BIG WEEK, BIG NAMES, GUIDE UPDATED! Lots going on this week as we head into Fantasy Hockey draft season.  Training camps opened up and some long-running rumors come to an end.  A big name signing extension, 2 huge names traded within the span of a few days and a retirement announcement. WINGED WHEEL DONE:Henrik Zetterberg has officially announced that his NHL career has come to a close as his wonky back will prevent him from performing up to his golden standards. He will surely be missed. STAR LIGHT, STAR BRIGHT!: The three biggest rumors making headlines this summer included the possible free agency next summer of Dallas Star (hehe) Tyler Seguin.  Seguin took his name out of the rumor mill with a contract signing locking him up for an additional 8 years.  Congrats to Seguin on landing the huge contract worth just a tad under $80 million.  WOW! MAX PACKS HIS BAGS, STAYS IN VEGAS and SHARK BITES: The other two rumors involved trade rumors.  One we have already covered in our Prime Views, click here, on Monday with the trading of Montreal Canadien Max Pacioretty to the Las Vegas Golden Knights. The other long-running rumor finally came to fruition with the Ottawa Senators trading D Erik Karlsson to the San Jose Sharks for a couple of prospects, a depth forward and a few draft picks. All I have to say is I hope the Senators hit the jackpot with those picks because they got skunked in this trade.  The haul from the Pacioretty trade was much more significant than what the Senators received.  Another some salt to the wound is that the Senators, primed now for a shot at the Jack Hughes lottery, gave that up with trading their 1st round pick in 2019-20 to the Colorado Avalanche for Matt Duchene.  OUCH! Players coming back to the Ottawa Senators in the Karlsson trade are C Chris Tierney, C Josh Norris, LW Rudolfs Balcers and D Dylan DeMelo.  They will also receive a 2nd round 2019 draft pick, a 2020 1st round draft picks and a couple other conditional picks. With training camps opening up, it's a good time for those who have completed their fantasy drafts already to see how the players they selected and took chances are fare. And for those who are preparing for their upcoming drafts, a time to see if their premonitions about certain players hold water or time to look elsewhere. The 2018-2019 PrimePucks™ Fantasy Hockey Draft guide has been updated through this morning’s news. 

SMC 1/21/2018 DOWN IT AND OUT! Sorry for the short article and absence of an article last week but I've been driving my kids back to college these past few weekends. Sabres rattled again 7-1 by the Dallas Stars on Saturday.  The Sabres have given up 4 or more goals in their last 6 losses.  There was a 6 GA and two 7’s in that stretch.  Ouch! Every single Sabre player in that game on Saturday had a negative next to their name. I mentioned that Avalanche goaltender Jonathan Bernier should have been their #1 in the original version of this year’s PrimePucks™ Fantasy Draft Guide but tweaked back my gut feeling. Stick with your gut I always say.  Bernier has won 8 in a row with an insane Save Percentage of .957 in January. New Jersey is starting to slide down in the standings.  I think I said they would come back down to Earth.  Or even further. Nathan MacKinnon.  Wow!  We knew he had it in him.  I guess it took discarding Matt Duchene to get him rolling again like his rookie season. Winnipeg wins again.  When is Mark Scheifele coming back?  Doesn’t seem to be any rush to get him back the way they have been winning. So happy to see Patrice Bergeron having this kind of offensive stretch. Could Toronto’s 3rd period comeback against Ottawa spark the resurgence? I’m kind of torn between wanting Carolina or the NY Islanders making the playoffs. Did Arizona really put a beat down on the St. Louis Blues on Saturday?  I guess Carter Hutton has lost that magic. I’m thinking that the Florida Panthers will go on a hot streak now.  Maybe not a Boston-like hot streak, but a good offensive stretch nonetheless. Pittsburgh is still dangerous people.  Chicago, not so much. The Islanders must be really be happy to have Josh Bailey back in the lineup. Tampa Bay going through a little tough patch in the schedule.  Happens to every team. Have a great week everyone and may all your fantasies come true!

