The PrimePucks Fantasy Hockey Draft Guide has been updated with the latest NHL signings along with some injury updates as well.  Check the edited Draft Guide in your online account. Remember all updates and edits re in highlighter yellow so you can spot them easily. PLAYER NEWS: D-LICIOUS! Pittsburgh Penguins’ defenseman Kris Letang has been cleared to training camp and should be ready to go come opening night.  Letang is right there among the elite fantasy defensemen such as Brent Burns and Erik Karlsson but the knock on Letang is staying healthy.  He can drive you mad with his scoring prowess but he always seems to get nicked up and banged up leaving fantasy owners in a dilemma.  But have no doubt that when healthy, he is in your lineup. Speaking of Karlsson, it appears he won’t be back on the ice until November time as the Ottawa Senator Captain recovers from off-season left foot surgery to repair tendons.  Karlsson can miss from 12-15 games at the start of the season and who knows how many games he will need to get into tip-top shape.  Knowing the competitive nature of Karlsson, it won’t take long. Fantasy owners be wary of selecting Nashville Predators defenseman Ryan Ellis too early as he too is recovering from an off-season knee surgery.  Ellis is expected to miss several months at least.  Look elsewhere for your fantasy defensemen points. Keeping with the all-defense theme, New Jersey d-man Damon Severson signed a 6-year deal with the club paying him $4+ million per year.  The 23 year-old defenseman is going on his 4th season and was once highly regarded to be the power play point man but things haven’t panned out since his impressive debut season when he went 5-12-17 in 52 games.  The last two seasons weren’t anything to write home about especially after last season’s 31-point effort while sporting a -30.  Ouch!  Not to place all the blame on the young man’s shoulders as the team wasn’t any better, but he is part of the equation.  Not expecting great production out of him this year either with the team clearly in the rebuilding phase.  Keep a close eye during training camp to see if he can gain any confidence and be fantasy worthy.

Erik Karlsson and the Senators are a team to target on a short slate. Who else should be on your list?

Erik Karlsson has a great floor and ceiling in tonight's matchup. Who else should you roster in 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!

First Wave(1-25)- Erik Karlsson, John Klingberg These two defenseman have emerged as the top elite options on defense as they are scoring close to a point per game clip. More surprising is Klingberg's quick ascent to premier status as EK has been the best for some time now. Having said that, hold on to both as they will fight for top honors all year long. Karlsson has the edge but Klingberg has the benefit of playing with Seguin and Benn.   Second Wave(26-50)- John Carlson, Justin Faulk I have been hyping Faulk for years now but he has finally realized all that fantasy potential. While it's ridiculously unrealistic for him to keep up his staggering scoring pace on the  power play, he should be a lock for 50, even 60. I would also hold onto to Carlson who has become the clear it powerplay QB on an explosive Washington team. No Green means huge breakout for Carlson. It's that simple    Third Wave(51-75)-Brent  Burns, R Ristolainen, Ryan Suter, PK Subban, Roman Josi  I trust everyone on this list except the young Ristolainen. The kid is on his way to being a stud but can you trust him to keep up these numbers? Burns and Subban should be locks for 50+, while Suter has eclipsed 40+ a few times. Josi is just right here but expect Subban and Burns to move up to the upper tier before its all said and done. Fourth Wave(76-100)- Brent Seabrook. Dustin Byfuglien. Tyson Barrie. Andrei Markov Kevin Shattenkirk. Shea Weber  Many heavy-hitters in this group which should easily post better numbers moving forward, so you should target in buy lower situations. The only one I would not consider in the buy low category would be Seabrook. He is more of the sell high variety.

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.

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 ...

