Martin Necas – McKeen's Hockey

NHL: CULLEN – 20 FANTASY POINTS – PLAYOFF EDITION – Less obvious players to target

Scott Cullen — Sat, 18 Apr 2026 14:49:24 +0000

Each week, I dig into the stats to find information that can help you make better fantasy hockey decisions. This week, a look some less obvious players to target for playoff pools.

1 It’s not like a top scorer on the Stanley Cup favourites is going to be some bargain, but Martin Necas heads into the playoffs on a tear. Necas came out of the Olympic break producing on a higher level, scoring 38 points (16 G, 22 A) with 82 shots on goal in 26 games down the stretch. He’s riding shotgun with Nathan MacKinnon and Arttur Lehkonen on the top line and obviously getting first unit power play time, too. Not a surprise pick, but more a reminder not to overlook how great this player has been this season.

2 While the Los Angeles Kings keep getting beat out in the first round of the playoffs and they have the daunting matchup against the Avalanche in the first round, but Adrian Kempe is a consistent stud in the playoffs. Since the Olympic break, Kempe has 27 points (16 G, 11 A) and 70 shots on goal in 25 games. In the past four playoffs, he has put up 29 points (15 G, 14 A) with 106 shots on goal in 24 games. He has been an elite playoff performer, and it gets overlooked because it only comes in one round bursts.

3 The Minnesota Wild have tried time and again to find a different centre for their top line, but they have returned Ryan Hartman to that role, skating between Kirill Kaprizov and Mats Zuccarello, and he finished the regular season with 15 points (8 G, 7 A) and 39 shots on goal in the last 13 games. That’s already encouraging but consider that he has 16 points (4 G, 12 A) and 42 shots on goal in 17 games across his last three playoff appearances. The Wild have a tough matchup against Dallas in the first round, but Hartman is an intriguing player to watch in the postseason.

4 Future Hall of Famers don’t tend to get overlooked, but it’s always worth noting when a player has taken their game to a new level. Pittsburgh Penguins defenceman Erik Karlsson came back from the Olympics and delivered 31 points (11 G, 20 A) with 68 shots on goal in 24 games. Insane production from a 35-year-old. He has 34 points (4 G, 30 A) with 104 shots on goal in 38 games across his last two playoff appearances, though this will be his first postseason appearance since 2018-2019.

5 One of the most exciting young teams in the league, the Montreal Canadiens have a tough matchup against the Tampa Bay Lightning in the first round, but it’s not going to be an easy path for the Lightning, either. Since the Olympic break, captain Nick Suzuki ranks fifth in the league with 36 points (11 G, 25 A) in 25 games, Cole Caufield leads the league with 19 goals in 24 games, and Juraj Slafkovsky is tied for 18th with 28 points (9 G, 19 A) in 25 games. It’s early in the team’s trajectory for the Canadiens to go on a long playoff run, especially considering their mediocre possession numbers, but if their young stars show up, they could do some damage.

6 The Utah Mammoth are making their first playoff appearance and, like the Canadiens, have a group of skilled forwards that can make a difference. Clayton Keller had 34 points (9 G, 25 A) in 25 games after the Olympic break, Dylan Guenther added 26 points (25 G, 11 A) and 64 shots on goal in 24 games, and Logan Cooley, Nick Schmaltz, and Mikhail Sergachev each had at least 20 points. They may not have the playoff experience of the Vegas Golden Knights, but the Mammoth have some players who could make the first-round series very interesting.

7 One of the more remarkable parts of Boston’s strong finish to the regular season was the production that they received from veterans Pavel Zacha and Viktor Arvidsson, two players who have had very solid careers but performed like stars down the stretch. Zacha finished the regular season with 28 points (15 G, 13 A) and 44 shots on goal in 24 games. That is dependent on an inflated shooting percentage, but it’s fantastic production from a player who is not a star. Similarly, Arvidsson had 26 points (11 G, 15 A) with 51 shots on goal in his last 24 games.

8 While Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin draw most of the attention in Pittsburgh, the wingers in the supporting cast should not be ignored, especially since the Penguins have a chance to advance beyond the first round. Bryan Rust tied his career high with 65 points (29 G, 36 A) this season, finishing with 25 points and 57 shots on goal in 23 games after the Olympic break. He’s not the only one. Rickard Rakell played a bunch of centre, especially when Crosby was injured, and he had 23 points (13 G, 10 A) with 53 shots on goal in his last 20 games.

9 Two of Kyle Dubas’ best acquisitions in the past year played a big part in Pittsburgh reaching the postseason. Egor Chinakhov flashed potential with the Columbus Blue Jackets a couple of years ago, when he had 29 points (16 G, 13 A) in 53 games, but he struggled to get going at the start of this season and the Penguins swooped in, getting him for a second-round pick. They watched him grow into a role as a legitimate scoring winger who tallied 32 points (15 G, 17 A) with 86 shots on goal in his last 33 games.

10 A 20 Fantasy Poins favourite, Anthony Mantha played just 13 games last season in Calgary before tearing his ACL. The Penguins signed him as a free agent, to a one-year, $2.5 million deal that was almost assuredly intended to make him very tradeable once he proved that he could still play. He did that quickly, generating 11 points (6 G, 5 A) with 23 shots on goal in his first 12 games and then, as the Penguins continued to win, it became apparent that there would be little upside to trading a winger who was filling the net. He finished the season by scoring 19 points (12 G, 7 A) in his last 19 games on his way to career highs of 33 goals and 64 points. He has zero goals in 14 career playoff games, so this year presents a prime opportunity for Mantha to net his first postseason goal.

11 Dallas Stars veteran Matt Duchene suffered an upper-body injury early in the season, and he struggled, but once he got healthy, and then the Stars needed him to play a bigger role as injuries decimated their forward group. Duchene finished the season with 34 points (12 G, 22 A) and 54 shots on goal in his last 31 games. The shot rate is not ideal, but his role on the top power play unit and skating between Jason Robertson and Mavrik Bourque on the Stars’ second line is very encouraging. Bourque is starting to unlock his potential, too, putting up 18 points (9 G, 9 A) with 44 shots on goal in 23 games since the beginning of March.

12 The Ottawa Senators have the profile of a contending team, so even though they are facing a relentless Carolina Hurricanes squad, they should not be considered pushovers. Part of the reason to like the Sens is their scoring depth. Since the Olympic break, Drake Batherson has put up 22 points (14 G, 8 A) with 55 shots on goal in 25 games, lifting him to career highs of 33 goals and 71 points on the season.

13 Everyone is aware of Boston Bruins defenceman Charlie McAvoy. He played for Team USA at the Olympics and has been in the Top 10 of Norris Trophy voting three times in his career, but part of what he is known for is being a standout defender who does not pad his production with power play points. It’s not that he never played the power play, but it wasn’t the foundation of his production like it is for some other defenders. In the second half of the season, as the Bruins pushed for a playoff spot, McAvoy turned into one of those point-producing blueliners. In his last 41 games, McAvoy accrued 42 points (10 G, 32 A) with 66 shots on goal and 14 of those 42 points came on the power play.

14 The Philadelphia Flyers made a late charge to get into the playoffs, in part fueled by 2025 No. 6 pick Porter Martone, who scored 50 points (25 G, 25 A) in 35 games as a freshman at Michigan State then signed with the Flyers when his collegiate season was done. Martone did not waste any time upon turning pro, as he produced 10 points (4 G, 6 A) with 32 shots on goal and 16 hits in nine games. He’s a ready-made power forward and is one of the biggest reasons for the Flyers to be a threat against the Penguins in the first round.

15 The Carolina Hurricanes put pressure on their opponents from the drop of the opening puck and part of what makes it work is that they get contributions from secondary players. Look at the line of veteran left winger Taylor Hall skating with younger players Jackson Blake and Logan Stankoven. Hall has 21 points (6 G, 15 A) and 42 shots on goal in 23 games since the Olympic break, Stankoven finished the regular season with 11 points (7 G, 4 A) and 19 shots on goal during an 8-game point streak, and Blake had 13 points (3 G, 10 A) with 32 shots on goal in his last 14 games.

16 Anaheim Ducks defenceman Jackson LaCombe has seen his stock rise in the past few seasons, but this will be his first appearance in the playoffs. In the second half of the season, LaCombe contributed 35 points (4 G, 31 A) with 66 shots on goal in 41 games. The arrival of John Carlson at the trade deadline didn’t hurt LaCombe either, as he had 17 points (4 G, 13 A) in 21 games after the trade.

17 The Los Angeles Kings are fighting uphill, facing the Colorado Avalanche in the first round, but if they are going to have success, they may need a breakthrough performance from centre Quinton Byfield, who struggled to score consistently this season, but then finished with 16 points (11 G, 5 A) and 45 shots on goal in his last 16 games. Byfield’s right winger, Alex Laferriere brings the heavy physical game that should work in the postseason and Laferriere had 15 points (5 G, 10 A) with 47 shots on goal and 60 hits in his last 16 games of the regular season.

18 Carolina Hurricanes defenceman Sean Walker has surged offensively down the stretch. Since the Olympic break, Walker has 17 points (5 G, 12 A) with 55 shots on goal in 24 games, and he doesn’t depend on the man advantage to get his points as only one of his 31 points this season came via the power play.

19 Heading into the playoffs, here are some goaltenders that finished the season strong. Since the Olympic break, Montreal’s Jakub Dobes was 11-5 with a .916 save percentage. Colorado’s Scott Wedgewood was 11-2-1 with a .945 save percentage, which becomes interesting because Mackenzie Blackwood struggled. Buffalo’s Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen was 11-2-1 with a .920 save percentage, and Boston’s Jeremy Swayman was 9-6-1 with a .918 save percentage. Kings goaltender Anton Forsberg was 7-5 with a .914 save percentage, which is notable because Darcy Kuemper also had trouble down the stretch.

20 On the other hand, these goaltenders had trouble late in the season that could pose challenges in the playoffs. Utah’s Karel Vejmelka 11-6-1 but his save percentage was .883. Mackenzie Blackwood was 7-5-1 with a .884 save percentage. Carolina’s Frederik Andersen has had a tough season and finished with a 9-4 record but a .879 save percentage in his last 13 games. Anaheim’s Lukas Dostal was 9-7-2 with a .868 save percentage down the stretch. Kuemper was 5-3-6 with a .867 save percentage and Carolina’s Brandon Bussi was 8-3-1 with a .865 save percentage.

*Advanced stats via Natural Stat Trick

MCKEEN’S 2025-26 NHL YEARBOOK – COLORADO AVALANCHE – Team Preview/Player Profiles/Predictions

Sun, 21 Sep 2025 16:04:41 +0000

ST. LOUIS, MO -APRIL 05: Colorado Avalanche goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood (39) as seen before the start of the second period during a NHL game between the Colorado Avalanche and the St. Louis Blues on April 05, 2025, at Enterprise Center, St. Louis MO. (Photo by Keith Gillett/Icon Sportswire)

Although Colorado had yet another outstanding season, the result of losing Game 7 to the Dallas Stars in the first round left a bitter taste in their mouths. Seeing former teammate Mikko Rantanen succeed against them and move on in the playoffs just weeks after having captain Gabriel Landeskog return to action after nearly two years made for a roller coaster of emotion. Despite all the ups and downs throughout the season, Colorado finished with 102 points and finished in third place in the Central Division. They were the third best team in the league in CorsiFor percentage (54.1) and were eighth in expected goals for percentage (52.4) just behind Winnipeg (52.44). A midseason trade for goalie Mackenzie Blackwood turned things around quickly for them when it was apparent Alexandar Georgiev wasn’t going to be able to turn his own game around. Now with their roster seemingly set, they’ll look to avoid a slow start that had them chasing the rest of the division down all season.

What’s Changed?

Trade deadline acquisition Brock Nelson re-signed for three years, $22.5 million. Adding Nelson worked well for them late in the year and he was eager to stay in Denver. The Avalanche made some changes to help loosen their cap constraints by sending Charlie Coyle and Miles Wood to Colorado for prospect Gavin Brindley and a pair of draft picks. That added flexibility let them sign Brent Burns on a one-year, $1 million deal, re-signed Josh Manson for two years, $7.9 million and Joel Kirivanta for one year, $1.25 million. They also added scoring winger Victor Olofsson from Vegas as a free agent for one year, $1.57 million. All of those players are specialists at what they do and with their key players already set, this is how a team with eyes on the Stanley Cup handles the roster.

What Would Success Look Like?

It was three years ago that the Avalanche won the Stanley Cup and they’ve had their gaze set on winning it again ever since. Instead, they’ve lost in the first round twice and the second round once and that’s what must change. After bowing out to Dallas this year, it brought about questions as to whether they needed to change coach Jared Bednar. These are like first-world problems for contending teams, but with the overall talent level the Avalanche has with Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar, Landeskog, Devon Toews and Martin Necas, they can win the Stanley Cup. The key to doing that will be winning the Central Division, however, and staying out of a potential first-round battle with Winnipeg, Dallas, St. Louis or Utah within the division.

What Could Go Wrong?

Any kind of extended losing streak or slump can lead to not winning the Central Division and having to slug it out in the first-round again. We’ve seen the Western Conference Playoffs sap the energy out of teams in the Central Division in each of the past three seasons, particularly in Dallas. Having to slog it out in long series to even get to the Western Conference Final is debilitating. The Avalanche’s depth up front took a hit this offseason when they traded Coyle and Wood and injuries could cause issues, especially if it means having to play the top players even more. If those guys have to empty the tank to just get to the playoffs, it’ll make life a lot harder once they do and make the dreams of winning the Cup again that much harder.

Top Breakout Candidate

The Avalanche are very much a veteran team but if there’s a young player who will have an opportunity to seize a role it’s forward Ivan Ivan. In 40 games with the Avalanche last season, Ivan had five goals and three assists while averaging 10:02 of ice time. That’s extreme fourth line deployment, but given the limited work, that’s decent offensive output. He wasn’t a big scorer in the AHL with the Colorado Eagles (43 points in 103 games), but at 23 years old, he’s someone who could be effective on the forecheck and frustrating opponents by getting on them as they try to carry up ice.

FORWARDS

Nathan MacKinnon

Predicted Stats
GP	G	A	PTS	PPG
79	36	78	114	1.44

The beat goes on for Nathan Mackinnon as he recorded his third 110+ point season in a row, which was unbelievably a 24-point drop from what he posted the previous season. The main culprit was MacKinnon not finding the back of the net at the same frequency he did the past two seasons. Shooting percentage is usually the reason for this, but MacKinnon is typically a low-percentage shooter relatively to most elite players. What changed was the rate he shot the puck, seeing his shot rate go from 13.7 per game to 10. He is probably the only player in the league where 10 shots per game is a career low, but MacKinnon notoriously sets the bar high for himself. He’s also the only player who can have a “down” season and still be among the league’s best, as he was last year but the shot volume numbers he posted from 2021-24 are almost impossible to sustain. He also gained another high-volume shooter to work with in Martin Necas, so he had to spread the wealth a little more rather than take every shot, which clearly wasn’t a bad thing because he led the league in assists. The race for the best forward in the league is always neck-and-neck between him and McDavid. Both dominate the game in their own ways and MacKinnon does it through pure explosive speed, last year was the first time he took over games through playmaking rather than hitting you with a barrage of shots from all angles. Always raising the bar for himself, MacKinnon doesn’t appear to be slowing down anytime soon.

Martin Necas

Predicted Stats
GP	G	A	PTS	PPG
78	37	45	82	1.05

The midseason trade of Mikko Rantanen sparked some new life into the Avs offence with Martin Necas giving them another explosive player to pair with MacKinnon. They were one of the most exciting lines in the league when they played together. He gave them a different look than Rantanen, playing quicker and less deliberate in the offensive zone. Rantanen being the type who would look for open space and pick his spots while Necas would try to be MacKinnon 2.0 with cycling the puck high and taking shots from every angle. Colorado was the perfect landing spot for Necas after his torrid start with the Hurricanes, as the Avs were willing to give him the 20-21 minutes a night and top line deployment he wanted in Carolina. While he was exciting to watch with the Avs, Necas ended his Colorado tenure just under a point-per-game, which is where he has been for most of his career. He’s the type of player who can win games on his own for you when he’s hot, and cost you games when he goes cold, as he likes to have the puck on his stick all the time. It’s electrifying when he’s on a hot streak and a problem when he’s in a cold spell because he will try to win the game in one shift. Carolina opted to move on from him despite putting up career numbers and the Avs have one year to decide if Necas is a player they want for the long haul. His talent is undeniable.

