a connection between these two teams as both teams have some of the other team’s ex-teammates.  Martin St. Louis and Dan Boyle are donning the red, white and blue of the Rangers while Anton Stralman, Ryan Callahan and Brian Boyle have the Bolt emblazoned across their chest.  But that’s is where the connection ends.  The Rangers will see a switch from the physically demanding series against the Washington Capitals while the Lightning see a team built deeper than the Montreal Canadiens. The two teams met three times early in the season and it was the Bolts who prevailed in all three contests but things have changed over the course of the season and we all know that the playoffs are a different story.  The Lightning will see a much more focused Rangers team who don’t seem to get flustered no matter the circumstances. Being down 3 games to 1 last round didn’t faze them a bit as they rallied to win another series after being in that predicament like they were last year against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Tampa brings much more scoring depth but the Rangers carry a deep defensive unit that plays so well in front of the Blueshirts last defense in Henrik Lundqvist.  Tampa goalie Ben Bishop is up against another elite net minder in Lundqvist after having gone face-to-face with Hart Trophy candidate Carey Price.   All Lundqvist has done is prove once again that he is a clutch goalie and that it won’t be easy for Tampa to find twine in this series.  Look for the Rangers to play the Lightning tight and for Lundqvist to get into the minds of the younger Tampa players.  The Rangers are built for the long playoff run, and with last season’s experience, that should help them get through this series.  With the way Lundqvist has been playing after missing 2 months of the season, it looks like he is in mid-season form.  Note one thing about the ‘King’, he has a 1.60GAA and a .944 SP and doesn’t have a shutout yet.  Perhaps he is due. As for this series’ fantasy options, besides Lundqvist, Steven Stamkos has been red-hot since the switch of Valtteri Filppula to centering his line and Tyler Johnson and Nikita Kucherov are on quite a roll but expect that to slow down a bit against these New York Rangers.  The Rangers possess a deep and balanced scoring attack except that we don’t know what is going on with St. Louis as he is still looking for his first playoff goal this year.   Chris ...

PRIMEPUCKS™ 2015 FIRST ROUND PLAYOFF REVIEW The 2015 Stanley Cup playoffs are beginning shortly and PrimePucks™ is taking a look at what they predict will happen in the first round and beyond. NEW YORK RANGERS vs. PITTSBURGH PENGUINS:  After last season’s improbable run at the Stanley Cup only to fall short by losing to a more determined Los Angeles Kings team, the New York Rangers are back in the dance but this time with a more focused outlook.  It appears the Rangers got a very good taste and were thisclose to hoisting Lord Stanley’s Cup that they locked down the home ice advantage throughout by winning the President’s Cup with a very solid second half. The Rangers take on the Pittsburgh Penguins who seem to be a team in disarray especially after losing their best defenseman in Kris Letang for the remainder of this season with a concussion. The team with all this talent up front seemed to have trouble finding their offensive game with the loss of Letang.  The Rangers on the other hand seemed to be getting better with every passing game.  Expect the Rangers to win this in no more than 6 games as they forge ahead to another Finals appearance.  Those of you in playoff pools should definitely start all the major Blueshirts like Rick Nash, Henrik Lundqvist, Keith Yandle, Derek Stepan, Mats Zuccarello, Ryan McDonagh, Martin St. Louis and company as this team has their eyes set on the silver trophy. MONTREAL CANADIENS vs. OTTAWA SENATORS:  The Rangers likely opponent in the Conference Finals, the Canadiens, should dispose of the surprising Ottawa Senators fairly easy behind MVP Candidate Carey Price.  The Senators had an amazing climb in the standings to reach the playoffs but will run into a team that has some motivation of their own to exact revenge on the Rangers, who they may have beaten in last year’s Conference Finals if it weren’t for Chris Kreider knocking Price out of the series with a collision in the first game of their match. For the Canadiens, it all starts with Price. And in front of Price there is a defensive core that packs a punch both in the scoring department and defensively as well.  P.K. Subban leads the charge on both those ends with veteran Andrei Markov supplying steady support. The rest of the defense will give other teams fits to round out the Montreal defense.  On the forward front, Max Pacioretty leads the charge with Tomas Plekanec, Alex Galchenyuk, David Desharnais and Brendan Gallagher rounding out the scorers but don’t expect ...

