Dan Vladar – McKeen's Hockey

NHL: CULLEN – 20 FANTASY POINTS – Brayden Point’s injury shakes up the Lightning, the Bruins are getting production from Fraser Minten and Viktor Arvidsson, the Devils have a Dougie Hamilton situation, and so much more!

Scott Cullen — Fri, 16 Jan 2026 15:28:56 +0000

Each week, I dig into the stats to find information that can help you make better fantasy hockey decisions. This week, Brayden Point’s injury shakes up the Lightning, the Bruins are getting production from Fraser Minten and Viktor Arvidsson, the Devils have a Dougie Hamilton situation, and so much more!

#1 The Tampa Bay Lighnting lost No. 1 centre Brayden Point to a lower-body injury that will keep him out on a week-to-week basis. As part of Team Canada, Point will certainly be incentivized to get healthy by early February, but that does mean that there could be more opportunities for others in the Lightning lineup. Case in point: Nick Paul has moved up the depth chart to skate between Nikita Kucherov and Jake Guentel on the top line. Paul has just three points (2 G, 1 A) and nine shots on goal in his past eight games, but the opportunity to play with Kucherov and Guentzel gives him potential appeal in deeper formats.

#2 Boston Bruins rookie centre Fraser Minten is starting to hit his stride, earning more ice time and delivering more production for the Bruins. He has eight points (5 G, 3 A) and 18 shots on goal in his past eight games. He’s skating between Alexander Steeves and Morgan Geekie at even strength and getting second-unit power play time, which has boosted his ice time near 16 minutes per game over that stretch. With 21 points (11 G, 10 A) in 48 games, Minten is tied for sixth in rookie scoring.

#3 Bruins veteran winger Viktor Arvidsson is also picking up his production lately. The high energy winger has contributed nine points (3 G, 6 A) and 25 shots on goal in his past eight games. That shot rate is elevated by Tuesday’s win over Detroit when he recorded a whopping 10 shots on goal. He is up to 24 points (9 G, 15 A) in 36 games for the season and that is quality secondary scoring for a Bruins team that is hanging around the playoff bubble.

#4 The New Jersey Devils have run into a situation on the blueline. With Johnathan Kovacevic returning to the lineup, the Devils made Dougie Hamilton a healthy scratch. Hamilton returned to the lineup after his one-game hiatus and put up three assists in two games. He does have a 10-team no-trade list, but it looks like a trade could be a possibility, especially if the Devils can’t get back into the playoff picture. In the meantime, though, Luke Hughes is the Devils defenceman tasked with quarterbacking New Jersey’s first power play.

#5 Connor McMichael of the Washington Capitals is off the 57-point pace that he had across 82 games last season, but he is starting to improve his production. Since New Years Eve, McMichael has recorded nine points (2 G, 7 A) and 22 shots on goal in nine games. With injuries taking out some Capitals forwards, including Pierre-Luc Dubois and, more recently, Tom Wilson, there is quality ice time available for McMichael. He has played more than 20 minutes per game in that nine-game span and is currently skating between wingers Aliaksei Protas and Ryan Leonard, so it’s a skilled enough line that McMichael should continue to deliver more offence.

#6 A sprained ankle suffered in the final game of the preseason put Winnipeg Jets winger Cole Perfetti behind the 8-ball this season and he struggled to generate offence upon his return. It’s starting to come around, however, as Perfetti has six points (1 G, 5 A) with 10 shots on goal in his past six games. His ice time is down a bit from last season and Perfetti is skating on a line with Jonathan Toews and Gabriel Vilardi at even strength.

#7 As the Buffalo Sabres have roared back into playoff contention, their top players have been a big part of the team’s success, but they are also getting contributions from the supporting cast. Centre Ryan McLeod has seven points (3 G, 4 A) with six shots on goal in his past six games. Obviously, that shot rate is not super encouraging but, with Josh Norris injured again, there is going to be a more significant role at least in the short term and, given Norris’ injury history, it probably won’t be the last time that McLeod needs to fill role in Buffalo’s top six.

#8 While the buzz around the San Jose Sharks rightfully focuses on their young talent, it should not go unrecognized that veteran Tyler Toffoli continues to be a reliable source of scoring. In his past five games, Toffoli has six points (3 G, 3 A) and 20 shots on goal. In addition to first-unit power play time, Toffoli is skating with Alexander Wennberg and Pavol Regenda at even strength, though the Sharks could be looking at lineup shuffle with the pending return of sophomore winger Will Smith.

#9 It should not come as a surprise, given that he has four straight seasons with more than 55 points, but Utah Mammoth centre Nick Schmaltz is a reliable offensive threat, and still available in quite a few leagues. Since Christmas, Schmaltz has 11 points points (5 G, 6 A) and 25 shots on goal in nine games and not only is Schmaltz’s shot rate a positive sign, but he’s averaged 21:30 of ice time per game in that span while anchoring the Mammoth’s top line.

#10 At 34 years old, Hurricanes left winger Taylor Hall is some distance away from his best years in the NHL, but he is still a valuable contributor in a secondary role. He’s averaging less than 15 minutes of ice time per game and yet, in his past seven games, Hall has six points (2 G, 4 A) and 14 shots on goal. He is skating on a line with young forwards Logan Stankoven an Jackson Blake at even strength while getting second unit power play time.

#11 New Jersey Devils left winger Timo Meier is mired in a slump, with just two points (1 G, 1 A) in his past 13 games, but there is some reason to consider him as a buy-low candidate; that is, if he hasn’t landed on the fantasy waiver wire yet. In those 13 games, Meier has put 53 shots on goal, which is more than four shots on goal per game, really an elite level of shot generation. While Meier has tended to be more of a volume shooter, rather than a high-percentage finisher, he has scored on just 8.5 percent of his shots on goal this season, and that would be his lowest rate since 2020-2021. He’s also skating on the Devils’ top line with Jack Hughes and Jesper Bratt, so that should be enough to shake Meier out of this funk.

#12 One of the great stories of the first half of the season, Boston Bruins winger Morgan Geekie has hit a slump. Through the first 36 games of the season, Geekie had 39 points (25 G, 14 A) with 90 shots on goal. He had scored on 27.8 percent of his shots on goal. Since then, regression has come for Geekie like it comes for everyone eventually. In the past 11 games, Geekie has zero goals, three assists and 21 shots on goal so even as the Bruins are playing competitive hockey as a team lately, they are doing it with minimal contribution from their leading goal scorer.

#13 2026 has brought some lean times for Nashville Predators left winger Filip Forsberg, who has one assist and just 10 shots on goal in seven games this month. He’s on the first line with Ryan O’Reilly and Luke Evangelista and getting first unit power play time, so this should turn around, but it is well worth keeping a close eye on Forsberg – who has surpassed 60 points six times in his career – to see if he is going to snap out of this slump. The first order of business should be to generate more shots.

#14 St. Louis Blues centre Robert Thomas will be out at least two weeks with a lower-body injury, leaving a significant hole in the Blues’ lineup as he is the team’s leading scorer with 33 points (11 G, 22 A) in 42 games. In the short term, it looks like centres Brayden Schenn and rookie Dalibor Dvorsky will bump up the depth chart. Since Christmas, Schenn has five points (3 G, 2 A) and 13 shots on goal and Dvorsky has three points (1 G, 2 A) and nine shots on goal in nine games, so it is a buy-low opportunity for anyone wishing to take a chance on them to fill in for some of the lost offense in St. Louis. The other possibility, which is very real, is that the Blues’ scoring dries up without their top playmaker.

#15 A collision with Utah’s JJ Peterka has landed New York Rangers goaltender Igor Shesterkin on the injured list, putting the Rangers in a precarious position. They are outside the playoff mix, last place in the Eastern Conference with 46 points in 48 games, and they are left with Jonathan Quick and Spencer Martin between the pipes without Shesterkin. Quick has struggled, with a .776 save percentage in four starts since Shesterkin was hurt.

#16 Pittsburgh Penguins defenceman Erik Karlsson has landed on the injured list with a lower-body injury, which should keep him out for a couple of weeks. Fortunately, the Penguins do have a right-shot veteran defenceman at the ready to handle first unit power play time in Kris Letang. In his past dozen games, so starting well before Karlsson’s injury, Letang produced eight points (1 G, 7 A) with 22 shots on goal, while averaging 23:58 of ice time per game.

#17 With injuries knocking out Neal Pionk, Colin Miller, and Haydn Fleury, the Winnipeg Jets are giving a surprising goal-scorer time on the second power play unit. Defenceman Logan Stanley, who had only ever scored one goal per season in his NHL career, has now scored eight goals through 45 games. His eight goals on 48 shots (16.7 SH%) is obviously not sustainable, but it’s at least worth tracking him to see if he gets any benefits from time on the power play.

#18 Philadelphia Flyers goaltender Dan Vladar left Wednesday’s loss at Pittsburgh, and that’s a big loss for the Flyers. He is having the best season of his career, with a .905 save percentage and the drop off to Samuel Ersson, who has a miserable .853 save percentage, is a big deal for a Flyers team still competing for a playoff spot. The severity of Vladar’s injury is not known, but every game he’s out could be costly for the team’s playoff hopes.

#19 For fantasy managers that might need goaltending help because of these injuries, maybe give some consideration to Pittsburgh Penguins netminder Stuart Skinner. His first three starts for the Penguins weren’t great, but in his past five starts, Skinner is 4-1 with a .942 save percentage. His track record is reason enough to be cautious, but if you’re looking for goaltending help at this stage of the season, it’s not like flawless options are just waiting to be plucked from the waiver wire, so Skinner might just do the trick, even as a short-term fill-in option.

#20 Toronto Maple Leafs right winger William Nylander left Thursday’s loss at Vegas with a lower-body injury after delivering a goal and an assist in just 2:16 of ice time against the Golden Knights. It’s too soon to know how significant his injury is, but a long-term Nylander injury could be devastating for Toronto. He has 12 points (6 G, 6 A) and 11 shots on goal in his past six games. After Nylander’s injury, the Leafs moved Matthew Knies to play with John Tavares and Matias Maccelli on the second line.

*Advanced stats via Natural Stat Trick

NHL: DADOUN – THE FANTASY WEEK AHEAD – Nashville Resurgence, Rantanen traded to Carolina, plus much more – Favourable schedules and players to target

McKeen's Hockey — Sat, 25 Jan 2025 15:16:30 +0000

NASHVILLE, TN - JANUARY 16: Nashville Predators forward Jonathan Marchessault (81) is shown during the NHL game between the Nashville Predators and Chicago Blackhawks, held on January 16, 2025, at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Danny Murphy/Icon Sportswire)

The best stories in sports are the comebacks that happen after a team has been written off. Two examples that spring to mind from recent history are the 2014-15 Ottawa Senators, who were 22-23-10 after a loss Feb. 16, putting them 10 points behind in the playoff race, only to go 21-3-3 the rest of the way to narrowly secure a postseason berth. Another is the 2018-19 St. Louis Blues, who were 16-19-4 on Jan. 5, which placed them last in the Western Conference, before going 29-9-5 the rest of the way to not only make the playoffs but win the Stanley Cup.

Is it possible we’ll have another one of those stories this year? Those stories are memorable because they’re rare, and you only need to look at the absurd records they needed down the stretch to illustrate why. Due in no small part to the consolation point for overtime/shootout losses, the standings tend to look closer than they truly are because closing even a small point gap is difficult.

That said, I can’t help but look at the Nashville Predators and wonder if there is still some hope. It’s probably a foolish thing to think and a take that will age like milk, but after a 7-16-6 start, Nashville began to stabilize and now the team seems to have hit its stride with its current five-game winning streak. The Predators are still just 18-22-7, so they’d have basically have to go the rest of the season without any more noteworthy slumps, but part of the reason that such a feat even seems remotely possible is because the veteran leadership that seemed lost in the early part of the season has settled in.

Steven Stamkos has 10 goals and 19 points across his past 19 appearances while Jonathan Marchessault has 10 goals and 26 points over the same 19-game span. They were signed over the summer to provide that kind of offense but were initially written off as poor decisions by GM Barry Trotz due to their extremely poor start to the campaign. Now it seems they were judged too harshly.

When you couple their success with Filip Forsberg (18 goals, 47 points), elite defenseman Roman Josi (nine goals, 35 points) and veteran center Ryan O'Reilly (13 goals, 27 points), you have a fairly strong offense, especially if any of Gustav Nyquist, Tommy Novak or Luke Evangelista (lower body) start to hit their stride. As it is, Nashville has ranked second in goals per game (3.47) dating back to Dec. 10. That’s in stark contrast to the Predators’ first 28 games where they were last in the league in that scoring category (2.18).

