ADD’EM: ROUNDING INTO FORM Connor Hellebuyck-G- WPG (68.1% owned in ESPN), Jeff Petry-D-MTL (21.1), Jason Demers-D-ARZ (10.1), Lars Eller-C-WAS (1.9), Nino Niederreiter-RW-MIN (57.2), Bo Horvat-C-VAN(55.5), Boone Jenner-RW-CBS (30.2) and Brock Boeser-RW- VAN(31.9) 11/5/2017 Some interesting names on the free agent wire for the upcoming week that are still somewhat available.  Top on the list is Minnesota’s Nino Niederreiter owned by 57.2% of leagues in ESPN.  I know he missed the very early part of the season due to injury but he is a major component on the offense and should start to get his legs under him.  Minny has 4 away games but they are against opponents that won’t stymie the offense.  Boston, Toronto, Montreal and Philly make up the work week so expect the Wild to put up some points this week. One of the more intriguing names on the wire is Columbus Blue Jacket RW Boone Jenner.  Jenner is one of PrimePucks™ rebound players for this season and he has been contributing of late with 2-3-5 in last 3 games with 2 of those points coming on the power play.  Jenner also had 8 SOG in those 3 games.  The Jackets have 2 home games sandwiched in 2 away games.  The away game are against her NY Rangers and Detroit Red Wings while the home games feature matchups against Nashville and Carolina. Jenner, like Niederreiter, also missed time at the beginning of the season but seems to be rounding into form lately.  A solid pickup for the week. Looking for some goaltender help is very difficult as most of the starts are gobbled up by now but Winnipeg’s Connor Hellebuyck is only owned in a little under 70%, so there is a chance he is still available in your league.  Although the Jets have 3 upcoming away games, they are up against Dallas, Arizona and Las Vegas and with the way Connor is playing (.933 SP, 2.22 GA and 3 wins in 4 starts), he should continue to fight for the starter’s role in Winnipeg. On the defensive side of the coin, a few names to help fill in that last gap on your fantasy defense.  Jeff Petry is not having the kind of offensive season we got accustomed to last season but does have 2 points in last 3 games and 10 SOG so he should be able to contribute something to your team playing against Las Vegas, Minnesota and Buffalo all on home ice….Jason Demers finds himself on the scoreboard of late in Arizona as he has gone 1-3-4 in last 4 games.  The Coyotes are on the road for 3 against Washington, Pittsburgh and St. Louis before returning home against ...

BTP: ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS IS… COREY CRAWFORD – some recognition as a top-flight goaltender.  I mean I’ve been involved in 4 consecutive shutouts lately, winning three of those, and have won 6 of 7.  And have won 2 Stanley Cups in the last 3 years. SEMYON VARLAMOV – Some stability please.  II know I have the talent, I just need to stay healthy and gain some consistency in the crease.  I’ve won 5 in a row of late, but I’ve also had a stretch of losing 6 of 8 earlier in the season. ANTTI NIEMI/KARI LEHTONEN – Each of us need to put together a streak of solid goaltending so that the team can find some stability and know they have someone to rely upon.  The former has won a Stanley Cup but that seems like eons ago while the latter has had a career full of injury issues.  DEVAN DUBNYK – I just want this year to be like last year when I proved that I belonged in the NHL as a starting goaltender.  Minnesota has been good to me, now I just need to put together a solid stretch of steady goaltending. PEKKA RINNE – Under Barry Trotz it seemed so easy to put in solid efforts in night-in and night-out.   Where has that strong goaltending gone over the last year and a half?  I need to find my moxie once again. JAKE ALLEN – I am finally able to show that I am capable of being the #1 NHL goaltender.  I just want to show that they can rely on me every night and not have too many stretches of poor outings. CONNOR HELLEBUYCK – I got my taste of NHL action and have shown that I can handle it.  But what will happen when Ondrej Pavelec comes back?  OR Michael Hutchinson decides he needs to play like he did when he first came to the NHL?  What will happen in Winnipeg? ANDERS NILSSON – I know I can compete at this level and my game has shown glimpses of late.  I did win 5 in a row and the team needs this kind of performance on a nightly basis.  TUUKKA RASK – I know there were doubters in the beginning of the season, but the team has shown their faith in me and the system and things have fallen into place.  ROBIN LEHNER – I never even got a fair chance getting injured in the first game of the season.  I need to come back when completely healthy and the team needs time to mature in front of me.  The second half will be a stepping stone heading into next season. ROBERTO LUONGO – I Have been able to supply the team with solid efforts throughout the first half of the season and the team is coming together very nicely.  I can keep this team competitive enough to fight for a ...

