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D.C. Dilemma: First-place Capitals not themselves in loss to Devils
Washington allowed New Jersey to race out to a 3-0 lead in losing back-to-back games in regulation for the second time this season. The Capitals have dropped four of seven and — combined with Boston’s 3-2 overtime win over the New York Islanders — now find themselves tied with the Bruins atop the league standings […]
Continue readingBold second-half predictions for all 31 NHL teams
Seriously, how can any prognostication made at the midpoint of the NHL regular season compare to “a team in last place with an interim coach and a rookie goalie is going to win the first Stanley Cup in franchise history?” Nevertheless, we’re tasked with making 31 declarative statements about NHL teams in the second half […]
Continue readingMidseason fixes for NHL teams in the playoff hunt
Given how tightly packed the standings are thanks to the number of loser points being handed out on a nightly basis, there’s an opportunity cost in procrastinating until the Feb. 24 deadline. Each passing day makes it that much more difficult to gain ground in the standings, meaning even more value for shrewd general managers […]
Continue readingThe NHL’s best and worst this week: Who can pull off a St. Louis Blues-like run?
So which team has a chance of repeating that success this season? Here’s how teams currently not super secure in a playoff position stack up, in four different tiers. Los Angeles Kings Anaheim Ducks New Jersey Devils Detroit Red Wings Ottawa Senators Sure, three of these teams (Ottawa, New Jersey, Detroit) are where the Blues […]
Continue readingFantasy hockey rankings update: the new generation of goaltenders
I don’t know if someone decided to speed up the process, but the current fantasy landscape for goaltenders is one of confusion, transition and surprises. Thirty days isn’t a season, but it’s a decent enough sample size. During the past 30 days, here are your top 10 goaltenders on the ESPN Player Rater: 1. Tristan […]
Continue readingAn oral history of John Carlson’s 2010 World Juniors-winning goal for Team USA, 10 years later
A 2008 first-round draft choice of the Washington Capitals, Carlson was assigned to the team’s AHL affiliate Hershey Bears to start the 2009-10 season. He had earned a call-up and appeared in three NHL games, but the Capitals decided he could get some valuable experience as a member of Team USA at the 2010 World […]
Continue readingThe NHL’s Great Pretenders: Teams that are not what they seem
It’s an especially useful mental exercise to go through at this point of the season, because we’re at a crossroads point of sorts in the calendar. We now have enough of a sample to reliably evaluate performance, but we’re also left with more than enough time to turn things around if all of the other […]
Continue readingThe NHL’s All-Regression team: Bounce-back candidates, players due for decline
That’s why it’s particularly dangerous to put too much stock into wild shooting percentage swings over a short stretch of games. While there’s no doubt that a shot from Nikita Kucherov is more likely to go in than one off of a fourth-liner’s stick, those are two ends of the extreme. For the players in […]
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