OCTOBER 15, 2017 Hockey is back!  And so is Sunday Morning Coffee!  With just over a week into the season and already things seems to be turned upside-down more than usual. Vegas as more wins (3) than Montreal and the NY Rangers combined (2). Los Angeles is one of only 2 undefeated team at 3-0-1.  There is a Dustin Brown renaissance it seems. You just knew that Kings G Jonathan Quick was going to rebound this year. The other undefeated team is the Ottawa Senators and they have started the season without their #1 star in defenseman Erik Karlsson.  Go figure! New Jersey and Colorado at or near the top of their respective divisions?  WTF? Isn’t it so crazy that Backstrom, Kuznetsov and Ovechkin are off to such sizzling hot starts as all three sit atop the NHL point-leaders board? The Capital defense is going to be a thorn in their side this year it seems. OV having back-to-back hat trick games is not so surprising but getting them in two straight periods is amazing! Don’t you just hate it when guys you have pegged for big seasons get injured in the like the first game or week of the season practically derailing your chances in fantasy hockey?  Guys like Charlie Coyle or Nino Niederreiter, Mikael Granlund or Robby Fabbri.  Just doesn’t seem right. Wow, three of those are Minnesota Wild players.   If you have depth on your bench, get them and ride the second half wave. I think we need to move on with all these Matt Duchene and Alex Galchenyuk rumors and stories about getting traded.  I have had enough about hearing their teams mishandling or mistreating them.  Either stick them in favorable positions to succeed or move on and trade them. I think Auston Matthews already has like 12 game-winning goals in his 1+ year of NHL existence.  It sure seems like it if he isn’t at that number yet. I had to pinch myself when I saw all those high-scoring box scores over the first 5-6 days of the season.  It looks like we are back to our normal scoring ways. Well, it didn’t take long for Anaheim goalie John Gibson to suffer an injury.  Come on now!  Is this a joke or what with the way he always gets injured? If somehow, some way Vladislav Namestnikov is available in your fantasy league, scoop him up right away as he is playing on Tampa bay’s first line and first PP unit.  I knew Brandon Saad was going to be a beast this year that’s why I traded for him in one dynasty league and drafted him in 2 others.  Love it when a plan works out. Dan Girardi had 5 SOG last night ...

Where Will Matt Duchene End Up? The trade rumors have been persistent and consistent from right before last season’s trade deadline up until, well, a few moments ago.  The constant, daily blurb or news item that Matt Duchene is somehow, presumably, most definitely on the trading block but somehow still remains on it for all these days. Don’t get me wrong.  Matt Duchene is a heck of a hockey player despite what anyone says to the contrary based off of his play from last season.  I mean, the whole, entire Colorado Avalanche team had a season to forget, so let’s cut him some slack.  Okay?  I find that if you can sift through all the negativity, do a little statistical research and truly see the player for who he truly is as a hockey player, you can get yourself a mighty fine fantasy player on the cheap.  The problem is that each and every one of us get caught up in the hype and the persistent jibber-jabber that the reason Avs GM Joe Sakic is offering up Duchene is because he’s a no-good, washed up hockey player when in fact he is only 26 years old for Pete’s sake.  If you can just make yourself take a step back to see the whole picture, you would see how ridiculous this all sounds now that you can look at it in a different light. http://www.hockeybuzz.com/blog/Paul-Berthelot/Blue-Jackets-still-in-on-Matt-Duchene/224/87228 https://www.milehighhockey.com/2017/9/6/16262000/colorado-avalanche-being-stubborn-on-matt-duchene-trade-rumor https://www.nhl.com/news/dan-rosen-over-the-boards-mailbag-september-6/c-290867840 https://sports.yahoo.com/matt-duchene-deserves-better-131631408.html https://www.sbnation.com/nhl/2017/8/18/16167158/matt-duchene-trade-rumors-colorado-avalanche-joe-sakic These are just some of the articles that give all sorts of varying degrees of how close Matt Duchene is to being traded.  All given different angles from the player himself feeling he won’t be on the Avs much longer to “no much talk going on right now for his services”. So, after sifting through all this rhetoric, I have come to my own conclusion that regardless if Matt Duchene gets traded or not, MD is going to have himself a decent rebound season close to 60 points, and with a little luck, perhaps even closer to 70.  I know he has had his share of up-and-down seasons already.  Some seasons scoring 67 or 70 points and some 55 and last year's 41.  So I say, grab him, not like Donald trump mind you, but grab him from a disgruntled fantasy owner and stash him away for opening night...

