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NHL season preview: Power rankings, best- and worst-case scenarios and bold predictions
The 2021-22 NHL season is being called a return to normalcy. Last season was an unprecedented one for the NHL due to the COVID-19 pandemic: Four geographically realigned divisions, including one solely comprising Canadian teams; teams playing only opponents within those divisions; and a new playoff format that eschewed wild-card teams. But it ended just […]
Continue readingFantasy hockey draft prep: Single category specialists
All of three players collected 40 or more goals back in the dark scoring ages of 2016-17. Only four the previous season, followed by eight in 2017-18. No small wonder we all scrambled to jam Alex Ovechkin onto our fantasy squads back then. Thankfully, today’s NHL boasts significantly louder scoring fireworks. Not only did 17 […]
Continue readingLingering questions for all 32 NHL teams heading into training camp: Goaltending, lineup, injuries, more
But now that fall is officially set to begin on Thursday, it’s also time for training camps around the NHL to open, as we look ahead to opening night of the season on Oct. 11. To help get you ready for the next few weeks — as teams decide on which players make the roster, […]
Continue readingBouncebacks: Can Chychrun, Pastrnak, Hamilton find their past scoring?
While expectations are one thing, I wanted to quantify exactly what we are looking for here. Taking the fantasy production put up by all NHLers over the past three years, I took the average fantasy points per game (FPPG) and per 60 minutes (FPP60) from the first two years and looked at the difference compared […]
Continue readingFantasy hockey winger preview: Big opportunity ahead for Tyler Toffoli
I’ll try to spare you (but I’ll inevitably fail to do so). Let’s ease into this by talking about players eligible at both wing and center. Should some of them be? No. Not at all. On one side of the coin, Leon Draisaitl and Elias Lindholm take way too many faceoffs to be considered even […]
Continue readingFantasy hockey 2022 centers: Put Sebastian Aho, Trevor Zegras on your draft board
Folks, your faceoff leader from the 2021-22 campaign is listed as a winger. So is the player that finished third. If they aren’t exclusively centers in the NHL despite taking the most faceoffs, then who really is? We’re good? We can move on? Good. Choose your league size, customize the scoring and set the rules […]
Continue reading2022-23 ESPN Fantasy Hockey rankings
While many line combinations and goalie splits around the NHL landscape are still to be decided, next season’s top picks won’t look that different from the last. Want Hart Trophy winner Auston Matthews or Vezina Trophy winner Igor Shesterkin? Well, you’re going need a top pick or pay up in a salary cap draft. So […]
Continue readingFantasy hockey dynasty ranks: What will the NHL look like in 2027
Well, we know their age. We also know what kind of production they have put up in the past. But beyond those two criteria, we don’t really know a whole lot. We can certainly guess a lot. In January 2018, ESPN asked me to do the first one of these dynasty rankings. While I didn’t […]
Continue readingNew York Rangers name defenseman Jacob Trouba captain
Rangers president and general manager Chris Drury announced the selection in a news release Tuesday morning, and the team held a news conference with Drury, Trouba and coach Gerard Gallant at the team’s practice facility in Greenburgh, New York, in the afternoon. Trouba, a first-round selection by Winnipeg in the 2012 draft, was acquired from […]
Continue readingBest under-the-radar signings of the NHL offseason, including Frank Vatrano, Eric Comrie
We’re here to talk about the less chewed-over moves. The ones that maybe flew under the radar. Or got caught in a logjam of other action. One way or another, some signings simply didn’t get proper attention. Dylan Strome going to the Washington Capitals on a one-year contract? Could be a major upgrade for the […]
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