You could call this just a hot streak for the offense, and there’s probably an element of that, but given that we’re talking about players of this caliber, it might be something at least somewhat sustainable.

It’s not all rosy, though. The X-Factor is surprisingly goaltending. Ottawa’s run involved journeyman goaltender Andrew Hammond standing on his head, and the Blues got a similar story out of rookie Jordan Binnington.

Nashville shouldn’t need someone to come out of nowhere to shut down the opposing offense. The Predators already have Juuse Saros, who not that long ago was seen as one of the best goaltenders of this generation. This campaign, though, he’s struggled with an 11-18-6 record, 2.81 GAA and .901 save percentage in 36 appearances. Unlike the offense, Saros hasn’t stepped up -- he's 2-2-0 with a 3.42 GAA and an .860 save percentage across his past five outings.

That’s led to Justus Annunen starting a bit more often lately, but while the backup netminder has won his past four starts, he’s been inconsistent, allowing 10 goals on 105 shots (.905 save percentage) over that span.

Let’s assume Nashville needs a 95-point season to make the playoffs. That wouldn’t have been good enough last year, but for the sake of argument, let’s just pretend that’s what’s needed. Nashville would need another 52 points across its final 35 games, so for example, 26-9-0, or say, 23-6-6. Even a top-tier offense is unlikely to get them that kind of record down the stretch. Some of that’s going to have to come from the goalies stealing games, so until Saros or Annunen start heating up, it’s hard to imagine the comeback happening.

That said, if Stamkos and Marchessault could find their way back from unflattering starts, perhaps Saros can too?

Calgary Flames (Tue vs WAS, Thu vs ANA, Sat vs DET, Sun @ SEA)

Calgary wasn’t seen as a major contender going into the campaign. In fact, there was an argument to be made that the Flames would regress from their 38-39-5 record last season after trading away goaltender Jacob Markstrom over the summer. However, we’re clear past the halfway point of 2024-25 now, and the Flames are very much in the playoff race. The weakness for the Flames is they’ve struggled on the road (8-10-4), but they won’t have to concern themselves with that in the upcoming week. They’ll host the Capitals, Ducks, Red Wings and Kraken on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, respectively.

A big part of the reason why the Flames’ rebuild is ahead of schedule is 23-year-old goaltender Dustin Wolf. He got a taste of the NHL last year and was mixed at best, posting a 7-7-1 record, 3.16 GAA and .893 save percentage in 17 games. However, he’s filled the void left by Markstrom and then some in 2024-25 with his 17-7-2 record, 2.49 GAA and .918 save percentage in 26 starts. To put that into context, Wolf has already saved 13.3 goals above expected this season, per Moneypuck, which has almost caught up to the 13.7 goals saved above expected Markstrom provided for the Flames last campaign. Wolf also ranks eighth among goaltenders in that metric this season.

Wolf’s contributions are extra important because the rest of the team has underwhelmed. Calgary ranks 29th in goals per game (2.65) and 21st in xGA/60 (3.09). So, the team’s not generating much offense and the defense hasn’t been responsible enough to make an average goaltender look good -- just ask backup Dan Vladar, who is only slightly below average at minus-2.8 goals saved above expected, but due to the Flames’ defense has some rather unflattering numbers: a 3.03 GAA and an .889 save percentage.

Still, even if Wolf is the team’s clear MVP, it would be inaccurate to suggest that he’s the only player of value in Calgary. Jonathan Huberdeau might not be living up to his contract, but his 19 goals and 35 points through 46 outings make him the team’s offensive leader. Since a quiet stretch from Oct. 19-Nov. 29 in which Huberdeau had four goals and six points in 20 outings, the 31-year-old has been tremendous, supplying 12 goals and 23 points across 22 outings. If he can maintain anything close to that down the stretch, then there’s a decent chance he’ll be playing playoff hockey this year.

The 23-year-old Jakob Pelletier is also hot with three goals and six points across his past five appearances. It took him a while to get going -- he recorded a goal and five points over his first 15 games with Calgary this season -- but we’re getting a flash of what he’s capable of. He was selected with the No. 26 overall pick in the 2019 NHL Draft and has been dominant offensively at the AHL level, including three goals and 19 points in 20 contests this season.

Maybe Rory Kerins will also help them down the stretch. He’s 23 as well and has provided an incredible 21 goals and 34 points in 34 AHL games in 2024-25. Unlike Pelletier, Kerins was a late-round pick and even logged 38 games with ECHL Rapid City back in 2022-23. Kerins has risen, making his NHL debut Jan. 13 and recording four assists in five outings with the Flames so far. That said, he’s averaging just 12:14 of ice time, including a mere 6:57 on Thursday, so his role with Calgary is far from secure despite those early results. Monitor him, but don’t get too excited yet.

Colorado Avalanche (Tue @ NYI, Fri vs STL, Sun vs PHI)

The Avalanche has a solid 28-19-2 record, but they’ve merely treaded water lately, going 5-4-1 across their past 10 games. They’ll see if they can do better next week with a favorable schedule. The Avalanche will visit the Islanders on Tuesday before returning home to host St. Louis on Friday and Philadelphia on Sunday. Those adversaries are well behind the Avalanche in terms of points percentage.

I wrote this whole thing about Colorado’s situation with regard to Mikko Rantanen’s contract, and then the Avalanche traded him to Carolina in a three-team deal that also involved Chicago, which was shocking, to say the least. To be fair, there is logic to be found here. My now outdated discussion of the topic still serves as a decent overview of the challenge the Avalanche were facing pre-trade, so I’ll show it here for that purpose:

“Like Edmonton with Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid, Colorado also has the luxury of an elite one-two punch up front. The Avalanche version is headlined by Nathan MacKinnon, and the other half of the Avalanche’s duo is Mikko Rantanen, who has 25 goals and 64 points through 49 outings in 2024-25. Colorado has an issue that Edmonton recently went through, though: Rantanen is on the final season of his six-year, $55.5 million contract and can become an unrestricted free agent this summer. Rantanen has a real shot of reaching the 40-goal and 100-point milestones for the third consecutive year, so to say he’s due a big payday would be an understatement.

Finding a comparable is a little difficult. Draisaitl won the Hart Trophy in 2019-20, has collected at least 50 goals on three occasions and has also gotten at least 110 points three times, but Rantanen has never been a Hart finalist, has reached the 50-goal mark just once and he’s career high in points is 105, so it’s clear which one of them has a better resume. Still, if Draisaitl could ink an eight-year, $112 million ($14 million cap hit) contract back in September, perhaps Rantanen is thinking at least $12 million annually? Maybe even more? It might be awkward to give Rantanen something at or above Nathan MacKinnon’s eight-year, $100.8 million ($12.6 million cap hit) contract, but MacKinnon inked that back in 2022, and with the cap going up, so too will the payouts for top talent.”

So, you can see why the Avalanche might have opted to move Rantanen rather than lock him up, and there might even be more to this story that we’re not yet aware of. Perhaps the Avalanche presented Rantanen with a competitive offer, and he rejected that. To be clear, that’s purely just hypothetical, and I have no inside knowledge of the situation, so please take my wild speculation as fact, but in that scenario, this trade would make more sense from the Avalanche’s perspective.

That said, I don’t love the return from the Avalanche’s perspective. Colorado is getting Martin Necas and Jack Drury from the Avalanche, as well as some picks. Necas has never reached the 30-goal or 80-point marks, so he doesn’t have the same kind of resume as Rantanen, but Necas is younger at 26 and has done well this campaign with 16 goals and 55 points in 49 appearances. He’ll look good alongside Nathan MacKinnon. My problem with Necas as the return is his two-year, $13 million contract expires in 2026, and then Necas will be eligible for unrestricted free agency. So, if he performs over the next year and a half as the Avalanche hope, then to some extent they just kicked the problem down the road by a year. Granted, Necas probably won’t command what Rantanen did…but that’s only because he’s a downgrade. No offense to Necas -- 99.9 percent of the league is a downgrade to Rantanen -- but the Avalanche are in a win-now mode, so unless retaining Rantanen was completely off the table, this trade feels a little weird to me.

Perhaps I’m undervaluing Jack Drury, though. He has just nine points (three goals) in 39 appearances in 2024-25, but the 24-year-old probably has upside left in him, and the Avalanche will certainly benefit from the center depth. It would not be surprising to see Drury tried out on the third line behind MacKinnon and Casey Mittelstadt.

The Avalanche also got two picks out of the trade. Not a first-rounder, but maybe in five years or so, we’ll look at one of those draft picks as an underrated benefit of this deal.

Carolina Hurricanes (Tue @ NYR, Thu vs CHI, Sat vs. LAK)

The teams I highlight are based on a combination of how busy their schedule is for the upcoming week and how favorable those matchups are. Additionally, I will typically present the teams I’ve included in alphabetical order. I’m breaking both of those to include the Hurricanes. I think it’s worth discussing the fallout of the Rantanen trade from the Hurricanes’ perceptive, and it’s better to have that discussion after outlining what this deal means for Colorado. A little bit of housekeeping before we get into the trade talks: The Hurricanes will start next week with a road tilt against the Rangers on Tuesday before hosting the Blackhawks on Thursday and the Kings on Saturday. It’s not a bad schedule, it’s just not special either.

Now to the trade: In addition to Rantanen, the Hurricanes also acquired Taylor Hall from Chicago for the cost of Necas, Drury and draft picks. There was also retained salary in the deal to make the cap situation work.

It’ll be really interesting to see how this plays out for Carolina. Rantanen has never really been “the guy” before. He’s spent basically his entire NHL career to this point in MacKinnon’s shadow, but now Rantanen will be expected to drive the offense in Carolina. Not that he’ll have to do it alone. In fact, Rantanen is likely to get some great linemates in Sebastian Aho (15 goals, 49 points) and Andrei Svechnikov (15 goals, 34 points). There’s every reason to believe that trio will mesh together.

There’s also reason to be optimistic about Carolina retaining Rantanen beyond this campaign. Sure, the Hurricanes’ attempt to lock down Jake Guentzel after acquiring him from Pittsburgh during the 2023-24 campaign ultimately failed, leading to Guentzel instead signing with Tampa Bay over the summer, but Carolina is set to be in a fantastic cap position for 2025-26. Dmitry Orlov ($7.75 million cap hit) and Brent Burns ($5.28 million) are both set to come off the books. Orlov will likely take a big pay cut if he stays at all. It’s not clear if Burns will play beyond this season, but if he does, it’ll likely be at a reduced salary too.

Carolina also doesn’t have any expiring players due for big paydays beyond Rantanen himself. Meanwhile, Puck Pedia is projecting them with $31.2 million in cap space for next season, albeit with just 13 roster spots filled. There is reason to believe the Hurricanes can meet Rantanen’s demands, even if he’s eyeing something close to what Draisaitl got.

What happens with Rantanen will go a long way towards defining how this trade is viewed, but adding Hall as well in the trade is interesting. He’s been middling this campaign with nine goals and 24 points in 46 appearances with the Blackhawks while averaging a modest 14:59 of ice time. It’s a far cry from what the 33-year-old did in his prime, but he might do better now that he’s on a contender. Hall will probably end up serving on the second line alongside some combination of Seth Jarvis (18 goals, 38 points), Jesperi Kotkaniemi (10 goals, 23 points) and Jackson Blake (11 goals, 16 points).

The Hurricanes’ overall offense has been good -- they rank fifth with 3.37 goals per game – but their scoring depth does leave something to be desired, especially if Carolina does go with that stacked top line of Svechnikov-Aho-Rantanen, so even a decent showing out of Hall would be a big boost.

Carolina likely doesn’t have any room left to make anymore notable additions before the trade deadline, but as it is, the Hurricanes do look like serious contenders.

New York Islanders (Tue vs COL, Thu @ PHI, Sat @ TBL, Sun @ FLA)

It might be premature to assume that the Islanders will miss the playoffs in 2024-25 for just the second time in seven years, but the team certainly has a hole to dig out of. They’ll attempt to better their situation next week, which will start with a home game against the Avalanche on Tuesday. The Islanders will then hit the road to play in Philadelphia on Thursday, Tampa Bay on Saturday and Florida on Sunday. It’s a tough schedule to be sure, but the Islanders are running out of margin for error, so they need to find a way to win difficult matches.

