Kevin Fiala – McKeen's Hockey

NHL: CULLEN – 20 FANTASY POINTS – Major injuries at the Olympics, including Sidney Crosby, Mikko Rantanen, and Kevin Fiala, plus young players like Matt Savoie and Jimmy Snuggerud getting bigger opportunities and so much more!

Scott Cullen — Sat, 28 Feb 2026 14:27:31 +0000

Each week, I dig into the stats to find information that can help you make better fantasy hockey decisions. This week, some major injuries at the Olympics, including Sidney Crosby, Mikko Rantanen, and Kevin Fiala, plus young players like Matt Savoie and Jimmy Snuggerud getting bigger opportunities and so much more!

#1 Not only did Canada lose in overtime of the Gold Medal Game at the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics, but they lost captain Sidney Crosby to a lower-body injury against Czechia in the quarterfinals. The Pittsburgh Penguins captain suffered an apparent knee injury after getting hit by Radko Gudas and it is expected to keep him out of the lineup for another four weeks. The Penguins have responded to the loss of their captain by shifting veteran Rickard Rakell to centre, with rookie Avery Hayes taking left wing, on Pittsburgh’s top line. Hayes, 23, had 30 points (19 G, 11 A) in 36 AHL games and scored a pair of goals in his NHL debut at Buffalo on February 5.

#2 The Dallas Stars lost their leading scorer Mikko Rantanen to a lower-body injury suffered at the Olympics. Rantanen is considered week-to-week, with head coach Glen Gulutzan saying that he will be back before the end of the season, which is not the most encouraging timeline for fantasy managers! With Rantanen out, consider Mavrik Bourque, who has been getting more ice time in Dallas and has produced seven points (4 G, 3 A) and 20 shots on goal in his past nine games. He’s on the Stars’ top line with Wyatt Johnston and Jason Robertson, so this is a prime opportunity for Bourque to break out as an offensive performer in the NHL.

#3 One of the more devastating injuries at the Olympics was suffered by Swiss winger Kevin Fiala, who broke his leg after a hit from Tom Wilson. Fiala is second on the Kings with 40 points and with the trade to acquire Artemi Panarin, the Kings had reason to hope that they could be poised to make a push for the playoffs after the Olympics. They have since lost their first two games out of the break and, with Fiala out, Corey Perry is playing in the Kings’ top six as well as on PP1. Perry has zero points in his past five games, but did have 13 points (4 G, 9 A) in the 12 previous games.

#4 An upper-body injury suffered in the opening game at the Olympics has landed Winnipeg Jets defenceman Josh Morrissey on the injured list. With Neal Pionk and Colin Miller also out, the Jets are missing some puck movers on the back end, so Logan Stanley is getting first crack at quarterbacking the power play, though the Jets also have Ville Heinola available. He had 21 points (3 G, 18 A) in 40 AHL games and while he has struggled to earn a regular NHL role, he has the mobility and puck skills to play an offensive role on the blueline.

#5 Staying in Winnipeg, Jets winger Nino Niederreiter is out week-to-week with an undisclosed injury that he suffered at the Olympics. The veteran winger’s production is down this season, as he has 19 points (8 G, 11 A) in 55 games, and the tough thing for the Jets is that they don’t have great options to bolster the third line in his absence. Gustav Nyquist has zero goals and nine assists in 36 games. Vladislav Namestnikov has 13 points (7 G, 6 A) in 56 games, and Jonathan Toews has 19 points (7 G, 12 A) in 57 games, so there is not a lot of reason for optimism beyond their top scorers.

#6 With Jiri Kulich and Jordan Greenway already out of the lineup, the Buffalo Sabres are also missing winger Zach Benson, who suffered an upper-body injury before the Olympic break. Benson had nine points (3 G, 6 A) and 19 shots on goal in his last 13 games before getting hurt and the 20-year-old has been a solid complementary winger with 26 points (7 G, 19 A) in 42 games. If looking for potentially undervalued players in Buffalo, consider Peyton Krebs, who has moved to left wing on the top line and has contributed 11 points (5 G, 6 A) in his past 12 games, though he has a total of 11 shots on goal in those 12 games, which is rather low when it comes to offensive sustainability.

#7 The Pittsburgh Penguins acquired defenceman Sam Girard from the Colorado Avalanche in a trade for veteran Brett Kulak. Girard is undersized but is a quality puck mover and should be a good addition for a Penguins team that has elder statesmen Erik Karlsson and Kris Letang leading their blueline. The deal does look like a downgrade for Colorado, even if Kulak was better for the Penguins than he was in Edmonton to start the season. From the Avalanche’s perspective, Kulak can fill a third-pair role at a lower cost, giving Colorado more flexibility when it comes to possible moves at next week’s trade deadline.

#8 Edmonton Oilers rookie winger Matt Savoie came out of the Olympic break skating on left wing with Leon Draisaitl at centre and Jack Roslovic on the right side, and Savoie put up five points (1 G, 4 A) with four shots on goal in the first two games. Savoie may not be a driver of results at this stage of his career, so when he does get a prime opportunity like this, it bears watching.

#9 St. Louis Blues rookie winger Jimmy Snuggerud went into the Olympic break on a high, with nine points (3 G, 6 A) and 13 shots on goal in six games, and while he was held off the scoresheet in his first game back, Snuggerud is likely to get plenty of reps down the stretch for a Blues team that is a long way from playoff contention. With Robert Thomas out of the lineup, Snuggerud has been on a line with Dalibor Dvorsky, the rookie who was thriving in a bigger role with Slovakia in the Olympics, scoring six points (3 G, 3 A) in six games. Dvorsky has one assist with four shots on goal in his past five NHL games, but he should have ample opportunity to play late in the season. Maybe he’s not offering great value now but could very well handle a bigger role as the season winds down.

#10 With Anthony Cirelli and Nick Paul injured, the Tampa Bay Lightning have made some adjustments to their forward lines. Jake Guentzel has shifted to centre and Gage Goncalves has been lifted to play left wing on the top line with Brayden Point and Nikita Kucherov. Goncalves contributed three points (1 G, 2 A) against Toronto on Wednesday, and anyone playing on that line would have fantasy appeal, but Goncalves is probably a short-term fix who will lose his prime spot when Cirelli and Paul return to action.

#11 After missing time in December with a lower-body injury, Seattle Kraken winger Jared McCann returned to action and has been in fine form ever since, producing 23 points (11 G, 12 A) and 56 shots on goal in his past 23 games. He didn’t record a point in the first two games coming out of the break, but McCann is as dangerous offensively as anyone on the Kraken roster, skating on the top line with Matty Beniers and Jordan Eberle in addition to getting first unit power play time.

#12 One of the players who gives the Penguins hope to survive Crosby’s absence is that rookie Ben Kindel continues to get better and in his past seven games, he has seven points (6 G, 1 A) and 18 shots on goal. He is centering the third line right now but has towering wingers Anthony Mantha and Justin Brazeau on his flanks and those guys have been productive, ranking second and fourth, respectively, in goals for the Penguins this season.

#13 Over the course of his career, Vegas Golden Knights winger Ivan Barbashev has had some ups and downs in his career, but when he heats up, he can be a serious contributor. In his past nine games, he has nine points (5 G, 4 A) and 17 shots on goal while playing nearly 18 minutes per game. His strength is playing a solid physical game, but he can do it alongside skilled linemates and that’s what is happening in Vegas, where he is skating on the top line with Jack Eichel and Mark Stone, and when Barbashev is scoring like this, he is much more appealing for fantasy managers.

#14 As the Buffalo Sabres have been climbing the standings across the past few months, it’s not only the top guys getting the job done. Consider right winger Jack Quinn, who has 15 points (5 G, 10 A) and 42 shots on goal in his past 16 games. He may not have the highest ceiling, but his line with Ryan McLeod and Jason Zucker is outscoring opponents 17-11 during five-on-five play.

#15 Veteran St. Louis Blues defenceman Justin Faulk continues to deliver strong fantasy results even on a Blues squad that is having a tough season. Faulk has nine assists with 16 shots on goal in his past seven games. It’s noteworthy that Faulk isn’t hitting as much as he had in previous seasons, with 44 hits in 58 games, but the points and shot rate for a guy who is quarterbacking the top power play are both valuable for fantasy managers.

#16 At the Winter Olympics, plenty of top players delivered expected production, but some players also stepped up in bigger roles for their home nations. One example is New Jersey Devils winger Timo Meier, who has managed a meagre four points (3 G, 1 A) despite recording 65 shots on goal in his past 18 games for the Devils. Playing for Switzerland in the Olympics, though, Meier had seven points (3 G, 4 A) in five games and played the physically punishing style that he does when he’s at his best. On the Devils, Meier is skating on a line with Nico Hischier and Dawson Mercer

#17 Nashville Predators centre Erik Haula may be on the trade block as the deadline approaches and he’s not hurting his value with his recent play. Haula is riding a five-game point streak in the NHL, scoring a goal and four assists in those games and had six points (3 G, 3 A) in six games for Finland at the Olympics. Another Finland forward, who had strong showing on the way to the bronze medal, was Kaapo Kakko, who had five points (3 G, 2 A) in six games and he has been playing well, when healthy, for Seattle. In his past 27 games, Kakko has 19 points (6 G, 13 A) and 38 shots on goal.

#18 It’s a difficult time for fantasy hockey managers if they still need a goaltending answer, but there are a few who are likely to see significant playing time down the stretch and are still available in a good percentage of leagues. The Vancouver Canucks are not likely to win games, because they haven’t been winning this season anyway, but rookie goalie Nikita Tolopilo is showing that he is ready for this league. He has a .908 save percentage in 10 games for the Canucks and with Thatcher Demko out for the rest of the season, Tolopilo should see lots of time in the Canucks’ crease. Former Canucks – and current Penguins – goaltender Arturs Silovs is sharing time with Stuart Skinner, but in his past eight starts, Silovs has a .928 save percentage, which is the level of play that will force his way into more playing time.

#19 This season has been difficult for the Florida Panthers, and the playoffs may not be in the cards for them, but there could be some players that have surprising value late in the season. Evan Rodrigues is centering the Panthers’ top line, between Carter Verhaeghe and Sam Reinhart, and in his past seven games, he has six points (2 G, 4 A) and 28 shots on goal while averaging 19:48 of ice time per game. If he keeps playing that much, with high quality linemates, Rodrigues could deliver fantasy value.

*Advanced stats via Natural Stat Trick

NHL: DADOUN – FINAL FANTASY STRETCH – Playoff teams and their schedules to close out the regular season – What to watch for

Ryan Dadoun — Sun, 06 Apr 2025 14:34:50 +0000

WASHINGTON, DC - APRIL 04: Capitals left wing Alexander Ovechkin (8) celebrates with Jakob Chychrun (6) and Andrew Mangiapane (88) after scoring his 894th career NHL goal to tie Wayne Gretzky for most NHL career goals with 894 during the Chicago Blackhawks versus Washington Capitals National Hockey League game on April 4, 2025 at Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C.. (Photo by Randy Litzinger/Icon Sportswire)

I’m not going to retread my discussion about St. Louis’ success after featuring it last week, but after earning an 11th straight victory Thursday, the Blues have basically secured their playoff berth with a 42-28-7 record (91 points). At the same time, Minnesota, which holds the second wild-card spot, is looking pretty safe with its 41-29-7 record (89 points). Sure, Calgary still has an outside chance at 36-27-12, but the fight for the last two spots in the Western Conference playoffs seems all-but decided.

The battle for the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference is still wide open, though, so with the season winding down, I’m going to feature Montreal, the Rangers, Columbus, Detroit and the Islanders in that order to do a deep dive into what remains on each team’s schedule and what needs to happen for any of those squads to squeak into the postseason. So as not to make this final edition of the Look Ahead too skewed towards the east, I’ll also feature Vegas, Los Angeles and Edmonton. All three of those teams are extremely likely to make the playoffs, but there is still meaningful room for movement there in terms of who will end up in what seed.

While those are some of the most interesting teams to watch over the final week and a half of the campaign, there are a few more storylines worth covering before we dive into them, starting, of course, with Alexander Ovechkin. He found the back of the net twice Friday to tie Wayne Gretzky for the all-time goal-scoring record. He’s just one marker away from breaking the record.

When you compare him to Gretzky, the two have had extraordinarily different careers. Gretzky surpassed the 70-goal mark on four occasions and still holds the record for most goals in a single season with 92. With the caveat that we are measuring players from different eras, Ovechkin never came close to enjoying a height equal to Gretzky’s. However, Ovechkin’s longevity has been unreal. At the age of 39, he’s at 41 goals in 60 games this season, putting him third in the NHL’s goal-scoring race this season behind only William Nylander (42) and Leon Draisaitl (52) despite the time Ovechkin has missed due to injury.

Gretzky’s goal-scoring diminished dramatically in the back half of his career. The final time he reached the 40-goal mark was his age-30 season (1990-91), and the last time he collected at least 30 goals was his age-33 campaign (1993-94). We might never see a player who ages as well as Ovechkin has.

At the time of writing, Washington still has six games left on its schedule. Of note, the Capitals’ remaining home games are Thursday vs. Carolina and Sunday vs. Columbus. Ovechkin’s next chance to break the record will come against the Islanders on Sunday. Wherever he breaks it will be special, but it would be particularly remarkable if he does so at home.

Given Ovechkin’s scoring pace, the record probably isn’t going to come down to the final game of the season, but it is worth adding that the Capitals are set to conclude the campaign in Pittsburgh on April 17. To have it happen there with Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby would give the event some extra flavor, given that trio’s long and storied history.

That’s by far the biggest event to watch out for, but we might also see some players reach the 400-goal mark soon. Draisaitl and Jamie Benn are both one marker away (Note: Draisaitl is injured. More on that during Edmonton’s section), while Auston Matthews is three shy.

I’m also interested to see how rookie Lane Hutson does over Montreal’s final seven regular-season games. He’s already at 63 points, which is the seventh most ever by a rookie defenseman. He’s just two away from surpassing Chris Chelios and establishing a new rookie record by a Canadiens defenseman. Also within striking range are Ray Bourque (ranked fifth, 65 points), Phil Housley (fourth, 66 points) and maybe even Gary Suter (third, 68). That’s extraordinary company that Hutson has found himself in.

Finally, it’s worth keeping an eye on the Hart Trophy race. Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon (32 goals, 115 points), Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov (33 goals, 112 points) and Draisaitl (52 goals, 106 points) are all making a strong case, and who actually gets the award could be decided based on how these final days go. It doesn’t seem like a stretch to say that Connor Hellebuyck is the heavy favorite for the Vezina Trophy, but he’s also just two wins away from becoming just the eighth goaltender ever to hit 45 wins.

In other words, there are plenty of interesting events to monitor without even getting into the battle for the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference, but speaking about it…

Montreal Canadiens

The Canadiens earned their fourth straight victory Thursday and currently hold the second wild-card spot with a 37-30-9 record. Still, there is plenty of competition to dethrone them, as we’ll examine soon, so Montreal needs to do well down the stretch. Looking ahead to the final week-and-a-half, the Canadiens have three home games (April 8 versus Detroit, April 14 versus Chicago, April 16 versus Carolina) and two road contests (April 11 in Ottawa, April 12 in Toronto).

That game against Detroit is the only remaining match against a team battling for the second wild-card spot with the Canadiens. Ottawa has a five-point edge on Montreal in the battle for the first wild-card position, with each club still set to play seven games as of Friday. That’s probably too big a gap for Montreal to overcome, but a victory over the Senators would make the leap far more feasible.

As noted above, Hutson has been a major part of the Canadiens’ resurgence into contention this campaign, and he’s continued to perform well down the stretch, supplying eight helpers over his past five appearances. It wouldn’t be surprising to see him continue to succeed in the final games, especially on the power play, where he’s already collected 25 points.

A recent hero for the Canadiens who is more surprising is Brendan Gallagher. The 32-year-old hasn’t reached the 40-point mark since 2019-20, but that might change this season. He’s just four points shy of the milestone and seems to be racing towards it after collecting five goals and six assists over his past ten outings. He’s one of the oldest members of the young club and has 71 games worth of playoff experience, so his experience is an important asset at this stage of the year.

Though, what might be even more helpful than Gallagher’s experience would be a Patrik Laine hot streak. When Laine starts scoring, it can be near impossible for goaltenders to contain him, but the 26-year-old’s extreme highs tend to be offset by prolonged cold spells. Lately, though, he’s kind of been in between with two goals across his past seven games -- far from his best, but not a disaster either. He’ll be one to monitor, though, to see if he catches fire at this crucial juncture. Keep a particular eye on him during power plays: 15 of Laine’s 19 goals this campaign have been tallied with the man advantage.

If Gallagher and Laine are the X-factors going forward, then Nick Suzuki is the steady hand. He has 27 goals and 83 points through 76 games, and Suzuki will probably continue to contribute over the final stretch. He certainly hasn’t shown any signs of slowing across his past 17 appearances in which he’s supplied eight goals and 31 points, including five goals and nine points in his last four games.

New York Rangers

Where will the Rangers’ roller coaster end? They got off to a 12-4-1 start, followed by a 4-15-0 descent. After numerous ups and downs, not to mention a flurry of trades, New York finds itself two points behind Montreal for the second wild-card spot with a 36-32-7 record. The Rangers will enter the final week-and-a-half with six games remaining, split evenly between three home games (April 7 versus Tampa Bay, April 9 versus Philadelphia, April 17 versus Tampa Bay) and three road matches (April 10 against the Islanders, April 12 in Carolina, April 14 in Florida).

That’s four games against top-tier teams (Tampa Bay x2, Carolina, Florida), one against a team competing with them for a wild-card spot (the Islanders) and one against a team that’s faded out of the playoff picture (Philadelphia). That’s a tough way to finish the campaign, but if you’re fishing for silver linings, Carolina and Florida might be more concerned about resting stars than winning games by the time they play the Rangers, so perhaps the situation isn’t as difficult as it initially seems.

Either way, the ideal for the Rangers would be if they’re able to make life a little easier for Igor Shesterkin. On the surface, it’s looked like he’s been a mixed bag this campaign with a 25-26-5 record, 2.86 GAA and .905 save percentage in 56 appearances. He’s also allowed nine goals over his past two starts against two teams that have underwhelmed offensively this season -- Minnesota and Anaheim. However, the Rangers rank 28th in xGA/60 (3.32), per Moneypuck, which suggests that the defense has made life miserable for Shesterkin. In fact, his goals saved above expected is 21.3, which is the fourth best in the league and suggests he’s been basically as good as Andrei Vasilevskiy (36-20-3, 2.16 GAA, .921 save percentage), with the key difference being the play in front of the respective netminders.

Unfortunately, New York isn’t likely to fix its leaky defense this late into the campaign, so Shesterkin is going to probably continue to give up more goals than commonly associated with an elite netminder, even if he continues to play at a high level. If the Rangers are to squeak into the playoffs, the difference will have to be made up by the team’s offense. The silver lining for the Rangers is that scoring seems to come far more naturally to them than defense.

That’s been especially true since a trade with Vancouver brought J.T. Miller back to New York. Miller has 10 goals and 26 points in 25 outings with the Rangers this season and is doing everything in his power to push the Rangers into the playoffs by contributing three goals and eight points over his past five outings.

New York also has Adam Fox back. The offensive defenseman missed eight straight games due to an upper-body injury, but since returning March 15, he’s provided four goals and eight points in nine outings, giving him nine goals and 56 points across 67 appearances this campaign.

One player they could use more from, though, is Alexis Lafreniere. After breaking out last season with 28 goals and 57 points in 82 appearances, the 23-year-old has suffered a mild regression with 16 goals and 43 points through 75 outings. That’s despite starting 2024-25 with an impressive eight goals and 16 points in 19 games. Lafreniere has been a mixed bag recently, with a goal and five points over his past eight appearances, so he certainly has room for improvement.

Columbus Blue Jackets

The Blue Jackets went through a rough 1-7-1 stretch from March 4-21, which severely hindered their playoff chances. They’ve since stabilized by winning three of six from March 24-April 3, but that still leaves them six points behind Montreal in the wild-card race with a 34-31-9 record.. The silver lining is that Columbus has a game in hand against Montreal at the time of writing. The other good news is Columbus will play four of its final six games at home (April 8 versus Ottawa, April 10 versus Buffalo, April 12 versus Washington, April 17 versus the Islanders) over the final week-and-a-half. The Blue Jackets’ other two outings during that stretch will be on the road against Washington on April 13 and Philadelphia on April 15.

The two games against Washington might be of particular difficulty. However, if Ovechkin has established a new all-time goal record by that point -- which seems likely after he scored twice to tie the record Friday -- then the Capitals won’t have anything of consequence left to fight for until the postseason, which might lead to them taking their pedal off the gas a bit.