Brock Nelson

Predicted Stats
GP	G	A	PTS	PPG
79	24	29	53	0.67

The Avs arduous quest for replacing Nazem Kadri took another turn when they moved on from Casey Mittelstadt in favor of longtime Islander Brock Nelson. He was the reliable second line pivot on Long Island for almost his entire career and was a model of consistency with nine season of scoring 20 or more goals. He’s a jack-of-all-trades player who can play on both special teams' units, but his knack for goal-scoring is what has kept him high in the lineup. Not just from going to the net, but from having the combination of patience and composure whenever he needs to make an extra move or two to score. Both off the rush and when he’s stationed in front of the net. His game is very direct and straight-forward when he gets to lead the rush, as he’ll usually take it to the net and try to deke the goalie out of his pads rather than look for the pass. Nelson has always had a unique combination of grit and skill for that reason because he will take hits to make plays by driving the net, but he can make those two or three slick moves to make the goaltender cheat. His all-around game is usually solid, although he took a step back defensively on a chaotic Isles team. Typically, one of their more trusted players on the second line, Nelson never handled the brunt of the defensive responsibilities reserved for the likes of Pageau and Cizikas, so he’s stepping into a similar role in Colorado with them needing a consistent scoring center on their second line in the worst way. If Nelson can stay 80% of the player he was on Long Island, Colorado will get what they want, but at 33 years old with a lot of miles logged, his best years are probably behind him.

Arturri Lehkonen

Predicted Stats
GP	G	A	PTS	PPG
73	24	23	47	0.64

Lehkonen was asked to try and fill the Landeskog role when the Avs captain started his long IR stint. Stapled to MacKinnon for most of his Colorado tenure, Lehkonen knows the ins and outs of how to produce in the Avs system, scoring a career high 27 goals last year with the majority of them coming at even strength. The addition of Necas gave Lehkonen a new wrinkle to prepare for, with a high-volume shooter added to the mix as opposed to Rantanen, who would rotate with him in front of the net. This forced Lehkonen to deal with more coverage in the net-front role, teams double teaming him, and he had to work extra hard to find loose pucks. Lehkonen also had to be more versatile in his own game, looking for an extra pass instead of jamming for rebounds. Filling the gaps of what your linemates aren’t doing is what being the third wheel on a line is all about, but you also have to be skilled enough to not get stuck playing one way. Lehkonen’s done an excellent job of that. He has better hands and is a quicker skater than most forwards who get stuck in the net-front spot, so it makes him a tougher player to defend, as he can catch you off-guard with some of the plays he makes. Combine that with how good he is on the penalty kill and it's hard to ask for a better complementary forward.

Val Nichushkin

Predicted Stats
GP	G	A	PTS	PPG
61	29	18	47	0.77

Nichushkin played only half of the season, missing the first month serving a suspension for violating the NHLPA Player Assistance Program and suffering an injury at the end of December. He was an integral part of the team’s Stanley Cup run years ago, and his last few seasons have been some of the most productive of his career, but the problem being he has yet to play a full season since arriving in Colorado all the way back in 2020. Injuries have been the story of Nichushkin’s career, dating back to his second year when he had hip surgery and it’s been something he’s had to deal with ever since. When healthy, he’s the ideal Colorado forward. A quick, powerful skater who will go to the net and has the hands to make the finishing plays on breakaways. Always one of the best players on the team at producing scoring chances, Nichushkin’s size, skill and nose for the net makes him a versatile guy in the Avs lineup. He can play on the top line with MacKinnon, but he can also drive his own line, regularly logging the 20-22 minutes a night with the Avs other star players. Staying in the lineup is the key for him.

Gabriel Landeskog

Predicted Stats
GP	G	A	PTS	PPG
65	18	35	53	0.82

Landeskog made an emotional return to the Colorado lineup in the playoffs after three years on the shelf with a lingering knee injury that required several surgeries. The Avs weren’t sure when they would see their captain suit up for them again, so seeing him take the ice in Game 3 against Dallas was major lift to the organization. As fate has it, he scored in his second game back in the lineup on home ice and ended the playoffs with four points in five games. The last time we saw Landeskog play a full-season, he was scoring at over a point-per-game pace, which was a regular theme with him in his late 20’s. How he performs after three years out of the game is anyone’s guess. His longtime linemate in Mikko Rantanen is gone but he has mastered the art of playing in the Avalanche system and what you need to do to complement their stars. Landeskog’s specialty for years has being going to the net and scoring a high number of goals from having the puck bounce off him. Landeskog became less of a puck-carrier and someone who drives the bus in the neutral zone as MacKinnon’s game started to enter another stratosphere, so he’s had to pick up the intricacies of playing away from the puck. Always being around MacKinnon when he needs support and in front of the net when the Avs do their three-man high cycle in the zone. It’s just a matter of how quickly Landeskog can get back to full speed after so much time off.

Ross Colton

Predicted Stats
GP	G	A	PTS	PPG
81	17	21	38	0.47

A top-heavy team all season, the Avs felt the loss of Ross Colton when he was out of the lineup for two months with a broken foot. They didn’t have him for the playoffs either after an injury took him out of Game 1 against Dallas. He might be just a depth guy, but he was one of the few sources of secondary scoring they had early in the season when he was healthy. He made a name for himself with the Lightning as a tenacious, bottom-six player who can provide some jolt to your offence. He loves shooting the puck and is savvy with getting himself open for good chances. He’s skilled enough to carry his own line, his love for carrying the puck making him a good fit for the Avs system where transition play dominates. Not a physical player in the sense of delivering big hits, but he doesn’t mind taking hits to make plays, always battling his way to the front of the net and fighting for positioning to get loose pucks. A depth player you take for granted until he’s not there anymore, as was the case for Colorado early in the season, because he can still tilt the ice for your team even when he’s not scoring. This season could tell a lot about him with Brock Nelson taking the 2C spot and Jack Drury possibly bringing more upside to the table as a 3C, pushing Colton to the wing or in a more defensive oriented role.

Jack Drury

Predicted Stats
GP	G	A	PTS	PPG
79	9	18	27	0.34

While he was the less exciting part of the Necas-Rantanen trade, the Avs value Jack Drury’s contributions as a defensive player. Right off the bat, they used him on the penalty kill and relatively high in the lineup until the midseason trades for Brock Nelson and Charlie Coyle. Drury is never a drag when he’s on the ice, he sees the game well and is always in the right spot to make the next play, excelling at making one-touch passes for skilled linemates and playing the high forward to keep long possessions going. He doesn’t have the finishing touch or skill to be a regular in the top six, not handling the puck well when he makes a play under pressure and an easy shooter to read even when he gets space. Colorado did make great use of Drury as one of the guys they play with a lead, moving him up in the lineup when they needed to kill the clock. Sometimes you need players who thrive in the doldrums of the game to make sure nothing happens while they’re on the ice. It’s hard to find players better than Drury for that. Colorado tried to untap some of his skill while he played higher in the lineup, but with Nelson re-signed, Drury will be properly slotted on the third line.

Logan O'Connor

Predicted Stats
GP	G	A	PTS	PPG
64	12	12	24	0.38

Sometimes it’s easy to mistake O’Connor for MacKinnon when you’re watching the Avs. You see the 25 and think it’s 29 because he’s skating like lightning just as MacKinnon would do. The similarities stop there as O’Connor doesn’t have close to the same skillset, but he doesn’t have to in his role as a penalty kill workhorse. One of the more heralded defensive forwards in the NHL, O’Connor uses his speed to defend better than anyone, being an annoying presence on the forecheck and while defending. He is constantly in the face of players trying to cycle the puck and has a knack for turning turnovers into breakaways. Whether he scores on them or not is usually a secondary concern for the Avs. Although his offence has started to come around a little the last two years with back-to-back 10+ goal seasons. Anything more than that will be gravy. How effective he will be after off-season hip surgery, however, is one thing the Avs must be concerned with considering that speed and acceleration are big parts of his game. His return to the lineup is slated for November at the latest.

DEFENCE

Cale Makar

Predicted Stats
GP	G	A	PTS	PPG
81	30	64	94	1.16

The most explosive, dynamic defenceman in the league, Makar took home his second Norris after being in a close race with Vancouver’s Quinn Hughes all season. He is the gold standard for the modern NHL defenceman, putting up unprecedented offensive numbers his entire career. Makar always looks like he’s playing a different game than everyone else, quickly getting from one side of the rink to the other to keep pucks in or break the defense down. It’s easy to take it for granted when you see it every night because Makar makes a lot of difficult things look routine. Not just walking the blue line but moving laterally or backwards in the offensive zone while controlling the puck on a string to keep the cycle going and while dropping a short pass to a forward that’s skating downhill at full speed. It’s things like that which make the Avs offence deadly. Having the elite forwards also helps, but Makar has the confidence to play like this even behind the Avs fourth line. There are some defencemen who can skate like Makar and there are a few who can handle the puck like him, but there aren’t any who can do both at the same time, which is what makes him a special player. This isn’t even getting into how he can score from distance, having pinpoint accuracy on shots from 50 feet away, which also makes him different from other high-scoring defencemen that rely on creeping in from the point or using the booming slapshot. Makar is truly one of a kind.

Devon Toews

Predicted Stats
GP	G	A	PTS	PPG
75	8	35	43	0.57

Adding Devon Toews back in 2021 was the key to unlocking Makar’s potential. Not just as a player to be his safety valve, but a partner who can skate with him and not get overwhelmed with Makar starts to dance and take risks in the offensive zone. Toews’ skating is heralded as his best asset, as he loves playing the free safety role in the offensive zone with intercepting clearing attempts. His passing is right behind that, and it makes him a critical part of how the Avs like to attack through the neutral zone. Since Toews can’t keep every puck in the zone, what he likes to do instead is allow the puck to get over the blue line, wait for everyone to tag up and zip a pass to a teammate streaking into the zone. This reload method is an integral part of the Avs offence and Toews is part of what makes it go. He’s not the special talent Makar is, but he’s a complete defenceman who can do everything. He defends with his legs and by keeping the play in front of him better than anyone and excels at shutting off plays at his own blue line. Offensively, he complements Makar nicely as someone who can read off him and is very dangerous when he can creep in from the point and get his wrister on net. There’s always a lot of focus on what Makar is doing in the offensive zone, so Toews can creep in unnoticed and score some sneaky goals this way. Point production is never the concern with Toews, as he is Colorado’s defensive MVP.

Brent Burns

Predicted Stats
GP	G	A	PTS	PPG
82	9	27	36	0.44

Last year was the first time Burns didn’t hit 30 points in a full season since 2012, his first year in San Jose. Father time has caught up to the now 40-year-old as the explosivity to his game isn’t there anymore and he saw his role shift in Carolina to more of a shutdown role to fill the absence of Brett Pesce and Brady Skjei. In the grand scheme, he did fine. He can still do a lot of the disruptive work in the defensive zone when defending the cycle, always getting a stick on a play and moving the puck out of harm's way. Defending one-on-one is where he struggled and it was more of a problem last season with him playing the tough matchups. He still plays very high in the zone to challenge attacking forwards and he either gets them or misses and gives up a Grade A chance the other way. He can still skate smoothly, but doesn’t accelerate well, so he ended up on the wrong end of some highlights from getting beat to the inside often. Nothing much has changed about how he plays offensively, if he gets the puck it’s going to the net. He saw less of a reward for it offensively last season, but it’s something that should intrigue Colorado fans with how many forwards they have who are skilled at tipping pucks. Burns can still play at a high level at his age, so it’s all a matter of when his age starts to catch up with him. He might avoid hitting the wall longer than most with how much of a physical specimen he is, but it’s something that comes for every player eventually.

Samuel Girard

Predicted Stats
GP	G	A	PTS	PPG
71	2	18	20	0.28

Now, one of Colorado’s longest-tenured players, it doesn’t feel like that long ago when Girard burst onto the scene in his rookie season. He was a nimble, exciting puck-moving defenceman that had a lot of poise and confidence we didn’t typically see from smaller blueliners in the NHL. Once Makar arrived, Girard was old news and became a mainstay on the Avs second pair, a role that he’s had on lockdown for the past five years. It’s not abnormal for a smaller defenceman to play as much as Girard does in a shutdown role, but he is on the extreme end of the height spectrum, so he’s slotted in a unique way for a player of his stature. It’s easy for him to get lost in the shuffle watching Colorado because of Toews and Makar, but Girard’s puck-moving is as good as it was in his rookie year. He’s improved by playing a safer game, trusting his partners to make the next play more and not trying to do everything himself. He complements the forwards nicely in the offensive zone but doesn’t get the same level of opportunities playing behind the second and third lines. Defending the rush is his one sore spot and opposing teams tend to go after him more because of his size, doubly when he’s paired with Josh Manson instead of Sam Malinski. Girard likes to defend with his body and isn’t the best with timing the hip checks or anticipating where the play is going if he has multiple reads with the puck. It’s something that Colorado’s always had to work around with him, but he’s still a solid 3rd or 4th option on the Avs blue line.

Goal

Mackenzie Blackwood

Predicted Stats
GP	W	L	OT	SO	SV%	GAA
57	33	15	4	5	0.909	2.50

Very few teams will enter the upcoming season having completely scrapped their goaltending tandem and starting from scratch. One of those, though, is the Colorado Avalanche, who bounced both Justus Annunen and Alexandar Georgiev following tough performances and brought in new names to hopefully take the reins for the time being. Perhaps the most exciting name in the depth chart now is Mackenzie Blackwood, who may have finally found his home in Colorado following an up-and-down career in New Jersey and a brief stint helping the San Jose Sharks with their rebuild. He arrived in Colorado last season and immediately made an impact, finishing the year with one of his best statistical performances since going pro in 2017. He's a good fit on paper, too, with both the big physical presence the Avalanche tend to prefer in net and a strong positional game that makes it hard for shooters to pull him out of position. He seemed to regain some of his rhythm during his time with San Jose after looking like he'd lost his timing in New Jersey, and he was arguably the biggest factor in Colorado going from a team that might need to retool to a team that looked ready to push for the playoffs once more.

He'll be accompanied by Scott Wedgewood for the time being, making for a fun Devils reunion in net that should keep Colorado's netminding consistent and easy to work with for the defence in front. But don't be surprised if Trent Miner gets a look or two this year, particularly if either Wedgewood or Blackwood end up needing to spend time on IR.

NHL: DADOUN – THE FANTASY WEEK AHEAD – Holloway paying dividends for streaking in St. Louis – Teams and players to target this week

Ryan Dadoun — Sat, 29 Mar 2025 14:00:11 +0000

St. Louis Blues center Dylan Holloway (81) (Photo by Keith Gillett/IconSportswire)

Has a team ever benefited so greatly and immediately from a player they snagged away from an adversary via an offer sheet as St. Louis has with Dylan Holloway? The two-year contract worth roughly $4.58 million was too rich for the Oilers when the Blues made a move against the RFA this summer, and to be fair to Edmonton, Holloway had just nine goals and 18 points in 89 regular-season appearances as well as five goals and seven points in 26 playoff games at that point. For a team in a cap crunch, Edmonton didn’t feel comfortable offering that kind of salary to a player projected for its bottom six.

Whatever the rationale was, though, Holloway has thoroughly demonstrated that Edmonton could not have been more wrong in its decision. Holloway scored tow goals to lead St. Louis to a 3-2 victory over Nashville on Thursday, bringing him up to 26 goals and 62 points in 74 outings this campaign. What once looked like a rich contract is now unquestionably one of the league’s biggest value signings.

He's provided the Blues, who tied for 24th in goals per game (2.85) last year with some much needed offensive depth, and he’s stepped up down the stretch, providing 10 goals and 22 points across 18 appearances since the 4 Nations break. Though, he does have plenty of company in that regard.

St. Louis as a whole has excelled since the tournament. That win against Nashville was the squad’s eighth straight, and the Blues are 14-2-2 since the time off. That’s the best record in the NHL over that span, and they’ve led the league in goals per game with an eye-popping 4.00. In addition to Holloway, Robert Thomas (six goals, 25 points), Jordan Kyrou (eight, 18), Jake Neighbours (six, 17), Brayden Schenn (six, 16) and defenseman Cam Fowler (two, 14) have been major factors.

