Mitch Marner – McKeen's Hockey

NHL: CULLEN – 20 FANTASY POINTS – Fantasy playoffs are upon us, the Blackhawks bring in another top prospect, Marco Rossi, Anthony Cirelli, and Quinton Byfield are producing in the middle of the ice as Troy Terry and Zach Benson are working the wings.

Scott Cullen — Sun, 29 Mar 2026 14:27:53 +0000

VANCOUVER, BC - MARCH 24: Vancouver Canucks center Marco Rossi (93) vies for the puck during the first period of an NHL hockey game between the Anaheim Ducks and the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday, March 24, 2026 at Rogers Arena in Vancouver, B.C. (Photo by Ethan Cairns/Icon Sportswire)

Each week, I dig into the stats to find information that can help you make better fantasy hockey decisions. This week, as fantasy playoffs are upon us, the Blackhawks bring in another top prospect, Marco Rossi, Anthony Cirelli, and Quinton Byfield are producing in the middle of the ice as Troy Terry and Zach Benson are working the wings.

#1 While it has been another tough season for the Chicago Blackhawks, they are getting a nice boost late in the season with the arrival of Anton Frondell, the third pick in last summer’s draft, who tallied 20 goals and eight assists for 28 points in 43 games for Djurgardens in the SHL. Frondell has arrived in Chicago, registered two assists in his first three NHL games, and is skating on the top line with Connor Bedard and Ryan Greene in addition to getting first unit power play time. He’s 18, so expectations need to be kept in check, but he’s also getting enough of an opportunity to make him immediately interesting for those in deep leagues.

#2 There may be some fantasy value to be found in players that are playing for teams out of the playoff picture. For example, it’s easy enough to dismiss the Vancouver Canucks as they have endured a brutal season, but centre Marco Rossi has produced 10 points (3 G, 7 A) in his past eight games, is getting first unit power play time and is thriving with linemates Liam Ohgren and Brock Boeser.

#3 With an established reputation as a strong two-way player, Tampa Bay Lightning centre Anthony Cirelli is getting a shot at an expanded offensive role, skating on the top line between Nikita Kucherov and Brandon Hagel. In his past 12 games, Cirelli has produced 14 points (5 G, 9 A) and 21 shots on goal, with 13 of those 14 points coming at even strength. With 2.51 points per 60 minutes during five-on-five play this season, Cirelli ranks 22nd in the league. Not bad for a checking centre.

#4 He has missed some time with injuries, but Anaheim Ducks right winger Troy Terry has been on a good run since Christmas, producing 17 points (7 G, 10 A) with 29 shots on goal in 15 games. He is scoring better than a point per game this season, a feat he has not been able to accomplish in a full season. He was scratched from Thursday’s game at Calgary, so his reliability remains an issue but his productivity makes him a valuable player whenever he is in the lineup.

#5 There are so many great stories on the Buffalo Sabres this season, as the team is poised to return to the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time since the 2010-2011 season, and one of those great stories is the play of 20-year-old winger Zach Benson. In his past six games, Benson has seven points (3 G, 4 A) with seven shots on goal. That shot rate needs improvement, but Benson is thriving on a line with Josh Norris and Josh Doan. When Benson is on the ice at five-on-five, the Sabres are outscoring opponents 39-22.

#6 As the Los Angeles Kings push for a playoff spot, centre Quinton Byfield has stepped up his game, with nine points (5 G, 4 A) and 20 shots on goal in his past seven contests. Consistency has been elusive for Byfield, as he had five points (4 G, 1 A) in the previous 17 games, but when he’s going, Byfield can be a physical force. He is currently skating on a line with Trevor Moore and Alex Laferriere while getting second-unit power play time.

#7 The Ottawa Senators are in a competitive battle for a playoff spot but they are dealing with serious injuries on the blueline. Jake Sanderson was already out of the lineup with an upper-body injury when Thomas Chabot suffered a broken arm that will keep him out for 4-to-8 weeks. Add in injuries to Nick Jensen and Dennis Gilbert and the Sens were forced to make changes, which included calling up 2024 first-round pick Carter Yakeumchuk from Belleville of the American Hockey League, where he had 36 points (10 G, 26 A) in 50 games. Yakemchuk has two points (1 G, 1 A) with four shots on goal in his first three NHL games and the injuries on Ottawa’s blueline may prompt the Sens to keep Yakemchuk and his offensive skills in the lineup. Some D to consider from the waiver wire: Damon Severson, who has 11 points (4 G, 7 A) in 14 games this month, Rasmus Sandin, who has five points (2 G, 3 A) in his past seven games, and even Sens defenders Tyler Kleven and Jordan Spence, who have combined for 12 points in the past eight games.

#8 In the past month, New Jersey Devils right winger Connor Brown has been moved into a more offensive role and has delivered 14 points (4 G, 10 A) and 24 shots on goal in 13 games. He has been a reliable middle six winger in his NHL career, but he’s skating on a line with Jack Hughes and Jesper Bratt, while also getting top-unit power play time. He is up to 36 points (14 G, 22 A) on the season, within striking distance of his career high of 43 points, set during the 2019-2020 season when he was with the Ottawa Senators.

#9 It has not been an easy season for Nashville Predators winger Jonathan Marchessault, but he has recorded 10 assists in his past 11 games, a veritable surge in production for a player who has just 28 points (11 G, 17 A) in 53 games. The veteran winger is playing on PP1 for the Predators and is skating on a line with Matthew Wood and Filip Forsberg, so he’s in a decent situation to produce late in the season.

#10 It’s been a similar situation for Anaheim Ducks veteran winger Alex Killorn, who has eight points (4 G, 4 A) with 17 shots on goal in his past 10 games, which is a significant improvement for a player who had 20 points in 63 games before that. The 36-year-old winger is skating on a line with veteran pivot Mikael Granlund and rookie right winger Bennett Sennecke, which is a strong enough situation to consider Killorn for some late-season value.

#11 As the Seattle Kraken try to stay in the playoff hunt, captain Jordan Eberle has contributed seven points (1 G, 6 A) in his past seven games. He is up to 23 goals on the season, which is his most in a season since 2017-2018, when he scored 25, so he is within range of that total. He has consistently been playing on Seattle’s top line with Matty Beniers at centre and there have been several wingers rotating through. Right now, it’s rookie Berkly Catton getting a shot on the left side.

#12 Staying in Seattle, right winger Kaapo Kakko is delivering quality results late in the season. In his past seven games, Kakko has 10 points (3 G, 7 A) with seven shots on goal. That shot rate is not enough to sustain that level of offensive production, but he provides useful secondary scoring, skating on a line with Chandler Stephenson and Bobby McMann.

#13 Early this season, the Utah Grizzlies winger Lawson Crouse was not playing a big part and his production was modest, managing nine points (4 G, 5 A) through his first 26 games. It’s gotten better throughout the season, and in his past seven games, he has six points (4 G, 2 A) and 24 hits, which is really where Crouse brings his most reliable value for fantasy managers. He has scored 20 goals for the fourth time in his career and it’s the fifth time in his career that he has recorded at least 190 hits. If you have a need on the wing at this point in the fantasy season, you could do worse than adding Crouse.

#14 There have been reports that the Toronto Maple Leafs are not inclined to give a qualifying offer to right winger Matias Maccelli this summer, but Maccelli has been one of the few Maple Leafs contributing consistently. Since the beginning of February, Maccelli has 16 points (7 G, 9 A) with 33 shots on goal in 20 games. He is tied with John Tavares for second on the team in scoring over that span, three points behind William Nylander and one point ahead of Matthew Knies. Most recently, he’s been skating on a line with Dakota Joshua and Bo Groulx, but that hasn’t deterred him.

#15 Although the wins aren’t coming easily, Maple Leafs goaltender Joseph Woll has been playing well late in the season while facing a heavy workload. In his past eight starts, Woll has a 2-4-2 record, but he has a .910 save percentage while facing an average of around 35 shots per game. The Leafs’ lack of success doesn’t help Woll’s value, but it is part of the reason that he’s still available in a decent percentage of leagues and he’s playing well enough that he could help a fantasy manager who needs a late-season upgrade between the pipes.

#16 While we’re considering goaltenders on teams that are out of the playoff race, look at St. Louis Blues netminder Joel Hofer, who has been unbeatable since the Olympic break. In nine games since the break, Hofer has a 7-0-2 record with a .955 save percentage! He has a .911 save percentage on the season and has recently overtaken Jordan Binnington in terms of starts, with Hofer at 36 and Binnington at 35. Perhaps this is the changing of the guard for the Blues, as Hofer has 13.44 Goals Saved Above Expected (GSAx) and Binnington has -20.01 (GSAx), a stark difference in performance.

#17 There was some suspicion around the Olympic break that the Florida Panthers could be on the verge of shutting down a bunch of players with injuries because the playoffs were looking less and less likely, so there was not as much incentive for players to play through the injuries that they might when the team is mounting a Stanley Cup run. Aleksander Barkov has been out all season of course, but Brad Marchand is out, Anton Lundell will miss 2-6 weeks with an upper body injury, Evan Rodrigues is out 4-6 weeks with a broken finger, and Mackie Samoskevich is due to return soon, but he’s still out. That leaves forwards like Jesper Boqvist and Tomas Nosek playing bigger roles than would typically be expected of them.

#18 Philadelphia Flyers centre Christian Dvorak has six points (2 G, 4 A) and 15 shots on goal in his past seven games, and he really has the trust of Flyers head coach Rick Tocchet. In the past 22 games, Dvorak has played more than 20 minutes 12 times, including a season-high 25:32 last week at San Jose. He is now averaging 18:28 of ice time per game, a career high, and his 44 points (15 G, 29 A) is also the high-water mark for his career. All of this is to suggest that, in a pinch, Dvorak could have late-season value for fantasy managers.

#19 It’s a little troubling for the Vegas Golden Knights, as they scramble for a playoff spot, that star centre Jack Eichel has hit a slump. They are hoping he has broken out of it with a three-point game last night against Washington. In his previous seven games, Eichel has generated 22 shots on goal while averaging more than 21 minutes of ice time per game, and yet he has managed just one assist. It would be a tad aggressive to go cutting Eichel at this stage of the season, especially when he’s generating shots at this rate, but it’s also possible that he doesn’t need to be in your fantasy lineup automatically. It’s not much better for Golden Knights right winger Mitch Marner, who has two assists and 19 shots on goal in the past eight games.

#20 Anaheim Ducks winger Cutter Gauthier is tied for the league lead with 11 goals in March, tied with Pavel Zacha. Gauthier ranks second in expected goals with 7.61 ixG, barely trailing Brady Tkachuk at 7.69. Other forwards that have been around the net, rounding out the top ten when it comes to individual expected goals: Zach Hyman (7.09), Brock Nelson (6.98), Alex DeBrincat (6.93). Beckett Sennecke (6.85), Bryan Rust (6.68), Rickard Rakell (6.60), Alexis Lafreniere (6.49), and Timo Meier (6.49).

*Advanced stats via Natural Stat Trick

MCKEEN’S 2025-26 NHL YEARBOOK – VEGAS GOLDEN KNIGHTS – Team Preview

Sat, 20 Sep 2025 20:01:13 +0000

EDMONTON, AB - DECEMBER 14: Las Vegas Golden Knights Defenceman Shea Theodore (27) races up ice in the first period of the Edmonton Oilers game versus the Las Vegas Golden Knights on December 14, 2024 at Rogers Place in Edmonton, AB. (Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire)

The Golden Knights improved by a dozen points over their 2023-2024 total, finishing with 110 points (50-22-10), which was good enough to land atop the Pacific Division. They eliminated the Minnesota Wild in six games in the first round but were bounced from the postseason in five games by the Edmonton Oilers in the second round. During the regular season, the Golden Knights were a solid puck possession squad, ranking seventh with 51.8 percent Corsi and 53.1 percent expected goals percentage. The Golden Knights had an excellent power play, ranking second in the league with 9.98 goals for per 60 minutes of five-on-four play. However, they offset that with penalty killing problems. The Golden Knights allowed 8.59 goals against per 60 minutes at four-on-five, which ranked 26th.

What’s Changed?

The Golden Knights made the biggest move of the offseason to acquire Mitch Marner from the Toronto Maple Leafs in a sign-and-trade deal that sent centre Nicolas Roy to Toronto. Vegas also sent defenceman Nicolas Hague to the Nashville Predators in a trade to acquire checking centre Colton Sissons and defenceman Jeremy Lauzon. A big issue that will hang over the Golden Knights is the status of defenceman Alex Pietrangelo, whose NHL future is in doubt due to a hip that requires reconstructive surgery. Winger Victor Oloffson signed with Colorado, and he had 29 points (14 G, 15 A) in 56 games for Vegas in 2024-2025. In goal, the Golden Knights have moved on from Ilya Samsonov, with Akira Schmid, acquired from New Jersey in 2024, slated to be the back up to Adin Hill.

What would success look like?

Success for the Golden Knights is a Stanley Cup. They may not get there every year, but in eight seasons, the franchise has one Stanley Cup win, one loss in the Final, and two more years in which they were among the final four teams. The roster looks like one that should be able to contend and if they are anywhere close, there is little doubt that the Golden Knights would look to add even more talent.

What could go wrong?

Vegas really needs Marner to make a smooth transition to the team, and continue to play at a star level, because if he can do that, it will alleviate pressure on some of the other forwards, including captain Mark Stone, who is 33 years old and is walking a tightrope every season because of ongoing back troubles. The Golden Knights have enough talent that they can handle some injuries or a player or two underperforming and still make the playoffs, but if Stone missed significant time due to injury and Marner struggles to adjust, the season would be more challenging.

Top Breakout Candidate

On a team full of veterans, the best chance for a breakout season might come from backup goaltender Akira Schmid. He has not had a dominant season in the AHL and had a .886 save percentage in 30 games for Henderson last season, but he did have a .944 save percentage in a handful of games for Vegas and he had a .899 save percentage in 43 games for New Jersey over the previous three seasons. If Schmid has the backup role and Hill gets hurt, which has been known to happen, then there could be an opportunity for Schmid to make a bigger impact on the team.

Forwards

Jack Eichel

Predicted Stats
GP	G	A	PTS	PPG
78	35	63	98	1.26

Jack Eichel didn’t just break personal best records for assists and total points last year; he also broke the Las Vegas franchise record, and he didn’t even need a whole season to do it. He posted 28 goals and 66 assists for a total of 94 points in 77 games. A dynamic two-way superstar, Eichel blends elite vision with sharp playmaking. He can navigate through traffic with a high level of effectiveness, evidenced by the fact that he was in the 100^th percentile of NHL forwards concerning offensive zone entries. He is also elite at setting up teammates, as he was in the 99^th percentile of NHL forwards in terms of primary shot assists. He showcases leadership and discipline, having been a finalist for the Lady Byng trophy. Eichel would be well served to shoot the puck more, as he was only in the third percentile of NHL forwards regarding offensive zone shots-attempts. His puck skill, combined with his elite skating, makes him a handful for NHL defenders. Eichel is entering the final year of his eight-year contract, and both team and player have indicated an interest in signing a long-term commitment this season. The off-season splash of Mitch Marner only elevates the offensive expectations for Eichel; with two elite creators up front, he could easily approach the 100-point mark if he maintains health and momentum.