Columbus also has the benefit of getting healthy at the right time. Sean Monahan has three goals and eight points across six outings since returning from a wrist injury. Meanwhile, Boone Jenner has six goals and nine points in his past seven games as he finds his rhythm after not making his season debut until Feb. 22 due to shoulder surgery.

Add in forwards Kirill Marchenko, who has six goals and eight points over his past six outings, and Dante Fabbro, who has two goals and seven points across his last five appearances, then mix Zach Werenski, who has established a new career high with 74 points in 73 games, and Columbus has an offense that can match up with most teams in the league.

Unfortunately, the goaltending might end up costing them a playoff berth. Elvis Merzlikins has a 25-21-5 record, 3.24 GAA and .890 save percentage in 51 outings this season. He’s also been trending in the wrong direction, allowing 25 goals on 159 shots (.843 save percentage) over his past five appearances. This isn’t a Shesterkin situation either: Columbus actually has an underrated defense, ranking 11th in xGA/60 (2.96). It really is just that Merzlikins hasn’t been holding up his end of the bargain with his minus-8.2 goals saved above expected.

Perhaps he’ll get hot down the stretch. That would give Columbus the final piece of the puzzle.

Detroit Red Wings

Detroit earned a 5-3 victory over Carolina on Friday to improve to 35-33-7 on the season. That puts the Red Wings six points behind Montreal, with one game in hand. Of course, Detroit is competing with more than just the Canadiens, so their margin of error is extremely low going into the final week-and-a-half. To further complicate things, five of Detroit’s final six games are on the road (April 8 in Montreal, April 10 in Florida, April 11 in Tampa Bay, April 16 in New Jersey, April 17 in Toronto) with just one game at home (April 14 versus the Stars).

Detroit has an underwhelming 15-17-4 road record, so the Red Wings are in a tricky position. Perhaps Patrick Kane can guide them to the playoffs regardless. He scored a goal Friday, bringing him up to three goals and seven points across his past seven appearances. Given the 36-year-old’s long history of success in high-stakes situations, it seems appropriate that he’s stepped up when Detroit has needed him the most.

His linemate, Alex DeBrincat, went through a bit of a quiet stretch in which he was limited to one assist across four outings from March 25-April 1, but he broke out of that with a goal and an assist versus Carolina, so perhaps he’s starting a new run. DeBrincat is a crucial part of the offense with 34 goals and 64 points in 75 appearances, so having him at his best in the final stretch is naturally important.

Like Columbus, goaltending might be what holds Detroit back, especially because Petr Mrazek (head) hasn’t played since March 24. To be fair, though, Cam Talbot has looked fine recently, allowing six goals on 91 shots (.934 save percentage) over his past three contests. He still has an underwhelming 2.89 GAA and .903 save percentage through 42 games this year, but a strong stint from Talbot now keeps Detroit’s hope alive.

New York Islanders

The Islanders secured a 3-1 win over Minnesota on Friday, raising to 33-32-10 on the season. That still puts them five points behind Montreal, and the Islanders would also have to climb above the Rangers, Columbus and Detroit, so their chances of actually making the playoffs are slim. Still, they have reason to cling to hope going into the final week-and-a-half. The Islanders are set to play two of their final six games at home (April 10 versus the Rangers, April 15 versus Washington), and four on the road (April 8 in Nashville, April 12 in Philadelphia, April 13 in New Jersey, April 17 in Columbus).

The Islanders’ win over Minnesota ended a six-game skid (0-4-2), so to say the Islanders have been slipping lately would be an understatement. Ilya Sorokin stopped 27 of 28 shots against the Wild, but he had allowed at least three goals in each of his previous five appearances. He’s also had a rough campaign overall with a 28-23-6 record, 2.76 GAA and .905 save percentage in 56 outings. The Islanders have been middling defensively, ranking 19th in xGA/60 (3.10), and Sorokin has done his best to make up the difference with a plus-12.1 goals saved above expected. In other words, he hasn’t been quite as good as Shesterkin, but he also hasn’t been part of the problem like Merzlikins.

Rather than Sorokin, or even the defense, the Islanders’ issue has been scoring. New York ranks 25th in goals per game with 2.72. Anticipating that this wouldn’t be their year, the Islanders further hurt their offense by trading Brock Nelson, who had 20 goals and 43 points in 61 appearances with the Islanders this campaign, to Colorado on March 6.

As a consequence, the Islanders’ forward corps has been underwhelming. Bo Horvat has been their leading scorer among forwards since the Nelson trade, providing just nine points (five goals) across his past 14 appearances. However, there are some silver linings there.

While no forward is carrying the team, there at least has been a decent spread of offense. Six different forwards have provided at least three goals over that 14-game span (Horvat, Anders Lee, Pierre Engvall, Simon Holmstrom, Kyle Palmieri and Marc Gatcomb). The other silver lining is that the defensive duo of Anthony DeAngelo and Noah Dobson have been outperforming the forwards, supplying 11 and 12 points, respectively, over that stretch. Each defenseman has also contributed three goals in that span, bringing the number of Islanders in that category up to eight.

At the end of the day, it might be those defensemen leading the offense rather than any of the forwards, which isn’t optimal, but at this point, the Islanders need to take what they can get.

Vegas Golden Knights

Moving on from the Eastern Conference wild-card race, let’s examine the battle for the top spot in the Pacific Division, which is still up in the air. Vegas does lead the pack with a 46-22-8 record, but the Golden Knights have allowed others to catch up a bit after dropping games to Edmonton and Winnipeg on Tuesday and Thursday, respectively. The Golden Knights will play five games over the final week-and-a-half split between two home matches (April 10 versus Seattle, April 12 versus Nashville) and three on the road (April 8 in Colorado, April 15 in Calgary, April 16 in Vancouver).

If Vegas is to secure the first seed, it might need to do so without Tomas Hertl. He’s missed the past five games due to a shoulder injury and still wasn’t taking contact as of Thursday. Hertl hasn’t been ruled out for the remainder of the season, so it wouldn’t be shocking to see him return at some point before the playoffs, but I imagine the Golden Knights will be erring on the side of caution when it comes to his return since being healthy at this stage is arguably even more valuable than a good seed.

Ilya Samsonov (upper body) is working his way through an injury too. The timing is particularly unfortunate there because Adin Hill has now appeared in five straight games and seven of Vegas’ last eight, so the Golden Knights probably want to give him some time to rest before the playoffs. If Samsonov isn’t able to return soon, then Akira Schmid will probably get some action in his place.

Even with all this talk of being especially careful with injuries and resting their starter, it needs to be emphasized that these games still have value for the Golden Knights. Seeding might not be the most critical thing in the world, especially when your reward for winning the division might be a first-round matchup against the red-hot Blues, but winning the division does hold value. The Golden Knights are 27-9-3 in Vegas versus 18-13-5 on the road, so that’ll be on their mind as they fight to secure the home-ice advantage through at least the first two rounds.

Jack Eichel will be an important part of that fight for the division title. He’s been Vegas’ best player this campaign, with 27 goals and 93 points in 74 appearances. Eichel also has a chance to do something he hasn’t done since 2015-16: Finish ahead of the player who was taken ahead of him in the 2015 NHL Draft, Connor McDavid, in the scoring race. McDavid is three points shy of Eichel and dealing with a lower-body injury. It might seem like a hollow victory given McDavid’s injury issues, but keep in mind, injuries have held Eichel back substantially for large stretches of his career. So, Eichel staying relatively healthy this campaign is an accomplishment in itself.

Los Angeles Kings

Vegas going through a touch of a slow patch has made its position vulnerable, but only because the Kings (43-23-9) have been keeping the pressure on them. Los Angeles has won 12 of its past 15 games, making the Kings one of the hottest squads in the league. We’ll see if they can continue that during the final stretch, which includes four home games (April 7 versus Seattle, April 10 versus Anaheim, April 12 versus Colorado, April 17 versus Calgary) and two road matches (April 14 in Edmonton, April 15 in Seattle).

Darcy Kuemper has been such a big part of the Kings’ recent success, posting a 10-2-0 record, 1.08 GAA and .953 save percentage across his past 12 appearances, shutting out their potential first round matchup in Edmonton last night. If the difference in the playoffs is which team’s goaltender gets hot at the right time, then Los Angeles is looking like a team to be feared. It doesn’t hurt that Kuemper was the starting goaltender during the Avalanche’s championship run in 2022, so he has experience to fall back on as the stakes get higher.

Los Angeles’ offense shouldn’t be overlooked either. The Kings have averaged 3.56 goals per game over their past 16 showings, which is good enough to rank fifth in that category dating back to March 8. They’ve accomplished that through a balanced attack rather than any one player sticking out. No player has averaged a point per game over that stretch, though Anze Kopitar has come close with 14 points. At the same time, they do have six different players (Adrian Kempe, Quinton Byfield, Trevor Moore, Kopitar, Kevin Fiala and Warren Foegele) who have collected at least five goals in that span, which is impressive.

Andrei Kuzmenko has also fit in nicely with the Kings, providing four goals and 10 points across his past 15 appearances. That’s still a far cry from his 39-goal, 74-point showing in 2022-23, but that was a pretty lucky season for him, as evidenced by his unreal 27.3 shooting percentage, and it seems unproductive to expect him to ever hit those highs again. He still has value, though, and Los Angeles deserves credit for finding a way to extract it after Kuzmenko failed to click in Calgary.

Edmonton Oilers

Edmonton is weird. At the time of writing, the Oilers are missing superstar forwards Connor McDavid (lower body) and Leon Draisaitl (lower body), top defenseman Mattias Ekholm (undisclosed) and starting goaltender Stuart Skinner (head). That’s in addition to a number of other injuries, including those to Trent Frederic (lower body), John Klingberg (lower body) and the continued absence of Evander Kane (knee).

So, Edmonton’s naturally going through a rough stretch. Except, no, the Oilers have won their past three of their last four games and are 7-3-1 dating back to March 14. That’s kept the Oilers in the running for the top spot in the Pacific Division, though they’re still five points back of Vegas, so it will take a strong finish for them to close the gap. The Oilers are set to play six games in the final week-and-a-half, split between three home showings (April 9 versus the Blues, April 11 versus the Sharks, April 14 versus the Kings) and three road games (April 7 in Anaheim, April 13 in Winnipeg, April 16 in San Jose).

Let’s start with the injury situation because that’s what’s bound to concern Oilers fans even more than the team’s place in the standings. Draisaitl missed four games from March 20-27 because of an undisclosed injury, and while he made his return Saturday, the star forward exited the lineup again Thursday and missed Saturday’s game against the Kings. The good news is Draisaitl’s injury is regarded as short term, and he’s expected to be back before the playoffs, coach Kris Knoblauch told the media Friday. It’s also not a case of him reaggravating his previous injury, this is a new issue, which can be taken as good news depending on how you want to look at it.

McDavid missed his sixth straight game Thursday, but he was on the ice for Friday’s practice, so there seems to be some progress being made. Ideally, this is also an opportunity for him to rest up for the playoffs, which might make this a bit of a blessing in disguise, given that he’s played a ton of hockey recently -- after all, Edmonton did make it all the way to the Stanley Cup Final in 2024.

In the case of Ekholm, there hasn’t been much news recently. He’s missed four straight games and 10 of Edmonton’s past 14 contests, and he’s not expected to return before the end of the Oilers’ current road trip, which will conclude Monday in Anaheim. We also haven’t heard much about Stuart Skinner lately, who isn’t expected to return before Monday either.

As noted above, missing all those players hasn’t resulted in Edmonton’s collapse, and part of the reason is that others have stepped up. Jeff Skinner has been a disappointment this campaign with 15 goals and 27 points in 66 outings, but injuries have resulted in him averaging 16:07 of ice time over his past seven games compared to his season average of 12:47, and he’s taken advantage of the opportunity, scoring four goals and six points over that eight-game stretch.

Viktor Arvidsson has similarly underwhelmed this campaign with 13 goals and 25 points across 60 appearances. However, he found the back of the net Thursday to extend his goal-scoring streak to three games. If these absences have been what it’s taken to get Skinner and Arvidsson going right before the playoffs, then perhaps this will actually benefit Edmonton in the long run.

Calvin Pickard has also been solid, posting a 5-1-1 record, 2.32 GAA and .918 save percentage over his previous eight appearances prior to last nights loss to the Kings, despite a solid .929 save percentage. What makes his success particularly interesting is that Stuart Skinner hasn’t done that well this season, posting a 24-18-4 record, 2.91 GAA and .894 save percentage in 49 outings. Skinner is probably still going to be the Oilers’ Game 1 starter in the playoffs so long as he’s healthy, but he might be on a short leash if Pickard continues to impress over the final games of the regular season.

NHL: DADOUN – THE FANTASY WEEK AHEAD – San Jose rebuild on track – Favourable schedules and players to target

Ryan Dadoun — Sat, 22 Mar 2025 12:54:26 +0000

MONTREAL, QC - JANUARY 11: San Jose Sharks left wing William Eklund (72) (Photo by David Kirouac/Icon Sportswire)

There are a number of teams that have effectively lost all hope of making the playoffs, but at the time of writing, only one team has been mathematically eliminated from postseason contention: The San Jose Sharks.

It’s the sixth straight year without a playoff berth for San Jose, which is by far the largest stretch of failure in the franchise’s history -- from the inaugural season in 1991-92 through 2018-19, the Sharks had missed the playoffs just six times in total -- and yet there’s a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel.

Macklin Celebrini has lived up to the hype in his rookie campaign with 21 goals and 50 points through 57 appearances, and the 22-year-old William Eklund is shaping up to be another strong member of the Sharks’ future with 15 goals and 50 points in 64 outings. They’re also seeing some preliminary success from 19-year-old Will Smith, who has provided 13 goals and 35 points in 61 appearances. We should also soon see Cameron Lund make his NHL debut after signing an entry-level contract with the Sharks on Friday. Perhaps the Sharks will try pairing Lund up with Eklund after the 20-year-old Lund supplied 18 goals and 40 points in 37 outings with Northeastern University this year.

In the long run, that young core of forwards might be backed up by 22-year-old netminder Yaroslav Askarov, who has struggled with the rebuilding Sharks (3.10 GAA, .896 save percentage in 13 outings), but has looked solid at the AHL level this campaign (2.52 GAA, .922 save percentage in 19 games).

If some of their other top prospects like Quentin Musty and Sam Dickinson work out, and the Sharks get value out of their four picks in the top two rounds of the 2025 and 2026 drafts, then San Jose could start moving in an upward trajectory quickly.

The only issue is that they have a lot of ground to gain. There’s a good chance the Sharks will finish with 60 or lower points for a third straight campaign. On the one hand, it’s a stretch that’s allowed them to put their full force into rebuilding, but there’s always the danger of falling into the Buffalo Sabres trap, where success always seems to be just around the corner.

An eventful summer might be the key for the Sharks, especially because the Sharks are currently swimming in cap space. They do need to be mindful of the big raises that Eklund, Celebrini and Smith will be due if all goes as hoped, but Celebrini and Smith won’t test the market for the first time until the summer of 2027, while Eklund will remain on his entry-level contract for the 2025-26 campaign, so there is a window here for the Sharks to spend. Their cap flexibility is also made a little easier by the fact that Marc-Edouard Vlasic’s $7 million contract comes off the books in the summer of 2026 and Couture’s $8 million cap hit ends after 2026-27, which will help offset some of those raises.

That will allow them to be aggressive on the UFA market, and it also opens the door for San Jose to potentially leverage some of its picks for veteran players. So, while the Sharks have some largely meaningless games ahead of them, this might end up being the summer of GM Mike Grier.

Buffalo Sabres (Tue vs OTT, Thu vs PIT, Sat @ PHI, Sun @ WAS)

It seems cruel to cite the Sabres as a cautionary tale whenever teams like the Sharks are in the midst of a rebuild, but that’s what they are. With a 27-34-6 record through Thursday’s action, Buffalo sits at the bottom of the Eastern Conference and is on course to miss the playoffs for a 14th straight season. That’s the longest postseason drought in the history of the league.

The Sabres will at least attempt to finish the season on a somewhat positive note. They’ll host Ottawa and Pittsburgh on Tuesday and Thursday, respectively, before heading on the road to visit Philadelphia on Saturday and Washington on Sunday.

Buffalo’s single biggest issue this campaign has been an inability to keep the puck out of the net. The Sabres rank 29th in goals allowed per game with 3.52. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, who managed a solid 2.57 GAA and a .910 save percentage in 54 appearances in 2023-24, hasn’t looked nearly as impressive this campaign, going 23-21-4 with a 3.16 GAA and an .888 save percentage.

It's tempting to say that the team in front of him has been the source of Luukkonen’s woes, and there’s certainly some backing for that assumption. The Sabres rank 29th in xGA/60 at 3.35, per Moneypuck, which implies that the defense has been making life miserable for the goaltenders. However, Luukkonen can’t completely escape blame. He also has a minus-4.6 goals saved above expected, which suggests that he’s been putting forth below average performances, and that’s compounded Buffalo’s already significant defensive issues. That’s also in contrast to 2023-24 when Luukkonen finished with a plus-9.4 goals saved above expected.

Buffalo has already made a long-term commitment to Luukkonen, albeit with a $4.75 million cap hit through 2028-29, which is on the low end for a veteran starter and is expected to get even more reasonable as the cap goes up. If he ends up needing to slide into a backup role, that contract will look like an overpay, but not to the point where it’s an anchor on Buffalo’s cap situation.

The ideal would be if Devon Levi lives up to the promise he showed in the NCAA, but so far the 23-year-old has left plenty to be desired in the NHL, posting a 3.29 GAA and an .894 save percentage through 39 appearances. Goaltenders tend to take longer to develop than any other NHL position, so it would be premature to write him off, but Buffalo assuming that a Luukkonen-Levi duo will eventually lead the franchise to the playoffs might be dangerous -- the potential is there, but it’s far from a sure thing.

That’s a long-term concern for Buffalo. In the short run, the Sabres can at least enjoy Ryan McLeod’s hot streak. He’s recorded a point in five straight games and has been held off the scoresheet just once over his last seven appearances, giving him two goals and seven points in that span. He’s set career highs in goals (16) and points (38) in his first campaign with Buffalo after being acquired from Edmonton, and the 25-year-old should be a solid presence for years to come while primarily centering the third line under ideal circumstances.

Detroit Red Wings (Mon @ UTA, Tue @ COL, Thu vs OTT, Sat vs BOS)

Detroit has won just two of its past 10 games, putting the Red Wings playoff hopes in serious jeopardy. They’ll need to do well next week to avoid slipping out of the postseason picture. The Red Wings will start on the road, facing Utah on Monday and Colorado on Tuesday. Detroit will then return home to host the Senators on Thursday and the Bruins on Saturday.

Buffalo’s postseason drought is the one that get the most attention, but Detroit hasn’t been to the postseason since 2016, so there are significant stakes to the Red Wings’ playoff run, especially because they’re not exactly a rebuilding squad anymore. Lucas Raymond (23 goals, 69 points) is still just 22 years old, while Dylan Larkin (28, 60) and Alex DeBrincat (31, 58) are in their late 20s, so Detroit’s core forwards aren’t old, but they’re not emerging prospects either. Two of Detroit’s top four defensemen (Moritz Seider and Simon Edvinsson) are under 25, but they are supplemented by aging veterans (Ben Chiarot, Jeff Petry).

Detroit does still have players that will get better with time. I’m very interested to see what the future holds for 20-year-old rookie Marco Kasper, who has 13 goals, 27 points, 30 PIM and 123 hits in 63 appearances this campaign, but Detroit is beyond the point where it can just shrug and say that short-term losing is a byproduct of the process.

Patrick Kane should be in no mood to be patient at the age of 36. He exploded with a five-point effort March 12 to lead Detroit past Buffalo. Kane also had a three-point showing March 1 versus Columbus, but he’s been inconsistent recently, so don’t look at his 11 points (three goals) in nine games this month and assume he’s red hot. The truth is more nuanced. Unfortunately, Detroit has lacked a steady hand on offense recently, which is a reflection of the team’s recent struggles overall.

Petr Mrazek, who was acquired from Chicago, has been given the opportunity to take over as Detroit’s starter. He’s got the nod in each of Detroit’s past four games, but the results have been mixed. He did post an 18-save shutout over Vegas on Sunday, but he also allowed at least three goals in each of the other three starts. Overall, he has a 2-2-0 record, 2.51 GAA and .901 save percentage in four appearances since joining Detroit. Still, Cam Talbot (2.96 GAA, .900 save percentage) and Alex Lyon (2.77 GAA, .900 save percentage) haven’t given Detroit much to be happy about this campaign, so Mrazek might continue to act as the Red Wings’ primary choice going forward.