The Islanders inked Tony DeAngelo to a one-year contract Friday, which is…a choice. He’s been bought out twice at the NHL level, which led to him joining the KHL, but DeAngelo only served in 34 games with St. Petersburg SKA before his contract was mutually terminated. He’s questionable in his own end and seems to be a lightning rod for controversy. Still, for as much as there’s a reason why teams keep souring on him, there is also a cause for the infinite number of “second” chances he’s gotten.

DeAngelo, under the right circumstances, can be very effective when the puck is on his stick. He has surpassed the 40-point mark three times at the NHL level and had six goals and 32 points in 34 KHL outings before parting ways with SKA. So, for all the negatives he comes with, at least the 29-year-old has that going for him.

A team in a good spot probably wouldn’t bother with DeAngelo given the baggage, but the Islanders are 28th in goals per game with 2.66 and have lost Noah Dobson to a lower-body injury. Dobson is week-to-week after sustaining the injury Monday. He’s a vital part of the Islanders, and while DeAngelo isn’t a good enough blueliner to fully replace Dobson, one part of that void that DeAngelo likely can fill is the offensive loss. DeAngelo might only serve on the third pairing, but he will likely feature on the top power-play unit and could have fantasy value if that’s his role. His fantasy value will be even higher in leagues that include PIM as a category because he tends to end up in the sin bin a fair amount.

Under ideal circumstances, DeAngelo’s inclusion might even offer a boost to Anders Lee, Bo Horvat and Mathew Barzal, who will presumably share the ice with him on the power play. The Islanders are dead last in power-play conversions at just 12.2 percent, which has been a drag on the overall offensive output of the Islanders’ top forwards. If DeAngelo can help make the Islanders’ power play even remotely close to average, then that would add up meaningfully for all involved.

Of course, all this is assuming a favorable outcome, which is always a risky thing to believe in when it comes to DeAngelo. At the time of writing, his inclusion on the Islanders isn’t guaranteed. Though the contract has been signed, he needs to clear waivers before he can play for the Islanders. I wouldn’t bet on another team claiming him, but then again, I didn’t anticipate this move from New York, and yet, here we are.

Philadelphia Flyers (Mon vs NJD, Wed @ NJD, Thu vs NYI, Sun @ COL)

The Flyers missed out on the playoffs for the fourth consecutive year in 2024, but at least they managed to stay in contention for most of the campaign. They’d like to do one better this year and secure a Wild Card spot, but there’s a lot of competition for those two seeds, so every game is that much more important. The Flyers will start the week with a home-and-away series against the Devils on Monday and Wednesday before hosting the Islanders on Thursday. Philadelphia will conclude its weekly schedule in Colorado on Sunday.

Goaltending has been a recurring issue for Philadelphia this season. Samuel Ersson is just too inconsistent, leading to a 14-8-2 record, 2.80 GAA and .891 save percentage in 26 appearances. Ivan Fedotov is no better, though, at 4-6-3 with a 3.25 GAA and an .880 save percentage in 14 starts.

The tragedy is that the Flyers are actually a really good defensive team, locked in a four-way tie for sixth in xGA/60 (2.85). The problem is purely the goaltenders. Ersson ranks 83rd among all netminders in goals allowed above expected at minus-8.8, per Moneypuck. The only netminders worse in that category with at least 20 games played are Petr Mrazek, Tristan Jarry, Alexandar Georgiev and Philipp Grubauer. One of those (Jarry) was sent to the minors due to his play while Mrazek and Georgiev are playing for rebuilding squads in Chicago and San Jose. In other words, it’s unflattering company for Ersson.

The Flyers offense isn’t great, but it’s decent. Travis Konecny (21 goals, 56 points) is doing his best to push the team into contention. He’s also been particularly productive recently, supplying five goals and 15 points across his past 13 appearances.

Owen Tippett is benefiting from playing alongside Konecny. The 25-year-old Tippett has three goals and six points over his last eight games, giving him 14 goals and 30 points in 50 outings overall. That duo doesn’t combine to create a top line that will turn heads, but it does the job well enough.

The Flyers are hoping that Matvei Michkov might eventually headline a unit of his own, but the rookie has been streaky. That’s pretty common for a young forward. You just need to keep an eye out and bench him during the down patches. We might be entering one right now -- he has been held off the scoresheet in each of his past two games after supplying two goals and five points across six outings from Jan. 11-21.

Pittsburgh Penguins (Mon @ SJS, Wed @ UTA, Sat vs NSH)

Like the Islanders and Flyers, Pittsburgh is on the outside looking in on the Wild Card race but is still in the running. The Penguins will play in San Jose on Monday and Utah on Wednesday before returning home to host the Predators on Saturday. The Sharks and Predators own two of the worst records in the league, so Pittsburgh needs to pick up points during that stretch if the Penguins are going to convince GM Kyle Dubas that this team can make a serious playoff push this year.

And make no mistake: Dubas likely needs some convincing. RG.org claims to have a source that Pittsburgh is willing to trade anyone other than Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Bryan Rust, Philip Tomasino and Owen Pickering. The source was also asked about Kris Letang, and they weren’t sure about him.

Erik Karlsson stands out as the biggest player not ruled out. The Penguins would likely need to retain salary -- his cap hit is $11.5 million annually through 2026-27, but the Sharks are already retaining $1.5 million, bringing the current hit to Pittsburgh down to $10 million -- but as long as Pittsburgh is willing to do that, the return could be fairly nice. Although he’s 34 years old, he’s been effective this campaign with four goals and 32 points in 50 outings.

One potential sticking point is that he has a no-movement clause. He already waived it once to move from San Jose to Pittsburgh, but presumably, there would only be certain teams he’d be willing to play for. The fun destination from a fan perspective would be a return to the Senators, but that would be difficult to make work from a cap perspective. Maybe Calgary or Columbus? The Flames and Blue Jackets are teams trending in the right direction who also have plenty of cap space. Perhaps they’d value his veteran leadership in addition to what he brings to the table on the ice. Columbus’ defense already looks fairly solid and is led by a phenomenal offensive defenseman in Zach Werenski, so I don’t know that the Blue Jackets are a great fit. Karlsson would likely provide a meaningful boost to the Flames, though.

Of course, if you're Crosby or Malkin, you’re still going to be clinging onto the hope of making the playoffs this year, so these upcoming games are extremely high stakes for them. Rust is dealing with a lower-body injury, which does complicate things, but if Rust ends up missing time, then you’ll probably see Anthony Beauvillier play with one of those highly motivated superstars.

Seattle Kraken (Mon @ EDM, Tue vs ANA, Thu vs SJS, Sun vs CGY)

Seattle will begin its weekly schedule with what’s likely to be a difficult matchup in Edmonton on Monday. However, the Kraken will then return home to host Anaheim on Tuesday, San Jose on Thursday and Calgary on Sunday. The Ducks and Sharks have struggled this campaign, so those are favorable matchups for the Kraken.

I briefly touched on Philip Grubauer above in the context of how bad he’s been this campaign -- and really for a while now. He has a 3.09 GAA and an .890 save percentage in 150 games since joining Seattle. His six-year, $35.4 million deal, which started in 2021-22, has been such a waste for the Kraken.

On the plus side, the Kraken have Joey Daccord, who has a 16-11-2 record, 2.47 GAA and .915 save percentage in 31 appearances in 2024-25. He could certainly use more offensive support, though.

Jared McCann leads the Kraken with 14 goals and 36 points in 49 appearances this season. That puts him outside of the NHL’s top 75 in the scoring race. Seattle also doesn’t employ any of the 32 players who have reached the 20-goal milestone. Jaden Schwartz is the closest at 16. A lack of big-name talent up front is really hurting this team.

Maybe Matty Beniers will still fill that void, but he’s been a mixed bag. He was Seattle’s first-ever draft pick -- the No. 2 overall selection in 2021 -- and he seemed to be on the fast track after supplying three goals and nine points in 10 NHL outings in 2021-22 followed by 24 goals and 57 points in 80 appearances last season. However, he took a big step back last year, dipping to 37 points, and he hasn’t rebounded much this campaign with 10 goals and 26 points in 49 appearances. He’s still just 22 years old, so there’s plenty of time for him to find his way, but it’s looking less and less likely that this year will be a positive for him.

Another former No. 2 pick seems to have found his way with Seattle, though. Since being acquired from the Rangers on Feb. 18, Kaapo Kakko has four goals and 13 points in 16 outings, giving the Kraken some of that offensive prowess they’ve desperately needed. He’s been averaging 16:50 of ice time in Seattle, which is up from 13:17 with the Rangers -- he had four goals and 14 points in 30 contests before the trade -- which goes a long way toward explaining his production jump.

There never seemed to be much of a role for Kakko in New York, so this change of scenery is probably exactly what he needed. Although his scoring pace might dip somewhat, he should continue to do well with Seattle.

Vancouver Canucks (Mon @ STL, Wed @ NSH, Fri @ DAL, Sun @ DET)

The Canucks have been a mess on and off the ice lately. Will things get any better for them or will the descent continue next week? They’ll start on the road with games in St. Louis on Monday, Nashville on Wednesday and Dallas on Friday. Vancouver will then host the Red Wings on Sunday.

There’s been plenty of speculation about the Canucks potentially moving one of Elias Pettersson or J.T. Miller for off-ice reasons. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported that the Hurricanes were considering acquiring one of those star forwards before opting to instead get Rantanen from Colorado, per Brendan Batchelor of Sportsnet 650. Carolina is likely out as a destination now, but it wouldn’t be surprising to see Vancouver still trade one of Miller or Pettersson. The Rangers have been brought up before as a potential destination, so maybe there’s still something to be had there.

Perhaps because this has been distracting them, Vancouver has been in free fall, going 6-10-6 since Dec. 8. Miller had a five-game scoring drought from Jan. 8-16, but he’s otherwise remained effective, collecting eight goals and 33 points in 37 outings this campaign. It’s still far behind his regular-season production from 2023-24 (37 goals, 103 points), but at least he’s providing close to a point-per-game.

Pettersson hasn’t given anything close to that lately. He has just three goals and four points across his past 14 appearances. That slump has undermined a strong start to the campaign, leaving him with 11 goals and 30 points in 41 outings overall. He’ll probably bounce back eventually, but his slump is certainly part of the reason for the Canucks’ decline.

Thatcher Demko isn’t helping either, though. Since making his season debut Dec. 10 after returning from a knee injury, he has a 3-5-3 record, 3.47 GAA and .867 save percentage in 12 games. Some rust is to be expected after missing the opening months of the season, but he’s showing no signs of improvement, going 1-3-0 with a 4.03 GAA and an .833 save percentage across his past four outings. Kevin Lankinen is far from a sure thing either, but he’s been the better option with his 16-8-6 record, 2.63 GAA and .903 save percentage in 30 appearances.

It's unfortunate because Demko has shown in the past that he can be an elite netminder, and Vancouver could certainly use the help right now. As it is, though, about the only positive in Vancouver is that Quinn Hughes is still Quinn Hughes with 12 goals and 52 points in 43 appearances, including four goals and 10 points across his past nine outings.

Hughes just needs other stars to go back to living up to their names as well.

MCKEEN’S 2024-25 NHL YEARBOOK – CALGARY FLAMES – Team Preview

Mon, 23 Sep 2024 20:00:44 +0000

_{ST. LOUIS, MO - MARCH 28: Calgary Flames center Nazem Kadri (91) as seen during an NHL game between the Calgary Flames and the St. Louis Blues, on March 28, 2024, at Enterprise Center in St. Louis, MO. (Photo by Keith Gillett/Icon Sportswire)}

After failing to make the playoffs in 2022-23, the Flames changed coaches, but it didn’t reverse their fortunes. Calgary had a 38-39-5 record last season, and ultimately resigned to its fate by trading away veteran defencemen Noah Hanifin, Chris Tanev, and Nikita Zadorov as well as two-way center Elias Lindholm, primarily in exchange for a collection of picks, though the Flames did also pick up Andrei Kuzmenko in the Lindholm deal, which worked out nicely for Calgary with 14 goals and 25 points across 29 contests post-trade. The Flames also got a great campaign out of Nazem Kadri (29 goals, 75 points) while Yegor Sharangovich and Blake Coleman each hit the 30-goal mark for the first time in their careers, but Calgary’s offence was still mediocre due in no small part to lackluster production out of Jonathan Huberdeau (12 goals, 52 points), and those scoring woes were compounded by a leaky season from goaltender Jacob Markstrom (2.78 GAA, .905 save percentage).