Great weekend for the Flyers; Career night for MacKinnon; Miller injury; and more: The Flyers won another big game and are drawing closer to a playoff spot.  The final weeks should be exciting for Philly fans as they have battled to stay close.  Claude Giroux (G, A) seems to have awoken from his slumber after my SUNDAY MORNING COFFEE comment about him being the invisible man.  Mark Streit (2A) and Jakub Voracek (2A) also contributed in the win.  Keep these Flyers in your lineup as they can be explosive on any given night as evidenced by their performance yesterday afternoon…. Boston, without the services of David Krejci, took it to the Chicago Blackhawks with a 6-2 pasting on home ice.  Six different goal scorers for the Bruins as they are feeling the heat from the Flyers and Florida Panthers for that final wild card spot in the Eastern Conference.  Patrice Bergeron, with a goal and 2 assists, is perhaps one of the most under-rated fantasy players and hardly gets enough credit.  Bergeron should have a really good finish to his season…. Like I had predicted in yesterday's SUNDAY MORNING COFFEE, Pittsburgh erupted for 5 goals against the Florida Panthers with Patric Hornqvist having a huge night with 2 goals and an assist.  Get your Pegnuins in your fantasy lineups ASAP... The NY Islanders were blanked by the Vancouver Canucks but unfortunately for the Canucks, Ryan Miller left the game after a collision. Expect the net-minder to miss a few games with Eddie Lack getting the call.  Radim Vrbata, with his 22nd on the year, and the Sedin twins were the catalysts on offense.... Yes, the sophomore jinx has victimized the young Nathan MacKinnon this season, but the future Colorado star gave us a reminder of what is to come with his first NHL "hat trick" last night. With six points over his last five games, the 19-year old could be saving his best for last in 2014-15, before erupting in Year 3.. Veteran Martin St. Louis has been heating up for the Blueshirts lately, scoring two more goals to improve his numbers to seven points in his last five games. We probably seen the last of any prolonged slumps for the 39-year old, who should be starting in all fantasy leagues.. The Minnesota Wild lit up the Dallas Stars for 6 goals in the third period, winning 6-2 in another crucial match with heavy playoff implications. After a mini-drought, Zach Parise has collected four points over his last two games, while his center Mikael Granlund was the fantasy star of the night ...

Holtby is unreal; Pittsburgh scoring woes; St. Louis fantasy relevant again; and more... Braden Holtby and the Washington Capitals had an easy time against Ondrej Pavelec and the Winnipeg Jets, winning 5-1 at home.  Having Barry Trotz behind the bench has done wonders for Holtby while it hasn’t deterred Alex Ovechkin from scoring as he netted his 38th on the year.  Enjoy the ride poolies.…The big question is , “why isn’t Winnipeg going with Michael Hutchinson night in, night out?”  The Jets clearly play better in front of Hutch… Who would have thought that the Pittsburgh Penguins would have trouble scoring?  They lost to Columbus last night, 2-1, making it three games in arrow that they only scored once.  You just know that at some point, with all those offensive weapons that they will bust out in a big way…. The New York Islanders are making a habit of scoring early and putting the pressure on opposing teams as they scored a minute into their game against Nashville and never let up against perhaps the best goaltender in the NHL today in Pekka Rinne.  The Islanders are playing like a juggernaut lately and you would be wise to have a few players in your fantasy lineup…. IT was a very spirited game between the New York Rangers and the Vancouver Canucks with the Canucks prevailing in the shootout, 5-4.  The Sedins had 2 points apiece as they continue their comeback season while Martin St. Louis seems to be waking up from his little slumber of late with a goal and an assist in the losing effort.  Keep the veterans in your lineup as they are just too experienced and too good to leave out…. Not much to say about the Philly-Buffalo tilt other than the Flyers dearly miss Steve Mason in the crease and although Jakub Voracek scored a goal, his owners maybe should have "sold high" when he was leading the entire NHL in points. It kinda made sense... Carey Price resembled a mere mortal in the Montreal crease as the Habs continued their season-long tradition of playing down to their opponents at home, losing 3-2 to Florida. However, the Panthers are no slouch and should never be taken lightly. Just ask the Bruins who suddenly have the Cat's breathing down their neck in the playoff race.. San Jose scored a huge road win in Dallas as Antti Niemi thoroughly outplayed the inconsistent Kari Lehtonen in goal. Jamie Benn and Jason Spezza will keep rewarding their fantasy owners as they carry the "O" with Tyler Seguin out. Am so delighted I didn't trade Spezza when I had the...

