Another chapter to the Sabres soap opera unfolded on Saturday, as Jack Eichel will be out “for the foreseeable future” with an upper-body injury. The question lingers as to whether this is a legitimate injury that isn’t something minor, or a trade request that the Sabres don’t want to make public. Either way, Eichel is already in bust territory with just two goals (but 16 assists) in 21 games. He’s too elite of a talent to drop from fantasy rosters at this point, yet fantasy owners might receive little to nothing else out of the Buffalo captain over the rest of the season.
There’s many different ways that you could break down how awful the Sabres season has been. If a team’s best players need to be their best players in order to win, I present you with this:
Debate if you wish whether these are actually the Sabres’ top players, but they represent the three highest cap hits on the Buffalo books.
I was able to type those numbers before Saturday’s game and leave them unchanged afterward, as the Sabres were shut out 3-0 to Pittsburgh. Both our Daily Fantasy and Game Picks writers recommended going all in on the Penguins, which made perfect sense. Casey DeSmith stood out for the Penguins, stopping all 24 shots he faced. He’s been great for spot starts, as he’s allowed just three goals over his last three games – all quality starts.
After a slow start, Evgeni Malkin appears to be back on track. His assist on Saturday extended his point streak to seven games, which is tied for the longest current point streak. He has 10 points (3 G, 7 A) over that span. Hope you were patient.
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Artemi Panarin returned to the Rangers lineup after missing the past nine games due to a leave of absence. He recorded one assist in the Rangers’ 4-0 win over Boston, and it was a beauty.
Owners of Brad Marchand, David Pastrnak, and Patrice Bergeron probably thought that they were in a great spot facing Keith Kinkaid. However, it was Kinkaid who foiled the Bruins, stopping all 18 shots he faced in picking up a shutout. Alexandar Georgiev was pulled in each of his last two starts, so veteran Kinkaid could start a few more games while Shesterkin is sidelined.
Later in the day, the Rangers also tweeted this:
If you’re not sure what this means, Vitaly Kravtsov’s KHL season has just finished, and he is on his way to New York. Of course, that means he will need to clear quarantine and begin practicing with the Rangers. All of that will take a few weeks, so the 2018 ninth overall pick will need a bit more time before he makes his long-awaited NHL debut. Where exactly he will fit in the Rangers lineup this season remains to be seen, but he’s a must-own in keeper leagues. View Kravtsov’s Dobber Prospects profile.
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In perhaps a surprise move, the Hurricanes have placed Jake Gardiner on waivers. The plan is to move him to the taxi squad to provide some salary cap relief, so the Canes might be looking to make a trade here. He’s been dealing with back problems recently as well. He’s in the second season of a four-year, $16.2 million contract.
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In case you missed it, the Midseason Guide is now available for download! You’ll find the usual team-by-team breakdowns and projections, which now also include a spreadsheet for easy comparisons and calculations for your adds, drops, and trades. You’ll also find a scheduling breakdown for the stretch run, as well as prospect information if you’re planning for next season. If you haven’t purchased yours, you can get it right here.
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As a result of Anders Lee‘s injury, Kieffer Bellows was given an opportunity on the Islanders’ top line with Mathew Barzal and Jordan Eberle (more on that where that unit stacks up to other lines below). He took advantage, scoring the game-tying and game-winning goals in the third period of the Isles’ 3-2 win over New Jersey. The goals were Bellows’ first two points of the season in his ninth game. Eberle assisted on both of Bellows’ goals. Assuming Bellows can stick on that line, he might be worth taking a flier on in deeper leagues. Otherwise, he’s strictly a bangers league prospect, as he’s averaged two hits per game this season.
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In a game where the Lightning raised their Stanley Cup banner in front of a few fans, Ondrej Palat extended his point streak to five games. Over that span he has racked up 10 points (2 G, 8 A). Although he’s been getting those points with Brayden Point on his line, Palat’s five-game point streak is also a five-game power-play point streak. He’s already accumulated 15 PPP this season, which places him fifth in the NHL. Dating back to last season’s playoffs, he’s benefitted from a star player being out of the lineup (either Steven Stamkos or Nikita Kucherov). He scored 11 goals and 18 points in 25 playoff games, while he’s been a point-per-game player (26 points in 26 games) this season.
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Sergei Bobrovsky might be on a lot of bust lists again this season with underwhelming ratios. So it’s worth mentioning that he is 5-0-0 and has a .917 SV% during March, including his win and quality start against the Blackhawks on Saturday. Meanwhile, Chris Driedger has started just once in Florida’s past six games. Bob was expected to bounce back to some degree after a disappointing first season in Florida, and he finally seems to be doing that.