Los Angeles Kings (Tue vs NYR, Thu @ COL, Sat vs TOR, Sun vs SJS)

The Kings sit third in the Pacific Division with a 37-21-9 record, but they still have a shot at catching Edmonton (40-24-5) and maybe even Vegas (40-20-8). The Kings will need a solid week to keep those prospects healthy. They’ll start by hosting the Rangers on Tuesday before playing in Colorado on Thursday. Afterward, the Kings will return home to face the Maple Leafs on Saturday and the Sharks on Sunday.

The Kings managed just four goals across eight games from March 13-20, so they don’t have any hot forwards. Kevin Fiala is about as close as you can find with a goal and three points over that four-game stretch, but he’s also been held off the scoresheet in seven of his past 12 contests, so his recent play is nothing to get excited over.

Meanwhile, Phillip Danault has just a goal and four points across his past 13. This is shaping up to be a disappointing campaign for him overall. He has just six goals in 66 games with a shooting percentage of 5.5, which is on course to be his lowest ever, excluding the two games he played in 2014-15. He also has no power-play points after recording 20 in 2022-23 and nine in 2023-24. On the one hand, he’s averaging 1:20 with the man advantage, the lowest of his four seasons with LA, which limits his chances, but Danault also hasn’t given the Kings much reason to use him more on the power play, so it’s a bit of a chicken and the egg issue. Either way, this campaign is looking like it’ll go down as a wash for Danault, and he certainly has been part of the issue for the Kings’ recent offensive drought, recording no points over the past four games.

This would be a bad stretch for the Kings, except Darcy Kuemper stopped 81 of 84 shots (.964 save percentage) while starting in those four games, and LA won three of those outings as a result. The 34-year-old goaltender is now 23-9-7 with a 2.13 GAA and a .918 save percentage in 40 appearances. In terms of GAA, this could be the best campaign of his career, excluding 2012-13 when he appeared in just six games. That’s quite a turnaround from 2023-24 (3.31 GAA, .890 save percentage), and it has to be said that Kuemper has a plus-15 goals saved above expected, which ranks 13th in the league, so this isn’t exclusively a case of him benefiting from strong defensively play in front of him -- though, the Kings do have a league-best 2.61 xGA/60, so the defense has been doing its part too.

Minnesota Wild (Mon @ DAL, Tue vs VGK, Thu vs WAS, Sat vs NJD)

Minnesota has a healthy edge in the battle for a wild-card spot, especially after winning its past two games. The Wild will look to build on their recent momentum when they play in Dallas on Monday. Minnesota will also host Vegas, Washington and New Jersey on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, respectively.

Although Minnesota is likely to make the playoffs, the extended absence of Kirill Kaprizov (lower body) has been felt. He’s appeared in just three games dating back to Dec. 27, and Minnesota is a mediocre 18-15-1 over that span while averaging just 2.50 goals per game. By contrast, the Wild went 21-10-4 while averaging 2.94 goals per game over their first 35 contests, which is a stretch when Kaprizov provided 23 goals and 50 points in 34 appearances (missing one game).

To make matters worse, Joel Eriksson Ek hasn’t played since Feb. 22 due to a lower-body injury. Coach John Hynes said Monday that Kaprizov and Eriksson Ek were progressing off ice, per Dylan Loucks of The Hockey News, which is mixed news. Any progress is good progress, but if they’re not skating yet, then they’re probably not close to returning. With so little time left in the campaign, I have to wonder if Minnesota is now simply looking ahead to the playoffs when it comes to Kaprizov. Maybe he’ll get into a few games toward the end of the regular season just to shake off the rust, but that might be all we can hope for.

At least Ryan Hartman is back from his eight-game suspension. He’s recorded three goals and six points in eight appearances since returning from his punishment. He also averaged 16:31 of ice time in that span, up from 15:00, as the Wild deal with injuries.

Minnesota also attempted to get help by acquiring Gustav Nyquist from Nashville on March 1, but that hasn’t moved the needle. Nyquist has registered just two assists in nine outings with Minnesota despite averaging 16:02 since the trade. He might see his role reduced once Eriksson Ek and Kaprizov are ready to return, especially if Nyquist doesn’t start heating up.

To wrap up on a somber note, we’re likely watching the final games of Marc-Andre Fleury. He hasn’t played much recently -- his last start was March 9 -- but the Wild do have a back-to-back coming Monday and Tuesday, so he’ll likely make his 885th career start and 1,048th appearance on one of those two nights. Fleury has solid backup at the age of 40, posting a 12-8-1 record, 2.73 GAA and .904 save percentage in 22 outings this campaign.

New Jersey Devils (Mon vs VAN, Wed @ CHI, Thu @ WPG, Sat @ MIN)

The Devils have been treading water lately, winning four of their past nine games. At this point, they’re unlikely to catch Carolina for the second seed in the Metropolitan Division, but the Devils are still likely to secure the third seed. In the meantime, they’ll start next week at home against Vancouver. The Devils will then hit the road, playing in Chicago on Wednesday, Winnipeg on Friday and Minnesota on Saturday.

Like Minnesota, New Jersey is dealing with some major injuries. Dougie Hamilton (lower body) hasn’t played since March 4 (he logged just 5:15 before exiting that March 4th game), and Jack Hughes (shoulder) was last in the lineup March 2.

New Jersey has gone 4-4-0 without Hamilton and Hughes, including the contest Hamilton was only briefly a part of in contrast to the Devils’ 33-23-6 record across their first 62 games. It’d be natural to assume their middling play lately has been as a result of a drop in offense, similar to what Minnesota has experienced, but the Devils have managed 2.88 goals per game over their last eight games, which isn’t much of a decline from their 2.98 before Hughes’ injury.

Instead, the problem has been at their own end. Jacob Markstrom has a 4.67 GAA and an .817 save percentage across his past five appearances. That leaky play has taken some of the shine out of the heroics from Jesper Bratt (three goals, 10 points in his past five games) and Luke Hughes (one goal, seven points in his past eight appearances).

Jake Allen has looked good, though, winning his past three starts while saving 99 of 103 shots (.961 save percentage). That contrast between New Jersey’s two goaltenders has resulted in Markstrom shifting from being the clear starter to serving in a rotation. I don’t expect that arrangement to persist for the remainder of the campaign, but it’ll probably last until Markstrom finds his footing again.

The Devils certainly have to hope Markstrom comes out of this cold patch sooner rather than later. While there is light at the end of the tunnel for Minnesota on the injury front -- albeit a distance light -- Jack Hughes isn’t expected back until training camp, and Hamilton probably won’t return until the second round at the earliest, provided the Devils make it that far. What they have now is all they can count on. Fortunately for New Jersey, Bratt, Nico Hischier and Timo Meier is still a solid forward core, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see that trio do well down the stretch, and Luke Hughes is a great alternative to Hamilton on the top power-play unit, which should result in Luke having a strong finish offensively.

New York Islanders (Mon vs CBJ, Wed vs VAN, Sat @ TBL, Sun @ CAR)

The Islanders have won their past three games, pushing them within striking distance of a wild-card spot. New York needs to stay hot next week to close the gap. They’ll start with a home game against Columbus, which is another team in the hunt for an Eastern Conference wild-card position. The Blue Jackets will also play at home against Vancouver on Wednesday before traveling to Tampa Bay on Saturday and Carolina on Sunday.

New York squeaking into the playoffs would be particularly impressive after they traded Brock Nelson to Colorado on March 6 in a where the key pieces back were prospect Calum Ritchie and a first-round pick. It’s not like the Islanders had offense to spare…or so you’d assume, but they’ve been getting help from unexpected sources lately.

Jean-Gabriel Pageau has a goal and six points while Simon Holmstrom has three goals and five points across the Islanders’ seven games since the trade. Both players are usually more complementary pieces when it comes to offense, but they do get on these kinds of hot streaks, making them nice situational pickups during times such as this.

Defensemen Noah Dobson and Anthony DeAngelo have also been major contributors during the same stretch, recording seven and six points, respectively. It’s been interesting that Dobson’s return from injury Feb. 27 hasn’t marginalized DeAngelo’s contributions. Rather than shift DeAngelo to the second power-play unit to make room for Dobson, the Islanders seem comfortable having two defensemen on their top group with the man advantage. DeAngelo has also continued to be used at even strength, averaging 22:18 of ice time in all situations since the return of Dobson.

DeAngelo’s always been a lightning rod for controversy, but it seems he’s found a good spot with the Islanders, and he should continue to be a meaningful contributor for the remainder of the campaign.

Ottawa Senators (Tue @ BUF, Thu @ DET, Sat vs CBJ, Sun @ PIT)

The Senators put themselves in a good spot by winning six straight from March 5-15, but they’ve hit a rough patch with back-to-back losses. The Senators still hold the first wild-card spot, but they can’t afford to relax. They have an opportunity to collect some key points next week against teams not currently in a playoff position. Ottawa will play in Buffalo on Tuesday, Detroit on Thursday and Pittsburgh on Sunday. The Senators will also host the Blue Jackets on Saturday.

Dylan Cozens has worked out pretty nicely in Ottawa since being acquired from Buffalo on March 7. He has three goals and six points in seven appearances with the Senators despite seeing his average playing time drop from 17:13 before the trade to 15:23 since joining the Ottawa. Cozens seems to be settling into a second-line center role with Ottawa, which isn’t surprising. He should get most of his minutes alongside Drake Batherson and David Perron for the remainder of the campaign, though Cozens is also getting work on the top power-play unit and has already provided two goals with the man advantage for Ottawa.

Batherson has been a good player to skate alongside recently. He enjoyed a four-game scoring streak from March 11-18 in which he supplied three goals and six points, but that run was snapped Thursday. The 26-year-old is up to 19 goals and 55 points in 68 outings overall, making it very likely that he’ll reach the 20-goal and 60-point marks for the third straight campaign. In fact, he still has a solid chance of besting his career high of 66 points, which he set last year.

Perron also has been solid recently with four goals and seven points in his past 10 appearances. The 36-year-old missed significant chunks of the campaign, so it’s not too surprising that he was limited to a goal and four points in 11 outings from Jan. 11 (when he returned from a 27-game absence due to back problem) through Feb. 26. Now that the veteran has been able to string together a significant number of games for the first time all season, we’re seeing steady production out of him, and there’s a good chance that’ll continue for the rest of the season, barring another exit from the lineup.

Ottawa’s top line, headlined by Brady Tkachuk and Tim Stutzle, will be the main drivers of the Senators’ offense, but don’t underestimate that second unit of Perron, Cozens and Batherson.

Toronto Maple Leafs (Tue vs PHI, Thu @ SJS, Sat @ NYR, Sun @ LAK)

Toronto has won its past three games, putting behind a rough stretch in which the Maple Leafs won just one of six contests. The Maple Leafs are competing with Florida for the Atlantic Division title. Toronto will look for an edge in that battle next week, beginning with a home game against the Flyers on Tuesday. Toronto will then go on the road, playing in San Jose on Thursday, Los Angeles on Saturday and Anaheim on Sunday.

Even after a run of four goals from March 15-19, Auston Matthews is still on course for career lows with his goal total of 27 and his shooting percentage of 12.4. He’s been limited to 54 games this campaign, and it seems probable he’s playing through something even now, but even Matthews at less than 100 percent is still a high-end option. It helps that he’s pivoted to setting up his teammates a little more to make up for the reduced goal scoring -- he has 34 assists, so in terms of points per 60 minutes, his 3.3 this year is a touch low by his standards, but still well within the range of what’d you’d expect from him.

There’s a good chance he’ll come back strong next season with another 40-plus campaign, and he might even hit 60 for the third time in his career in 2025-26. However, the 27-year-old has run into more injuries problems than one would like over the first half of his career, which makes projecting him somewhat difficult.

Mitch Marner has been the steadier hand in Toronto in terms of season-by-season production. This will be his fourth straight campaign with over 20 goals and 80 points. One thing he’s never managed is reaching the 100-point mark, though he came close in 2021-22 (97) and 2022-23 (99). He might be able to just barely hit it this season after supplying 21 goals and 83 points through 68 appearances.

Marner needs to get hot again to hit the century mark, but right now, he’s not the hottest member of the Leafs. Neither is Matthews, for that matter. That distinction belongs to William Nylander, who has five goals and 15 points in his last 11 appearances. That brings him up to 38 markers and 73 points in 69 outings overall.

Nylander also reached the 600-point career milestone Thursday when he assisted on a goal by John Tavares. That was career point 1,098 for Tavares, and the 34-year-old center went on to collect two more points, making it a milestone night for him as well. Tavares has 29 goals and 60 points in 62 appearances in 2024-25, bringing him up to 213 goals and 479 points in 502 games. If you had told someone immediately after Tavares signed a seven-year, $77 million contract with Toronto that he would decline over the final couple of years, they would have likely believed you. However, while Tavares did show his age somewhat in 2023-24, he’s continuing to produce at a high level even in the final campaign of that deal. It’ll be very interesting to see what kind of contract he commands over the summer, because he still seems to have good hockey left in him.

Toronto’s offense revolves around that core, and unfortunately no one outside of it steps up for more than brief periods. Matthew Knies is Toronto’s next best producer with 25 goals and 45 points, but he’s going through a mediocre stretch in which he’s supplied a goal and four points over his past eight games. Max Domi and Bobby McMann have been similarly meh lately, each contributing two goals and four points over the same eight-game span. All three are worth monitoring as pickup options during hot streaks, but they can’t be counted on to put up strong numbers over a longer period.

NHL: THE FANTASY WEEK AHEAD – 4 Nations Wrap – Trade Deadline speculation edition – Favourable schedules and players to target

Ryan Dadoun — Mon, 24 Feb 2025 17:20:17 +0000

BOSTON, MA - FEBRUARY 20: Team Canada forward Connor McDavid (97) drills a shot during the Championship game of the 4 Nations Face-Off between Team United States and Team Canada on February 20, 2025, at TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Fred Kfoury III/Icon Sportswire)

I have to give the league credit. I did not go into this season with a lot of confidence or excitement about the 4 Nations Face-Off. Sure, it’s always fun to see best-on-best play, but with the tournament being limited to just four countries and without any pre-existing prestige/history behind the tournament name, I was among those worried that it might end up looking like a series of glorified All-Star games and not attract any non-hockey fans. I couldn’t have been more wrong.

ESPN saw an average viewership of 9.252 million for the Final between Canada and the United States, making it the most-watched non-Olympic hockey game on record in US viewership history. Including Canadians, that rating increased to 16.1 million viewers (6.9 million between Sportsnet, Sportsnet+ and TVA Sports), which was on par for a Game 7 of the 2024 Stanley Cup Final (16.3 million), per Braylon Breeze of Sports Media Watch.

The Final even took a political angle. I won’t stress people looking for an escape with the details, but the current climate between the United States and Canada was an undercurrent throughout this tournament and in the Final especially, only adding to the enthusiasm for this match.

When all that noise ended, and the puck dropped, the players didn’t disappoint. This was not a glorified All-Star Game. The players took the opportunity to represent their country seriously, and after the United States earned a 3-1 victory over Canada during the round robin, the Canadians got their revenge Thursday in a 3-2 overtime win over the States.

The winning goal was appropriately scored by Connor McDavid, who was left wide open due to a defensive breakdown by the Americans, took advantage of a nice pass from Mitch Marner to fire a wrist shot past Connor Hellebuyck.

Marner getting the primary assist on that marker and Sam Bennett’s game-tying goal at 14:00 of the second period -- the last goal before McDavid found the back of the net -- was a bit of a redemption story for the 27-year-old winger. Marner and McDavid didn’t seem to gel earlier in the tournament, resulting in the duo being separated for Canada’s 5-3 win over Finland on Monday and Marner logging just 12:46 of ice time. Had that been the end of the story, it would have been about Marner vanishing when things got tough, a story that would have added to the frustrations of Maple Leafs fans, who have seen Toronto flounder in the playoffs throughout Marner’s tenure. Instead, he added another chapter to the tale.

It was also a great showing for Jordan Binnington. Goaltending was the main question mark for Canada going into this tournament, and while Binnington certainly had some bad moments, in the end, he did step up for Canada, turning side 31 of 33 shots in the Final.

Of course, Nathan MacKinnon was also deserving of his MVP title. He scored a tournament-best four goals, including the overtime winner against Team Sweden and two markers versus Finland. Without MacKinnon’s efforts, Canada might not have made it to the final match. He also got Canada on the board first against Team USA on Thursday with his marker at 4:48 of the first period.

It needs to be acknowledged how well America played in this tournament. Both games between these two countries were intense, and not much would have had to change for Team USA to have emerged as the winner. In particular, Zach Werenski (six assists), Jake Guentzel (three goals, four points) and the Tkachuk brothers were fantastic in this tournament. Connor Hellebuyck also did his part in the 4 Nations Face-Off, largely proving his status as the league’s best goaltender, even if his team finished just shy of the title.

Canada can celebrate today, but they have every reason to be concerned about Team USA going into the Olympics. What a fun tournament that should be.

Boston Bruins

Boston will start next week at home, hosting the Maple Leafs on Tuesday and the Islanders on Thursday. The Bruins will then travel to Pittsburgh on Saturday and Minnesota on Sunday.

It seems unbelievable to even suggest it, but those games might be among Brad Marchand’s last in a Bruins jersey. Boston is 27-24-7, which puts the Bruins a point behind the Senators for the final wild-card spot despite having played in one extra game. To be clear, Boston still very much has a chance of making the playoffs, but the fact that it's now a borderline team is cause for retrospection.

There were tempered expectations for the Bruins going into 2023-24 after losing David Pastrnak and Patrice Bergeron. The squad managed to prove the rumors of their death were exaggerated with a 47-20-15 showing, but that success was led by elite goaltending, something the Bruins haven’t enjoyed this season. Linus Ullmark is gone and -- perhaps due to the pressures of his new contract, missing training camp or some combination of the two -- has underwhelmed with an 18-18-4 record, 2.98 GAA and .898 save percentage. Couple that with free-agent signing Elias Lindholm putting up mild numbers (11 goals, 30 points) as well as Charlie McAvoy (shoulder) getting hurt in the 4 Nations Face-Off, and it’s looking more and more like this isn’t a squad setup for a playoff run even if it does squeak in.

With all that considered, maybe it really is time to move on from Marchand. He’s 36 and in the final campaign of what’s proven to be an extremely team-friendly eight-year, $49 million deal. He is allowed to submit a list of up to eight teams he’d veto a trade from, so he does have some influence over his situation, but the return the Bruins could potentially get from him would still be significant. There are a lot of teams out there who would be happy to take a former Stanley Cup winner with a reputation for getting under opponents' skin. Especially given that Marchand is still performing at a high level offensively with 20 goals and 45 points through 58 appearances in 2024-25. His cap hit ($6.125 million) is also reasonable enough to make it feasible for most contenders to maneuver him below the ceiling, especially if Boston retains part of what’s left of his salary.

There’s a certain logic to trading Marchand while his value is still high and at the end of that contract, but there’s also a strong argument against it. He’s the Bruins captain and a fan favorite. Trading him away, especially after a summer that didn’t go Boston’s way, would likely result in strong pushback against GM Don Sweeney and president Cam Neely, even if the return is significant. It’d be one thing if Marchand wanted to go for the sake of chasing the Cup, but in his own words, his “goal is to play here forever,” per NBC Sports Boston. True, players will usually speak highly of whoever their current employer is, but in the case of Marchand, who has dedicated his entire NHL career to Boston, it seems reasonable to believe him and assume he wants to re-sign with the team.

Plus, even if he is getting up there in age, Boston might still enjoy another serious run with him. It wouldn’t be surprising to see Jeremy Swayman rebound next season. Hampus Lindholm (lower body) might have better luck on the injury front in 2025-26, which would go a long way towards stabilizing the blue line. The team would still have secondary scoring concerns that would need to be addressed over the summer, but this is far from a franchise that’s without hope in the mid-term.

In the end, I expect Marchand rumors to persist up until the trade deadline but for him to ultimately remain with Boston.

Los Angeles Kings

Los Angeles will open the week by hosting Vegas on Monday followed by Vancouver on Wednesday. The Kings will then hit the road with games in Dallas and St. Louis on Friday and Saturday, respectively.

The Kings hold a 30-17-7 record going, which gives them a decent cushion in the battle for a playoff spot, though they’ll have a difficult time catching up to Edmonton (34-19-4) or Vegas (34-17-6), which would be necessary in order to secure home-ice advantage in the first round.