Anders Nilsson, Edmonton- The ex-Islanders prospect has been on a tear of late for the Oilers, starting five straight games while winning four of them. And he's not just getting by either, allowing just nine goals over those contests. Although it's reasonable to assume that Cam Talbot will have another chance to reclaim the starting  job, Nilsson is only 25 and is showing off some of that upside that he displayed in the KHL. Take a flier on him as he could be the real deal.   Connor Hellebuyck,Winnipeg- The rookie has started 3 of Winnipeg's last four games and has won them all. The Jets needed a spark in the crease so it's possible that good ol Connor can pull off an Andrew Hammond and run a fantasy friendly scorching streak of victories. For that reason alone, he should be on your radar. Defintely worth a short-term goalie stopgap and maybe much more.   Shayne Gostisbehere, Philadelphia - What are some of you guys waiting for? All the rookie defender has done in place of the injured Mark Streit is collect points in 6 of his last 7 games. He has added a much needed offensive flair to the Flyer's anemic offense, so look for him to remain on the top power-play unit until he runs out of gas.   Mike Cammalleri, New Jersey- The veteran forward is probably taken already off the waiver wire but given his Third Star of the week honors and his torrid point-per-game numbers, Cammy deserves plenty of fantasy love. Hey, ex- 80-point producers arent available often so do the right thing.   Adam Henrique, New Jersey - After he pulled a 51-point rookie season in 2011, he has failed to reach those totals again, frustrating many fantasy owners along the way. Well, he is off to a much more promising start this season with 23 points in 27 games and has the potential to finally break out. Whether he does or not is another question but he is streaking enough to warrant immediate fantasy consideration.   

SMC 12-6-2015 Good morning everyone!  Grab your coffee and settle in for a cozy Sunday! Some good goaltending stories this week unless you are the owners of the goalies that were replaced by these marvels.  Winnipeg Jets Connor Hellebuyck and Toronto Maple Leafs Garret Sparks have turned a lot of heads in their short NHL careers with the former going 3-0-0 and the latter 2-1-0 in their first three NHL starts.  So impressive that Sparks had a shutout in his NHL debut. I’m getting pretty tired of all these Byfuglien rumors already.  What, has this been going on for like 3 years now?  Trade the guy already. Scoring is so spread out these days that for fantasy purposes it’s so difficult to have a clear-cut # 1, 2 or 3 pick. I can see Columbus beating out Pittsburgh for the last playoff spot on the last day of the season. Kris Letang got injured on Thursday.  Now there’s a surprise, not! I think Marian Gaborik may just be waking up now.  He’ll play good for about three weeks and then get injured.  That’s just what he does. It’s still kind of early but Phil Kessel hasn’t been the player with Pittsburgh everyone was hoping for. Erik Karlsson is just sooo good! Don’t look now but Detroit is 15-8-4 and in second place in the Atlantic Division.  They are always around. Nyquist, Tatar and Larkin are becoming household names and they still have quite a few others that will be joining them soon enough. Is Nashville just playing good enough to make the playoffs and then use that energy they are saving for the Cup run? Jeff Skinner is a ‘buy-low’ candidate but beware of his injury history. I thought the Maple Leafs had been winning more than they have lost lately, but that isn’t the case.  But they did beat the Blues in St. Louis on Saturday night. Columbus beat Philadelphia on Saturday.  It was like a reunion game for a lot of players.  Nick Foligno woke up with his best game of the year so far.  Need a few more those types of games to make their fantasy owners not regret selecting him in their drafts. Boston has been doing much better lately that’s why you don’t hear all the rumors about coach firings or Chara trading. Wow, Los Angeles is in first place in the Pacific at this time of year when everyone thought it would be the other area team atop the standings. Have a great week and may all your fantasies come true.

