NHL Fantasy on Ice

Pete, Rob and guest “waiver wire” James Harding discuss the best fantasy pickups around the League. They open with the implications of J.T. Miller rejoining the Vancouver Canucks from the COVID-19 protocol, the impact of Sean Couturier’s injury on the Philadelphia Flyers lineup and some big storylines from the Florida Panthers’ season opener on Sunday. The guys discuss players like Oskar Lindblom, Morgan Frost, Devon Toews, Patric Hornqvist, Ilya Sorokin, Cam Talbot, Jakob Chychrun, Yegor Sharangovich and give their best bets and DFS targets for Monday’s slate. James also explains his bold take that the Toronto Maple Leafs will miss the Stanley Cup Playoffs in 2021. 

Pete and Rob react to a thrilling first two days of the NHL season, including Kirill Kaprizov’s stellar debut for the Wild, the high-scoring trend in the Scotia North Division and some underrated rookies (Nils Hoglander, John Leonard, Alexander Romanov) to consider adding in fantasy. The guys react to news that Pierre-Luc Dubois wants to leave the Blue Jackets, whether Joel Farabee could be the real deal for the Flyers after his four-point game on opening night and give their best bets and DFS targets for the weekend.

Pete and Rob get you ready for opening night with fantasy draft reaction, DFS lineups, best bets and all the big storylines for the 5-game slate and across the League this week. The guys discuss the value of Joe Thornton on the Maple Leafs’ top line, compare the goalie tandems for the Canucks and Oilers and provide fantasy reaction to news surrounding David Pastrnak, J.T. Miller and Keith Yandle. The guys also identify the top rookies to watch this season and update the NHL.com/Fantasy landscape for anyone who still has their fantasy draft coming up this week.

Pete and Rob are joined by hockey betting analyst Michael Leboff from the Action Network to preview the NHL season from a sports wagering perspective and give his favorite bets. The guys discuss various Stanley Cup picks, potential division winners, injury implications, dark horse picks and the sneaky appeal of the Carolina Hurricanes, Montreal Canadiens and Calgary Flames. They also go around the League to identify potential surprise teams, including the Buffalo Sabres, Los Angeles Kings, Anaheim Ducks, San Jose Sharks and Nashville Predators plus some long-shot picks for NHL awards, including Andrei Svechnikov, Ilya Sorokin, Juuse Saros, John Gibson, Tim Stuetzle, Seth Jones and more. Pete and Rob then close out the show by recapping some of their bold (yet feasible) fantasy predictions, which are available on NHL.com/Fantasy.

Pete and Rob are joined by Sportsnet’s fantasy hockey guru Nick Alberga to compare his top 250 rankings to the NHL.com/Fantasy list, dive into his draft kit and answer fan questions. The guys discuss players in their UFA and RFA contract years, which teams have the edge in the difficult East Division, the Buffalo Sabres’ top-line options and the concerns facing the Edmonton Oilers. Nick identifies some value picks in drafts, why you shouldn’t reach for Patrice Bergeron, goalie advice and answers the Alex Pietrangelo vs. Shea Theodore debate. The guys also reflect on some training camp storylines and prospects who gained long-term fantasy value at the World Junior Championship, most notably Trevor Zegras, Tim Stuetzle and Dylan Cozens.

Pete, Rob and guest David Satriano get you ready for prime fantasy draft week with reaction to NHL.com/Fantasy's 12-team, 192-player mock draft for standard leagues. They discuss the best stacking options, goalie tandems and overall strategies, especially some lessons learned about how to approach the new divisions. The guys debate Andrei Svechnikov’s fantasy ceiling (6:27), Ilya Sorokin vs. Igor Shesterkin (35:00), training camp storylines like Brad Marchand’s return and Anthony Duclair of the Panthers (45:00) and Joe Thornton of the Maple Leafs playing on top lines (50:00). The guys also weigh in on the value of Patrick Kane with the absences of Jonathan Toews and Kirby Dach (10:50) and identify some key storylines for hits leagues and about back-to-back sets for the new season.

Pete and Rob go more in-depth on each of the NHL’s four new divisions with projected standings based on the fantasy goalie/team win predictions on NHL.com/Fantasy. The guys touch on some important fantasy trends like Nikita Kucherov being out for the entire regular season and which Lightning players are affected, for better or worse, as well as the recent PTO contracts for Mike Hoffman with the Blues and Craig Anderson with the Capitals. The guys also discuss which players to prioritize in points-only fantasy formats and their best bets for dark horse division title winners and teams with the edge to fill out the final spots in the 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs from each group. 

Pete and Rob react to the big news of a 56-game NHL season, slated to begin January 13, 2021, and the new divisional alignment, which includes the North with all seven Canada teams. The guys preview each division with player rankings debates, fantasy draft strategy, projected standings and what the early rounds of the Stanley Cup Playoffs could look like. The guys debate how the new divisional setup impacts teams like the Carolina Hurricanes, Toronto Maple Leafs, Vancouver Canucks, San Jose Sharks and Buffalo Sabres and also how the long-term injury to Nikita Kucherov affects the fantasy stock of other Tampa Bay Lightning players. Other topics discussed are the value of goalie tandems for this condensed season, the fantasy impact of the Panthers signing Anthony Duclair, Henrik Lundqvist and Oscar Klefbom being ruled out for the season and how everything has changed the top 250 rankings on NHL.com/Fantasy.

Pete and Rob set the table for the upcoming fantasy season with the annual fantasy 101 episode for beginners. The guys talk general draft strategy, including stacking, handcuffing and various player storylines like breakouts, bounce-backs, sleepers, rookies and more. They discuss basic fantasy terminology (waiver wire, average draft position, queue, category coverage, exposure, etc.), different league formats to consider playing, roster sizes and category preferences. They also identify some of the other factors to take into account in your player selections and how following NHL.com/Fantasy and the @nhlfantasy social accounts (Twitter, Instagram & Facebook) will give you an advantage leading up to draft day.

Pete and Rob run through the most compelling fantasy player debates ahead of the new season based on either their NHL.com/Fantasy positional rankings or fan questions. Debates include Nathan MacKinnon vs. Connor McDavid at the top, Leon Draisaitl vs. Auston Matthews, Alex Ovechkin vs. Mika Zibanejad and Brayden Point vs. Sebastian Aho. The guys make the case for a few different goalies for the No. 2 spot at the position, including Carter Hart, Tuukka Rask and Robin Lehner and weigh the value of other potential 2021 UFA goalies like Frederik Andersen, Philipp Grubauer and Jordan Binnington. Compelling defenseman debates included Cale Makar vs. Quinn Hughes, Dougie Hamilton vs. Roman Josi and Rasmus Dahlin vs. Miro Heiskanen.