WHAT’S CHANGED? Calgary continued to shed veterans during the summer, trading Markstrom to New Jersey in exchange for a 2025 first-round pick and 24-year-old defenceman Kevin Bahl, who might get a top-four role after Calgary dealt so many veteran blueliners during the 2023-24 campaign. The Flames also inked blueliner Jake Bean to a two-year contract after Columbus declined to present him with a qualifying offer and signed Anthony Mantha to a one-year deal to bolster the team’s secondary scoring.

WHAT WOULD SUCCESS LOOK LIKE? It would be shocking if the Flames make the playoffs, but stranger things have happened. Perhaps Dustin Wolf, who has struggled early in his NHL career but has looked great in the minors, might fill the void left by Markstrom. Maybe Kuzmenko’s first full campaign with the Flames will be a major success after he seemed to gel with the squad last year. Theoretically, Huberdeau might recapture some of his lost luster.

WHAT COULD GO WRONG? Those are big asks, though, and even if all that happened, it’s not clear that Calgary has the depth necessary to go far. Keep in mind, Coleman and Sharangovich had basically ideal campaigns last season, so some regression should be expected there, and there’s no guarantee that Kadri, who will turn 34 on Oct. 6, will put forth another 75-point campaign. Wolf is the real x-factor, but even if he performs admirably, will he be able to overcome the Flames’ defence after they traded away their top blueliners?

TOP BREAKOUT CANDIDATE: Calgary’s in that awkward phase where it’s not a contending team, but its roster is still comprised almost exclusively of veterans. Wolf is the most notable exception to that, and while he does have his work cut out for him, it should be interesting to see how he does. As touched on earlier, Wolf has excelled in the AHL. This will be a difficult campaign for him, but in the long run, the No. 214 overall pick in the 2019 NHL Draft might go down as a huge steal.

FORWARD

Nazem Kadri

Predicted Stats
GP	G	A	PTS	PPG
72	26	42	68	0.83

A mid-season Elias Lindholm trade made Kadri “the guy” in Calgary, a position he hasn’t been in since pre-Auston Matthews years in Toronto. He was up to the task, as he had one of his best seasons from a point-production standpoint and he did while mostly playing with rookies instead of on Calgary’s top line. Kadri is a player you can count on to drive play regardless of where he is in the lineup, so he’s a nice luxury for the Flames to have while they’re in a transition period. He’s maybe one of the most underrated players in the league at leading the transition game, as he is usually among the league leaders in producing scoring chancers off zone entries. Finishing those chances is another story, because he takes a lot of shots from everywhere, but it has started to come around the last few seasons where he’s been above the 20-goal mark. His boxcar totals got a nice boost on the power play, where he was very good at getting tips from the slot and manipulating the penalty kill from the bumper position. The Flames don’t have a lot of insulation for him offensively this year, so he’s going to have to carry a heavy burden for the team offensively again. A slight step back might be expected as the team retools but a 25-goal, 40-point season should well be in reach.

Blake Coleman

Predicted Stats
GP	G	A	PTS	PPG
81	24	20	44	0.54

Coleman had one of the more unnoticed 30-goal seasons in recent memory. His stats were a little inflated with six empty net goals, but it was still an impressive feat for someone who is primarily a checking line player. There was always more skill to Coleman’s game than that, as he has netted 20 before and he’s very quick to strike off the rush given the opportunity. That’s how he scored a majority of his goals last year, with a few of them coming shorthanded. He’s had wonderful chemistry with Mikael Backlund and the intensity he plays with gave that line some extra juice. Any production Calgary got out of them was secondary because they rarely lost any of their shifts. Whether it was flipping possession or generating chances, Coleman was as good of a utility player that you could ask for. With three years left on his contract and a lot of miles on his tires, it will be interesting to see how long the rugged winger can maintain this level of play. His shooting percentage jumped to 15.7 from a career average of 10.4 percent and should see a regression in goals. He remains a key contributor here and can hit 20 goals and 20 assists, closer to his career norms.

Jonathan Huberdeau

Predicted Stats
GP	G	A	PTS	PPG
80	12	36	48	0.60

Huberdeau will be the victim of lofty expectations for the rest of his career. He was never going to be the 100+ point player the Flames traded for two years ago and living up to his $10.5 million AAV cap hit was going to be almost impossible. The hope was that his elite-level playmaking could add a boost to a Calgary lineup that has no shortage of play-drivers and shooters. Instead, they’ve gotten a good playmaker who is an awkward fit on almost every line, failing to develop any sort of long-term chemistry with anyone. It takes a certain level of rapport to blend with a more cerebral player like Huberdeau because he will usually look for the extra pass that a linemate might not be ready for. He had that for a stretch with Coleman and Backlund but ended up back in the line blender mid-season. Huberedau’s one-dimensional game puts a lot of the scoring burden on his linemates and that is something that has gotten worse since he arrived in Calgary. The high-level playmaking has also seen a dip in recent years, as he is still setting up chances at a decent rate, but not at the elite level he did with Florida. With Calgary’s lineup receiving another shake-up, a lot needs to go right for Huberdeau to get back to his old form, although at 31 years old this might be who he is now. While he saw a dip in his shooting percentage, his shot rate is still far too low for that to be a factor and expecting more than 15 – 20 goals would be a reach and with the current supporting cast he seems plateaued at 40 assists.

Mikael Backlund

Predicted Stats
GP	G	A	PTS	PPG
82	13	27	40	0.49

Signing a two-year extension before last season even began, Backlund had another year where he was steady as ever. Holding the second/third line center spot down for the Flames with big penalty kill minutes thrown in on top of that. He plays the type of game where you’re happy with what you get from him even if he only puts up 20 points because he does so much outside of the scoresheet. At 35, he is still Calgary’s top defensive forward, always in the right spot to kill a play or find a route out of the zone to flip possession. Both him and Coleman were two of Calgary’s top forwards at generating controlled zone entries last year, doing so while starting most of their shifts in their own zone. The only downside is that his own offensive production is on the downward trend, which isn’t a big deal with the role he plays, but somewhat of a drag because they generated so much rush offence and Coleman was the only player who could score. This is something Calgary has to keep in mind when planning for the future. They know what they’re getting with Backlund, now it’s about planning for life after him as he enters the backend of his career.

Andrei Kuzmenko

Predicted Stats
GP	G	A	PTS	PPG
80	30	29	59	0.74

A mid-season trade gave Kuzmenko a shot in the arm, scoring 14 goals in 25 games with the Flames after recording only seven with Vancouver. After being such a good goal-scorer in his first year, something didn’t click in his first season under Rick Tocchet, acting as more of a playmaker in between Pettersson and Mikheyev instead of a shooter. The switch to Calgary seemed to help, as he got back to what he does best, which was playing the net-front role and doing an excellent job of generating chances from close range. Showing great composure under pressure, he scored a lot of his goals from corralling loose pucks from awkward angles and getting deflections. His hands also make him a great playmaker from this area, and he can setup a lot of tap-in goals by making the extra pass from a typical shooting position. It was what Calgary needed in a lineup that has a lot of guys who can do the cycling and puck-handling along the perimeter. The honeymoon period couldn’t have worked out better for Calgary with Kuzmenko delivering 25 points in 29 games, so now it’s about getting the same level of play in a full season. He was helped by an inflated 24.1 shooting percentage while on the Flames but did see a similar spiked percentage as a rookie in Vancouver. He will be an intriguing trade deadline addition for a lot of teams around February with one year left on his deal. He has a prime offensive opportunity here, and a spot on the first power play is his to lose. 30 goals and 30 assists should be deliverable under these circumstances with potential for more.

Anthony Mantha

Predicted Stats
GP	G	A	PTS	PPG
76	25	23	48	0.63

Solving the Anthony Mantha riddle has perplexed a few teams now. You see his big frame, strong play-driving numbers and how good his shot is at times and think there’s superstar potential, but he’s left teams frustrated more times than not. Last year in Washington might have been the first time a team was content with who he is, someone who uses his body to win puck battles and play a great possession game at five-on-five. Controlling the perimeter to eventually open up more offence for his linemates. He had consistent linemates for the first time during his stint with the Caps and scored 20 goals before getting dealt to Vegas at the deadline. Then the reset button happened. Mantha’s numbers at the end of the day were okay but they couldn’t find a spot for him and he was scratched after Game 3 in the first round. Now he’s onto Calgary where there’s a clear opportunity in their top six. Mantha still has a lot to offer even as someone who can play on the top-line, it’s just a matter of what teams expect out of him after years of similar results. Still only 29-years old, he should break 20 goals and 20 assists and is a UFA at the end of the season. Lots of motivation to put his career back on track.

Yegor Sharangovich

Predicted Stats
GP	G	A	PTS	PPG
77	25	26	51	0.66

While not a breakout season for an established player, Sharangovich did enough for Calgary to make him part of their core going forward, earning a five-year extension after setting career highs in goals and points. His shot has always been a calling card, possessing a heavy wrister that makes him lethal when he gets the space. He was somewhat of a utility guy for the Flames last year, playing both forward positions and adding a game-breaking element to their aggressive penalty kill. He was among the league leaders in shorthanded points, only scoring three goals but always a threat to start a rush the other way. While the goals were nice, his all-around game was a mixed bag as Calgary was heavily outscored at five-on-five when his lines were on the ice, and it was a challenge to find the right spot for him in the lineup even if he was one of the team’s best shooters. He ended the season primarily playing as center with Jonathan Huberdeau, which was a line Calgary had to deploy almost exclusively in the offensive zone, so it’s unknown if it’s a long-term fit if Sharangovich’s shooting regresses. A return to 30 goals might be a challenge, but 25 to go along with 25 – 30 assists is a reasonable expectation.

Connor Zary

Predicted Stats
GP	G	A	PTS	PPG
77	17	24	41	0.53

The youngest of Calgary’s Wranglers core ended up being one of the rookies who stuck with the big club. Riding a hot streak after getting called up in November, Zary’s Swiss Army Knife skillset made it tough for him to come out of the lineup even after the goals dried up. His strong play even earned him some modest recognition in a stacked Calder race. He’s a smaller guy, but willing to go to the net and it was easy for him to get lost in coverage. Also, he is very good at taking hits from pinching defencemen to help get pucks out of the zone, which is something young wingers always struggle with. Playmaking is where he shined, but the details of his game were ahead of where most 21-year-old rookies are. Becoming a more consistent shooting threat is the next step to his game, as his skillset as a netfront guy became somewhat redundant after the Kuzmenko trade and he is someone who will only shoot if he’s inches away from the blue paint. He figures to be a key piece for Calgary in what will be a transition year. Keeping fantasy expectations modest in his sophomore season, 15-20 goals and 20 -25 assists would be a good step next season.

Martin Pospisil

Predicted Stats
GP	G	A	PTS	PPG
70	9	17	26	0.37

Arguably the most surprising rookie to crack Calgary’s roster, Pospisil proved to be a good running mate for Nazem Kadri. He could keep up with the better players in Calgary’s lineup and his hard-nosed style of play was a perfect complement in their top six. He didn’t have much production to show for it, and never has at any level, but he did a lot to help his lines drive play and keep opposing teams hemmed in their own zone. Always willing to go to the net, he generates a lot of high-quality chances and could be known as one of the more annoying guys to play against once he gets more experience. His downside is that he takes a lot of penalties due to the style of game that he plays, always looking to finish his check, and it even earned him a suspension late in the season. His hands aren’t bad, but he’s never been the best finisher at any level and that’s always a drawback if you’re on a top line. Still, his skillset fits the ideal model of a checking line player. Keep fantasy expectations modest as a result.

DEFENCE

Rasmus Andersson

Predicted Stats
GP	G	A	PTS	PPG
82	7	27	34	0.41

Andersson is the lone remaining member of Calgary’s old defence corps and last year was even an adjustment period for him after he was split from long-time partner Noah Hanifin. There was a lot of give and take with his new partnership with Mackenzie Weegar as the duo were on the ice for a high number of Flames goals and opposing goals to boot. This has been the case for Andersson for the majority of his career. He’s a very good passer who is an excellent complement to the forwards with seeing plays develop down low and he’s very good at getting his shot through. His game in the defensive zone, however, has always been best when it’s kept simple. When the pace of the game picks up, he’s better when he can stay home to protect the front instead of chasing a forward or a loose puck down. It’s what’s made him an awkward fit on the power play despite his great playmaking skills. Also, why he usually excels with a puck-mover instead of someone who plays a steadier game. He has the stamina to play big minutes, but maybe not the all-around game to be a true top-pair guy. Still, he will be a key cog on a Calgary blue line that is going through a major overhaul. Without consistent top power play time it is hard to see him reaching the 50-point level again and looks settled at 5 – 10 goals and 25 – 30 assists.

