Happy Labor Day weekend to all my American friends out there.  I hope you are out enjoying what I hope is good weather, good food, good drink and good family and friends! A few happenings in the NHL the past week or so.  Ex-Montreal Canadien and NY Ranger Center David Desharnais is set to skate in the KHL for the upcoming season. I once highly touted him as possibly the next Martin St. Louis but as you can see that never panned out.  See my Under The Raydar article to see what I wrote all those years ago. Lol. RW Troy Brouwer signed a 1-year deal with the Florida Panthers.  Clearly a depth move and at a cost of $850K, inexpensive as well. Newly acquired Calgary Flame D Noah Hanifin signed a 6-year deal for good money, $4,950,000 per year.  Traded away from the Carolina Hurricanes in a swap of defensemen with Dougie Hamilton coming the other way in the deal.  Perhaps with Flames veteran Defenseman Mark Giordano, Hanifin can emerge as a more complete defenseman with a boost in his offensive game. PrimePucks™ is starting to add their pre-season rankings to the website so keep looking for updates.  SO far we have Team and prospect Rankings available for your perusal. I will be uploading a new, updated Fantasy Draft Guide tomorrow, Sunday September 2nd most likely around noon.  Heading to a family BBQ today then to the Deep Purple & Judas Priest concert afterwards.  Guide is available for purchase, just click here.  At $10.99, you get over 60 pages of fantasy hockey articles and all 31 teams analysis.  The NHL season is just around the corner now, so be caught behind, get ready now for your upcoming fantasy hockey drafts! Enjoy the weekend! Ciao for now, Ray

Center Victor Rask leads our list as he is currently sporting a 8-game point streak( 4G/4A). The 23 year old is putting it all together in Year 3,following his 21G/48 point sophomore season. Will it continue? Skinner and Rask should lead the Carolina scoring charge until their young guns Aho and Terevainen are ready to take the next step.. Jimmy Vesey is enjoying a strong rookie start with 4 goals and one assist in eight games. On a line with Stepan and Nash, the youngster has figure prominently in the offense earlier then expected. He is rosterable at this time but expect some first year hiccups... if you wish to add some veteran depth, Marcus Johansson is probably available even though is firmly entrenched in Washington's top six and gets a steady dose of pp time. Don't look now but he leads the team in scoring with 7 points in seven games. You can do a lot worse.... I am liking a couple of veterans with a substantial offensive pedigree but have been left for dead in most leagues. Dennis Wideman is only 2 years removed from a 56- point season but is coming off an injury plagued season including with infamous referee collision. He is off to a great start and has been manning Calgary top power-play with Mark Giordano. The Flames have shown over the last few seasons that they can sustain 3-4 high scoring d-men per season, so maybe the vet can make a serious 40-point run.... The 'Ghost" Shayne Gostisbehere is the premier defensive rave in Philly but Mark Streit is not going quietly. He has collected two goals and four assists during the first nine games, but limited top power play minutes caps his upside. Use him while he is hot...wanna go young? Look no further than New Jersey rearguard Damon Severson, who ranks second in the Devils with 6 points. At the moment, he is starring on a power-play unit that has been buoyed by the emergence of Taylor Hall. Decent upside here, so give him a serious look.

Nick Leddy, New York- We expected a huge breakout season for Leddy this season coming after a 37-point effort in 2014-15. Unfortunately to the chagrin of many fantasy owners, all he had accounted for so far is 8 points in 29 games. Huge disappointment for sure, but his two assist game last night and a spot on the top powerplay unit over Marek Zidlicky suggests that he might be in serious buy-low mode.  Dennis Wideman, Calgary- Yes, his huge '14-15 season was crying for a huge regression this year but he is starting to rack up some points and could be ready for a strong second half. While currently on a 3-game point streak, the 32-year old veteran is logging huge minutes and also getting power play time as well. Only drawback has been not being paired with Mark Giordano but he has the ability to push toward 40+ points regardless. If he is available, he might be worth adding to your fantasy squad.    Shea Weber, Nashville- Super hot over the last fifteen days as evidenced by his 8 points over 8 games, including a stunning hat trick in the process. His slow start coinciding with the rise of Roman Josi had many thinking that he was no longer the primary blue line option in Nashville. The gap has clearly narrowed between the two, but weber needs to be treated like an elite fantasy option. Don't dare contemplating trading him as it will be tough getting back equal value    Dougie Hamilton, Calgary- We are back in Calgary where 9 points on the year isn't exactly what was expected of the high profile free agent acquisition, but a three game point streak shows he is currently trending up. He has all the ability to be a perennial 50 point producer, but he faces intense competition in Calgary for powerplay time.    Mark Streit, Philadelphia- Yes we know he is still injured but the question remains whether the recent phenomenon known as Shayne Gostisbehere and his sizzling offense will be enough to hurt Streit's future fantasy value. I know this- if the youngster keeps up his scoring pace, then decisions will need to be made. I heard a few folks speculate about a possible Streit trade but perhaps we are crowning the youngster way too early. Talk to me in a few weeks 