Had a few corrections to make after my last update last night as they were pointed out to me by Eric.  Appreciate you looking out for me!  Actually took a look at my Forward Tiers and feel a little better with the way they look now. All you Guide buyers take a look at the updates. Also had taken some advice from Josh, who I joined his dynasty fantasy league after competing with his father the past 7-8 years.  I', still battling against his father, but now I will be going against both father and son in different leagues. Anyway, I added a column to the GOALIE RANKINGS to indicate the longevity worthiness of an NHL goalie.  I think it will help especially the newbies to fantasy hockey.  Take a look and let me know what you think! The updates will be coming pretty regularly now that news is starting to flow.  Have a great rest of the week!   WILL BUTCHER-NEW JERSEY-D: A good opportunity for the young defenseman signing with the New Jersey Devils as a free-agent out of the University of Denver.  The Devils have been searching for a back line specialist since Damon Severson didn't pan out last season.  Veteran Andy Greene shows flashes of offense but is not the elite blue liner that can score teams need.  Butcher will be an upgrade but I'm not expecting a blowout since he is still a rookie.  In order for Butcher to make a difference, he needs the whole team around him to be better and I just don't see that happening too soon. ALEX KERFOOT-COLORADO-C: Another college graduate free-agent signing by another struggling team in the Colorado Avalanche with Alex Kerfoot choosing the Avalanche over the Vancouver Canucks and New York Rangers who were thought to be the front-runners for his services.  Don't expect Kerfoot to be some sort of savior for the Avs especially since they are loaded down the middle with Matt Duchene, Nathan MacKinnon, Carl Soderberg and Tyson Jost ahead of him.  Now, if you haven''t hear the rumors (wink, wink), an opening might be there once camp opens but seeing is believing.  But, it is difficult for any rookie to break into the NHL, especially playing for a poor team like the Colorado Avalanche.  I guess he sees opportunity coming sooner than later in Colorado.    

Enjoying the beautiful last days of August here in New York City.  Got some gardening done and then onto updating the PrimePucks Fantasy Hockey Guide.  A few updates to take in with the Toronto signing of RW Connor Brown to a 3-year contract and Winnipeg signing a great team player in Matt Hendricks to a 1-year deal. New Jersey added some depth on offense with the signing of Drew Stafford to a 1-year deal which will help with losing Travis Zajac to injury.   The big news all week was where was college free-agent Alex Kerfoot going to sign after speaking with a half dozen teams or so and he ended up choosing Colorado.  The NY Rangers and Vancouver Canucks seemed to be the favorites heading into the decision but neither could persuade him as much as Joe Sakic did.  perhaps this signing will speed up or put to bed all the rumors about Matt Duchene heading out of town via trade. We also added the Team Rankings to our RANKINGS LIST and hope to have the forward list out this week as well.  Check out the Goalie, Defense and Prospect rankings that were updated last week.  Perhaps there may be a few surprises on those lists.   Have a great week and enjoy the last days of summer!  