Still, with the trade deadline approaching, the Kings are likely to be buyers if they do anything. They have all their draft picks over the next three years with the exception of their 2025 second-round selection (surrendered in the Tanner Jeannot trade) and a decent amount of cap flexibility (PuckPedia puts the squad’s deadline space at just under $4.5 million), so there is room here to get something done.

Los Angeles is rumored to be targeting Buffalo’s Alex Tuch, according to Russell Morgan of Hockey Royalty. Even if that doesn’t specifically happen, it does suggest that LA is in the market for a top six winger, which would make some sense.

Los Angeles is fine up the middle. Anze Kopitar is still performing well at 37 (13 goals, 46 points). Neither Phillip Danault (five goals, 230 points) and Quinton Byfield (11 goals, 29 points) has done enough offensively to be an ideal second-line center, but either one is serviceable in the middle six. Besides, with the Pierre-Luc Dubois experiment still fresh in the Kings’ mind, Los Angeles might be reluctant to take another swing at filling that role. Instead, the hope is probably for Byfield to grow into that job and push Danault to the third unit.

The defense looks solid now that Drew Doughty is back from his ankle injury. We haven’t seen much from him offensively yet -- just one assist in six appearances with the Kings and one helper in four outings with Canada -- but he’s averaged 26:57 of ice time with Los Angeles since returning, so he’s helped stabilize the blue line.

In goal, Darcy Kuemper has been a pleasant surprise, providing a 17-6-6 record, 2.22 GAA and .918 save percentage in 30 appearances, firmly putting his 2023-24 showing with Washington -- a 13-14-3 record with a 3.31 GAA and an .890 save percentage in 33 outings -- behind him. Maybe the Kings will seek an alternate to David Rittich, who has a 12-11-1 record, 2.59 GAA and .890 save percentage in 25 appearances, but that seems unlikely.

That mostly just leaves help on the wings, especially from someone who can find the back of the net. Adrian Kempe and Kevin Fiala are the only Kings players with at least 15 markers -- 25 and 21, respectively -- while 3.7 players per team have hit the 15-goal milestone, so it’s fair to say that’s an area of need for the Kings.

Los Angeles is also an underwhelming 20th in goals per game with 2.83 and has instead relied on its fifth-ranked 2.53 goals allowed per game for its success.

If the Kings do add a top six forward, then Trevor Moore could see his playing time meaningfully diminish. Moore was great in 2023-24 with 31 goals and 57 points in 82 regular-season games, but he’s dropped to eight goals and 23 points in 45 appearances this season, making his average ice time of 17:05 less than ideal. Any addition up front might also push Moore off the power play entirely. As it is, he’s averaging just 1:11 with the man advantage, which has resulted in only one assist for the 29-year-old this season.

Minnesota Wild

The Wild have a full week, starting at home against Detroit on Tuesday before a back-to-back in Utah and Colorado on Thursday and Friday, respectively. The squad will then return to Minnesota to host the Bruins on Sunday.

Minnesota has a strong 34-19-4 record (72 points), but with the Jets’ dominance (39-14-3), finishing first in the Central Division still looks like a longshot. Instead, the Wild are battling with Dallas (37-18-2) and Colorado (33-24-2) for the second and third seeds in the division with the bottom of the three likely entering the playoffs as a wild-card club.

The big question for the Wild is when Kirill Kaprizov (lower body) will be back. When he underwent surgery in late January, we were told that he’d miss a minimum of four weeks, so while a return this week seems unlikely, seeing Kaprizov by mid-March isn’t out of the question. Minnesota deserves credit for managing a 4-2-0 record since Kaprizov was put on the shelf, but that stretch also included back-to-back shutout losses and an underwhelming 2.50 goals per game, so the Wild have shown some vulnerability.

Getting strong performances out of Matt Boldy, Marco Rossi and Mats Zuccarello during Kaprizov’s absence will be critical. Boldy had a poorly timed five-game scoring drought from Jan. 29-Feb. 6, but he bounced back with two goals and three points in the Wild’s final game before the break and held his own during the 4 Nations Face-Off, supplying a goal and three points in four outings with Team USA, so he might hit the ground running for Minnesota when play resumes.

Rossi has two goals and seven points across his past 10 appearances with the Wild, but he’s also been inconsistent during that stretch, going without a point in five of those outings. Meanwhile, Zuccarello hadn’t scored a point in five straight games before the break. Maybe the break -- Zuccarello wasn’t involved in the tournament -- has allowed him to reset and put that slump behind him.

That trio is likely to play together while Kaprizov remains out, though once Kaprizov returns, Boldy might shift off that unit to make room for the Wild’s star forward.

Nashville Predators

Nashville will open the week with a pair of difficult opponents at home, hosting Florida and Winnipeg on Tuesday and Thursday, respectively. The Predators will then travel to New York to face the Islanders on Saturday and the Rangers on Sunday.

Nashville showed some hope from Jan. 3-23, winning seven of nine games, but the Predators followed that with a six-game losing streak they couldn’t afford. Nashville now has a 20-29-7 record, putting the team 15 points out of a playoff spot. The team isn’t mathematically eliminated, but there is no longer a realistic path to the postseason for Nashville. To hit 94 points, Nashville would need to go 23-4-1 the rest of the way. That’s simply not happening.

That makes the Predators obvious sellers going into the deadline. Filip Forsberg, Steven Stamkos, Jonathan Marchessault, Roman Josi and Brady Skjei all have no-movement clauses and significant term left on their contracts, so I wouldn’t expect any kind of blockbuster involving any of them.

Interestingly, Juuse Saros’ new contract, and thus his no-movement clause, doesn’t begin until the 2025-26 campaign, so technically the Predators could trade the goaltender, but I doubt they will. Saros’ eight-year, $61.92 million deal looked good when he inked it, but the 29-year-old has struggled this campaign with an 11-23-6 record, 2.95 GAA and .898 save percentage in 41 appearances prior to the tournament. He had a minus-3.5 goals saved above expected, per Moneypuck, which suggests he’s been below average even after considering the poor play in front of him. Teams might be hesitant to take on that big contract given his recent performance, and Nashville might be equally reluctant to trade him at a time when his value is down.

Still, Nashville should be active at the deadline. Gustav Nyquist, who is playing the final season of his two-year, $6.37 million contract, is likely gone. His 20 points in 55 appearances this campaign is a far cry from his 75-point showing in 2023-24, but the 35-year-old should still be a capable middle-six forward for a contender and, frankly, a move away from the Predators’ struggles should do him some good.

Perhaps Ryan O'Reilly will be moved as well. He’s signed through 2026-27, but his $4.5 million cap hit is fair for the two-way center who has 14 goals, 34 points and a 56.6 faceoff percentage in 53 outings this season. The 34-year-old is a former Stanley Cup and Conn Smythe winner, which is sure to appeal to contenders, and the fact that he’s got term left on his deal means that he would command more than a rental price. He also lacks a no-trade clause, making a potential move that much easier. That said, it really depends on how bad the Predators see their situation. Nashville still has a veteran core, and with so many players locked to NMCs, the franchise is unlikely to embrace a rebuild at this time. If that’s the case, then Nashville might prefer to keep O’Reilly under the belief that the team will bounce back over the next two years. At the least, the Predators likely aren’t motivated sellers when it comes to him, so they would need to be offered a very appealing return.

It'd be much cheaper for teams to pry Luke Schenn from the Predators. He’s in the middle season of a three-year, $8.25 million contract, so he’s not a rental either, but the 35-year-old defenseman is presumably not as big of a part of Nashville’s plans. For a team looking to win now, though, Schenn provides some value. He is a physical force with 41 PIM and 207 hits through 56 outings and would be a solid third-pairing option on a playoff squad. His cap hit might be a touch high for what he brings to the table, but at $2.75 million, it’s workable.

Pittsburgh Penguins

Moving from one seller to another, the Penguins aren’t quite out of the playoff race, but they probably won’t make it. At the least, Pittsburgh needs to be great down the stretch to close the gap, which means the Penguins need a big week. They’ll play in Philadelphia on Tuesday before returning home to host the Flyers, the Bruins and the Maple Leafs on Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, respectively.

Sidney Crosby looked great in the 4 Nations Face-Off, contributing a goal and five points across four games for Team Canada. The 37-year-old should be expected to continue to perform for the Penguins down the stretch after supplying 17 goals and 58 points across 55 appearances with Pittsburgh leading up to the tournament. Unfortunately, it’s already well established that the current Penguins can lose even with Crosby keeping up his end of the bargain.

Even if the Penguins are sellers, Crosby is unsurprisingly going nowhere. He has a no-movement clause, and it’s doubtful that either Pittsburgh or Crosby have interest in parting ways. He is the face of the franchise and will likely remain in that position until he hangs up his skates.

The same goes for Evgeni Malkin. The Russian star made his intentions clear in an interview with The Athletic’s Rob Rossi: “I not retire. I know what some people say -- like, I go back to Russia and play for my home team. But I never say it, you know? I retire with Pittsburgh. The Penguins are my team. I love this team. When I retire it’s here.”

So yeah, take him off the list, especially because his no-movement clause gives him final say over his status.

Still, the Penguins are likely to make some moves. Perhaps Matt Grzelcyk, who is playing on a one-year, $2.75 million contract, will be traded. He has a goal and 28 points in 59 appearances while averaging 20:18 of ice time, though he might see his power-play role decline with a new team, which would hurt his fantasy value. He has 10 power-play assists and has logged 2:11 per game with the man advantage this season.

Cody Glass might also be shipped to a team looking for forward depth, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see the same happen to Anthony Beauvillier. Neither has term left on his contract, though Glass has one season remaining of RFA eligibility.

If Pittsburgh is in the mood for something bigger, the team could take a hard look at moving Rickard Rakell. He’s having a strong campaign with 25 goals and 49 points in 58 appearances. He’s signed through 2027-28 with a $5 million cap hit, so I don’t think the Penguins will move him, but his trade value is good, so it would be a way to shake things up without touching the core. However, the Penguins aren’t expected to enter a full rebuild until after Crosby retires, so rather than move Rakell for picks or long-term prospects, Pittsburgh would presumably want at least one player who is NHL-ready in any Rakell trade.

St. Louis Blues

The Blues will alternate between home and away games next week. They’ll start by hosting Seattle on Tuesday before playing in Washington on Thursday, returning home to face the Kings on Saturday and finally traveling to Dallas for a clash Sunday.

St. Louis is in a similar position to Pittsburgh. It’d be wrong to say all hope for a playoff berth is lost, but with a 26-26-6 (58 points) record, squeaking into the playoffs seems improbable. Perhaps Jordan Binnington can ride the high of backstopping Team Canada to victory in the 4 Nations Face-Off to lead the Blues on a run after the break. It’s certainly something to keep an eye on because he’s a great netminder when he’s at his best, but the problem is that the 31-year-old can end up all over the place. Not to take away from what he just accomplished, but that inconsistency makes it hard for me to count on him to continue at that high level of performance for a sustained period of time.

If he can’t lead St. Louis on a run in the near term, then the Blues are likely to be another seller at the trade deadline. Radek Faksa, who is in the final season of his five-year, $16.25 million contract, would be the most likely player to be dealt under those circumstances. He has three goals, 10 points, 83 hits and 31 blocks in 46 appearances in 2024-25. Those aren’t standout numbers, but Faksa would likely have a market among contenders looking to add to their bottom six.

Maybe trade offers involving Cam Fowler or Nick Leddy will be entertained too. Leddy has a full no-trade clause, while Fowler can limit his options to a four-team trade list, so the two blueliners have considerable control over their respective situations, but they’re also 33 years old and might be interested in the opportunity to play for a contender. Fowler and Leddy are signed through 2025-26, so each of them would come with a bit of term, which adds to their value, especially given that they also come with a reasonable cap hit of roughly $4 million (in Fowler’s case, that’s excluding the $2.5 million Anaheim has retained).

Fowler and Leddy are each capable of serving in a top four capacity. Fowler was already involved in a trade from Anaheim to St. Louis in December, so moving him again is a bit awkward, but given the Blues’ situation, it would make some sense to flip him to a team doing better. As for Leddy, he’s healthy after missing most of the campaign due to a lower-body injury. There seems to be a bit of load management going on given that he averaged just 17:21 of ice time over his first three games back -- his 2023-24 average was 22:22 -- but as he puts some distance between him and his time on the shelf, his workload should increase.

Ryan Suter will also probably get traded if there is interest in him. The 40-year-old isn’t the defenseman he once was, but he would be a nice veteran presence for a contender. Just don’t expect him to average anywhere close to his 20:29 in 2024-25 if he moves away from St. Louis.

If one or more of those blueliners do get traded, then Tyler Tucker will likely see an increase in playing time. We might also see Samuel Johannesson get called up from AHL Springfield to make his NHL debut. The 24-year-old has shown some offensive potential in the minors, providing three goals and 23 points in 46 appearances, so maybe he’d get a trial on the second power-play unit depending on who St. Louis parts with.

If the Blues make some moves up front, then Dalibor Dvorsky would likely get summoned from Springfield. The 19-year-old has looked good with 15 goals and 35 points in 44 AHL outings. It’s also worth keeping Jimmy Snuggerud in the back of your mind. He has 20 goals and 42 points in 32 games with the University of Minnesota as a junior. If he opts to go pro after the NCAA season, it’s feasible that he’ll immediately jump into a middle-six spot with the Blues.

So even if St. Louis misses the playoffs, there are some young players who might make those final weeks worth watching.

Washington Capitals

The Capitals will be at home next week and won’t have to deal with a back-to-back set. Washington will host Calgary on Tuesday, St. Louis on Thursday and Tampa Bay on Saturday.

Washington went into the break with a dominant lead in the Eastern Conference. The Capitals had 80 points (36-11-8) through 55 appearances, putting them nine points ahead of the second-rank Panthers despite Florida having played in two extra games. Although it’s too early for Washington’s spot atop the conference standings to be assured, we’re quickly approaching a point where the Capitals will have to resist the temptation to go onto cruise control until the playoffs.

While there are obvious benefits to the Capitals’ position, resting on your laurels down the stretch can make it hard to get serious again once the playoffs start. Fortunately, even if Washington soon finds itself in a position where wins feel optional, there will still be something to play for: Alex Ovechkin. The 39-year-old entered the 4 Nations break just 15 goals behind Wayne Gretzky and delivered a hat trick in his second game upon return to close the gap to 12 goals in the remaining 25 games. He’s scored at a pace of 0.67 goals per game this campaign, so becoming the all-time goal scorer by the end of the campaign looks attainable, should he stay healthy.

However, it has to be said that using that as the team’s motivation might be a double-edged sword. Getting the puck to Ovechkin is usually the right call -- he's converting on 18.4 percent of his shots after all -- but if the team puts all its focus into securing the record for Ovechkin, even at the cost of the fundamentals, then it might create bad habits. That’s potentially especially dangerous should the act of winning or losing become secondary.

Either way, he’s the best offensive weapon the Capitals have and should be well-rested after the break. He’s not the only one either -- no Washington player was included in the 4 Nations Face-Off.

Although Jordan Binnington got the job done, Logan Thompson would have also been a fantastic option for Team Canada after posting a 24-2-5 record, 2.23 GAA and .921 save percentage through 31 appearances with Washington this season, but he wasn’t included on the roster. The silver lining is that the time off should have given him a chance to reset -- he was working through a slump right before the break, posting a 1-0-2 record, 3.88 GAA and .867 save percentage across three outings.

That’s in contrast to Tom Wilson, who had four goals and six points across his final four outings before the break and has added three points in two games since returning. The 30-year-old has already suprassed his career high in goals with 26 and is on course to surpass his personal best of 52 points -- he has 45 through 57 contests this campaign.

Winnipeg Jets

The Jets will open the week by hosting the Sharks, and they’ll follow that up with a two-game road trip to Ottawa and Nashville on Wednesday and Thursday, respectively. The Jets will conclude the week back home with a clash against the Flyers on Saturday.

Like the Capitals, Winnipeg’s biggest challenge going forward might be finding ways to stay motivated down the stretch as games potentially mean progressively less. The Jets already have 81 points (39-14-3) after just 56 appearances, so their playoff position is fairly secure. They’ve even opened up a nine-point lead in the battle for the Western Conference’s top seed thanks to their active eight-game winning streak.

One benefit of that time off will be the ability to manage Connor Hellebuyck’s workload down the stretch. The 31-year-old netminder should still be counted on to play regularly, but we might see Eric Comrie move up to playing once every third game to make sure Hellebuyck isn’t burnt out by the time the playoffs start. It’s a situation worth monitoring closely if you have Hellebuyck on your fantasy team. Adding Comrie would be a good hedge, especially given that he’s been a fine backup with a 2.57 GAA and a .912 save percentage in 13 appearances.

On the trade front, Winnipeg is projected to have $11.2 million worth of deadline cap space, per Puckpedia, but the Jets are missing their 2025 second and fourth-round selections due to trades before this season, so Winnipeg has a little less to work with when it comes to acquiring players.

Another tricky thing is that…they play in Winnipeg. That’s not me trying to throw shade at the city, that’s me acknowledging a genuine challenge that the franchise has to constantly overcome because of player perceptions. The Athletic recently polled 111 players and granted them anonymity so that they could speak freely. When asked what the first team on their hypothetical no-trade list would be, 48.78 percent picked Winnipeg.

As one player put it: “There’s not much to do out there. It’s (censored) cold. I haven’t heard a guy go to Winnipeg and be like, 'This is going to be my forever home.’”

The second-place Sabres weren’t even close at 19.51 percent despite the Jets being a dominant club while Buffalo hasn’t made the playoffs since 2011. It’s not fair, but if a player has a partial no-trade list, then you have to consider the probability that Winnipeg is on it. Even still, Winnipeg might be able to bolster its blue line or add a middle-six forward before the deadline.

Seth Jones has interest in leaving Chicago, and Winnipeg was mentioned as a potential destination by The Athletic. He’d help solidify the Jets’ top four and maybe serve on the second power-play unit. His $9.5 million cap hit is a bit rich, but the cap is going up, and the Blackhawks might be willing to retain part of that salary. However, Jones has a no-movement clause, and given what we’ve already discussed when it comes to players' feelings for Winnipeg, he might not be willing to waive it for the Jets.

Getting Ryan Donato from Chicago might be more viable. It’s a far less splashy move, but Donato would be a nice third-line option. He has 19 goals and 38 points in 55 appearances this season. Connor Murphy would also be a solid add for Winnipeg in a trade with the Blackhawks. After supplying a goal, 13 points, 38 PIM, 72 hits and 100 blocks in 44 appearances with Chicago this campaign, he’d look nice on Winnipeg’s third pairing. Like Jones, though, Winnipeg would have to overcome the NTC problem -- Murphy has a 10-team no-trade list.

NHL: CULLEN – Laine making the most of his power play time, Schmaltz, Hertl and Nelson are hot, Jones thriving since returning to lineup, and much more!

Scott Cullen — Fri, 24 Jan 2025 23:24:57 +0000

MONTREAL, QC - DECEMBER 07: Patrik Laine (92) of the Montreal Canadiens skates during the third period of the NHL game between the Washington Capitals and the Montreal Canadiens on Dec 07 2024, at the Bell Centre in Montreal, QC(Photo by Vincent Ethier/Icon Sportswire)

Each week, I dig into the stats to find information that can help you make better fantasy hockey decisions. This week, Patrik Laine has made the most of his power play time in Montreal, Nick Schmaltz, Tomas Hertl and Brock Nelson are hot, Seth Jones is thriving since returning to the Chicago lineup, and much more!

Here is this week’s edition of 20 Fantasy Points:

#1 It is not like the hockey world forgot what Patrik Laine could do when the puck hit his stick, but he has been playing sporadically in recent seasons, so the evidence wasn’t quite so evident. After joining the Montreal Canadiens, however, Laine has shown that he is still a lethal shooter. In 20 games with the Habs, Laine has 18 points (12 G, 6 A) with 54 shots on goal. He is scoring on 22.2 percent of his shots, which is a higher rate than he has finished in any previous season, but he is also quite specifically a power play threat, with 10 of his 12 goals coming with the man advantage. Laine has 10.35 goals per 60 minutes of power play time, which ranks first among players that have played at least 30 minutes on the power play this season. Victor Olofsson (6.48), Pavel Dorofeyev (5.76), Michael Bunting (5.22), and Brayden Point (4.82) round out the top five in power play goal-scoring efficiency.

#2 Veteran Utah Hockey Club right winger Nick Schmaltz has established his credentials as a quality point producing forward but had been off to a relatively slow start prior to embarking on what is now a seven-game point streak, during which he has nine points (3 G, 6 A). Schmaltz has consistently played alongside Clayton Keller, but the duo has recently added second-year centre Logan Cooley to the top line and Cooley has been cooking, putting up 30 points (12 G. 18 A) in his past 28 games.

