Hockeywiztalks Hockey Blog

As everyone should know by now, Erik Karlsson has been traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins as part of a three-team trade with the San Jose Sharks and Montreal Canadiens.  Here is the full breakdown of the trade: Pittsburgh acquires defenseman Erik Karlsson , forward Rem Pitlick, forward Dillon Hamaliuk, and San Jose's 2026 third-round draft pick. Karlsson is signed through the 2026-27 season and his contract carries an average annual value of $11.5 million. San Jose is retaining $1.5 million of his salary yearly.  San Jose acquires Pittsburgh's 2024 first-round draft pick (top-10 protected), forward Mikael Granlund , defenseman Jan Rutta and forward Mike Hoffman . Montreal acquires Pittsburgh's 2025 second-round draft pick, defenseman Jeff Petry , goaltender Casey DeSmith and forward Nathan Legare. Jeff Petry is signed through the 2024-25 season and his contract carries an average annual value of $6.5 million. Pittsburgh is retaining $1.5 million of his salary yearly. Althoug...

Here is a list of the Awards candidates and recipients from the 2022-23 season Stanley Cup-Vegas Golden Knights Prince of Wales Trophy-Florida Panthers Clarence S. Campbell-Vegas Golden Knights Presidents' Trophy-Boston Bruins Conn Smythe-Jonathan Marchessault (VGK) Art Ross-Connor McDavid Maurice Richard-Connor McDavid Jennings Trophy-Linus Ullmark Hart Trophy Finalists Connor McDavid, F, EDM David Pastrnak, F, BOS Matthew Tkachuk, F, FLA Prediction: Connor McDavid Vezina Trophy Connor Hellebuyck, WPG Ilya Sorokin, NYI Linus Ullmark, BOS Prediction: Ilya Sorokin Ted Lindsay Trophy Erik Karlsson, D, SJ Connor McDavid, F, EDM David Pastrnak, F, BOS Prediction: Connor McDavid James Norris Trophy Adam Fox, NYR Erik Karlsson, SJ Cale Makar, COL Prediction: Erik Karlsson Calder Trophy Matty Beniers, F, SJ Owen Power, D, BUF Stuart Skinner, G, EDM Prediction: Matty Beniers Frank J Selke Trophy Patrice Bergeron, F, BOS Nico Hischier, F, NJ Mitch Marner, F, TOR Prediction: Patrice Bergeron...

The NHL's regular season starting to wind down, so I thought it would be fitting to track the race for various awards. Hart: C.McDavid D.Pastrnak L.Draisaitl T.Thompson J.Robetson Connor McDavid is the favorite to win the Hart Trophy this season, after losing out on the Hart Trophy last season, despite a 122-point season. McDavid is on track to set new career highs in goals, PPP, and points. If there is anyone that has a shot at challenging McDavid, it is David Pastrnak, because not only is he having a great individual season, he is helping lead the Bruins to the best record in the NHL. Leon Draisaitl is constantly overlooked because he plays with McDavid, but few players in the league are more consistent than him. Tage Thompson and Jason Robertson have cooled off a bit lately, so they most likely will not be the Hart winner. Art Ross: C.McDavid-124 L.Draisaitl-97 N.Kucherov-94 D.Pastrnak-86 T.Thompson-85 Connor McDavid is running away with this award right now; he has 27 more poin...

 These are the best defenseman so far this season in Fantasy Hockey: Rasmus Dahlin Rasmus Dahlin has been by far the best defenseman in Fantasy this season, and it isn't close; he has 13 goals, 35 assists, 23 PPP, 119 SOG and a +16 rating on a bad Buffalo team. If Dahlin can sustain this type of production for the rest of the season, he will be a favorite to win the Norris trophy. Cale Makar Cale Makar has been a tad bit disappointing considering he was a top 5 pick in most fantasy drafts, but he is still having a fantastic season; he has tallied 13 goals, 30 assists, 21 PPP, 136 SOG, along with 3 GWG and a +7 rating. His dip in production may be due in large part to the injuries on Colorado, but as the team gets healthy, look for a strong second half from Cale Makar and Colorado. Roman Josi Roman Josi has once again been the best player for the Nashville Predators, putting up 12 goals, 23 assists, 17 PPP, 187 SOG, 4 GWG and a surprising 100 blocks, which is only 33 shy of last yea...

Here are some players you should Trade Away: Brock Nelson Brock Nelson has a track record of having hot starts to the season and then cooling off in the second half of the season. Nelson already has 11 goals, 22 points, and 6 PPP so far this season, but his best scoring season was last year when he had 37 goals and 59 points. It's already established what type of player Brock Nelson is, he is a player who excels in the first half of the season but cools off in the second half. For this reason, it would be best to trade away Brock Nelson.  Dominik Kubalik Dominik Kubalik is arguably the biggest steal in fantasy hockey this season, as he wasn't drafted in many leagues, however, his hot start has him rostered in 81% of Fantasy leagues. Kubalik has 9 goals, 13 assists, 10 PPP, and is a +4 so far this season, playing on a line with Dylan Larkin and Lucas Raymond and Detroit's 1st PP unit. It would be a good idea to trade Kubalik now while his value is sky-high. Martin Necas Mart...

