SMC 12/17/2017 Hello everyone!  Winter is here as it snowed three times in the past 8 days,  I have brewed lots of coffee this week. the Metropolitan Division is getting so crowded with teams fighting for a playoff spot that it’s looking as crowded as Times Square on New Year’s Eve. The only thing is that not all teams will get to see the ball drop.  Or should I say puck drop for the 2018 Stanley Cup Playoffs  Henrik Lundqvist is having some turnaround since the rough start at the beginning of the season.  You’re gonna love Minnesota Wild D Matt Dumba’s final stat line when this season is all said and done.  If it’s possible to obtain the Wild’s C Mikael Granlund from some disgruntled fantasy owner, I would do so immediatelly before you have to pay too much.  How about St. Louis G Carter Hutton returning from injury to post a shutout against the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday!   Kudos! Like I said last week, Tampa Bay’s Tyler Johnson has gone on a scoring spree of late as soon as I dropped him off one of my teams. This years Cy Young favoritecis NY Ranger winger Michael Grabner who stands at 16 & 3, goals to assists. Where is Colonel Klinkhammer? Can the Carlin’s Hurricanes put together a really strong stretch to be relevant in the Mtero Division? “They” should come up with a way to make trading players easier with some sort of salary cap extension for trades.  Like perhaps whatever costs you incur on a player you trade for counts against next year’s cap limit?  Or perhaps split the salary of incoming player between the current year and next season salary caps   That would definitely make trading more desureabke as well as more strategical.   I mean, with all these trade rumors of Erik Karlsson, Evander Kane, Rick Nash, etc, it gets tiresome hearing the same old rumor day after day    Speaking of trades, that Matt Duchebe trade hasn’t worked out for the Sens, has it? I would love to see a rematch of the 2015 Stanley Cup Eastern Conference Finals between Tampa Bay and NY Rangers but a lot has to happen between now and then obviously. The Gost is back with 2 goals against Dallas on Saturday. Anaheim let Washington win that game on Saturday after being up 2-0 in the 3rd period. The Bolts and Avs played a shoot’em up style of a game on Saturday. Nashville Predator G Pekka Rinne must have been inspired by ex-teammate Carter Hutton’s 2-0 shutout of the Jets as he blanked the Calgary Flames by the same score. Star Wars movie is out!  Hockey takes a back seat on ...

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!

As leagues begin their drafting process, everyone is on the lookout and guessing at the next breakout player to make a huge difference in their fantasy squad this season. Last year we had the emergence of several players like Sean Monahan and Johnny “Hockey” Gaudreau for the Calgary Flames, Tyler Johnson continued to breakout even further for the Lightning, Tomas Tatar for the Wings, and Filip Forsberg for the Predators. Who’s next? Let’s take a look at several possibilities who find themselves in good positions to emerge. David Pastrnak Look out for this kid. Last year the teenager showed us that he not only belongs at the NHL level, but that he has true star potential. In just 43 games Pastrnak found himself scoring 27 points and with 93 shots on goal (over 2 shots per game). Given that half a season plus of experience and the moves made by the Bruins to get younger, this kid should find himself on the first or second line and definitely will be getting power play minutes. Against the Capitals in preseason action on Tuesday Pastrnak scored both goals and is already showing the Bruins fans that they have a star in the making. At the very least he has more than proven he is going to shoot the puck and shoot it a lot. He is worth a mid-round pick if you find yourself in a good position to take a chance on him. Teuvo Teravainen Teuvo had ample time last year during the regular season to show us the skill that the Blackhawks have been raving about, but in his 34 games he was limited to only 9 points. His one redeeming stat was that he shot the puck nearly two times a game. So why do I think he might break out this year? Due to his playoff performances. It seemed like things really started to click in the playoffs and that he truly understood what Quenneville expected out of him. During their unfortunate run (I’m a Blues fan) to the Stanley Cup, Teravainen showed us that skill on his way to 10 points in 18 games.  Given the cap problems that forced the Blackhawks to ship our players like Sharp, Teuvo, with a good showing in camp, might find himself in a great position to show he can perform in the regular season as well. Chris Kreider With the retirement of Martin St. Louis the Rangers are looking for Kreider to develop into the force they all think he can be. Someone will have to take St. Louis’ minutes and if Kreider can emerge from that pack of contenders he could find himself on the top line with Nash and on the first power play unit as well. If that ...

