Hockeywiztalks Hockey Blog

The Fantasy Hockey Playoffs are underway already, but sometimes a player you pick off free agency can end up winning you your entire league. Here are some players to pickup for the playoffs. Jack McBain Jack McBain has been stellar for the Arizona Coyotes in the last few weeks of the season and is a player who fills out all the categories in fantasy. McBain has 3 goals, 4 assists, 12 SOG, 54 FW, 32 hits, 8 blocks and a +5 rating in the last two weeks, but is somehow only owned in 5% of leagues. If you add McBain, you will be adding an all-category beast who just might win you the championship. Jesperi Kotkaniemi Jesperi Kotkaniemi started off the year with the Carolina Hurricanes not so great, but he has really come into the zone,, down the stretch of the season. Kotkaniemi has 3 goals, 6 assists, 4 PPP, 12 SOG, 37 FW, 11 hits in the last two weeks of the season, playing on the second line of Carolina. Without Andrei Svechnikov, Kotkaniemi will be relied upon more to play a bigger role...

The Edmonton Oilers are in utter disarray right now, after getting off to a hot start to the season. As the season has progressed, the team's weaknesses have been exposed more and more and if they don't fix them, they won't make the playoffs at all. This is what the Oilers have to do to make the playoffs and potentially win a Stanley Cup. Issues w/ Edmonton Oilers: 1. Goaltending has not been good 2. Goal Scoring depth 3. Defensive depth The Goaltending situation for the Edmonton Oilers has not been stable to say the least. Mike Smith has been constantly hurt, so Mikko Koskinen has been the starter for most of the season, and he has proven to be quite inconsistent from game to game. In 20 appearances, Koskinen has a 3.19 GAA and .900 SV%, and Stuart Skinner started 10 games as well, with a 2.70 GAA and .916 SV%. If Mike Smith is going to be constantly hurt this year, the Oilers will definitely need to make a trade for a veteran goalie because Koskinen isn't going to get...

 The Minnesota Wild had a great season last year, but a major reason for that is the cause of the division they played in. Minnesota will be back in the Central Division this season, and will be fighting for a playoff spot with the likes of Chicago, St.Louis, Nashville, Dallas, and Winnipeg. Because of this, the Wild may struggle to make the playoffs this season. Key moves made in the Offseason: Bought out Zach Parise + Ryan Suter. lost Carson Soucy to Seattle Kraken in Expansion Draft. lost Marcus Johansson, Ian Cole to Free Agency. signed Alex Goligoski, Dmitry Kulikov, Jordie Benn, Jon Merrill in Free Agency. Re-signed Joel Eriksson to a long term deal. Locked up Kirill Kaprizov to a 5 yr deal. Re-signed Kevin Fiala for 1yr Offseason Review: Coming into this offseason, it was no secret that the Minnesota Wild need to create cap room in order to sign some of their key RFAs like Kirill Kaprizov, Joel Eriksson Ek and Kevin Fiala. To nobody's surprise, the Wild bought out Zach Paris...

The LA Kings have a great young core now, but they aren't quite ready to be contenders yet. However, if they make the right trades, and draft correctly in the coming years, they could be. This is how the LA Kings can become a legit contender in three years At the 2022 trade deadline, a few trades are made: LA Kings trade Dustin Brown to the Minnesota Wild for Mitchell Chafee, 2022 2nd round pick.  If the Wild make the playoffs, the 2nd round pick becomes a 1st round pick. This is a win-win trade for both sides; the Wild gets a veteran forward in Dustin Brown, who has plenty of playoff experience, while the Kings get a prospect and a conditional 2nd round pick, that could become a 1st round pick.  The Kings also trade Olli Maatta, Adrian Kempe to the Columbus Blue Jackets for Vladislav Gavrikov, Eric Robinson, 2022 2nd round pick.  This is basically two trades in one; first, you have an Olli Maatta for Vladislav Gavrikov swap, which is pretty even; then the Blue Jackets ge...

 New Jersey Devils' GM, Tom Fitzgerald has said that the Devils want to take that next step this season, and possibly vie for a playoff spot. In this blog, I  explore how the Devils can turn their team into a playoff-caliber team this season. Here is a quick look at the roster right now, and the prospects they have that could potentially crack the lineup. The current lineup looks like this: J.Kuokkanen-J.Hughes-Y.Sharangovich P.Zacha-N.Hischier-J.Bratt M.Wood-M.McLeod-A.Johnsson N.Foote-J.Boqvist-M.Studenic R.Graves-D.Hamilton T.Smith-D.Severson J.Siegenthaler-PK.Subban M.Blackwood J.Bernier Prospects who could potentially crack the lineup are Alexander Holtz, Dawson Mercer, Tyce Thompson, Kevin Bahl The Biggest weakness of the Devils at the current moment is goal scoring; if Holtz and Mercer aren't NHL ready yet, then they need to go out and trade for one. The Devils have been one of the teams that have been linked to Vladimir Tarasenko; Tarasenko is exactly what this team ne...

In my last blog i did a draft featuring all of the greatest NHL players of all time; in this blog i will be doing a simulation of 3 seasons using those rosters and i will also be making some trades as well. Since there are only 21 teams in the league, there will only be 4 divisions, each with 5 teams in it and one with 6. There is one change in the alignment of the divisions; the Minnesota North Stars are playing in the Smythe division instead of the Norris division. Legend: P-playoffs #-missed playoffs Season 1 results: Prince of Wales Conference Adams P1-Quebec Nordiques P4-Buffalo Sabres P5-Montreal Canadiens P8-Boston Bruins #-Hartford Whalers Patrick P2-Washington Capitals P3-New York Islanders P6-New York Rangers P7-New Jersey Devils #-Philadelphia Flyers #-Pittsburgh Penguins Clarence Campbell Conference Norris P1-St.Louis Blues P3-Winnipeg Jets P4-Toronto Maple Leafs P8-Detroit Red Wings #-Chicago Black Hawks Smythe P2-LA Kings ...