My ISD format will take a new twist this season, highlighting five players who will moving in all directions on the fantasy front. Hope you enjoy: 1. Victor Hedman returned for the Lightning Tuesday night from an upper body injury and added two assists to his point totals, reaching six in six games. This fantasy stud doesn't get the elite treatment just yet because injuries always keep him from putting up monster numbers. He falls commonly behind the top 7-10 in many drafts but truth be told, he is only one of the handful of defenders that can lead all defensemen in scoring. His massive upside has been on display early on... BLUE CHIP STUD 2. With six points over his first 5 games, Swiss rearguard Roman Josi is quickly justifying his rising fantasy value based on a huge 55-point '15-16 campaign. In a few instances, he was taken before Shea Weber in drafts but early returns show that the gap is closing between the two. Weber is off to a good start with four points but this situation bears watching. I have a feeling the hard shooting Canadien will get the last laugh...  JUST ABOUT ELITE   3. I for one thought the 39-year old Dan Boyle would pull off a Jaromir Jagr and defy time for just a while longer while becoming fantasy relevant this season. It hasn't exactly panned out in the early going as Boyle has already been scratched for a game while just getting two points in six games. Reports are indicating that coach Alain Vigneault has not been satisfied with his play and that his role could further be diminished....   ON SWIFT DECLINE   4. Young Adam Larsson is starting to turn the corner as an NHL scoring defender, ending last night's game for the Devils in overtime with his second point of the night. He needs to be owned in all fantasy formats as he is coming off a mini-breakout season (24 pts/64 gms) and poised for bigger minutes in '15-16. There has been trade rumors, possibly with Columbus for winger Cam Atkinson but given the paucity of blue line scoring there, he could end up flourishing if that move would take place. Definitely on the rise...  SLEEPER ALERT   5. Calgary newcomer Dougie Hamilton is off to a slow start on his team, but he should be one targeted as a super buy low candidate. He managed to score his first goal and only point of the season on Saturday, but he seems ready to take off very soon. Coming off a 42-point season, the youngster had the taken the offensive reins on the powerplay alongside Mark Giordano and will have every ...

Well, here we are, opening night!  The few short months without any NHL action has come to an end and it's also Rivalry Night!  We have the Stanley Cup Champion Chicago Blackhawks raising the banner in front of, I'm sure, a jealous New York Rangers team. The Hawks will come out flying but I believe the Blueshirts will prevail in the end. Montreal/Toronto always seems to turn into something spectacular.  Can LA start their, what they hope is a run for the Cup, season off with a win against something-to-prove San Jose team?  Vancouver heads over to Calgary in what could be the start of a season long battle for one of the last playoff slots.  Whatever it is, hockey is back!   Montreal @ Toronto NY Rangers @ Chicago Vancouver @ Calgary San Jose @ Los Angeles These are my picks for tonight's starting lineup; RAY'S PICKS G: Henrik Lundqvist D: Mark Giordano D: Brent Burns C: Jonathan Toews C: Anze Kopitar LW: Milan Lucic LW: Johnny Gaudreau RW: Joel Ward RW: Tomas Hertl    

Almost exactly a year ago, our ten team league decided to try something new and add categories that few fantasy leagues might use in their head to head matchup leagues. Instead of your typical setup of goals, assists, power play points, plus/minus, penalty minutes, and shots on goal for skaters we added hits and blocks to add value to players further down NHL team’s depth charts. This sparked waiver wire action that was unprecedented in our league that allows for four additions/drops per week, as teams on average used about three of their four a week and also led to greater trade value for all around players in the league. Why do it? First, let us look at hits. We probably can all agree that big hits and players that are physical can change games. You needn’t look any farther than the New York Islanders fourth line. Would Matt Martin, owned by 6% of fantasy hockey players on Yahoo, or Cal Clutterbuck, owned by 4%, ever have any fantasy value in a typical league described above? Nope! The Islanders organization, Islander fans, and publications like The Hockey News will all tell you that those two were incredibly important to their 102 point season as they grinded opponents down with their intense physical play. Are they going to score a lot of goals, absolutely not, as Martin scored 8 and Clutterbuck 7 this season, but to say they aren’t valuable to the success of the Islanders would be an injustice. Martin led the NHL with an incredible 382 hits, beating his line mate Clutterbuck (343) by 39 hits. The third highest total in the league was Brooks Orpik with 306 hits. This also adds value to other 3rd and 4th liners. Like with Tommy Wingels who, when healthy, was an all-around stud. On top of his mediocre 40 points, or breakout depending on your view, he also had 263 hits and 158 shots on goal and was injured for several weeks in the middle of the season, so all of those totals could have been much higher, yet he was only owned by 10% of leagues on Yahoo. The second category we added was blocks and of all of the categories this turned out to be one of the more popular choices. The amount of defensemen that can help your fantasy team are limited but with the addition of hits and blocks we added to the value of tons of defensemen who would typically be overlooked. To make this argument you only have to look at one man, Kris Russell of the Calgary Flames. Before the injury to Mark Giordano, Russell’s value in fantasy leagues was almost non-existent, that is ...