2015 PRIMEPUCKS™ STANLEY CUP FINALS PREVIEW CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS vs. TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING: The Lightning find themselves in the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time since 2004, and for the second time in their 22-year history.  They got to the Finals with a tremendous showing against the President Trophy-winning New York Rangers, beating the Blueshirts twice by identical scores of 2-0 at Madison Square Garden in Games 5 & 7.  By virtue of their record, the Bolts will have home-ice advantage throughout the Finals, something that they lacked against the Rangers and the Montreal Canadiens but still managed to get to the Cup Finals. The Lightning did an extraordinary thing by beating Hart Trophy candidate and Vezina-winner Carey Price and defeating an almost invincible “elimination-game” specialist Henrik Lundqvist in back-to-back rounds and find themselves with a shot at Lord Stanley’s Cup.  Tampa Bay has done it with both offense and defense as they have been able to mix up their game plans to fit the need on any particular night.  The offense has been led by Tyler Johnson who leads the playoffs with 21 points and has been just a marvel on the ice.  Line mates Nikita Kucherov and Ondrej Palat have formed an imposing threat at any given time so expect them to continue to give their next opponent some cause for concern.   Steven Stamkos seems to have awakened against the Rangers from his early playoff slump and along with Alex Killorn, gives the Lightning two very potent lines.  Valtteri Filppula, J.T. Brown & Ryan Callahan gives the team the veteran leadership and toughness it needs. The defense is led by Victor Hedman who skates very well for a big man and can take control of a game at the drop of a hat.  One blue liner who gets overlooked is Anton Stralman who has played extremely well on the backend to shore up the defense in front of goalie Ben Bishop.  If you remember, Stralman was a main cog in the Rangers defense in last year’s Cup run.  Tampa is glad to have him on their team.   Matt Carle, Andrej Sustr and Braydon Coburn complete the defensive corps. Goaltender Bishop has looked shaky at times but is an imposing figure in net as he stands 6’ 7” and takes up a lot of area for snipers to aim at.  Going to the net is the only way to get through him and the Chicago Blackhawks should note how the Rangers were able to exploit that is some of their playoff games and when they Tampa Defense locked down, he was impossible to score against.  The Lightning ...

2015 PRIMEPUCKS™ EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS NEW YORK RANGERS vs. TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING:  There is a connection between these two teams as both teams have some of the other team’s ex-teammates.  Martin St. Louis and Dan Boyle are donning the red, white and blue of the Rangers while Anton Stralman, Ryan Callahan and Brian Boyle have the Bolt emblazoned across their chest.  But that’s is where the connection ends.  The Rangers will see a switch from the physically demanding series against the Washington Capitals while the Lightning see a team built deeper than the Montreal Canadiens. The two teams met three times early in the season and it was the Bolts who prevailed in all three contests but things have changed over the course of the season and we all know that the playoffs are a different story.  The Lightning will see a much more focused Rangers team who don’t seem to get flustered no matter the circumstances. Being down 3 games to 1 last round didn’t faze them a bit as they rallied to win another series after being in that predicament like they were last year against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Tampa brings much more scoring depth but the Rangers carry a deep defensive unit that plays so well in front of the Blueshirts last defense in Henrik Lundqvist.  Tampa goalie Ben Bishop is up against another elite net minder in Lundqvist after having gone face-to-face with Hart Trophy candidate Carey Price.   All Lundqvist has done is prove once again that he is a clutch goalie and that it won’t be easy for Tampa to find twine in this series.  Look for the Rangers to play the Lightning tight and for Lundqvist to get into the minds of the younger Tampa players.  The Rangers are built for the long playoff run, and with last season’s experience, that should help them get through this series.  With the way Lundqvist has been playing after missing 2 months of the season, it looks like he is in mid-season form.  Note one thing about the ‘King’, he has a 1.60GAA and a .944 SP and doesn’t have a shutout yet.  Perhaps he is due. As for this series’ fantasy options, besides Lundqvist, Steven Stamkos has been red-hot since the switch of Valtteri Filppula to centering his line and Tyler Johnson and Nikita Kucherov are on quite a roll but expect that to slow down a bit against these New York Rangers.  The Rangers possess a deep and balanced scoring attack except that we don’t know what is going on with St. Louis as he is still looking for his first playoff goal this year.   Chris ...

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 ...

