SMC 11-1-2015 Typical cloudy, cool November day as the hockey season shifts into the second month.  Nice to be inside with a hot cup of joe while thousands of people are running all through the 5 boroughs of NYC. It looks like Detroit’s Gustav Nyquist is coming to life after a somewhat disappointing second season.  It’s November and that means that Pavel Datsyuk is close to returning for the struggling Red Wings.  I looked and saw that the Dallas Stars are atop the Western Conference.  Getting Antti Niemi might be the most underrated off-season move. The Sharks started off hot and now are just floundering.  Didn’t mean to use the bad pun there. NY Islanders Frans Nielsen is a beast so far this season.  Let’s see if the change from October to November affects him much. If Alain Vigneault breaks up the Nash-Brassard-Zuccarello line ever again, he should be interrogated intensely. Happy to see Zuccs fully recovered from that scary incident that happened during practice in last year’s playoffs. The Devils are serving notice that they will be competitive.  Well, that’s until the injuries start taking hold. Los Angeles is for real after that extremely slow start.  And they are doing it without Anze Kopitar being involved much. Devils’ Lee Stempniak is usually a streaky scorer but he seems to be more aware of his surroundings with 6 of his 8 points assists. Stars D John Klingberg is not having any effects of the sophomore jinx as he leads all NHL defenseman in points with 11.  Well, actually tied with those two guys in Montreal and Erik Karlsson.  Some pretty decent company, no? I expected Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin to be atop the league leaders in scoring but a bit surprised to see Boston’s David Krejci up there at number 3. I didn’t realize that Nashville is 7-1-2 on the season.  They certainly have been quiet about it. Toffoli, Carter and Lucic oh my! Jake Muzzin should see his production increase with Christian Ehrhoff now sidelined for a bit. Pittsburgh’s offense has finally erupted with two straight 4 goal games.  Oh wait!  They played Buffalo and Toronto back to back. This is not the Tampa team everyone was expecting to see this season at 5-5-2.  Will Andrej Vasilevskiy cut into Ben Bishop’s playing time this season?  Brad Marchand is having himself a season with 5-4-9 in 8 games. Everyone, well mostly everyone, is expecting the Montreal Canadiens will win the President’s Trophy but the Washington Capitals will give them a good run along with the NY ...

MONDAY, MONDAY (STARTING YOUR WEEK OFF ON THE RIGHT FOOT) Now that we are well into the start of the NHL season, all fantasy poolies are anxious to make sure their starting lineups for the upcoming week are just about perfect.  Most fantasy pools are weekly with starting lineups due by opening faceoff Monday night (or afternoon if it’s a holiday).  Some leagues give the owner the option of making nightly changes but most of the ones I am in concentrate just on weekly lineup changes, so that;s where  iwill focus on in this article.  First thing I look at when going my team before Monday’s deadline is to look over my team and see if I have any injuries.  Some are minor while others could be a little more serious.  All depending on the nature of the injury, or if the player is an injury prone one will influence my decision on either just benching said injured player or scanning the waiver wire and see if there is a suitable replacement. Regardless if I have an injured player or not, I always browse through the league transactions first to see if any of my opponents dropped a nice morsel of talent onto the wire.  As is the case this week, Patrick Sharp is sitting out there but right now I sit in 6th position on the waiver wire so my chances of getting him are slim.  But you never know, so regardless of how low your chances of landing a solid forward such as Sharp, you have to put a claim in if you have a marginal player on your roster you can drop.  Even if you have no use for Sharp in your starting lineup, building up your assets with more valuable assets will only give you more firepower to pull off a trade for a player who could put your team over the top later on.  After making a note of acceptable players on the waiver wire, the next step is to look at the weekly number of games each player has on your roster.  Players with 4 games are so tempting to put in your lineup but it’s all a matter of what teams they are playing.  It also depends on the caliber of player that you may be starting.  If you have elite players on your roster, they should be in your starting lineup even if they have 2 games that week.  The only exception is one game weekly schedule. If it came down to Tyler Seguin with 2 games versus Derek Stepan with 4, I would go with Seguin because the young talent could net you significant points in just those two games whereas Stepan may give you probably the same amount of points in his four games but the potential from Seguin is greater than...