The goaltending has been there too. Since leading Canada to victory, Jordan Binnington has posted a 9-2-0 record, 2.19 GAA and .912 save percentage across 11 outings, while Joel Hofer is 5-0-2 with a 1.98 GAA and a .910 save percentage across his last nine appearances.

The result is St. Louis has gone for a team that was set to miss the playoffs to one that’s sitting in a wild-card spot. To an extent, there’s shades of 2018-19 when the Blues got off to a disastrous start only to get hot, make the playoffs and then battle all the way to a championship. The Blues even made a midseason coaching change this year, replacing Drew Bannister (9-12-1) with Jim Montgomery (30-16-6). Obviously, just because the Blues had a magical run in 2019 doesn’t mean history will repeat itself this year, but with the way St. Louis is playing, it will be a dangerous team to face in the postseason.

Boston Bruins (Tue vs WAS, Thu @ MTL, Sat vs CAR, Sun @ BUF)

While the Blues have surged, Boston has faded, making already long odds to secure a playoff berth now look all-but impossible. Boston had a 3-12-3 from Feb. 5-March 26 and suffered its seventh straight loss (0-6-1) against the Ducks on Wednesday. Will the freefall continue next week? Boston will start by hosting Washington before playing in Montreal on Thursday, returning home to face the Hurricanes on Saturday and then playing in Buffalo on Sunday.

Boston has managed just 2.22 goals per game over the aforementioned 18-game stretch, and that’s despite David Pastrnak still doing really well with eight goals and 19 points in that span. Pastrnak has 35 goals and 85 points in 73 appearances, giving him a shot of reaching the 40-goal and 100-point marks for the third straight campaign. He’s one of the few Bruins who has largely lived up to expectations in 2024-25.

Morgan Geekie has also been something of a silver lining during Boston’s dreadful stretch. He’s provided four goals and six points across his past five games. That brings him up to 26 goals in 68 appearances this season, shattering his previous career high of 17 from 2023-24. One word of warning, though: His shooting percentage of 19.7 is a substantial jump compared to his career average of 11.4 going into the campaign, so it wouldn’t be surprising if Geekie saw a decline in goal production next season.

On another team, Geekie’s strong showing this season would have been a pleasant surprise that might have elevated the squad, but Boston is so devoid of scoring options that it barely moves the needle. Aside from Geekie and Pastrnak, no other player has recorded even five goals for Boston over the past 18 games, and to put that into context, five goals in 18 outings would amount to only a 23-goal pace over 82 games. Looking at the Bruins’ season as a whole, Pastrnak and Geekie will probably be the only players to finish with at least 22 goals. Brad Marchand will almost certainly finish the campaign third in goals for Boston with 21 despite being traded. Charlie Coyle, who was also dealt, currently ranks fourth in goals with 15 during his time with the Bruins.

Boston did acquire Casey Mittelstadt from Colorado, but so far that hasn’t paid dividends. Mittelstadt has two goals and four points in nine appearances with the Bruins despite averaging a healthy 17:28 of ice time and seeing minutes alongside Pastrnak. Mittelstadt’s 5v5 CF% rel and 5v5 FF% rel are minus-8.4 and minus-5.6, which suggests that, for as bad as Boston has been recently, the Bruins have performed even worse when Mittelstadt is on the ice.

This is a season that can’t end soon enough for the Bruins, but maybe with the season already essentially lost, Boston will feel the pressure lift and settle into a spoiler role. The Bruins do have a chance to make things harder for Montreal, and Boston is 2-0-0 against the Canadiens this season, so if you’re looking for a game where the Bruins might pleasantly surprise, that seems like a good candidate.

Calgary Flames (Mon @ COL, Tue @ UTA, Thu vs ANA, Sat vs VGK)

For a time, it looked like Calgary might squeak into the playoffs despite its lack of offense, but the rise of the Blues has made that unlikely. Still, the Flames have an outside chance should they have a strong week. Calgary will start the week on the road in Colorado on Monday and Utah on Tuesday. The Flames will then return home to face the Ducks on Thursday and the Golden Knights on Saturday.

For much of the season, Calgary was competitive thanks in large part to rookie goaltender Dustin Wolf. Unfortunately, the 23-year-old has hit a rough patch, posting a 2-3-1 record, 3.65 GAA and .869 save percentage across his past six appearances. That’s reduced him to a 24-15-5 record, 2.67 GAA and .909 save percentage in 44 outings overall. It’s still been a good campaign for him, but I think his recent decline is likely enough to take him out of serious competition for the Calder Trophy, barring an unbelievable finish. Montreal’s Lane Hutson has a shot to reach 60 points as a defenseman, and San Jose’s Macklin Celebrini has been averaging near a point per game, so in my mind the competition is just too strong for Wolf to still grab the trophy.

Of course, it’d be unfair to suggest Wolf’s struggles down the stretch cost Calgary a potential playoff berth. Calgary ranks 31st in goals per game with 2.61, which is what the real problem is. If there is a silver lining to be found among the Flames forwards, though, it’s been Jonathan Huberdeau. The first two years of his tenure with the Flames looked like a disaster, but he’s been solid this campaign with 27 goals and 58 points through 71 appearances. He’s also red hot with five goals and 12 points over his past eight outings. He’s still not warranting his $10.5 million cap hit, but at least he’s not fading away.

Nazem Kadri is also doing his part, even at the age of 34. He’s on a five-game goal-scoring streak in which he’s found the back of the net seven times. That’s rocketed him to 30 markers, which is his most since 2017-18 with Toronto, and just two goals away from his career high. I wouldn’t count on that goal streak carrying into next week, but he’s certainly one of the Flames’ best forward options.

Matthew Coronato is also giving the Flames some hope that there are better days ahead on offense. The 22-year-old has four goals and six points across his past five appearances, bringing him up to 20 goals and 39 points through 66 games this season. He’s getting tons of playing time -- 19:36 per game, including 3:21 with the man advantage, over his past five outings -- which puts him in a solid position to finish the campaign on a high note. Just keep in mind that young players can be particularly streaking, and Coronato has shown that he’s no exception. He had just two goals and three points in 12 appearances from Feb. 8-March 17, just to cite the latest example of his offense drying up.

Colorado Avalanche (Mon vs CGY, Wed @ CHI, Thu @ CBJ, Sat @ STL)

Colorado is cruising toward the end of the campaign with a 12-1-1 record over its past 14 games. The Avalanche will attempt to maintain that level of extreme success next week, starting with a home game against the Flames. They’ll then hit the road to play in Chicago on Wednesday, Columbus on Thursday and St. Louis on Saturday.

The Avalanche have a 45-25-3 record, which gives them the third spot in the Central Division. Even with their recent success, Colorado is still five points shy of the second-place Dallas Stars despite Colorado having played in one extra game. The Avalanche also have a six-point lead on Minnesota, which is pretty healthy this late in the season. In other words, Colorado is unlikely to move up or down from its current third-place seed, and I do wonder if a sense that the stakes are low will cause Colorado to ease up on the gas a little over the final games off the season, potentially ending the hot streak.

Then again, it’s hard to envision Nathan MacKinnon or Cale Makar giving suboptimal performances for any meaningful length of time. They’re just so reliable. Plus, MacKinnon has some added personal motivation as he looks to win the Art Ross Trophy -- MacKinnon leads the pack with 108 points in 73 appearances, but Nikita Kucherov isn’t far behind with 105 points in 68 outings -- and bolster his bid for the Hart Trophy. Meanwhile, Makar would set a new career high of 91 points if he collects at least seven more in Colorado’s final nine games -- a very doable task for the elite blueliner.

MacKinnon and Makar have unsurprisingly led the charge during the Avalanche’s past 14 games, providing 21 points and 20 points, respectively, but Martin Necas hasn’t been that far behind with six goals and 16 points in 14 appearances. Necas has worked out superbly alongside MacKinnon, which has led to him recording 26 goals and 80 points across 73 outings between Carolina and Colorado this campaign. Given that I don’t think MacKinnon is likely to slow, Necas should have a strong end to the campaign too.

I’m more uncertain about the sustainability of Brock Nelson. He has three goals and six points across his past four appearances, but can be fairly streaky, and he doesn’t have the luxury of regularly playing with MacKinnon at even strength, so if Colorado slows a bit during its final games, Nelson might be part of that.

Regardless of what the Avalanche do collectively, Charlie Coyle probably won’t factor in much on offense. He has just two assists in 10 games since joining Colorado from Boston, but more importantly, he’s averaging just 13:32 of ice time. Unlike Boston, the Avalanche are deep up front, especially when it comes to centers, so Coyle seems stuck on the third line, barring an injury. There’s no reason to put much stock in Coyle, given that role.

Columbus Blue Jackets (Tue vs NAS, Thu vs COL, Sat @ TOR, Sun @ OTT)

Columbus battled to its second straight shootout win Friday, improving to 33-29-9 on the campaign. Through March 28, the Blue Jackets hold the second wild-card seed, but their position couldn’t be more precarious: Although Columbus has the edge in games left (11), Montreal and the Rangers are tied with the Blue Jackets in terms of total points (75). Every point is critical for Columbus, and in that context, the Blue Jackets have a huge week ahead of them. They’ll host Nashville on Tuesday and Colorado on Thursday before hitting the road to visit Toronto and Ottawa on Saturday and Sunday, respectively.

The fact that Columbus even has a shot this deep into the season is a story that isn’t getting enough coverage nationally. This is a team that was projected to be closer to Chicago (21-43-9) and San Jose (20-42-9) than a playoff berth.

Getting Boone Jenner, Sean Monahan and Cole Sillinger back from injuries has given the Blue Jackets a huge boost that might push them over the edge. Since making his Feb. 22 season debut, Jenner has supplied four goals and 14 points in 15 appearances, and he’s only been getting better, supplying four goals and five points over his past three outings. Meanwhile, Monahan returned Monday after missing 28 games due to a wrist injury and went right back to work with three helpers over his past two outings, and Sillinger (shoulder) played Friday for the first time this month, contributing an assist in his return.

Monahan is centering the top line between Dmitri Voronkov and Kirill Marchenko, while Boone Jenner is on the second unit with Adam Fantilli and Kent Johnson. Sillinger helps round out the top nine by playing alongside Justin Danforth and Mathieu Olivier. Now that Columbus’ forward corps is relatively healthy, James van Riemsdyk was a healthy scratch Friday, and he’ll probably find himself moving in and out of the lineup the rest of the way. Olivier is also going to have a tougher time getting minutes, he averaged just 11:40 of ice time Friday despite recording a goal and an assist, which is a significant drop from his average of 14:58 from Feb. 22-March 24.

A healthy group also makes things better for defenseman Zach Werenski on offense. He’s having a career year with 20 goals and 70 points in 70 outings, but he went through a six-game scoring drought from March 13-24. Werenski collected a power-play assist on one of Jenner’s goals to end that slump Friday, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see the 27-year-old defenseman end the campaign on a high note.

Dallas Stars ( Mon @ SEA, Thu vs NAS, Sat vs PIT, Sun @ MIN)

Dallas earned a 5-2 victory over Calgary on Thursday to improve to 4-1-1 over its past six games. The Stars seem secure as the Central Division’s second seed given their 47-21-4 record, and there’s still an outside shot of catching up to the 49-19-4 Jets to win the division. Dallas will attempt to pull that off with another strong week, starting in Seattle on Monday. The Stars will then host the Predators on Thursday and the Penguins on Saturday before playing in Minnesota on Sunday.

Defenseman Thomas Harley has found another gear lately, scoring five goals and 16 points across his past 14 appearances, rocketing him up to 15 goals and 47 points in 70 outings this campaign. The 23-year-old’s recent success is in part due to the power play -- he has eight points with the man advantage over his last 14 games, compared to just six power-play points across his first 56 outings in 2024-25. Miro Heiskanen (knee) hasn’t played since Jan. 28, which has resulted in Harley averaging 3:24 of power-play ice time since the injury compared to his season average of 2:11, which helps explain why Harley has see that spike in power-play success. Heiskanen is expected to miss the remainder of the regular season as well as the first round of the playoffs, so the current arrangement will persist for a while longer.

While Heiskanen won’t be back any time soon, Tyler Seguin might rejoin the team before the end of the regular season. Keep him in mind for playoff pools. He has nine goals and 20 points in 19 appearances before getting hurt, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see him reunite with Matt Duchene and Mason Marchment when he’s healthy. Mikael Granlund will make that a difficult decision for the Avalanche, though. Granlund is their current linemate and has done well recently with four goals and eight points across his past 10 outings.

One alternative would be to keep Dallas’ current second line of Duchene, Marchment and Granlund intact, and instead have Seguin play alongside Jamie Benn. That might help the 34-year-old Benn, who has been good, but not great this campaign with 16 goals and 45 points in 72 outings this season. Benn has also been productive recently, supplying five assists in his past seven games despite averaging just 13:14 of ice time due to the Stars’ offensive depth.

Whatever happens, it’s a good problem for Dallas to have. The Stars already have a really strong top nine, and adding a healthy Seguin to that mix would make it truly special.

Montreal Canadiens (Tue vs FLA, Thu vs BOS, Sat vs PHI, Sun @ NAS)

The battle for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference might come down to the wire. Columbus won while Montreal suffered a loss Friday, leaving the Canadiens tied with Columbus in terms of points (75) for the second wild-card spot, but Montreal is at a disadvantage with one fewer game left on its schedule. The Rangers are also tied with 75 points while the Islanders are at 74. Montreal has been faltering lately, and the Canadiens need to stop the bleeding to stay in the mix. They’ll host the Panthers on Tuesday, the Bruins on Thursday and the Flyers on Saturday. Montreal will then conclude the week with a road match in Nashville on Sunday.

Sam Montembeault deserves some of the blame for Montreal’s recent struggles. He’s 0-2-2 across his past four outings while posting a 4.04 GAA and an .864 save percentage in four appearances. His overall numbers also don’t look great – he has a 25-23-6 record, 2.93 GAA and .898 save percentage through 54 appearances. However, there is a caveat to consider: His goals saved above expected is plus-14.5, per Moneypuck, which is actually the 14th best in the league. That’s because Montreal’s xGA/60 ranks 26th at 3.30. In other words, the Canadiens haven’t made things easy for him, and when it comes to this summer, adding players who could help shore up the defense should be a priority.

In meantime, Montreal’s best hope of making the playoffs might be through brute forcing with overwhelming offense. It helps that Patrik Laine has been clicking lately, supplying four goals and seven points over his past eight appearances, however, he’s been held off the scoresheet in two of his past three games, so it’s possible that run is petering out. Laine has traditionally had extreme hot and cold spells, so be weary of the other shoe dropping.

If he does fade, maybe that will be counterbalanced by Cole Caufield getting hot again. Caufield has been a touch quiet lately with a goal and two points across his past five appearances, but he’s having a great season overall with 34 goals and 63 points, and I don’t expect him to be held back for long.

Brendan Gallagher is also worthy of note. He’s enjoying one of his best stretches of the campaign with two goals and seven points in his last six outings. Just keep in mind that he’s still averaging a modest 13:55 of ice time, and he’s not going to be one of Montreal’s main scoring threats overall.

Ottawa Senators (Tue vs BUF, Thu vs TBL, Sat vs FLA, Sun vs CBJ)

Ottawa has merely treaded water recently, winning two of its past five games, but thanks to a 7-0-1 run from March 1-15, the Senators hold the first wild-card spot. Ottawa will look to maintain that lead this week and will have the benefit of remaining at home for the entire duration. The Senators will host Buffalo on Tuesday, Tampa Bay on Thursday, Florida on Saturday and Columbus on Sunday.

The Senators are 20-10-2 at home versus 18-18-3 on the road, so fantasy managers do tend to get a boost when deploying their players in Ottawa. That said, not all players have a dramatic home/road split. One who does is Tim Stutzle. He’s collected 13 goals and 43 points across 32 outings in Ottawa but is a less effective eight goals and 28 points in 39 appearances on the road. To put that in perspective, Stutzle’s home pace amounts to 33 goals and 110 points per 82 games, so that’s the kind of player you’d be deploying if you use him this week.