First of all, Happy Easter to all celebrating and a festive Palm sunday to my Christian Orthodox faithful. Second, I will include a few thoughts solely based on fantasy implications at it's quite apparent that most of the NHL drama is centered onplayoff implications. For those still in fantasy contention, this last week will be a pivotal one for sure but be sure to read our latest ISD and ADD'EM for last-second waiver-wire recommendations that can help. Because of the nature of this hectic day, I will add a few thoughts throughout the day: The Blue Jackets are for real, but injuries derailed a huge coming out party for them in 2014-15. Sergei Bobrovsky has won 8 straight and could be next year's Pekka Rinne if Columbus can stay relatively healthy. Nick Foligno's hat trick gave him 67 points on the season, turning in of fantasy's biggest surprise efforts. He should stay close to those numbers next season... Ryan Johansen will be a blue-chip stud, probably warranting an early round pick while Cam Atkinson has huge sleeper potential as a breakout candidate. Don't buy too much into Scott Hartnell's 25-goal, 55-point season as he is bound to regress as the young guns move up. Needless to say, plenty to gush about regarding Columbus fantasy appeal moving forward    Steven Stamkos snapped a seven-game skid with no goals, scoring twice and adding an assist in the 4-0 rout of Tampa Bay. While Alex Ovechkin is getting all the love as the NHL's premier sniper, let's not overlook what a fantasy game changer Stamkos always is. His 42 goals could have been much closer to 50+ if not for a super secondary scoring this season, led by one Tyler Johnson. Stamkos should still be drafted top two in all fantasy formats come next September... We have been used to Keith Yandle and Oliver-Ekman Larsson benefiting from each other in the scoring department but both have continued just fine on separate teams. While it took Yandle a while to get acclimated to playing on the Blueshirts, his offensive production has picked up in a big way. He collected a goal and an assist in the 6-1 win over the Devils, giving him 8 points in the last 8 games. Meanwhile, all OEL has done is score two more goals last night to improve his total to a career-high 23. Both should be elite fantasy options on the blueline next season... More to come later...

Blue Jackets showcasing for next season, Bruins put down Cats, OV gets 50 Two teams trying to finish out the season on high notes, the New Jersey Devils and Columbus Blue Jackets battled to a 3-2 Columbus win.  Players like Mike Cammalleri and Nick Foligno improved on their goal scoring with both reaching 27 on the season so far.  Cammalleri showed what he is capable of when healthy and Foligno displayed that he has arrived in the NHL.  Ryan Johansen had 2 assists on the night and with the Jackets starting to gain some experience, they should be better off next year as long as they don’t get hit with so many injuries like this year…. Alex Ovechkin reached 50 goals for the 6th time in his career and is in contention for the scoring title as well as the goal-scoring trophy with 77 points, just 2 points behind leader Sidney Crosby.  Oh, and the Capitals beat the Carolina Hurricanes 4-2, not only solidifying their hold on one of the wild card slots, but also chasing the NY Islanders for third place in the division…. The Florida Panthers gave it their best shot but the Boston Bruins came away with a 3-2 regulation win, putting the Cats 6 points behind the Bruins for that last wild card slot.  As impressive as the young Panthers have been this year, it was the young talent of the Bruins that provided the spark in the 3rd period as David Pastrnak (G, A) and Ryan Spooner (2A) showed what is to come in their NHL careers in this pressure-packed game…. The King is Back! Henrik Lundqvist turned aside 32 of 34 shots to gain his first victory since returning from injury, helping down the Winnipeg Jets 3-2. Cam Talbot had quite the fantasy run but his starts will be limited over the last two weeks as Lundqvist gets back to elite level... The struggling Toronto Maple Leafs win their second straight contest, prevailing 3-1 over a Tampa Bay squad coming off a huge win of their own over Montreal. Nazem Kadri led the way with a goal and an assist while goalie James Reimer saved 40 shots for the Leafs. Of fantasy consequence, Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman and forward Tyler Johnson missed the game due to injuries.. Albeit a light night in terms of shot faced, Ottawa's Andrew Hammond was back in fine form after saving 16 of 17 shots to preserve the 2-1 SO win over Detroit. The rookie looks good to go for his fantasy owners as Craig Anderson has not delivered in the clutch thus far. For Detroit, Petr Mrazek was solid again and will be getting the next start against Boston...

