SMC 11/17/2019 My apologies for the lack of a SMC last weekend but I had family events that took precedent. The NHL standings are starting to take proper form except that Edmonton and Arizona are holding onto the top spots in the wide-open Pacific. Vancouver right up there with them but they were projected to be in the hunt this season. At least for a playoff spot. I had mentioned in previous SMC’s that the Chicago Blackhawks & Tampa Bay Lightning were good ‘buy-low’ candidates.  The Dallas Stars & San Jose Sharks are turning it around as well now. New Jersey Devils are your next ‘buy-low’ team. Anaheim will stick around but only based on the heels of John Gibson’s goaltending. In the 2019-2020 PP Draft Guide, I had Jack Eichel and David Pastrnak for 100+ points.  Looking good for the moment especially with Eichel 4-goal night against Ottawa. Two players I thought for sure would be lighting the lamp more than they have are Patrik Laine and Taylor Hall. But they are contributing with a boatload of assists so I’m not complaining too much.  The goals will come in bunches. Washington’s D John Carlson isn’t stopping, is he? NHL top goalie so far: Arizona Coyote Darcy Kuemper.  Who would’ve thought? Another shutout last night against the Calgary Flames giving him 2 on the young season. Sidney Crosby out six-weeks….Bummer.  But Geno Malkin has come to the rescue. Malkin always plays and produces much more when Sid is out. Minnesota D Matt Dumba is starting to get top PP time I’ve noticed.  About time. Winnipeg Jets Kyle Connor is starting to heat up with 3 points in last 2 games and 10 points in 8 November games. Dallas Star Jamie Benn had a goal and an assist last night in Edmonton. 3 points in 2 games is a third of his total points this season.  Is Benn waking up? Benn team mate Tyler Seguin has 10 points in last 8 games. Patience has been rewarded. Are the Los Angeles Kings trying to become relevant after winning three in a row? 5 Washington players had more SOG than Alex Ovechkin in Saturday’s game versus the big bad Bruins. OV had 7 hits though. NY Rangers got shellacked by the Bolts 9-3 on Friday.  Better effort versus Florida but still lost.  Tampa Bay game was revenge for the Lightning after looking horrendous against the Blueshirts the week before losing 4-1. NY Islanders came back from a 3-0 deficit to beat the Philadelphia Flyers 4-3 in a shootout to keep close to Washington atop the Metropolitan Division.  9-0-1 in last 10 and 13 of last 14. Wow! ...

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 2/5/2017 COFFEE TALK Good morning!  Warming up my hands to a piping hot cup o’ joe! The Caps are rolling right along and there is no stopping this locomotive. Nicklas Backstrom doesn’t always get the credit he deserves.  It feels like he’s been around forever and he’s only 29. Alex Radulov has been a much better fit than I originally thought. Jay Beagle and Alex Ovechkin led the Caps in shots against Montreal on Saturday.  It was a dog day afternoon. The LA-Philly game was a real 1-0 pitcher’s duel.  For an afternoon matinee, I was hoping for some more action. Shayne Gostibehere, aka The Ghost, has really been a bit invisible after last year’s outstanding production. Wow, Colorado won a game this week! So much talk lately of the Avalanche dismantling their team but they have so much good young talent that just hasn’t blossomed yet.  But I guess you can’t wait to long for things to develop. The Maple Leafs are going to make a run for the playoffs and getting any of those top forwards on your fantasy squad will do wonders except for in the plus/minus category.  Willie Nyllie with the hattie against the B’s!  Congrats! Just to show how good Patrice Bergeron is…he comes back after suffering an LBI and puts up 7 SOG, scores a goal and assists on two others and they still lose the game.  How much more can this guy do? Oh, and after a horrendous start to his season, B’s d-man Torey Krug has been on fire lately.  He also had 7 SOG.  And David Pastrnak (2G, A)….breakout season, which PP called by the way.  Along with some other forecasters I suppose. Buffalo shut out Ottawa?  The Sens must’ve have been sightseeing at Niagara Falls. Tampa Bay is in last place of the Eastern Conference?  Is that even possible with all that talent?  I mean, they were thisclose to winning the Stanley Cup just a few short years ago. Two teams desperate to stay in the playoff race, Carolina and Islanders, had a real hard-fought battle on Saturday that saw the Canes get the extra point in OT. I think every team has a shot still to make the playoffs except for the Avs and the Arizona Coyotes. Every Islander had a SOG in that contest. Some of the luster has fallen off the Columbus Blue Jackets hot start to the season, now 4-5-1 in last 10 games, but they are still battling hard every game. Taylor Hall wins the Saturday SOG contest with 8. Kris Letang means so much to that Pittsburgh team.  As much as Crosby I’d say. What’s happening with the St. Louis Blues this season?  So unlike ...

