SUNDAY MORNING COFFEE 10/21/2018 We are finally getting settled into the beginning of the NHL season and with that I bring you the first SMC of the year.   It looks like the Nashville Predators are on a mission and headed straight for the Stanley Cup final starting out 7-1-0.  Shutting out the Oilers and McDavid on their home ice is impressive. Auston Matthews is determined to prove he belongs right up when talking about Connor McDavid. Is it safe to say now that Nathan MacKinnon has arrived and that last year’s dominant season was not an aberration?  Of course, he’s got Mikko Rantanen as his line mate. So happy to see Patrice Bergeron return from his injury to start the season the way he played last year.  Would love to see career highs in points as he well deserves it.  Especially at his age, being 33 or thereabouts and all. Tampa Bay’s JT Miller looks to me like last year’s short stint with the Bolts after being traded wasn’t a fluke.  With the talent on that team I wouldn’t be surprised if every forward didn’t score 60 points this season.  We know it’s not going to happen but geez. Don’t believe for a second that Jaroslav Halak will be taking over #1 duties on the Boston Bruins from Tuukka Rask. It’s a long season. I love seeing the Vancouver Canucks be successful so early on in their post-Sedins era. What’s going on with the Panthers?  The Red Wings beat them for Pete’s sake. They need a goaltender.   Cory Schneider anyone?  Not going to happen.  Devils won’t trade him there that could possibly come back and bite them in their behinds. You know by the end of the season Sidney Crosby will be in the top 5-10 in league scoring. Alex DeBrincat is going to be a beast for years to come. When Brock Nelson is your most prolific shot-getter, you know you are in trouble.  Isles lost 4-1 to Sharks last night. Coach Phil Housley shakes up his lineup and Jeff Skinner gets a hattie on his return to Jack Eichel’s line.  Have to keep up with early season line changes, it helps. Took Alex Pietrangelo seven games to get his first point.  There may be an owner who has him that may want to cut bait.  Try to grab him. He’s so steady. Glad to see G Corey Crawford return to the Blackhawks lineup.  He is so important to their cause. And so underrated. Ottawa and Montreal aren’t playing too shabby so far this young NHL season.  Let’s give them another 10 games and re-evaluate. NY Rangers aren’t playing too badly.  Once they all get a good grasp of Coach Quinn’s style, and...

I’m back!  Sorry for missing last week’s SMC.  I really wasn’t feel so hot, but feeling much better today, so let’s get cracking. Looks like Sidney Crosby has awoken from his early season slumber. The window is running out on buying low on any of the Boston Bruins. You may have one last shot before they become harder to pry from unknowing owners. Is Buffalo really this bad?  I had them pegged for at least vying for a playoff spot. The NJ Devils are trying to stay real by acquiring Sami Vatanen giving them a true PP quarterback.  I am still a little skeptical that they will continue these winning ways though. Goaltenders are really fragile characters it seems this year. It used to be that the Philadelphia Flyers would always struggle until about December, then go on a West Coast trip, or some extended road trip, and then be a force for the remainder of the season.  (wink, wink) That Metropolitan Division is really going to be a battle for playoff berths. Hottest teams right now; NY Islanders, Columbus, Winnipeg and Montreal. That ‘buy-low’ window for Montreal players is over.  Remember when everyone though they were going to clean out house?  Hah! Detroit’s 7-game losing streak pales in comparison to Philadelphia’s 10-game one.  Ugh!  But still bad. Brad Marchand is key to that Bruins team.  Well, right next to Patrice Bergeron that is. And Tuukka Rask. It appears the Tampa Bay players have quieted down but that’s not the case.  Well, maybe a little from their torrid start. Everyone acted with surprise that some hockey players, not to be named, used curse words when being interviewed.  Really?  I guess no one hears them cursing on the ice during the games. The Canadiens put up a 10-spot against the Red Wings on Saturday night.  Max Pacioretty didn’t register a single point either.  Waiting for Sebastian Aho, Cam Atkinson and Brandon Saad to contribute more regularly.  Patiently waiting. Welcome back to the lineup Cam Fowler, Patrik Berglund, Evgeni Malkin. Love the increase in goal-scoring this year! This is going to be a real fun season to watch as it winds down as there seems to be a lot of teams close together. Happy December everyone!

