Hockeywiztalks Hockey Blog

The NHL and NHL Players' Association announced in November of last year that the World Cup of Hockey will not be played in February 2024. This is an absolute travesty that the NHL and NHLPA can't see the value of having the NHLs best players playing against each other. It has been 7 years since the last World Cup of Hockey has been played and if there is no World Cup of Hockey tournament in 2024, it will be 8 years since this tournament hasn't been played. Now some articles are saying that the NHL and NHLPA are trying to work out something so that there is a World Cup of Hockey in 2025, but that is still two years away and by that point, some of the legendary players playing now might not even make the team for the respective countries. After the conclusion of the World Baseball Classic, in which Japan beat the USA to win the Championship, Superstar Connor McDavid praised the baseball because of the Ohtani vs Trout showdown, and stated that "It's what we've bee...

 Here are some players you should consider picking up for Fantasy Hockey: David Krejci David Krejci is back and it seems like he never left; Krejci centers  "The Czech Line", which features David Pastrnak and Pavel Zacha. The line has gotten off to a terrific start and he has done a great job filling in for Brad Marchand on the Powerplay as well. Krejci has 1 goal, 3 assists, and 1 PPP, along with 15 FW so far this season.  Nic Dowd Nic Dowd is not a player who should be owned in standard leagues, but if you are in a CAT league, which includes FW and Hits, he should definitely be rostered. Dowd is top 50 in FW amongst centers so far this season and he leads Centers in hits. Down has 1 goal, 1 assist, 23 FW, 19 hits, and 3 blocks, which makes for a very good fantasy stat line. Jaden Schwartz Jaden Schwartz has gotten off to a terrific start to the season, putting up 2 goals, 1 assist and 2 PPP along with 13 SOG, and 8 hits. When healthy Schwartz is a very productive player...

The Western Conference Playoffs picture has changed since my podcast was earlier released on Friday. Here are the updated Western Conference Matchups: Colorado Avalanche vs Nashville Predators Key Players: COL: N.MacKinnon, M.Rantanen, G.Landeskog, N.Kadri, A.Burakovsky, A.Lehkonen, V.Nichushkin, C.Makar, D.Toews, S.Girard, J.Manson NSH: F.Forsberg, M.Duchene, R.Johansen, M.Granlund, L.Kunin, C.Sissons, T.Trenin, R.Josi, M.Ekholm, D.Fabbro, A.Carrier X-Factors: COL-A.Newhook, NSH-P.Tomasino Goalie Matchup: D.Kuemper vs D.Rittich The Colorado Avalanche faced the Nashville Predators 4 times in the regular season, but they only managed to win 1 game against the Predators. It's a good thing that Colorado has home-ice advantage because the Avs have allowed an average of 5 goals against on the road in the season series with Nashville. Colorado faced Nashville 6 times in the playoffs, but they have lost 4 times to them in the postseason. Even though Colorado is going to be heavily fav...

This is an extension of podcast 113-2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs: Semi-Finals Preview. The Result of the Vegas/Minnesota series is still unknown, so I will do a preview with both of the teams included. West Division Semi-Finals Colorado Avalanche vs Vegas Golden Knights/Minnesota Wild Key Players:  COL-F: N.MacKinnon, M.Rantanen, G.Landeskog, Alex Newhook, A.Burakovsky, J.Donskoi, Tyson Jost, Valeri Nischuskin | D: C.Makar, S.Girard, D.Toews, R.Graves VGK-F: M.Stone, J.Marchessault, W.Karlsson, R.Smith, A.Tuch, C.Stephenson, Cody Glass, Mattias Janmark | D: S.Theodore, A.Pietrangelo, A.Martinez, B.McNabb, Z.Whitecloud MIN-F: K.Kaprizov, M.Zuccarello, K.Fiala, J.Eriksson Ek, J.Greenway, M.Foligno, V.Rask, N.Bjugstad, R.Hartman | D: J.Spurgeon, R.Suter, M.Dumba, J.Brodin X-Factor: JT Compher (COL), Nicholas Roy (VGK)/Z.Parise (MIN) Goalies: P.Grubauer (COL) vs M-A.Fleury (VGK)/ C.Talbot (MIN) If you are the Colorado Avalanche right now, I think they would rather face the Vegas Golden Kn...