Steves Picks- Draft Kings(write ups will be up after 4. Sorry, at work folks!)   C Travis Zajac, New Jersey C Mika Zibanejad, Mon W Mark Stone, Ott W Max Pacioretty, Mon W Brendan Gallagher, Mon D Erik Karlsson, Ott D Andrei Markov, Mon G Craig Anderson, Ott U Jason Pominville, Min

The Minnesota Wild roll by the St. Louis Blues 6-3, as Brian Elliott was pulled after giving up four goals. Thomas Vanek scored a goal, extending his point streak to seven games. His late season scoring surge is good enough reason to get him in your starting lineups... Is there a better line going in the NHL than the Gaudreau-Hudler- Monahan unit for the Calgary Flames? In another big spot, the trio have combined for five points but the team fell short in overtime after Rene Bourque buried the game-winner. Start all three as thay are providing the bulk of Calgary's offense during their hot streak... Carey Price for MVP? It's looking more and more likely as he keeps churning out suberb efforts in the crease, this gtime posting his second straight shutout and blanking the San Jose Sharks...   Jonathan Quick kept the Los Angeles Kings in the match with 36 saves, but Radim Vrbata spearheaded the Canuck's offense with the go-ahead goal in the third period plus an assist. He has been heating up so give him an extended look as Vancouver pushes hard for a playoff spot.  Boston blows another opportunity to extend their point lead over Florida as Roberto Luongo outlasted Tuukka Rask in the shootout to give the panthers the 2-1 win. In two games back, "Bobby Lou" looks every bit the solid fantasy goalie that he was during his peak years in Vancouver...  Jaroslav Halak is back starting for the Islanders after missing two games and his presence along with the return of defenseman Nick Leddy helped lead them to a 3-0 win over New Jersey. Kyle Okposo scored his 16th goal of the season, slowly shaking off his injury rust and getting ready for a strong finish. Get him in your starting lineups..   Kyle Turris continued his hot play with the game winning goal and Andrew Hammond won his sixth straight start for Ottawa as the Senators defeated their provinciakl rivals, the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-3. Defenseman Erik Karlsson finished the match with a goal and an assist. He is definitely paying fantasy dividends now for those owners who drafted him in the early rounds.. The goaltending enigma known as Kari Lehtonen was spectacular in net after he posted his fifth shutout of the season in the 4-0 drubbing of Chicago. Jason Spezza picked up a goal and  an assist while Alex Goligoski notched two helpers. Give "Gogo" the starting nod this upcoming week if you own him as he is on a serious scoring roll to finish the season.. What a return for Taylor Hall as he assisted on ...

Four players to consider scooping up plus our parting shots- Here are four names that should come up when scouring the waiver wire for potential fantasy additions, so here is out fantasy take on the following four defenders: Yes.. Patrice Wiercioch Ottawa (Owned in 1.9% ESPN leagues)- When we think of Ottawa fantasy defensemen, it's always all Erik Karlsson but the 24-year old Wiercioch has exhibited some offensive upside in his college and AHL days. It hasn't translated yet into consistent NHL success but he played better of late with four points in the last six games. His minutes has also shot up over the last recent stretch, including more time on the top power-play unit. With four games coming up next week, it might be a low-risk move to get him in as your 4th defenseman. Looking beyond to next season, Year 4 could spell a huge breakout for Wiercioch if he gets to play more alongside Erik Karlsson. Jared Spurgeon Minnesota (Owned in 11.2 % ESPN leagues)- Since returning from injury, the Wild rearguard has collected two goals and four points in the six games. There is plenty of untapped upside when speaking of Spurgeon, but injuries have derailed what could have been a breakout season for him. With 22 points in 56 games, a strong surge over the lat ten games can get him close to the 30-point mark. With Ryan Suter struggling, we can see Minnesota giving Spurgeon more minutes on the power-play, meaning a solid finish should be very likely. We say pick him up.   Maybe.. Tobias Enstrom Winnipeg (Owned in 11.5 % ESPN leagues)- Considering his past track record which includes two 50-point seasons, this Jet should probably be owned in all leagues. Even with Dustin Byfuglien and Tyler Myers returning from injury, Enstrom should keep getting top PP minutes and has racked up three points over the last six games. When teams like Winnipeg have a possible playoff spot on the line, you can bet that they will rely heavier on their veterans down the stretch. Meaning, Enstrom could see a decent spike in minutes and subsequently, his scoring totals over the last ten games or so. A rocky season for the diminutive defender but there could be a strong ending in order.   No Thanks.. Jake Gardiner Toronto (Owned in 6% ESPN leagues)- Yes, we have hyped this guy for a long whila and his 6 points over the last nine games suggests that he indeed can be an offensive force. However, when considering the state of the Maple Leafs these days and the general lack of consistency that...