Drake Batherson is another player who tends to step up in front of the home crowd. He has 14 goals and 34 points in 32 outings at the Canadian Tire Centre this campaign versus six goals and 24 points in 39 games on the road. Batherson has also been hot lately, supplying four goals and nine points over his past eight appearances.

One more player who has a dramatic split is defenseman Jake Sanderson, who has supplied four goals and 30 points in 32 home games compared to three goals and 18 points on the road. However, not every player sees significant benefit from playing at home. Brady Tkachuk does have a higher point per game at home (26 points in 30 outings), but it’s a more muted jump compared to the road (29 points in 39 appearances) than we’ve seen with some other players. The same can be said for Claude Giroux (22 points in 32 games at home; 24 in 39 on the road). Meanwhile, Linus Ullmark actually seems to do a bit better away from Ottawa (2.68 GAA, .911 save percentage) than at home (2.91 GAA, .906 save percentage), so keep that in mind.

Washington Capitals (Tue @ BOS, Wed @ CAR, Fri vs CHI, Sun @ NYI)

The Capitals will spend most of the week on the road, playing in Boston on Tuesday, Carolina on Wednesday and the Islanders on Sunday. That leaves the Capitals with just one home game -- a match against Chicago on Friday. Washington was a borderline team to include because of that skew toward road games, but I couldn’t resist highlighting them given Alex Ovechkin’s chase of Wayne Gretzky’s record.

Ovechkin has 36 goals and 60 points in 56 appearances this campaign, putting him at 889 career goals, five shy of matching Gretzky and six away from beating him. Washington has 10 games left in the schedule for Ovechkin to accomplish that feat. In other words, it’s likely going to come down to the wire, but given Ovechkin’s recent pace of 14 goals in his past 22 games, it seems doable.

One x-factor is weather Ovechkin will get rested before the end of the season. To do so when he’s closing in on the record seems insane, but if you take a step back from that, he’s a 39-year-old on a team with Cup aspirations. Under normal circumstances, giving Ovechkin a game or more off at the end of the season would be a no brainer, and not doing so arguably could hurt Washington a bit in the playoffs. To some extent, it’s the same dilemma Toronto faced last year with Auston Matthews. Resting Matthews before Toronto’s first-round series against Boston might have been the smart play, but Matthews had a shot at a 70-goal season, so Toronto decided to keep him in the lineup and even log 21:03 of ice time against Tampa Bay in the season finale despite that game not even mattering from a playoff seeding perspective.

Still, Ovechkin didn’t play in the 4 Nations Face-Off, and he missed 16 games from Nov. 21-Dec. 23 due to a fractured fibula, so unlike Matthews, who logged 81 regular-season games last season, Ovechkin has already had time off, so perhaps he doesn’t need the break as much as you might assume. Either way, it seems unlikely that Washington will rest him unless Ovechkin has already secured the record -- and the plus side in all this is it gives the Capitals something to play for even at this stage when they’ve already basically secured the top spot in the Conference with their 47-16-9 record.

Ovechkin’s pursuit should also help Aliaksei Protas finish his breakout campaign on a strong note. Protas has six goals and 13 points across his past 10 outings, bringing him up to 29 goals and 64 points in 72 outings. It’s going to be challenging for Washington to maintain its current level once Ovechkin eventually retires, but the 24-year-old Protas does give the Capitals hope for the future as well as the present.

NHL: CULLEN – 20 FANTASY POINTS – Avalanche and Hurricanes make blockbuster deal, Flames and Flyers swing four-player swap, the Islanders renovate their blueline, McTavish, Smith, and Slafkovsky are some young forwards picking up steam and much more!

Scott Cullen — Fri, 31 Jan 2025 13:30:21 +0000

NEW YORK, NY - JANUARY 28: Carolina Hurricanes Right Wing Mikko Rantanen (96) in action prior to the National Hockey League game between the Carolina Hurricanes and the New York Rangers on January 28, 2025 at Madison Square Garden in New York, NY. (Photo by Joshua Sarner/Icon Sportswire)

Each week, I dig into the stats to find information that can help you make better fantasy hockey decisions. This week, the Avalanche and Hurricanes made a blockbuster deal, the Flames and Flyers swing a four-player swap, the Islanders renovate their blueline, and Mason McTavish, Will Smith, and Juraj Slafkovsky are some young forwards picking up steam and much more!

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

#1 The Carolina Hurricanes and Colorado Avalanche made a massive trade last week, a rare in-season move involving star players. The Hurricanes landed Mikko Rantanen from the Avalanche and Taylor Hall from the Blackhawks in the three-team deal. Rantanen is one of the league’s premier forwards and since the 2020-2021 season, he has averaged 1.27 points per game, ranking seventh in the league. In his first three games with Carolina, Rantanen has a goal and an assist, but also has 13 shots on goal despite seeing his average time on ice drop to 19:06 per game after averaging 22:30 per game in Colorado. Hall’s ice time was reduced in Chicago this season but his 1.88 points per 60 minutes ranked second on the Blackhawks among forwards to play at least 500 five-on-five minutes (behind Ryan Donato). So, while Rantanen might play less after joining a team with Carolina’s depth of talent, Hall might actually find his way to more ice time with the Hurricanes.

#2 Colorado acquired right winger Martin Necas and centre Jack Drury from Carolina. Necas had 55 points in 49 games with Carolina before getting traded and he has put up four assists in three games. The Avalanche have also taken to giving Necas the same kind of role that Rantanen held, so Necas has averaged 23:08 of ice time per game in his first three games for the Avs after playing 18:05 per game in Carolina. Drury is more of a depth option, though he has scored two goals in his first three games for Colorado.

#3 The Calgary Flames and Philadelphia Flyers are both in the hunt for playoff spots and the teams swapped players Thursday. Calgary acquired winger Joel Farabee and centre Morgan Frost, sending wingers Andrei Kuzmenko and Jakob Pelletier, along with a couple of draft picks, to Philadelphia. Farabee is a solid complementary winger who scored a career-high 50 points (22 G, 28 A) last season, but has just 19 points (8 G, 11 A) through 50 games this season. He could use the fresh start. Frost has had a bit of a tumultuous run in Philadelphia, especially with John Tortorella as head coach. Frost is a talented player but had one assist and seven shots on goal in his last seven games with the Flyers.

#4 Kuzmenko is a 28-year-old winger who tallied 39 goals and 74 points for Vancouver in 2022-2023, his first season in the NHL, but he has just four goals and 15 points in 37 games this season. He did cross paths with Flyers rookie Matvei Michkov back in the KHL, as Kuzmenko was the leading scorer for SKA St. Petersburg in 2022-2023 when Michkov was just getting his feet wet with that team in the KHL. Perhaps Kuzmenko can help shake Michkov from the slump that has seen him produce just seven points (3 G, 4 A) in his past 24 games. Pelletier was a first-round pick in 2019, but it has taken a while for him to show that he belongs in the NHL. He did have six points (3 G, 3 A) in his last nine games for the Flames and the small skilled winger can hope to secure more consistent playing time in Philadelphia.

#5 Injuries have forced the New York Islanders to address their blueline and they have signed Tony DeAngelo, who was playing in the KHL, and acquired Scott Perunovich in a trade with the St. Louis Blues. DeAngelo had 32 points (6 G, 26 A) in 34 games for St. Petersburg in the KHL but still fell out of favor. He has one assist in three games for the Islanders but has averaged more than 25 minutes of ice time per game and is quarterbacking the Islanders top power play unit. Perunovich has recorded an assist in both of his first two games for the Islanders.

#6 Anahiem Ducks centre Mason McTavish started relatively slowly this season, with 19 points (6 G, 13 A) through 40 games. He does have seven points (6 G, 1 A) and 14 shots on goal in his past five games, however, so it’s worth keeping tabs on the 22-year-old. He is skating with Cutter Gauthier and Robby Fabbri at even strength, but McTavish is also getting first-unit power play time.

#7 San Jose Sharks rookie Will Smith has taken some time to find his groove during his first NHL campaign, but it looks like the fourth pick in the 2023 Draft is getting comfortable. He is riding a six-game point streak, during which he has amassed seven points (2 G, 5 A) and is skating on a line with veteran Mikael Granlund and Fabian Zetterlund. Granlund has eight points (3 G, 5 A) in his past six games, and with 46 points on the season, he looks like a good bet to hit the 60-point plateau for the fifth time in his career.

#8 There have been some uneven moments in the development path for Montreal Canadiens winger Juraj Slafkovsky, the first pick in the 2022 Draft. Despite enjoying great success with Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield last season, Slafkovsky has been moved down the depth chart at times this season and he scored four goals (plus 19 assists) in the first 40 games of the season. Since then, Slafkovsky has six points (4 G, 2 A) in eight games and looks a lot more like the power forward who finished last season with 35 points (16 G, 19 A) in his last 40 games.

#9 When the Nashville Predators struggled early in the season, there was concern that centre Tommy Novak wasn’t up to the task of providing much-needed secondary scoring, and he managed just nine points (5 G, 4 A) in his first 35 games. After that inauspicious start to the season, Novak has contributed seven points (3 G, 4 A) in his past five games, and is having some success skating with rookies Fedor Svechkov and Zachary L’Heureux.

#10 Buffalo Sabres left winger JJ Peterka enjoyed a terrific start to the season and then went through a slump in late November and early December, but he has rebounded with 21 points (6 G, 15 A) in his past 20 games, highlighted by his three-goal, one-assist performance in Tuesday’s win over Buffalo. More recently, the Sabres have been running Peterka on a line with rookie Jiri Kulich at centre and Tage Thompson on right wing. Kulich has nine points (5 G, 4 A) in his past 12 games. Thompson, who is more widely rostered than his linemates, has 26 points (14 G, 12 A) in his past 26 games.

#11 Marco Kasper was the eighth pick in the 2022 Draft by the Detroit Red Wings and he was offering an unremarkable rookie season, with seven points (2 G, 5 A) in his first 35 games. Moving up the depth chart has done wonders for the young skilled winger, and he has put up 12 points (7 G, 5 A) and 24 shots on goal in his past 11 games. With Patrick Kane injured, Kasper is skating on the Red Wings’ top line, with Dylan Larkin and Lucas Raymond, as well as playing on Detroit’s first power play unit. Given their success, the trio might need to stay together even when Kane returns.

#12 The Toronto Maple Leafs do not get great production out of their defencemen, as Morgan Rielly is Toronto’s highest scoring blueliner with 22 points (3 G, 19 A) in 51 games. Just behind him, though, is veteran Oliver Ekman-Larsson, who has six points (1 G, 5 A) in his past five games, giving him 21 points for the season. Just as importantly, Ekman-Larsson is averaging more than 23 minutes of ice time per game in that stretch. The Maple Leafs run five forwards on their top power play unit, with Rielly and Ekman-Larsson on the second unit.

#13 Chicago Blackhawks rookie Frank Nazar was the 13th pick in the 2022 Draft and was tearing up the AHL this season with 24 points (11 G, 13 A) in 21 games and when the Blackhawks made a coaching change, they promoted Nazar shortly thereafter. While he did not have immediate success, there have been signs of progress. He has five points (2 G, 3 A) in his past eight games and is now skating on Connor Bedard’s wing on Chicago’s top line.

#14 Seattle Kraken winger Jared McCann has been one their most productive players since the expansion draft, scoring 110 goals and 221 points to lead the franchise. While McCann has been more of a goal scorer as he has emerged as a legitimate offensive threat, he has turned playmaker lately. In his past 13 games, McCann has 12 points (1 G, 11 A) and 17 shots on goal. That low shot total needs to improve because while McCann is not usually a high-volume shooter, 1.3 shots on goal per game is not the stuff of consistent top line scorers.

#15 As the Carolina Hurricanes appear to have pushed their chips all in for this season, there is an opportunity for centre Jesperi Kotkaniemi to fulfill a supporting role. Carolina’s addition of Taylor Hall offers the possibility that Kotkaniemi could have more skill on his wings and Kotkaniemi has produced six points (4 G, 2 A) in his past six games. After scoring 27 points in 79 games last season, Kotkaniemi has already chipped in 25 points (10 G, 15 A) in 52 games this season, so he is developing, even if it might be at a slower pace than the ‘Canes might have initially hoped.

#16 Mammoth Washington Capitals winger Aliaksei Protas is enjoying a breakthrough season and is thriving with a six-game point streak, during which he has seven points (3 G, 4 A) and 11 shots on goal. Protas has not been a huge shot generator, so he has been dependent on a shooting percentage of 23.3 percent to score 21 goals in 51 games. His 20 even-strength goals is tied for fifth in the league, behind only Leon Draisaitl (26), Mark Scheifele (22), William Nylander (22), and Tage Thompson (21).

#17 Los Angeles Kings netminder Darcy Kuemper has enjoyed some excellent seasons in his career but he had injury problems when he was with Washington last season, and it was hard to know whether he would be able to bounce back as a 34-year-old goaltender. Saskatoon native Kuemper has been excellent for the Kings, and since the calendar turned to 2025, he has a .938 save percentage in 10 games. Kuemper has 9.65 goals saved above expected this season, which ranks 10th in the NHL, a level of play that the Kings did not have much right to expect.

#18 The Washington Capitals started the season with a goaltending tandem of Charles Lindgren and Logan Thompson and that duo has helped the Capitals to the league’s best record. While there was an even split in the crease for a good portion of the season, Lindgren missed some time with injury, and it allowed Thompson to emerge as the No. 1 option between the pipes for Washington. In his past dozen starts, Thompson has a record of 11-0-1 while posting a .949 save percentage. He earned a six-year, $35.1 million contract extension, nice work for the former USports goaltender.

#19 Veteran Anaheim Ducks goaltender John Gibson is getting a steady diet of starts in the Anaheim net, perhaps showcasing him for a potential trade. Lukas Dostal has played well, establishing himself as the Ducks’ goaltender of the future, and possibly the present, but in his past 11 appearances, Gibson has a .922 save percentage. That kind of performance should help to make Gibson more appealing to a playoff contender that is looking for an upgrade in goal and a move to a team that is more likely to win would certainly improve Gibson’s fantasy value.

#20 Dallas Stars standout defenceman Miro Heiskanen is considered week-to-week with a lower-body injury, suffered following an unusual hit from Vegas Golden Knights captain Mark Stone. Heiskanen will miss the 4 Nations Face-Off, and his absence from the Stars lineup will be every bit as challenging as it will be for Team Finland to be without the rock steady blueliner. With Heiskanen out, Thomas Harley should see more time on the power play. Only three of Harley’s 23 points this season have come via the man advantage.

*Advanced stats via Natural Stat Trick

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

NHL: DADOUN – FANTASY WEEK AHEAD – Washington powers on with Ovechkin, Chicago looks for change – Teams and players to target this week

Ryan Dadoun — Sat, 07 Dec 2024 16:07:18 +0000

NEWARK, NJ - NOVEMBER 30: Washington Capitals defenseman Jakob Chychrun (6) scores a goal during a NHL game between the Washington Capitals and New Jersey Devils at Prudential Center on November 30, 2024 in Newark, New Jersey. (Photo by Andrew Mordzynski/Icon Sportswire)

Washington had an incredible 13-4-1 record through Nov. 18 thanks in large part to its league-leading 4.33 goals per game. However, that offensive success was built around Alex Ovechkin, who had 15 goals and 25 points through 18 appearances, so when he suffered a fractured left fibula, it was reasonable to wonder how much his absence would impact the Capitals. Going into Friday’s action, Washington seemed to largely be managing the injury well, posting a 4-2-1 record in its first seven games without Ovechkin.

The Capitals offense has certainly taken a hit, but they’ve still managed an impressive 3.43 goals per game since Ovechkin was sidelined. Tom Wilson (three goals, six points), Dylan Strome (two goals, six points) and Connor McMichael (two goals, five points) have been of particular importance over that seven-game stretch.

However, none of those forwards are actually the Capitals’ scoring leader over the stretch without Ovechkin. That honor belongs to Jakob Chychrun, who has three goals and seven points across his past seven outings. Chychrun, who was acquired from Ottawa over the summer, has been a fantastic addition, collecting eight goals and 15 points through 20 appearances. Keep in mind, though, that his 19.0 shooting percentage is far ahead of his career average of 7.2, so we’ll probably eventually see a drop off.

Still, this stretch has shown that Washington is a team with some decent depth and might prove to be a serious contender come playoff time.

