SMC 12/18/2016 TIS THE SEASON! Ta-ta-ta-ta-ta, ta-ta-ta-tar!  This season it seemed more like “tata” than “Tatar” but his hat trick on Saturday just might be the awakening.  You might recall a few weeks ago I mentioned to start targeting players who were having subpar seasons or slow starts and that the beginning of the New Year just might be a reversal of sorts?  This is that point in time to consider those players. The Dallas Stars have only won two games in a row once this year so far.  They are due for a long hot streak. The Stars beat a very hot Philly Flyer team on Saturday.  Minnesota is taking over the spot of hottest NHL team with 7 wins in a row now.  They been scoring a decent amount as well.  The only big powerhouse team they beat in that stretch was St. Louis though. When Arizona’s defenseman Luke Schenn leads your team in SOG in a game with 4, you know you have issues.  Minny’s leading shot taker…Tyler Graovac.  (Pause) That’s what I said! Every Penguin had a SOG against Toronto except Matt Cullen.  Come on Matt! The Ottawa-New Jersey game ended up with the Senators winning 3-1.  Every goal scorer in that game for both teams scored their 5th goal on the season. Rikard Rakell now has gone 14-7-21 in 21 games played this season.  IS he a point-per-game player?  Probably not but he is having a breakout year, like we said in the PrimePucks Guide where we projected him for 55 points. I’m on the fence if Detroit’s Thomas Vanek is still fantasy relevant. Montreal did a superb job of shutting down the Washington offense on Saturday.  And vice versa. There has some smack about Chicago not being the same team and on the decline but hey are leading the Western Conference by 6 points with 46 points. There were four 2-1 games and 2 g-4 games out of 10 games on Saturday’s schedule. Patrik Berglund was the scoring star for St. Louis against Chicago with 2 goals in their 6-4 loss.  Not to take anything away from Berglund, but when he and defenseman Joel Edmundson with 3 assists are your leading scorers, you’re probably not going to win many of those games. Jaden Schwartz needs to pick up his game now.  Enough time has passed since his injury. Over the past 5-6 games, the NY Rangers are showing they can still win the tight ones. What is going on with Nashville goaltender Pekka RInne this season?  He’s gone through stretches of good and bad, with some ugly thrown in there as well. The Sharks are circling and the Blue Jackets (9-0-1 in last 10) just keep are...

SMC 12/18/2016 TIS THE SEASON! Ta-ta-ta-ta-ta, ta-ta-ta-tar!  This season it seemed more like “tata” than “Tatar” but his hat trick on Saturday just might be the awakening.  You might recall a few weeks ago I mentioned to start targeting players who were having subpar seasons or slow starts and that the beginning of the New Year just might be a reversal of sorts?  This is that point in time to consider those players. The Dallas Stars have only won two games in a row once this year so far.  They are due for a long hot streak. The Stars beat a very hot Philly Flyer team on Saturday.  Minnesota is taking over the spot of hottest NHL team with 7 wins in a row now.  They been scoring a decent amount as well.  The only big powerhouse team they beat in that stretch was St. Louis though. When Arizona’s defenseman Luke Schenn leads your team in SOG in a game with 4, you know you have issues.  Minny’s leading shot taker…Tyler Graovac.  (Pause) That’s what I said! Every Penguin had a SOG against Toronto except Matt Cullen.  Come on Matt! The Ottawa-New Jersey game ended up with the Senators winning 3-1.  Every goal scorer in that game for both teams scored their 5th goal on the season. Rikard Rakell now has gone 14-7-21 in 21 games played this season.  IS he a point-per-game player?  Probably not but he is having a breakout year, like we said in the PrimePucks Guide where we projected him for 55 points. I’m on the fence if Detroit’s Thomas Vanek is still fantasy relevant. Montreal did a superb job of shutting down the Washington offense on Saturday.  And vice versa. There has some smack about Chicago not being the same team and on the decline but hey are leading the Western Conference by 6 points with 46 points. There were four 2-1 games and 2 g-4 games out of 10 games on Saturday’s schedule. Patrik Berglund was the scoring star for St. Louis against Chicago with 2 goals in their 6-4 loss.  Not to take anything away from Berglund, but when he and defenseman Joel Edmundson with 3 assists are your leading scorers, you’re probably not going to win many of those games. Jaden Schwartz needs to pick up his game now.  Enough time has passed since his injury. Over the past 5-6 games, the NY Rangers are showing they can still win the tight ones. What is going on with Nashville goaltender Pekka RInne this season?  He’s gone through stretches of good and bad, with some ugly thrown in there as well. The Sharks are circling and the Blue Jackets (9-0-1 in last 10) just keep ...

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 ...