Mackenzie Weegar

Predicted Stats
GP	G	A	PTS	PPG
81	11	34	45	0.56

One of only four defencemen to hit 20 goals last season, Weegar’s probably never going to get the credit he deserves as one of the league’s workhorses. Not only logging major minutes, but heavy minutes where he carries a huge burden as the guy retrieving most of the loose pucks and leading breakouts on his pair. One of the guys who makes his teammates job easier by doing the legwork with getting the puck out of the zone and continuing to support the play up the ice. There is some risk-reward to his game with how often he has the puck and how aggressive he is with joining the cycle in the offensive zone. Last year wasn’t one of his best in terms of preventing goals, as his pairing with Andersson gave up almost as much as they created, but it’s also part of the territory when someone is relied on to do most of the work on breakouts. Will be relied on heavily in Calgary again as their lone “do-it-all” defenceman on the roster. The goal scoring burst after never having exceeded 10 in past seasons was helped by an inflated shooting percentage of 9.6 versus a career average of 5.7 percent and can expect some regression. He did see an increase in power play time in the second half so will get the opportunity to match last season’s totals. However, dialing expectations back to closer to 10 goals and 30 – 35 assists is a safer bet.

Jake Bean

Predicted Stats
GP	G	A	PTS	PPG
78	5	15	20	0.26

Looking for a fresh start, the former first-round pick of Carolina has a decent chance to find some kind of niche with the Flames. He showed promise in his first year with the Jackets, but a shoulder injury derailed his second season, and his third year was an attempt to get back on track. Paired with Erik Gudbranson, Bean still showed some of that offensive upside he had in both juniors and the AHL, but he was down in the pecking order as far as power play time goes and had to work hard to create any chances. His skillset is a little deceiving because he’s a very good skater with great offensive instincts, but not the best puck-mover under pressure. Pairing him with a stay-at-home guy sometimes compounds that problem instead of helping it, as he can get to a lot of pucks but not make the first pass if he has to deal with constant forecheck pressure. It’s uncertain if Calgary has the horses to utilize Bean’s skillset the right way, but it’s a chance for him to regain his form.

Kevin Bahl

Predicted Stats
GP	G	A	PTS	PPG
82	2	10	12	0.15

After their top two defencemen, Calgary’s defence corps is basically an open competition. Bahl might not earn a regular top four spot, but his size and physical play could give him an inside edge on a full-time role. That and he’s a better puck-mover than what meets the eye. He’s not going to be a one-man breakout, but he can get the puck out of traffic and to the next layer of the exit well enough to be reliable in a high-leverage spot if you have to play him there. He’s also very good at shutting plays off at the blue line, not always looking for hits or standing guys up, but using his long reach to take away lanes on zone entries. He’s what you would call a “stabilizing presence,” as not much happens either way when he is on the ice. Will play heavy penalty kill minutes at the very least.

GOAL

Dan Vladar

Predicted Stats
GP	W	L	OT	SO	SV%	GAA
32	12	16	3	1	0.898	3.28

Dustin Wolf

It's a new season, and the Calgary Flames are entering their New Goalie Era. After relying on proven veterans for their last handful of goaltender signings and trades, the Flames have moved on from Jacob Markstrom (and Cam Talbot, and Mike Smith, and Jonas Hiller) and are ready to debut a tandem with fewer than 100 games of NHL experience between the pair. Dan Vladar will be forced to sink or swim, following a mediocre year with limited starts, and Dustin Wolf - who has been dominating the AHL to an almost comical degree - will finally get his chance to shine in the big leagues as his partner.

The pair make for an interesting strategy in Calgary, serving as almost complete polar opposites in everything from style to stature. Dan Vladar tops out at 6-foot-5 and a whopping 210 pounds, playing a game reliant on loose movement and fluid lateral control. Dustin Wolf, on the other hand, almost missed out on being drafted altogether due to his small size; the 23-year-old California native is barely 6 feet even and doesn't crack 170 on the scale. He makes up for his more diminutive stature with superior depth management and game tracking, though. While Vladar brings more experience at the NHL level, Wolf is the goaltender many have higher hopes for when all is said and done. Calgary has made it clear they aren't exactly pushing for a Cup Final berth with this tandem, though, at least not immediately. Even Vladar, who has seen NHL action in each of the last seven seasons, made a career high in starts two years ago with a 27-game appearance. It's hard to tell just how the starts will end up breaking down this year, as a result - and if either Vladar or Wolf start to struggle, the Flames may be forced to make some changes before the year is up.

NHL: THE FANTASY WEEK AHEAD (January 22nd to 28th) – Oilers dominating – Teams and players to target

Ryan Dadoun — Sat, 20 Jan 2024 17:48:45 +0000

VANCOUVER, BC - JANUARY 21: Left wing Zach Hyman (18) is congratulated by Edmonton Oilers center Connor McDavid (97) after scoring a goal during their NHL game against the Vancouver Canucks at Rogers Arena on January 21, 2023 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. (Photo by Derek Cain/Icon Sportswire)

Edmonton is playing some of its best hockey since the start of the Connor McDavid era, which is quite the turnaround from its 2-9-1 start to the campaign. After earning a 4-2 victory over Seattle on Thursday, the Oilers have now won 12 straight, bringing their record up to 25-15-1.

Let’s start with the winning streak itself. Already the longest in Edmonton’s history, it’s also in an eight-way tie for 12th on the all-time list. Two more victories would put the Oilers in a three-way tie for fifth place while the record stands at 17, which was set by Pittsburgh from March 9-April 10, 1993.

But it’s more than just the fact that Edmonton’s winning, it’s how the Oilers are doing so. Edmonton eked out one-goal wins on the road against Chicago, Detroit and Montreal from Jan. 9-13, and then the Oilers overcame 2-0 deficits to beat Toronto and Seattle in their last two contests. While you can argue the games being close or necessitating a comeback is a sign of weakness, it also shows resilience. Especially this deep into the streak, it demonstrates that Edmonton hasn’t become complacent. Perhaps it comes from hard lessons learned during the shaky start to the campaign, perhaps it’s thanks to the teachings of new head coach Kris Knoblauch, who has now started his NHL career with a 22-6-0 record, but whatever the cause, it’s something Edmonton will aim to hold onto during the second half of the campaign and into the playoffs -- a postseason run that seemed unlikely to happen back in early November.

The run also speaks to how much the team has grown beyond being just about McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. They’ve done their part to be sure -- McDavid has 59 points in 39 contests while Draisaitl has 50 in 41 -- but for the first time since 2015-16, someone other than McDavid or Draisaitl might win the team’s goal-scoring race. Zach Hyman currently has a comfortable lead on both of them with 27 tallies (along with 17 assists) in 40 contests. Edmonton also has four players past the 40-point mark while Ryan Nugent-Hopkins is on the cusp of making it five with 11 goals and 39 points in 41 outings. Contrast that with even just two years ago (2021-22) when McDavid and Draisaitl finished with 123 and 110 points, respectively, but no other player had more than 54.

On top of that, Edmonton has been one of the best defensive teams dating back to Nov. 11, allowing just 2.45 goals per game.

Of course, this discussion would have been very different two and a half months ago, and it might change again in April. For now, at least, the Oilers have manufactured optimism where there was little before, and doing so has been a true team effort.

Arizona Coyotes – MON VS PIT, WED @ FLA, THU @ TBL (BTB), SAT @ CAR

The Coyotes will start the week at home against Pittsburgh before beginning a three-game road trip that will take them to Florida on Wednesday, Tampa Bay on Thursday and Carolina on Saturday. Of all the teams highlighted this week, Arizona arguably has one of the toughest batches of opponents, but the busy schedule still makes the Coyotes worthy of note.

Nick Schmaltz (undisclosed) might miss time next week after getting hurt Tuesday. If he does, then Dylan Guenther might get plenty of work. The 20-year-old logged a season-high 18:06 of ice time Thursday, including 2:39 with the man advantage. Guenther has two goals and three points in six contests in 2023-24, but he has plenty of offensive upside, which he’s showcased in the AHL this season, contributing 10 goals and 28 points in 29 outings with Tucson.

Schmaltz’s absence would also put more pressure on Clayton Keller, but he seems up to the task. Keller has 17 goals and 39 points in 43 appearances in 2023-24 and has been especially good lately, providing four goals and eight points over his past six contests.

In net, it will be interesting to see how Karel Vejmelka does this week. Vejmelka started the campaign splitting the goaltending duties fairly evenly with Connor Ingram. However, Ingram has taken a bigger share of the duties as the season’s progressed, and that process has been accelerated by Vejmelka’s recent struggles -- he's recorded a 4.88 GAA and an .852 save percentage over his past four contests. With a back-to-back on Wednesday and Thursday, Vejmelka should get at least one start, but if he continues to flounder like he has, then Ingram might cement his hold on the top job.

Boston Bruins – MON VS WPG, WED VS CAR, THU @ OTT (BTB), SAT @ PHI

Boston is set to host the Jets on Monday and the Hurricanes on Wednesday. After that stretch, they’ll have games in Ottawa on Thursday and Philadelphia on Saturday. Three of those four contests are against playoff contenders, but the Senators are in the Eastern Conference basement, so that’s an extremely favorable matchup.

The Bruins have gotten Linus Ullmark back from a lower-body injury, so he should resume splitting the netminding duties with Jeremy Swayman. It would not be surprising to see each goaltender take two of the starts this week.

Brandon Carlo (upper body) is also getting close to returning. With two goals and 10 points in 39 contests this season, he’s not a great fantasy option, but he does have some utility in certain formats thanks to his plus-15 rating, 22 PIM, 51 hits and 71 blocks. Carlo’s anticipated return might also push Mason Lohrei or Parker Wotherspoon out of the lineup.

When it comes to hot players, David Pastrnak has been playing out of his mind, providing nine goals and 19 points over his past 11 contests. Keep an eye on who is playing with him because that does change. Presently, Charlie Coyle is centering his line, which led to him collecting a pair of assists on Pastrnak goals Thursday. Coyle is up to 15 markers and 34 points in 44 appearances this year, including five goals and 13 points over his past 12 outings.

Calgary Flames – TUE VS STL, THU VS CBJ, SAT VS CHI

The Flames have just three games ahead of them, but all three games are at home against teams unlikely to make the payoffs. They’ll get the toughest matchup out of the way first when they host the Blues on Tuesday. Afterward, Calgary will face the lowly Blue Jackets on Thursday and Blackhawks on Saturday.

The big X-Factor is whether Jacob Markstrom (lower body) will be healthy for that stretch after missing his second straight contest on Thursday. If he can’t, then Dan Vladar is worthy of a pickup, provided he’s available. Sure, Vladar has had a rough campaign with a 3.35 GAA and an .885 save percentage in 15 contests, but none of the Flames’ upcoming opponents are particularly good offensively, and Chicago in particular ranks 31st with just 2.18 goals per game, so this might be a good stretch for Vladar.

Up front, Blake Coleman is continuing to excel with five goals and eight points over his last five contests, elevating him to 20 tallies and 38 points in 45 appearances this season. Just two of his points have come on the power play, but that’s largely because he’s averaged just 0:47 with the man advantage. However, his sustained success has helped him secure a regular role on the second power-play unit, so we might see him be a bit more productive on special teams in the second half.

Yegor Sharangovich is also on a crazy run with seven goals over his past five games. Through 45 contests this year, he has 19 goals and 32 points. His hot streak has likely ensured that he’ll finish the campaign with a new personal best in goals (presently his career high is 24 from 2021-22), but it should be cautioned that he’s a somewhat streaky goal scorer and this hot run might be followed by a prolonged slump.

Columbus Blue Jackets – TUE @ EDM, THU @ CGY, SAT @ VAN, SUN @ SEA

Columbus’ upcoming schedule is far from ideal, but at least it’s eventful with four games on the docket next week. The Blue Jackets will play in Edmonton on Tuesday, Calgary on Thursday, Vancouver on Saturday and Seattle on Sunday.