A good place to start with your Draft Kings lineup tonight is with the Dallas Stars and its most prolific scoring forward Tyler Seguin. The potential Art Ross winner hasn't gone off yet but facing Edmonton's back up goalie at home could easily jumpstart a hot scoring streak. For another bargain in big D, add winger Ales Hemsky at a low price. Top six status and still healthy. Well worth it. Am loving the Blues to give Jonas Hiller a real thrill ride tonight at the Saddledome... Vladdy Tarasenko is unlike any forward they have seen in both games against the Canucks... The Rangers have been coasting and could score some goals against a Winnipeg team already onto their fourth road game. Derek Stepan and Mats Zuccarello could easily have double digit point totals. For the sleeper goalie pick, let's take Eddie Lack in his first Carolina start. Rivalling a Florida team coming off a tough 1-0 defeat at Philly last night, we see the Canes picking up their first win of the season.       Steve's Picks C Tyler Seguin, Dallas C Derek Stepan, NYR W Vladimir Tarasenko St. Louis W Mats Zuccarello, NYR W Ales Hemsky, Dallas D Kevin Shattenkirk, St. Louis D Seth Jones, Nashville G Eddie Lack, Carolina U Tomas Plekanec, Montreal   RAY'S PICKS   G: Pekka Rinne D: Ryan Ellis D: Alex Martinez C: Tyler Seguin C: Mike Ribeiro RW: Jaromir Jagr RW: Justin Abdelkader LW: Jamie Benn LW: Filip Forsberg

Winnipeg @ Boston Ottawa @ Buffalo Philadelphia @ Tampa Bay Carolina @ Nashville Edmonton @ St. Louis Pittsburgh @ Dallas Minnesota @ Colorado RAY'S PICKS G: Pekka Rinne-NSH D: Kevin Shattenkirk-STL D: Anton Stralman-TB LW: Jonathan Drouin-TB LW: Valeri Nichushkin-DAL RW: Nikita Kucherov-TB RW: Troy Brouwer-STL C: Tyler SEguin-DAL C: Steven Stamkos-TB  

SMC 4-12-2015 Alas, the regular season has ended, but we still have three more months of playoff hockey to come.  Now that calls for a pot of espresso! Happy Easter to all the Greek Orthodox followers! The final day of the season saw all 30 teams in action with games scheduled throughout the day to satisfy all your hockey needs.  Jamie Benn stole the scoring crown from the grasps of NY Islander John Tavares.  It’s okay John, you’ll grab it for the first season in Brooklyn.  Good to see a team like Ottawa who fought tooth-and-nail make the playoffs.  Boston just didn’t seem to get a good foothold on their season from the start. Pittsburgh, for all their talent up front, look like a one-and-done team, especially without their best rear guard in Kris Letang out for the season.  Don’t let Fleury’s career high 10th shutout of the season fool you.  Even though they were twice as many as his former high, it was against the Buffalo Sabres. I keep saying this but the Columbus Blue Jackets will be the best team next season.  They have something to prove after this disappointing season. The Shark tank was more like the goldfish bowl this year.  Some changes are coming out by the Bay. No Kings.  No Bruins.  Changing of the guard it seems for playoff runs.  Are you as happy as I am that the Winnipeg Jets will be playing some playoff games for their devoted faithful? Another team that deserved a playoff spot was the Calgary Flames who just played hockey from Day 1. I love a lot of these matchups.  Islanders versus Washington should be a doozy.  Minny-St. Louis is another.    Will Dubnyk magical season continue into the playoffs?  He’s got a tough opponent in St. Louis in a best of 7 coming up. Will Nashville wake up and realize they have the playoffs coming up?  I mean, they haven’t been the same since Rinne returned from his injury. Got to love that the Sedin wins put on a show last night against Edmonton. Does Tyler Seguin become the first overall pick in next year’s non-Dynasty fantasy leagues? Carey Price should lead the Montreal Canadiens to a Conference Finals rematch against the NY Rangers.  I can see St. Louis against Chicago for the Western Conference Finals.  Rangers versus Blues would be a good match but a Rangers-Blackhawks Cup Finals would be awesome. SMC will continue throughout the playoffs so look for us every Sunday while you’re having your coffee.  Ciao for now!