1. The Canes finished strong last season but more offense will need to be generated in order for this momentum to continue in 2016. The loss of Eric Staal will be more than compensated by the additions of Teuvo Teravainen and Lee Stempniak. Youth will be served as Elias Lindholm and Viktor Rask will be expected to take another step forward offensively. Key memo to Justin Faulk- Stay healthy and elite status will come. Goalie Cam Ward has another resurgence coming. PLAYOFFS: MAYBE 2. NHL MVP Patrick Kane will lead the scoring parade for the Blackhawks who are hoping last year's rookie phenom Artemi Panarin will continue to click with him on the top line. Jonathan Toews will anchor the 2nd unit but could be lacking a legitimate scoring threat to combine with. Marian Hossa has seen better days, but don't write him off yet. A sleeper addition that should bolster their defensive depth is Brian Campbell. He could be stealing some power-play time from Brent Seabrook. Is there anyone that still thinks that Chicago's weak link resides in goal?  Yeah, I thought so. The boys will be back.  PLAYOFFS: OF COURSE 3. No more Patrick Roy could be exactly what the doctor ordered for an offensive revival in Colorado. Look for Nathan MacKinnon and Matt Duchene to bounce back strongly next season. Gabriel Landeskog will continue his consistency, but maybe he should be scoring cloer to 70-points than 60. Mikko Rantanen can push for Calder Trophy honors if he garners top-six minutes. Repeat after me-Tyson Barrie rocks! Why would one of the most offensively gifted defensemen in their NHL prime always be mentioned in trade rumors? Semyon Varlamov has regressed over the last two seasons and I for one expect Calvin Pickard to challenge for the starting job. However, I must admit that not having Patrick Roy constantly scrutinizing his play, should help Varlamov reclaim his fame.  PLAYOFFS: MAYBE 4. A myriad of injuries derailed the Blue Jackets before the season was a few months old in 2015, but they have a shot to vie for the post-season in the upcoming year, if they can stay healthy. Huge seasons from goalie Sergei Bobrovsky and d-man Seth Jones will be needed if they are to finish in the top eight. Tortorella's team will not excel in the scoring department, so defense and goaltending will be their forte. Or not if things don't work out. PLAYOFFS: MAYBE 5. Its very simple for the Dallas Stars who arguably boast the most dangerous top-six forwards in the NHL; get top-15 ...

1. The Canes finished strong last season but more offense will need to be generated in order for this momentum to continue in 2016. The loss of Eric Staal will be more than compensated by the additions of Teuvo Terevainen and Lee Stempniak. Youth will be served as Elias Lindholm and Viktor Rask will be expected to take another step forward offensuively. Key memo to Justin Faulk- Stay healthy and elite status will come. Goalie Cam Ward has another resurgence coming. PLAYOFFS: MAYBE 2. NHL MVP Patrick Kane will lead the scoring parade for the Blackhawks who are hoping rookie phenom Artemi Panarin will continue to click with him on the top line. Jonathan Toews will anchor the 2nd unit but could be lacking a legitimate scoring threar to combine with. Marian Hossa has seen better days, but don't write him off yet. A sleeper addition that should bolster their defensive depth is Brian Campbell. He could be stealing some power-play time from Brent Seabrook. Is there anyone that still thinks that chicago's weak link resides in goal? yeah, I thought so. The boys will be back.  PLAYOFFS: OF COURSE 3. No more Patrick Roy could be exactly what the doctor ordered for an offensive revival in Colorado. Look for Nathan MacKinnon and Matt Duchene to bounce back strongly next season. Gabriel Ladeskog will continue his consistency, but maybe he should be scoring cloer to 70-points than 60. Mikko Rantanen can push for Calder Trophy honors if he garners top-six minutes. Repeat after me- Tyson Barrie rocks! Why would one of the most offensively gifted defensemen in their NHL prime always mentioned in trade rumors? Semyon Varlamov has regressed over the last two seasons and I for one expect Calvin Pickard will challenge for the starting job. However, I must admit that not having Patrick Roy constantly scrutinizing his play, should help Varlamov reclaim his fame.  PLAYOFFS: MAYBE 4. A myriad of injuries derailed the Blue Jackets before the season was a few months old in 2015, but they have a shot to vy for the post-season for the upcoming year if they can stay healthy. Huge seasons from goalie Sergei Bobrovsky and d-man Seth Jones will be needed if they are to finish in the top eight. Tortorella's team will not excel in the scoring department, so defense and goaltending will be their forte. Or not if things don't work out. PLAYOFFS: MAYBE 5. Its very simple for the Dallas Stars who arguably boast the most dangerous top-six forwards in the NHL- get top-15 goaltending and make a ...