One team that almost certainly won’t be playing come the postseason is Chicago. There’s still plenty of hockey left, of course, but with an 8-16-2 record, the Blackhawks seem set to miss the playoffs for the fifth straight year.

Connor Bedard has been fine with five goals and 19 points in 26 outings, but for a player who has as much promise as him, even more is hoped for. Still, it would help if he had more support. Ryan Donato is the only other Chicago player with at least 15 points (10 goals, five assists). To put that into context, 160 players at reached the 15-point mark through Thursday’s action, so an average team should have five players who have reached that milestone.

Goaltender Petr Mrazek has been alright, but he’s not getting much support on offense or defense, which has left him with a 7-11-1 record, 2.86 GAA and .905 save percentage across 19 outings. Chicago fired head coach Luke Richardson after Chicago suffered its fourth straight loss Wednesday and appointed Anders Sorensen as the interim bench boss. Richardson finished his Blackhawks tenure with a 57-118-15 record, so by that measure his departure isn’t surprising, but given that Chicago has been in the midst of a rebuild, it’s hard to be too critical of him.

Still, perhaps Sorensen, who spent the previous seven campaigns coaching for AHL Rockford, including three years as the head coach going into 2024-25, can help accelerate the rebuild somewhat by guiding the team’s young players. He already has familiarity with many of the club’s prospects thanks to his previous role. A fresh perspective might also be good for Bedard, who is naturally critical to Chicago’s long-term goals.

It will be a while before we know if the change to Sorensen was the right move, and success, at least in the short term, won’t necessarily be measured in wins and losses, but the Blackhawks will be an interesting team to monitor.

Buffalo Sabres (Mon vs DET, Wed vs NYR, Sat @ WAS, Sun @ TOR)

The Sabres have hit a rough patch, dropping their last five games to fall to 11-12-3 on the campaign. To be fair, most of those games were against tough opponents (Minnesota, Vancouver, Colorado and Winnipeg handed out four of the five defeats), but Buffalo has more difficult matchups on the horizon. The Sabres will host the Red Wings and the Rangers on Monday and Wednesday, respectively, before taking to the road to face Washington on Saturday and Toronto on Sunday.

Rasmus Dahlin left Tuesday’s 5-4 loss to Colorado because of back spasms and missed Thursday’s 3-2 overtime defeat to the Jets because of the issue. Coach Lindy Ruff described the situation like this via Buffalo’s Twitter account, “It should be short-term, but you never know.” In other words, Dahlin might be fine to play in all four of next week’s games.

He’s a vital part of the Sabres’ blue line, so no one defenseman can fill in for him when he’s not available. That said, Henri Jokiharju should see an increase in even-strength ice time -- Jokiharju logged 20:23 of ice time Thursday, his most since Oct. 16 -- and Owen Power should serve on the first power play unit for however long Dahlin’s out.

Jokiharju doesn’t have much fantasy value regardless, but Power has three goals and 15 points in 26 appearances in 2024-25 despite recording no points with the man advantage, so if he’s given an opportunity to play on the top power-play unit for any extended stretch, that’d be rather interesting.

Regardless of which defensemen dress, Buffalo needs them to help make life easier on the goaltenders. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen could certainly have done more recently -- he posted a record of 0-2-2 with a 3.20 GAA and an .895 save percentage across his past four starts -- but he also faced at least 30 shots in three of those four games, including 41 shots in Tuesday’s tilt.

James Reimer has been used sparingly, posting a 1-1-0 record, 2.05 GAA and .923 save percentage in two starts since being claimed by Buffalo off waivers Nov. 13, but the Sabres’ busy schedule means that he should play in at least one game next week.

Carolina Hurricanes ( Tue vs SJS, Fri vs OTT, Sun vs CBJ)

The Hurricanes are playing in just three games next week, but I still wanted to feature them because those matchups are favorable. All three of the matches will be in Carolina. The Hurricanes will host San Jose on Tuesday, Ottawa on Friday and Columbus on Sunday.

None of those opponents are good defensively -- Ottawa ranks 25th in goals allowed per game (3.20), which is the best of the three -- so this should be a good stretch for the Blue Jackets’ scorers. Perhaps Martin Necas can build some breathing room in the Art Ross Trophy fight. At the time of writing, he’s in first place with 41 points (14 goals), narrowly edging out Nathan MacKinnon (40 points), Kirill Kaprizov (39), Jack Eichel (38) and Sam Reinhart (37).

Necas was held off the scoresheet in back-to-back games from Nov. 29-30 for the first time this season, but he’s responded by scoring two goals and four points across his past two outings.

One lower profile Hurricanes who’s hot is Eric Robinson. The 29-year-old has never recorded more than 27 points in a single season, but he’s well on his way to shattering that record after recording eight goals and 17 points across 26 appearances. Exercise some caution here: His shooting percentage is an unreasonably high 25.0, and he’s still averaging just 12:15 of ice time with no power-play role, so it’s hard to imagine him keeping up this pace. Still, he’s hot at the moment with three goals and four points across his past five appearances, and when coupled with the Blue Jackets’ upcoming scheduled, there’s reason to hope that the good times aren’t over yet.

We should also see continued production out of defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere. He’s fitting in nicely with Carolina, scoring five goals and 21 points in 26 outings, including a goal and seven points over his past six games. Gostisbehere’s success is largely tethered to the power play, which accounts for 15 of his points.

His presence has corresponded with Brent Burns shifting to the second power-play unit this year, which has led to Burns recording no points with the man advantage so far in 2024-25. Burns has a goal and seven points in 26 outings overall, which puts him on track to finish below the 40-point mark for just the second time in 12 seasons (the last time was the shortened 2020-21 campaign).

Columbus Blue Jackets (Tue vs PHI, Thu vs WAS, Sat vs ANA, Sun @ CAR)

The Blue Jackets are 11-11-3, which isn’t great, but they have done better than many projected going into the campaign. Columbus will see if it can maintain that level next week when it hosts Philadelphia, Washington and Anaheim on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, respectively. The Blue Jackets will then travel to Carolina for a game Sunday.

Kirill Marchenko has played a big role in Columbus’ better than expected results. The 24-year-old has 10 goals and 24 points in 25 games this season, putting him well on his way to shattering his mark of 42 points in 2023-24. You’ll usually see him sharing the ice with Sean Monahan, who has fit in nicely with Columbus, providing eight goals and 22 points through 25 appearances.

For the last few weeks, Dmitri Voronkov has typically been the third member of that line. He missed the start of the campaign with an upper-body injury and registered just one point (a goal) across his first six games of 2024-25, but the 24-year-old sophomore has hit his stride, supplying five goals and 10 points over his past 10 outings. He’s still on just 17 percent of Yahoo rosters, so he might be a nice pickup if he’s still available in your league.

On the blue line, Zach Werenski has been a standout performer for the Blue Jackets with eight goals and 27 points through 25 appearances. He’s one of the hottest defensemen in the entire league, recording five goals and 17 points across his past 10 outings.

Minnesota Wild (Tue vs UTA, Thu vs EDM, Sat vs PHI, Sun vs VGK)

The Wild have won their past four games to improve to 17-4-4. Minnesota will try to keep the good times rolling next week, which will begin with a road game against Utah on Tuesday. After that match, Minnesota will spend the rest of the week at home, playing against Edmonton, Philadelphia and Vegas on Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, respectively.

Joel Eriksson Ek sustained an injury Tuesday and is week-to-week, and there’s no indication that Mats Zuccarello is close to returning from the lower-body issue that’s kept him out of the lineup since Nov. 14.

If Zuccarello were healthy, he’d almost certainly be playing alongside Kirill Kaprizov and Marco Rossi. His absence led to the lines being shaken up, and Eriksson Ek did skate on the top line with Kaprizov on Tuesday before he got hurt. With Zuccarello and Eriksson Ek both out, Matt Boldy will likely play regularly alongside Kaprizov and Rossi. Boldy has 11 goals and 24 points in 25 appearances, so that’s a strong trio. The forward corps after that, though, looks thin due to the injuries.

Marcus Johansson, Ryan Hartman and Marcus Foligno currently comprise the second line, but none of them have even reached double digits in points. The third unit is Devin Shore, Frederick Gaudreau and Yakov Trenin, which has a combined 15 points this season -- 14 of them from Gaudreau.

Fortunately for the Wild, Filip Gustavsson hasn’t needed much offensive help this year. He’s 12-4-3 with a 2.04 GAA and a .929 save percentage in 19 appearances.

New York Islanders (Tue vs LAK, Thu vs CHI, Sun @ CHI)

The Islanders have three games on the schedule, but two of them are against the lowly Blackhawks -- New York will host them Thursday and play in Chicago on Sunday -- so the Islanders are in a good position there. New York will also host the Kings on Tuesday.

We just discussed how Minnesota’s offense looks thin due to injuries, and the Islanders are in a similar boat without Anthony Duclair (lower body) and Mathew Barzal (upper body), who have logged just five and 10 games, respective. Due to their absences, the Islanders have just two players with at least 20 points, and even then, just barely -- Anders Lee has 21 while Kyle Palmieri has 20. The result is no Islanders player is within the top 50 of the Art Ross Trophy race.

Andrew Gross of Newsday reported Friday that Duclair and Barzal are skating on their own, which is better than not skating at all, but there are several steps between that and playing, so I wouldn’t count on them returning during the upcoming week.

Lee has been one of the few recent bright spots, providing four goals and eight points across his past six games. He’s on a four-game scoring streak through Thursday’s action. Simon Holmstrom appears to have cooled, though. He had back-to-back multi-goal games from Nov. 29-30, but he hasn’t found the back of the net since. Holmstrom has done fine with seven goals and 15 points in 27 outings, but he’s not worth employing in most fantasy leagues except when he’s hot.

New York Rangers (Mon vs CHI, Wed @ BUF, Sat vs LAK, Sun @ STL)

New York is set to host Chicago on Monday, play in Buffalo on Wednesday, have a home game against the Kings on Saturday and conclude the week by playing in St. Louis on Sunday. Let’s not dwell on the schedule, though, the Rangers had an eventful Friday, and I want to dive right into it.

New York traded Jacob Trouba to Anaheim in exchange for a fourth-round pick and Urho Vaakanainen. Importantly, the Rangers didn’t retain any salary, so Trouba’s $8 million cap hit through 2025-26 is now off their books. New York then signed Igor Shesterkin to an eight-year, $92 million contract that will begin in 2025-26 after his current four-year, $22.67 million deal expires.

Let’s start with the defensive changes. Trouba had a fantastic eight goals and 50 points in 82 games with Winnipeg in 2018-19 and was then dealt to the Rangers in the summer of 2019 in exchange for a 2019 first-round selection (Ville Heinola) and Neal Pionk. The Rangers promptly signed Trouba to his current eight-year, $56 million contract.

Unfortunately for New York, the Rangers inked Trouba at the height of his offensive contributions. Over his five campaigns with the Rangers going into 2024-25, Trouba reached the 30-point mark twice, but never hit 40. To be fair, Trouba is a big body, plays a physical game and blocks a ton of shots, so he brings things to the table outside of offense. He also served as the team captain from 2022 until he was traded, highlighting his importance in the locker room. Still, his cap hit was too high for what he brought.

It's telling that the Rangers got very little in return for him, and even with that, some questioned if they won this trade simply by virtue of clearing that cap space. But what did they receive outside of that draft pick? Vaakanainen was taken with the No. 18 overall pick in the 2017 NHL Draft, but he never developed as hoped. Instead, he should be regarded as a depth defenseman who will likely bounce between the third pairing and the press box. He is also on the injured reserve list due to an upper-body injury, so it might be a bit before he makes his Rangers debut.

Rather than Vaakanainen playing regularly, we might see the Rangers utilize Victor Mancini more with Trouba out. The 22-year-old Mancini has a goal, four points, seven hits and 12 blocks in 10 appearances with New York in 2024-25, and he’s also provided two goals and five points in six AHL outings. Don’t get too excited over Mancini’s offensive numbers, though. He wasn’t much of a producer in the NCAA, recording just four goals and 10 points across 40 outings with the University of Nebraska-Omaha as a Junior in 2023-24.

As for locking up Shesterkin, the cap hit is substantial, but not surprising. He’s proven himself to be a top-tier goaltender, and we’re in a period where the cap seems to be steadily climbing, so there’s logic behind the number. Shesterkin has struggled recently with a 2-7-0 record, 3.93 GAA and .882 save percentage across nine appearances, but he should rebound.

St. Louis Blues (Tue @ VAN, Thu vs SJS, Sat @ DAL, Sun vs NYR)

St. Louis has won four of its past five games, improving to 13-12-2 this season. That still puts the Blues outside of a playoff spot, but at least they’re trending in the right direction. The Blues will play in Vancouver on Tuesday, host the Sharks on Thursday, visit Dallas on Saturday and play at home Sunday versus the Rangers.

Dylan Holloway has been a major part of the Blues’ recent success, contributing four goals and eight points across his past five outings. That brings him up to eight goals and 16 points in 27 appearances this year, but he’s been inconsistent, so enjoy the good times while they last, but be prepared for the other shoe to eventually drop if you grab the 23-year-old during his hot streak.

Jordan Binnington is another extremely inconsistent play, but he has been more hit than miss lately, providing a 4-2-1 record, 2.10 GAA and .925 save percentage across his past seven appearances. He’s 8-9-2 with a 2.87 GAA and .900 save percentage in 20 outings overall and will probably average out as a low-to-mid tier starter this season.

Robert Thomas might still have a great campaign, though. He did miss 12 games from Oct. 24-Nov. 17 because of a fractured ankle, but with that injury now well behind him, Thomas seems to be heating up, providing three goals and six points across his past four games. This might just be the beginning of a longer hot streak for Thomas, who set a career high in 2023-24 with 86 points.

Toronto Maple Leafs (Tue @ NJD, Thu vs ANA, Sat @ DET, Sun vs BUF)

Toronto is having a fantastic campaign with a 16-7-2 record, and the Maple Leafs have won seven of their past eight games. They’ll look to maintain that momentum next week, starting with a road contest against New Jersey. The Maple Leafs will then host Anaheim on Thursday, play in Detroit on Saturday and return home to play against the Sabres on Sunday.

Auston Matthews and Matthew Knies returned from injury Nov. 30, adding to Toronto’s success. Matthews has been especially good since returning, supplying three goals and five points across three appearances, bringing him up to eight goals and 16 points through 16 outings. Matthews tends to score goals in bunches, so it wouldn’t be surprising to see him continue to tickle the twine over the upcoming week.

Max Domi (lower body) and Max Pacioretty (lower body) have also been skating with the Maple Leafs recently, so they might be nearing a return too. Once they do, we might see Nicholas Robertson fall out of the lineup. Robertson has been the main disappointment in what has otherwise been a great campaign for Toronto. He has just two points (both goals) in 22 outings in 2024-25. Robertson did find the back of the net Nov. 30, but he was held off the scoresheet in two games since, so that marker didn’t seem to help spark him.

In net, Joseph Woll and Anthony Stolarz will probably each start in two games next week. Stolarz is 8-4-2 with a 2.23 GAA and .924 save percentage in 14 outings, while Woll is 7-2-0 with a 2.11 GAA and a .922 save percentage in nine appearances, so the Maple Leafs can happily treat them as a 1A-1B tandem.

NHL: DADOUN – THE FANTASY WEEK AHEAD (November 11th to 18th, 2024) – Winnipeg and Florida dominate

Ryan Dadoun — Sat, 09 Nov 2024 18:45:55 +0000

OTTAWA, ON - OCTOBER 10: Florida Panthers Right Wing Sam Reinhart (13) before a face-off during third period National Hockey League action between the Florida Panthers and Ottawa Senators on October 10, 2024, at Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa, ON, Canada. (Photo by Richard A. Whittaker/Icon Sportswire)

The Colorado Avalanche have problems, as I’ve discussed in previous articles, but going into Thursday’s action those issues hadn’t extended to their core players. In fact, defenseman Cale Makar opened the campaign with a 13-game scoring streak in which he provided five goals and 23 points, and after an injury scare, he was available for Thursday’s tilt against Winnipeg and ended up logging an impressive 25:16 of ice time.