Tyler Seguin is in a good spot to get himself back on track on Tuesday. Which other NHL players should you be targeting tonight?

Tyler Seguin is in a great spot tonight against the Colorado Avalanche. Which other players should you target in NHL DFS?

Tyler Seguin's floor and ceiling against the Coyotes make him the top skater to target tonight. Who else should you roster?

Tyler Seguin gets a rematch with the Blues. That worked out for him last time. Who else should be on your radar?

With the Dallas Stars boasting the night's top implied total, Tyler Seguin has big upside against the Colorado Avalanche. Which other players should we check out for NHL DFS?

SMC 3-13-2016 Counting down!  Grab a cup of coffee and chillax! A nice race heating up for the wild card spots in the Eastern Conference.  I thought Philly didn’t have a chance a few weeks back. What a great game to watch as both Florida and Philadelphia are fighting for every single point available. Watch out for Tampa Bay as they are lining up all their ducks in a row of late. Will the Bruins make some noise come playoff time?  Well, they might because they have surprised me this season. Boston’s David Pastrnak seems to have found his touch. I think Buffalo just put the finish in Carolina’s playoff hopes with the win on Saturday. Sometimes I think the NY Rangers are just playing enough to make the playoffs and then they are going to let it rip.  Then again, they could be one and done, who knows? What a remarkable recovery by the Anaheim Ducks after that horrific start to the season! No Canadian teams in the playoffs this year…sad time for hockey. Very weird that Ottawa would win 4-0 over Toronto and Erik Karlsson wouldn’t have a single point. This Shayne Gostisbehere has made quite an impact.  His last name will be on many spelling bee contests in the near future.  LOL Now you see why the Winnipeg Jets traded away Andrew Ladd?  Mark Scheifele is all I’m going to say. Blues-Stars had a regular barn burner last night in Big D.  5-4 OT winner for St. Louis.  Both tied atop the Central. New Jersey beat LA 2-1 on Saturday.  Where was that a few years ago?  LOL San Jose rolling along.  Nashville too.  The Playoffs are going to be a lot of fun to watch this year.  But they always are. Everyone expected Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin to have another amazing season, but who would’ve thought that Patrick Kane would have this monster one especially with the off-season spectacle just before the season started. Sorry for the truncated session, something came up. Have a great week and may all your fantasies come true!

SMC 11-22-2015 Good morning everyone!  The cold, crisp air of autumn has finally arrived making a hot cup of coffee taste even better. Lots of non-scoring on Saturday night with 5 shutouts in 11 games. Rangers’ Rick Nash with a hat trick!  You just knew he was due to break out sooner or later. Flyers are playing for the top pick in the June 2016 NHL Entry Draft it seems. I can see Big Z being traded from the Boston Bruins by the trade deadline.  Loui Eriksson before that. Maybe all that Ben Bishop needed was to play the NY Rangers to get his season on track. Tampa has had a lot of injuries and everyone will tend to forget about them this year and they will get healthy, make the playoffs and be a threat with all the talent they possess. That Jaromir Jagr never seems to get old.  5 shots on goal last night against the Rangers and he even scored a goal. Aleksander Barkov is back from injury and has 2 goals and an assist in 3 games back. The Pittsburgh Penguins have problems and if they don’t shore up their defense, they may miss the playoffs.  I don’t think Sidney Crosby will like that very much. San Jose’s D-man Brent Burns had 7 SOG last night against the Pens.  Who does he think he is, Alex Ovechkin? Kessel, Hornqvist, and Letang had 5 SOG or more and Sid the Kid and Malkin only had one apiece.  That’s not gonna cut it. Washington scored 7 goals last night against Colorado in only 32 SOG.  The Avalanche’s goaltending is not as good as previously thought. Columbus and Anaheim slowly but surely creeping back up the standings. The race for the President’s Cup will be very interesting this year. I think everyone can forget about St. Louis defenseman Colton Parayko now that Kevin Shattenkirk is back from injury and in mid-season form already. I am thinking that Detroit Red Wing Teemu Pulkkinen can start to put up some decent numbers now that the team is sorta back to full staff.  Plus he is playing with Tomas Tatar and Brad Richards. What is going on with Jonathan Drouin? This goaltending sharing policy on Dallas is killing fantasy players but doing wonders for the actual team. Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin are an insane scoring duo!  I didn’t need to tell you that, did I? One would’ve thought that the way the Minnesota Wild were playing of late that they would’ve been the team that was shutout on Saturday and not Nashville. Ryan Suter is having himself a year, isn’t he? It’s nice to see the Sedin twins have a game like they did against Chicago every once in a...