SMC 4-12-2015 Alas, the regular season has ended, but we still have three more months of playoff hockey to come.  Now that calls for a pot of espresso! Happy Easter to all the Greek Orthodox followers! The final day of the season saw all 30 teams in action with games scheduled throughout the day to satisfy all your hockey needs.  Jamie Benn stole the scoring crown from the grasps of NY Islander John Tavares.  It’s okay John, you’ll grab it for the first season in Brooklyn.  Good to see a team like Ottawa who fought tooth-and-nail make the playoffs.  Boston just didn’t seem to get a good foothold on their season from the start. Pittsburgh, for all their talent up front, look like a one-and-done team, especially without their best rear guard in Kris Letang out for the season.  Don’t let Fleury’s career high 10th shutout of the season fool you.  Even though they were twice as many as his former high, it was against the Buffalo Sabres. I keep saying this but the Columbus Blue Jackets will be the best team next season.  They have something to prove after this disappointing season. The Shark tank was more like the goldfish bowl this year.  Some changes are coming out by the Bay. No Kings.  No Bruins.  Changing of the guard it seems for playoff runs.  Are you as happy as I am that the Winnipeg Jets will be playing some playoff games for their devoted faithful? Another team that deserved a playoff spot was the Calgary Flames who just played hockey from Day 1. I love a lot of these matchups.  Islanders versus Washington should be a doozy.  Minny-St. Louis is another.    Will Dubnyk magical season continue into the playoffs?  He’s got a tough opponent in St. Louis in a best of 7 coming up. Will Nashville wake up and realize they have the playoffs coming up?  I mean, they haven’t been the same since Rinne returned from his injury. Got to love that the Sedin wins put on a show last night against Edmonton. Does Tyler Seguin become the first overall pick in next year’s non-Dynasty fantasy leagues? Carey Price should lead the Montreal Canadiens to a Conference Finals rematch against the NY Rangers.  I can see St. Louis against Chicago for the Western Conference Finals.  Rangers versus Blues would be a good match but a Rangers-Blackhawks Cup Finals would be awesome. SMC will continue throughout the playoffs so look for us every Sunday while you’re having your coffee.  Ciao for now!

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 ...

Columbus putting on quite an audition for next fantasy season, Rangers getting stronger, and the Jets keep soaring The Carolina Hurricanes and Buffalo Sabres are playing out their respective disappointing seasons and it may be a few years before either team can be considered legitimate contenders.  They will still have some fantasy relevant players but you will have to put up with some not-so-good plus/minus stats.  On the Canes you have must-start players like Eric Staal and Justin Faulk and an injury-prone Jeff Skinner, but there isn’t much help coming from the youngster although Elias Lindholm has shown flashes of greatness from time to time….Tyler Ennis looks to be sure thing for next season and Zach Bogosian may be fantasy relevant in his new home up in upstate New York but all may rest upon how last year’s Number 1 pick Sam Reinhart plays in camp along with young talent like Johan Larsson and company…Too many things have to happen for wither of these teams to be making a huge jump up in the standings…. The Columbus Blue Jackets continue to show that this season was not meant to be but that they will be a force to be reckoned with for next year.  Sergei Bobrovsky played outstanding in the 4-3 overtime loss to the New York Rangers and it appears he is ready to perform at his Vezina-winning ways once again.  Grab Bobber high in next season’s fantasy draft….Derek Stepan may have missed the beginning of the season but he sure is enjoying quite an end to this season as he propelled the Rangers to their 51st win on the season capping the comeback victory with the tying goal with less than 30 seconds remaining and then the game-winning goal in OT.  The Ranges are not letting up and seem to be getting stronger as they near the playoffs….Henrik Lundqvist made quite a few outstanding saves in this game and appears to be in mid-season form.  Go long with the Rangers in the playoffs!... The Jets are doing everything they can to lock down a playoff spot and they sure helped themselves by blanking the Minnesota Wild 2-0 behind Ondrej Pavelec's 32 saves.  The win puts them a point ahead of the Los Angeles Kings in the wild card race as the Kings lost to Vancouver, another team trying to lock down a playoff berth, 2-1 in a shootout.  What a race we have in the Western Conference!  Calgary was idle last night... In a game with no implications except for possibly the scoring title saw Dallas clobber the Sharks 5-1 with Jamie Benn (2G, A) climbing to within one point...