CONNOR HELLEBUYCK-G-Winnipeg Jets We take a look at Winnipeg jets goaltending prospect Connor Hellebuyck who was called up when starter Ondrej Pavelec went down with an injury.  This can also be your UNDER THE RAYDAR feature as well this week. Connor Hellebuyck was chosen in the 5th round of the 2012 NHL Entry Draft aby the Winnipeg Jets and made his NHL debut last week on the road against the Wild of Minnesota and winning 3-1, setting aside 14 shots on goal, so he was hardly tested.  He made his second start on December 2nd and allowed only 1 goal again in the Jets 6-1 win over Toronto.  Hellebuyck made 32 saves for his second NHL win. The Winnipeg goaltending has not been very good so far this season with both Pavelec and Michael Hutchinson posting losing records of 5-6-1 and 5-6-0 respectively.  Both sport inflated GAAs of 2.82 & 3.09 with under average SPs as well; .906 & .901.  If the youngster can show any resemblance that he is ready to assume a role at the NHL level, some decisions will have to be made in Winnpeg. Hellebuyck, at 6’4” and 207 lbs., is the Jets goaltender of the future and with the state of the team’s goaltending, his future may be here, but that will only be the case if the team can decide on which of the two current NHL goaltenders they can move.  After two years at UMass where he played in 53 games and had a 38-12-2 record, Hellebuyck played in 58 games in the AHL with the St. John’s IceCaps.  It was quite the workload for a young goaltender but that shows that the young net minder can handle it. He didn’t have such a good record with Manitoba this season going 2-7-1 with the Moose when he was called up, but the Jets needed someone to give the team some stability in the crease. Ranked #40 in HockeysFuture.com’s top prospect list, there isn’t any question that Hellebuyck will someday be patrolling an NHL crease on a regular basis.  The team is tiring of Pavelec’s inconsistency in net and while Hutchinson was thought to be the heir apparent as the team’s #1 net minder, he hasn’t grabbed the bull by the horns this season.  Hutch is only 25 while Hellebuyck is 22 years old, so the Jets may be unwilling to rest the fate of the team in such a young talent, but if Pavs and Hutch can’t lock down their spots, they may have no other choice.  Decisions will have to be made soon for the Jets, but you will probably see Hellebuyck as the main guy in a year or two for the Jets. For dynasty leagues, take a shot and if he gets sent back to the ...

BTP: WHO THE HELLEBUYCK IS THIS? We take a look at Winnipeg jets goaltending prospect Connor Hellebuyck who was called up when starter Ondrej Pavelec went down with an injury.  This can also be your UNDER THE RAYDAR feature as well this week. Connor Hellebuyck was chosen in the 5th round of the 2012 NHL Entry Draft aby the Winnipeg Jets and made his NHL debut last week on the road against the Wild of Minnesota and winning 3-1, setting aside 14 shots on goal, so he was hardly tested.  He made his second start on December 2nd and allowed only 1 goal again in the Jets 6-1 win over Toronto.  Hellebuyck made 32 saves for his second NHL win. The Winnipeg goaltending has not been very good so far this season with both Pavelec and Michael Hutchinson posting losing records of 5-6-1 and 5-6-0 respectively.  Both sport inflated GAAs of 2.82 & 3.09 with under average SPs as well; .906 & .901.  If the youngster can show any resemblance that he is ready to assume a role at the NHL level, some decisions will have to be made in Winnpeg. Hellebuyck, at 6’4” and 207 lbs., is the Jets goaltender of the future and with the state of the team’s goaltending, his future may be here, but that will only be the case if the team can decide on which of the two current NHL goaltenders they can move.  After two years at UMass where he played in 53 games and had a 38-12-2 record, Hellebuyck played in 58 games in the AHL with the St. John’s IceCaps.  It was quite the workload for a young goaltender but that shows that the young net minder can handle it. He didn’t have such a good record with Manitoba this season going 2-7-1 with the Moose when he was called up, but the Jets needed someone to give the team some stability in the crease. Ranked #40 in HockeysFuture.com’s top prospect list, there isn’t any question that Hellebuyck will someday be patrolling an NHL crease on a regular basis.  The team is tiring of Pavelec’s inconsistency in net and while Hutchinson was thought to be the heir apparent as the team’s #1 net minder, he hasn’t grabbed the bull by the horns this season.  Hutch is only 25 while Hellebuyck is 22 years old, so the Jets may be unwilling to rest the fate of the team in such a young talent, but if Pavs and Hutch can’t lock down their spots, they may have no other choice.  Decisions will have to be made soon for the Jets, but you will probably see Hellebuyck as the main guy in a year or two for the Jets. For dynasty leagues, take a shot and if he gets sent back to the ...