1  There wasn't much intrigue with the top two picks of the 2016 NHL Entry Draft, as Connor McDavid and Jack Eichel have markedly improved perennial cellar dwellers Edmonton and Buffalo with their superior blend of elite offensive talent and hockeq IQ. Both centers project to be high scoring dynamos, but expect McDavid to make the quicker fantasy splash based mostly on a better offensive supporting cast. 2. Arizona decided to take Eerie Otter Dylan Strome with the third overall pick but despite being the highest OHL point producer last season with 129 points in 68 games, questions remain whether his numbers were boosted by playing with McDavid. I say that the youngster proved his worth with 35 points in 21 games while McDavid was sidelined. Let's give this youngster his due as he along with Max Domi give the Arizona Coyotes a potential lethal one-two punch in the near future. His fantasy contributions will be minimal in 2015-16, but he could do some serious scoring damage in two-three years. 3. Noah Hanifin was the highest profile defender taken in the draft(fifth overall by Carolina) but for fantasy purposes, keep tabs on the Flyer's first selection Ivan Provorov. Ever since the Chris Pronger injury, Philly has been longing for that top-tier offensive blueliner and they might have done just that with this pick. An exciting package of offensive skill-set and speed have drawn comparisons to our favorite OEL but lets not rush the process yet. He still might be a year or two away but he has some huge fantasy upside if he can develop as the team's future power-play quarterback. 4. If Pavel Zacha can allow himself to be mentored by fellow Czech Patrik Elias, then the immensely skilled 18-year old will reap huge dividends from being drafted by the New Jersey Devils in the top ten. The 6'3 forward has all the tools to be a top-flight scorer but his maturity and his own on-ice management has been heavily scrutinized. Can anyone say boom or bust? 5. Trades, trades, trades... Plenty of noves fueled by future salary cap considerations but the biggest head-scrather with major fantasy implications is Boston moving Dougie Hamilton to Calgary. I kind of get shipping away Milan Lucic and Carl Soderberg before they get too expensive to keep by next summer, but trading away a blossoming 22-year old blue-chipper who looked ready to inherit top billing from aging veteran Zdeno Chara? The Flames have stock-piled quite the defensive arsenal, but can the Hamilton acquisition...

1  There wasn't much intrigue with the top two picks of the 2016 NHL Entry Draft, as Connor McDavid and Jack Eichel have markedly improved perennial cellar dwellers Edmonton and Buffalo with their superior blend of elite offensive talent and hockeq IQ. Both centers project to be high scoring dynamos, but expect McDavid to make the quicker fantasy splash based mostly on a better offensive supporting cast. 2. Arizona decided to take Eerie Otter Dylan Strome with the third overall pick but despite being the highest OHL point producer last season with 129 points in 68 games, questions remain whether his numbers were boosted by playing with McDavid. I say that the youngster proved his worth with 35 points in 21 games while McDavid was sidelined. Let's give this youngster his due as he along with Max Domi give the Arizona Coyotes a potential lethal one-two punch in the near future. His fantasy contributions will be minimal in 2015-16, but he could do some serious scoring damage in two-three years. 3. Noah Hanifin was the highest profile defender taken in the draft(fifth overall by Carolina) but for fantasy purposes, keep tabs on the Flyer's first selection Ivan Provorov. Ever since the Chris Pronger injury, Philly has been longing for that top-tier offensive blueliner and they might have done just that with this pick. An exciting package of offensive skill-set and speed have drawn comparisons to our favorite OEL but lets not rush the process yet. He still might be a year or two away but he has some huge fantasy upside if he can develop as the team's future power-play quarterback. 4. If Pavel Zacha can allow himself to be mentored by fellow Czech Patrik Elias, then the immensely skilled 18-year old will reap huge dividends from being drafted by the New Jersey Devils in the top ten. The 6'3 forward has all the tools to be a top-flight scorer but his maturity and his own on-ice management has been heavily scrutinized. Can anyone say boom or bust? 5. Trades, trades, trades... Plenty of noves fueled by future salary cap considerations but the biggest head-scrather with major fantasy implications is Boston moving Dougie Hamilton to Calgary. I kind of get shipping away Milan Lucic and Carl Soderberg before they get too expensive to keep by next summer, but trading away a blossoming 22-year old blue-chipper who looked ready to inherit top billing from aging veteran Zdeno Chara? The Flames have stock-piled quite the defensive arsenal, but can the Hamilton acquisition ...