#3 Barrett Hayton, who has played quite a bit with Schmaltz and Keller in recent seasons, has moved to a line with Matias Maccelli and Josh Doan and continues to have success, tallying seven points (3 G, 4 A) in his past four games. Hayton’s ice time is down this season to 15:24 per game after playing more than 17 minutes per game in the previous two seasons, but he has also improved his work in the face-off circle, winning 54.2 percent of his draws. Given Cooley’s offensive upside, it probably makes more sense for Hayton to slot in as the No. 2 centre in Utah.

#4 Vegas Golden Knights centre Tomas Hertl had been relatively inconsistent early in the season, but he might be turning the corner. He is riding a seven-game point streak, putting up 11 points (6 G, 5 A) with 25 shots on goal in those seven games. That elevated shot rate is an important factor because Hertl was averaging 2.24 shots per game through the first 41 games of the season. Taking that up to 3.57 shots per game is a strong indicator for a player sustaining is production.

#5 New York Islanders centre Brock Nelson is finding his name in trade rumours as the Isles are sitting in last place in the Metropolitan Division. He is helping to keep his value high, scoring seven points (3 G, 4 A) with 18 shots on goal while playing more than 20 minutes per game in his past six games. A 6-foot-4 centre who has scored more than 30 goals in three straight seasons, Nelson is obviously appealing for a team looking to boost its offense.

#6 Chicago Blackhawks defenceman Seth Jones is starting to heat up. He had missed five weeks with a foot injury, but has delivered 10 points (2 G, 8 A) in 14 games since getting back into the lineup. Jones has recorded 10 of his 20 points on the power play, and with 7.87 points per 60 minutes on the power play, he ranks third among defencemen, behind only Zach Werenski (8.11) and Neal Pionk (7.91).

#7 Seattle Kraken centre Chandler Stephenson had been on a good run before getting injured Thursday night. In his past 11 games, including Thursday, Stephenson has contributed 10 points (5 G, 5 A) but there is a bona fide concern with his low shot rate. He has 46 shots on goal in 48 games, which is a shockingly low amount for a player who logs more than 19 minutes of ice time per game. With Yanni Gourde also injured, Stephenson’s absence could create more playing time for Shane Wright, who is making progress. In his first 23 games of the season, Wright had seven points (4 G, 11 A), but in the next 23 games, he has contributed 15 points (4 G, 11 A).

#8 Looking for a buy-low winger? Consider Kevin Fiala of the Los Angeles Kings. In 11 games since the holiday break, Fiala has a modest five points (2 G, 3 A) but he also has 40 shots on goal. That shot rate is encouraging, but there is also the matter of Fiala’s low on-ice shooting percentage this season. During five-on-five play, the Kings are scoring on just 5.8 percent of their shots when Fiala is on the ice, which is his lowest since his rookie season in 2016-2017.

#9 Calgary Flames winger Blake Coleman can fly under the radar a bit but when he is contributing offensively, that makes his fantasy contribution quite strong. In his past 17 games, Coleman has 15 points (5 G, 10 A) but he also has 36 hits and that combination makes him quite appealing for fantasy managers. Coleman is unlikely to match last season’s career highs of 30 goals and 54 points, but already has 92 hits in 46 games, so if the point production continues, Coleman’s all-around contribution is solid.

#10 On a similar level, Boston Bruins forward Morgan Geekie has picked up his production a bit, with eight points (5 G, 3 A) in his past 10 games, but he also has 25 hits in those 10 games. Be a little wary, though, since Geekie only has 16 shots on goal in those 10 games, his goal-scoring has been dependent on a high shooting percentage (31.3 percent in the past 10 games).

#11 Carolina Hurricanes rookie right winger Jackson Blake has found his way to the top line, skating with Sebastian Aho and Andrei Svechnikov. Blake has played 15:27 per game over the past four, chipping in three points (1 G, 2 A) with nine shots on goal. It is probably too soon to jump on Blake in most fantasy leagues, but if he remains on that top line there is obvious scoring upside for a player who ranks third among rookies with 11 goals despite very limited ice time (12:02 ATOI). (Editors note – The Rantanen trade followed the publication of this article – the coach may want to spread the scoring around, but it is more likely Rantanen takes that spot on the top line)

#12 Toronto Maple Leafs centre John Tavares is out of the lineup due to a lower-body injury and for all of the criticism that Tavares takes, he remains a high-end point producer, with 42 points (20 G, 22 A) in 44 games before getting hurt. The challenge for the Maple Leafs is to get contributions down the middle of the ice behind Auston Matthews because, with Tavares out, the second line centre is Pontus Holmberg and the third line centre is rookie Fraser Minten. Holmberg has zero goals and one assist in his past 11 games while Minten has zero points in his past eight NHL games after starting with four points in his first five games.

#13 With the New York Islanders’ season teetering on the brink, they got bad news that standout defenceman Noah Dobson is considered week-to-week with a lower-body injury. Dobson’s production has fallen off the pace he set last season, when he had a career-high 70 points (10 G, 60 A) in 79 games, as he has 24 points (6 G, 18 A) in 46 games this season, but the Islanders don’t have great options to replace him on the power play. Ryan Pulock has handled the role before and is noted for his heavy shot from the point, but has one power play point this season.

#14 New Jersey Devils goaltender Jacob Markstrom has suffered a sprained MCL, which will keep him out of the lineup for 4-6 weeks. Markstrom has been exactly what the Devils needed between the pipes, with a .912 save percentage and 10.0 goals saved above expectations in 36 games. With Markstrom out, Jake Allen will need to handle the starter’s role. Allen has a .901 save percentage and 4.04 goals saved above expected in 15 games this season, so he is a capable starting goaltender for the next month plus.

#15 The Boston Bruins are in a tough battle for a playoff spot, for the first time in a while, but that is made even more challenging when goaltender Jeremy Swayman and No. 1 defenceman Charlie McAvoy are sidelined with injuries. Defenceman Hampus Lindholm was already injured, so the current version of the Bruins is without its top two defencemen and top goaltender, and that is going to make it even more difficult. Swayman’s injury does not seem serious, so Joonas Korpisalo may only have short term value, but McAvoy has landed on injured reserve, which will keep him out for at least a week. This defensive weakening does make the Bruins more vulnerable, potentially worth targeting as opposition while the Bruins are missing Lindholm and McAvoy.

#16 Bruins defenceman Mason Lohrei has been making the most of his opportunity to quarterback the power play. He has six points (1 G, 5 A) in the past seven games and is up to 10 power play points. With 6.85 points per 60 minutes on the power play, Lohrei is tied for 15th (with Chicago’s Alex Vlasic) among NHL defencemen.

#17 Colorado Avalanche winger Valeri Nichushkin is considered week to week with a lower-body injury, and that leaves a large hole for the Avalanche. In 21 games, Nichushkin has 17 points (11 G, 6 A). His absence keeps Ross Colton in Colorado’s top six and while Colton has been held scoreless in his past four games, he is worth keeping tabs on as a player with potential upside because he thrived earlier in the season when given a big opportunity due to injuries.

#18 Ottawa Senators centre Josh Norris is out with an upper-body injury. Given his history with shoulder woes, Norris’ health is an area of concern, yet the thing is that he can still produce when healthy. In 47 games this season, Norris has produced 17 goals and 27 points. The Sens do get David Perron back in the lineup, so that should theoretically help alleviate Norris’ absence, but Perron has failed to record a point in 10 games this season, so expectations should be kept in check. Senators defenceman Jake Sanderson is out of the lineup with a lower-body injury, which elevates Thomas Chabot to the first power play unit.

#19 Norris’ absence from the Senators’ lineup should also open the door for Shane Pinto to step up. While Pinto has six points (2 G, 4 A) and 18 shots on goal in the past eight games, he is also averaging more than 20 minutes of ice time per game in that time, so it would be a prime opportunity for Pinto to lift his offensive production because with 16 points (8 G, 8 A) in 40 games, he has underachieved offensively.

#20 Tampa Bay Lightning defenceman Darren Raddysh has elevated his game recently, producing six points (2 G, 4 A) with 13 shots on goal in the past five games, averaging 21:50 time on ice per game. With J.J. Moser and Erik Cernak injured, the Lightning certainly need Raddysh to take on more responsibility. In his first 18 games this season, Raddysh averaged 15:30 time on ice per game and in 20 games since then, has averaged 20:04 per game.

*Advanced stats via Natural Stat Trick

NHL: DADOUN – THE FANTASY WEEK AHEAD (November 4th to November 11th – Oilers face challenges early, while Knights soar out the gate

Ryan Dadoun — Sat, 02 Nov 2024 16:35:39 +0000

Edmonton Oilers Center Leon Draisaitl (29) (Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire)

At the end of October last year, Edmonton was in a sorry state with a 2-5-1 record, and the squad posted a 2-8-1 record by the 11-game mark. Of course, we know about the turnaround the Oilers managed, but in that context, Edmonton’s 5-5-1start this year doesn’t seem so bad. It’s not good either, though, and there are some areas that need to be improved upon if Edmonton is to live up to its lofty expectations.

Surprisingly, Edmonton hasn’t managed to reliably score this campaign. The Oilers managed two or fewer goals in each of their six losses (including the overtime defeat), and they never scored more than four goals in any of their first 10 games. That issue was compounded Monday when they lost Connor McDavid for the next 2-3 weeks due to an ankle injury. To their credit, Edmonton responded with a clean 5-1 win over Nashville on Thursday, but we’ll have to see if the Oilers can build off that strong win.

Calvin Pickard was in net for that victory, improving to 3-1-0 with a 2.47 GAA and an .897 save percentage across nine outings. It was his second start in three games and that increase in playing time is understandable when contrasted against Stuart Skinner’s rough 3.51 GAA and .872 save percentage across seven outings. Skinner had a rough start to 2023-24 only to rebound, so don’t count him out yet, but his shaky play has been the other big reason behind Edmonton’s mediocre start. If he doesn’t start improving, it would put Edmonton in a very vulnerable spot -- Pickard has outperformed him thus far, but the 32-year-old isn’t expected to be a good long-term starter option, especially for a team with Stanley Cup aspirations.

Edmonton isn’t the only team portrayed as being a Cup contender who has underwhelmed early, but one major contender who has largely shone in the early going is Vegas with its 7-3-1 start. Not everything is rosy for the Golden Knights -- Adin Hill’s 3.20 GAA and .878 save percentage through six appearances don’t look much more appealing than Skinner’s results -- but those issues have been masked by Vegas’ offense, led by its top line.

At the time of writing, Mark Stone is tied for the lead league in points with 19 (five goals) through 11 games while Jack Eichel isn’t far behind with three goals and 16 points in 11 outings. Those two are fairing better than expected, but the thing that’s really held Vegas back in recent years -- at least as far as the regular season goes -- is injuries to key players in general, and those two in particular. If those two can stay healthy this time, it’ll be interesting to see if the duo continues to make their presence known among the league’s scoring leaders.

Speaking of, you’d have to go back to when the two were still rookies to find the last time Eichel ended a season with more points than McDavid. Excluding their first campaigns, McDavid’s single-season low of 97 points is better than Eichel’s career high of 82. It’s way too early to suggest that Eichel will finish above McDavid in the scoring race, but we’ll see what the future holds.

Calgary Flames (Tue @ MTL, Thu @ BOS, Sat @ BUF)

The Flames won their first four games of the campaign, but that hot start has been erased, to the point where they’re 5-4-1 at the time of writing. They’ll be on the road next week, but the silver lining is they’ll be facing middling squads in Montreal on Tuesday and Buffalo on Saturday. Their contest in Boston on Thursday also might not be as difficult as it would appear at first glance. The Bruins are among the teams who underperformed in October, finishing the month with a 4-6-1 record.

Speaking of disappointment, the change of scenery hasn’t helped Anthony Mantha much. It looked like he might play a big role with the Flames, especially after head coach Ryan Huska suggested in September that Mantha’s goal for the 2024-25 should be to fire 300 shots. If we’re talking about shots on goal, then that would shatter his previous career high of 198 set in 2018-19 -- even if it were just shot attempts, then 300 would be his most since 2018-19 and a massive jump from his 219 last year. Instead, Mantha has just nine SOG through 10 games, and while three of those have gone in, it's still leagues less aggressive than the stated goal. Mantha also already moved around the lineup a fair amount, making it hard to pin down what his role with the team is. At best, it seems he’s a middle-six forward and is currently on course to put up something similar to the 23 goals and 44 points he recorded between Washington and Vegas last year -- not bad, but not what the preseason talk suggested might be possible.

One player he has seen a decent amount of ice time with is Jonathan Huberdeau, who looks good so far with four goals and seven points across 10 appearances, but those numbers don’t hold up to even the lightest of scrutiny. He had a good start with three goals and six points through four outings, largely thanks to a four-point game Oct. 12, but Huberdeau has been limited to just one point (a goal) across his past six appearances. Unfortunately, this might not be the bounce-back campaign despite that one big game.

On a more positive note, this might be a good sophomore season for Connor Zary. He has two goals and seven points through 10 appearances and his production has been far more evenly spread out than Huberdeau’s. The 23-year-old Zary is among the Flames more promising young forwards and seeing him start to come into his own gives Calgary some cause for cautious optimism.

Carolina Hurricanes (Tue vs. PHI, Thu vs. PIT, Sat @ COL)

The Hurricanes will open the week by hosting the Flyers on Tuesday and the Penguins on Thursday before heading to Colorado for a match Saturday. None of those adversaries have a winning record at the time of writing, though the Avalanche do still have the potential to be a great team this year.

Injuries are a big part of the reason Colorado has that subpar record. Carolina has had far better luck in that regard, though the Hurricanes aren’t completely immune. Frederik Andersen sustained a lower-body injury, and while it initially sounded like it might not be serious, he’s now regarded as week-to-week. The 35-year-old has an incredible 16-3-0 record, 1.77 GAA and .933 save percentage across the past two seasons, but sadly he can’t seem to stay healthy.

With Andersen once again out, Pyotr Kochetkov will be leaned on heavily. He has a poor .891 save percentage in 2024-25, but the Hurricanes are a top-tier team when it comes to supporting their goaltenders -- despite that save percentage, he has a solid 2.61 GAA and a great 4-1-0 record. Spencer Martin was summoned from AHL Chicago to be the understudy, but he hasn’t gotten into a game yet and probably won’t next week given the Hurricanes’ spread-out schedule.

Carolina is also still missing Riley Stillman, who opened the season on the non-roster injured list. Stillman has started to practice, though, so he might not be too far off from returning. The question is if his availability will shake up Carolina’s current top six. Perhaps Sean Walker or Jalen Chatfield will spend the occasional game in the press box, but it’s entirely feasible that Stillman will simply be the seventh defenseman once healthy, only being inserted into the lineup in the event of an injury or blueliner needing a day off.

Brent Burns probably won’t be someone who gets much in the way of rest days, but age might be catching up to the 39-year-old. He has just three assists through nine appearances this season, albeit with those points coming during a recent three-game scoring streak from Oct. 24-28. Most notably, he doesn’t have any points yet with the man advantage. I was concerned that the presence of Shayne Gostisbehere would lead to Burns getting a reduced role on the power play, and it seems that has proven to be the case. Gostisbehere has roughly double the amount of power-play minutes so far while recording three goals and five points with the man advantage -- nine points overall through nine outings.

Columbus Blue Jackets (Tue @ SJS, Sat @ LAK, Sun vs. ANA)

The Blue Jackets have done better than expected so far, posting a 5-3-1 record in October. They’ll try to keep that going next week with road games against the Sharks on Tuesday, the Kings on Saturday and the Ducks on Sunday.

Kirill Marchenko has played a significant part in the Blue Jackets’ early success, supplying four goals and 11 points through nine appearances. He’s developed chemistry with summer addition Sean Monahan, who has five goals and nine points through nine outings.

Cole Sillinger has also really stood up lately. Taken with the No. 12 overall pick in the 2021 NHL Draft, Sillinger was fairly quiet offensively over his first three campaigns, but this has the makings to be a breakout campaign after he recorded two goals and eight points across his opening nine games. He’s been particularly effective recently, providing a goal and four points over his past two outings, so we’ll see if he can build off that momentum next week.

However, if you’re looking for the hottest member of the Blue Jackets, that would have to be Elvis Merzlikins. He was stunning against Edmonton and the Islanders on Monday and Wednesday, respectively, stopping a combined 57 of 58 shots over that stretch. He largely served as Daniil Tarasov’s understudy to start the campaign, but Tarasov has a 3.42 GAA and an .886 save percentage through five outings, so there’s an opportunity here for Merzlikins to wrestle back the starting job if he continues to perform well.

Los Angeles Kings (Mon @ NAS, Tue @ MIN, Thu vs. VAN, Sat vs. CBJ)

The Kings have a busy week ahead of them. They’ll start with road matches in Nashville on Monday and Minnesota on Tuesday before returning home to host the Canucks on Thursday and the Blue Jackets on Saturday.

Los Angeles has a 6-3-2 record, and Kevin Fiala has been part of that initial success. It hasn’t been all good news for him -- he logged just 10:12 on Oct. 26 because he took some bad penalties and was a healthy scratch Wednesday after missing a team meeting -- but Fiala is nevertheless off to a strong start with five goals and eight points in 10 appearances, including a two-point showing in his return from the press box. If he can avoid getting into too much trouble with coach Jim Hiller, Fiala is a serious contender to reach the 70-point mark for the fourth consecutive campaign.

Hiller has every reason to like Brandt Clarke’s recent play. The 21-year-old defenseman has an incredible seven points (one goal) across his past four outings. It helps that Clarke is a part of the Kings’ top power-play unit -- five of his 11 points through 11 appearances in 2024-25 have come with the man advantage. Clarke might still lose that power-play spot when Drew Doughty is ready to return from his ankle injury, but Doughty isn’t expected to be back anytime soon -- he was declared month-to-month when he underwent surgery in early October -- so that’s not something that needs to be thought about too hard right now.

It is impressive that the Kings have done so well without Doughty. Having a young blueliner like Clarke capable of stepping up helps, but having a steady captain like Anze Kopitar is another key component. The 37-year-old hasn’t slowed with age, collecting four goals and 12 points through 11 games this year. He led the Kings to victory over the Golden Knights with a three-point showing Wednesday that included Kopitar’s 800th career assist. He’s just the 35th player to ever hit that milestone, and with the way he’s performing, perhaps he’ll even hit 900 before it’s time to hang up his skates -- just 20 players have ever done that. Kopitar is in the first season of a two-year, $14 million contract, though he’d probably need to play through the 2026-27 campaign to hit that next milestone.

Minnesota Wild (Tue vs. LAK, Thu @ SJS, Fri @ ANA, Sun @ CHI)

As noted above, Minnesota is set to host the Kings on Tuesday. Afterward, the Wild will begin a road trip with stops in San Jose on Thursday, Anaheim on Friday and Chicago on Sunday.

Despite playing seven of their first nine games on the road, the Wild are off to an incredible 6-1-2 start. Filip Gustavsson has been a big part of that initial success, posting a 4-1-1 record, 2.17 GAA and .922 save percentage across six starts. That’s a big turnaround from his 2023-24 campaign (3.06 GAA, .899 save percentage) and puts him more in line with how he did in 2022-23 (2.10 GAA, .931 save percentage).

Kirill Kaprizov is the other major reason for Minnesota’s strong start. He has five goals and 18 points through nine games and is showing no signs of slowing down. He ended October on a six-game multi-point streak in which he has provided four goals and 14 points. No other Wild player comes close to matching Kaprizov’s recent offensive output, though defenseman Jacob Middleton is on a four-game scoring streak that’s seen him provide a goal and five assists.

To make matters better for the Wild, Jared Spurgeon was able to return Tuesday after missing six straight games due to a lower-body injury. His return will likely lead to Declan Chisholm and Jon Merrill spending the occasional game in the press box.

One thing Spurgeon probably won’t do a lot of is contribute offensively. He has reached the 40-point mark as recently as 2021-22, but the 34-year-old is going to be serving on the second power-play unit as best thanks to the rise of sophomore Brock Faber. Instead, Spurgeon’s best category might end up being blocks. He ranked sixth with 179 blocks in 2022-23, which was the last season he was mostly healthy.

Nashville Predators (Mon vs. LAK, Wed @ WSH, Thu @ FLA, Sat vs. UTA)

After starting the campaign 0-5-0, Nashville has started to recover but remains a poor 3-6-1. The Predators will attempt to make up for lost ground next week, starting with Monday’s home game against the Kings. Nashville will spend the remainder of the week on the road, facing Washington on Wednesday, Florida on Thursday and Utah on Saturday.