Against every other team, Makar and Nathan MacKinnon, who took his own 13-game scoring streak into Thursday’s action, would have done some damage even if they hadn’t come away with the win. Winnipeg has been in a league of its own, though, especially with Connor Hellebuyck between the pipes. The goaltender shrugged off the Avalanche’s 35 shots to earn his second consecutive shutout, bringing him up to a 10-1-0 record, 1.91 GAA and .932 save percentage through 11 starts.

Hellebuyck being an amazing goaltender is old news. There’s a reason why Winnipeg inked him to a seven-year, $59.5 million contract that began this season -- a contract that’s looking increasingly good, especially with the way the goaltender market is heading. However, the Jets under new bench boss Scott Arniel are giving him more defensive support than he’s accustomed to. The Jets have an xGA/60 of 2.49, per Moneypuck, the second-best in the league. By contrast, Winnipeg ranked 10th last year with a 2.93 xGA/60. That suggests the quality of the shots making their way to Hellebuyck has gotten significantly lower, making it easier for the netminder to do his job. That might also be why Winnipeg is also 3-0-0 on the nights that journeyman goaltender Eric Comrie has started instead.

Winnipeg’s dominance doesn’t end there, though. The Jets rank first in goals per game with 4.50, which is a feat they’ve accomplished in part through depth. Kyle Connor (nine goals, 19 points), Mark Scheifele (seven goals, 18 points) and Gabriel Vilardi (six goals, 12 points) can compromise an amazing top line, and that still leaves you with the luxury of putting Nikolaj Ehlers (eight goals, 17 points) on the second line and a red-hot Nino Niederreiter (seven goals, 12 points) on the third unit to exhaust the enemy’s defense. It is worth noting that Moneypuck ranks Winnipeg 21st in xG/60 with 2.99, so there’s an argument to be made that the Jets have enjoyed good puck luck, and they haven’t endured anything close to the same kind of injury issues that a team like Colorado has.

It's also worth remembering the cautionary tale of the 2007-08 Ottawa Senators, who started 13-1-0 but faltered after that, finishing 43-31-8 and being swept in the first round of the playoffs. That said, there isn’t a lot of sample size when it comes to 13-1-0 starts. Ottawa showed that even a start as hot as this doesn’t guarantee success, but that doesn’t mean a fall from grace is inevitable either. And sure, maybe the Jets’ offense won’t continue to perform at this level, but if the defense stays effective and Hellebuyck remains healthy, then Winnipeg won’t necessarily need that much goal production. This is a strong team, potentially far stronger than analysts rated the Jets to be going into the campaign, and they’ll certainly be one to watch going forward.

While some might still view the Jets as a team with something to prove even after starting 13-1-0, not many would question Florida’s 10-3-1 start. Back-to-back trips to the finals, including a Stanley Cup championship, affords you a great deal of faith. That’s not to say every player on the team receives that level of belief, though. Sam Reinhart is probably raising some eyebrows after scoring 11 goals and 22 points through 14 games. Sure, he had 57 goals and 94 points in 82 appearances in 2023-24, but his 24.5 shooting percentage was insanely high, so it must have been a fluke, right?

Those who read my articles from last year would know I pushed back against the assumption that his high shooting percentage was unsustainable.

More specifically, this is what I said about Reinhart back in January: “His shooting percentage of 27.5 is by far the highest of any player with at least 100 shots -- next is Brock Boeser at 23.3 -- and more than double his 2022-23 finish of 13.7. Digging a little deeper, Reinhart is selective with when he shoots, firing 40.4 percent in high-danger areas. By contrast, Nikita Kucherov has nearly the same number of goals (28) while firing nearly double the shots (amounting to a 15.4 shooting percentage), but just 18.1 percent of his shots are in high-danger locations, so by that measure, Reinhart’s higher shooting percentage makes some sense.”

This year tells a somewhat similar story. Of his 39 shots, 13 (33.3 percent) have been in high-danger areas while another 12 (30.8 percent) have been mid-range. By contrast, Nikita Kucherov, who has 11 goals on 54 shots has fired 12 (22.2 percent) in high-danger areas and 16 (29.6) at mid-range. In other words, while someone like Kucherov fires more shots than Reinhart, they end up with a similar number of high-quality shots, so there’s logic behind Reinhart’s high shooting percentage, making it less of a warning sign than it would be for some other players.

Carolina Hurricanes (Mon @ VGK, Wed @ UTA, Sat vs OTT, Sun vs STL)

The Hurricanes have done nearly as well as the Jets, posting a 10-2-0 record after Thursday’s 5-1 victory over Pittsburgh. Carolina will open the week with a challenging road match versus Vegas, but the schedule gets more manageable after that with a road game against Utah on Wednesday followed by home contests versus Ottawa and St. Louis on Saturday and Sunday, respectively.

Carolina is still without Frederik Andersen (lower body), and there’s no guarantee he’ll be an option next week, so Spencer Martin might make his season debut. The 29-year-old is far from an ideal choice, but Carolina is one of the most goaltender-friendly teams in the league, so it wouldn’t be surprising to see Martin walk away with the win if he faces the Senators or Blues.

That’ll be especially true if Martin Necas remains hot. He’s on an eight-game scoring streak in which he’s provided six goals and 18 points. Necas took a step back last season with a 53-point showing, but he’s a good bet to rebound with the second 70-plus point campaign of his career. Just don’t count on him maintaining anything close to his current point-per-game pace, which stands at 1.75 (21 points in 12 outings). Necas has been impressive, but he’s unlikely to finish 2024-25 among the league’s scoring leaders. To give you some perspective, he had seven goals and 17 points through 11 appearances in 2022-23 and finished that campaign outside the top-50 in the scoring race despite logging the full 82 games.

Moving from the Hurricanes’ top offensive performer to a physical defenseman, Riley Stillman (lower body) will likely make his Hurricanes debut soon. He had a goal, eight points, 81 hits and 44 blocks in 50 outings between Vancouver and Buffalo in 2023-24. His presence won’t dramatically alter Carolina’s blue line, but we might see Sean Walker be an infrequent healthy scratch after dressing in all of the team’s first 12 games. Maybe Jalen Chatfield will end up being a scratch at some point too if everyone is healthy, though I suspect Walker’s position in the lineup is less secure.

Nashville Predators (Mon @ COL, Thu @ EDM, Fri @ CGY, Sun @ VAN)

Not secure describes the Predators pretty well. Nashville GM Barry Trotz even recently floated the idea of beginning the team’s rebuild plan if the team doesn’t start turning around -- a move that would be awkward after signing veterans Steven Stamkos to a four-year, $32 million contract and Jonathan Marchessault to a five-year, $27.5 million deal over the summer.

All the same, you can hardly blame Trotz for thinking that way after the club’s 4-9-1 start. Perhaps next week will offer more hope, though it would have to come on the road. The Predators will play in Colorado on Monday, Edmonton on Thursday, Calgary on Friday and Vancouver on Sunday.

Stamkos is finally showing life, providing three goals and six points across his past six games after being limited to one point (a goal) over his opening eight appearances. The problem is no other Predators player has stepped up recently -- outside of Stamkos, every Nashville skater has recorded three or fewer points over the team’s past six games.

Then there’s Juuse Saros, who is leaving plenty to be desired with a 3-7-1 record, 2.85 GAA and .904 save percentage in 11 outings. You might be wondering if his mediocre numbers are a reflection of struggles on his end or just a byproduct of poor play in front of him. Nashville ranks 24th in xGA/60 at 3.27 while Saros’ goals saved above expected is plus-3.9, which suggests Saros has been doing fine, but the Predators have been letting him down. If there’s any silver lining to be had there, it suggests that if Nashville can start tightening up defensively, then Saros will reward his teammates by putting up the kind of elite numbers we know he’s capable of. Imagining that scenario, though, might just be an exercise in wishful thinking.

Philadelphia Flyers (Mon vs SJS, Thu @ OTT, Sat vs BUF)

The Flyers haven’t been much better than Nashville, though Philadelphia doesn’t have the same burden of expectations. Either way, the 5-8-1 Flyers have a favorable set of adversaries ahead of them. They’ll host the Sharks on Monday, play in Ottawa on Thursday and conclude the week with a home game versus the Sabres on Saturday.

Samuel Ersson (lower body) and Aleksei Kolosov (lower body) weren’t able to play Thursday, which left Ivan Fedotov, who had a 5.35 GAA and an .821 save percentage through his first three starts, to get the nod against Tampa Bay while Kyle Konin signed an amateur tryout to be the emergency backup. Despite those challenging circumstances, Philadelphia earned a 2-1 shootout victory over the Lightning, but I wouldn’t count on seeing continued success out of Fedotov if Ersson and Kolosov remain on the sidelines. Not that I have much confidence in any of the Flyers’ current goaltenders.

To be fair, the Flyers’ netminders get sparse goal support even when they manage to put forth a strong showing. Philadelphia ranks 27th offensively with 2.50 goals per game. Matvei Michkov has been one of the Flyers’ few scoring threats with four goals and 10 points in 13 outings, but coach John Tortorella hasn’t been thrilled with the 19-year-old forward’s five-on-five play -- note that Michkov is minus-8 and only three of his points have come at even strength -- which led to him being a healthy scratch Thursday. It’s also worth noting that his production has slowed recently, resulting in him registering just an assist over his past five outings.

Michkov is still young, so some growing pains are expected, and with Tortorella certainly not being afraid to mix some tough love into his teaching regime, it wouldn’t be surprising to see the occasional healthy scratch sprinkled in there as the campaign progresses. Taking a step back, a reasonable project for Michkov’s rookie season would be about 50 points.

Pittsburgh Penguins (Mon vs DAL, Wed vs DET, Fri @ CBJ, Sat vs SJS)

Sidney Crosby is continuing to defy his age, but it hasn’t been enough. Pittsburgh is 5-8-2, putting more pressure on the squad to start to right the ship. The Penguins are set to host Dallas and Detroit on Monday and Wednesday, respectively. They’ll then play in Columbus on Friday and round out the week by hosting the Sharks on Saturday.

Cody Glass (upper body) was put on injured reserve Friday while Bryan Rust (lower body) was activated, enabling him to return to the lineup after a five-game absence.

As I already alluded to, Crosby has continued to dominate in Rust’s absence -- Crosby has six goals and 15 points through 15 appearances in 2024-25 -- but Rust is nevertheless likely to rejoin the top line. That would probably result in Evgeni Malkin moving off the top unit to his more standard position headlining the second line. For what it’s worth, Malkin and Crosby have shown up on the scoresheet together for just two even-strength goals this season, and Malkin has been quiet lately with a goal and two points across his past five games. Meanwhile, Pittsburgh has lost its last two games, along with six of its past eight, so it’s not like there are circumstances on a team level or a line level that would compel head coach Mike Sullivan to keep Malkin and Crosby together in five-on-five play at this time.

At the other end of the ice, the goaltending situation continues to be a question mark. Alex Nedeljkovic gave the Penguins hope with strong starts against the lowly Ducks and Canadiens, but he’s faded quickly, allowing eight goals on 44 shots (.818 save percentage) over his past two losses to the Islanders and Hurricanes. Meanwhile, Tristan Jarry has been rebuilding his confidence in the minors, posting a 1.69 GAA and a .946 save percentage across four games with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. Perhaps Jarry will get recalled soon and get another shot? Just as the Crosby-Malkin duo hasn’t done anything to force Sullivan to keep them together, Nedeljkovic’s play isn’t great enough to secure the No. 1 job, so the possibility of a Jarry comeback remains.

Seattle Kraken (Tue vs CBJ, Thu vs CHI, Sat vs NYI, Sun vs NYR)

The Kraken will stay at home next week, hosting the Blue Jackets on Tuesday, the Blackhawks on Thursday, the Islanders on Saturday and finally the Rangers on Sunday. We’ll see if that homestand will right the ship for Seattle, which has lost four straight games and seven of its last eight contests, dropping to 5-8-1.

Seattle has managed just 2.25 goals per game across its last eight matches, but interestingly, there have been some standout performers over that stretch. Jared McCann and Matty Beniers have each managed three goals and eight points during Seattle’s slump while defenseman Brandon Montour has contributed three goals and six points in that span.

The problem is other players you’d expect to do well have fallen short. Oliver Bjorkstrand is the most notable example of that. He set a career high with 59 points last season but has just three goals and five points through 13 appearances in 2024-25 and is heading in the wrong direction with a goal and an assist across his past eight outings. Those struggles reached a possible crescendo when he was scratched Tuesday, so it will be interesting to see if he uses that time in the press box to reset.

Jordan Eberle and Eeli Tolvanen need to rebound too. They have managed just two and three points, respectively, over Seattle’s past eight games. Neither is a major offensive threat, but they are important secondary scorers for the Kraken and lately, they have failed to fulfill that role.

Some of those cold stretches would have been swept under the rug if Shane Wright was adapting to the NHL, but the No. 4 overall pick from the 2022 NHL Draft has been disappointing thus far, providing just a goal and two points through 14 games in 2024-25. I wonder if he might benefit from a stint in the press box of his own. Either way, it’s impossible to recommend him at this time in standard leagues, but I will at least say the potential remains there, so he’s worth keeping an eye on. If you want a silver lining, you could say that the Kraken’s overall offensive struggles do open the door to Wright landing a top six spot if only he could start producing.

St. Louis Blues (Tue vs BOS, Thu @ BUF, Fri @ BOS, Sun @ CAR)

The Blues have a busy week ahead of them, but the competition isn’t the easiest. They’ll host the Bruins on Tuesday before heading on the road to play in Buffalo on Thursday, Boston on Saturday and Carolina on Sunday.

We could all breathe a sigh of relief after Dylan Holloway avoided serious injury after a scary incident Tuesday when he was hit by a high puck and taken away on a stretcher. He even managed to play in St. Louis’ very next game. His former Oilers teammate who came with him to St. Louis, though, will be out for a while.

Philip Broberg suffered a lower-body injury Saturday and is expected to miss the next 4-6 weeks. Broberg had been making the most of the increased role the Blues gave him, providing two goals and nine points through 12 appearances while averaging 19:34 of ice time. St. Louis is also missing Torey Krug (ankle) for the 2024-25 campaign and Nick Leddy (lower body), though at least in Leddy’s case, he might be back in the not-too-distant future.

Absences have likely contributed to Ryan Suter playing a bigger role than initially envisioned. Although he an insanely big minutes eater in his prime, Suter dipped below 20 minutes per game in 2023-24 for the first time since his rookie campaign, averaging 18:56 of ice time with Dallas. The 39-year-old initially looked like he would have a strictly supporting role with St. Louis in 2024-25, averaging just 16:02 across the Blues’ opening four games. Then Leddy got hurt, and Suter has averaged 23:53 since. Don’t be surprised if Suter’s ice time takes a notable hit once Leddy is back, though until Broberg is healthy too, Suter will probably still see at least decent minutes.

Leddy’s eventual return might also make things a little easier on Blues goaltenders Jordan Binnington and Joel Hofer. Neither netminder has gotten off to a good start, though Binnington has been encouraging recently. He’s still just 4-5-0 with a 2.78 GAA and a .904 save percentage in 10 outings overall, but he’s saved 75 of 81 shots (.926 save percentage) across his past three games. Going into the season, it looked like Hofer might challenge Binnington for the starting gig, but that hasn’t happened yet to any major extent, and Binnington’s recent success helps put more distance between the two.

Vancouver Canucks (Tue vs CGY, Thu vs NYI, Sat vs CHI, Sun vs NSH)

Vancouver is on a three-game winning streak, bringing the Canucks up to 7-2-3. They’ll look to continue that success next week with home games against Calgary on Tuesday, the Islanders on Thursday, Chicago on Saturday and Nashville on Sunday.

While things are going well for the Canucks overall, the same can’t be said for Elias Pettersson. He has two goals and five points across 12 appearances in 2024-25. He did discuss his slump last week, and unfortunately, not much has changed since with Pettersson providing one point (a goal) over his past three games despite Vancouver combining for a solid 12 goals during that stretch.

One thing I didn’t bring up then is Pettersson’s shot total, which is concerning low at 22, which translates to 5.7 shots per 60 minutes, a drop from 7.7 last year. That’s despite having one six-shot game in 2024-25 -- he also has been held to a single shot on seven occasions. He also has just 52 shot attempts, which is 4.3 per game, down from 4.9 in 2023-24.

