SMC 10/28/2018 Good morning everyone!  Happy Halloween!  Some teams look scary so far this year.  Scary good and scary bad! How bad are these Florida Panthers? I expect them to turn things around but 2-4-3? Looks like another second half surge to try and make the playoffs. Mike Hoffman can’t be the curse, can he?  He did have 8 SOG in that game on Saturday against the Devils. Being a Ranger fan it’s tough to swallow that the New Jersey Devils are looking good again this season. Sami Vatanen is getting more time on D but Damon Severson is getting more points so far, 7-4. Cory Schneider may have to fight his way to being #1 with the way Keith Kinkaid is playing. The Flyers are too erratic with their play so far this season.  And Sean Couturier has 3 goals and no assists in 11 games.  Really. Wayne Simmonds has seen a resurgence so far this young NHL season. Waiting for Travis Konecny to kick it up a notch for Philadelphia. Filip Forsberg is a beast on a beastly Nashville team.  Evidenced by his hat trick Saturday afternoon in a loss to Edmonton. If you haven’t noticed, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins really enjoys playing alongside Connor McDavid. I really don’t think the Flames are going anywhere with Mike Smith in goal. Sorry Mike! If you haven’t switched your favorite player in Washington to Evgeny Kuznetsov from Alex Ovechkin, you might want to do that right away. Not taking anything away from Ovi, but Kuznetsov is taking over. I didn’t expect the Montreal Canadiens to be this good but I didn’t expect them to be terrible either.  Beating the big, bad Bruins in Boston was a very good sign that the Habs are a good hockey team. For now. Last night’s game between the Winnipeg Jets and Toronto Maple Leafs just goes to show you that you can’t count out the Leafs until the final buzzer.  The Buffalo Sabres are starting to bring it. I stated in my updated team rankings that the Columbus Blue Jackets needed more effort from Pierre-Luc DuBois and Cam Atkinson and they responded with 3 point nights in a 5-4 OT victory against the Sabres. Is Saturday’s 7-3 victory against the Chicago Blackhawks a turning point for the laboring St. Louis Blues? Alex Pietrangelo responded to my AIM HIGH, BUY LOW article yesterday with a 3-point game. Fun to watch that MacKinnon-Rantanen-Landeskog line.  Reminds me a little of the Forsberg-Sakic-Hejduk line years ago. Jake Allen got injured during that Chicago game.  Doesn’t surprise me.  He and Pittsburgh’s Matt Murray have this injury ...

SMC: TIS THE SEASON TO BE JOL-LEE! 12/10/2017 Good morning everyone!  I hope most of you have the luxury of not shoveling this morning as we got hit with some of the white stuff yesterday.  But now I’m inside with my cup of steaming hot coffee and ready to go! Interesting week with loads of potential trade rumors floating around.  Which team needs a goaltender?  Which forward is back on the block and close to being traded?  Which team is going to tear down the structure and rebuild?  So many rumors, not enough trades! I hate it when you take a slumping player out of your fantasy lineup that you’ve had in for weeks waiting patiently for them to produce and they have a big week.  WTF! I dropped Tyler Johnson two weeks ago because he wasn’t doing much in terms of getting points.  Well, he’s on a roll now for a rival fantasy team. UGH!  He is just one of many lol. Detroit is having a rough time of late.  Changes are a-coming! I believe I said last week that Boston would start to get on a roll.  Montreal too! I’m starting to feel real bad for the Buffalo Sabres now.  They can’t be this bad.  I’m rooting for Phil Housley behind the bench! Anders Lee of the Islanders is already at 17 goals!  Go, Lee Go! Will Edmonton get on a roll now that they blasted Montreal in Montreal 6-2 on Saturday? Winnipeg is having a wonderful season and I hope it continues throughout with a long playoff run as well.  Now that would be exciting! Colorado put up a 7 spot against Florida on Saturday.  Perhaps they prefer the warmer climate and Florida the colder one.  We shall see on Thursday when they face off again in Colorado. The Rangers beat the Devils on Saturday.  Is this the slide I was warning you about with New Jersey? The Penguins need to find a way to keep regular Stanley Cup winning goaltender Matt Murray healthy throughout the season.  It looks like the Golden Knights aren’t going to be letting up anytime soon. How is it that between Johnny Gaudreau and Sean Monahan they only managed 1 shot on goal against Vancouver on Saturday? In 8 starts, Sharks backup goalies Aaron Dell has 5 wins with 2 of those being shutouts.  Better than some teams’ starters. The LA Kings are just cruising along this year.  The hottest team right now with a 8-1-1 record in last 10. Get your Christmas Lists in order because Santa-time is coming quickly! Have a great week and may all your fantasies come true!

Matt Murray has a juicy matchup against the Edmonton Oilers. Which other players should we check out for NHL DFS?

NHL IN 30/2016: PART 5 (OTT, PHI, PIT, STL, SJ) OTTAWA I think you are going to see a more high-powered offensive game coming out of Ottawa this season with Mark Stone, Mike Hoffman, Bobby Ryan and the rest of the forwards lighting up the lamp quite frequently.  And when you have the game’s most explosive defenseman joining in on the offense, the Senators will be a handful for any team.  It just may all come down to which Craig Anderson they will get in goal.  Will it be the game-changing, highlight reel Anderson, or the mediocre Anderson who has been disappointing from time to time. PLAYOFFS: I WOULD LIKE TO SAY YES, BUT NO   PHILADELPHIA The Flyers roster remained status quo throughout the off-season without any real additions or subtractions so it may be a good thing as the team ran off a late charge last season and into the playoffs only to lose to the Washington Capitals in six games.  The big boys will have to be the key cogs once again with Shayne Gostibehere, last year’s sensational rookie defenseman, supplying the offense.  But in the tight Metropolitan Division, they will need the goaltending duo of Steve Mason and Michal Neuvirth to backstop the team into the playoffs. PLAYOFFS: MAYBE WIH SOME LUCK   PITTSBURGH When you win the Stanley Cup the way the Penguins did last year, one would be hard-pressed to not say yes to return engagement to the playoffs.  Some writers, myself included, had the Penguins missing the playoffs and if it were not for the hot play of rookie goaltender, Matt Murray, the Pens might have been in a slight rebuilding stage this past off-season.  They have Sid the Kid, Geno, Kessel and Hornqvist to lead the offense and Letang on the backend but Murray will be tending to a minor injury and miss several weeks at the beginning of the season, but they still have the Flower, Marc-Andre Fleury, so they should form a solid duo in net and that should be enough to get them back for another run at Lord Stanley’s Cup. PLAYOFFS: YES   ST. LOUIS They have been perennial regular season masters but when it comes playoff time, they seem to not have enough left in the tank to get very far.  That was until last year when they fell to San Jose in the Conference Finals. So playoff progress has been made but will have to do it without the likes of David Backes, who left via free agency.  The team does not lack offense that’s for sure when you have Tarasenko, Schwartz, and Steen among others leading the way and when you have the type of ...