This is an extension of Podcast 112: What teams need to do to advance in the 2021 Stanley Cup playoffs; Here are my thoughts on what needs to be done for North Division teams to advance. Toronto Maple Leafs vs Montreal Canadiens The Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens have a historic rivalry in the Stanley Cup playoffs, and they look to renew it in the 1st round of the 2021 playoffs. Contrary to popular belief, I don't think this will be a cakewalk for the Toronto Maple Leafs, because the Montreal Canadiens are a tough team to play against. Toronto should be aware that Montreal in the playoffs is a completely different team than Montreal in the regular season. Toronto is obviously the better team on paper, but Montreal is not as bad as most people think. The Maple Leafs are top 6 heavy, while Montreal has tremendous depth and role 4 lines and 3 D pairs. It has been said before that the teams that do well in the postseason have better role players, if that is the case then Mo...

This is Honda West Playoff Preview.   Colorado Avalanche vs St.Louis Blues Key Players:  COL-F: N.MacKinnon, M.Rantanen, G.Landeskog, N.Kadri, Alex Newhook, A.Burakovsky, J.Donskoi | D: C.Makar, S.Girard, D.Toews, R.Graves STL-F: R.O'Reilly, V.Tarasenko, J.Schwartz, B.Schenn, D.Perron, R.Thomas, M.Hoffman | D: T.Krug, J.Faulk, C.Parayko, V.Dunn X-Factor: Tyson Jost (COL), Jordan Kyrou (STL) Goalies: P.Grubauer (COL) vs J.Binnington (STL) The Colorado Avalanche have owned the season series against the St.Louis Blues, winning 5 out of the 8 games. St.Louis certainly knows what it takes to win the Stanley Cup but Colorado is not a good first-round matchup for them. The Colorado Avalanche is led by Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen, Gabriel Landeskog and Cale Makar, and have a great supporting cast which includes players such as Nazem Kadri, Alex Newhook, Joonas Donskoi, Sam Girard, Devon Toews, and Andre Burakovsky. Philipp Grubauer has had a tremendous regular season and is a pot...

The Calgary Flames are a solid team in the regular season but can't seem to make it far in the playoffs. If the Flames want to make a deep run, they will need to retool the team to build a team more suitable for the playoffs. At the trade deadline, the Calgary Flames make one major trade: Calgary Flames trade Josh Leivo, Dominik Simon, and a 2021 2nd round pick to the Detroit Red Wings for Vladislav Namestnikov, Robby Fabbri. The Flames add Namestnikov and Fabrri to bolster the roster for the playoffs. The Calgary Flames make the playoffs in the 2020-21 season but get eliminated in the second round of the playoffs. The Calgary Flames buyout Milan Lucic ; the buyout will cost them 583k annually until 2025. The Calgary Flames lose Andrew Mangiapane to the Seattle Kraken in the expansion draft. Before the 2021 draft, two major trades are made: Calgary Flames trade Johnny Gaudreau to the Buffalo Sabres for Taylor Hall. This is a one-for-one swap of Hall for Gaudreau; both need a chan...

 The Montreal Canadiens are a borderline playoff team right now, but if they were to add a star player, they would immediately become a legit threat in the North Division. This is what the Montreal Canadiens need to do to become a legit contender. The Montreal Canadiens Make two major trades: Montreal Canadiens trade Phillip Danault, Joel Armia, Victor Mete, and a 2021 2nd round pick to the San Jose Sharks for Tomas Hertl, Marcus Sorensen. The Canadiens get Tomas Hertl, a great second-line center, and Marcus Sorensen, while the Sharks add Phillip Danault, a great two-way center, Joel Armia, and Victor Mete, two good depth players and a 2nd round pick. The Canadiens also trade Paul Byron, Artturi Lehkonen to the Columbus Blue Jackets for Emil Benstrom, Eric Robinson, and a 2021 3rd round pick. The Blue Jackets get Paul Byron and Artturi Lehkonen, two top 9 forwards, while the Canadiens get Emil Benstrom and Eric Robinson, two solid young players, and a 3rd round pick. The Montreal C...

 Even though the Vancouver Canucks should be a contending team this year, they can still improve their team to become a Stanley cup favorite. With that in mind, let's take a look at some of the moves the Vancouver Canucks could make to win a Stanley Cup. The Vancouver Canucks trade Michael Ferland, Brogan Rafferty, Sven Baertschi to the Detroit Red Wings for 3rd rd pick '21, 4th rd pick '21. The main purpose of this trade from Vancouver's perspective is to get rid of Michael Ferland and Sven Baertschi; from Detroit's point of view, this is low-risk trade, where they add some nice players for some draft picks. After creating more than 5 million in cap space, the Vancouver Canucks add some players in Free Agency: Derrick Brassard-1yr/2 million Corey Perry-1yr/1 million Madison Bowey-1yr/800k  The Vancouver Canucks finish the 2020-21 season as the second-best team in All-Canadian Division and the 4th best team in the Western Conference; the Canucks make it to the Weste...