I went to dig a bit deeper, and one thing that stood out to me is that his skating metrics are down from last year, and the same can be said about his shot speed. In terms of shot location, 60 of his 207 in 2023-24 were high danger, translating to roughly 29 percent while he has nine of 22 (40.9 percent) in high-danger locations this campaign, so at least when he is shooting the location is generally good, but still, some of those other metrics are concerning.

Pettersson is still just 25, so unless he’s playing hurt, I don’t think it’s fair to believe there isn’t a physical reason for his drop in play. Instead, it’s likely to be mental, which is a theory that gains credibility when you consider former Canucks head coach Bruce Boudreau’s analysis of the situation, per the Vancouver Province. Boudreau noted that Pettersson “doesn’t look excited when he plays and gets frustrated very easily.” Perhaps the pressure of his eight-year, $92.8 million contract, which he’s in the first season of, is getting to the star forward.

Whatever the case, other members of the Canucks have been picking up the slack. Not much was expected of Conor Garland going into the campaign, but he’s been great, providing four goals and 11 points through 12 appearances. That probably won’t last, but he isn’t showing signs of slowing down yet after recording at least a point in each of his past three games. Defenseman Quinn Hughes is also red hot, supplying a goal and five points over his last two outings, bringing him up to three goals and 14 points in 12 appearances this season.

Vegas Golden Knights (Mon vs CAR, Wed @ ANA, Fri @ UTA, Sun vs WSH)

The Golden Knights will start the upcoming week by hosting the Hurricanes, but after that, they’ll have to take to the road. Vegas will play in Anaheim on Wednesday, Utah on Friday and Washington on Sunday.

The Golden Knights have won six of their past seven games, elevating their record to 9-3-1. The top line of Jack Eichel, Mark Stone and Ivan Barbashev continues to be a major part of that with Stone leading the way with six goals and 21 points in 13 outings. The 32-year-old Stone is on a seven-game scoring streak (four goals,12 points) and has been held off the scoresheet just once in 2024-25.

It also helps to have a player of Tomas Hertl’s caliber on the second unit, who has four goals and 12 points through 13 outings. Meanwhile, Noah Hanifin is red hot from the blue line with three goals and eight points across his past two games.

Those two really highlight the amazing sticking power Vegas has managed thanks to its aggressive trade strategy. Those are two veterans who were added during the 2023-24 campaign and are locked up to 2027-28. Other teams add rental pieces leading up to a Cup run, but the Golden Knights tend to take a longer view when making trades, so even when a postseason run doesn’t work out, as was the case in 2024, the additions they made are still around to help them moving forward.

Eventually, the bottom might fall out of this strategy. In the cap era, we haven’t seen a team that has been able to sustain itself indefinitely on trades alone without going through a rebuild. But when you look at the team’s core of Eichel, Stone, Hertl, Barbashev, William Karlsson, Alex Pietrangelo, Noah Hanifin and Shea Theodore, you’re seeing a group that’s still largely in its prime and positioned to potentially be competitive for years to come.

The one thing that the group is missing is a star goaltender. Adin Hill can be solid, but he also has his rough patches, and the 2024-25 campaign has been more miss than hit for him so far, leaving Hill with a 3.01 GAA and an .882 save percentage through eight outings. On the plus side, he’s allowed just five goals on 64 shots (.922 save percentage) across his past three starts, and the Golden Knights are strong enough offensively to put him in a position to win even when he doesn’t have a great night, so there’s still plenty of value to be had here.

MCKEEN’S 2024-25 NHL YEARBOOK – CAROLINA HURRICANES – Team Preview

Sat, 21 Sep 2024 20:00:50 +0000

_{PITTSBURGH, PA - MARCH 26: Carolina Hurricanes center Sebastian Aho (20) skates during the third period in the NHL game between the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Carolina Hurricanes on March 26, 2024, at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, PA. (Photo by Jeanine Leech/Icon Sportswire)}

After making the playoffs for the past five campaigns and reaching the Eastern Conference Finals twice, Carolina entered 2023-24 as potential contenders for the Cup. The regular season largely went as planned with the Hurricanes posting a 52-23-7 record on the strength of a balanced offence and a stellar defence -- Carolina led the league with a xGA/60 of just 2.65. To bolster the Hurricanes’ Cup chances, they acquired high-end forward Jake Guentzel from Pittsburgh and took a chance by acquiring the struggling Evgeny Kuznetsov from Washington. Kuznetsov ended up holding his own with Carolina, and Guentzel was his usual dominant self, but even that wasn’t enough. Carolina bested the Islanders in the first round but couldn’t overcome the Rangers in the second.

WHAT’S CHANGED? The Hurricanes were unable to sign Guentzel to a long-term deal, and ultimately cut their losses by trading his negotiating rights to Tampa Bay in exchange for a 2025 third-round selection before he became an unrestricted free agent. Kuznetsov then mutually agreed with Carolina to terminate his contract so he could play in the KHL, so both of Carolina’s additions during the 2023-24 campaign are gone. The Hurricanes also lost top-six forward Teuvo Teravainen as well as defencemen Brady Skjei, Brett Pesce, and Tony DeAngelo as unrestricted free agents. In an attempt to offset those blueline losses, Carolina inked free agents Shayne Gostisbehere and Sean Walker. Carolina also signed bottom-six forward William Carrier.

WHAT WOULD SUCCESS LOOK LIKE? After six years of being good, but not good enough, anything short of a trip to the Stanley Cup Finals would probably be seen as a disappointment. The Hurricanes certainly might accomplish that feat. Sebastian Aho and Martin Necas are in their respective primes while Seth Jarvis is fast becoming a star. If Pyotr Kochetkov builds off his strong 2023-24 campaign, and Frederik Andersen stays relatively healthy, Carolina will have a solid goaltending duo. Plus, Gostisbehere is a nice power-play specialist, making the Hurricanes even stronger in that regard.

WHAT COULD GO WRONG? Although Carolina has plenty of different strengths, it would be argued that sound defensive play has been the secret sauce to the Hurricanes’ dominance. Carolina has finished in the top five in xGA/60 in each of the past four campaigns and led the league in that category for each of the last two years. With that in mind, losing two of the squad’s top-four defencemen in Skjei and Pesce might hurt the team’s dynamics more than it initially seems. Gostisbehere is an offensive-minded blueliner and Walker is primarily a third-pairing guy, so neither of them are pure replacements for what Carolina lost. Another member of Carolina’s top-four blueline, Brent Burns, is also in danger of regressing at the age of 39. None of that would make the Hurricanes bad, but perhaps they won’t be quite as good as they have been in recent years.

TOP BREAKOUT CANDIDATE: Then again, the loss of Skjei and Pesce coupled with the possible regression of Burns has created an opportunity for rookie Scott Morrow. The rookie blueliner was strong with UMass-Amherst last year, scoring six goals and 30 points in 37 contests. Morrow has the potential to be a great two-way defenceman, and he’s one of the Hurricanes’ best prospects.

FORWARD

Sebastian Aho

Predicted Stats
GP	G	A	PTS	PPG
82	42	56	98	1.20

2023 was just another year at the office for the Hurricanes star forward. It was his most productive season in the NHL, recording a career-high 89 points and he maintained his consistent scoring pace with another 35+ goal season. He does everything for the team, thriving as a center who can handle the offence and the tough matchups on the top line and is an integral part of their aggressive penalty kill. His work on the power play is what stood out this year, recording a career-high 32 points with the man advantage, running the power play from the left wall and also playing the bumper position depending on the situation. His versatile approach to goal-scoring makes him a weapon in all situations, possessing a great shot with good speed to get open looks off the rush and finding sneaky ways to get himself open in front of the net. With Carolina always searching for a goal-scorer, Aho eventually has to be the guy to pick up the slack. He’s one of their best playmakers and doesn’t have the best shot, but he is the best at knowing what you need to do to score goals. On a team that loves to possess the puck, someone has to make it count for something and Aho is the best at it. It’s a part of his game that has yet to tail off and makes him the heartbeat of this Carolina team. Is this the season he surpasses 40 goals and flirts with 100 points?

Andrei Svechnikov

Predicted Stats
GP	G	A	PTS	PPG
71	24	38	62	0.87

Recovering from knee surgery, Svechnikov’s season didn’t start until late October, and it took him until mid-December to start getting back into form. After that, his season mirrored most of his NHL career. He was among the team leaders in shot volume and most offensive categories but didn’t score as many goals as fans or the team had hoped. Svechnikov looks like an unstoppable force at times, playing a power forward type game with deceptively good playmaking skills thrown in. The latter part of his game is always going to be unappreciated because he’s topped out as a 20-25 goal-guy instead of the 30+ guy most were hoping he would be. That and it’s easier for forgive the high number of penalties he takes when he’s more consistent with scoring goals rather than being a setup guy. His NHL track record isn’t bad, last year being one of his best with a 72-point pace, but the Hurricanes are hoping he can take the next step to become a superstar. Which is ultimately going to come down to if he can find the back of the net more often. He had the toolset to do it, the heavy wristshot combined with that powerful skating stride and playmaking skills should make him one of the more feared forwards in the NHL even if the results haven’t followed just yet. There is considerable upside but better to play it safe and draft for 70 games and 25 goals and 30 – 35 assists.

Seth Jarvis

Predicted Stats
GP	G	A	PTS	PPG
80	40	38	78	0.98

Jarvis is the epitome of a Hurricanes forward in a lot of ways. He’s undersized, but strong as an ox. He’s a high-motor player who battles hard to get to the front of the net and creates a lot of offence from around the blue paint. Last year was the first time he saw a reward for it on the scoresheet with a 33-goal season and finding a permanent home in Carolina’s top six. The high-effort game takes a toll on his body and leads to some streaky production, but after three years in the league he’s starting to learn some of the tools to become a more consistent player. He still forechecks hard but doesn’t always go in at full speed for every loose puck, finding more creative ways to win battles and get himself open in front of the net instead. He can still pick a corner and be the lethal sniper off the rush but being a net-front menace has more of a reward in the Canes system. His breakout season filled a major void in Carolina’s forward corps, and he became one of the team’s cornerstones by the end of the year, playing on both special teams units by the end of the season. With still a relatively small NHL track record, Jarvis still has to prove if he can produce like this on a yearly basis, but he has established himself as a key part of Carolina’s future. He finished last year on a point per game pace and firing 14 goals in his last 18 games. Entering his fourth season he is capable of 40 goals and a point-per-game.

Martin Necas

Predicted Stats
GP	G	A	PTS	PPG
82	31	37	68	0.83

Necas somewhat fell back to earth after a breakout season where it looked like he was on the path to stardom. A strong start was followed by a winter slump where he scored only five goals in 27 games through November and December. He began to return to form in mid-January after a brief stint on the IR, scoring at almost a point-per-game pace for three months before ending the season on a slow note that carried over into the playoffs. Finding linemates for him was an issue and the numbers game forced Necas off the top power play unit, so he didn’t have the same opportunities he did in 2022-23 when he was one of the few guys on the team who could produce offence. His talent is undeniable, but his preference for the one-man cycle game and tendency to make things happen on his own made him an awkward fit on most lines, although the Canes lack of a true second line pivot also contributed to that. Necas often had to play the one-man game because his linemates didn’t know what he was going to do, and the safer option was to just go to the net so he could do whatever he wanted high in the zone. Sometimes it worked, but he didn’t have enough players working with him last year. Even with his name being in trade rumors all summer, he’s slated to return to the Hurricanes for another year and should be back in a top six role with the Hurricanes losing a few forwards through free agency. Whether in Carolina or elsewhere he can produce 25 – 30 goals and 65 – 70 points with upside if he can find chemistry.

Jesperi Kotkaniemi

Predicted Stats
GP	G	A	PTS	PPG
76	16	22	38	0.50

At the start of the year, there were reasons to be optimistic about Kotkaniemi’s progression with Carolina. He began the season with 10 points in his first 10 games and was reliable as a pivot who could take advantage of playing with some of the team’s higher end skill guys like Martin Necas. Unfortunately, it was short lived as Kotkaniemi ended the season with only 27 points which included a three-month drought where he didn’t score a single goal. He went from centering the second line to playing regularly on the fourth line, even finding himself in the press box for a couple games. He is the negative side of the coin of a player with a ‘Jack of All Trades’ skillset, because he’s above average in most areas but not great at anything. The only exception being his heavy shot, which he needs a lot of time and space to release. One of the few skilled puck carriers on a forecheck-heavy team, Kotkaniemi’s skillset is needed but it comes back to him finding his confidence and the coaching staff trusting him again. Even when he was playing better, neither he nor his linemates could find the back of the net so it was hard for him to find any rhythm. With the roster currently loaded with middle-six players, Kotkaniemi needs to show some improvement to stand out from the pack. Now in his seventh season, and while young, a breakout is looking unlikely and should draft for around 15 goals and 30 – 40 points.

Jack Roslovic

Predicted Stats
GP	G	A	PTS	PPG
76	18	19	37	0.49

Roslovic’s season was hampered by injuries, but he was trusted with some good linemates in both Columbus and New York, spending time on the Johnny Gaudreau line in Columbus and with Mika Zibanejad on the Rangers second line in the playoffs. His speed, lanky frame and occasional highlight reel play make him a desirable candidate for that role, but the results have been scattered over his career. Prone to both cold spells in goal-scoring and driving play. Last year being one of his stronger seasons in the play-driving department. As a pass-first player, it’s expected for his results to be more linemate driven, but Roslovic’s strength in the transition game gives him some quick-strike ability that every team can use. He’s an interesting fit in Carolina on a one-year ticket. His versatility will be nice, but it’s tough to say if his love for carrying the puck will fill a need or be an awkward fit in their forecheck-heavy system. There’s potential for him to be the center who can mesh with Necas’ skill, but his inconsistent play-driving could make the Canes pull the plug on that line before it has a chance to gel. He has skills they can use but could be short on linemates on a roster lacking top-end talent. He has only hit 20 goals once and risky to project at much more than that with an equal amount of assists.

Jordan Martinook

Predicted Stats
GP	G	A	PTS	PPG
82	16	22	38	0.46

Best suited for a checking role, Martinook is usually the first one to get promoted to the top six whenever the Canes need a spark. He plays a straight-forward game with a lot of energy, so it’s easy to see why he’s been a favourite of Rod Brind’Amour since his arrival in Raleigh. His last two seasons have been his most productive, despite him being in his early 30’s. Although a career high of 34 points isn’t going to land you in a lot of record books. Point production is usually secondary when it comes to him, as Martinook is a key cog in their checking line and penalty kill. There’s more skill to his game than meets the eye, as Martinook has decent wheels and a deceptively good shot that makes him dangerous on breakaways. His knack for getting deflections on point shots also makes him a player you have to watch for sometimes. There isn’t much creativity in his game, but it’s not expected given his normal role. He’s the modern-day checking line forward who plays with a lot of tenacity but hasn’t lost the skill he had in juniors. Martinook finally earned a raise this off-season, signing a three-year deal after a couple years of team-friendly contracts with the Hurricanes. He will continue to be one of the team’s sparkplugs provided he stays healthy. Expect similar production.

William Carrier

Predicted Stats
GP	G	A	PTS	PPG
64	12	17	29	0.45

Carrier wasn’t the most well-known member of the inaugural Vegas squad, but he was an underrated part of their core. He played a fourth line role but on a higher end in the 11–13-minute range, often used in their starting lineup to help set the tone. He plays super aggressive on the forecheck and brings more skill than you’d expect, surprisingly one of the Vegas leaders in shot and scoring chance setups per 60 minutes during his time there. Most of those are meat and potatoes plays, getting the puck back to the point and crashing the net, but that’s a welcome addition on the Hurricanes. So much so that they opted to sign him to a six-year deal. Carrier isn’t the player you expect to have under contract until he’s 35 years old, but in the immediate he provides help to a Carolina team that was looking to add size and physicality in the off-season. His love for crashing the net and setting up point shots should give his assist total a boost. A nice player to have, but definitely the contract was definitely a head-scratcher for someone who plays lower in the lineup, although he does fill a need with Jesper Fast’s future in jeopardy.