Tuukka Rask blanked the Stars last night and totaled 27 saves. Who joined him in the perfect lineup?

SMC 3/12/2017 THE FINAL COUNTDOWN! As spring approaches the days are getting colder….no worries, I got my hot cup of coffee at the ready! With spring also comes the end of the NHL regular season.  This will be my last SMC for this year. AS always it was a pleasure so I hope you enjoyed it as well.  I’ll be back at the start of the 2017-2018 season and hope that you will be back too. The big, bad Boston Bruins are looking pretty good of late. Better watch out for them in the playoffs! Tuukka Rask could be huge in the B’s run for the Cup this year. I know that Brad Marchand is having another stellar year but Patrice Bergeron goes unnoticed all the time.  It sucks being taken for granted. PrimePucks™ had David Pastrnak for 58 points and 27 goals this season.  Not too shabby as he has 58 points with 28 goals in 61 games.  Boo-ya! Nashville is a funny team.  They have looked somewhat disinterested all season but have gone on a 5-3-2 run of late and are picking up the offense too. Viktor Arvidsson has had himself a career year this season with 24 goals and 48 points in 66 games.  didn’t expect his much out of him even though he had a good 2016 playoff run which stuck in my mind but couldn’t rationalize giving him more than the 20 points because there was so much depth in front of him.  Missed this one which just goes to show that you should trust your gut Ray. Buffalo beat Columbus on Saturday 5-3 doing what so few teams have been able to do this season against the Blue Jackets, score 4 or more goals.  In the Blue Jackets 18 losses, 12 of those the opposition has scored 4 or more goals. Oliver Bjorkstrand is a talented right winger for Columbus that you should remember for next season’s fantasy hockey draft as he has 9 points in just 17 games this season, and he likes to shoot the puck with 36 total so far. Tampa Bay is inching closer to a playoff spot….and Steven Stamkos is inching closer to a return to the lineup… Ondrej Palat picked up his game with a few players missing action on Saturday night.  Palat usually picks up his game near the end of the season. Toronto-Carolina used to be one of those ‘who cares?” match ups.  Not anymore, especially for Leaf fans. Who shot JVR?  No one.  He’s got 4 points in last 5 games with 20 shots on goal.  Duck! Is Calgary and Brian Elliott hot or what? 9-0-1 in last 10….and 14-2-1 in last 17 games. Ottawa not struggling to make the playoffs this year.  But how far can they go? The Islanders were definitely tired in St. ...

Tuukka Rask is the top goalie option of the night in a great matchup against Detroit. Who else should you target for NHL DFS contests on Wednesday?

SMC 3/5/2017 SEASON DWINDLING DOWN Got my cup of coffee and ready to write on this extremely cold day in NYC! The trade deadline came and went and in my honest opinion, it wasn’t as exciting as some past ones.  Okay, the Shattenkirk one was a doozy, but only for the Washington Capitals, who just got even stronger. Mark Streit doing the East Coast shuffle from Philly to Tampa to Pittsburgh. Bishop to LA was interesting to say the least. The Deadline didn’t impress me, and I love trades.  I’m an equities trader in my other life outside of hockey. 5 weeks left in the NHL regular season.  Where does the time go? With a goalie like Tuukka Rask, I can see the Boston Bruins going far in the playoffs. The Devils would have made the playoffs if they had the 80-point Hall and not the 60-point version. After such a slow start, December and January have been very good months for Patrice Bergeron.  He was my favorite buy-low candidate at that time.  Too bad I owned him. Even though it looked like the Tampa Bay Lightning were sellers at the trade deadline, they still have a shot at making the playoffs.  Crazy I know. Gotta give credit to the Columbus Blue Jackets for not letting up as the season wore on. You would think that eh Dallas Stars would be locks to make the playoffs with offensive weapons such as Benn, Seguin and Spezza.  Montreal pasted a lifeless NY Rangers team on Saturday.  Are the Rangers on cruise control at the moment? The Winnipeg Jets seemed to be refueled and generating some high-octane offense of late. Dusty Buf has picked up his game after a rough stretch. Steve Mason will drive you nuts as a fantasy owner.  He looks horrible for a spell then looks absolutely unbeatable after. Gostisbehere has got to be the man guy now that Streit is plying his wares across the state. Ovechkin with only 1 SOG in that Philly game.  And last week he had a game with 0 SOG.  Now that Trump is in Washington, maybe he will tweet that there is some sort of espionage going on and that this is not the real OV. It’s that time of the year when the Chicago Blackhawks start to get serious.  I think Minnesota has found that out. Artemi Panarin is having another solid season with 58 points in 65 games but you would never know because he isn’t this year’s NHL Flavor. This will be the year the Red Wings miss the playoffs for the first time in forever, but their future looks b right with Mantha, Larkin and company growing.SEA Vancouver came out strong and struck quickly and ...

