Okay, okay. Not a great title but with not much happening in the NHL the past few days, it was kind of difficult to come up with something clever. Las Vegas D-man Nate Schmidt was suspended 20 games for substance abuse.  Look elsewhere as the Golden Knight defenseman will be hard-pressed to put up numbers at the same pace as his career best 36-point 2017-2018 season.  He wasn't much of a scorer in the previous 2 full NHL seasons and 2 half seasons, so it's best to cut wood or scratch him off your draft list. Two NHL veterans signed contracts to play overseas. F Tanner Glass signed to play in France while D Alexei Emelin signed a 3-year deal to play in the KHL. Both players weren't fantasy relevant anyway. Lastly, PrimePucks(tm) has uploaded the 2018-2019 pre-season Goalie Rankings, joining the Team and Prospect Rankings.  Defensemen and Forward Rankings to follow, so check back. Enjoy the rest of your holiday weekend! Ciao for now, Ray .  

SMC 10/22/2017 Interesting week with some injuries to key fantasy players, some not so major and then some kinda returning soon. Tuukka Rask goes down, as does Roberto Luongo. And then there was M-A Fleury in Vegas.  A minor scare for John Gibson, who always seems to get injured. That’s why you need to draft their backups in fantasy.  Golden rule. Jeff Carter will miss a bunch of time which is a shame but gives LA a chance to take a long look at Adrian Kempe as they need to transition to younger players. Coming back sooner or later…Mikael Granlund...boy does Minnesota need him back.  And Leon Draisaitl may be returning this week, but concussions are always tricky to predict recovery. Boone Jenner returned to the Columbus lineup and had 6 SOG but didn’t earn a point.   Soon though.  A PrimePucks™ Rebound candidate. Go figure that Boston Bruin castoff Malcolm Subban would get his chance in Las Vegas and start out 2-0-0 with a 2.06 GA and sporting a .936 SP.  Are these Golden Knights for real at 6-1-0? Some decent fantasy pickups from Vegas while they are hot.  D Brad Hunt, formerly from Edmonton and other places, had 2 assists last night and is getting major PP time.  My buddy Steve, and former PP writer/partner, were talking pucks as we watched the Yankee-Astro game Wednesday night and we discussed Hunt because someone picked up Nate Schmidt in our fantasy league.  Strange selection over Hunt or even Colin Miller. A Dustin Brown resurrection has been sighted in Los Angeles.  Don’t be afraid to scoop him up off the waiver wire.  He is back and contributing in all categories for the time being.  He could fall off the cliff at any momentum but for now, the trend is your friend. At the Rangers game yesterday and saw them earn a much-needed win on an early Saturday matinee at the Garden.  I guess the wife and I are good luck charms.  Does this mean I have to go to all the home games from here on out? All I kept saying throughout the game was, ‘watch that #9, he’s really good”.  Of course, Filip Forsberg scored, he had an assist on the other goal.  Damn, he’s good! I think I mentioned in the PP Draft Guide that Philly was going to be a playoff contender this year. That Metropolitan Division is going to be a dogfight until the end for teams to get into the playoffs. I wouldn’t have thought Edmonton would be 2-5-0.  Scoring is down without Leon Draisaitl in the lineup. Speaking of the Oilers, RW Kailer Yamamoto has found himself playing on a line with McDavid…....

Schmidt has appeared in 28 games with the Capitals this season, he has two goals and four assists. In 16 games with Hershey he had seven points (1G / 6A).

Schmidt is expected to make his NHL debut tomorrow with John Erskine out with an upper-body injury. He has one goal in one game with Hershey.