1  There wasn't much intrigue with the top two picks of the 2016 NHL Entry Draft, as Connor McDavid and Jack Eichel have markedly improved perennial cellar dwellers Edmonton and Buffalo with their superior blend of elite offensive talent and hockeq IQ. Both centers project to be high scoring dynamos, but expect McDavid to make the quicker fantasy splash based mostly on a better offensive supporting cast. 2. Arizona decided to take Eerie Otter Dylan Strome with the third overall pick but despite being the highest OHL point producer last season with 129 points in 68 games, questions remain whether his numbers were boosted by playing with McDavid. I say that the youngster proved his worth with 35 points in 21 games while McDavid was sidelined. Let's give this youngster his due as he along with Max Domi give the Arizona Coyotes a potential lethal one-two punch in the near future. His fantasy contributions will be minimal in 2015-16, but he could do some serious scoring damage in two-three years. 3. Noah Hanifin was the highest profile defender taken in the draft(fifth overall by Carolina) but for fantasy purposes, keep tabs on the Flyer's first selection Ivan Provorov. Ever since the Chris Pronger injury, Philly has been longing for that top-tier offensive blueliner and they might have done just that with this pick. An exciting package of offensive skill-set and speed have drawn comparisons to our favorite OEL but lets not rush the process yet. He still might be a year or two away but he has some huge fantasy upside if he can develop as the team's future power-play quarterback. 4. If Pavel Zacha can allow himself to be mentored by fellow Czech Patrik Elias, then the immensely skilled 18-year old will reap huge dividends from being drafted by the New Jersey Devils in the top ten. The 6'3 forward has all the tools to be a top-flight scorer but his maturity and his own on-ice management has been heavily scrutinized. Can anyone say boom or bust? 5. Trades, trades, trades... Plenty of noves fueled by future salary cap considerations but the biggest head-scrather with major fantasy implications is Boston moving Dougie Hamilton to Calgary. I kind of get shipping away Milan Lucic and Carl Soderberg before they get too expensive to keep by next summer, but trading away a blossoming 22-year old blue-chipper who looked ready to inherit top billing from aging veteran Zdeno Chara? The Flames have stock-piled quite the defensive arsenal, but can the Hamilton acquisition ...

Here is a brief insight on which players you should be targeting off the final-week waiver wire: Instead of naming a few players that could help out, it's better to think of which teams should you target. In the Eastern Conference, Boston and Ottawa are two teams playing meaningful hockey this upcoming week with plenty of playoff implications, and for both, a few contributors can be had on the waiver wire The Bruins have key veterans like Bergeron and Krejci who are must starts this week, but Milan Lucic has been playing with two youngsters who should be on your fantasy radar if available-Ryan Spooner and David Pastrnak. The future looks bright for Boston with these two developing quicker then expected thanks to key forward injuries this season. Keep in mind that if the B's clinch a playoff berth earlier in the week, bot Spooner and Pastrnak will get s few extra minutes while some vets will be rested. Regardless of how the scenario play out, either young gun makes for a strong start this week. Forwards Mark Stone and Mike Hoffman have been key cogs to a balanced offensive attack that has propelled the Senators into the playoff mix. The recent resurgence of center Mika Zibenajad also makes him a a decent candidate for a spot start. Their SO loss to Toronto basically puts them in a must-win situation the rest of the way, so look for these possible waiver targets to contribute to the scoring column. On defense, Patrice Wiercioch has been finishing the season strong so he could be a serviceable fantasy option if you desperate on the blue-line. In the Western Conference, Sean Monahan still might be available while "Johnny Hockey" Gaudreau is probably off the board. The Flames are surging and these two along with veteran Jiri Hudler are a huge reason why. Do not forget defenseman Kris Russell if still on the waiver-wire, as he has essentially replaced Mark Giordano's offensive production. Another team fighting for it's postseason life, Winnipeg, had Matthieu Perreault back from injury and based on his three assist effort against Vancouver, he might pay huge dividends as a last week starter. Mark Scheifele had been heating up as well latest acquisition Drew Stafford. If you are in need of defense, Tyler Myers could be a huge steal given that the suspended Dustin Byfuglien and injured Tobias Enstrom will miss a few games.  These are just a few thoughts, but plenty of more luck will be required. Give it your best shot folks,and hope you end up on top.