With Marian Gaborik returning to the lineup, Anze Kopitar has woken up. I think LA is ready to go on some sort of streak. Gaborik has 6 goals in last 4 games. As streaky as they come and as injury-prone as they come. Colorado played Buffalo last. A very uncharacteristic game for both clubs as the Avalanche won 5-1. Jarome Iginla did his Kopitar imitation and had 3 assists last night as well. Did you know that Jeff Carter has 9 goals and 16 assists so far this season? Usually it's the other way around.  You know what that means. Jakub Voracek had 4 assists last night to take over the NHL point lead. His team mate Claude Giroux and Dallas Star Tyler Seguin (does Boston feel that pain yet?) are 3 points behind. Not a positive nigh for the Toronto Maple Leafs in their 7-4 loss to Philadelphia. Pekka Rinne was irregular last night against Minnesota but still won 6-5 in overtime. I think Alex Galchenyuk is loving the new responsibilities of centering the top line. He has 6 points in last 3 games.  Ottawa is going to have one of those years where they seem like they can't move one way or another. Tampa Bay is 3-5-2 in last team. You can breathe Lightning fan.  They will be alright, trust me. The last year on Long Island is turning out to be a special one. Brooklyn is awaiting. Every Florida Panther had a SOG except Derek MacKenzie so you know they were trying in their 3-1 loss to Pittsburgh. See Derek, you made the SMC! Steve Downie had a great night with 2 assists and 17 PIMs. I am very disappointed in the Pittsburgh Penguins for scratching Robert Klinkhammer from the lineup on a Saturday night. I may have to call Bettman. I just don't know if the New Jersey Devils are this bad. They have a lot of home games coming up so maybe they can get back in the thick of things.  Or, they may be looking at a new head coach pretty soon. Nicklas Backstrom is becoming a scoring machine lately notching his 9th and 10th goals on the season. The Rangers are streaking. Martin St. Louis needs to start scoring a little bit more methinks. Even with going 8-1-1 in last 10, Columbus still finds themselves 7 points behind a playoff spot. Keep plugging away boys. Minny G Niklas Backstrom has started the last 3 and last 4 of 6 games. He had to relieve Darcy Kuemper in last night's game. What has happened to Kuemper? Calgary is really going through a tough stretch right now. They face LA and Edmonton twice in the next four games.  So there is hope in two of those games.  The Christmas/...

I think the Philadelphia Flyers will be happy ‘not' to see NY Rangers' backup goalie Cam Talbot (26 SV) after they lost twice by shutout to the Ranger backup goaltender in the past 9 days. However, they will be facing a fresh Henrik Lundqvist on the back end of a home-and-home series, which is not a good way to snap out of a team slump where the Flyers have lost 7 of their last 8....Derek Stepan assisted on all three Ranger goals and with 7 points in last 5 games, it is safe to say that he is on fire right now....Martin St. Louis had a goal and an assist giving him 1,000 points in his 1,082 game career. Congratulations Marty!...After getting injured in his first game as a New York Ranger, D Dan Boyle has shown just how dynamic he can be for the Ranger power play as he scored his 2nd pp goal in past 2 games. There had been concerns about Boyle's age and his play diminishing, but I think he is answering those....Speaking of Ranger D-men, Ryan McDonagh returned to the lineup after leaving the Nov. 1st game against the Winnipeg Jets. It may take a few games to get back into rhythm, but it shouldn't take long..... Patrick Kane scored twice against the Anaheim Ducks as the Chicago Blackhawks took it to the Ducks early and never let them into the game....Kris Versteeg has been on fire lately as he notched 2 assists giving him 9 points in last 6 games. If in need of forward depth or a back end starter, grab Versteeg on a high-powered offensive team like the Blackhawks.... After a slow start with his new team, D Matt Niskanen had 3 assists against the NY Islanders making it points in three consecutive games and 10 points in 22 games. If available, pick him up as it appears that Niskanen is starting to heat up.... Ryan Miller is loving life in Vancouver as he blanked the Columbus Blue Jackets 5-0 for his second consecutive shutout and his 15th victory, tying him with Pekka Rinne of Nashville for the league lead in wins. Miller has been nothing less than spectacular since signing as a free agent over the summer and taking the reins as the Canucks no. 1 in net....Nick Bonino had 3 assists in the game and now has 19 points in 22 games. He has been the model of consistency with points in 14 of those 22 games.  Good depth forward for your fantasy team.... The Carolina Hurricanes finished their 5-game road trip with an improbable win over the Penguins in Pittsburgh 4-2. Jiri Tlusty was the catalyst on offense for the Canes and there is speculation that Mr. Tlusty may ...