Mitch Marner

Predicted Stats
GP	G	A	PTS	PPG
82	29	75	104	1.27

Mitch Marner arrived in Las Vegas as the biggest acquisition splash of the summer. Marner looks to wipe the slate clean after several disappointing exits from the playoffs in Toronto, with a lot of the focus and discussion being centric to his performance in the losses. Vegas will produce an entirely different vibe from the bright lights of Toronto. Marner delivered an excellent 2024–25 campaign, tallying 102 points (27 goals, 75 assists) in 81 games. He ranked fifth in league scoring and set a new personal best for points. His assist total placed him third among all NHL players. Marner is a shifty forward with an elite offensive skill set, strong puck manipulation, and stellar playmaking abilities. His in-zone offence ranked in the 95^th percentile of NHL forwards, and he was extraordinarily helpful in exiting the puck from danger in the defensive zone. Now donning #93 in Vegas after signing an eight-year, $96 million deal ($12M AAV), expect Marner to enter a partnership with Jack Eichel that elevates expectations even more, perhaps north of 100 points. With his setup skills and deceptive shot, he’ll anchor the power play and contribute heavily at even-strength. Health and adaptation to a new system are key, but the skill and production trajectory suggest Marner is ready to assert himself as an elite force in Las Vegas.

Mark Stone

Predicted Stats
GP	G	A	PTS	PPG
68	20	45	65	0.96

Despite some injury troubles that caused him to miss time, Mark Stone remained one of the best two-way forwards in the NHL last season. While some elements of his game took a bit of a recession, he was every bit of the play driver and possession commander that we’ve come to know over the years. In 66 regular-season games, he posted 19 goals and 48 assists for 67 points, ranking among the team’s top producers. A consummate two-way winger, Stone balances elite defensive awareness, especially in takeaways and puck recoveries, along with dynamic offensive skill. His defensive Wins Above Replacement at even-strength put him in the 92^nd percentile of NHL defencemen. His forechecking involvement seemed to take a step back, as falling in the seventh percentile of NHL defencemen in that bucket is a career low for him since the data started to be tracked. Despite that, his overall In-Zone Offence ranked in the 93^rd percentile of NHL forwards, a testament to his continued lethality from a scoring perspective. Stone’s 48 assists last season were the highest mark of his NHL career. Heading into his age-34 season, Stone remains central to Vegas’s identity, providing invaluable leadership on and off the ice as captain. If healthy, a projection in the 65–75 point range seems viable, with continued contributions on top special teams and key matchups.

Tomas Hertl

Predicted Stats
GP	G	A	PTS	PPG
75	30	32	62	0.83

Following his mid-season acquisition in March 2024, Hertl fully settled into the Golden Knights lineup for 2024–25. He played 73 games, contributing 32 goals and 29 assists for 61 points with a –3 plus/minus rating—making him one of Vegas’s most reliable offensive producers. He averaged just over 18 minutes per game, wielding significant responsibility in all situations. He was an elite driver of offense for Vegas, as he came in the 92^nd percentile of NHL forwards in shots and the 90^th percentile of NHL forwards in plays that contributed to a shot. His combination of individual skill, vision, and ability to work through traffic was a vital asset on the power-play, where his offensive Wins Above Replacement put him in the 91^st percentile of NHL forwards. Hertl possesses an elite shot with a quick release, strong net-front awareness, and the ability to score in tight spaces. His blend of size and agility allows him to create space off the cycle, win puck battles, and finish rush chances with a lethal touch. His two-way instincts add balance to his offensive game. Hertl is projected to remain an integral top six center or wing and a staple on the primary power-play unit. If he maintains health and production, another 60+ point season is realistic with his offensive versatility and playoff experience. Hertl has shown the ability to dominate his share of second-line minutes.

Ivan Barbashev

Predicted Stats
GP	G	A	PTS	PPG
81	21	32	53	0.65

In 2024-25, Ivan Barbashev crossed the 20-goal plateau for the first time in his tenure with the Golden Knights. He appeared in 70 games and posted 23 goals and 28 assists for 51 points. His lines routinely got out-attempted, but they did not get out-chanced. His 11.8 shooting percentage was the highest on the Golden Knights last year, and his even-strength goals rate put him in the 85^th percentile of NHL forwards. With regards to pure scoring chance creation, Barbashev was in the 87^th percentile of NHL forwards, a testament to his ability to create in a variety of fashions. Barbashev’s skill set uniquely blends versatility, an underrated suite of shooting skills, and physicality. He’s known for his quick, accurate release from the slot and his vision to thread creative passes. He also complements this with an in-your-face approach, consistently pushing play in the dirty areas of the ice. With three years left on his five-year, $25 million contract ($5M AAV), Barbashev enters the 2025-26 season as a reliable middle-six driver with a high level of playoff acumen. Expect him to continue thriving in all situations, especially in key moments, and push again for 50+ points. While his defensive returns were down last year, his blend of creativity, physicality, and finishing will make him an indispensable connector between Vegas’s stars and depth forwards.

Pavel Dorofeyev

Predicted Stats
GP	G	A	PTS	PPG
82	34	25	59	0.72

Pavel Dorofeyev had an underrated two-way performance in 2024-25 that was the definition of a breakout season. The 24-year-old played a full 82-game slate for Vegas, delivering 35 goals and 17 assists for 52 points; setting personal highs in every category and breaking the 30-goal plateau for the first time. His even-strength goal totals put him in the 91^st percentile of NHL forwards, and his defensive Wins Above Replacement put him in the 92^nd percentile of NHL forwards, a testament to his value at both ends of the ice. Dorofeyev isn’t an elite skater or passer, but he’s an extremely hard worker who does a lot of thankless roles on the ice, and his high IQ allows him to be economical in his attack. Dorofeyev features a quick, deceptive release and keen net‑front awareness. He thrives in traffic and uses deft stick positioning to redirect pucks and capitalize on rebounds. He hunts high-danger areas and makes himself available for prime scoring chances. In 2025-26, he will be coming into the final year of a two-year deal ($1.835 AAV). Expect him to maintain his top nine role with continued power-play involvement. Another 30–35 goal, 55+ point season is well within reach, mainly if he builds on the consistency shown this year. His scoring punch, two-way commitment, and strong work ethic make him a rising commodity in Vegas’s high-octane mix.

William Karlsson

Predicted Stats
GP	G	A	PTS	PPG
70	15	31	46	0.66

No matter how you slice it, it was a down year for Karlsson marred by injuries and finishing results that put him in the 11^th percentile of NHL forwards. Expectations were high coming off the back of a 30 + 30 season, but Karlsson finished the year posting nine goals and 20 assists for 29 points in 53 games. Karlsson seemed to get bit by the regression bug as his shots at even-strength were in the 83^rd percentile of NHL forwards and his shots off of the rush were in the 80^th percentile of NHL forwards. Additionally, if you discount Brandon Saad’s 29-game sample, Karlsson had the highest puck-possession share of any Golden Knight forward. Karlsson’s strengths lie in his all-situations ability as a forward. He brings intelligent puck retrieval, disciplined positioning, and a mature north-south game that helps control pace and matchups. As a longtime alternate captain and core member since the team's inception, Karlsson’s 396 career points are second in franchise history, and he’s one of the team’s most durable players in terms of games played. Entering his age-33 season with a cap hit of $5.9 million with two years remaining, it’s easy to see a rebound season for Karlsson next year. Expect another 55-60 point campaign if health allows. Karlsson’s leadership and dependability remain invaluable to the Golden Knights’ hope for another Stanley Cup.

Reilly Smith

Predicted Stats
GP	G	A	PTS	PPG
77	12	24	36	0.47

In March of 2025, one of the most predictable trades in the history of the league occurred, with Reilly Smith returning to Las Vegas in a trade that put him back where he’d won a Stanley Cup with the Golden Knights in 2022-23. It just so happens that 2022-23 was the last time Smith truly looked like himself, and transient visits through Pittsburgh and New York yielded frustrating results for a player who appeared to lack a defined role in those cities. Smith played 21 games for the Golden Knights, contributing three goals and eight assists for 11 points, adding 48 total hits, a testament to how reinvigorated he seemed to be back in Vegas. Smith is best known for his strong puck retrieval work, subtle off-puck movement, and knack for clutch scoring. He is effective in keeping pace with top-quality opponents and utilizing the boards to sustain offensive zone pressure. Now signed to a one-year, $2.0 million deal and set to become an unrestricted free agent next offseason, Smith is expected to slot into a top nine role that capitalizes on two-way play. If he can rediscover his finishing and get back into a forechecking groove, a 12–15 goals campaign with 30–35 points is well within reach. His apparent desire to be in Vegas and familiarity with the system make him a reliable depth asset.

Brandon Saad

Predicted Stats
GP	G	A	PTS	PPG
75	15	16	31	0.41

In January 2025, the St. Louis Blues and Brandon Saad mutually agreed to terminate the remaining years of his contract, allowing him to become an unrestricted free agent and find a new home. Las Vegas ended up being that home, and the Golden Knights immediately got Saad back to a much more familiar version of himself. In 72 total games between both clubs, he posted 13 goals and 17 assists for 30 points, including six goals and eight assists in 29 games with Vegas. Granted it is a small sample size, but Saad led the Golden Knights forward group in both puck-possession share and expected-goal share down the stretch run and into the playoffs. Deployed primarily alongside Ivan Barbashev and William Karlsson, Saad provided veteran poise, secondary scoring, and a dependable net-front presence. His puck protection and ability to find soft spots in coverage allowed him to contribute offensively without sacrificing defensive responsibility. Now on a one-year extension, Saad is expected to continue in a middle six scoring role with special-teams utility. If he can stay healthy, a 15–20 goal, 30–35-point season is reasonable to expect. His ability to slide up or down the lineup, combined with his playoff experience, gives Vegas flexibility as they look to maintain their offensive depth for another postseason run.

DEFENCE

Shea Theodore

Predicted Stats
GP	G	A	PTS	PPG
75	11	53	64	0.85

Shea Theodore had a monstrous 2024-25 season. His 57 points (7 G, 50 A) across 67 games shattered both individual records and franchise records for defencemen. He was the ultimate conduit, safely retrieving and exiting the puck to the forwards and contributing from the blue line with both shots and scoring chances. His ability to successfully retrieve pucks from the defensive zone was in the 97^th percentile of NHL defencemen. His ability to prevent zone entries across his blue line was in the 98^th percentile of NHL defencemen. Theodore has massive impacts in all three zones and can be deployed in big minutes with no limitation. An elite power-play quarterback, Theodore combines crisp, powerful skating with safe passing and high hockey IQ. His vision and poise allow him to control the tempo, transition effectively, and generate offence while under duress. Theodore’s defensive ability is also sound and while he isn’t physical, his mobility and stickwork make him difficult to beat. Coming into the second season of a seven-year deal ($7.425 million AAV), Theodore enters his age-30 season as an anchor of Vegas’s top pairing and primary power-play focal point. Barring injury, another 55–60 point campaign is well within reach, bolstered by his leadership and ever-rising offensive ceiling. Theodore remains one of the NHL’s most impactful two-way defencemen and a central pillar of the Golden Knights identity as a team.

Noah Hanifin

Predicted Stats
GP	G	A	PTS	PPG
81	8	28	36	0.44

In the 2024–25 season, Hanifin delivered one of his most productive campaigns of his career, logging 10 goals and 29 assists for 39 points across 80 games while averaging over 21 minutes per night. He led all Vegas defencemen in puck-possession share at over 52 percent. His offensive Wins Above Replacement at even-strength ranked in the 96^th percentile of NHL defencemen. He registered in the 99^th percentile of NHL defencemen in terms of his ability to contribute to rush offensive attacks. There are times when it almost seems like Hanifin is too good for a second pairing, and he dominates that deployment as a result. His ability to transition play quickly, manage possession, and deliver crisp, accurate passes under pressure makes him a trusted force in transition. Hanifin was dominant from the neutral zone and ranked in the 99^th percentile of league defencemen concerning passes from the neutral zone that led to a shot-attempt. Playing on an eight-year contract with a $7.35M cap hit, Hanifin is still in his prime as Vegas’s foundation to the second pairing and a key contributor on the power-play. Another 35–45 point season is well within reach if he maintains his usage and continues improving his offensive output. His two-way stability will be central to Vegas’s aspirations for a deep postseason run.

Brayden McNabb

Predicted Stats
GP	G	A	PTS	PPG
82	4	20	24	0.29

Brayden McNabb continued his effective style of stay-at-home defence in 2024-25, finishing the year having played all 82 games despite his physical style of play. He registered five goals and 15 assists for 20 points and had the second highest plus/minus of any player in the league with a remarkable +42 on the year. McNabb’s defensive Wins Above Replacement at even-strength was in the 96^th percentile of NHL defencemen, a testament to his strong gap control and protection over his blue line. McNabb’s focus is on hitting, keeping his zone clean, and contributing with shots when he can once the puck is in the offensive zone. Despite his defensive nature, he finished the year in the 80^th percentile for even-strength scoring chance creation among defencemen, indicative of his comfort level with the puck in the offensive zone. McNabb barely attempted to exit the zone with possession last year and generally leaves that up to his mobile partner. His game revolves around suppressing traffic, blocking passing lanes, and providing a stabilizing presence that shifts momentum through defensive plays and positional discipline. McNabb enters his age-34 season on a contract running through 2027-28 firmly embedded in Vegas’s top-pairing rotations. Expect another 18–22 point performance while he continues to log heavy minutes on the penalty kill and key defensive situations.

Zach Whitecloud

Predicted Stats
GP	G	A	PTS	PPG
76	4	14	18	0.24

Zach Whitecloud played the stay-at-home role for Noah Hanifin last year, producing solid results as a defensive-minded defenceman who allows Hanifin to roam and do his best work in that space. He appeared in 74 games and compiled four goals and nine assists for 13 points, but more importantly to his role, also had 117 hits and 103 blocked shots. There is no better testament to Whitecloud’s defensive play than the fact that he was in the 99^th percentile of NHL defenders regarding his ability to shut down possession-based zone entries from the opposition. Physicality was a big part of that gap control as his total hits put him in the 86^th percentile of NHL defenders. Another Vegas defender that isn’t a stranger to the puck, Whitecloud was in the 87^th percentile of NHL defenders regarding pure scoring chances. Whitecloud thrives on physicality, positioning, and board battles. He’s counted on to provide sturdy, error-free minutes, and he sacrifices creative flair for defensive reliability. His ability to neutralize opponents in his defensive zone and disrupt play before danger materializes gives his coaches clear-cut confidence about his deployment. Entering his age‑29 season with a six-year contract carrying a $2.75M cap hit that runs through 2027–28, Whitecloud remains a key fixture in Vegas’s second defensive pairing. Expect similar usage in penalty-kill situations and defensive zone duties, with a target of 15–18 points.

Goal

Adin Hill

Predicted Stats
GP	W	L	OT	SO	SV%	GAA
54	33	14	4	5	0.909	2.68

The Vegas Golden Knights looked like the team to beat in the Pacific Division, who looked particularly vulnerable last season. And sure enough, they swept the board during the regular season; they ran the tables on the rest of the division, faring worse than only the Winnipeg Jets and the Washington Capitals over the 82-game stretch. But where Adin Hill established himself as one of the league's most proficient regular season starters, he fell back into old habits during the postseason en route to an early-ish exit; now, he'll return without Ilya Samsonov as his number two, hoping to replicate that success with a much less experienced Akira Schmid as his backup and a rapidly strengthening Pacific Division breathing down Vegas' neck.