The Predators are still waiting for Steven Stamkos to start playing like the star he was in Tampa Bay. Stamkos did get two assists against his former team in Monday’s 3-2 overtime loss, but that’s about all the life he’s shown. The 34-year-old has a goal and three points through 10 appearances. He also has a minus-8 rating, which is tied for the fourth worst on the team. If there’s a silver lining, it’s that he’s been taking a ton of shots -- 32 so far -- so it should be just a matter of time before they start going in.

Nashville’s other major summer addition, Jonathan Marchessault, is also struggling to find the back of the net. Not many people expected Marchessault to repeat his 42-goal showing from 2023-24, especially because his 15.8 shooting percentage was a career high outside of 2014-15 in which he logged just two games. Still, if Marchessault was a bit on the lucky side last year, he’s gotten terrible luck in 2024-25, providing just two goals on 35 shots so far. He does at least have four assists to go with it, so his struggles haven’t been as notable as Stamkos’, but there’s still a lot of room for growth here.

Stamkos and Marchessault might have struggled for long enough now that they’d be solid buy-low candidates in fantasy. Perhaps you could put Juuse Saros in that group too. He’s also off to a rough start with a 2-5-1 record, 3.04 GAA and .896 save percentage across eight appearances. He did underwhelm somewhat in 2023-24 as well, finishing with a 2.86 GAA and a .906 save percentage, but at the very least, if you believe that Stamkos and Marchessault have underperformed, which seems reasonable, then there’s reason to believe that Saros should be a better source of wins as the campaign progresses.

New Jersey Devils (Mon @ EDM, Thu vs. MTL, Sat @ NYI, Sun vs. SJS)

The Devils played more games than any other team, 13, in October and their schedule will stay full next week. They’ll play in Edmonton on Monday, host the Canadiens on Thursday, face the Islanders in a road game Saturday and then end the week at home against the Sharks on Sunday.

Luke Hughes missed the first nine games of the season due to a shoulder injury, but the 21-year-old blueliner returned Oct. 24. He didn’t, however, get his 2023-24 assignment back. He’s averaged 18:06 of ice time, including a modest 0:55 with the man advantage, though four appearances. Hughes served primarily on the top power-play unit last season, but that was with Dougie Hamilton unavailable. Now that both defensemen are healthy, it seems Hamilton will serve on the first unit while Hughes will play on the second. That’s a major blow to Hughes’ fantasy value -- 25 of his 47 points last season came with the man advantage.

Even if Hughes was on the top power-play and gelling, though, he wouldn’t be the headline act in New Jersey right now. That’s unquestionably Nico Hischier, who has provided an unreal nine goals and 13 points across his past nine games, bringing him up to 15 points (10 goals) through 13 outings in 2024-25. Hischier finished October on a four-game goal-scoring streak. His current goal pace won’t last obviously -- his 22.7 shooting percentage for 2024-25 would shatter his career high if it lasted the full campaign -- but he is a high-end talent who could reasonably surpass the 30-goal and 80-point milestones this season.

The Devils have kept Hischier and Jack Hughes primarily on separate lines at even strength to give the team a strong one-two punch. Hughes is rolling too with three goals and seven points across his past five outings, giving him four goals and 12 points in 13 appearances this year. The Devils are even getting decent production out of their third line with Erik Haula supplying four goals and eight points through 13 outings.

New Jersey was 7-4-2 in October. The Devils do have some areas of concern -- Jacob Markstrom has been a step up from their goaltenders last year, but he’s also had some notably rough nights, which has left him with a mild .903 save percentage in 2024-25 -- but they do look like a team that should stay strong this year.

Vancouver Canucks (Tue @ ANA, Thu @ LAK, Sat vs. EDM)

The Canucks can attest to the Devils’ strength after suffering a 6-0 loss to New Jersey on Wednesday. Vancouver dropped to 4-2-3 with that defeat but will be looking for better results during the upcoming week. The Canucks will play in Anaheim on Tuesday and LA on Thursday before hosting the Oilers on Saturday.

Vancouver could really use Thatcher Demko (knee). Kevin Lankinen has done well overall with a 2.29 GAA and a .920 save percentage in six starts, but he’s faltered recently, allowing 10 goals on 90 shots (.889 save percentage) across his past three outings. Meanwhile, Arturs Silovs has struggled with a record of 0-2-1 to go with an abysmal 5.00 GAA and .797 save percentage through three contests.

Demko has been skating and we have seen him on his own in full gear, but there’s nothing to indicate yet that he’s close to returning, so it seems Vancouver will have to rely on Lankinen and Silovs for a while longer.

If they get sufficient goal support, it might be fine. To that end, it would go a long way if Elias Pettersson could get into a rhythm. He had just one goal and four points through nine appearances in October. Some of you might be thinking back to 2021-22 when Pettersson started the campaign with six goals and 17 points in his first 37 games before turning a corner by providing 26 goals and 51 points in 43 outings the rest of the way. That example does show that Pettersson is both capable of prolonged cold stretches and recovering from them, though Vancouver will surely be hoping that it doesn’t take him nearly as long to get going in 2024-25.

It'd help if newcomer Jake DeBrusk got going too. He has just four assists in nine appearances with Vancouver after signing a seven-year, $38.5 million contract with Vancouver over the summer. The Canucks were believed to be interested in inking Jake Guentzel before he signed with Tampa Bay. DeBrusk was at least a cheaper alternative, but Vancouver probably wishes they hadn’t missed out on the pricier option -- Guentzel has four goals and 11 points through 10 outings in 2024-25.

MCKEEN’S 2024-25 NHL YEARBOOK – LOS ANGELES KINGS – Team Preview

Tue, 17 Sep 2024 20:00:26 +0000

LOS ANGELES, CA - JANUARY 04: Los Angeles Kings right wing Quinton Byfield (55) skates during an NHL hockey game against the Detroit Red Wings on January 4, 2024 at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, CA. (Photo by Ric Tapia/Icon Sportswire)

The 2023-24 campaign was another season of solid, but not remarkable hockey for the Kings. They posted a 44-27-11 record on the strength of strong goaltending by Cam Talbot and David Rittich coupled with elite defensive work -- Los Angeles ranked sixth with a 2.82 xGA/60. However, the Kings’ offence was mediocre. Trevor Moore was the only member of the squad with over 30 goals, and even then, just barely (31). It also didn’t help that Pierre-Luc Dubois, who the Kings acquired in the summer of 2023 and made a massive eight-year, $68 million commitment to, proved to be underwhelming in Los Angeles (16 goals, 40 points). The Kings still made the playoffs, but they were then ousted in the first round for the third consecutive year.

WHAT’S CHANGED? The Kings abandoned the Dubois experiment, trading him to Washington for 34-year-old goaltender Darcy Kuemper, who struggled in 2023-24 with a 3.31 GAA and an .890 save percentage in 33 outings. Still, LA needed a goaltender because Talbot walked as an unrestricted free agent. The Kings also lost defenceman Matt Roy and forward Viktor Arvidsson to the free-agent market. On the plus side, the Kings signed middle-six forward Warren Foegele and acquired physical blueliner Kyle Burroughs from San Jose in exchange for fourth-liner Carl Grundstrom.

WHAT WOULD SUCCESS LOOK LIKE? At this point, LA needs to win a playoff round to be successful. The Kings figure to have an acceptable, but not exceptional offence, but weirdly it was goaltending that was the problem in the Kings’ first-round exit to Edmonton. For as good as Talbot and Rittich were in the regular season, they weren’t up to the task of stopping a world-class attack like the Oilers with the pressure on. Perhaps Kuemper will fare better. It’s true that the veteran goaltender is coming off a poor season, but the Kings’ excellent defence makes a comeback somewhat more likely, and it certainly doesn’t hurt that Kuemper won the Cup with Colorado in 2022.

WHAT COULD GO WRONG? Kuemper isn’t the only Cup-winner on the Kings, of course, which brings us to one weird thing about this squad: the modern Kings are still dependent on two stars from Los Angeles’ glory days: Anze Kopitar, who is now 37, and Drew Doughty, who will turn 35 in December. The Kings made that big bet on Dubois in the first place because they were shopping for something of a Kopitar successor. That didn’t work out, which only increases Kopitar’s importance, even as he ages. Similarly, Doughty brings so much to the table that any decline on his part would be a big blow to LA. All of this could lead to the Kings regressing compared to 2023-24.

TOP BREAKOUT CANDIDATE: The Kings don’t have another Doughty in their prospect pool, but they do have Brandt Clarke. While Clarke isn’t likely to match Doughty’s defensive capabilities, the 21-year-old has the potential to someday eclipse the veteran’s offensive heights. Clarke was outstanding in the AHL last season, providing 10 goals and 46 points in 50 regular-season contests. He also had six points (two goals) across 16 outings with LA despite averaging just 13:39 of ice time. He might be a mainstay of LA’s defence this year and serve on the second power-play unit.

Forwards

Anze Kopitar

Predicted Stats
GP	G	A	PTS	PPG
80	23	41	64	0.80

It’s not easy being north of 35 years old in the NHL, but Anze Kopitar is making it look good ahead as he turns 37 headed into a new season. He posted 26 goals and 44 assists (70 points) in 81 games to rank third on the Kings, just five points behind team leader Adrian Kempe. Kopitar is the picture of consistent greatness. He continues to be an elite defensive forward as a two-time Selke Trophy winner (2016 and 2018) and he finished fifth in the vote last season. His offensive production is the kind of thing you can set a clock to. In 15 of his 18 seasons in the league he’s had 60-or-more points and two of those seasons were truncated (2012 lockout, the post-pandemic 2021 season). He’s a triple threat player in that he can beat you at five-on-five, on the power play or on the penalty kill. Given he’s on their top unit on both the man advantage and the kill, he’s virtually inescapable on the ice. Kopitar is an all-time great and a future Hall of Famer and that he’s continuing to play at this high of a level and playing a vital role in willing the Kings to the playoffs is beyond impressive. The only question now would seem to be how long he can keep it going. Good luck figuring that out because it’s been difficult to find evidence of it coming anytime soon.

Kevin Fiala

Predicted Stats
GP	G	A	PTS	PPG
82	32	47	79	0.96

In Fiala’s second season with the Kings he continued to prove to fans why he was a great addition to the roster despite losing stud defenceman Brock Faber in the deal with Minnesota. He finished second on the team in points with 73. His 29 goals were second most on the team behind Trevor Moore and his 11 power play tallies were most on the team. Fiala’s offensive output in both goals and points were the second highest marks in his career and putting up 73 points a season after having 72 in 69 games highlighted what makes him a special player up front. The 28-year-old Swiss native has always been an offensive-minded player and that was something the Kings desperately needed in recent years to help Anze Kopitar and Drew Doughty. He’s been a seamless fit with the team and found a home with Moore and Philip Danault on the second line. Fiala providing the offensive spark for a line that features two players with strong defensive capabilities like Danault and Moore has helped to further encourage their offensive side. With the change up in the lower six of the forward group leaning into bringing younger players into the mix, having a consistent scorer like Fiala to bank on will allow L.A. to keep other teams honest. You can expect 25 – 30 goals and a point a game pace.

Adrian Kempe

Predicted Stats
GP	G	A	PTS	PPG
80	35	48	83	1.04

Seeing Adrian Kempe evolve into one of the Kings most dangerous goal scorers the past few seasons has been exciting to watch unfold. Over his first five seasons while he worked to earn more ice time and capitalize on chances, it was difficult to get going with the veterans that held down the lines in front of him. But when he scored 35 goals almost out of nowhere in 2021-2022 his breakout signaled that he was here to stay. That he followed that up with 41 goals the following season set expectations for him sky-high last season. Even though he didn’t match that goal output and put up 28 goals, he set a career-high with 75 points and led the Kings in scoring in the process. The 47 assists he posted were also a career-high and 22 of those came on the power play. Kempe becoming a high-powered offensive weapon was a much-needed development for the team. Their post-Stanley Cup years saw goals dry up and the retirement of Dustin Brown and departure of contributors like Tyler Toffoli and Jeff Carter caused their offence to crater. Kempe’s evolution allowed the Kings to rebound and give Anze Kopitar necessary assistance in producing wins. It goes without saying they’ll need Kempe to keep the points flowing to keep pace the Western Conference.

Quinton Byfield

Predicted Stats
GP	G	A	PTS	PPG
82	31	40	71	0.87

Kings fans waited patiently to see 2020 No. 2 overall pick Quinton Byfield find his way in the NHL and live up to the expectations set upon him by his draft position. Although it’s taken him a few seasons to find his way out of the AHL and then to acclimate to the pace of play in the NHL, the player everyone has waited to see is here. Last season, Byfield scored 20 goals with 35 assists (55 points) and the spot on the top line with Anze Kopitar he earned two seasons ago began to pay real offensive dividends. At 6-foot-five, 220 pounds along with good speed and skill, he’s a very difficult player to contain whether he has the puck or not. What’s helped make him more difficult to contain is how hard he works along the boards and in corners. With his size and reach it’s hard for opposing players to handle him. Byfield teaming up with Kopitar and Adrian Kempe gave the Kings a line that offered up three players with a wide array of skills. That combination makes it exceedingly tough for opposing teams to matchup with them, even more so now that Byfield has adapted to the NHL and maximized the use of his talents. At 22 years old, he’s just getting started and his future looks bright.

Phillip Danault

Predicted Stats
GP	G	A	PTS	PPG
80	16	28	44	0.55

Even though Anze Kopitar is renowned for his outstanding two-way play as a great scorer and even better defender, Philip Danault’s game has evolved to the point where he’s cut from the same cloth. Danault has long been a great defensive forward dating back to his time with the Montreal Canadiens and even though his offensive abilities were apparent there, landing with the Kings, he’s flourished averaging more than 50 points per season in L.A. He posted 17 goals and 30 assists last season, his first one with the Kings in which he had fewer than 50 points, but the success his linemates, Trevor Moore (57 points) and Kevin Fiala (73 points), had in generating offence together meant he was doing a lot that didn’t wind up on the score sheet to help facilitate it. Danault’s ability to help control possession and the flow of play through generating more shot attempts than his opponents have been strong throughout his career and that has helped his linemates over the past few years, particularly Moore, to find more offensive success. With Fiala joining that line two seasons ago, it’s now a much more dangerous group to contain and overwhelmingly difficult to get the puck away from. With a skill mix like that, Danault can continue to lean into what makes him so good while also sending his wings up the ice and on their way to the net.

Trevor Moore

Predicted Stats
GP	G	A	PTS	PPG
82	26	32	58	0.71

Why can’t the Toronto Maple Leafs find guys like Trevor Moore? Turns out they do, but they just trade them elsewhere anyway like they did with Trevor Moore. While Moore couldn’t crack his way into the Leafs lineup years ago, landing in Los Angeles as part of a trade that sent Jack Campbell and Kyle Clifford to Toronto was what he needed to flourish. The Thousand Oaks, California native landed in his hometown and turned into an effective defensive forward that evolved into a two-way threat and goal scoring machine with the Kings last season. Moore scored a career-high 31 goals last season and set a new career-high in points with 57. Out of those 31 goals, 27 of them came at even strength and he also potted two more each on the power play and penalty kill. It’s remarkable to watch Moore become an extremely valuable second line winger in L.A. where he’s teamed up with Philip Danault to provide them with another capable scoring line behind Anze Kopitar’s first line. Moore’s aggressive play and pursuit of pucks allows him to force opponents into mistakes as well as being able to drive and crash the net to create scoring chances. That he plays in all situations highlights his importance to the team and they’ve been rewarded by seeing him evolve into an all-around threat. Now that he’s got confidence to shoot more often, both he and the Kings are reaping the benefits.

Warren Foegele

Predicted Stats
GP	G	A	PTS	PPG
82	17	24	41	0.50

The Kings were able to replace Viktor Arvidsson, who signed with Edmonton as a free agent, by taking one of the Oilers’ free agents in Warren Foegele to replace him. What’s ironic is their production last season was eerily similar. With the Oilers, in a depth role on the third and fourth lines, Foegele scored 20 goals with 21 assists and averaged just under 14 minutes per game. Getting 20 goals out of someone that’s not playing in a prime offensive role is like getting bonus offence and while Edmonton and Los Angeles don’t play similar styles in any way, Foegele’s history as a 20-to-30-point scorer in his career with Carolina and Edmonton hints what’s a likelier outcome for his production. Foegele cashed in on his career year to net a three-year, $10.5 million deal from the Kings, but if his contract year was a sign of things to come and not an outlier, that deal is a steal. And even if it turns out to be a classic contract year, having a player capable of generating offence like that lower in the lineup helps the Kings’ depth immensely. Since he’ll likely wind up on the third line, they’ll be hoping he can pick up where he left off to give the team a necessary offensive lift in the bottom six.

Tanner Jeannot

Predicted Stats
GP	G	A	PTS	PPG
74	8	13	21	0.28

When the Tampa Bay Lightning gave up a boatload of picks to acquire Tanner Jeannot and then re-signed him to a new deal, the thought was he would build off the big offensive output and physical play he showed in Nashville. That plan didn’t pan out and the Lightning, in sore need of getting their salary cap in order, dealt Jeannot to the Kings for a pair of draft picks. The 24-goal, 41-point season Jeannot posted with the Predators in 2021-2022 is a distant memory at this point, but the Kings acquired him not so much in hopes that maybe he can do it again with them but to be a physical presence in their bottom six and serve as a bit of an enforcer for what will be a relatively young bottom six forward group. Jeannot had seven goals and seven assists with Tampa Bay last season to go along with 75 penalty minutes. His 211 hits were the fewest he’s delivered during his three full NHL seasons, but when you consider he did that in only 55 games, it dictates exactly what he’s going to bring to the Kings lineup. Even though his hit total was tied for 25th most in the league, his 19.15 hits per 60 minutes played was seventh highest in the league among players with 45 or more games played. He may not specifically be an enforcer, but good luck to anyone in the Western Conference eager and willing to challenge him.

Arthur Kaliyev

Predicted Stats
GP	G	A	PTS	PPG
58	12	13	25	0.43

The 23-year-old 2019 second-round pick of the Kings, Arthur Kaliyev, has had a frustrating career to this point in the NHL. Last season, he had the worst season of his three in the NHL with seven goals and eight assists in 51 games, a dramatic drop from the gains he made in the previous two seasons in which he had 27 and 28 points respectively. Kaliyev has been limited to playing fourth line minutes and as an offensively gifted player from his time in junior hockey, playing limited minutes on a line meant to eat tougher defensive assignments doesn’t lend itself to his strengths. What’s even tougher is he hasn’t played in the AHL since 2020-2021. Two seasons ago, he missed nearly two months of action because of injury, which limited him to 55 games. But playing in just 51 games last season in what was a tumultuous season with coach Todd McLellan getting fired and replaced by Jim Hiller is ominous. Kaliyev was a restricted free agent this summer and although the Kings tendered him a qualifying offer, where he fits into their plans moving ahead is unclear. Ideally, he should be playing with more skilled linemates, but that time isn’t easy to come by, especially when the performance doesn’t merit it.

Alex Laferriere

Predicted Stats
GP	G	A	PTS	PPG
82	14	18	32	0.39

Alex Laferriere made the most of his rookie campaign in the NHL last season. In 81 games he scored 12 goals with 11 assists and played consistently in the Kings bottom six forward group. With stiff competition for ice time and games among that group, the consistency he showed when he played college hockey with Harvard two seasons ago proved to be of great benefit to him to be able to jump right into the NHL. Laferriere averaged just over 13 minutes of ice time per game and played on a line with Pierre-Luc Dubois most of the time (705 minutes together at five-on-five). With Dubois traded to Washington this summer, where Laferriere slots into the lineup and with whom will be interesting to see. He played with a host of other players on the wing last season and none of them really offer any hints, but a spot on the third line would seem most likely because of his two-way ability. Even though Laferriere didn’t play a ton of minutes, he did find some time on the power play and scored two goals on the man advantage. If he can add to his offensive game, a regular spot on the second power play wouldn’t be out of the question. He’s just starting his career, but with how quickly he forced his way into the lineup, we’re likely to see much more from the New Jersey native this season.

DEFENCE

Drew Doughty

Predicted Stats
GP	G	A	PTS	PPG
80	12	38	50	0.63

It was just a few seasons ago that injuries seemed to conspire to keep Drew Doughty out of the Kings lineup and cast doubt on how much longer he’d be able to play at a top level in the NHL. After the past two seasons and good health, even age isn’t slowing him down. Doughty was the Kings top offensive producer from the blue line with 15 goals and 35 assists, his second straight 50-point season (he had 52 points two years ago). It was the most goals he’s scored in a season since his second season in the league in 2009-2010 and seven of those tallies came on the power play. Doughty has scored 50-or-more points in a season five times in his career and that he’s done it in each of the past two seasons is incredible. This season, he turns 35 years old and as the unquestioned No. 1 defenceman in Los Angeles he’ll be counted on to lead the way on their top pair and top power play unit and their first penalty kill unit as well. Seeing the power in his shots from the blue line, his adept handling of the puck, and the confident swagger in his game again is wonderful to see in action and if he continues to play like this (and stays healthy), the Kings will be a difficult team to deal with in the West.