*** PRIME 120+ RANKINGS have been updated. Take a look at your favorite players and see where they are ranked in our RANKINGS Section in the right hand side of your home page. .*Ranger's goalie Henrik Lundqvist was the fantasy star of the night in MSG, snapping a three game skid with his 21-save shutout in 5-0 win over Montreal. Although his peripheral numbers are not what they used to be-2.51 GAA/ .914 SP- he can still be dominant in long stretches and is a solid no 1 fantasy option. It just seems other goalies have caught up.. Martin St. Louis led the offense with a goal and an assist, extending his point streak to four games. With 11 points in his last ten contests, he should be starting in all formats. *Jannik Hansen provided the bulk of Vancouvers offense in the 5-1 victory over Chicago, collecting a "hat trick". Not much fantasy value here, but goalie Ryan Miller continued to stake to claim to elite honors with another impressive effort, winning three of his last four starts. *For St. Louis, defenseman Alex Pietrangelo chipped on with two more assists, giving him four in last 2 games. He earned that he could heat up in a hurry, so target him I'm trade talks if you can. We think he is still getting to the 50.. *Ryan Kesler assisted on both goals in Anaheim's 2-1 win over Arizona, while goalie Federik Andersen was only beaten once in 26 shots. Mike Smith performed amirably in the Arizona crease, but the trend continues- Smith Keeps losing and Devan Dubnyk keeps winning. Something has to give here.. WHO'S HOT, WHO'S NOT Featured every week i nthe right margin======> Who's Hot as of 11/23 PLAYER               GP   G  A  +/-  PIM  SOG Steven Stamkos   8     6   4    3     4      21 Kris Versteeg       7      4   5    3     9      21 Jori Lehtera         7      4    5    5     0      19 Jaden Schwartz 7      2    7    4     0      16 Marian Hossa      7      1    8    2     0      18 Patrick Kane       7      4    5     1     0      22   Nick Bjugstad     6      5    3     5     0      19 Who's Not as of 11/23 PLAYER             GP   G   A    +/-   PIM  SOG Kris Letang         6      0   1    -2       6       22 Thomas Vanek   6     0    2    -2       0        9  Tomas Fleischmann 6 1 0     -1       0       8 Henrik Zetterberg 6   0   1    -4        0     20 Bryan Little         7      1   0     -2       0       9 Nail Yalupov       7      1   0     -4       0      17 Scott Hartnell     6     0    0     -3       6      16

The NY Rangers responded well after taking a beating from the Tampa Bay Lightning on Monday and defeated the Philadelphia Flyers 2-0 behind Cam Talbot's 31-save effort. Henrik Lundqvist was given the night off so no need to panic as he should be in net for the next start....Rick Nash continues to play at a high level as he scored his 13th goal on the season...Martin St. Louis notched a power play assist for his 9th point in 10 November games....Flyers' G Steve Mason did all he could to give his team a chance but they couldn't solve Talbot...Interesting development that Claude Giroux played in the game when there was talk over the past few days that he was nursing some sort of injury, but miraculously was able to play against the Rangers..... In his second game back after missing 2 games due to a lower body injury, Radim Vrbata scored twice, both on the power play, to help the Vancouver Canucks squeak by the Edomonton Oilers 5-4.  Vrbata is destined to have a good season playing alongside the Sedin twins, perhaps even breaking his career high of 62 points set in 2011-2012....Speaking of the Sedins, Daniel had 3 assists and Henrik 2 on the night, both playing at point-per-game levels after last season's horror show....4 goal scorers for the Oilers but none of them named Hall, Eberele, Yakupov or Nugent-Hopkins....It fact it was 30-year old Steven Pinizzotto in just his 19 NHL game who had a goal and an assist in the losing effort for the Oilers. WOW!