As always, Hill looks like a study in contrast when he's churning out starts; his good games boast speedy reflexes and fantastic agility, but his bad games snowball on themselves and watch him do too much in a desperate attempt to regain control of the scoreboard. Schmid plays a more level headed game overall, but has historically lacked some of that spark that kept NHL coaches coming back for more even during Hill's weaker seasons; it will be interesting to see how the duo manages to hold court out west, especially with teams like Los Angeles back at the top and Anaheim, Calgary, and San Jose all boasting some of the league's most promising young prospects in net.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

NHL: DADOUN – THE FANTASY WEEK AHEAD – Dustin Wolf makes strong case for the Calder Trophy – Teams and Players to target

Ryan Dadoun — Fri, 14 Mar 2025 21:57:59 +0000

Calgary Flames goaltender Dustin Wolf (32) (Photo by Derek Cain/Icon Sportswire)

Two months ago, I took a look at the Calder Trophy race, highlighting Macklin Celebrini, Lane Hutson and Dustin Wolf as the favorites, but I also didn’t go into depth about the Flames goaltender because netminders typically don’t do well in Calder Trophy voting. As noted, Steve Mason was the last goaltender to win it back in 2008-09, and he was so good that campaign -- 33-20-7 record, 2.29 GAA and .916 save percentage -- that he finished in Vezina Trophy voting in addition to winning the Calder Trophy. So, the bar Wolf would have to reach to finish ahead of Celebrini and Hutson, who have been impressive in their own right, is high.

Even if he doesn’t end up getting the Calder, though, Wolf deserves recognition for what he’s doing because it’s not an exaggeration to say that the 23-year-old rookie is the single biggest reason Calgary has a legitimate shot of making the playoffs. Wolf has a 22-12-5 record, 2.53 GAA and .915 save percentage in 39 starts this campaign. He might not be a Vezina Trophy contender like Mason was in his rookie campaign, but Wolf is in a four-way tie for fifth in save percentage (min. 20 games played), so he’s certainly one of the league’s top netminders.

His numbers look even better when you consider that Calgary is tied for 20th in xGA/60 (3.11), per Moneypuck, which suggests that the defense in front of him has been average at best. That’s also reflected in his Goals Saved Above Expected, which stands at 16.5, the sixth best in the league. That puts him just behind Andrei Vasilevskiy (17.1), which is good company to be in.

Meanwhile, the Flames have done nothing to help him offensively. The Flames rank last in goals per game with 2.56. Among teams that have averaged 2.60 goals per game or fewer dating back to 2020-21, Calgary at 30-23-11 is the only team with a points percentage above .500 (.555). The next best is the 2021-22 Sharks, who finished at 32-37-13 for a .470 points percentage. What about finishing last in scoring but still managing a points percentage above .500? The last team to do that were the 2015-16 Devils, who finished 38-36-8 on the strength of Cory Schneider (2.15 GAA, .924 save percentage). Even then, those Devils didn’t come close to making the playoffs, so Calgary might one-up them in that metric.

It’s fair to say what Wolf’s doing is rare: taking a team with a mediocre defense and a rock-bottom offense and guiding the squad toward a potential playoff berth. Is that enough to win the Calder? It’s tough to say because it’s so subjective. Lane Hutson is a rookie defenseman who has already breached the 50-point mark and might reach 60 before the season is over. That almost never happens. Chris Chelios had 64 points back in 1984-85 and would have secured the Calder if that wasn’t also the rookie season of Mario Lemieux (43 goals, 100 points). Meanwhile, Macklin Celebrini’s production isn’t quite as rare if we’re judging him against past rookie forwards, but it’s still worth emphasizing that he’s reached the 20-goal mark despite injury and isn’t too far below a point per game. Comparing them is difficult because they serve completely different roles.

Whatever the case, though, Calgary without Wolf would have been a far different and likely substantially worse team this campaign.

Boston Bruins (Mon vs BUF, Thu @ VGK, Sat @ SJS, Sun @ LAK)

Boston isn’t out of the playoff race yet, but after going 3-7-2 from Feb. 5-March 13, the Bruins’ chances of making the postseason seem increasingly bleak. They need a strong week, and the Bruins will be facing two non-playoff teams in Buffalo, who they host Monday, and San Jose, who they have a road matchup against Saturday. However, the Bruins will also have two difficult road clashes in Vegas on Thursday and Los Angeles on Sunday, so there will be challenges for them to overcome.

If there’s a silver lining, it’s that Boston has won two of its past three games since the trade deadline, despite its longer-term struggles and being a deadline day seller. It helps that one of the few NHL-ready assets the Bruins did get back, Casey Mittelstadt, has kicked off his Boston career with a three-game scoring streak (one goal, two assists). He’s centering the second line, which isn’t a glamorous assignment given the state of the Bruins’ depth, but he is on the first power-play unit, which has already led to him collecting an assist on David Pastrnak’s goal Tuesday.

Speaking of, the dismantling of his supporting cast and the team edging toward rebuild mode doesn’t seem to have demoralized David Pastrnak. He has two goals and two assists in Boston’s three games post-deadline, extending his overall scoring streak to five games (two goals, five assists). He also ranks fifth among all players with 82 points and is tied for fourth in goals with 34. If Boston manages to squeak into the playoffs, he’ll be a big part of the reason why.

Maybe Jeremy Swayman can play a role in guiding them down the stretch too, but that’s hard to count on. Although his early campaigns were great, his 2024-25 GAA and save percentage of 2.98 and .897, respectively, are unimpressive, and a big part of that is inconsistency. For example, he earned two straight wins from March 8-11 while saving 51 of 53 shots (.962 save percentage), but he followed that up with a stinker against Ottawa in which he surrendered four goals in the first period, leading to the yank.

Ottawa is a division rival, and the holder of a wild-card spot, which makes the loss all the more painful. Boston is now seven points back of Ottawa. The Bruins are a mere two points behind Columbus, which holds the second wild-card spot, though Boston has played in two more games and is also contending for that spot with the Rangers, Montreal and Detroit -- combine with Boston and Columbus, all five teams are within a two-point range through Thursday’s action.

Chicago Blackhawks (Tue vs SEA, Thu vs LAK, Sat @ STL, Sun vs PHI)

Staring down the barrel of a possible rebuild, what Boston likely fears is going down the path of Chicago. Sure, the Blackhawks have picked up some remarkable young talent along the way, but Chicago is on course to miss the playoffs for the fifth straight year and seventh time in eight seasons. Technically it’s even worse than that, because the lone time Chicago made the playoffs in that span in 2019-20 when the COVID lockdown led to the league expanding the postseason system, causing Chicago to participate despite a 32-30-8 record and last-place finish in the Central Division.

Either way, Chicago isn’t just looking at another season without playoff action, the Blackhawks seem no where near being competitive. After losing a third straight game Thursday, Chicago is 20-37-9. Maybe they’ll be able to finish on a high note? Chicago has a busy week ahead of it, mostly against teams that aren’t presently in a playoff spot. The Blackhawks will host Seattle on Tuesday and the Kings on Thursday. They’ll then take to the road to play in St. Louis on Saturday before returning home to host Philadelphia on Sunday.

If you’re looking for good news, it’s that Spencer Knight has looked decent since being acquired from Florida as part of the Seth Jones trade. He’s 2-2-0 with a 2.24 GAA and a .928 save percentage in four starts with Chicago. That’s a small sample size, but he also held his own with Florida this campaign -- he had a 12-8-1 record, 2.40 GAA and .907 save percentage in 23 outings pre-trade -- and his potential has been known for a while. Still just 23 years old, Chicago might have found its long-term answer in net. Chicago dealt Petr Mrazek to Detroit, so Knight is likely to see most of the starts for the rest of the season.

Unfortunately, other parts of the Blackhawks’ young core have been unimpressive recently. Lukas Reichel, 22, hasn’t recorded a point in his past five games and remains at 19 points (six goals) across 57 appearances. Although there have been high expectations put on the No. 17 overall pick from the 2020 NHL Draft, he hasn’t been able to consistently perform offensively at the NHL level despite collecting 42 goals and 116 points across 121 career regular-season AHL games.

More importantly, Connor Bedard has struggled to make any progress in his sophomore season, and he’s been especially cold recently, supplying just a goal and three points over his past 11 appearances. That gives him 17 goals and 52 points in 66 outings in 2024-25, which is great stuff for a 19-year-old but puts him behind the 22 goals and 61 points in 68 appearances he recorded as a rookie. Ultimately, growing pains as a sophomore is nothing to panic over, and it wouldn’t be surprising if he still manages to end the season on a positive note.

In the meantime, it’s the veterans who are getting the job done for Chicago. The 28-year-old Ryan Donato has been incredible lately with eight goals and 20 points across his past 15 appearances, while the 30-year-old Teuvo Teravainen has four goals and 17 points in 14 outings. Please note that Donato is set to be an unrestricted free agent this summer, so even if the Blackhawks have no hope of making the playoffs, he is playing for his next contract, which should help keep him going as we enter the final stretch of the campaign.

Los Angeles Kings (Mon @ MIN, Thu @ CHI, Sat vs CAR, Sun vs BOS)

The Kings won their fourth straight game when they shutdown the Capitals 3-0 on Thursday. That streak has elevated them into the second seed in the Pacific Division, though they have just a one-point edge over Edmonton, albeit with a game in hand, so the Kings need to maintain their momentum in order to secure the home-ice advantage in the first round. They’ll start the week on the road with contests in Minnesota on Monday and Chicago on Thursday. The Kings will then host the Hurricanes and the Bruins on Saturday and Sunday, respectively.

Shutting out the Capitals is no small feat, so Darcy Kuemper, who made 21 saves, deserves recognition for pulling that off against his former team. The goaltender is on a roll, stopping 101 of 105 shots (.962 save percentage) across his past four starts (3-0-1). He’s also been an important part of the Kings’ success overall with a 21-8-7 record, 2.23 GAA and .916 save percentage in 37 outings. What a comeback he’s had after a disastrous 2023-24 campaign with Washington (13-14-3 record, 3.31 GAA, .890 save percentage). It provides a little silver lining to the whole Pierre-Luc Dubois saga, though it has to be said that Dubois has done well in Washington (17 goals, 57 points), so the Kuemper-Dubois swap has ultimately worked out for both sides.

For those who aren’t aware, there was a brief time when Dubois was seen as a possible successor up the middle for the aging Anze Kopitar. That didn’t go as the Kings had hoped, but fortunately Anze Kopitar hasn’t needed a replacement just yet. The 37-year-old has three goals and seven points in his past seven outings, giving him 16 goals and 53 points in 64 appearances in 2024-25. It looks like he’ll finish just below the 70-point mark, but he should still hit 60 for the seventh time in eight seasons.

The 22-year-old Quinton Byfield is also giving the Kings reason for optimism about the future of their center group. Although he’ll likely finish below the 55-points he provided in 2023-24, Byfield has shown flashes of what he’s capable of this campaign, including his active five-game goal-scoring streak. He’s up to 16 markers and 39 points in 64 outings this season.

Nashville Predators (Tue vs STL, Thu vs ANA, Sat vs TOR, Sun @ STL)

The chances of Nashville making the playoffs are near zero, but the Predators would like to at least finish the campaign on a high note. To that end, Nashville has won four straight going into Friday’s action. The Predators will attempt to extend that run of strong play next week, starting with home games against St. Louis on Tuesday, Anaheim on Thursday and Toronto on Saturday. The Predators will finish the week on the road against St. Louis.

Steven Stamkos has been a huge part of the Predators’ recent success, providing five goals and nine points across that four-game winning streak. His 22 goals and 42 points in 64 outings is still disappointing when measured against his 80-plus points in each of his previous three campaigns, but the 35-year-old clearly still has something left in the tank. Don’t dismiss the possibility of 2025-26 being a comeback season for him -- he might provide great value for those who select him in 2025 fantasy drafts.

I’m less confident about Juuse Saros bouncing back. Even while winning his past three starts, Saros hasn’t looked special, stopping just 65 of 73 shots (.890 save percentage). His goals saved above expected is minus-4.1 this season, suggesting that he’s been below average even if you factor out the Predators’ defense, and he was a similarly underwhelming minus-3.0 last season. He’s still just 29 (30 on April 19), so it’s not like a comeback is impossible. You look at a guy like Sergei Bobrovsky, and you can see how a goaltender can be inconsistent on yearly basis but still average out to be a phenomenal netminder. Even still, I’m at the point where I need to see results from Saros before I’ll start to believe in him again. As it stands, I’d be somewhat worried if I was the Predators’ GM given that his eight-year, $61.92 million contract doesn’t even start until next season.

I’m also not big on the idea that Jonathan Marchessault will do better next season. He has 19 goals and 48 points in 64 appearances this campaign, down from 42 goals and 69 points in 82 appearances with Vegas in 2023-24. The issue is that last season was an outlier from him in terms of goal scoring -- other than that, he’s never done better than 30 markers. He accomplished that feat thanks to his 15.8 shooting percentage, well above his career average of 11.5, so his showing in 2024-25 represents a regression toward the norm. It is noteworthy that he’s managed just 9.4 shots per 60 minutes this season -- he recorded between 10.8-12.4 in each campaign from 2017-18 through 2023-24 -- so perhaps he’ll be somewhat more aggressive next season, leading to a handful of additional goals, but that’s about the most you can hope for.

Philadelphia Flyers (Mon @ PHI, Thu @ WAS, Sat @ DAL, Sun @ CHI)

The Flyers earned a 4-3 shootout win over Tampa Bay on Thursday to end their five-game losing streak, but at 28-31-8, Philadelphia’s chances of making the playoffs seem remote. The task won’t be made any easier next week. The Flyers will be on the road, playing in Tampa Bay on Monday, Washington on Thursday, Dallas on Saturday and Chicago on Sunday.

No Flyers player is particularly hot offensively at the moment, and that includes 20-year-old Matvei Michkov. To be fair, he recorded an impressive six goals and 13 points in nine games from Feb. 6-March 8, but he’s been held off the scoresheet for Philadelphia’s past three outings. The rookie’s talent is without question, but he’s been extremely streaky this season, so be prepared for this cold stretch to potentially last another week or two.

Maybe Bobby Brink is at the beginning of a hot streak, though. He was amazing versus Tampa Bay on Thursday, supplying two goals and an assist. That’s just his fourth multi-point game of the campaign, but don’t get too excited: The previous three times he had a multi-point showing, it didn’t lead to a notable stretch of offensive success. He also has a meh 10 goals and 32 points in 64 appearances overall.

There’s nothing much to jump on in goal either. Ivan Fedotov did have a nice stretch from March 1-9, stopping 75 of 80 shots (.938 save percentage) in three appearances, but even then, the Flyers provided him with just one win in that stretch, and that good run ended Tuesday anyway when he allowed four goals on 23 shots to Ottawa.

If you’re looking for fantasy value, there just isn't much to be found here at this time. However, while I’m pessimistic about Michkov in the short term, the flip side of his streaky nature is that he should rebound eventually -- and likely in a big way.

St. Louis Blues (Tue @ NAS, Thu vs VAN, Sat vs CHI, Sun vs NAS)

St. Louis will start next with in Nashville, capping off an exhausting stretch in which the Blues played seven of eight games from March 2-18 on the road. After that, they’ll get to sleep in their own beds for a while. The Blues will host the Canucks on Thursday, the Blackhawks on Saturday and the Predators on Sunday.

The Blues are 31-28-7 and sit just two points out of a playoff position through Thursday’s action. There’s plenty of competition for that second wild-card spot, but it is fair to say that St. Louis is still playing for something with roughly a month left in the regular-season schedule.

This would certainly be a good time for Jordan Binnington to get hot again. He’s had his moments, especially during the 4 Nations Face-Off, but he’s struggled recently with a 2-2-0 record, 3.49 GAA and .846 save percentage across his past four appearances. Unfortunately, he’s just been too inconsistent to count on, but he’s still appeared in seven of St. Louis’ past nine games, so it seems safe to say the Blues will lean on him over Joel Hofer in the final weeks of the season.

Maybe Binnington will get sufficient goal support to make his occasional struggles moot. Dylan Holloway is certainly doing his best, supplying five goals and eight points across his past nine games. He’s up to 21 goals, 48 points and 138 hits in 66 appearances in 2024-25. This is with the benefit of hindsight, but Edmonton has to be asking itself if declining to match the Blues’ two-year, $4.58 million offer sheet was really the right move, even after factoring in the Oilers’ tricky cap situation.