Michael Anderson

Predicted Stats
GP	G	A	PTS	PPG
78	4	22	26	0.33

What’s allowed the Kings top defence pair to work so well is having true counterparts working together as a unit. While Drew Doughty is the puck-moving, point-producing maven, Michael Anderson is the guy who does the dirty work in minding the defensive zone. Anderson’s excellent positional play and strong physical play at the blue line allows Doughty to have the freedom to play like he once did. While Anderson makes sure to always be the last man back, Doughty has the confidence to be able to jump into plays deeper in the offensive zone. Attacking as a five-man unit can take a few different forms and for the Kings that means Doughty joins the forwards and Anderson allows the rest of them to go for goals. It's not as if Anderson doesn’t get points, it’s just that’s not his priority. In 74 games last season he had two goals and 16 assists. What bears watching is whether his usage will change at all with Matt Roy gone to Washington in free agency. Roy was the top defensive defenceman for them the past few seasons, but with him gone it may be up to Anderson and Vladislav Gavrikov to pick up the slack there. New addition Joel Edmundson figures to be part of that rotation on the penalty kill as well, but his consistency will play a role in how that works.

Vladislav Gavrikov

Predicted Stats
GP	G	A	PTS	PPG
80	4	19	23	0.29

In Vladislav Gavrikov’s first full season with the Kings, he proved why the team made the right move when they traded for him at the deadline two seasons ago. Gavrikov played 77 games and had six goals and 17 assists. His 23 points were the second most he’s had in a season in his five seasons in the NHL. Those are virtually bonus points to get because his role is meant to be a stopper and not a scorer and he proved to be good at that, too. Gavrikov averaged more than 20 minutes of ice time per game and even though he wasn’t a heavy hitter, he was a key shot blocker with 114 of them, fourth most among defencemen and on the team. At 6-foot-3, 220 pounds, Gavrikov is a strong presence on the ice and his ability to use his size to win board battles and get in front of shots makes him an ideal fit on any team, but he’s also solid with the puck as well and that’s what helps him out with the role he has. Gavrikov’s defence partner last season was Matt Roy and now that he’s gone, who he’ll pair up with is a big question to be answered during training camp. It’s a possibility the lefthanded shot will play in a counterpart role with either Brandt Clarke or Jordan Spence who are quicker, puck-moving right-shot defenders. Adopting that kind of role could mean Gavrikov blocks more shots and perhaps gets more physical as well.

GOAL

Darcy Kuemper

Predicted Stats
GP	W	L	OT	SO	SV%	GAA
65	26	21	7	3	0.906	2.58

Pheonix Copley

The NHL doesn't often see starting goaltenders of note leave a team and head back years later unless they're looking to take a victory lap before retirement. That makes the two-year deal signed by Darcy Kuemper to rejoin the Los Angeles Kings this upcoming season more than a little intriguing. The injury-riddled Kuemper, fresh off the worst statistical season of his entire NHL career, will cost the Pacific Division club double what last year's starter Cam Talbot fetched in free agency with the Detroit Red Wings. But Kuemper, who brings an imposing presence in net and stellar depth control under the right coaching, brings two things to the Kings that Talbot can't - he's three years younger, and he has a Stanley Cup ring. Those two considerations may have been the driving force for the Kings when deciding to bring back a goaltender who once served as a brief member of the long list of backups for Jonathan Quick. Los Angeles sits in a unique position as a team that could enter one final, brief window for aging superstars Drew Doughty and Anze Kopitar, and Kuemper - who Director of Goaltending Bill Ranford knows well as a former student - could be the perfect add to keep the team competitive in a historically weak Pacific Division.

The Kings didn't bother letting go of either of their two backups from last season, despite middling numbers from Pheonix Copley and a likely desire to see more ice time from David Rittich. But given Kuemper's lengthy history of bumps and bruises, this is a smart play; there's no real standout between Rittich and Copley, but both can serviceably take the reins when (and if) needed.

2024 NHL Playoff Preview: Edmonton Oilers vs. Los Angeles Kings

Robert Howard — Mon, 22 Apr 2024 19:23:41 +0000

EDMONTON, AB - MARCH 28: Edmonton Oilers Right Wing Zach Hyman (18) battlesLos Angeles Kings Defenceman Matt Roy (3) and Los Angeles Kings Right Wing Adrian Kempe (9) for the puck in the first period of the Edmonton Oilers game versus the Los Angeles Kings on March 28 2024, at Rogers Place in Edmonton, AB. (Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire)

Edmonton Oilers vs. Los Angeles Kings

Is it better to face the devil you know? The Oilers and Kings will find out when they meet for the third consecutive season in the playoffs. The Oilers prevailed in the first two meetings, producing a come from behind victory in a seven-game series in 2022, while requiring six-games to eliminate them in 2023. The Oilers won their head-to-head matchup in the season, winning three of four games with a relatively low scoring goal differential of 11 to 9. The Kings held the powerful Oilers to only 2.75 goals per game, and will carry anything they feel unresolved in two closely fought series, into this one with them. The Oilers are confident. The Kings will want revenge.

While the core players are deeply familiar with each other, both teams will have new leadership behind the bench. The Oilers made an early coaching change after stumbling out of the gate under Jay Woodcroft and replacing him with Kris Noblauch in November. The Kings hired Jim Hillier to replace Todd McLellan in February. Since the change, the Oilers produced the best record in the league (69GP-46W-18L-5OT) as McDavid returned to health and the offense surged. The Kings were ninth (35GP-21W-12L-1OT) under Hillier from February on and improved enough to secure a playoff spot. The biggest change he brought was in implementing a 1-3-1 defensive system, which tightened up a unit that seemed to struggle with consistency early, after a good start.

It is a classic battle between a potent offense and a stifling defense. Edmonton is one of the top offensive teams in the league, both at even strength (ranked 1^st with 3.2 xGF/60 at 5v5) and the powerplay (ranked 3^rd with 10.08 xGF/60 – 4^th at 26.3% overall). Los Angeles is one of the top defensive teams in the league and ranked fourth at both 5-on-5 (2.29 xGA/60) and the power play (2.29 xGA/60). It will feature two gifted scorers in centremen Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl against two elite shutdown pivots in Anze Kopitar and Philip Danault.

Knoblauch had success separating Draisaitl and McDavid for much of the season allowing them to drive their own lines, something that has been a challenge for past coaches. Uniting on a devastating power play, they represent the best one-two punch in the league. The supporting cast up front was bolstered by late season additions in Adam Henrique, Corey Perry and Sam Carrick. They have provided depth, and Henrique was enjoying a good season with Anaheim, bringing with him versatility as an excellent faceoff man and complementary winger in the top six of in a shutdown role on the third line.

Hillier has spread out the scoring across all four lines, deploying Kevin Fiala and Pierre Luc Dubois in the bottom six. Dubois has had a disappointing season, perhaps earning his spot on the fourth line, but did show signs of turning it around later in the season. Quinton Byfield enjoyed a breakout season at 21 years old but faded down the stretch. They are both improved but may be asking a lot for them to be difference makers in the playoffs.

Both teams have improved but there is still a sizable offensive advantage for the Oilers up front.

However, on defense, the Kings own the advantage, but it is mitigated by an improved Oilers group. Mattias Ekholm has had an outstanding season and provided the stability they were looking for when acquired at the trade deadline last year. He has allowed Evan Bouchard to blossom into a premier offensive defenseman, while contributing 45 points of his own, including 26 points in his last 30 games. The Oilers defense has been a question mark in the past. The Kings may not match that offensive firepower, but their top two pairings of Mikey Anderson and Drew Doughty along with Vladislav Gavrikov and Matt Roy are very effective defensively. As a foursome they are one of the more effective in the league at shutting the door when called upon. They will face tremendous pressure game in, game out in a long series against a hungry, lethal Oilers machine.

KEY MATCHUPS

McDavid and Draisaitl Vs. Danault and Kopitar – As discussed above, containing the dynamic duo, along with 50-goal scorer Zach Hyman will be critical to any hopes the Kings have. They have two of the best for the job.

The bottom six – LA has balanced their four lines with some scoring ability on each. Will the late season additions by the Oilers be enough to counter? Has Pierre Luc Dubois improved in the late season enough to be a factor in depth scoring? It could be a critical factor for the unsung crew to rise up on occasion if the Kings have success minimizing the damage up on the top two lines.

Cam Talbot Vs. Stuart Skinner – The sophomore versus the resurgent veteran. Cam Talbot has been a nice surprise in the net for the Kings. He is well supported by their strong system so only needs to be solid to be effective. Skinner and the Oilers goalies struggled early in the season, but he seemed to settle down after the coaching change and has been consistent, and reminiscent of his strong rookie season. Neither is expected to be the savior of their respective squad, but exceeding expectations for either of them would be a valuable boost.

X-FACTOR

Los Angeles - The ability of the Kings defensive system to slow the Oilers down in transition, clog up the neutral zone, and create turnovers. If they can frustrate the Oilers early and steal a game in Edmonton, the momentum along with experienced leadership with Stanley Cup rings in the room provide a path for the Kings.

Edmonton – How hungry is Connor McDavid for his first Stanley Cup ring? Now firmly settled in his prime and joined by the strongest supporting cast he has had yet; can he lead them home? He should answer affirmatively and, if possible, raise his game yet again, as the great ones do.

FANTASY PLAYERS TO TARGET

Edmonton – Outside of the big names, Warren Foegele has proven to be a staple on Leon Draisaitl right side and playing for a contract. He has shown consistent improvement and could be a surprise. Adam Henrique has not lit up the scoreboard in Edmonton like he did in Anaheim but is currently starting the series on Connor McDavid’s left wing. We have already mentioned Mattias Ekholm’s finish. It does not appear to be a fluke. He is playing that well.

Los Angeles – Looking at production since the coaching change Feb 2, Adriam Kempe has led the scoring with 32 points in 29 games followed by Kevin Fiala with 30 in 34 games, and Anze Kopitar finding his point a game ways again with 29 in 33 games. Quinton Byfield finished very quietly with nine points in 23 games. It might be asking a lot for a 21-year-old to be a difference maker with the stakes this high. Since March 1, Trevor Moore has 17 points in 23 games.

PREDICTION

This will be a hard-fought battle with familiarity likely to provide plenty of contempt. Edmonton’s offence will prove too much over the course of the series and should take it in six games.

All Stats courtesy of www.naturalstattrick.com

McKeen’s 2024 NHL Playoff Pool Picklist

Robert Howard — Sat, 20 Apr 2024 17:01:11 +0000

COLUMBUS, OH - FEBRUARY 25: Edmonton Oilers center Connor McDavid #97 prior to the game between the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Edmonton Oilers at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio on February 25, 2023. (Photo by Jason Mowry/Icon Sportswire)

In kicking off our 2024 NHL Playoff Pool coverage, Scott Cullen did an excellent breakdown of how to strategize for your pool. We recommend you give it a read and can link here.

The picklist below largely follows the strategy laid out in his article focusing on these broad categories – 1) Diversify 2) Stacking 3) First Round Winners 4) Power Play 5) Late Season Production 6) Injuries 7) Targeting playoff performers. Every playoff season will be different, of course, and simply following the Stanley Cup odds laid in many places including BetGM will provide a picture of which teams you should focus on with your picks to make the final, but the path to that result will vary. They currently have the Carolina Hurricanes (650) and the Colorado Avalanche (700) as odds on favourites to meet in the Stanley Cup Final, followed closely by Florida Panthers (700), Dallas Stars (800), Edmonton Oilers (800) and the New York Rangers (900).

If we look at McKeen’s team predictions for each of the first round series it becomes clear some teams have an easier path and their players will provide the best odds to play the most games. Lets look at how the brackets might shake out.

WESTERN CONFERENCE

Dallas Vs. Vegas – We have Dallas winning in seven in a very hard-fought battle. A deep Dallas team versus the defending Champion who boasts several high-profile additions to end the season.

Winnipeg Vs. Colorado – This should be another war with the potential of a Winnipeg upset if Connor Hellebuyck rises to the occasion and Georgiev continues his late season struggles. Colorado should triumph in seven games.

Second Round Matchup: Colorado vs Dallas - The winner of these two close series meet and it means one of the highly ranked Colorado or Dallas will eliminate each other in the second round, assuming no upset in the first.

Edmonton Vs. Los Angeles – Edmonton should have the depth and firepower to take Los Angeles in six as we have predicted.

Vancouver Vs. Nashville – We hesitate to underestimate Nashville again, and this could be a close contest, but feel confident Vancouver will take it in six.

Second Round Matchup: Edmonton vs Vancouver – This should make for a thrilling series, but McDavid and company looked on a mission in the second half and should proceed to the conference final in six.

Therefore, the conference final in the west is projected to be Edmonton versus Colorado or Dallas (two very closely matched teams).

EASTERN CONFRENCE

Florida Vs. Tampa Bay – The recent two-time Stanley Cup champion meets last year’s finalist in the first round. While Tampa’s core may be aging, they are still a real threat if they get rolling. Florida showed they know how to win in the playoffs last year as well. Two goaltenders who can steal a series may make this a potential upset, but Florida should prevail in six.

Boston Vs. Toronto – Old nemesis meet again in the first round. Boston has beaten Toronto consistently in the playoffs in recent years and won all head-to-head matchups this season. There are questions about both teams, but the series should go seven and really could go either way.

Second Round Matchup: Boston Vs. Florida – with both series offering potential upsets, Florida players are ranked higher than Boston, and have ranked some high scoring Leafs and reasonable picks given they could well make it to the second round and can provide a challenge for both teams.

Carolina Vs. New York Islanders – A deep Carolina team adding some significant pieces at the deadline and should beat the Islanders here in five games.

New York Rangers Vs. Washington – The Rangers should be heavy favourites in this series and should beat the Capital in five or six games.

Second Round Matchup: - Carolina vs New York Rangers – of the second-round matchups this is the one we are most comfortable predicting. It should be a close series with the Hurricanes moving on to the Conference Final against Florida.

The following picklist is based on those possible outcomes. The first round offers some interesting matchups that could leave a favourite or two on the outside looking in early. Stack up on the teams you feel have the best odds of taking the cup but understand there are always upsets. Looking at the above, the teams with the easiest path to the conference final are Edmonton and Carolina. Colorado and Dallas are favourites of both the oddsmakers and ourselves to win a cup, but one of them will bow out by the second round. Florida has depth but will have to go through Tampa and either Boston or Toronto.

Good luck whichever strategy you choose.

Subscribers can download an excel version of this list in subscriber downloads

RANK	Player	Team	Pos	GP	G	A	P	+/-	PIM	P/GP	EVG	EVP	PPG	PPP
1	Connor McDavid	EDM	C	76	32	100	132	35	30	1.74	24	87	7	44
2	Nathan MacKinnon	COL	C	82	51	89	140	35	42	1.71	41	92	10	48
3	Sebastian Aho	CAR	C	78	36	53	89	34	36	1.14	24	55	11	32
4	Jake Guentzel	CAR	C	67	30	47	77	25	22	1.15	25	55	5	22
5	Leon Draisaitl	EDM	C	81	41	65	106	26	76	1.31	20	65	21	39
6	Mikko Rantanen	COL	R	80	42	62	104	19	50	1.3	28	64	14	40
7	Cale Makar	COL	D	77	21	69	90	15	16	1.17	13	47	7	39
8	Sam Reinhart	FLA	C	82	57	37	94	29	31	1.15	25	55	27	34
9	Matthew Tkachuk	FLA	L	80	26	62	88	19	88	1.1	19	55	6	32
10	Aleksander Barkov	FLA	C	73	23	57	80	33	24	1.1	18	49	5	29
11	Artemi Panarin	NYR	L	82	49	71	120	18	24	1.46	38	75	11	44
12	Jason Robertson	DAL	L	82	29	51	80	19	22	0.98	20	52	9	28
13	Roope Hintz	DAL	C	80	30	35	65	26	22	0.81	19	42	8	19
14	Seth Jarvis	CAR	C	81	33	34	67	23	14	0.83	18	44	13	20
15	Andrei Svechnikov	CAR	R	59	19	33	52	13	58	0.88	14	35	5	17
16	Evan Bouchard	EDM	D	81	18	64	82	34	32	1.01	10	47	8	35
17	Zach Hyman	EDM	L	80	54	23	77	36	48	0.96	39	57	15	20
18	Valeri Nichushkin	COL	R	54	28	25	53	5	22	0.98	12	30	16	21
19	Nikita Kucherov	TBL	R	81	44	100	144	8	22	1.78	31	91	13	53
20	Auston Matthews	TOR	C	81	69	38	107	31	20	1.32	51	77	18	29
21	David Pastrnak	BOS	R	82	47	63	110	21	47	1.34	35	75	12	35
22	Jack Eichel	VGK	C	63	31	37	68	4	27	1.08	20	44	11	22
23	Ryan Nugent-Hopkins	EDM	C	80	18	49	67	10	36	0.84	14	38	4	26
24	Joe Pavelski	DAL	C	82	27	40	67	12	20	0.82	16	46	11	21
25	Matt Duchene	DAL	C	80	25	40	65	15	20	0.81	19	49	6	16
26	Mika Zibanejad	NYR	C	81	26	46	72	15	30	0.89	12	35	12	31
27	Martin Necas	CAR	C	77	24	29	53	-9	42	0.69	16	40	8	13
28	Vincent Trocheck	NYR	C	82	25	52	77	16	55	0.94	13	52	11	24
29	Chris Kreider	NYR	L	82	39	36	75	19	26	0.91	19	41	18	29
30	William Nylander	TOR	R	82	40	58	98	1	24	1.2	26	59	11	35
31	Mitch Marner	TOR	R	69	26	59	85	21	18	1.23	17	57	8	27
32	Adam Fox	NYR	D	72	17	56	73	21	36	1.01	10	38	6	33
33	Miro Heiskanen	DAL	D	71	9	45	54	8	36	0.76	7	33	2	21
34	Carter Verhaeghe	FLA	C	76	34	38	72	17	36	0.95	26	51	8	21
35	Mark Stone	VGK	R	56	16	37	53	1	22	0.95	10	35	4	14
36	Wyatt Johnston	DAL	C	82	32	33	65	14	38	0.79	26	52	3	10
37	Casey Mittelstadt	COL	C	80	18	39	57	10	32	0.71	15	48	3	9
38	Jonathan Drouin	COL	L	79	19	37	56	12	28	0.71	14	37	5	19
39	Artturi Lehkonen	COL	L	45	16	18	34	11	14	0.76	9	22	7	12
40	Sam Bennett	FLA	C	69	20	21	41	17	100	0.59	15	29	5	12
41	Vladimir Tarasenko	FLA	R	76	23	32	55	13	12	0.72	20	46	3	9
42	Jamie Benn	DAL	L	82	21	39	60	8	41	0.73	13	35	7	22
43	Tyler Seguin	DAL	C	68	25	27	52	10	26	0.76	22	42	3	8
44	J.T. Miller	VAN	C	81	37	66	103	32	58	1.27	25	61	10	40
45	Quinn Hughes	VAN	D	82	17	75	92	38	38	1.12	12	54	5	38
46	Elias Pettersson	VAN	C	82	34	55	89	20	12	1.09	21	56	13	31
47	Brad Marchand	BOS	L	82	29	38	67	2	78	0.82	19	37	7	26
48	Charlie Coyle	BOS	C	82	25	35	60	-2	38	0.73	17	44	7	11
49	Jonathan Marchessault	VGK	R	82	42	27	69	-2	40	0.84	34	52	8	17
50	Tomas Hertl	VGK	C	54	17	21	38	-28	22	0.7	10	26	6	11
51	Teuvo Teravainen	CAR	L	76	25	28	53	15	10	0.7	15	32	9	17
52	Mason Marchment	DAL	L	81	22	31	53	22	54	0.65	16	42	6	11
53	Thomas Harley	DAL	D	79	15	32	47	28	18	0.59	13	37	1	9
54	John Tavares	TOR	C	80	29	36	65	2	30	0.81	20	45	9	20
55	Pavel Zacha	BOS	C	78	21	38	59	12	18	0.76	15	44	6	15
56	Brayden Point	TBL	C	81	46	44	90	-16	14	1.11	31	58	15	32
57	Steven Stamkos	TBL	C	79	40	41	81	-21	34	1.03	21	42	19	39
58	Victor Hedman	TBL	D	78	13	63	76	18	76	0.97	9	45	4	31
59	Brandon Hagel	TBL	L	82	26	49	75	1	79	0.91	24	66	2	7
60	Evander Kane	EDM	L	77	24	20	44	-4	85	0.57	21	36	2	7
61	Logan Stankoven	DAL	C	24	6	8	14	10	4	0.58	5	12	1	2
62	Devon Toews	COL	D	82	12	38	50	28	18	0.61	12	43	0	5
63	Charlie McAvoy	BOS	D	74	12	35	47	4	86	0.64	11	34	1	13
64	Morgan Rielly	TOR	D	72	7	51	58	7	27	0.81	6	38	1	20
65	Brock Boeser	VAN	R	81	40	33	73	23	14	0.9	24	48	16	25
66	Alexis Lafrenière	NYR	L	82	28	29	57	2	40	0.7	26	51	2	6
67	Mark Scheifele	WPG	C	74	25	47	72	19	57	0.97	19	54	6	18
68	Kyle Connor	WPG	L	65	34	27	61	-6	6	0.94	29	42	5	19
69	Chandler Stephenson	VGK	C	75	16	35	51	-9	25	0.68	10	35	4	13
70	Mattias Ekholm	EDM	D	79	11	34	45	44	47	0.57	8	41	2	3
71	Josh Morrissey	WPG	D	81	10	59	69	34	44	0.85	8	50	2	19
72	Ross Colton	COL	C	80	17	23	40	-8	61	0.5	14	35	3	5
73	Warren Foegele	EDM	L	82	20	21	41	3	47	0.5	18	38	1	1
74	Brady Skjei	CAR	D	80	13	34	47	15	40	0.59	11	31	1	12
75	Brent Burns	CAR	D	82	10	33	43	19	20	0.52	5	22	4	20
76	William Karlsson	VGK	C	70	30	30	60	15	22	0.86	22	43	7	15
77	Shea Theodore	VGK	D	47	5	37	42	4	6	0.89	3	27	2	15
78	Filip Forsberg	NSH	L	82	48	46	94	16	43	1.15	35	62	13	32
79	Roman Josi	NSH	D	82	23	62	85	12	45	1.04	14	51	9	33
80	Sean Monahan	WPG	C	83	26	33	59	-1	12	0.71	15	36	9	21
81	Gustav Forsling	FLA	D	79	10	29	39	56	43	0.49	9	37	1	2
82	Brandon Montour	FLA	D	66	8	25	33	1	46	0.5	7	16	1	17
83	Mathew Barzal	NYI	C	80	23	57	80	-4	34	1	18	55	5	25
84	Noah Dobson	NYI	D	79	10	60	70	12	36	0.89	9	45	1	24
85	Nikolaj Ehlers	WPG	L	82	25	36	61	27	29	0.74	25	54	0	7
86	Tyler Toffoli	WPG	C	79	33	22	55	-6	14	0.7	22	37	11	18
87	Cole Perfetti	WPG	C	71	19	19	38	13	12	0.54	14	27	5	11
88	Gabriel Vilardi	WPG	C	47	22	14	36	11	14	0.77	13	22	9	14
89	Anthony Duclair	TBL	L	73	24	18	42	-8	34	0.58	19	30	5	12
90	Brock Nelson	NYI	C	82	34	35	69	-5	28	0.84	24	48	9	19
91	Bo Horvat	NYI	C	81	33	35	68	-1	39	0.84	22	48	10	18
92	Adrian Kempe	LAK	R	77	28	47	75	13	72	0.97	20	44	5	27
93	Kevin Fiala	LAK	L	82	29	44	73	1	62	0.89	18	43	11	30
94	Anze Kopitar	LAK	C	81	26	44	70	11	22	0.86	16	44	9	23
95	Jake DeBrusk	BOS	L	80	19	21	40	4	18	0.5	15	28	2	10
96	Tyler Bertuzzi	TOR	L	80	21	22	43	2	53	0.54	16	37	5	6
97	Ivan Barbashev	VGK	C	82	19	26	45	15	42	0.55	16	40	3	5
98	Gustav Nyquist	NSH	C	81	23	52	75	7	8	0.93	17	49	5	24
99	Ryan O'Reilly	NSH	C	82	26	43	69	6	18	0.84	12	41	14	28
100	Max Domi	TOR	C	80	9	38	47	10	118	0.59	8	45	1	2