Okposo is back; Faulk and Barrie amongst the fantasy elite d-men; and more: It was an epic battle in New York as the Islanders took on the Rangers and it was the Rangers who came away with the regulation 2-1 victory that leaves them one point behind the Isles with 4 games in hand. Kyle Okposo returned to the Islanders lineup and saw some action on John Tavares’ line near the end of the third period so look for that combination to stick the rest of the way….Cam Talbot with yet another win as he continues to play superbly in place of the injured Henrik Lundqvist.  Talbot’s time is coming to an end soon as Lundqvist is close to returning to the lineup and will need a few weeks to get into top form for the playoffs…. Philadelphia didn’t do themselves any favors by losing another close one, this time 2-1 to the Dallas Stars.  What has happened to Claude Giroux and the rest of the Flyers offense?.... Scott Hartnell (2 PPG) was the reason the Carolina Hurricanes lost 4-3 in a shootout last night after leading 3-1 after the first period.  Although it doesn’t really matter for these two teams as they are just riding out the season….Canes D-man Justin Faulk had a goal and 2 power play assists to lead the Carolina offense.  Continue to play the young talent as he is having a career year on his way to 50 points…. Carey Price and Ben Bishop put on a heck'uva goalie duel in Montreal but the Lightning's Tyler Johnson stole the show with the overtime game-winner. The undrafted sophomore continues to plug away with a monster season, having collected nine points during his current seven-game streak. How many of us predicted any other besides Steven Stamkos to lead the Bolts in scoring? Hey, it could happen... Cory Schneider was chased out of the Jersey net by the swarming Minnesota Wild, who scored plenty in the 6-2 rout of the Devils. Devan Dubnyk has shown few signs of slowing down as he made 30 saves in his 25th straight start. Thomas Vanek scored twice while Zach Parise picked up two helpers. D-man Jared Spurgeon played a solid game, collecting a goal and an assist and showing little rust from his time gone due to injury. If you are in need of defense, he bears watching.. For Colorado, no Semyon Varlamov in goal usually means no win and last night's game against LA was no different. Rota Berra replaced an ineffective Calvin Pickard in the first period and the Kings behind Brayden McNabb's three points waliopped the Av's 5-2. Fantasy stud Tyson Barrie scored a goal, ...

The season is getting into the home-stretch and nothing like a good cup of coffee to get things started. As we said a few weeks back, the Boston Bruins are rising quickly in the East. We mentioned in last week's SMC that perhaps the Islanders were starting to slump. They have now lost 4 of their last 5 after losing to Boston yesterday 2-1. Losing your starting goalie for any period of time is devastating but the Predators survived Pekka Rinne being out and the Rangers will be alright with Cam Talbot over the next three weeks without Henrik Lundqvist. Nashville lost Colin Wilson in yesterday's tilt against the Rangers to an upper-body injury. Hope it's not a concussion because they can't afford to lose Wilson, who is having a breakout season, for any length of time. It seems like Rick Nash scores in just about every game. If you haven't noticed, Detroit is at the top of the Eastern Conference and is about to challenge for the President's Cup trophy. This LA Kings team is scary to play against because one day they look lost and the next they play like Stanley Cup Champions. I think every team in the Western Conference is hoping they finally miss a post-season. Is the key to beating the Tampa Bay Lightning keeping Tyler Johnson at bay or Steven Stamkos? The Buffalo Sabres are definitely a Jekyll & Hyde team this year, but more like Mr. Hyde than Dr. Jekyll. Chris Stewart is heating up just in time for the trade deadline with 9 points in last 8 games. Dallas lost to Buffalo last night and there were three Tylers who scored in the game; Seguin, Ennis & Myers. Maybe Tyler Johnson should have been in that game? Dallas D-man John Klingberg has been a very pleasant surprise this season as he has sprung out of nowhere and is having a memorable season. With 2 assists in last night's game, he now has 14 points in 11 games & 27 in 38 games. Wow! Toronto ended their 11-game losing streak but it was against Edmonton. The Oilers managed to score a goal and because it was Saturday and Colonel Klinkhammer was in the game, he scored an assist on that lone goal. He also had 7 PIMS. P. K. Subban is rising quickly up the scoring chart for NHL defensemen. With 3 points last night, he is now just 7 points behind leader Mark Giordano. I think Giordano had 40 of those points in the first 20 games.  Or that what it seemed like. If the Red Wings don't suffer a major injury from here on out, you have got to like their chances especially if G Jimmy Howard returns the way he was ...