Zachary Bolduc is another young forward leading the Blues’ push for a playoff spot. The 21-year-old has six goals and seven points across his past eight games, elevating him to 12 goals and 25 points in 56 outings overall. I’m not confident Bolduc will continue to be productive over the final month of the season, but Bolduc is a former No. 17 overall pick (2021 draft), so this kind of offensive outburst isn’t coming out of nowhere.

The veteran Brayden Schenn had been doing his part too, supplying three goals and 10 points in nine games from Feb. 8-March 7. However, he was held off the scoresheet in each of St. Louis’ past two games, so that hot streak might be at its end. The 33-year-old has 14 goals and 40 points in 66 appearances in 2024-25.

Tampa Bay Lightning (Mon vs PHI, Thu @ DAL, Sat @ UTA, Sun @ VGK)

Tampa Bay enjoyed a run of 10 wins in 11 games from Feb. 4-March 6, but the Lightning have stumbled recently, dropping their last three (0-2-1). The Lightning will try to shake that off next week, starting with a home game against Philadelphia. The Lightning will then play in Dallas on Thursday, in Utah on Saturday and in Vegas on Sunday.

Tampa Bay has a 37-23-5 record, which puts the squad two points behind Toronto and six away from the division-leading Panthers. Reaching Florida is unlikely at this point, but the Lightning could still earn home-ice advantage in a probable first-round matchup against Toronto if Tampa Bay finishes the season strong.

A lot of the Lightning’s potential success will be contingent on their main three forwards of Jake Guentzel, Brayden Point and Nikita Kucherov. That’s typically a good trio to bet on, but Guentzel and Point have each been held off the scoresheet for all of Tampa Bay’s last three games. Kucherov was scoreless in two of those contests and missed the third due to illness. Kucherov did rejoin the Lightning for Friday’s practice, but rather than skate alongside Guentzel and Point, he shared the ice with Brandon Hagel and Anthony Cirelli, while Yanni Gourde skated on the top unit.

That’s nothing earthshattering. Kucherov has spent 18.5 percent of his even-strength minutes alongside Cirelli and Hagel this season, so while that combination isn’t common, it’s not unheard of. Besides, Cirelli (20 goals, 45 points) and Hagel (30 goals, 72 points) are great forwards in their own right, so they’re good players for the star to work with and might help spark Kucherov.

This is also a good opportunity for Gourde, who has six goals and 19 points between St. Louis and Tampa Bay this season. He has two assists since being acquired by Tampa Bay, but if he shows some chemistry with Guentzel and Point, perhaps Tampa Bay will consider using this combination more regularly, which would likely boost Gourde’s offensive production.

Toronto Maple Leafs (Mon vs CGY, Wed vs COL, Thu @ NYR, Sat @ NAS)

Toronto’s been struggling recently, dropping four of its last five (1-3-1) and failing to win any of those games in regulation or overtime. That’s dropped the Leafs’ record to 39-23-3, which presents them with an uphill battle if they want to overtake the 41-22-3 Panthers for the top spot in the Atlantic Division. Toronto will look for better results next week, starting with home games against Calgary and Colorado on Monday and Wednesday, respectively. The Leafs will then hit the road, playing against the Rangers on Thursday and Nashville on Saturday.

Goaltending has been part of the Leafs’ recent issues. Anthony Stolarz has a record of 0-2-1 along with a 3.18 GAA and an .876 save percentage across his past four appearances, and Joseph Woll has allowed at least three goals over each of his past three outings -- though he is 2-1-0 over that stretch. Overall, the Maple Leafs’ goaltenders have still been fine this season with Stolarz being particularly good, posting a 2.37 GAA and a .920 save percentage in 25 games, so I don’t think those issues are a source of panic right now.

On the offensive side of things, Auston Matthews is continuing his interesting season. His 11.5 shooting percentage of 2024-25 is the worst of his career, and he might finish with under 30 goals for the first time -- just one season removed from 69 markers. However, he’s managed to adjust by serving as more of a playmaker, resulting in him collecting 56 points (23 goals) in 50 appearances. He has missed time due to upper body issues this campaign, and perhaps he’s still not 100 percent, which would explain his mortal levels of goal scoring, but as long as he’s finding other ways to contribute, Toronto will be fine.

Meanwhile, the Leafs’ pending UFAs, John Tavares and Mitch Marner, continue to make big contributions. Tavares has seven goals and 14 points in 14 appearances this season, giving him 27 goals and 56 points in 58 outings overall, and Marner has five goals and nine points in his last eight games, bringing him up to 21 goals and 80 points in 64 appearances. It will be extremely interesting to see how Toronto navigates those contract situations over the summer. Letting them walk would be immensely painful, but the silver lining is that roughly $22 million would be coming off the books between the two of them.

Ultimately, what happens in the playoffs might be a determining factor. If the Maple Leafs have a deep run, then Toronto might want to stick with what they have, and it might also serve as extra motivation for Marner to bet on the Leafs long term. However, if Toronto ends up with another first-round exit, then the front office might decide its finally time to close the books on the Marner/Matthews/Tavares/William Nylander experiment that, to this point, has resulted in just one playoff series win.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Boston Bruins

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Los Angeles Kings

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Minnesota Wild

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

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

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

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

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

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

Nashville Predators

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Pittsburgh Penguins

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

St. Louis Blues

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Washington Capitals

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Winnipeg Jets

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

NHL: DADOUN – THE FANTASY WEEK AHEAD – What about the Maple Leafs is not working? – Favourable schedules and players to target

Ryan Dadoun — Sat, 01 Feb 2025 16:05:37 +0000

TORONTO, ON - JANUARY 24: Toronto Maple Leafs Winger William Nylander (88) skates with the puck during the NHL regular season game between the Winnipeg Jets and the Toronto Maple Leafs on January 24, 2024, at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, ON, Canada. (Photo by Julian Avram/Icon Sportswire)

The Maple Leafs are going through a bit of a rough patch, losing their past three games and six of their last nine. Even after factoring in that slump, though, they have an impressive 30-19-2 record. This downturn is also coming at a time when they’re missing one of their top forwards in John Tavares (lower body) as well as the continued absence of Anthony Stolarz (knee).

Toronto seems to be a city of anxiety when it comes to the Leafs, brought on by years of playoff disappointments, so success seems to be treated with an asterisk whereas slumps come with an “Oh boy, here we go again” attitude, but given the overall success of this team thus far in 2024-25 and the recent injuries, would it be best to dismiss the recent struggles as just the type of stretch that every good team goes through, or is there really an underlining issue being exposed?

Certainly, this is still a good team, but when people express those doubts about Toronto, they’re not disputing that. Instead, they’re saying this team isn’t good enough to be regarded as a serious Stanley Cup contender, and by that standard, I do think this stretch highlights an area of real concern. Toronto has managed just one goal in each of its past three games and ranks 13th in goals per game this campaign with 3.04. For a team that’s built around four elite forwards, to have a lack of offense is rather discouraging.

In fact, 74.5 percent of Toronto’s cap is eaten by forwards compared to 54.3 percent for Winnipeg (3.58 goals per game) and 56.5 percent for Tampa Bay (3.48 goals per game). In fact, the only other team close to the Maple Leafs in terms of the percentage of their cap spent on forwards is Washington, but while the Capitals are at 74.7 percent, their situation is weird because Nicklas Backstrom ($9.2 million against the cap) and TJ Oshie ($5.75 million against the cap) are on LTIR. Even if we were talking apples to apples, though, at least Washington is getting value at 3.49 goals per game.

So, what is it about Toronto that isn’t working? You’ve probably already guessed because it is the common argument against the Maple Leafs’ way of doing things: If you spend $46.65 million on four forwards (Auston Matthews, William Nylander, Tavares and Mitch Marner), then you don’t have much left over for the rest of your forward corps.

On another team, that could be supplemented by young players on entry-level contracts or players locked to team-friendly contracts. Toronto doesn’t have much of either on the forward side of things. Part of that is because for years now, Toronto has been trading futures for playoff runs that didn’t materialize.

The notable exception is Matthew Knies, who has 18 goals and 31 points in 47 appearances this campaign, but even that is about to go away given that this is the last season of his entry-level contract. Outside of him and the Big Four, no Maple Leafs player has reached the 15-goal or 25-point mark.

That also makes them particularly vulnerable to absences, such as the current one by Tavares. It does have to be said that Toronto did fairly well without Matthews during stretches of the campaign, but that was due to strong goaltending rather than other forwards filling the void. In Toronto’s first stint without Matthews from Nov. 5-27, the team went 7-2-0 despite averaging just 2.89 goals per game. Toronto was a mixed 3-3-0 during Matthews second absence from Dec. 21-Jan. 2 and once again managed just 2.83 goals per game.

That strong goaltending has been the backbone of the Maple Leafs this campaign, but we’ve seen vulnerability there since Dec. 14 with Toronto allowing 3.32 goals per game. It’s not coincidental that the Maple Leafs’ dip in goaltending is what’s made Toronto’s underwhelming offense -- something that’s nothing new this campaign -- gain attention. A lot can be forgiven or ignored as long as the team collectively is winning. It’s also not coincidental that Dec. 14 to present covers Toronto’s span without Stolarz, who had been terrific before getting hurt with a 9-5-2 record, 2.15 GAA and .927 save percentage in 17 appearances.

When Stolarz comes back, perhaps he’ll resume his dominant play, and Toronto’s mediocre scoring will once again seem acceptable. Once thing this stretch has highlighted, though: The Maple Leafs need him. Unlike some older versions of the Maple Leafs who were driven by offense, this team hasn’t consistently shown an ability to impress when not backed up by great goaltending.

Calgary Flames (Tue vs TOR, Thu vs COL, Sat vs SEA)

The Flames will wrap up their schedule before the 4 Nations Face-Off with a trio of home games. They’ll host Toronto on Tuesday, Colorado on Thursday and Seattle on Saturday. It’s fairly tough competition, but I wanted to highlight them anyway to discuss the trade that sent Andrei Kuzmenko, Jakob Pelletier and two draft picks (2025 second rounder, 2028 seventh rounder) in exchange for Morgan Frost and Joel Farabee.

In terms of what Calgary gave up, the 23-year-old Pelletier is a former first-round pick, but hasn’t developed into a top six forward yet, supplying four goals and 11 points in 24 outings this season before the trade. Meanwhile, Kuzmenko is a former 39-goal scorer, but he’s struggled to do much of anything with the Flames in 2024-25, collecting four goals and 15 points in 37 outings. In other words, the Flyers got some interesting pieces in this trade, but Calgary isn’t losing assets that were likely to help the squad in the short term.

The best piece Calgary got in exchange for that was Frost, who has 11 goals and 25 points in 49 appearances in 2024-25 after recording 41 and 46 points in 2023-24 and 2022-23, respectively. He’s a solid third-line center who looks fine on the draw with a 51.6 winning percentage this year. Nazem Kadri and Mikael Backlund will probably play ahead of Frost up the middle, and when Connor Zary (knee) comes back, Zary might shift to the wing to play alongside the newly acquired Flyers center.

Frost isn’t likely to turn heads, but he should be a nice secondary scorer for a team struggling to find the back of the net (2.68 goals per game). The only potential sticking point is Frost couldn’t complete Wednesday’s 5-0 loss to New Jersey, which might indicate he’s dealing with an injury. It’s probably nothing serious if the Flames pulled the trigger on this trade, but perhaps it will delay his debut with the Flames.

When it comes to Farabee, he’s another middle-six forward. The 24-year-old did look like he was on track to become more than that last campaign when he supplied 22 goals and 50 points in 82 games, but he’s regressed this year with eight goals and 19 points in 50 outings. Perhaps a fresh start with Calgary will do him some good, but he’ll probably begin his stint with Calgary on the third line with Frost (assuming Frost is healthy).

For the 25-18-7 Flames, the question is if these moves are enough to win them a playoff spot. The team is still very dependent on Dustin Wolf to be stellar in goal -- his 19-8-2 record, 2.51 GAA and .917 save percentage in 29 appearances is a big part of the reason Calgary’s in this position -- but this should at least give him a bit more goal support.

Chicago Blackhawks (Wed vs EDM, Fri vs NSH, Sat @ STL)

The Blackhawks will get to rest up early this week before hosting the Oilers on Wednesday and Predators on Friday. Chicago will then travel to St. Louis for a clash Saturday.

In most cases, I’d label the 18-24-7 Predators and 23-24-4 Blues are favorable matchups, but we’re talking about Chicago…so that doesn’t really work. Chicago is 16-30-5, giving the franchise good odds of getting a top two pick for the third straight campaign. The silver lining is that sets the stage for the Blackhawks to have an amazing core to build around, but in the meantime, Connor Bedard is burning the second year of his entry-level contract on a team that’s not giving him much to work with.

Not that Bedard is putting up Connor McDavid-like numbers, but the Blackhawks sophomore is doing his part with 14 goals and 44 points in 50 games. There’s only so much he can do when only one other player on the team, Teuvo Teravainen, has more than 30 points. Chicago also recently dealt Taylor Hall to Carolina, and while he wasn’t living up to expectations with the Blackhawks, his nine goals and 24 points in 46 outings was still good enough to rank fifth among forwards in Chicago’s scoring race before the trade.

Ryan Donato, who ranks third with 29 points (15 goals) in 49 outings, might be gone soon too. The 28-year-old is in the final season of his two-year, $4 million contract, so it’s fair to believe Chicago will jump at the opportunity to move him for a pick or prospect.

Seth Jones, who is only in the third season of his eight-year, $76 million contract, is likely to stay, though. That contract hasn’t looked great for Chicago and with the benefit of hindsight, the timing was awkward given the Blackhawks’ performance over the life of it. However, Jones has his moments, and he’s going through one of them. The 30-year-old blueliner has recorded at least a point in each of his past seven appearances, giving him two goals and 10 points in that span. If you’re looking for someone who will provide value this week in Chicago outside of Bedard, Jones is your best bet.

Los Angeles Kings (Wed vs MTL, Fri vs DAL, Sat vs ANA)

The Kings will spend the week at home, facing Montreal, Dallas and Anaheim on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, respectively. They’ll try to enter the break on a positive note after going 2-7-1 from Jan. 11-30.

Los Angeles’ recent slump is due in large part to a lack of scoring. The Kings have managed three or more goals just once in that 10-game span. Anze Kopitar has been noticeably quiet. The 37-year-old is having a great campaign overall with 12 goals and 43 points through 49 appearances, but he’s supplied just four assists over his past 13 outings. It should just be a matter of time before the veteran gets going again, but perhaps fantasy managers should consider benching him until that time comes.

Phillip Danault has left plenty to be desired too after collecting only two points (one goal) across his last 11 games. He’s now on pace to record just 38 points this season, which would make it the first time he’s ever finished below the 40-point mark in a season where he’s logged at least 70 games.

Obviously, the slump has skewed the scoring pace downward, but there are areas of concern beyond that. Perhaps the most discouraging aspect of his game is his complete lack of power-play production. He had nine points with the man advantage last season and a career-high 20 in 2022-23, but he still hasn’t found the scoresheet on the power play this campaign. To make matters worse for him, with Drew Doughty back, Danault might find himself shifting out of the power-play makeup entirely.

Speaking of Doughty, he made his season debut following a knee injury without any sort of time management to ease him back in. He logged 23:51 of ice time Wednesday and another 27:43 the very next day. He didn’t get any points over his first two contests, but the Kings were shutout of back-to-back games, so that’s less of a Doughty thing and more of a byproduct of the team’s overall slump.

Los Angeles is a good enough team to overcome its recent struggles, and Doughty should be an effective defender the rest of the way. It wouldn’t be shocking to see him collect 15-20 points over what’s left of the campaign.