 The Columbus Blue Jackets are a borderline playoff team, however, if they make improvements to their team, they could be even better. Making some improvements to the roster should guarantee that Columbus becomes a contending team. Columbus Blue Jackets trade David Savard to the Ottawa Senators for Logan Brown, Vitaly Abramov, a 2nd round pick '21. The Blue Jackets acquire two great young prospects in Brown and Abramov, as well as a 2nd round pick for David Savard. Nick Foligno, Mikhail Grigorenko is traded to the Edmonton Oilers for Adam Larsson, Zack Kassian, 2nd round pick 2022. Columbus gets Adam Larsson, a top 4 defenseman, and Zack Kassian, a top 9 forward for Nick Foligno and Mikhail Grigorenko. Columbus Blue Jackets re-sign Pierre Luc Dubois to an 8 yr deal worth 6 million per season. The Columbus Blue Jackets miss the playoffs in the 2020-21 season; they end up with the 14th pick in the draft. Before the 2021 Draft, Columbus trades Gustav Nyquist, Max Domi to the Victor Ra...

 The Dallas Stars had a really good playoff run last season and made it to the Stanley cup finals without Jamie Benn or Tyler Seguin doing that much. If the Stars want to remain a playoff team, they might have trade one of the two because it is clear that they aren't as effective as a duo anymore. Jamie Benn is the Captain of the Dallas Stars and still has plenty of value even if he isn't scoring; Tyler Seguin on the other hand is purely a goal scorer and doesn't do much anything else, so it would make sense to trade Tyler Seguin. Dallas Stars trade Tyler Seguin to the Carolina Hurricanes for Vincent Trocheck, Martin Necas, Nino Niederreiter, 1st round pick 2021. The Hurricanes get Tyler Seguin, a very good scorer, while the Stars get Vincent Trocheck and Nino Niederreiter, two top 6 forwards along with Martin Necas, a talented young forward and a 1st round pick. Dallas also trades Alex Radulov to the New Jersey Devils for Pavel Zacha, Jesper Boqvist, 2nd rd pick 2021.  The...

In this blog, i will be redrafting the entire NHL. Rules for the draft are as follows: In the first 6 Rounds 31 teams gets draft any player they want. Goalies will be drafted at the end of round 6 in tandems. In the next 2 rounds, teams get to draft 3 players from a specific team. Ex: Team 1 draft players 1, 2, 3 from BOS The rest of the team is filled out by players that are drafted in a package Ex: team 15 draft rest of players from NSH Prospects not in the NHL will get drafted in a package in a prospect draft Ex: Team 31 draft prospects froom LA Teams will also get the opportunity to draft prospects in the upcoming 2020 draft too in the prospects draft Draft order is determined by a random number generator. After the draft, players not signed are eligible to be signed in Free Agency Here are the FINAL rosters after the draft: Anaheim Ducks Arizona Coyotes R.Nugent-Hopkins-J.Eichel-T.Toffoli M.Pacioretty-J.Tavares-K.Kapanen J.Velen...

ONTARIO (CANADA) QUEBEC (CANADA) D.Hawerchuk-W.Gretzky-Bo.Hull L.Robitaille-M.Lemieux-M.Dionne B.Shanahan-P.Esposito-M.Gartner P.Turgeon-J.Beliveau-G.Lafleur D.Gilmour-R.Francis-RW M.Goulet-G.Perreault-M.Bossy D.Sittler-J.Thornton-D.Ciccarelli J.Ratelle-D.Savard-M.Richard L.Robinson-B.Orr R.Bourque-S.Savard D.Potvin-P.Coffey G.Lapointe-D.Harvey L.Murphy-B.Park S.Duchesne-I.Turnbull T.Esposito-C.Joseph M.Brodeur-P.Roy SASKATCHEWAN/MANITOBA (CANADA) ALBERTA (CANADA) P.Marleau-B.Trottier-G.Howe J.Bucyk-M.Messier-J.Iginla B.Federko-J.Toews-T.Fleury R.Whitney-N.Ullman-L.McDonald B.Propp-B.Clarke-A.Bathgate R.Smyth-T.Linden-S.Doan C.Gillies-R.Getzlaf-B.Goring G.Unger-Brent Sutter-Brian Sutter B.Pratt-E.Shore S.Niedermayer-D.Sydor D.Keith-W.Redden G.Wesley-B.Gadsby R.Greschner-J.Patrick D.Phaneuf-M.Green T.Sawchuk-G.H...