The easier part of the equation is definitely identifying early movers and shakers whom you would like to add to your roster. But there are more early successes than there are obvious failures. Five or six games is not enough to cut bait on a potentially elite player. The trick is working the fringes. While […]
Continue readingMats Zuccarello, RW, Minnesota Wild (47.4%): One of my perennial favorites as far as underappreciated fantasy assets go, Zuccarello is already off to a strong – and predictably undervalued – start. Skating on a top line and power play with Kirill Kaprizov and Joel Eriksson Ek, the diminutive skater leads the Wild with six points, […]
Continue readingThe Seattle Kraken are joining the NHL for the 2021-22 season and will play in the Pacific Division. The front office and coaching staff have taken shape, and Climate Pledge Arena is on track to be ready, but the team needs players. The Kraken will select one player each from 30 NHL teams, as the […]
Continue readingUnlike the traditional playoff format, the league is running a 24-team tournament, with 12 teams from each conference playing in fan-less arenas in Toronto (for the East) and Edmonton, Alberta (for the West). The top four teams in each conference are in the round of 16, and seeds 5 through 12 will square off to […]
Continue readingIt’s created by a coach attempting to mesh three players together into a cohesive unit; it’ll stick around for anywhere from a few periods to a few games; and then it’s either broken up, with the spare parts added to different lines, or it passes the chemistry test, living on for months or perhaps for […]
Continue readingThe 2019-20 season was shaping up to be a good one, and there were plenty of positive stories across the league. To cheer you up during this lonely time, we revisited a feel-good story for every team this season: Note: Emily Kaplan handled the Metro and Central divisions, while Greg Wyshynski wrote on the Atlantic […]
Continue readingThe NHL trade deadline came and went, and we were treated to a flurry of moves of varying degrees of importance to the playoff races. For the most part, it was a pretty sensible deadline, in that the teams currently contending for playoff spots were the ones that generally added to their rosters at the […]
Continue readingIn the eyes of many, you need to be on a good team. But the team can’t be too good, or you risk being docked points for receiving too much help. Nikita Kucherov bucked that trend with his preposterous 128-point 2018-19 season, but it certainly played a role in the 2017-18 race, when Taylor Hall […]
Continue readingAccording to the Chinese zodiac, the Year of the Rat begins on Jan. 25, although Matthew Tkachuk apparently wanted to celebrate early. One of the NHL’s most preeminent pests, the Calgary Flames forward threw two (legal, but predatory) checks into Edmonton Oilers ruffian Zack Kassian, and eventually Kassian popped off and started wailing on Tkachuk, […]
Continue readingThat’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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