Montreal Canadiens (Tue @ SJS, Wed @ LAK, Sat vs NJD, Sun vs TBL)

The Canadiens are one of just a handful of squads set to play four games next week. They’ll start on the road with contests in San Jose on Tuesday and Los Angeles on Wednesday. Afterward, Montreal will host the Devils on Saturday and the Lightning on Sunday.

The Canadiens battled their way back in the playoff conversation by going 13-3-1 from Dec. 17-Jan. 21, but some of that momentum has been lost after dropping their past four games (0-3-1). Unfortunately, Jakub Dobes has lost some of his initial magic. He burst onto the scene by stopping 103 of 107 shots (.963 save percentage) across his first four starts -- all wins -- but he’s allowed at least three goals in each of his past three outings.

The 23-year-old is a promising netminder who has a 2.44 GAA and a .910 save percentage in 14 AHL appearances this season, but he’s not presently one of the best goaltenders in the world. A drop off from his hot start isn’t shocking and you similarly shouldn’t be surprised if he’s able to work his way back from it. He should average out to be a pretty decent rookie for the Canadiens in the second half of the campaign, but it would be too much to hope for Dobes to drag Montreal into the playoffs.

If the Canadiens are going to feature in the postseason, it will probably need to be the offense leading the charge. Patrik Laine has slumped recently too, though, being held off the scoresheet in each of his past three outings. Laine tends to be a very streaky scorer who sometimes seems unstoppable and on other occasions is a nonfactor. If he’s on your team, you have to work around these cold patches. Benching him wouldn’t be the worst idea in the short term but put him right back into the mix the second he finds the back of the net because one goal from him often kicks off a new hot streak.

When Laine starts going again, it should also help Lane Hutson, who is on a four-game scoring drought. Hutson isn’t solely dependent on Laine for offense, but it’s fair to say that the two have found chemistry, especially with the man advantage, so what’s good for one is often good for the other.

Hutson is also just one point shy of 40. The last time the Canadiens had a rookie defenseman hit that milestone was 1984-85 when Chris Chelios and Tom Kurvers surpassed that mark. The only other rookie blueliner to ever reach that milestone in franchise history was Guy Lapointe in 1970-71.

Ottawa Senators (Mon @ NSH, Tue @ TBL, Thu @ TBL, Sat @ FLA)

During a busier week, I wouldn’t be highlighting the Senators because they have a rather tough schedule, but because they’re one of the rare squads set to play in four games, I’ll feature them anyway. The Senators will be on the road all week, starting in Nashville on Monday before playing two games in Tampa Bay on Tuesday and Thursday. Ottawa will then conclude the week in Florida on Saturday.

In contrast to the Canadiens, Ottawa has won its last three games, bringing the Senators up to an 8-2-1 record dating back to Jan. 11. That’s propelled Ottawa to the third spot in the Atlantic Division, just four points behind Toronto and five shy of Florida.

If you had suggested at the beginning of the campaign that this would be the Senators’ position, many would have assumed that it was a sign that Linus Ullmark had worked out superbly, and while the goaltender does have an impressive 2.38 GAA and .915 save percentage, he’s been limited to 23 outings due to injury and hasn’t played since Dec. 22.

Even with him gone, though, goaltending hasn’t been an issue. Leevi Merilainen has looked fantastic, posting a 7-3-1 record, 2.19 GAA and .921 save percentage in 11 appearances. Although Anton Forsberg hasn’t been nearly as effective overall, he’s done his part recently too with a 3-1-0 record, 2.19 GAA and a .922 save percentage over his last five outings.

Ullmark is close to returning, so it will be interesting to see what Ottawa does next. The path of least resistance would be to send Merilainen back to the minors because he’s waiver-exempt. It feels wrong to demote a goaltender who has been doing this good, but you also need to keep in mind that he’s 22 years old. He might not get many starts in a scenario where all three goaltenders are healthy, so it’s probably better for his development if he’s with AHL Belleville and playing regularly.

That scenario assumes Forsberg can at least do adequately as the backup. He’s done well lately but still hasn’t been great overall, posting a 2.87 GAA and an .893 save percentage across 19 outings in 2024-25. If he starts struggling again, then Ottawa could push him to the side. At the very least, Forsberg has less job security now than he had at the beginning of the campaign.

Perhaps the Senators will consider seeing if there is a taker for Forsberg on the trade market. There might not be much demand for him, but it wouldn’t be surprising if that’s an avenue they’ve explored. Whatever consideration they gave to the possibility of trading Claude Giroux is probably over, though. The 37-year-old is in the final year of his contract, so it would have made sense to move him before the Senators got hot, but now that a playoff berth is looking realistic, there’s little reason to move one of their top six forwards, so fans of other contenders can likely cross him off their wish list.

Tampa Bay Lightning (Tue vs OTT, Thu vs OTT, Sat @ DET, Sun @ MTL)

Ottawa has surpassed Tampa Bay in the standing, but the Lightning will have an opportunity to reclaim their spot. As noted above, Tampa Bay is set to host the Senators on Tuesday and Thursday. After those two key games, Tampa Bay will hit the road, playing in Detroit on Saturday and Montreal on Sunday.

It might be a bit much to say Tampa Bay is slumping -- the Lightning earned a 3-0 win over LA on Thursday -- but at the least, the results have been mild recently. Dating back to Dec. 29, Tampa Bay has a record of 7-9-1.

The Lightning have scored just 2.47 goals per game during that 17-game stretch, so it’s fair to say offense has been at the heart of the problem. That’s despite Nikita Kucherov providing an impressive seven goals and 22 points in that span.

However, a lot of other players are a step below what they’re capable of producing. Kucherov’s typical linemates, Jake Guentzel and Brayden Point aren’t enduring a full-blown drought, but they’re usually better than the 13 and 10 points, respectively, they’ve collected over the past 17 games. Brandon Hagel (six goals, 14 points) and Victor Hedman (three goals, 12 points) have largely held their own over that stretch too, but their overall scoring pace has declined relative to what it was before Dec. 29.

Taken on their own, the dip of any of those four high-end producers wouldn’t be a big deal, but to have all four of them drop at the same time is noteworthy. That’s compounded by the more significant decline Anthony Cirelli has suffered. After averaging a point-per-game through his first 32 outings (14 goals, 18 assists), he’s managed just two goals and seven points across his past 17 appearances.

Let’s look at this another way: Of Tampa Bay’s top nine scorers through Dec. 28, only one, Darren Raddysh, has seen his point-per-game pace increase over Tampa Bay’s last 17 games. Meanwhile, seven of the nine have a point-per-game pace from Dec. 29-Jan. 30 that’s at least 26 basis points less than it was from the start of the campaign through Dec. 28. Even Kucherov, who as seen a significant decline between those two stretches -- 1.71 PPG compared to 1.29 PPG.

So, it’s not a one player problem. The team collectively has cooled, and there aren’t players outside of that core who have stepped up to fill the void.

Utah HC (Tue vs PHI, Thu @ CBJ, Sat @ CAR, Sun @ WSH)

Utah has a busy week ahead of it. The Hockey Club will host the Flyers on Tuesday before hitting the road with clashes in Columbus on Thursday, Carolina on Saturday and Washington on Sunday.

This has nothing to do with fantasy hockey, but I got to note that Utah will apparently not be able to use the nickname Yeti or Yetis, per The Salt Lake Tribune. That leaves the finalists as the Utah Mammoth, Utah Outlaws or sticking with Utah Hockey Club. I’ll be honest, I don’t like any of those options, but a good logo and time can cause branding to grow on people.

I just hope they don’t stick with Hockey Club. As a placeholder, I get it, and I understand it’s a perfectly common name in other sports -- as someone from Toronto, Toronto FC immediately jumps to mind, and that’s one of many MLS teams using FC. However, to me, Hockey Club feels like the absence of identity rather than an identity in and of itself. At the end of the day, though, it’s not for me to decide. The fans of the team are what matter here, but if I was picking, that would be last on my list.

Clayton Keller jerseys should sell regardless. He certainly is playing well enough to deserve it. He has 18 goals and 54 points in 49 appearances, and Keller’s been consistent too, not being held off the scoresheet for more than two games in a row this campaign.

Logan Cooley is sure to help define the Utah franchise too. The 20-year-old sophomore is enjoying a breakout campaign with 15 goals and 43 points in 50 appearances. However, Utah will have to get along without him for a while because he suffered a lower-body injury Wednesday and is regarded as being out indefinitely. That’s on top of the absence of Dylan Guenther (lower body), who has 16 goals and 34 points in 40 outings, but hasn’t played since Jan. 8.

With both of them gone, Josh Doan seems set to serve in a top six capacity and the first power-play unit. He hasn’t done much with his opportunities so far this campaign, collecting just two goals and five points in 19 outings, but he does still have upside and is worth keeping an eye on.

We might also see Matias Maccelli get a fresh opportunity. Maccelli has averaged just 13:58 of ice time this campaign and was even a healthy scratch Wednesday, but with Cooley out, Maccelli could find himself on the second unit. Maccelli has just 17 points (eight goals) in 48 outings this campaign, but he had 49 points in 2022-23 and 57 points last season, so a comeback isn’t out of the question.

Vegas Golden Knights (Tue @ NYI, Thu @ NJD, Sat 2 BOS)

Vegas will be on the road next week, playing against the Islanders on Tuesday, New Jersey on Thursday and Boston on Saturday. All of those adversaries are in the mix for a playoff spot, but only the Devils are a safe bet to make the postseason at this time.

Vegas seems all-but certain to make the playoffs too given its 31-15-6 record, but the Golden Knights have faltered recently, going 3-6-3 over their past 12 games. Vegas, which had been doing fairly well on the injury front, also got some bad news there. William Karlsson (lower body) has missed the past five games and isn’t close to returning. Cole Schwindt (lower body) will probably be out for a while too.

The Golden Knights attempted to help fill that void by inking Brandon Saad to a one-year, $1.5 million contract. Saad was an unrestricted free agent because he and the Blues mutually agreed to terminate what was left on his remaining on his five-year, $22.5 million contract, which would have run through 2025-26. Even after signing that deal with Vegas, Saad has cost himself millions of dollars by agreeing to walk away from his old deal, but that also highlights how much value he puts on playing in the NHL.

The Blues waived him Tuesday and he cleared because no team wanted his old $4.5 million cap hit. Saad could have simply reported to the minors and collected his paycheck, but the 32-year-old instead took this path, which led him to a fresh opportunity with Vegas.

Although he hasn’t been terribly productive this campaign, recording seven goals and 16 points in 43 outings with St. Louis, he can be an effective middle-six winger. Vegas will likely give him an opportunity to play on the third unit, perhaps alongside Raphael Lavoie and Nicolas Roy. Saad might also get a look on the second power-play unit, but that’s far from certain.

I wouldn’t expect big things from Saad, but I also wouldn’t be surprised if he proves to be serviceable with his new team. He also might end up doing a little better when Karlsson returns -- it's entirely feasible Saad and Karlsson will end up playing together when that happens with Roy shifting to the fourth line.

One player Saad is less likely to play with is Tomas Hertl, which is a shame for Saad because Hertl is red hot. The 31-year-old is on an 11-game scoring streak in which he’s provided nine goals and 15 points. Funny enough, he has a neutral plus/minus, even during that terrific stretch, keeping him at a team-worst minus-10 overall. Hertl looks more appealing in terms of possession stats -- his 5v5 relative Corsi and Fenwick are plus-1.8 and plus-4.0, respectively, which suggests the team performs better when he’s on the ice -- but it seems plus/minus is destined to be the one area where he underperforms.

NHL: DADOUN – THE FANTASY WEEK AHEAD – Marner and Tavares Leading Maple Leafs, Ducks Battling and More

Ryan Dadoun — Sat, 23 Nov 2024 15:51:24 +0000

_{TAMPA, FL - DECEMBER 03: Toronto Maple Leafs right wing Mitchell Marner (16) skates with the puck during the NHL Hockey match between the Tampa Bay Lightning and Toronto Maple Leafs on December 3rd, 2022 at Amalie Arena in Tampa, FL. (Photo by Andrew Bershaw/Icon Sportswire)}

In fantasy play, we try to look for any advantage we can, so it’s always helpful if there are reliable factors that we can consider that might impact a game's outcome. For example, all else being equal, a rested team should have an advantage over a tired one, right? That’s an easy assumption to make, but I wondered how reliable a factor that was, so I looked into it.

Teams on the second half of a back-to-back have a 31-40-6 record this season, but that’s a fairly small sample size for this kind of thing, so let’s take the results of every game dating back to the 2005-06 campaign. Looking at that, the record for teams playing on no rest is 3,560-3,394-943. If you count overtime/shootout losses among the defeats, that’s a .451 winning percentage, which is statistically relevant, but not dramatic.

What about playing on the road? That’s another obvious disadvantage, but how serious of a burden is it? Dating back to 2005-06, the road team has a 10,460-9,834-2,698 record, which is a .455 winning percentage. In other words, playing on the road is only a slightly smaller burden than playing on no rest. While we’re at it, let’s combine the two: A road team playing on no rest has a winning percentage of just .425 (2,298-2,464-640). So if you really want to bank on a team underperforming relative to their average, then taking a team on the second half of a back-to-back on the road is the way to go.

In the reverse, is there an ideal amount of rest for a team? Teams that had one day off between games have a winning percentage of .508 (12,265-9,101-2,759), two days is .521 (4,368-3,051-962), three days is .501 (1,106-845-255) and four or more days is .493 (1,034-822-242), so two days rest between games is the sweet spot, but difference in those winning percentages isn’t significant.

Ultimately, believing a team on the road or a tired squad will underperform is going to prove to be a fair assessment often, but it’s not a magic bullet. By the same token, key injuries don’t always lead to the results we might anticipate. The Avalanche certainly struggled early in the campaign when they had far more than their fair share of players on the shelf, but recently, the Maple Leafs have been defying expectations.

At the time of writing, Toronto is now 6-1-0 without Auston Matthews this season. On Wednesday, Toronto was missing Max Domi (lower body), Calle Jarnkrok (groin), David Kampf (lower body), Max Pacioretty (lower body) and Ryan Reaves (suspension) in addition to Matthews (upper body), and Toronto still managed to beat Vegas 3-0. To be fair, the Golden Knights had injuries of their own at the time of the contest, most notably to Mark Stone (lower body), but they were the healthier team and a top-tier contender, so the Maple Leafs continuing to excel under those circumstances is impressive.

Mitch Marner has been a major factor in Toronto’s continued success, providing six goals and 26 points through 20 appearances, and the Vegas victory was his third straight multi-point showing. He’s never reached the 100-point milestone before, but he’s come close and might finally hit that mark this campaign. John Tavares has also stepped up recently, supplying four goals and eight points across six appearances, giving him nine goals and 19 points through 19 outings.

Both are also playing on an expiring contract, and there are questions about their future with the team. The lack of playoff success has led to frustration regarding Toronto’s model of building the squad around four extremely expensive forwards. Going into the campaign, there was an assumption that at the least, the 34-year-old Tavares would take a significant pay cut from his current $11 million cap hit in his next contract given his declining production. That might still happen, but his play so far this season suggests that talk of his decline might have been overstated, and, especially with the cap rising, he might still be able to command a sizable payday. Then there’s Marner, who presumably expects a raise from his $10.903 million cap hit and will likely get it with Toronto or elsewhere.

The Maple Leafs certainly have some big front office questions to answer, in the coming months, but at least on the ice, things seem to be going well for now despite the challenges.

Anaheim Ducks

Mon vs SEA, Wed @ SEA, Fri vs LAK, Sun vs OTT

The NHL schedule next week contains some very heavy dates: There will be 11 games Monday, 15 on Wednesday, 14 on Friday and 12 on Saturday. Due to that, a lot of teams are playing four times despite the league taking Thursday off for American Thanksgiving.