I think it’s safe to say that Tampa’s Andrej Vasilevskiy’s play of late warrants more starts.  He’s only allowed 1 goal in the past three games.  It’s also safe to say that the Columbus Blue Jackets are indeed for real this year after playing the New York Rangers tight and coming away with a well-deserved 4-2 victory the other night. A few devastating injuries to key fantasy players this week.  They sure do come in bunches. Montreal is off to another fast start this season, but don’t think for second that Tampa Bay is not going to give them a run for their money.  Even without Stamkos. Boston is playing a lot better than I thought they would and it all has to do with Tuukka Rask, aka T-Rask!  And I don’t think they are running on all cylinders yet. Look for Patrice Bergeron to start picking up the production. Do you think that Matt Murray will start to get the majority of the games from here on out? Carey Price made everything looks so easy against Toronto on Saturday night for his 11th win in 12 games. Radulov was the focus on offense after missing two games.  He is really showcasing his abilities so far in his return to the NHL. Florida played a spirited game against Ottawa jumping out to an early lead 25 seconds into the game.  Jagr defied critics that he was getting old with a goal and 2 assists.  Barkov showed what a rising star he is.  Connor McDavid got a hat trick versus Dallas on Saturday.  But was more surprising is that Patrick Eaves scored his 9th goal on the season which is one more than McDavid has even with his hat trick. A team that should start pick up production is the St. Louis Blues. Colorado beat Minnesota on the road.  Miracle on Ice!  Oh wait, that was already taken. ATTENTION!  There was a Nathan MacKinnon sighting.  Repeat, there was a Nathan MacKinnon sighting. When Jonas Brodin leads your team in SOG in a game, there is serious problems. Arizona beat San Jose 3-2 last night.  First Colorado, then Arizona.  I’m surprised Vancouver didn’t beat Chicago. Marian Hossa has 11 goals so far this season.  And here I was thinking that he was getting old. Vincent Hinostroza made a name for himself last night with a goal and 2 assists.  Well, the people in Vancouver won’t forget his name any time soon.  They may not know how to spell it, but they know to mutter it under their breath. Unless some major injuries occur to certain teams, the way the standings are shaping up lately is how you are going to see them play out the rest of the year...

NHL IN 30: PART I 1. The young Ducks should start to paddle a little harder this season and make a good balance with the veterans to compete for the Western Conference title once again.  Gibson needs to play effortlessly like he can to insure that to happen.  Playoff-YES. 2. Arizona fans could be howling with excitement this season as the system is loaded with high-end prospects but the team is still led by elder statesman Shane Doan.  Will be fun to watch but have some growing pains to endure first.  Playoff-NO. 3. The B’s may not be the sexy team any more but they still have that monster in goal in T-Rask and a solid defensive core led by Chara still but Krug should push past the towering d-man.  Another team reliant on young guns led by veteran Patrice Bergeron.  The Bruins will be scratching and clawing at the end of the season for a playoff berth.  Playoff-MAYBE. 4. The Sabres could make a charge but it still may not be enough to battle for a playoff spot. Buffalo saw how important a steady net minder is when Robin Lehner went down to injury.  They need Lehner to solidify his spot in the crease and wait for the development of the young talent to emerge.  Eichel is the one to watch and who he develops chemistry with.  Playoff-NO. 5. The Flames brought in Brian Elliott to stabilize the crease and with the solid core of defense in front of him, he just might be able to lead them back to the playoffs.  It’s going to be tough but the offense rests in the hands of Monahan, Gaudreau and the defense once again but the team has surrounded them with experienced veterans to transition the team back to the playoffs.  Playoff-YES.  