SMC 11-15-2015 Sorry for the delay today but life got in the way, but have no fear, I just finished my afternoon coffee and am ready to let fly. Patrick Kane doesn’t seem to be bothered by anything as he leads the NHL in scoring. Red Wing Justin Abdelkader signed a reasonable 7-year extension proving that some NHL players are in it for more than just the money.  Don’t get me wrong, the money is still good but he wants to be on a perennial contender with a chance at the Cup every year.  Smart. Craig Anderson always plays the Rangers tough.  Even though he lost 2-1 in a shootout Saturday afternoon, this might jump start him to a stretch of very good goaltending. No matter who gets traded away, who gets signed to the team, Patrice Bergeron is the heart and soul of the Boston Bruins, and very under-rated. Ovechkin had 15 shots on goal the other night versus the Red Wings and was held off the board.  He was probably exhausted at the end. Good to see Pavel Datsyuk suit up finally after off-season surgery on his ankle.   Always a pleasure a watching Dats play. Buffalo lost 2-1 to San Jose in a shootout just showing once again that they will be a tough team to play against this year.  They may lose a lot of games, but the will be hard-earned if that makes any sense. Rumors of Patrick Marleau being traded this early in the season is probably just a lot of hot air produced by the media and bloggers to create traffic.  Marleau, with his contract, probably won’t be traded until closer to the trading deadline so teams can fit him under their salary cap. The Toronto Maple Leafs have won three in a row.  I don’t know how many times you will get to say that this season. The Avalanche buried Mike Condon and the Montreal Canadiens 6-1 Saturday.  And they were playing in the Bell Centre. Condon was shelled for his first loss of the season.  Does this mean Carey price will be back in net sooner than later? Just keep in mind how streaky Max Pacioretty is so you don’t pull all your hair out when he goes stretches without scoring a goal.  He has one in the past 9 games. Matt Duchene has turned it on of late and if you haven’t noticed, he has brought along Mikhail Grigorenko along for the ride.  Grigs has 4 points in past two games. Nathan McKinnon is having a career year.  Already he has 19 points in 17 games and he has been a consistent scorer since the first day of the season. The Battle of Florida was a doozy with the Panthers winning 5-4 in a shootout.  The Panthers will ...

The way I look at it, getting the Sedin twins into your lineup along with Jannik Hanson after their explosion in Columbus might depend on their opponent. Well, I like my chances against Craig Anderson and an Ottawa squad giving up tons of goals and really struggling at home... I mean, Steven Stamkos and company need to break out. Right? Here's hoping that Karri Ramo and the slumping Flames help the superstar get back on track.. Matt Duchene has been on the rise lately, so lets keep riding him with the reasonable price tag... Perhaps no forward in the NHL is streakier than Thomas Vanek, so you need to take notice after his scoring outburst a game back. No Zach Parise means more Vanek. Play him...  I dont usually spend too much on defense, so I am extremely happy with OEL and Edler against defensively challenged teams.. Can the Devils replicate their winning form against Chicago at the "Mad House On Madison"? Nah, Corey Crawford will shut down this overachieving bunch. STEVE'S PICKS C Steven Stamkos, Tampa Bay C Henrik Sedin, Vancouver W Daniel Sedin,Vancouver W Jannik Hansen,Vancouver W Thomas Vanek, Minnesota D Alex Edler,Vancouver D Oliver-Ekman Larsson, Arizona G Corey Crawford, Chicago U Matt Duchene, Colorado