Every team featured will be playing in four games, starting with the Ducks, who will host Seattle on Monday, play in Seattle on Wednesday and then return to Anaheim for contests against the Kings on Friday and Senators on Sunday.

The Ducks were also a team I highlighted last week and noted the squad’s underwhelming offense, but going into Friday’s action, Anaheim is on a three-game winning streak in which it’s tallied a combined 13 goals.

Trevor Zegras has gotten in on the action, supplying a goal and three points over that span, which doubles his season point total to six. We discussed last week that he had been dealing with some bad puck luck and has been playing a more complete game despite his offensive woes, so perhaps everything is starting to come together for him. He’s an intriguing buy-low candidate, especially because Zegras continues to serve in a top-six capacity.

If you’re looking for the hottest forward on the Ducks, though, then Brett Leason is your man. He didn’t start the campaign was much of a role, even being a healthy scratch in five of six games from Oct. 27-Nov. 8, but he’s taken off with two goals and seven points across his last five outings. Leason has also averaged 15:00 of ice time, including 1:28 with the man advantage, across his past four appearances, so he’s finally getting a solid opportunity. The 25-year-old still isn’t likely to be a major offensive force for long -- you'd have to go back to his junior days to find the last time he was a major scorer -- but he’s providing some solid short-term value.

On the blueliner, Olen Zellweger has two goals and four points over his last three appearances, bringing him up to four goals and eight points across 17 outings in 2024-25. The 21-year-old is serving on the top power-play unit, but the Ducks rank 27th with the man advantage, converting just 15.3 percent of the time, so it’s not as good of a role as it could be. Still, Zellweger should at least breach the 30-point mark this year as long as he stays healthy.

Boston Bruins

Tue vs. VAN, Wed @ NYI, Fri vs. PIT, Sun vs. MTL

After three straight losses to drop their record to 8-9-3, the Bruins fired head coach Jim Montgomery and named Joe Sacco as the interim bench boss. Boston’s first game under Sacco saw the Bruins outshoot Utah 31-21 en route to a 1-0 victory. Joonas Korpisalo was in net for the shutout, improving to 4-2-1 with a 2.38 GAA and .911 save percentage in eight appearances. Given Jeremy Swayman’s struggles -- he has a 5-7-2 record, 3.47 GAA and .884 save percentage in 14 outings -- it'll be interesting to see if Sacco leans on Korpisalo more than his predecessor.

Next week, though, both goaltenders will likely see use given the packed schedule. The Bruins will host the Canucks on Tuesday, play on the road against the Islanders on Wednesday and conclude the week with home tilts versus the Penguins and Canadiens on Friday and Sunday, respectively.

Swayman has been part of the problem in Boston, but the Bruins also rank 31st offensively with just 2.33 goals per game. David Pastrnak continues to lead the charge with eight goals and 18 points through 21 outings, but he’s the only player with at least 15 points. Meanwhile, Brad Marchand (five goals, 14 points) and Elias Lindholm (three goals, 10 points) are the only other two Bruins who have hit the double-digit mark. To put that into context, 200 players have at least 10 points through Thursday’s action, which averages out to 6.25 players per team, so Boston is far behind the curve in terms of its scoring depth.

He's probably not the answer, but I am interested to see if Sacco tries to get Tyler Johnson into games. The 34-year-old forward has appeared in just five contests in 2024-25, averaging 13:31 of ice time in those outings. Although he hasn’t recorded a point this year, Johnson has proved in the past to be a decent secondary scorer, so maybe he could do some damage from the third line if given a chance to get into a rhythm by playing regularly.

Outside of that, though, the Bruins just really need more out of players who were already getting opportunities. The issue for Charlie Coyle and Pavel Zacha isn’t a lack of ice time, it’s just that they haven’t put up points with any regularity. Coyle has just four goals and an assist through 21 outings after recording 60 points in 2023-24. Zacha has three goals and seven points, but after showing some life from Nov. 7-12 (two goals and four points in three games), he’s on a four-game point drought.

Maybe the answer is simply to just some forward groupings and stick with it for a while. Coyle’s most common linemates this campaign are Marchand and Morgan Geekie, but that trio has only shared the ice for 11.9 percent of Coyle’s even-strength minutes. That’s a lot of line mixing, which might lead to an inability to develop chemistry. It’s something to monitor as we see what Sacco’s plans are to reverse the Bruins’ fortunes.

Los Angeles Kings

Mon @ SJS, Wed vs. WPG, Fri @ ANA, Sat vs. OTT

The Kings will start the week on the road against San Jose on Monday but return home to host the Jets on Wednesday. LA will then play in Anaheim on Friday and host the Senators on Saturday.

The Kings have seen modest success with their 10-7-3 record, but they have dropped three of their past four games, recording just seven goals over that stretch.

Quinton Byfield is among the cold forwards with only an assist across his past five outings. He has two goals and nine points through 20 appearances overall. Interestingly, he hasn’t recorded a single point on the power play in 2024-25 despite averaging a solid 2:07 of ice time with the man advantage. LA does rank 29th in power-play conversions at 14.3 percent, so that is an obvious factor, but you’d still expect at least some production there. Byfield’s 5.3 shooting percent is also a sharp drop from his 12.4 percent in 2023-24 -- he finished that campaign with 20 goals and 55 points -- so the young forward might have been somewhat unlucky through the first quarter of the season. Don’t be surprised if his production ticks up as the campaign progresses.

Philip Danault also has struggled to find the back of the net, tallying a single goal through 20 appearances, though he does have nine assists. His 3.2 shooting percentage is far below his 12.3 average from 2021-22 through 2023-24, so Danault is another LA forward who could enjoy an increase in production.

At the other end of the spectrum, Adrian Kempe is red hot, supplying four goals over his past three games (LA has totaled just six total goals in that span), bringing him up to nine markers and 18 points through 20 appearances. Even there, though, Kempe has just three power-play points. LA did far better with the man advantage in 2023-24, ranking 12th with a 22.6 success rate, so these players could see an increase in special-teams points.

Minnesota Wild

Mon vs. WPG, Wed @ BUF, Fri vs. CHI, Sat vs. NSH

One team that’s had no offensive issues -- or any issues, really -- is Minnesota. The Wild have won three of their past four games, improving to 13-3-3. They’ll look to keep the good times rolling when they host another high-end squad in Winnipeg on Monday. From there, Minnesota will play in Buffalo on Wednesday before returning home to play the Blackhawks on Friday and the Predators on Saturday.

Filip Gustavsson continues to be a key part of the Wild’s success with his 9-3-2 record, 2.07 GAA and .926 save percentage through 14 appearances. He’s allowed two or fewer goals in each of his past five starts. Marc-Andre Fleury, by contrast, isn’t turning heads with his play, but the 39-year-old has been a capable backup with a 4-0-1 record, 2.76 GAA and .904 save percentage in five starts.

Up front, Kirill Kaprizov is on a seven-game scoring streak with six goals and 13 points in that span, bringing him up to 13 goals and 34 points through 19 appearances in 2024-25. Even with his $9 million annual cap hit, he’s providing tremendous value. Kaprizov’s contract runs through 2025-26, but by the time it expires, the Wild will be in a far better cap position because Zach Parise and Ryan Suter’s buyouts will be far smaller factors. The Wild have roughly $14.7 million in dead cap space this year, but Suter and Parise will generate a combined $1,666,666 in dead cap space annually from 2025-26 through 2028-29 before coming off the books entirely.

Paying Kaprizov top dollar when the time comes makes sense given his reliability as a top offensive threat. Someone who doesn’t factor onto the scoresheet nearly as regularly is Frederick Gaudreau, but the 31-year-old has been playing like an elite recently, providing four goals and 12 points across his past 11 appearances. Gaudreau is worth having in your lineup while he’s this hot, but don’t expect it to last, and keep in mind that even with his recent rise in production, he’s still serving in just a third-line capacity. He is also on the second power-play unit instead of the top one and hasn’t gotten a point yet with the man advantage.

New Jersey Devils

Mon vs. NSH, Wed vs. STL, Fri @ DET, Sat vs. WSH

We’ve already touched on a lot of players who haven’t put up noteworthy power-play numbers, so let’s shift to New Jersey, which ranks second with the man advantage with a 31.8 percent success rate.

The Devils will host the Predators on Monday and the Blues on Wednesday. They’ll then play in Detroit on Friday before returning home to face the Capitals on Saturday.

New Jersey’s power play and offense in general is certainly part of the reason the squad is 13-7-2. Defenseman Dougie Hamilton has played a significant role in that, providing two goals and 16 points, including seven with the man advantage, through 22 appearances. He was held off the scoresheet for the first six games of 2024-25 but has since recorded at least a point in 13 of 16 appearances.

Hamilton wasn’t much of a factor in 2023-24 due to injury, which led to Luke Hughes serving on the top power-play unit last year. Hamilton’s return to health means Hughes is averaging just 1:04 with the man advantage in 2024-25 and that’s eaten into the young blueliner’s production. The 21-year-old Hughes also missed New Jersey’s first nine outings because of a shoulder problem, which likely put him behind the curve. All this has led to him recording just two assists through 13 outings. Hughes might start to do better as he gets into a rhythm, but this is shaping up to be a sophomore slump campaign.

His elder brother, Jack Hughes, is doing just fine, though. He already has eight goals and 25 points through 22 appearances. The older Hughes is also red hot with six helpers across his past three outings, including five on the power play.

Of course, the Devils did just fine last season too and still missed the playoffs. The difference this year has been improved goaltending. Jacob Markstrom isn’t in Vezina Trophy contention, but he’s holding his own nicely with a 9-5-1 record, 2.54 GAA and .907 save percentage through 15 appearances. Jake Allen is also playing an arguably underrated role as the backup, providing a 4-2-1 record, 2.30 GAA and .916 save percentage in seven starts. Especially in a busy week, like the one upcoming, having two solid goaltenders is a huge luxury.

New York Islanders

Mon vs. DET, Wed vs. BOS, Fri @ WSH, Sat vs. BUF

The Islanders have two solid goaltenders too, though it hasn’t always felt that way this season. Ilya Sorokin has more-or-less fulfilled his end of the bargain with a 2.64 GAA and a .914 save percentage through 12 appearances, but Semyon Varlamov struggled early in the campaign. He has stabilized since, but that early damage has left him with a .903 save percentage, although his GAA has improved to a respectable 2.60.

Either way, it’s the offense that’s really the problem with the Islanders, and that’s what they’ll need more of next week. New York will host the Red Wings on Monday and the Bruins on Wednesday. They’ll then play in Washington on Friday and conclude the week with a home game versus the Sabres.

The Islanders have managed just four goals over their past three games and weirdly, Pierre Engvall scored two of them. Engvall had a three-game goal-scoring streak from Nov. 14-19, but the 28-year-old finished with just 10 goals and 28 points in 74 outings last season and has just five points through 12 outings in 2024-25 even after accounting for his recent hot streak, so don’t expect much from him going forward.

The player the Islanders really need to step up is Bo Horvat, but he’s been held off the scoresheet in five of his past six appearances, leaving him with five goals and 14 points through 20 outings. Those are abysmal numbers given his $8.5 million cap hit, but to be far, he’d usually get to play alongside Mathew Barzal, who hasn’t been in the lineup since Oct. 30 due to an upper-body injury. However, Barzal’s original timetable was 4-6 weeks, and there hasn’t been much in the way of updates, so you shouldn’t count on Horvat getting help from Barzal in the upcoming week.

Anders Lee is sometimes a great linemate. He has seven goals and 13 points in 20 outings in 2024-25, but he’s also streaky and is presently cold, having been held off the scoresheet in each of the Islanders’ past three games.

Then there’s Jean-Gabriel Pageau, who highlights the Islanders’ lack of depth. The 32-year-old forward is a fine forward, but he’s never recorded more than 43 points in a single campaign, so the fact that he’s on the top line and first power-play unit is far less than ideal. He has five goals and nine points through 20 appearances in 2024-25.

Horvat and Lee might heat up again, but the Islanders’ overall offensive situation isn’t likely to get a lot better until Barzal comes back.

New York Rangers

Mon vs. STL, Wed @ CAR, Fri @ PHI, Sat vs. MTL

The Islanders’ rivals, the Rangers, appear to be in a far better position. They have a 12-5-1 record and will look to build on that next week. The Rangers will host the Blues on Monday, play in Carolina on Wednesday and Philadelphia on Friday and finish the week by hosting the Canadiens on Saturday.

Artemi Panarin continues to be the Rangers’ top forward with 10 goals and 24 points in 18 appearances in 2024-25, but offensive depth has been a big part of the Rangers’ formula. They have eight players who have hit double digits in points: Panarin, Adam Fox, Alexis Lafreniere, Will Cuylle, Mika Zibanejad, Reilly Smith, Kaapo Kakko and Vincent Trocheck. As noted before, the average team has 6.25 players who have hit that milestone. On top of that, New York has two players -- Chris Kreider and Filip Chytil -- who are sitting at nine points.

Among those who have been at the forefront of the Rangers’ attack, Cuylle is arguably the biggest pleasant surprise. The 22-year-old has seven goals and 15 points through 18 appearances. He established himself as a regular with the team last campaign but was in the lineup primarily because of his gritty play, finishing the 2023-24 regular season with 13 goals, 21 points, 56 PIM and 249 hits. Cuylle has continued to utilize his size, dishing out 75 hits this season (he ranks fifth in that category), but he’s adding an offensive element to his game.

What makes it even more impressive is that he’s averaging a modest 13:50 of ice time and is rarely used with the man advantage -- although that might be changing as he has spent the past two games on the second unit. Among those averaging under 14 minutes, Cuylle leads the league in points, ahead of Carolina’s Eric Robinson (five goals, 13 points).

One word of caution, though: Cuylle’s 21.9 shooting percentage is likely unsustainable.

Seattle Kraken

Mon @ ANA, Wed vs. ANA, Fri @ SJS, Sat vs. SJS

The Kraken has a fairly easy schedule next week. They have a set of games against Anaheim on Monday and Wednesday followed by one against the Sharks on Friday and Saturday. In both cases, Seattle is on the road for the first half of the set and at home for the second.

Defenseman Vince Dunn (upper body) might end up returning at some point during those four games, but the status of forward Jordan Eberle (lower body) is less clear. By the time you read this, though, that might change. Kraken coach Dan Bylsma told Scott Malone on Friday that there would be an update later in the day, but at the time of writing, that update hadn’t arrived yet.

Dunn is likely to serve on the top four and first power-play unit when healthy, which might eat into Brandon Montour’s power-play time and result in Ryker Evans losing his spot on the second unit. However, just three of Montour’s 13 points and two of Evans’ 11 have come with the man advantage anyway, so that change shouldn’t have a dramatic impact on either blueliner’s production. Dunn’s return might help Seattle’s overall power play a bit, which sits at 23rd with a 16.4 conversion rate, which would modestly boost the value of Seattle’s top forwards.

Either way, Joey Daccord is likely to continue to be the key to Seattle’s success. He has a 9-3-1 record, 2.31 GAA and .923 save percentage in 13 appearances in 2024-25, putting him in the very early conversation for the Vezina Trophy. Daccord did rank fourth in save percentage (.916) and fifth in GAA (2.46) among goaltenders who logged at least 30 games last season, but his 19-18-11 record kept him well outside of the award conversation. If Seattle continues to provide him with at least some support this year -- the Kraken’s 2.85 goals per game isn’t magical, but it is a step up from 2.61 in 2023-24 -- then Daccord’s a fair bet to get over 30 wins this campaign, especially with Philipp Grubauer not exactly demanding a bigger share of the workload with his 1-6-0 record, 3.11 GAA and .881 save percentage through seven outings in 2024-25.