 The San Jose Sharks have never won a Stanley Cup in their franchise history, but if they make the proper changes and draft correctly, they could win Lord Stanley's Cup. This is how the San Jose Sharks could win their first-ever Stanley Cup. Before the expansion draft, one trade is made: San Jose Sharks trade Marc-Eduord Vlasic, Ryan Merkley, 1st rd pick '23 to the Seattle Kraken for 2nd rd pick '23. The Sharks retain 25% of Vlasic's contract until the 2024-25 season. This trade allows the Sharks to get rid of Vlasic's contract and trade away Ryan Merkely, who is ultra-talented but his discipline issues. San Jose Sharks lose Marcus Sorensen to the Seattle Kraken in the Expansion Draft. Before the 2021 Draft, two trades are made: San Jose Sharks trade Ryan Donato, Radim Simek, Noah Gregor to the Arizona Coyotes for Lawson Crouse, Tyler Pitlick, 4th rd pick '21. The Sharks add more physicality to the lineup with the additions of Lawson Crouse and Tyler Pitlick, wh...

  Coming off a successful run in the 2017 playoffs, the Ottawa Senators thought they were legit contenders in the Eastern Conference, so instead of rebuilding like they should have, they traded for Matt Duchene, which is now in hindsight one of the worst trades in recent memory. The rebuild starts at the 2017 draft, where a few trades take place: Ottawa Senators trade Erik Karlsson, Kyle Turris to the Carolina Hurricanes for Justin Faulk, Elias Lindholm, 1st round pick 2017, 1st round pick 2018. The Carolina Hurricanes wanted to add that true number 1 defenseman and their aren't much better than Erik Karlsson. Kyle Turris will be a solid 3rd line center for them behind Sebastian Aho and Jordan Staal. On the Flip side, the Senators get Justin Faulk, a top 4 defenseman who can step in and fill the void offensively and Elias Lindholm a very talented young player; the Sens also get 2 first round picks, which can be used to pick a core player.  The Senators also trade Mike Hoffman,...

 The Los Angeles Kings had some miserable drafts from in the 2000s and because of that they missed out on building a potential dynasty. If the LA Kings were redrafted for a decade, they could have potentially won more than 2 stanley cups. 2002: 18-Cam Ward over Denis Grebeshkov 50-Johnny Boychuk over Sergei Anshakov 66-Frans Nielsen over Petr Kanko 152-James Wisniewski over Gregory Hogeboom The LA Kings draft a franchise goalie in Cam Ward, two solid defenseman in Johnny Boychuk and James Wisniewski and a good two way center in Frans Nielsen. 2003: 13-Zach Parise over Dustin Brown 26-Corey Perry over Brian Boyle 27-Patrice Bergeron over Jeff Tambellini 44-Shea Weber over Konstantin Pushkaryov LA Kings strike gold this time around, drafting 4 future all stars which include a perennial selke Candidate in Patrice Bergeron, a Norris candidate in Shea Weber, a future MVP in Corey Perry and a clutch goal scorer in Zach Parise. 2004: 11-Travis Zajac over Lauri Tukonen 94-Johan Franzen ove...

The Toronto Maple Leafs weren't very good in the 2000s; a big reason for this is because the Maple Leafs didn't draft very well. In this blog, i will redraft the Toronto Maple Leafs for a decade in hopes of turning them into a contending team. 2000: 24-Justin Williams over Brad Boyes 51-Antoine Vermette over Kris Vernarsky 90-Lubomir Visnovsky over Jean Francois Racine 100-Deryk Engelland over Miguel Delise The Toronto Maple Leafs draft 3 really solid players in Justin Williams, Antoine Vermette and Lubomir Visnovsky as well as a depth defenseman in Deryk Engelland. 2001: 17-Tim Gleason over Carlo Colaiacovo 39-Mike Cammalleri over Karel Pilar 82-Patrick Sharp over Brandon Bell 134-Kevin Bieksa over Kyle Wellwood The Maple Leafs draft two very good scoring wingers in Mike Cammalleri and Patrick Sharp as well as two solid defenseman in Tim Gleason and Kevin Bieksa. 2002: 24-Cam Ward over Alex Steen 57-Johnny Boychuk over Matt Stajan 74-Frans Nielsen ...

The 2008 NHL draft had plenty of star talent in it including Steven Stamkos, Drew Doughty, Alex Pietrangelo, Erik Karlsson, John Carlson, Roman Josi and Braden Holtby. If there were a redraft of the 2008 draft, the landscape of the league sure would be very different. *Check out my previous blogs for my other Redrafts* 1. Tampa Bay Lightning-(C) Steven Stamkos Original pick: Steven Stamkos Steven Stamkos is still clearly the best player in the 2008 draft because after struggling his rookie year, he turned into one of the elite scorers in the league. Stamkos has scored 25+ goals in every season except his rookie year and in 2016-17 when he suffered a season ending injury; Stamkos had 5 40+ goal seasons, including 2 50+ goal seasons in which he won the Rocket Richard Trophy. It might be surprising to hear this but Steven Stamkos has scored the most points of any player born in the 1990s. 2. LA Kings-(D) Drew Doughty Original pick: Drew Doughty The LA Kings still selec...