NHL: DADOUN – THE FANTASY WEEK AHEAD (March 11th to 17th) – Post-NHL Trade Deadline Impact – Favourable schedules and players to target

Ryan Dadoun — Sun, 10 Mar 2024 18:06:59 +0000

_{OTTAWA, ON - OCTOBER 14: Ottawa Senators Right Wing Vladimir Tarasenko (91) after a whistle during second period National Hockey League action between the Philadelphia Flyers and Ottawa Senators on October 14, 2023, at Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa, ON, Canada. (Photo by Richard A. Whittaker/Icon Sportswire)}

The trade deadline is behind us and it certainly was eventful. Although we didn’t get a lot of trades in the leadup to the final week -- just four deals in all of February -- general managers made up for lost time with six trades on Wednesday, 10 on Thursday and 23 on the final day.

This isn’t a winners and losers column, but if it was, Vegas would naturally be at the top of the winners list. The rest of the league might be annoyed at the Golden Knights’ seemingly unending ability to make blockbusters, but as a fan of one of the other 31 franchises, I suspect a lot of that is just because we collectively wish that our general manager had a bit more of Kelly McCrimmon’s boldness and the ownership for the teams we rooted for were a bit more willing to green-light whatever it takes to win.

Vegas added forwards Anthony Mantha and Tomas Hertl as well as Noah Hanifin on Friday. Clearly, the Golden Knights are gearing up for a defence of their Stanley Cup championships -- despite some lacklustre play of late -- but these aren’t exclusively win-now moves. Hertl is signed through 2029-30 and with the Sharks retaining part of his contract, he comes at a reasonable $6.75 million annually for the Golden Knights over that span. Mantha and Hanifin are on expiring contracts, but it is possible Vegas will be able to retain Hanifin’s services long-term.

Carolina also had a pretty interesting trade season with the additions of Evgeny Kuznetsov and Jake Guentzel. Kuznetsov, who has just six goals and 17 points through 43 games this season, is definitely a risk, but it will be interesting to see if a fresh start does him any good. If nothing else, the addition of Guentzel should bolster what was already a pretty solid offense.

Florida also upgraded its forward corps by adding Vladimir Tarasenko. After falling just short of the Cup last year, I’d at the very least say that the Panthers are the team to beat in the East. The only reason why I hesitate to call the Panthers the outright Cup favourites is that I love Vancouver and Colorado in the west.

The Avalanche in particular are looking strong after grabbing Casey Mittelstadt, albeit at the high price of Bowen Byram. Colorado’s offense is the best in the league at 3.70 goals per game, but the Avalanche have been extremely reliant on Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen and defenseman Cale Makar to drive that scoring. If you were to have judged the Avalanche from their second line down, then you would have found a team that was wanting. Adding Mittelstadt does a lot to address that shortcoming, though Alexandar Georgiev’s less-than-stellar play is still a concern. The Avalanche might wish they had acquired a veteran backup come playoff time.

Of course, that’s all just scratching the surface of how the trade deadline has changed things. Let’s do a deeper dive while highlighting some of the best teams to utilize this coming week.

Anaheim Ducks - TUE @ CHI, THU @ MIN, FRI @ WPG (BTB), SUN @ STL

The Ducks don’t have much left to play for, but at least their upcoming schedule isn’t too bad. They’ll be on the road next week, playing in Chicago on Tuesday, Minnesota on Thursday, Winnipeg on Friday and St. Louis on Sunday. The Jets are the only of those adversaries in a playoff position.

Anaheim dealt away forwards Adam Henrique and Sam Carrick to Edmonton on Wednesday and acquired Ben Meyers from the Avalanche on Friday.

Meyers was in the minors before the trade, but he’s likely to remain with the Ducks for the remainder of the campaign. Don’t expect too much from him, though. He had six goals in 53 career contests over parts of three seasons with Colorado and is likely to serve primarily on the third line in Anaheim.

The loss of Henrique will be felt, though. He had 18 goals and 42 points in 60 contests with the Ducks this season, which was good for third in the team’s scoring race at the time of his trade. His departure might increase how much Mason McTavish is leaned on. We’ve also started to see a significant spike in Max Jones’ playing time recently -- logging over 15 minutes in each of his past three contests compared to his average of 11:43 over his first 44 outings -- and that’s likely to persist for the remainder of the season.

With the Ducks looking toward the future, Olen Zellweger is likely to stay in the NHL for the rest of the season. Although he has just two assists through his first eight contests with Anaheim, the 20-year-old defenseman has offensive upside and is getting power-play ice time, so he’d be an interesting pickup for the upcoming week given the competition.

Columbus Blue Jackets - TUE @ MTL, THU VS OTT, SAT VS SJS, SUN VS WPG (BTB)

Like Anaheim, Columbus doesn’t have any hope of making the playoffs, but next week’s schedule is still a favourable one for the Blue Jackets. They’ll play in Montreal on Tuesday before hosting the Senators on Thursday, the Sharks on Saturday and the Jets on Sunday. While Winnipeg is having a strong campaign, those other three teams are among the worst in the league.

Columbus was somewhat quiet at the deadline, but the Blue Jackets did part ways with Jack Roslovic and Andrew Peeke.

Their biggest move came earlier when they acquired Alexander Nylander from Pittsburgh on Feb. 22 in exchange for Emil Bemstrom. That wasn’t expected to be a noteworthy move, but Nylander has provided an incredible five goals and seven points in seven contests with the Blue Jackets. Nylander is likely to remain in a top-six role for the remainder of the season, so while he’s unlikely to maintain his point-per-game pace, the 26-year-old should continue to have fantasy relevance.

Roslovic was red hot too with four goals and 13 points in his last 12 games prior to the trade. He was serving primarily on the top line with Boone Jenner and Johnny Gaudreau, but now that he’s gone, Kirill Marchenko might be put in that role. Marchenko has 17 goals and 32 points in 60 contests this season, and the 23-year-old might see his offensive pace increase if he does lockdown that first-line assignment.

One player who didn’t move is goaltender Elvis Merzlikins. There was some suggestion back in January that he would welcome a trade because he was unhappy with his workload. Maybe that issue will get resolved over the summer, but Merzlikins and Daniil Tarasov are likely to share the netminding duties fairly evenly for what’s left of the season.

Detroit Red Wings - TUE @ BUF, THU VS ARI, SAT VS BUF, SUN @ PIT (BTB)

Detroit will continue its fight for a wild-card berth next week. The Red Wings will start by playing in Buffalo on Tuesday before returning home to face the Coyotes on Thursday and the Sabres on Saturday. They’ll complete the week with a game in Pittsburgh on Sunday. None of those opponents are in a playoff position, so it’s important that the Red Wings take advantage by picking up at least six points.

The Red Wings were quiet at the deadline, though to be fair, they made their major move back in November when they signed Patrick Kane. The 35-year-old has gone on to provide 13 goals and 31 points through 31 games, so they have to be happy with that addition.

They’ll need to lean on Kane even more in the short term because Dylan Larkin suffered a lower-body injury Monday that’s expected to cost him at least one more week. While Larkin’s unavailable, Joe Veleno might see his workload increase and consequently should have more short-term value in fantasy leagues.

This could also be a good week for David Perron, who is on a roll with a goal and four points over his past four games. He’s up to 13 goals and 32 points in 56 contests in 2023-24. Defenseman Olli Maatta has looked good recently too, supplying two goals and four points across his last four outings. Maatta typically isn’t a significant offensive contributor, though, so he would be at best a short-term pickup option.

Los Angeles Kings - MON VS NYI, WED @ STL, FRI @ CHI, SAT @ DAL (BTB)

The Kings hold a playoff position, but their postseason berth is far from secure. They’ll need to play next week while hosting the Islanders on Monday and then playing on the road against St. Louis, Chicago and Dallas on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, respectively.

LA didn’t add anyone at the deadline, so if the Kings are going to get into the playoffs, it’ll have to be with basically the same group they’ve had for the entire year. However, injuries have made their task even harder. Viktor Arvidsson (lower body) has played just four games in 2023-24 while Mikey Anderson (upper body) and Adrian Kempe (upper body) also might not be available next week.

At least Kevin Fiala has been doing his part. The 27-year-old forward has a superb seven goals and 13 points over his last nine games. With his marker Thursday, Fiala reached the 20-goal milestone for the fifth consecutive campaign, but he’s also exceeded 25 tallies just once in his career (2021-22). In other words, don’t count on him providing goals at his recent rate for much longer, but it wouldn’t be surprising if he still ended up having a strong finish to the season offensively.

Drew Doughty has looked good lately too, providing three goals and 12 points over his last 11 outings. Six of those points came with the man advantage, which is noteworthy because LA’s power play has been middling this season with a 22.6 percent success rate. However, the Kings have converted on 32.0 percent of their power plays over their past 11 games, and if they can keep that up, it will do wonders for Doughty’s fantasy value.

It wouldn’t mean much to Matt Roy -- he isn’t typically used with the man advantage -- but the 29-year-old blueliner has three even-strength assists across his past three games. That has brought Roy up to 20 points (three goals) through 61 contests -- this is his third straight campaign with at least 20 points.

Ottawa Senators - TUE VS PIT, THUS @ CBJ, SAT @ NYI, SUN VS CAR (BTB)

Ottawa has a relatively easy start to the week with a home contest against the Penguins and then a road match versus Columbus on Thursday. Things do pick up after that, though. The Senators will play on the road against the Islanders on Saturday in a contest that matters for the Islanders in their pursuit of a wild-card spot. Ottawa will conclude the week by hosting the Hurricanes on Sunday.

The Senators made just one trade in the leadup to the deadline, shipping Vladimir Tarasenko to Florida in exchange for a 2024 fourth-round pick and a 2025 third-round selection. That’s a minimal return for a top-six forward, but Tarasenko’s full no-trade clause tied the Senators’ hands.

Either way, Ottawa’s offense is looking a little thinner between the loss of Tarasenko and Josh Norris potentially missing the rest of the season with a shoulder injury. The top two lines going forward will be combinations of Brady Tkachuk, Shane Pinto, Drake Batherson, Mathieu Joseph, Tim Stutzle and Claude Giroux. That will work fine, but the bottom six will be a collection of whatever Ottawa can cobble together.

For example, Boris Katchouk, who was claimed off waivers from Chicago on Friday, is likely to be a regular on the third unit going forward. The 25-year-old has five goals and nine points in 38 contests this season, so he’s not exactly expected to be a scoring threat in that role. Dominik Kubalik, who has averaged 12:30 of ice time this season while providing 10 goals and 14 points across 57 contests, might see his playing time increase too. Ridly Greig might round out that third unit despite recording just three goals and four points over his past 21 appearances.

For what it’s worth, Ottawa also has the option of calling up Angus Crookshank, who has 22 goals and 43 points in 47 contests with AHL Belleville this season. He was limited to a goal and an assist during a seven-game stint with Ottawa earlier in the campaign, but the 24-year-old averaged just 8:50 of ice time. He’d almost certainly get a bigger role if Ottawa promoted him now, so keep an eye out for that.

Pittsburgh Penguins - TUE @ OTT, THU VS SJS, SAT VS NYR, SUN VS DET (BTB)

Although the Penguins’ playoff hopes are all but gone, they still have an opportunity to at least make their final weeks of the campaign interesting. Pittsburgh will play in Ottawa on Tuesday before heading home to host the Sharks on Thursday, the Rangers on Saturday and the Red Wings on Sunday.

As already noted, the Penguins traded star forward Jake Guentzel on Thursday. Pittsburgh also shipped away defenseman Chad Ruhwedel, though the club did add Michael Bunting.

Bunting is an interesting option the rest of the way. He had 13 goals and 36 points in 60 games with Carolina before the trade, which is nothing special, but with Guentzel gone, Bunting might play alongside Sidney Crosby going forward. That’s an ideal assignment that should boost Bunting’s fantasy value.

John Ludvig is the other Pittsburgh player who was significantly impacted by the trade deadline. With Ruhwedel gone, there’s an opportunity for Ludvig, who was last in the lineup on Feb. 18, to play regularly for the remainder of the season. Ludvig isn’t much of an offensive threat with just a goal and an assist through 23 games, but he’s a physical force. The 23-year-old has 23 PIM and 51 hits in 2023-24, so he might have some value to certain fantasy managers now that he’s projected to remain in the lineup.

Beyond that, I’m really interested to see how Crosby performs for the remainder of the campaign. He’s been fantastic with 32 goals and 63 points in 61 outings but has supplied only one helper across his past five appearances. It’s probably just a slump that will end soon, but this is also a new position for the 36-year-old. Crosby is used to playing on a contender. Even last year when the Penguins failed to make the playoffs, they missed by just one point.

Personally, I expect Crosby to bounce back shortly and have a solid finish to the season, but we’ll have to wait and see if being out of contention impacts his motivation more than I suspect.

San Jose Sharks - TUE @ PHI, THUS @ PIT, SAT @ CBJ, SUN @ CHI (BTB)

The Sharks will play in Philadelphia on Tuesday, but that will be their only game next week against a team in a playoff position. After that, San Jose will continue its road trip with stops in Pittsburgh on Thursday, Columbus on Saturday and Chicago on Sunday.

San Jose traded away forwards Anthony Duclair and Tomas Hertl, defenseman Nikita Okhotyuk and goaltender Kaapo Kahkonen at the deadline. The Sharks did get Vitek Vanecek from New Jersey, but the goaltender might be done for the season due to a lower-body injury. Keep in mind, the Sharks were 15-40-7 even before those trades, so to say the squad is in a sad state now would be an understatement.

With Vanecek unavailable, Mackenzie Blackwood will likely be leaned on heavily for what’s left of the season…or at least he will be once he’s recovered from a groin injury. In the meantime, San Jose’s goaltending duo are Magnus Chrona and Devin Cooley. When Blackwood is healthy, Cooley might be sent to the minors. Regardless, none of them are good options in fantasy circles given the team in front of them.

Klim Kostin might have a little bit of value, though, to fantasy managers. The Sharks acquired him from the Red Wings on Friday. He was frequently a healthy scratch in Detroit and averaged just 8:43 when he did play, but in San Jose, Kostin might be a mainstay on the third line. That likely won’t lead to him getting much offense, but Kostin could be a good source of PIM and hits -- he has 38 and 60, respectively, through 33 appearances.

William Eklund might also be able to provide a bit of a silver lining. The 21-year-old hasn’t been as productive as hoped this campaign with 10 goals and 29 points through 60 contests, but he does have two goals and four points over his last four games, so perhaps he’ll end the season on a positive note. Certainly, the Sharks will give him plenty of opportunities at both even strength and on the power play.

Winnipeg Jets - MON VS WSH, WED VS NSH, FRI VS ANA, SUN @ CBJ

The Jets will start the week at home, hosting the Capitals on Monday, the Predators on Wednesday and the Ducks on Friday. They’ll conclude the week with a road game versus the lowly Blue Jackets on Sunday.

Winnipeg added Colin Miller and Tyler Toffoli in separate trades with New Jersey on Friday, which compliments the Jets’ addition of Sean Monahan on Feb. 2. The Jets have enjoyed an effective forward trio of Mark Scheifele (19 goals and 56 points in 56 contests), Kyle Connor (26 goals and 44 points in 46 outings) and Nikolaj Ehlers (19 goals and 44 points in 62 appearances), but the team’s scoring depth up front was lacking. With Monahan and Toffoli in the mix, Winnipeg can now roll two dangerous lines with ease.

This isn’t good news for everyone, though. Cole Perfetti has a respectable 14 goals and 31 points in 61 contests this season, but the 22-year-old has been cold for a while, providing just two assists over his last 21 games. With Winnipeg’s recent upgrades, Perfetti is projected to serve strictly in a bottom-six capacity without much, if any, power-play ice time. He might even be a healthy scratch in situations where everyone is healthy.

Vladislav Namestnikov has averaged 15:04 of ice time this season, but he might see work primarily on the third line going forward. He has been effective recently, though, with two goals and five points across his last five contests while seeing time with Connor and Scheifele, so perhaps the 31-year-old will be able to avoid that demotion in the short term.

Mason Appleton has done well lately too, collecting four assists over his last three contests, but the Jets’ additions will likely push him down in the depth charts too. Although he’s averaged 16:05 in 2023-24, he might play mostly in a bottom-six capacity going forward.