NHL: DADOUN – THE FANTASY WEEK AHEAD (October 28th to November 3rd) – Jets’ Perfect Start, Sharks’ Slow Start

Ryan Dadoun — Sat, 26 Oct 2024 18:00:14 +0000

_{DENVER, CO - APRIL 17: Colorado Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar (8) makes a pass during a Western Conference match-up in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs on April 17, 2019 at the Pepsi Center in Denver, CO. (Photo by Russell Lansford/Icon Sportswire)}

Last week I noted the Avalanche and Predators’ 0-4-0 start and focused quite a bit on Colorado goaltender Alexandar Georgiev’s disastrous play, so it seems only fair to check back in with those teams, beginning with the Avs.

Colorado has done a full 180, winning its last four games to reach 4-4-0. As noted during the Avalanche section of that article, Colorado’s recent schedule has been favorable (the Avalanche have beaten Anaheim, San Jose, Seattle and Utah), which has doubtlessly aided in the turnaround, but credit still needs to go to Cale Makar, Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen. With the team’s depth gutted by injuries, those three have driven the offense. Makar leads the league -- not just defensemen -- with 15 points (three goals) through eight contests. MacKinnon and Rantanen aren’t far behind with 13 points each.

As for Georgiev, he hasn’t been in net since allowing three goals on just 19 shots against Anaheim in the Avalanche’s 4-3 overtime win Oct. 18. Justus Annunen has taken over the starting gig, saving a combined 75 of 79 shots (.949 save percentage) across the Avalanche’s past three victories. Georgiev is going to get other opportunities but given that the veteran netminder struggled last season as well as this one, it’s entirely plausible for Annunen to wrestle away the No. 1 job long-term, provided he remains solid.

Nashville hasn’t enjoyed the same turnaround, but the Predators finally earned their first victory Tuesday with a 4-0 showing against Boston. Steven Stamkos’ cold start has continued with a goal and no assists through six appearances, so we’ll have to see where that leads.

While the Predators’ slow start has been surprising, probably the biggest shock in the early going of the campaign is Minnesota’s 5-0-2 start. The Wild missed the playoffs last year with a 39-33-10 record, and it was expected that this would be another challenging campaign, in large part because they still have over $14 million of dead cap space due to the Zach Parise and Ryan Suter buyouts (though that crashes to just a combined $1,666,666 beyond this campaign).

Goaltending has been a big part of that turnaround. Filip Gustavsson disappointed last year with a 20-17-5 record, 3.06 GAA and .899 save percentage in 45 outings, but he’s rebounded in the early part of 2024-25, posting a 4-0-1 record, 1.40 GAA and .952 save percentage through five outings. It’s still early, but Gustavsson is still a relatively young goaltender at 26 and demonstrated in 2022-23 that he can be a high-end option, so it wouldn’t be completely out of nowhere if he goes on to have a great season.

Boston Bruins

One goaltender who isn’t having a great campaign thus far is Jeremy Swayman, who missed training camp but joined the Bruins after being presented with 66 million reasons for doing so. Perhaps because he didn’t get any preseason action, Swayman hasn’t been able to find a rhythm, posting a 2-3-1 record, 2.99 GAA and .904 save percentage through six appearances in 2024-25. Jonas Korpisalo hasn’t shown himself to be a good alternative, though, allowing nine goals on 60 shots (.850 save percentage) across two starts.

The good news is the Bruins don’t have the best of scoring teams on the docket for the upcoming week. Boston will host the Flyers on Tuesday before a two-game road trip that will see the Bruins play in Carolina on Thursday and Philadelphia on Saturday. They’ll return home to play the Kraken on Sunday. The Flyers rank 29th offensively with 2.29 goals per game while Carolina and Seattle are in the middle-of-the-pack in scoring.

Swayman isn’t the only Bruins player who has underperformed. While David Pastrnak is tied for the team lead offensively with six points (five goals), that’s less than you’d expect from him through eight appearances. Brad Marchand has fared worse though, providing no goals and four assists across eight outings.

Pastrnak should rebound, but is there reason to be more concerned about Marchand given that he’s 36 years old? It’s a little early to say, but there’s nothing that stands out to me as terribly wrong thus far. His skating hasn’t declined, and his shots/60 is largely unchanged from last year. His shots are perhaps less concentrated in front of the net compared to last year, but we’re also comparing a large sample size to a relatively small one. He merits monitoring, but not panic yet.

On the other end of the spectrum, Cole Koepke has impressed with three goals and six points through eight appearances. I recommend caution when evaluating him, though. Despite his strong start, he’s averaging just 11:04 of ice time, and that includes almost no work on the power play. He’s also been held off the scoresheet in Boston’s past two games, so the hot streak appears to be over. Don’t put high expectations on the 26-year-old.

Columbus Blue Jackets

The Blue Jackets entered the campaign the low expectations of being projected as a team likely to be in the running for the first overall draft pick, but so far Columbus has held its own with a 3-3-0 record. We’ll see if the Blue Jackets will be able to keep that going amid a busy week that will involve a home stretch against Edmonton on Monday, the Islanders on Wednesday and Winnipeg on Friday and conclude with a road game in Washington on Saturday.

Columbus’ early success has been in no small part thanks to Kirill Marchenko and free agent signing Sean Monahan developing chemistry on the top line. Marchenko took a step forward as a sophomore in 2023-24 with 23 goals and 42 points across 78 appearances, and he seems to be destined for greater heights this season after starting with three goals and eight points through six outings. Monahan has collected three goals and seven points of his own with the duo showing up on the scoresheet together five times so far.

Yegor Chinakhov is giving the Blue Jackets some offensive depth from the second line. The 23-year-old has supplied three goals and seven points through six appearances after finishing 2023-24 with 29 points (13 goals) in 53 outings. The 22-year-old Kent Johnson also looked good early on with two goals and five points in four appearances, but unfortunately, he sustained an upper-body injury and is expected to be unavailable for a significant chunk of time.

He had been playing alongside Mikael Pyyhtia and Cole Sillinger, and due to Johnson’s absence, that line was broken up with Sillinger now joining Marchenko and Monahan, while Pyyhtia is with Chinakhov and Adam Fantilli, who has just two points (both goals) in six games this year but is averaging an encouragingly high 17:49 of ice time.

There’s a lot of potential with this Blue Jackets team, but young forwards tend to be streaky, so don’t be surprised if Columbus deals with a lot of inconsistency in 2024-25.

New York Islanders

As noted above, the Islanders will play Columbus on the road Wednesday. That’s part of the start of a three-game road trip for the Islanders that will also feature games in Buffalo on Friday and against the Rangers on Sunday. However, the Islanders will host Anaheim on Tuesday before that trip begins.

New York is off to a 2-2-2 start despite allowing just 2.50 goals per game. The offense just hasn’t been there, though. Noah Dobson leads the team with just four assists and no Islanders player has more than two goals.

Scoring was an issue for the Islanders last year too -- they ranked 22nd with 2.99 goals per game -- so this isn’t a completely shocking development. They did sign Anthony Duclair over the summer in the hopes of at least bolstering their secondary scoring, but after providing two goals and three points through five outings, Duclair suffered a leg injury, and the team announced Thursday that he’ll be out for the next 4-6 weeks.

Duclair was playing alongside Bo Horvat and Mathew Barzal on the top line, and due to the injury, Simon Holmstrom is projected to take that first unit spot. However, Holmstrom had just 15 goals and 25 points in 75 regular-season games in 2023-24, so while playing on the top line should provide him with some additional opportunities, he’s probably not worth a pickup in most fantasy formats even with his new role.

The Islanders' other new forward is Maxim Tsyplakov, who is making the transition to the NHL after scoring 31 goals and 47 points across 65 regular-season appearances with the KHL’s Moscow Spartak in 2023-24. Tsyplakov has been okay, but not special so far, supplying a goal and three points through six outings. He has gotten looks on the top power-play unit, which is interesting, but for now, I’d recommend just keeping an eye on him rather than grabbing him if you’re in a standard fantasy league.

San Jose Sharks

The Sharks are winless through eight games (0-6-2), but perhaps they’ll finally get a victory in the upcoming week. They’ll start on the road against Utah on Monday before heading home to host the Kings on Tuesday, the Blackhawks on Thursday and the Canucks on Saturday.

San Jose’s fairly is largely because it ranks dead last offensively with just 1.88 goals per game. Macklin Celebrini, who was taken with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 NHL Draft, would have been a major help there, but after scoring a goal and an assist in his NHL debut, he sustained a lower-body injury that has kept him out of the lineup. It was announced Monday that he would miss at least two more weeks, so don’t expect him to make his return at any point during the four-game stretch mentioned above.

Things might be even grimmer for captain Logan Couture. There haven’t been any updates on the status of his groin injury since the start of the season, which leads me to believe he’s still a ways off from playing. If they were both healthy, Couture and Celebrini would probably comprise two-thirds of the first line. Instead, Mikael Granlund, Tyler Toffoli and William Eklund are the top unit.

You could do worse than that trio. Granlund has exceeded expectations with three goals and nine points through eight contests while Toffoli and Eklund have made their presence felt with seven and five points, respectively. However, while San Jose can still ice a viable first line without Couture and Celebrini, the Sharks can’t do much else. No other player on that team even has four points through eight games. Daniil Gushchin has gotten looks on the second line and with the man advantage despite the 22-year-old having no points and five shots through five appearances. Gushchin did record 20 goals and 54 points in 56 AHL outings in 2023-24, so I don’t want to pick on him, but he’s not currently a great option on the top six.

Meanwhile, Will Smith is experiencing some growing pains. He looked amazing with Boston College in 2023-24, supplying 25 goals and 71 points across 41 games as a freshman, but he has no points, a minus-4 rating and nine shots across six appearances with the Sharks this season. In the long run, he should be a big part of the Sharks’ core group, but for now, he’s another reason why San Jose’s offense is floundering.

Tampa Bay Lightning

One team that has had no problems scoring is Tampa Bay, and the Lightning will try to keep that going next week when they host Stamkos and the Predators on Monday. The Lightning will then go on the road to play in Colorado on Wednesday, Minnesota on Friday and Winnipeg on Sunday.

Letting Stamkos walk couldn’t have been an easy decision after everything he brought to the franchise, and while Stamkos hasn’t impressed early in his Predators tenure, it’s way too early to say if passing on him was the right decision. If nothing else, though, Jake Guentzel, who the Lightning could afford to sign with Stamkos gone, has meshed well on the top line with Nikita Kucherov and Brayden Point.

Guentzel has two goals and seven points across seven games, though his early success has been overshadowed by Nikita Kucherov, who already has eight goals and 13 points across seven appearances this year. Kucherov has managed at least a point in every game thus far. In case you’re wondering, Martin St. Louis (2009-10), Stamkos (2017-18) and Kucherov (2017-18) are tied for Tampa Bay’s franchise record for the longest scoring streak to begin a campaign at 11 games, so while Kucherov isn’t close to that, he has the opportunity to reach and surpass it next week (Tampa Bay has one more clash this week, a home game Saturday versus Washington, so next Sunday’s game versus Winnipeg will be the squad’s 12th of the season).

That top line’s strong start is just part of the Lightning’s bigger offensive success -- they are tied for fifth with 4.00 goals per game -- but the squad has a middling 4-3-0 record despite that. Andrei Vasilevskiy has an amazing opening to 2024-25, but that’s been erased after he allowed 15 goals on 84 shots (.821 save percentage) across his past four appearances. He also left something to be desired last season with his 30-20-2 record, 2.90 GAA and .900 save percentage in 52 regular-season outings, but that was partially handwaved because he missed a significant chunk of the start of that campaign due to injury. However, if he’s truly no longer the elite goaltender he once was, then Tampa Bay is in trouble. Jonas Johansson isn’t a viable alternative for any significant length of time, and Vasilevskiy’s $9.5 million cap hit runs through 2027-28.

Toronto Maple Leafs

Toronto is one of the teams that added to Tampa Bay’s recent woes with a 5-2 victory over the Lightning on Monday, but the Leafs have their own issues after suffering losses to Columbus and St. Louis, bringing Toronto’s record to 4-4-0. Toronto will try to right the ship next week, but it will have to do so while being primarily on the road. The Maple Leafs will play in Winnipeg on Monday, host the Kraken on Thursday and then conclude the week with home games against St. Louis on Saturday and Minnesota on Sunday.

Toronto’s issues mostly stem from inconsistency rather than any particular underperformance, though Auston Matthews’ three goals and five points through eight appearances are certainly less than we’d expect out of him. The team in general hasn’t been as good offensively as it has been in recent years and currently is in a three-way tie for 21st with 2.88 goals per game.

That’s been offset by Anthony Stolarz, who has a 3-2-0 record, 1.83 GAA and .938 save percentage across five appearances. Notably, he wasn’t in net for either of Toronto’s recent losses. Stolarz stopped 32 of 34 shots in that victory over Tampa Bay on Monday, so naturally, he rested Tuesday with Dennis Hildeby getting the nod. Hildeby fell short in a 6-2 loss to St. Louis, but he’s back in the minors anyway because Joseph Woll (lower body) was ready to return Thursday. Unfortunately, Woll was a mixed bag in his season debut, stopping 22 of 26 shots en route to a 5-1 loss to St. Louis.

Stolarz has earned the right to be in contention for the Leafs’ starting gig, and with the packed schedule, he should be in net for at least two of Toronto’s four games next week. I’m also interested to see what happens to Knies and Bobby McMann after Matthew Knies was taken off the first line in the third period of Thursday’s loss. It wouldn’t surprise me if Knies went right back to being the third forward on the Matthews-Mitch Marner unit, but there’s also a reasonable chance McMann gets a longer look in that spot.

Maybe Nicholas Robertson also gets another look on the left wing? Robertson hasn’t demanded preferential treatment after supplying just one point through eight outings, but Toronto’s left wing is still a work in progress, so the possibility of Robertson getting a chance to serve on the top six by shifting from the right to left remains.

Washington Capitals

Washington has jumped out to a 5-1-0 record this year and will look to keep that going with a homestand with the Capitals set to host the Rangers on Tuesday, the Canadiens on Thursday and the Blue Jackets on Saturday. The Capitals will wrap up the week with a visit to Carolina on Sunday.

After a disappointing showing with the Kings last year (16 goals and 40 points in 82 games), Pierre-Luc Dubois got off to a slow start with Washington, providing two assists through five appearances, but he had his first big night with the Capitals on Wednesday, contributing a goal and three points in a 6-3 victory over Philadelphia. So far Dubois has played almost exclusively on the second line with Tom Wilson and Connor McMichael while also seeing time on the top power-play unit. That’s not a bad gig for him and could facilitate a rebound to something resembling his 60-ish-point performances in 2021-22 and 2022-23.

Meanwhile, Aliaksei Protas is doing fine on the first line alongside Alex Ovechkin and Dylan Strome. Protas has a goal and four points across six appearances but be careful about overvaluing his top-line spot. While he does play with choice linemates when on the ice, he’s still logging a modest 13:40 per game and is rarely deployed on the power play, so while the 23-year-old might surpass his 2023-24 total of 29 points, this isn’t likely to be a breakout campaign for him.

Winnipeg Jets

The Jets have gotten off to an incredible 7-0-0 start. They’ll try to stay strong with their upcoming action, which features a home game against Toronto on Monday, road tilts versus Detroit and Columbus on Wednesday and Friday, respectively, and a home game versus the Lightning.

Connor Hellebuyck has unsurprisingly been a part of the early success with a 6-0-0 record, 1.66 GAA and .940 save percentage, but he’s gotten some good offensive support too. Six players (Mark Scheifele, Nikolaj Ehlers, Kyle Connor, Cole Perfetti, Neal Pionk and Josh Morrissey) have supplied at least seven points through seven games.