BTP: OUT WITH THE NEW AND IN WITH THE OLD? Looking over the top goalies in the NHL this season and what immediately comes to mind is; where are the elite names like Lundqvist, Rask and Price?   The top 10 is populated with names such as John Gibson of the Anaheim Ducks and Connor Hellebuyck of the Winnipeg Jets, both of whom started the season in the minors with thoughts they would be gaining a valuable year of seasoning before plying their wares in the NHL.  In fact, they are #’s 1 and 3 in GAA so not too shabby for rookies.  Then there is Petr Mrazek of Detroit and Philadelphia’s Michal Neuvirth having GAAs of just over 2.00.  So where do the recent elite goaltenders stand in this year’s NHL? Well, we all know Montreal’s Carey Price is out with an injury and will be back in another month or so.  This scenario is eerily similar to what happened with the NY Rangers last season when Henrik Lundqvist went down for a chunk of the season and was fresh for a long playoff run that ended just shy of a 2nd straight Stanley Cup appearance. Will the same thing happen with the Canadiens this spring? Speaking of Lundvist, we all know what he’s capable of bringing so it is no surprise that the Rangers are in the top three of the Metropolitan Division and should make another playoff appearance.  Will Lundqvist have enough to get through the long and tough playoff schedule in hopes of raising the coveted Cup after appearing in 38 games already?  The Rangers know what it takes to get to the dance and stay, perhaps they are just saving themselves for the second season. Boston Bruin goaltender Tuukka Rask has been nothing short of brilliant the past few seasons posting 30+ win seasons with better than average metrics.  This year’s team was expected to be a transitional club but they seemed to have turned the corner earlier than expected but Rask’s numbers have suffered as his record stands at 16-13-3 with a 2.45 GAA and a .918 SP which are sub-standard in for T-Rask. You know all three have the pedigree to go long stretches bringing dominance to the crease, plus they know how to turn up their game when they need to, so if you get a chance to grab one of them while they are muddling along in mid-season, now is your chance because when it comes to fantasy hockey, you just need the right players at the right time and you can make up a lot of ground in a hurry and what better way to slot in some elite goalies into your lineup.

The regular season is finally over but not without it's full share of drama on Saturday. Here is a brief recap plus our fantasy thoughts: *The New York Islanders will be heading to the playoffs, but they lose out twice last night. First, their 5-4 home SO loss guaranteed the Washington Capitals home ice advantage for their first round meeting. Second, John Tavares tallied a goal and an assist to widen his NHL point lead to three but Jamie Benn's 4-point effort later in the evening enabled him to capture the Art Ross Trophy and beat out JT 87-86 on the year. We viewed Benn as a point-per-game forward entering the 2015-16 season, but NOBODY saw this coming. Benn blossomed into an elite scorer when Tyler Seguin went down and continued to pour on the points in April, finishing with 13 points in his last five games. So who would take higher in next season's drafts; Tavares and Benn? Am still leaning toward JT but the Seguin/Benn combo could be the most prolific for many years to come. * The Ottawa Senators and the Pittsburgh Penguins are in the playoffs, while the Boston Bruins fail to make it in after finishing with the President's Trophy in 2013-14. Mark Stone's two goals in the 3-1 win over Philadelphia gives him 26 on the season and makes him one to watch as a potential breakout player next year. Those Ottawa young guns on offense could turn some heads in the playoffs and beyond, so keep serious tabs on them... What to make of the Pen's? Don't overrate them in your playoff pools, given that they are likely one and done against the President Rangers.. What to make of the B's? Major changes possibly coming, with the only certainities of fantasy upper-tier status being Dougie Hamilton, Tuukka Rask, and Patrice Bergeron. * There are goaltending questions heading into the playoffs for Detroit and St. Louis, as veterans Jimmy Howard and Brian Elliott could be be usurped by upstarts Petr Mrazek and Jake Allen. Elliott was rock-solid between the pipes in their regular season finale victory over Minnesota while Mrazek blanked the Carolina Hurricanes to maintain their third place finish. Your guess is as good as mine, but am leaning toward the vets starting both of their respective Game 1's. * No time better than the present to predict the NHL's leading point-getter for the upcoming playoffs. Drum roll, please.. Am going with Vladimir Tarasenko of the St. Louis Blues. His team is poised to make serious noise in the post-season, as "Vladdy" returned after a brief ...