The big news regarding the Blue Jackets revolves around goaltender Elvis Merzlikins, who requested a trade. He hasn’t exactly excelled this campaign with a 3.22 GAA and a .906 save percentage in 24 contests, which is a problem given his $5.4 million cap hit through 2026-27. At a surface glance, that might shy off some teams, but an argument can be made that Merzlikins has been better than his numbers suggest.

Columbus ranks 31st with 3.51 xGA/60, which suggests the team in front of him has been terrible defensively. If you look at Merzlikins specifically, he has 0.9 Goals Saved Above Expected, so by that metric, he’s been modestly above average. A trade to a better defensive team -- aka nearly any other squad -- would bolster Merzlikins’ numbers, so there’s an argument to be made that this would be a good time to consider getting him cheap. Keep in mind, though, that it’s a risky strategy because a trade isn’t guaranteed.

Adam Boqvist might also be a buy-low candidate. Injuries have limited him to seven assists in 17 contests this season, but he’s healthy now and has registered four assists over his past four appearances.

You could also consider taking a chance on Dmitri Voronkov next week. The 23-year-old rookie scored twice against Vancouver on Monday, bringing him up to nine goals and 22 points in 38 outings. Although his playing time has been somewhat limited in 2023-24 (an average of 13:18), he has been getting regular minutes on the Blue Jackets’ top power-play unit lately.

Edmonton Oilers – TUE VS CBJ, THU VS CHI, SAT VS NSH

As noted above, with a 4-2 victory over Seattle on Thursday, Edmonton extended its winning streak to 12 games. The Oilers still need to face Calgary on Saturday, so the streak might not be active by the start of next week, but regardless they’re red hot and have three extremely winnable matchups coming up. The Oilers will host the Blue Jackets on Tuesday, the Blackhawks on Thursday and the Predators on Saturday. Of those three teams, Nashville is the only one with playoff hopes.

Stuart Skinner improved to 20-9-1 with a 2.59 GAA and a .904 save percentage in 31 outings this season. His GAA and save percentage have been heavily skewed downwards due to his first eight games in which he posted a 3.87 GAA and an .854 save percentage. More recently, he’s held the competition to two or fewer goals in each of his last eight starts, making him one of the hottest goaltenders in the league.

Of course, he’s no longer available in most fantasy leagues. One player who might be available, though, is Warren Foegele. The 27-year-old forward has been inconsistent this season, but he’s been alright overall with nine goals and 23 points in 41 contests. More importantly, Foegele is currently playing alongside Leon Draisaitl and Evander Kane and should be in line for a strong week so long as he maintains that spot.

Florida Panthers – MON @ NSH, WED VS ARI, FRI @ PIT, SAT @ NYI (BTB)

The Panthers will begin the week in Nashville for a contest Monday before returning home to play against the Coyotes on Wednesday. Florida will play on the road against the Penguins and Islanders on Friday and Saturday, respectively. Those adversaries are middling squads in the conversation for the playoffs but are not presently viewed as serious Cup contenders.

Florida was also highlighted last week, and I noted at the time how Sam Reinhart’s sky-high shooting percentage might not be as huge of a red flag as it initially seems due to his tendency to be economical about when he fires the puck. Reinhart’s shooting percentage has since climbed higher from 27.5 to 27.7 and his goal-scoring streak stands at eight straight.

With 33 tallies in 44 games, Reinhart is now on pace to surpass the 60-goal milestone, and while I don’t expect him to do that, 50 doesn’t seem like a stretch at this point.

Meanwhile, Matthew Tkachuk is also having a great time, collecting seven goals and 20 points over his past 12 outings. That gives him 12 goals and 42 points in 44 contests despite a stretch from Nov. 16-Dec. 14 in which he had just two goals and three points through 14 contests. That slump aside, Tkachuk has been a very consistent scoring threat over the last few years, so I don’t expect him to have another cold spell at that level this season.

You might want to keep goaltender Anthony Stolarz in the back of your mind. He’s been a solid backup this campaign with a 6-3-2 record, 2.22 GAA and .913 save percentage in 12 appearances in 2023-24 and will likely start in one half of Florida’s back-to-back set against Pittsburgh and the Islanders.

Los Angeles Kings – MON VS SJS, WED VS BUF, FRI @ COL, SUN @ STL

The Kings will host the Sharks on Monday and the Sabres on Wednesday before their road games against Colorado on Friday and St. Louis on Sunday. The Avalanche are a top-tier team, but the Sharks sit in the NHL’s basement while the remaining two squads aren’t in playoff positions.

LA might still have a difficult time, though, after dropping 10 of their last 11 games. The Kings could really use more out of Pierre-Luc Dubois in particular. He has nine goals and 19 points in 42 contests after scoring 27 goals and 63 points in 73 outings with the Jets in 2022-23. That’s certainly not what the Kings had in mind when they traded for him over the summer.

It’s a situation that might not improve, though. Dubois averaged 18:27 of ice time with Winnipeg last season, but that’s dropped to 15:52 with the Kings. The problem is that the competition up the middle is fierce between him, Phillip Danault and Anze Kopitar, which has led to Dubois serving in a third-line capacity. On top of that, Dubois is presently on the second power-play unit and has just two points with the man advantage after finishing 2022-23 with 23. Unless something changes, Dubois’ second half could very well be about as unproductive as the first.

Quinton Byfield has a better shot at improving his fortunes. He has just four goals and nine points over his past 19 contests, which stands in contrast to his eight goals and 21 points across his first 23 games of the campaign. It’s not unusual for young forwards to be particularly streaky, though, and the 21-year-old is still a member of the top line and first power-play unit, so it should just be a matter of time before he starts heating up again.

Cam Talbot should bounce back too. Although he has a solid 14-11-5 record, 2.43 GAA and .915 save percentage in 30 appearances, the 36-year-old goaltender has hit a rough patch in which he’s surrendered at least three goals in each of his last five outings. The Sharks rank at the bottom of the league offensively, though (1.98 goals per game), so that might be an opportunity for him to snap out of that cold spell.

Vegas Golden Knights – MON @ NJD, TUE @ NYI (BTB), FRI @ NYR, SAT @ DET (BTB)

Vegas will be on the road all next week with games against the Devils on Monday, the Islanders on Tuesday, the Rangers on Friday and the Red Wings on Saturday. Injuries have significantly hampered the Devils, so this isn’t quite as tough a stretch as it would have been earlier in the season.

Speaking of injuries, Vegas is likely to get Adin Hill back at some point next week. He hasn’t played since Dec. 17 but was fantastic before getting hurt, posting a 10-2-2 record, 1.93 GAA and .933 save percentage in 15 appearances this season. Once he returns, Logan Thompson will go from starting in the vast majority of games to around 40-50 percent of Vegas’ contests, so his fantasy value will naturally take a bit of a hit.

However, Vegas is going to continue to lean heavily on Chandler Stephenson for at least a little while longer. Jack Eichel (knee) is set to miss four-to-six weeks while William Karlsson (lower body) isn’t expected to return before the All-Star break. Once they’re all healthy, Stephenson might slide down to the third line, but for now, he’s the team’s headline center.

Nicolas Roy is also seeing increased responsibilities because of the injuries. Although he averaged 14:44 of ice time over his first 29 contests this season, Roy has logged over 16 minutes in each of his last four games. The 26-year-old is starting to take advantage of the opportunity, registering three assists over his past two appearances.

FANTASY HOCKEY: The Week Ahead – October 16th to 23rd

Ryan Dadoun — Mon, 16 Oct 2023 18:11:28 +0000

TORONTO, ON - APRIL 26: Toronto Maple Leafs Center Auston Matthews (34) (Photo by Gerry Angus/Icon Sportswire)

The first week of the season is in the books and it was certainly interesting. While I hesitate to read too much into such a small sample size, the Oilers’ goaltending situation is concerning after being outscored 12-4 over two contests versus Vancouver. Jack Campbell is coming off a rough 2022-23 campaign and Stuart Skinner had just 64 regular season contests worth of NHL experience going into the season, so neither is a safe bet and to see them both struggle out of the gate is worrying.

Then of course there’s Auston Matthews, who opened the season with back-to-back hat tricks. Again, it’s just the start of the campaign, but he is a genuine candidate for 50-in-50, and I don’t say that lightly. During 2021-22, he scored 50 goals in 49 outings from Nov. 26-April 9, and while that technically doesn’t count because it wasn’t from the start of the campaign, it does highlight what Matthews is capable of when he’s healthy and at his best.

On a macro level, one average I’ll be very interested in keeping an eye on is goals per team per game. In recent years, we’ve seen a steady increase in offense, to the point where the average team scored 3.18 goals per game in 2022-23 – the highest level since 1993-94 when Pavel Bure led the league with 60 goals and nine players reached the 50-goal milestone. Will that upward trend continue? Through Saturday’s action, the average team has scored 3.22 goals per game this season, but we’re still way too early in the campaign for that to mean anything.

What further highlights the unreliability of these early numbers is power-play opportunities, which stand at 3.86 per team per game. In other words, the average team has been receiving nearly one extra power play a game compared to last season, which probably speaks more to the referees establishing themselves and sloppy early season play than any actual long-term trend. Still, these macro numbers will be interesting to monitor as the campaign progresses.

Arizona Coyotes

DAY	DATE	AWAY	HOME
Mon	10/16/2023	ARI	NYR
Tue	10/17/2023	ARI	NYI
Thu	10/19/2023	ARI	STL
Sat	10/21/2023	ANA	ARI

The Coyotes begin the week with three road games against the Rangers on Monday, Islanders on Tuesday and Blues on Thursday. They will then host Anaheim on Saturday to wrap up the week. With four games on the schedule, including a contest against a rebuilding team in the Ducks, this is a pretty solid week to take some Coyotes players.

I would avoid taking Arizona’s goaltending because the defense isn’t good enough to support the netminders, but this could be a good week for top prospect Logan Cooley. The 19-year-old forward registered a pair of assists in his NHL debut while logging 19:02 of ice time, including 5:05 with the man advantage. Shining offensively out of the gate is nice, but what matters more for his prospects for the rest of the season was how much the Coyotes were willing to lean on him. They should continue to give Cooley every opportunity to succeed.

Defenseman Sean Durzi, who provided a power-play goal in Arizona’s opener, is another player who appears to be on the rise. He established personal bests in 2022-23 with nine goals and 38 points in 72 contests, including 16 power-play points, as a member of the Kings. He averaged a respectable 2:06 with the man advantage during that campaign, but Arizona is using him on the first power-play unit, which could lead to the 24-year-old reaching new career highs.

For Jason Zucker, this week could be a big test. He had 27 goals and 48 points with Pittsburgh last year and joined the Coyotes on a one-year, $5.3 million contract. It was thought the move to a rebuilding squad might lead to Zucker playing a bigger role, but instead he logged a modest 14:10 of ice time in Arizona’s season opener. Zucker did see time on even strength with Cooley though, so there is still an opportunity here for Zucker to put up solid numbers.

Calgary Flames

DAY	DATE	AWAY	HOME
Mon	10/16/2023	CGY	WSH
Thu	10/19/2023	CGY	BUF
Fri	10/20/2023	CGY	CBJ
Sun	10/22/2023	CGY	DET

The Flames will be on the road this week, but at least they’re among the teams set to play four games with their trip taking them to Washington on Monday, Buffalo on Thursday, Columbus on Friday and Detroit on Sunday. The Capitals, Sabres and Red Wings are middle of the pack squads at best while the Blue Jackets are a rebuilding team, so Calgary also isn’t facing the stiffest of competition.

With the busy schedule, we should see the season debut of Dan Vladar. He wasn’t great last year with a 2.91 GAA and an .892 save percentage in 27 contests, but if he ends up starting versus Columbus – which seems plausible given it’s the second half of the back-to-back – then he’d be worth using. The Blue Jackets ranked 30th with 2.60 goals per game last campaign.

Calgary’s first line of Andrew Mangiapane, Elias Lindholm and Jonathan Huberdeau is red hot with the trio combing for four goals and 11 points over the Flames’ first two contests. It’s encouraging to see that start out of Huberdeau in particular, after he dropped from 115 points in 2021-22 with Florida to just 55 points last year as a member of the Flames.

In terms of depth players who might have a good week, Adam Ruzicka is worthy of consideration. Though he had just 20 points in 44 games in 2022-23 and has averaged a modest 11:47 of ice time over the Flames’ first two contests this year, Ruzicka is getting even strength time with Nazem Kadri and Dillon Dube, which is solid, and he’s being employed on the second power-play unit.