That’s on top of Nino Niederreiter and Mason Appleton, who each have supplied six points through seven outings while playing on the third unit. That’s some tremendous depth to have, but we’ll see how long this lasts. I’m particularly skeptical of Appleton. The 28-year-old has never come close to the 40-point mark in a single season, and his early numbers are skewed due to two multi-point performances -- he's also been held off the scoresheet four times. In the long run, his offensive pace is likely to decline substantially.

Cole Perfetti’s scoring pace will probably drop too, but not by nearly as much. Although he recorded 30 and 38 points in 2022-23 and 2023-24, respectively, the 22-year-old has plenty of upside, and he might be starting to reach his potential. Like Appleton, he’s been inconsistent this campaign with seven of his eight points coming from just two games, but Perfetti’s offensive talent makes me more optimistic about him for the rest of the season. If nothing else, Perfetti will be nice to have on your roster while he’s hot.

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

DADOUN: THE FANTASY WEEK AHEAD – Sharks show some bite in tough season – Coyotes, Hurricanes, Avalanche, Devils, Islanders, Maple Leafs, Canucks and Golden Knights – Players to target

Ryan Dadoun — Sat, 09 Dec 2023 16:09:54 +0000

BOSTON, MA - NOVEMBER 30: San Jose Sharks left wing Fabian Zetterlund (20) takes a shot in warm up before a game between the Boston Bruins and the San Jose Sharks on November 30, 2023, at TD garden in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Fred Kfoury III/Icon Sportswire)

This column was previously getting released at the start of the week, but starting today, it will come out Saturdays instead. It’ll still preview the upcoming week, but now you’ll have more time to plan your strategy. Please bear in mind that the information provided is reflective of the time of writing (in this case, the morning of Dec. 8).

That aside, I wanted to cast a light on San Jose, which has won five of its last seven games. The Sharks have been fun to watch recently with them overcoming a 4-1 deficit against the Islanders on Tuesday and a 4-0 deficit to the Red Wings on Thursday. After a 0-10-1 start to the campaign that included back-to-back games in which they surrendered 10 goals, the Sharks are now 8-17-2. Still not good, but given where they came from, that’s impressive.

Looking at their last seven games specifically, the big change for San Jose has been its offense. The Sharks have scored 4.00 goals per game over that span, compared to 1.09 over their first 11 outings. Tomas Hertl has been an important factor in their recent surge, providing five goals and nine points over his last six appearances, but the real standout performer has been Mikael Granlund, who went from recording four assists over his first 13 contests to contributing three goals and 12 points over his last seven outings.

The Sharks have gotten some support team-wide too. Seven different players have supplied at least two goals over the past seven games, including three markers from defenseman Jacob MacDonald, who had just three goals over 101 career NHL games going into this campaign.

Is this sustainable, though? Probably not. The Sharks don’t have a particularly good team. Goaltenders Mackenzie Blackwood and Kaapo Kahkonen are still struggling, so if the offense cools from its unreal pace, then the whole house of cards will likely crumble again. Plus overcoming three- or four-goal deficits is fun to watch, but not something that can be counted on to happen routinely.

It is encouraging to see youngsters William Eklund, who has two goals and five points over his last four contests, and Fabian Zetterlund, who has four goals and five points over his last seven games, do well though. They’re the future of the franchise, so strong performances from them matter much more to San Jose than whether the squad is winning or losing today.

Arizona Coyotes - MON @ BUF, TUE @ PIT (BTB), FRI VS. SJS, SAT VS. BUF (BTB)

The Coyotes enjoyed a five-game winning streak from Nov. 25-Dec. 4, bringing them up to 13-9-2 by the end of that run. After spending a few years rebuilding, Arizona has a real shot of making the playoffs this year.

Of course, the Coyotes still have a lot of work ahead of them, which they’ll continue next week with games in Buffalo on Monday and Pittsburgh on Tuesday, followed by home contests versus the Sharks on Friday and Sabres on Saturday. Those adversaries range from bad to middling this campaign, so the Coyotes should do well.

With two back-to-back sets, Karel Vejmelka should get some work for the first time since Nov. 22. He’s struggled this campaign with a 2-6-2 record, 3.45 GAA and .892 save percentage in 11 contests, so he’s not an ideal option for a situational pickup. That said, if he draws the Sharks, then it might be worth considering him (provided San Jose has cooled by that point).

If Alex Kerfoot is still available in your league, he’d be a good pickup. He’s one of the hottest players in the league with a goal and nine points over his last five contests. Part of that surge is thanks to him getting an increased role. Over his first 15 contests this campaign, he had a goal and four points while averaging 15:01 of ice time, including just 0:18 with the man advantage, but that’s jumped to 18:57 over his last 10 contests, including 2:21 on the power play. So, while he obviously can’t maintain the offensive pace of his last five games, as long as Arizona keeps deploying him like it has recently, Kerfoot should continue to be a valuable forward in most fantasy leagues.

Someone else to consider in the short-term but is less likely to have long-term success is Michael Carcone. He has five goals over his last five contests, but his shooting percentage has climbed to an unsustainable 32.4 and he serves in a bottom-six role, so expect him to crash completely once the hot streak is over.

Carolina Hurricanes – TUE @ OTT, THU @DET, FRI VS NSH (BTB), SUN VS WAS

The Hurricanes will start the week by completing their six-game road trip with games in Ottawa on Tuesday and Detroit on Thursday. They’ll then get an opportunity to defend PNC Arena when they host the Predators on Friday and the Capitals on Sunday. Detroit’s been pretty good this campaign, but Nashville is the only other opponent currently in a playoff position, and even then, just barely.

Andrei Svechnikov couldn’t play Thursday due to an upper-body injury. If it turns out he won’t be available for some or all of next week’s games, then that will have a significant impact on Carolina’s lineup. In particular, Michael Bunting could play a major role during Svechnikov’s absence. When Svechnikov missed the first eight contests of the campaign because of a knee injury, Bunting had two goals and six points in eight contests while averaging 18:12 of ice time. Since then, Bunting has dropped to 13:45 while providing four goals and 10 points over 17 games.

We also might see Brendan Lemieux playing consistently during Svechnikov’s absence. Lemieux isn’t much of a factor offensively, but if you’re in a position where you’re looking for penalty minutes, he can help you there. Through 10 appearances this season, he’s accumulated 33 PIM and the 27-year-old has 517 PIM in 285 career games.

On the power play, there might be an opportunity for Brady Skjei to assume a second-line role. He has four goals and 15 points in 29 contests this season, which is great for a defenseman who is averaging just 0:13 with the man advantage. Even a second unit power-play role would be a potentially meaningful boost for him.

Colorado Avalanche – MON VS CGY, WED VS BUG, SAT @ WPG, SUN VS SJS (BTB)

The Avalanche will play four games next week, including home contests against the Flames on Monday, the Sabes on Wednesday and the Sharks on Sunday. Sprinkled in there will also be a road outing in Winnipeg on Saturday. Of those opponents, just Winnipeg is in a playoff position. The Sharks have won five of their last seven games, though, so it’ll be interesting to see if they’re still hot by the time that contest happens.

Speaking of hot players, Nathan MacKinnon is on a 10-game scoring streak, providing four goals and 16 points over that stretch, including two goals and five points over his last two contests alone. Through Thursday’s action, MacKinnon has moved into a three-way tie for fourth in the scoring race with 36 points in 26 outings.

The Avalanche don’t have any other players who are currently excelling, though. Bowen Byram is interesting with two goals and three points over his last four contests. He might be worth some short-term consideration, but the lack of a consistent power-play role is a significant negative.

We also should see Ivan Prosvetov start this week, likely Sunday versus San Jose. He’s been decent when utilized, posting a 2-1-1 record, 2.45 GAA and .919 save percentage in six contests this season, so if you’re looking for a situational pickup in goal, then Prosvetov is a good option.

New Jersey Devils – WED VS BOS, SAT @ CBJ, SUN VS ANA (BTB)

The Devils are a borderline selection because they have just three games this week and their first contest is a home game versus the mighty Bruins on Wednesday. However, New Jersey will then face two of the worst teams in the league with matches in Columbus on Saturday and against the Ducks on Sunday.

If you look at the league leader in terms of points per game, it isn’t Nikita Kucherov, Artemi Panarin or Connor McDavid. That honor instead belongs to Jack Hughes, who has 10 goals and 33 points in just 19 contests. Hughes missed five straight games from Nov. 5-16 due to a shoulder injury but has bounced right back. In particular, he scored four goals and 10 points over a four-game stretch from Nov. 28-Dec. 5. Provided he stays healthy the rest of the way, Hughes is a good bet to surpass his career high of 99 points.

Hughes is far from New Jersey’s sole offensive threat with the team averaging 3.63 goals per game -- fourth in the NHL. However, that’s been counterbalanced by the Devils allowing 3.67 goals per contest, which is the second worst in the league. Their expected goals against per 60 is 3.27, which suggests that part of the problem is New Jersey’s defense, but its goaltending has been lacking too.

Vitek Vanecek is having a disastrous campaign with a 3.60 GAA and an .877 save percentage in 16 contests. The fact that he has a 9-5-0 record despite that is a testament to the Devils’ amazing offense, but for a team with playoff aspirations, Vanecek isn’t looking like an acceptable option. Lately, that’s led to New Jersey pivoting more toward Akira Schmid.

Schmid struggled initially with a 3.46 GAA and an .885 save percentage through his first six appearances in 2023-24, but since then he’s rebounded with a 3-2-0 record, 2.53 GAA and .920 save percentage in five outings. With the 23-year-old outplaying Vanecek, Schmid has a real opportunity to steal the No. 1 gig, which could lead to him accumulating a lot of wins given the offensive support New Jersey can provide.

New York Islanders – MON VS TOR, FRI VS ANA, SAT @BOS (BTB)

The Islanders will start the week with home games versus the Maple Leafs, Ducks and Bruins on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, respectively, before visiting Montreal on Saturday. Toronto and Boston are tough adversaries, but Anaheim and Montreal rank near the bottom of the league, and it helps that the Islanders will be playing mostly at home next week.

Mathew Barzal and Bo Horvat have been playing some of the best hockey of their lives recently. Barzal has four goals and 11 points over his last four games, propelling him to nine goals and 27 points in 24 outings this year. Meanwhile, Horvat is on a five-game scoring streak in which he’s scored four goals and nine points, bringing him up to nine markers and 23 points through 24 appearances in 2023-24.

The Islanders have been getting offensive help from less common sources too. Julien Gauthier has two goals and five points in five contests this year. You can consider taking him in the short term, but keep in mind that he’s a depth forward, so once his hot streak ends, he won’t have value in anything but the absolute deepest of leagues.

Similarly, Simon Holmstrom is averaging just 13:38 of ice time this year, so he hasn’t been getting a big enough role to warrant holding him in standard fantasy leagues. However, Holmstrom is an interesting short-term option after scoring two goals and four points over his last four contests.

Toronto Maple Leafs – MON @ NYI, TUE @ NYR (BTB), THU VS CBJ, SAT VS PIT

The Maple Leafs’ schedule isn’t necessarily easy, but it is full with four games ahead of them. They’ll start the week with games in New York versus the Islanders on Monday and the Rangers on Tuesday. Afterwards, the Leafs will return home to host the Blue Jackets on Thursday and Penguins on Saturday.

Goaltender Joseph Woll sustained a leg injury during Thursday’s 4-3 victory over Ottawa and is expected to miss time. He had been serving as the Leafs’ top goaltender, but the injury will at least temporarily force Toronto to pivot back to Ilya Samsonov, who has missed the last two games due to an illness but will presumably be fine by next week. Samsonov has a 3.58 GAA and an .878 save percentage in 10 contests, so he’s been far from ideal, but he shouldn’t be dismissed after recording a 2.33 GAA and a .919 save percentage in 42 outings last season.

Martin Jones might also get a start next week depending on how long Woll is out for. Don’t expect too much out of Jones, though. He had a 3.09 GAA and an .895 save percentage in 220 NHL games from 2018-19 through 2022-23 and more recently has posted a 3.37 GAA and an .870 save percentage in five outings with AHL Toronto. Simply put, he’s not a good option. You might want to keep Dennis Hildeby in the back of your mind, though. The 22-year-old excelled in the Swedish Hockey League and has looked dominant in the AHL this campaign with a 1.89 GAA and a .925 save percentage in nine contests.

Putting the Maple Leafs’ goaltending aside, the team has been led by the usual suspects recently, which is to say that Mitch Marner, Auston Matthews and William Nylander have combined for seven goals and 12 points over Toronto’s last three games. Meanwhile, Max Domi has provided a goal and an assist over his last two contests. He’s been inconsistent offensively, which is unlikely to change so long as he’s averaging just 12:54 of ice time, but he’s an interesting short-term pickup while he’s hot, especially if you’re in a position to benefit from the penalty minutes he can provide.

Vancouver Canucks – TUE VS TBL, THU VS FLA, SAT @ MIN, SUN @ CHI (BTB)

The Canucks will kick off the week by hosting the Lightning on Tuesday and the Panthers on Thursday. They’ll then travel to Minnesota for a contest Saturday and face the Blackhawks in Chicago on Sunday. Those later two games are of particular interest given that they’re against teams not in playoff spots.

Sam Lafferty has bounced around the lineup this campaign, but lately, he’s been playing alongside Elias Pettersson and Ilya Mikheyev. That’s a golden opportunity for the 28-year-old, who has seven goals and 13 points in 27 contests this year. He’s also doing well at the moment with two goals and three points over his last three games. Be careful not to get too excited about Lafferty, whose career high in points is just 27, but his fantasy value will increase meaningfully if his current top-six role proves to be more than just a temporary assignment.

One Canucks player who has trended in the other direction recently is Andrei Kuzmenko. After scoring 39 goals and 74 points in 81 contests last year, the 27-year-old has been limited to four goals and 15 points over 24 outings in 2023-24, including just one point (a goal) over his last eight appearances. Things got so bad that he was even a healthy scratch for two straight games from Nov. 24-25 and he logged just 12:15 of ice time Thursday, his second-lowest total of the season.

While I don’t expect Kuzmenko to repeat his 2022-23 heights, he certainly can do better than he has lately. Given his recent play and his diminished role (which I believe to be temporary), he’s a solid buy-low candidate.

Vegas Golden Knights – TUE VS CGY, FRI VS BUF, SUN VS OTT

Vegas has just three games scheduled next week, but they’re all home contests against teams not in a playoff position. Specifically, the Golden Knights will host the Flames on Tuesday, the Sabres on Friday and the Senators on Sunday.

Jack Eichel is easily the hottest member of the Golden Knights with four goals and nine points over his last four contests, pushing him up to 12 goals and 30 points in 27 contests in 2023-24. Alex Tuch has already worked out great for Buffalo while Peyton Krebs and Noah Ostlund still might be good for the Sabres in the long run, so it’d be overly simplistic to call Vegas the winners of the Eichel trade, but the Golden Knights nevertheless must be thrilled with how that move has worked out.

Ben Hutton has been a bit of a disappointment, though, at least from a fantasy perspective. With Shea Theodore (upper body) unavailable, Hutton has averaged 2:17 of power-play ice time over the last seven contests, up from an average of just 0:25 over his first 14 outings. However, Hutton has just a goal and an assist over his last seven games and neither of those points came with the man advantage. Hutton’s never been much of an offensive force anyway, but it is a shame that he hasn’t gotten any production out of that power-play role.

If Daniil Miromanov (undisclosed) returns before Theodore, then he might take that power-play spot from Hutton. In that scenario, Miromanov would have some fantasy value.

*(BTB) – Denotes the second of a back-to-back series