Cullen will make his season debut tonight in Edmonton and he will start the game on the second line with Derek Roy and Craig Smith. Cullen had 10 goals and 29 assists (39 points) in 77 games a season ago. With Cullen in, Calle Jarnkrok will serve as a healthy scratch.

Activating Cullen will make him available for the team's upcoming road trip that begins Wednesday night in Edmonton. Cullen skated on a regular forward line at Monday's practice, setting him up for his first game action since suffering an upper-body injury September 24 during a preseason game against Tampa Bay.

There is no timetable on Cullen's return, but the veteran centre had fallen in the Predators' depth-chart after they added a number of centres via free agency. Expect a more detailed update to come in the next few days.

Brief schedule in the NHL yesterday with only 4 games played. The Rangers beat Columbus 3-1 as goaltender Henrik Lundqvist had a strong game with 25 saves. After a very sluggish start to the season, he has played very well lately, and he has won 3 of his last 4 games.  His record is 27-22-4 with a 2.47 GA and a .917 SP.  Decent numbers!  Derek Stepan had a goal for New York, and with 48 points on the year he is an okay 6th forward. Chicago took out Carolina 3-2, despite a strong game by Hurricanes right wing Alexander Semin who had 2 goals. Semin has 41 points in 57 games played, so he is not really fantasy material.  Carolina center Eric Staal had 2 assists, and with 54 points he is having a good year. Jonathan Toews scored the game winner for the Blackhawks, and with 66 points he is a top fantasy forward. Corey Crawford got win number 28 with 26 saves. Left wing Patrick Sharp had a goal for Chicago, and he has 10 points in his last 9 games. With 69 points he is having a great season.  Boston shutout Columbus 2-0, as Chad Johnson got the shutout in goal with 31 saves. Johnson is having a terrific season with a 16-3-1 record, a 2.04 GA and a .925 SP.  He is beginning to really eat into Tuukka Rask's playing time. Young defenseman Dougie Hamilton had 2 assists for Boston, and while he has only 21 points on the season, he has a big future. A year or two to develop.  Big night for the veteran Matt Cullen of Nashville as he had a goal and 3 assists in a 6-5 win over Calgary. Cullen has only 28 points on the season, so don't chase him.  Predators defenseman Shea Weber had 2 goals, and you should definitely chase him, as with 46 points he is a top fantasy player. Calgary center Mike Cammallieri had 2 goals and an assist, but with only 34 points on the year he has been a big disappointment. Flames defenseman Mark Giordano had 2 assists, and he now has 6 points in his last 5 games.

Brief schedule in the NHL yesterday with only 4 games played. The Rangers beat Columbus 3-1 as goaltender Henrik Lundqvist had a strong game with 25 saves. After a very sluggish start to the season, he has played very well lately, and he has won 3 of his last 4 games.  His record is 27-22-4 with a 2.47 GA and a .917 SP.  Decent numbers!  Derek Stepan had a goal for New York, and with 48 points on the year he is an okay 6th forward. Chicago took out Carolina 3-2, despite a strong game by Hurricanes right wing Alexander Semin who had 2 goals. Semin has 41 points in 57 games played, so he is not really fantasy material.  Carolina center Eric Staal had 2 assists, and with 54 points he is having a good year. Jonathan Toews scored the game winner for the Blackhawks, and with 66 points he is a top fantasy forward. Corey Crawford got win number 28 with 26 saves. Left wing Patrick Sharp had a goal for Chicago, and he has 10 points in his last 9 games. With 69 points he is having a great season.  Boston shutout Columbus 2-0, as Chad Johnson got the shutout in goal with 31 saves. Johnson is having a terrific season with a 16-3-1 record, a 2.04 GA and a .925 SP.  He is beginning to really eat into Tuukka Rask's playing time. Young defenseman Dougie Hamilton had 2 assists for Boston, and while he has only 21 points on the season, he has a big future. A year or two to develop.  Big night for the veteran Matt Cullen of Nashville as he had a goal and 3 assists in a 6-5 win over Calgary. Cullen has only 28 points on the season, so don't chase him.  Predators defenseman Shea Weber had 2 goals, and you should definitely chase him, as with 46 points he is a top fantasy player. Calgary center Mike Cammallieri had 2 goals and an assist, but with only 34 points on the year he has been a big disappointment. Flames defenseman Mark Giordano had 2 assists, and he now has 6 points in his last 5 games.

Cullen has missed the last four games, but the Preds have been off since Saturday, ginning Cullen ample time to heal. Through 53 games this season, the 37-year-old playmaking centre has five goals and 17 assists.

Cullen will miss his third straight game with an upper-body injury. He has 22 points (5G / 17A) in 53 games this season.