Rookie Matthew Coronato, who scored his first NHL goal Saturday, should also make for a solid selection this week given his usage on the first power-play unit.

Dallas Stars

DAY	DATE	AWAY	HOME
Tue	10/17/2023	DAL	VGK
Thu	10/19/2023	DAL	ANA
Sat	10/21/2023	PHI	DAL

Dallas will play just three games this week and the first one is on the road Tuesday versus the defending champion Golden Knights. After that, though, Dallas’ schedule gets far easier with a contest in Anaheim on Thursday and a home game versus Philadelphia on Saturday. In other words, the Stars will face two of the worst teams in the league with a day of rest in between.

Roope Hintz unfortunately missed Dallas’ opener because of an upper-body injury, but he was a full participant in Friday’s practice, so it wouldn’t be surprising to see him back in the lineup versus Vegas. With him presumably available, Dallas has three great lines with Hintz, Jason Robertson and Joe Pavelski making up the top unit, Jamie Benn, Wyatt Johnston and Evgenii Dadonov serving as the second line, and Mason Marchment, Matt Duchene and Tyler Seguin being the third grouping

That forward group should be extremely effective against Columbus and Philadelphia, which ranked 31st and 23rd in terms of goals allowed per game last season. Most of those Dallas forwards are already fairly highly regarded and thus not cheap, but Marchment and Dadonov are fairly affordable points of entry, and both have strong enough linemates to boost their value.

Detroit Red Wings

DAY	DATE	AWAY	HOME
Mon	10/16/2023	DET	CBJ
Wed	10/18/2023	PIT	DET
Sun	10/22/2023	CGY	DET
Sat	10/21/2023	DET	OTT

The Red Wings will play four games this week and none of those contests will be against teams that made the playoffs last year. More specifically, they’ll be in Columbus on Monday, host the Penguins on Wednesday, play in Ottawa on Saturday and then conclude the week with a home game versus the Flames.

It’s a great set for Alex DeBrincat, who has hit the ground running with Detroit, scoring three goals and four points in his first two contests. He’ll face his former team, the Senators, on Saturday, so that one should be a fun game.

Another new addition to the team, J.T. Compher, has also shined with a goal and three points over his first two contests with the Red Wings. One of his linemates, Michael Rasmussen, has never recorded more than 30 points in a single campaign. However, Rasmussen is averaging a healthy 16:22 of ice time in 2023-24 and with that top-six role, we might see the 24-year-old do a bit more offensively. If nothing else, it’ll be worth keeping an eye on him this week to see how he responds with both a favorable assignment and favorable competition.

The other X-Factor is Robby Fabbri, who is day-to-day with an undisclosed injury. He did skate Monday, so it wouldn’t be surprising to see him back in the lineup soon. When he does play, Fabbri will likely serve on the third line and second power-play unit. He’s not a major offensive threat, but on a week like this, there’s a decent chance he’d chip in if healthy.

Minnesota Wild

DAY	DATE	AWAY	HOME
Tue	10/17/2023	MIN	MTL
Thu	10/19/2023	LAK	MIN
Sat	10/21/2023	CBJ	MIN

The Wild will play on the road against the rebuilding Canadiens on Tuesday before hosting Los Angeles and Columbus on Thursday and Saturday, respectively. It’s only three contests, but they’re well spread out and two of them are against squads not expected to reach the postseason.

Matthew Boldy has a goal and two points in two games, but he exited Saturday’s game versus Toronto with an undisclosed injury and might end up missing some time. If that’s the case, we might see Frederick Gaudreau slide into a top-six role. Gaudreau had 19 goals and 38 points in 82 contests last year. He hasn’t found his way onto the scoresheet yet in 2023-24, but he’s also averaged just 12:44 of ice time. If Gaudreau does move up to the second line, then he’d be worthy of a short-term pickup.

This will also be a week to keep an eye on Marco Rossi. The 22-year-old forward has significant offensive upside, but Minnesota used him sparingly over the first two contests – an average of just 12:26. Still, he did find the back of the net against Toronto and his role could expand as the campaign goes on.

Finally, we should get Marc-Andre Fleury’s first start this week. Although the schedule is spread out enough to allow Minnesota to lean exclusively on Filip Gustavsson, it would be surprising to see Fleury be made to wait much longer, especially after Gustavsson allowed seven goals on 33 shots Saturday. Even at the age of 38, Fleury is a solid goaltender and given the Wild’s upcoming competition, his first start of the campaign should be a favorable one.

Toronto Maple Leafs

DAY	DATE	AWAY	HOME
Mon	10/16/2023	CHI	TOR
Thu	10/19/2023	TOR	FLA
Sat	10/21/2023	TOR	TBL

The Maple Leafs are a bit of a stretch to include here. Only three games and the final two are road contests against Florida and Tampa Bay on Thursday and Saturday, respectively. Still, Toronto will host the lowly Blackhawks on Monday, and the Leafs’ offense is hot enough that I felt I needed to highlight them.

If you’re interested in daily leagues, it’s hard not to grab Auston Matthews on Monday. Sure, he’s expensive, but the Blackhawks are a particularly weak team defensively, and as mentioned at the top, Matthews couldn’t be hotter after scoring back-to-back hat tricks.

Matthews strong play has made some other stunning performances fly a bit under the radar. In particular, William Nylander has an incredible three goals and five points over his first two contests. Nylander can become an unrestricted free agent at the end of this campaign, so he has all the motivation in the world to demonstrate his worth this year and make Toronto – or failing that, another team – pay him what he feels he’s due.

If you’re looking for a cheaper entry point to the Maple Leafs’ offense, Calle Jarnkrok is a potential answer. He’s off to a strong start with a goal and an assist, and practiced alongside Nylander on Sunday, so there’s a good chance we’ll see the two together Monday.

Two forwards who haven’t gotten going yet are rookies Matthew Knies and Fraser Minten. The youngsters have seen time together on the third line and that’s likely an arrangement that’s going to continue for now. They’re not great pickups this week, but Knies has enough upside that he’s worth monitoring.

Washington Capitals

DAY	DATE	AWAY	HOME
Mon	10/16/2023	CGY	WSH
Wed	10/18/2023	WSH	OTT
Sat	10/21/2023	WSH	MTL

The Capitals are set to host Calgary on Monday, then play on the road against Ottawa and Montreal on Wednesday and Saturday, respectively. None of those teams made the playoffs last year, though to be fair, the Flames and Senators are both expected to be in the running this time around.

Regardless, this could be a big week for the Capitals, which should be hungry to bounce back after opening the campaign with a 4-0 loss to the rival Penguins. Connor McMichael is a somewhat under the radar player who might have a solid week. The 22-year-old has just nine goals and 18 points in 76 career NHL contests, but he is a former first round pick (25th overall in 2019) and served on the second line with Evgeny Kuznetsov and Tom Wilson in the opener. McMichael averaged just 10:20 of ice time at the NHL level going into this campaign, so that partially explains his poor offensive numbers. Now that he’s getting top-six minutes, he’s worthy of consideration.

We could also get a strong week out of Rasmus Sandin. After scoring four goals and 20 points in 52 contests with Toronto last season, he was dealt to Washington on Feb. 28 and excelled with the Capitals, contributing three goals and 15 points in 19 contests over the remainder of the campaign. In part, his jump in production was due to Washington giving him a far bigger role. He went from averaging 17:59 with Toronto before the trade to 22:59 with the Capitals. Now set for his first full campaign with Washington, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Sandin exceed the 40-point mark for the first time in his career.

MCKEEN’S 2022-23 NHL YEARBOOK – CALGARY FLAMES – NHL Player Profiles

Corey Sznajder – Forwards and Defense, Catherine Silverman - Goaltending — Thu, 15 Sep 2022 21:53:02 +0000

CALGARY, AB - MAY 20: Calgary Flames Goalie Jacob Markstrom (25) stretches in his crease during the third period of game 2 of the second round of the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs between the Calgary Flames and the Edmonton Oilers on May 20, 2022, at the Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary, AB. (Photo by Brett Holmes/Icon Sportswire)

FORWARDS

Jonathan Huberdeau

Calgary made the most out of a bad situation by acquiring Huberdeau as part of the Tkachuk trade, replacing some of the elite talent they lost in the summer. Huberdeau is about as close to a Johnny Gaudreau replacement as they could find. Teetering in “great but not elite” territory for most of his career, the winger shattered that mold the last two years, finishing third in the league in points last season and solidifying himself as one of the league’s top playmakers. After turning names like Alex Wennberg, Sam Bennett and Anthony Duclair into bonafide top sixers in Florida, doing the same with Elias Lindholm and Tyler Toffoli should be very easy for him. There are some new challenges for Huberdeau in Calgary, it’s his first time as “the guy” and he will be the main focus for every team now that Barkov isn’t on the main top line. Calgary’s going to build their entire team around him with a supporting cast that isn’t as deep as it was in Florida. It’s a chance for him to prove that he belongs in the conversation with the Matthews and MacKinnon’s of the world instead of just a guy who had a few great years. He’s not a difficult guy to build around, as he can create offense in all situations, including the penalty kill, and doesn’t need a special linemate to take advantage of his skillset. The concern is that his level of play last year was absurd even for his standards and tough for even the best players to repeat. It will be interesting to see where he levels out at.

Nazem Kadri

The stars aligned for Kadri in a contract year. He had an unbelievable season, scoring at a 100-point pace and capped it off with a great playoff run enroute to his first Stanley Cup. Due for a significant pay raise that was going to be too rich for the Avs, he settled on a new home in Calgary, signing a seven-year contract. He was a perfect fit in Colorado, matching the speed and intensity that the rest of the team played with, and everything just seemed to break right last year. He can play the north-south game, forecheck hard and developed some great chemistry with their talented defensemen. Translating this to a new team will be interesting. Kadri plays the type of game that can fit into any system and while he might not be an 87-point player, he should give Calgary’s second line a solid floor. He plays with a lot of speed and his passing has come a long way since his days in Toronto. Sliding in between Andrew Mangiapane and Blake Coleman makes a lot of sense on paper, as all three can play that high-intensity game Kadri brings but will they score enough to justify Kadri’s $7 mil. cap hit? It’s a skill downgrade from what he had in Andre Burakovsky and Val Nichushkin, but not to the point where you’d expect Kadri to become a 30-40 player who you can’t trust in bad matchups. As long as Kadri’s legs stay healthy, he’s going to be a player who can tilt the ice to some degree and gives the Flames some stability with a possible scoring upside.

Elias Lindholm

Elias Lindholm was living his best life centering Matthew Tkachuk and Johnny Gaudreau, playing the high forward role perfectly enroute to a 42-goal season. The young Swede has been a lethal passing target for Gaudreau, improving as a goal-scorer every year and getting plenty of chances to show the skill that made him a top-five draft pick. The Flames top line was so dominant last year that it was easy for Lindholm to find soft spots in the defense, with Gaudreau doing most of the puck-handling and Tkachuk doing the work along the boards. Lindholm’s always thought the game well and him applying that to the offensive side of the game made Calgary’s top line one of the best in hockey. It will be interesting how he gels with Jonathan Huberdeau, who brings some Gaudreau-like qualities to the table and can set Lindholm up for plenty of scoring chances. Huberdeau usually has to turn players into great finishers rather than being paired with one himself, which makes him and Lindholm being matched together very exiting on paper. Some regression should be expected, as it was such a three-way street on Calgary’s top line last year that you’re going to see a drop-off while three new players learn to work together. That said, Lindholm is only a year removed from having a productive season away from Calgary’s top line and his shot is always a threat regardless of who is setting him up. It just might not be the same magic he had with Gaudreau and Tkachuk.

Mikael Backlund

A mainstay on Calgary’s second line for nine years now, Backlund is a model of consistency for Calgary. His skating and tenacious playing style make his line a tough matchup even if they don’t always get rewarded for it on the scoresheet. Last year was business as usual for them, tilting the ice most nights with newcomer Blake Coleman and Andrew Mangiapane giving Backlund some great speed on the wings. They were one of the more productive shutdown lines in hockey early in the season, with Backlund doing most of the work with getting the puck out of the zone and giving Mangiapane some breakaway opportunities. They played like every shift was a penalty kill where they were pushing for rush chances. It both helped and hurt Backlund because while his line was great, his own boxcar stats took a hit. He posted his lowest point total in a full season since 2014 and has scored on less than 10% of his shots for the past two years now. It’s a by-product of his role and his own limitations offensively, being more of a straight-line player than someone who will look for an extra pass. It’s something the Flames will have to monitor but it’s not their primary concern if his line keeps winning their matchups.