SMC 4-5-2015 Happy Easter and Happy Passover to all on this pleasant Sunday morning.  The Hurricanes have some work cut out for them to be contenders next season, but they do have a good sore to build upon.  Remember that cam Ward is still only 31 years old. Claude Giroux must be playing with a nagging injury for half the season. I’ve been touting the Columbus Blue Jackets as the team to watch next season.  Well, they are ending this disappointing one with a 9-game winning streak at the moment. The Eastern Conference playoff teams should count their blessings that they won’t be facing these red-hot (and) Blue Jackets.  Congrats to Nick Foligno with his first career hattie.  He has had some breakout season. Pittsburgh has not been playing well of late but as long as they make the playoffs, everything changes. I’m thinking that David Savard is getting valuable ice time with Wisniewski gone to Anaheim.  He could be a great sleeper pick in September. The Winnipeg Jets are fighting tooth-and-nail for a playoff spot.  What city will have a blast if they make it? Bring ear plugs please. Alex Burrows-Henrik Sedin-Daniel Sedin combined for 7 points.  No, this isn’t 2009-2010. Ottawa is keeping the heat on Boston, and now Pittsburgh. The New York Islanders shut out the Buffalo Sabres but they are going to have to tighten up their game when they play against higher level talent or it will be a short ride. Zach Parise has to be the quietest 30-goal scorer in the NHL. Danny DeKeyser has been a bit of an assist-machine of late with 5 in his last 6 games.  Keep an eye on him for next year.  One of those last round picks. Steven Stamkos pretty much ended the Florida Panthers season last night with 2 goals and an assist. What was once a very intense rivalry is now just two teams heading in opposite directions as the New York Rangers trampled the New Jersey Devils 6-1 and the lone Devil goal came with just under 4 minutes remaining and the game well in hand for the Blueshirts. The Rangers are atop the NHL at this point and they have games in hand on the ones they are competing with. 3 different Rangers had a part in the scoring showing their balance. I think Tyler Johnson should be getting his deserved ‘props’ from here on out. The Predators once looked invincible but since the point Pekka Rinne got injured, they haven’t been the same team. If it weren’t for missing time due to an injury, Tyler Seguin would have won the scoring title hands down.  Boston, what were you ...

Captain Toews to the rescue, Shoot’em out in Wild West, Ducks & Habs losing helps Rangers The Buffalo Sabres almost made it 2 in a row by scaring the Chicago Blackhawks until Captain Jonathan Toews rescued the Hawks from a humiliating defeat against the NHL’s worst team by scoring two late goals with less than 2 minutes remaining to give the Blackhawks a 4-3 win.  Toews just shows what a tremendous talent he is by upping his game in the wake of losing Patrick Kane for the last month and a half and carrying the team to within reach of the Central division crown…Brandon Saad added 2 assists and has 6 points in the last six games.  Perhaps the time has come for the young LWer.  With next year being his fourth, you could see a good jump in production from the 50’s level to perhaps a 70-point campaign….For those looking ahead to next season, Buffalo’s defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen may be the main cog on the Sabres’ power play along with Zach Bogosian.  Regardless, Buffalo has a tremendous amount of defensive young talent to build the team up on.  And don’t forget Sam Reinhart…. The New Jersey Devils actually helped their cross-river rivals, the New York Rangers, by beating the Montreal Canadiens 3-2 in a shootout, keeping the Mighty Habs from gaining that extra point that is so crucial at this point of the season.  It was a battle of the backups as both teams have or had back-to-back nights… It was a regular ‘shoot-em out in the Old West’ as the St. Louis Blues outlasted the Dallas Stars 7-5 last night in a game atypical at this time of year.  With Vladimir Tarasenko sidelined, Patrik Berglund has stepped up his production of late with 6 points in last 4 games.  Berglund has never lived up to his scoring potential but has come on of late...Jaden Schwartz had a hattie and showed that he can score without the talented Tarasenko giving the Blues a potent duo for years to come…Dallas has their own potent duo in Jamie Benn (2G, A) and Tyler Seguin (G, 2A) as both contributed with 3 points each in the loss.  You can probably expect more matches like this in the upcoming years… The New York Rangers got some more help as the Colorado Avalanche defeated the Anaheim Ducks 4-2, keeping the Ducks from expanding their 2-point lead over the Rangers for the President’s Cup.  With 2 assists Avs’ defenseman Tyson Barrie cracked the 50-point plateau, bettering his previous high of 38 set last year.  Barrie has arrived big time and should be high on your draft lists next ...