Jack Drury

Predicted Stats
GP	G	A	PTS	PPG
79	11	23	34	0.43

In search of some form of reliability at the 2C spot, Jack Drury emerged as the guy in the playoffs. Spending most of the season in the bottom-six, Drury found his way as a regular NHLer and the challenge was finding some kind of niche. He hasn’t quite found his game offensively just yet, as his scoring touch isn’t there and he wastes controlled entries with perimeter shots off the rush. Where his game has come along is being a stabilizer and defensive presence alongside Martin Necas. If there was one thing you could count on with Drury, it’s that he could keep play out of the Hurricanes end and be a support valve to help keep possessions alive. He always knows where to be and was a good linemate to deter some of the erratic play of Necas and their defence that loves to pinch at every opportunity. The question is if you want more out of him if he's going to be your second line center. As of now, he’s an excellent fourth or third liner but it’s tough to say if he’ll be a guy who can step up if the Hurricanes need more scoring. He’s also part of a very crowded center corps with no clear number two behind Sebastian Aho. His reliability and potential to do more could give them to edge for that spot, should things break that way.

DEFENCE

Jaccob Slavin

Predicted Stats
GP	G	A	PTS	PPG
82	7	32	39	0.48

A defensive stalwart with incredible endurance, Slavin might be the face of this era of Hurricanes hockey. Last year was his ninth season with the team and he will likely finish his career in Raleigh after signing an eight-year extension over the summer. How that contract ages is a conversation for another day, but he has held up better than most shutdown defencemen through his late 20’s, still posting excellent defensive numbers and remaining one of the league’s best at denying zone entries. Carolina’s quick, but conservative zone exit strategy has helped with some of the wear and tear, as he doesn’t take a lot of hits and is good at avoiding contact in general. Offence isn’t a big part of his game, although he did see an uptick in point production last season despite no power play time. The Hurricanes love of point shots and defencemen pinching make all of their blue liners a threat to get on the scoresheet in some way and Slavin is no different. He has some of the better puck skills among their defence corps, although it’s not something you see from him every game. This year will be a big test for him because he’s always been part of a great collective unit and now, he’s the centerpiece. It shouldn’t be that much of an adjustment since he was always the de facto top guy, but he doesn’t have the same rapport he did with the pieces around him and sometimes it takes time to get new roster additions, especially this many at the top of the lineup.

Brent Burns

Predicted Stats
GP	G	A	PTS	PPG
82	8	30	38	0.46

Turning 40 years old in March, the only question with Burns is when Father Time will claim him like he does to most players once they reach the back end of their career. Burns has avoided hitting this wall thanks to his freak-like athleticism and training regimen, but you saw hints of it in the playoffs when the game appeared too fast for him. Quicker passing plays would avoid him, and he would be slower to react than usual. His regular season numbers are slightly more optimistic, as the Hurricanes were on the positive side of the shot, goal and scoring chance ledger with him on the ice, although getting deployed with the top line and Jaccob Slavin helps with that. His own game hasn’t changed much late in his career, he will fire everything at the net, and he can still be a force when jumping in from the point. He was also one of the team’s better blue liners at leading breakouts, both with relieving pressure and kickstarting the transition game, which is needed in the Hurricanes rigid system. With one year left on his deal, Carolina is hoping his body can hold up to at least hold the fort down in a top four role, as he doesn’t need to play the big minutes he used to command. He should at least see a reduction in minutes on the power play with more options brought in.

Shayne Gostisbehere

Predicted Stats
GP	G	A	PTS	PPG
80	11	40	51	0.64

Betting on himself with a one-year deal in Detroit, the veteran defenceman earned himself a nice free agency payday thanks to a monster performance on the power play with 29 points. Returning to Carolina on a three-year deal, he fills a void on a blue line that lost both Brady Skjei and Brett Pesce in free agency, although he’s a different mold than both of those players. A pure power play specialist, Gostisbehere can handle the minutes of what they lost but probably not the assignments against top lines. How much they can shelter him will depend on how the rest of the defence plays, but they’re still going to try to get Ghost out in the offensive zone as much as possible. The Hurricanes foundation is built on a heavy cycle game and point shots, which Gostisbehere can take advantage of with how good he is at creating offence from up high. He’s also not a stranger to playing a simpler game in the defensive zone, even as a puck-mover. He had to do this in Detroit with their system, using the glass for most of his exits and is already familiar with what the Canes system is like. He is a welcome addition to both the Canes power play and five-on-five game, as he will get plenty of pucks thrown his way and his penchant for slipping past forwards for a better shot, will give Carolina a different dynamic high in the zone.

Dmitry Orlov

Predicted Stats
GP	G	A	PTS	PPG
78	6	26	32	0.41

The first season of Dmitry Orlov’s three-year deal was a bumpy ride. Blocked by Slavin and Skjei in the top four, Orlov had to make do with third-pair minutes for most of the year. In theory, he should have crushed these assignments, as he’s used to playing top-pair assignments on good teams. In practice, he struggled to find chemistry with lesser partners and didn’t find his groove until the middle of the year when he was teamed with Jalen Chatfield. The two were arguably the team’s best defence pair in the back half of the season and began playing top-pair minutes at even strength while the rest of the defence corps soaked up the power play time. This year, the training wheels are gone, and Orlov is one of the guys expected to slide up in the lineup to replace what they had in Skjei. Again, this transition shouldn’t be a problem for him in theory but at 33-years old he doesn’t have the same explosiveness as he did in his prime and was on the wrong end of some brutal puck-handling mistakes. Carolina is hoping year two is more of a smooth transition. The prior experience in the top four and chemistry with Chatfield should make the jump easier for him, though.

GOAL

Frederik Andersen

Predicted Stats
GP	W	L	OT	SO	SV%	GAA
39	24	11	3	3	0.914	2.39

Pyotr Kochetkov

Predicted Stats
GP	W	L	OT	SO	SV%	GAA
43	27	13	4	4	0.908	2.49

The Carolina Hurricanes are presumably down to their last season with Frederik Andersen. Unless the now-34-year-old Andersen re-signs on another one or two-year deal with the team at the end of this upcoming campaign, this will be his farewell tour - and that makes this season particularly crucial for the Metropolitan Division franchise, since he's remained their go-to when healthy even after yet another lengthy absence from the lineup. Andersen missed almost the entirety of the 2023-24 season with a blood clot health scare, leaving the Hurricanes to split the net between fellow veteran Antti Raanta and up-and-comer Pyotr Kochetkov. Once he returned, though, Andersen was who the team turned to both down the back stretch and into the postseason. He looked good, but he'll be 35 by the time this year wraps up; it's clear that he's nearing the final few seasons of his NHL career, and Carolina will need to prove that the team's coaching staff feels just as confident relying on Kochetkov in their most crucial games moving into a new era.

Most of Kochetkov's poor performances last season looked simply like a young goaltender learning what it takes to hack it over the long haul in the big leagues, and a concussion forced him to miss a chunk of time in the middle of the year - far from what Hurricanes fans would hope to see after spending the last few seasons forced to sit through a never-ending laundry list of bumps and bruises for both Andersen and Raanta. But while Kochetkov's inexperience made itself known in a handful of games, his overall instincts looked sharp, and his technique looked fluid. His skating ability makes it tough for shooters to take advantage of any decision-making tweaks he still needs; so long as the Hurricanes give him a slightly longer leash to learn the ropes, they should be in good hands.

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

2024 NHL PLAYOFFS: CULLEN – Fantasy Playoff Pool Strategies and Advice

Scott Cullen — Fri, 19 Apr 2024 19:35:19 +0000

Left wing Zach Hyman (18) is congratulated by Edmonton Oilers center Connor McDavid (97) (Photo by Derek Cain/Icon Sportswire)

One of the great features of the Stanley Cup Playoffs is getting involved in playoff pools, the opportunity to start fresh after the conclusion of the regular season.

The challenge for most playoff pools is to get players on teams that will advance the deepest into the postseason, because the more games available to your players, the better chance that they will produce points.

Of course, Connor McDavid will be expected to score more on a per-game basis than Ryan Reaves, but it is a combined source of value, with a player’s production along with their expected games played that leads to playoff pool success.

STRATEGIES FOR PLAYOFF POOLS

Because the playoffs are shorter, with fewer teams, there are different strategies required to build a winning team. A lot of these factors are going to depend on the size of your league and any particular rule requirements.

Sometimes those unique rules can make the league especially fun, but they also have the potential to change priorities and what may or may not be a reasonable approach. Do you need to take a rookie? Does your roster require two defencemen? All of these factors need to be taken into account.

Aside from those unique requirements, though, here are some strategies that tend to pay off when drafting players for a Stanley Cup playoff pool.

DIVERSIFY

While it might be tempting to put all of your eggs in one basket and, say, take six Carolina Hurricanes, there comes a point at which going all-in on one team offers diminishing returns. Assuming that you can’t get every single top scorer from a team that is considered a contender, it will make sense to spread your picks among several teams, at least three or four, generally.

Last season, there were 12 Vegas Golden Knights to record at least 10 points in the playoffs. Full credit to anyone that knew Michael Amadio and Brett Howden would be among the 47 players hitting double digits in playoff points.

Part of the reason to diversify is that you won’t necessarily be dead in the water if one team gets eliminated prematurely. If you picked six Golden Knights last season, for example, it would have likely worked out great. If those six players were Boston Bruins, on the other hand, your team would be done before the end of April.

Because of the uncertainty involved in playoff hockey – upsets happen – spreading your talent among several teams allows your team to remain in contention despite upsets. Furthermore, at some point, it will make sense to consider the top players on a seventh or eighth seed before taking a depth forward on a contender.

The Florida Panthers were supposed to get bounced by the Boston Bruins in the first round of last season’s playoffs, but by the end of the playoffs Matthew Tkachuk, Carter Verhaeghe, Aleksander Barkov and Sam Bennett each had at least 15 points. Those picks can make a massive difference in a pool.

While you are diversifying, avoid picking players that will meet in the first round. Unless it is an extraordinarily deep pool that requires some complicated decisions, there is no value to be found in picking players, knowing that you must lose one after the first round.

The aim is to get your players to play as many games as possible, so the players that get eliminated in the first round must have incredible production to make their selection worthwhile.

STACKING

While it makes sense to spread out picks among several teams, there is also great appeal to finding linemates or players that play on the same power play in order to have the chance to score multiple points on the same goal.

Tkachuk, Verhaeghe and Bennett were prime examples of that last season. Tkachuk would have drawn the most appeal, coming off his second straight 100-point season, but adding one of his linemates even later in the draft would have provided incredible value.

Likewise, Chandler Stephenson contributed 20 points for the Vegas Golden Knights on their run to the Stanley Cup last season. It certainly helped to play regularly with Mark Stone, who also had points on 13 of those goals, raising Stephenson’s production to an elite level.

Finding the player who is in close proximity to the star performer can provide better value because they can often be found several rounds later.

It’s not like Zach Hyman is going to fly under the radar, given how much he plays with Connor McDavid and that he scored 54 goals during the regular season, but Jonathan Drouin is in a nice spot alongside Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen in Colorado.

FIRST-ROUND WINNERS

Given the uncertain nature of picking the right teams to advance, there can be value in securing players from the heavier favorites going into the first round of the playoffs.

Now, that didn’t work out if you were on the Boston Bruins last season, but the New York Rangers and Carolina Hurricanes are both strong favorites going into Round One against the Washington Capitals and New York Islanders, respectively. The Edmonton Oilers also have a decided edge in their matchup against the Los Angeles Kings.

Getting players that have a better than average shot of getting through the first round can help give your playoff pool squad some life. If too many players are in series that might as well be coin flips, you could run the risk of landing on the wrong side of those coin flips.

POWER PLAY IMPORTANCE

In the playoffs, goals are not scored so easily, so when a team gets the man advantage, there is a heightened value on those two minutes. Among the 47 players to record at least 10 points in last season’s playoffs, 23 had at least four power play points.

Finding the right defenseman who is quarterbacking a successful power play can have a massive impact.

Last season, Evan Bouchard of the Edmonton Oilers had 17 points in just 12 playoff games and 15 of those points occurred while the Oilers were on the power play! That is an extreme example, but it is the ideal scenario if you happen to hit on the right defenseman on a successful power play.

CONSIDER LATE-SEASON PRODUCTION

A lot of times, overall production can tell the story of a player’s season. Sometimes, though, there is a spike in production that might suggest a player’s value is increasing. Think of Jake Guentzel putting up 25 points (8 G, 17 A) in 17 games for Carolina.

Toronto’s John Tavares had 20 points (10 G, 10 A) in 19 games to finish the season.

Edmonton defenceman Mattias Ekholm recorded 19 points (7 G, 12 A) in 19 games after the trade deadline.

Boston’s Pavel Zacha contributed 19 points (7 G, 12 A) in 17 games down the stretch.

The Rangers’ Alexis Lafreniere had a breakthrough season, and capped it off with 18 points (10 G, 8 A) after the deadline.

On the other hand, players like Evander Kane, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Max Pacioretty, Matt Duchene, and Martin Necas are among those established scorers that struggled to generate points late in the season. That might make those players easier to acquire in playoff pools, but buyer beware!

WATCH FOR INJURIES

It should go without saying that teams will be less than forthcoming with injury news late in the season and into the playoffs, but it is still important to try to decipher which players are going to be healthy enough to contribute.

Oilers superstar Connor McDavid missed some games late in the season, but there seems little reason to believe that he won’t be ready to go for the playoffs.

Golden Knights captain Mark Stone has been out for nearly two months with a lacerated spleen but has returned to practice and, conveniently, appears that he will be ready for the playoffs. Tomas Hertl was injured when the Golden Knights acquired him from San Jose, but he returned late in the season to chip in four points (2 G, 2 A) in six games for Vegas.

Lightning defenceman Mikhail Sergachev is still recovering from a broken leg and is expected to miss at least the first round of the playoffs.

Canucks goaltender Thatcher Demko got a couple of starts in the final week of the season but had missed more than a month of action before that.

With all of that preparation, understand that players are going to get hurt in the playoffs and they are likely going to try to play through it, quite possibly to their own detriment. The takeaway is that luck is going to be required for teams to advance and for players to remain healthy enough to produce, so track as much injury information as possible so that you’re not starting at a deficit.

TARGET PLAYOFF PERFORMERS

In the small samples of a playoff season, any number of players can bust out with unsustainable production.

Consider a player like Tyler Bertuzzi, who only played seven games for Boston in last year’s playoffs, but he still had 10 points (5 G, 5 A). For a player who is skating on Auston Matthews’ wing, Bertuzzi might have some added postseason appeal based on what he did last season.

The Kings’ Viktor Arvidsson missed most of this season, but contributed 15 points (6 G, 9 A) in 18 games but he also had seven points (1 G, 6 A) in six games in last year’s playoffs.

Dallas’ Roope Hintz has 28 points (12 G, 16 A) in 25 playoff games across the past three postseasons.

Boston defenceman Charlie McAvoy has accumulated 22 points (1 G, 21 A) in 24 games over the past three playoffs.

Winner of the 2019 Conn Smythe Trophy, Predators centre Ryan O’Reilly is known for his two-way play, but he also has 64 points (24 G, 40 A) in his past 69 playoff games. That’s notably better than his regular season production.

GOALTENDERS MEAN A LOT

The problem with this is that of course goaltenders mean a lot. The issue is figuring out which ones are going to be the difference makers in the playoffs. Good luck knowing ahead of time which ones will be worth the most.

If you knew that Adin Hill and Sergei Bobrovsky would be the standout performers between the pipes in last year’s playoffs, you don’t need anyone’s help to create your playoff fantasy roster.

For the rest, you can look to Andrei Vasilevskiy, who has a strong playoff track record, including a .924 save percentage in 77 games over the past four playoffs. Rangers netminder Igor Shesterkin has a .929 save percentage in 28 games over that span. The Islanders’ Semyon Varlamov has a .922 save percentage in 34 playoff games in that time frame.

Goaltenders matter, not just for points in a playoff pool, but in just determining which team is going to advance. A hot goalie can make a huge difference in a seven-game series, and it is the unpredictability associated with that which makes it worthwhile to hit the playoff pool with a diverse approach.

TAKE A CHANCE

Having given all this advice about preparation and reducing the potential risks, don’t be afraid to swing for the fences with a late-round pick.

In recent years, players like Chandler Stephenson, Ivan Barbashev, Artturi Lehkonen, and Max Domi have had big playoff performances, and they could be found late in playoff drafts. It will be so much more rewarding to hit on one of those players if you’re willing to make a play for potential.