Tyler Toffoli

One week into his Calgary tenure, Toffoli looked like one of the best mid-season trades of the year. He got off to a hot start with five goals in his first eight games as a Flame and followed it by scoring only six more in his next 29 games. It doesn’t sound that bad, but when you consider that only four of his 11 goals with the Flames came at five-on-five and three of his goals were empty netters, he had a very frustrating stint in Calgary. This includes a stretch in the playoffs where he was woefully snake-bitten with two goals in 12 games. It’s not that surprising, all scorers are streaky and Toffoli isn’t exactly Steven Stamkos in terms of finishing. What was disappointing was how much he struggled to fit in with the Flames system. He would create chances, but one-dimensional in that he could only do it off the rush, which is a problem when your center is Sean Monahan and you’re expected to do the bulk of the work with carrying and recovering the puck. Not even a trip to Mikael Backlund’s wing could get him going, as he was one of a few players on Calgary who posted a negative on-ice goal and scoring chance differential, which says a lot when you consider how good Calgary was as a team. The silver lining for Calgary being that Toffoli was still generating chances on his own and not converting as much as he can. Play-driving is a concern because he’s not great at playing with speed, but he will get a chance to start fresh with Lindholm’s right wing spot up for grabs.

Andrew Mangiapane

Watch the highlights of Mangiapane’s 30-goal season and you’ll notice that he could probably read the goaltender’s mask art on all of them. He scored at every level he played at and carried it over to the NHL, with ice-time being the only thing keeping him from having a true “breakout” season. That changed this year, as he made the jump to the top-six and was a terror for teams with poor net-front defense. It was easy to see why he was leading the league in shooting percentage, with most of his goals coming off breakaways, deflections and rebounds in front of the net. Mangiapane is also one of the better play-drivers in the league, with his speed an uncanny ability to beat defenders to the inside making Calgary’s second line a matchup nightmare for other teams. The goal-scoring outburst was just a bonus when you factor in everything else he brings to the table. He could be in the mix for a spot on the top line, as he brings some similar qualities to Tkachuk with how well he plays in front of the net. Making the jump to a top-line player will be important for Calgary to repeat their success from last year. He might not get the same number of lay-up goals, but he should continue to be a key driver of whatever line Darryl Sutter puts him on.

Dillon Dube

Possessing good wheels and a great shot, Dube finally started to put some of it together in what was his fourth NHL season, scoring a career high 18 goals. He brought a quick-strike threat to the Flames third line with Sean Monahan and Milan Lucic, quarterbacking most of the offense on this unit. It played to his strengths in a way, as he’s a bit of a puck-hog and it makes the Flames play at a quicker pace. The drawback was that sometimes the rest of the line couldn’t keep up with him, which led to a lot of one-and-done chances and mediocre on-ice metrics for a group. They were a neutral in terms of goal differential and didn’t tilt the ice as much as much as you’d want a depth group with weaker matchups to do. Dube is kind of an all-or-nothing type of player. With the puck he uses his speed well to create chances and get a decent looks off the rush. Recovering pucks, forechecking and looking for the extra play, however, were a different story. This is why his line went through prolonged scoring droughts despite Dube himself having a decent season goal-scoring wise. That said, he has settled into a nice role as a middle-six winger and while the Flames will be looking for more offense 80+ goals to replace, they have some other options they can turn to before Dube.

Blake Coleman

The Flames got what they expected out of Coleman in the first season of his six-year contract. An excellent forechecker and support player on breakouts, he was a key cog on the second line with Mikael Backlund. His speed and general aggressive playing style made the move to Calgary an easy transition for him. Goal-scoring was a secondary concern because his line created so much in volume and his line always drove play for Calgary. Same goes for his limited puck skills, namely with making plays in the offensive zone. While Coleman is good at connecting the dots with getting the puck up ice and exiting the zone, making east-west plays isn’t exactly in his arsenal and he’s more likely to take the puck to the net or try to score from distance once he gets any space. It’s what makes him a very useful player for Calgary, but not so much in fantasy pools, as he usually piles up more penalty minutes and hits than assists. An audition on the top line with Huberdeau is possible. His speed and sandpaper would add a different element, but he is so effective in a checking role with Backlund that Calgary might not want to mess with something that isn’t broken. He is also one of the better penalty killers in the league and could see some extra offense there with how often he tries to attack shorthanded.

DEFENSE

Mackenzie Weegar

A strong Calgary defense corps got even better with the addition of Mackenzie Weegar. He did a lot of learning on the job in Florida, working his way up the depth chart and improving as he got more responsibility. It all culminated over the past two years when Aaron Ekblad missed significant time with injuries, giving Weegar the reins to the Florida blue line. He passed the test with flying colors, adding more wrinkles to his game and having two stellar years offensively. He doesn’t have a lot of traits that stick out in highlight reels, he’s just very good at everything and thinks the game at a high level, which makes up for his small-ish frame. Even with Ekblad out of the lineup, Weegar was responsible for Florida’s excellent transition game, starting most of their breakouts with good retrievals and avoiding turnovers. He wasn’t shy about joining the rush or taking risks in the offensive zone either, a part of his game that has taken huge steps since his rookie year. The more work you throw at him, the better he plays. Which can result in him trying to do too much and turning the puck over at times, but the good outweighs the bad with him. With the landscape changing in Calgary, it will be interesting to see where Weegar slides in. He can play both sides, is a better defender than Andersson but not the reliable bedrock Chris Tanev is on the right side. Weegar’s versatility makes him such a valuable player, so it will be interesting to see where he fits in with so many good veteran defensemen in the mix.

Noah Hanifin

Noah Hanifin’s skillset and results couldn’t be more different. On paper, he should be the best player on Calgary’s defense corps. He’s a big, effortless skater who can go coast-to-coast without breaking a sweat. He’s aggressive with how he defends his own blue line and has the offensive instincts to be a great top-pair guy. For most of his career, Hanifin was just a very good second-pair defender who brought a stabilizing presence but nothing game-breaking. The tides started to turn this year as he formed a great second-pair with Rasmus Andersson. He set a career high in points, most coming from secondary assists, looked closer to the free-wheeling player he was in Carolina with how often he would pinch in to create better chances. His improvements on the defensive side of the game were very encouraging. The turnovers weren’t happening as often and he looked more composed with taking risks, knowing when to challenge forwards while defending entries and when to back off. It was a reminder of how good he can be when he is on his game, which was looking like every night instead of once every couple of weeks. Then the playoffs happened, where Hanifin was on the ice for 14 goals against at five-on-five in only 12 games. Sometimes that happens and Connor McDavid will make a lot of good players look bad. Aside from that, it was a successful year for the former BC Eagle with some good development in the offensive side of the game.

Rasmus Andersson

As Calgary’s team defense goes so does Rasmus Andersson. Coming off a tough year, he looked a little more comfortable in a top-four role. He was reunited with Noah Hanifin and played a little more within his means. He is at his best when he is leading the rush and using his skating to create, which we didn’t see much of when he was playing a tough-minute role. Calgary was a better team in general last year, so Andersson got to be up in the play a little more and use some of his great skilset. He is the best playmaker on the Flames blue-line, both in transition and with threading the needle to a forward in the offensive zone. It made him and Hanifin a nice backstop to the Flames top line and the ridiculous number of chances they were creating every night. It was also a reminder that a defenseman’s results can depend on the situation he’s in more than his ability. Andersson was out of his depth in a shutdown role the previous year and looked like a completely different player once Calgary’s forwards improved. It makes it tough to project him next year, as he’s not the most assertive player with killing plays in the defensive zone and his strengths are more when the play is heading north. His great hands and vision are always going to keep his ceiling relatively high, though.

Oliver Kylington

Spending most of 2020-21 on the taxi squad, Kylington got a fresh start in Calgary as Chris Tanev’s partner. While he didn’t play the minutes as some of the other top guys, he had a key role with facilitating the Flames transition game. He can skate his way out of danger very easily and play at the pace required to keep up with Gaudreau. It was a nice addition to a defense corps that was already pretty strong and a great complement to Tanev’s more defensive presence. Kylington has an explosive first stride and is always looking to jump or move the play north. Even in a high-leverage role, he played the same way he did in the minors and established himself as a solid NHLer. He might return to more of a depth role this year, as he lost ice-time to bigger defensemen like Gudbranson and Zadorov in the playoffs and it’s hard to see him beating out Weegar for a top-four spot. The forwards in front of him will also change because presumably moving away from Tanev means less minutes with the Backlund line and the team could play less on the rush in general with Gaudreau departing. Kylington should be able to crush third-pair minutes, but there’s going to be a cap on point-production due to ice-time and playing behind depth lines. It will also be interesting to see if he can gel with an AHL call-up as well as he did with Tanev.

GOALTENDING

Jacob Markström

It took him a moment to get going in Calgary – but last season, it became fairly clear that Jacob Markström had been a good gamble for the Flames when they signed him during the 2020 free agency period. He was one of the best goaltenders in the NHL last year, finishing second in Vezina voting and posting the best numbers of his entire career – not just in save percentage, but in almost every discernible category. He elevated his consistency levels, topping the .600 quality start percentage for the first time in his 12-year NHL career, and his whopping nine shutouts bested the league entirely.

There’s always a bit of worry that a goaltender on the wrong side of 30 will see some regression when they post career highs, especially when playing for a more traditional coach who doesn’t spend much time cultivating a tandem culture. That was certainly the case for Markström under head coach Darryl Sutter, who rode his starter for 63 games during the 2021-22 season – a sharp uptick after seeing the Swedish netminder operate in a completely even split in each of his two seasons prior. But the way that Markström plays suits a Darryl Sutter style, which values structure and a defense-first system over all else, and that complementary element to Markström’s game combines with an easier workload behind a Sutter system to make this less of a concern than it might be elsewhere. And given some of the workload numbers witnessed in LA back when Sutter controlled the bench during Jonathan Quick’s earlier career years, this deployment of Markström is a far more progressive approach than some might have worried they’d see from Sutter – suggesting that even an old coach can learn new tricks and Markström should find himself better able to rely upon relief should he need it. Keep an eye on how his recovery game looks as the season progresses, though; while Markström’s game tends to rely upon offensive reads and patience on his skates more than a lot of movement from his knees, he does have a tendency to freeze up sometimes when struggling and leave holes open for long enough to give snipers extra space to work with. He’s cleaned up some of his decision-making skills in the last few years, particularly last year, and his angles in the blue paint look sharper than ever. But Calgary’s window is closing fast, and they lost some valuable offense during the off-season. Markström can’t afford to take much of a step back, and if fatigue starts to set in things could snowball quickly.

Projected starts: 55-60

Dan Vladar

Boston likely doesn’t regret pulling the trigger on their move to send prospect Dan Vladar to the Calgary Flames in the summer of 2021, particularly given the success that Jeremy Swayman met with last year. But for Calgary, the move seems to be working out perfectly as well. Vladar didn’t post Calder-worthy numbers, and he certainly paled in comparison to starter Jacob Markström’s Vezina-worthy performance. But on a team that likely wasn’t going to be deploying a true tandem under head coach Darryl Sutter, Vladar was exactly what the team needed him to be – a competent backup who didn’t wow the crowds, but performanced consistently just above average and with enough reliable technique to give his team a routine chance to win the games he played in.

Vladar’s game still lacks some of the finesse and patience he’ll need to reach a more consistently elite level, but he took tremendous strides last season from a control standpoint in the blue paint. The Flames saw the 24-year-old goaltender pull his game deeper and narrow his stance more, tucking his limbs closer into his body and closing some of the gaps he had shown in coverage in years prior. He still struggles to read oncoming offensive plays with enough confidence to hold his stance, which leaves him second-guessing his positioning just enough to keep him making adjustments until the puck has already left his opponent’s stick. He’ll need to clean that up this year to prevent teams from goading him out of position, which can create a snowball effect that pushes young goaltender development back at the NHL level. Luckily, though, he already showed improvements in that area this past year; while he still made constant minute adjustments to his stance and struggled to bait shooters into coming to him, he avoided oversliding and forcing himself to recover back into saves nearly as much as he did when he first hit North America. That makes it easy to have faith that he’ll continue to improve next year, especially if Markström continues to be Calgary’s clear number one.

Projected starts: 20-25