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Anthony Duclair made a splash in his return to the Panthers’ lineup on Saturday, recording two assists to go with a plus-3 and four shots. Those assists were both on Aleksander Barkov goals. Duclair and Carter Verhaeghe (1 G, 1 A on Saturday) have both benefitted from playing on Barkov’s line. Verhaeghe is already having a career year (20 PTS in 27 GP), while Duclair’s 0.65 PTS/GP is his highest point rate of his career. At the time of their signings, Duclair, Verhaeghe, and Patric Hornqvist (22 PTS in 27 GP) seemed like major downgrades on Mike Hoffman and Evgenii Dadonov, but that hasn’t exactly been the case.
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Alex Ovechkin scored his 716th career goal on Saturday, which puts him one goal away from tying Phil Esposito for sixth in all-time goals. As a multicategory league guy, I thought that the more fascinating stat was that the goal came on his 5,638th shot. That passed Jaromir Jagr for second all-time in NHL history. He only needs to catch Ray Bourque, who is still another 570 shots ahead. Since Ovie hits 300 shots regularly over non-shortened seasons, he could potentially break that record two seasons from now.
As for the here and now, Ovechkin is well down the Rocket Richard race with 10 goals in 23 games. However, he’s now scored goals in three of his past four games.
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One player who is ahead of Ovechkin in goals at the moment is Nikolaj Ehlers, who followed up a two-goal game on Thursday with another goal on Saturday, his 14th of the season. This one was a power-play goal, his third of the season. No player with at least 11 goals has a lower PPTOI (1:35) or %PP (32.1%) than Ehlers. Yet somehow he can’t get onto the first-unit power play. Nice problem for Winnipeg to have.
In allowing five goals on Saturday, Frederik Andersen has failed to post a quality start in four consecutive games. The Leafs play only two games next week, which are back-to-backs against Calgary. You might be best served to limit your expectations on Andersen next week with both the recent play and the possibility he may only play once. At least he’ll be glad to see the end of the Jets, who torched him for 12 goals over the three games he played against him this week. Expect Michael Hutchinson (who has great numbers this season) or Jack Campbell (if he’s healthy) to face the Senators today (Sunday).
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If you don’t include the one game that Mark Stone missed because of injury early this week, he has a seven-game point streak. But it would be more accurate to say that Stone is on fire this month with 14 points (5 G, 9 A) in his last seven games.
Stone’s linemate Max Pacioretty added a goal and two assists of his own against the Blues. I went to Frozen Tools to look up whether the Pacioretty – Stone unit is the top even-strength line in the league. Sure enough, it is, and by a fairly wide margin.
Line Combination
Team
GF
MAX PACIORETTY – MARK STONE – CHANDLER STEPHENSON
VGK
22
PATRICE BERGERON – BRAD MARCHAND – DAVID PASTRNAK
BOS
17
J.T. MILLER – BROCK BOESER – ELIAS PETTERSSON
VAN
17
JORDAN EBERLE – ANDERS LEE – MATHEW BARZAL
NYI
15
ZACH HYMAN – MITCHELL MARNER – AUSTON MATTHEWS
TOR
14
PATRIC HORNQVIST – JONATHAN HUBERDEAU – ALEX WENNBERG
For a good five seconds I thought the refs were going to blow this play dead. But apparently you can push the ball over the goal line in hockey too.
Thatcher Demko is starting to make Canucks fans say, Jacob who? Okay, that’s not entirely true. Yet Demko is gradually making a case to be the Canucks’ team MVP, just as Markstrom had been. With a 34-save performance in a 2-1 win over Edmonton, Demko has now posted quality starts in six of his last seven games. Over that stretch, he also has a 5-2-0 record to go with a 1.70 GAA and .950 SV%. As well, his season 7.32 GSAA places him in the top 10 in that category. The Canucks might still have defensive issues, but they’ve found another goalie who can cover up those warts.
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With a goal on Saturday, Evander Kane now has goals in three consecutive games. He also fired seven shots in this game.
Yesterday I mentioned Kevin Labanc‘s recent success on the top line with Kane and Logan Couture. On Saturday he added another goal, which gives him 11 points (5 G, 6 A) over his last 10 games.
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For more fantasy hockey discussion, or to reach out to me, you can follow me on Twitter @Ian_Gooding
The French league’s legal commission has ordered Paris Saint-Germain to pay Kylian Mbappé the 55 million euros ($61 million) in unpaid wages that he claims he’s entitled to, the league said Thursday.
The league confirmed the decision to The Associated Press without more details, a day after the France superstar rejected a mediation offer by the commission in his dispute with his former club.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Former football star Reggie Bush was at his Encino home Tuesday night when three male suspects attempted to break in, the Los Angeles Times reported Wednesday.
“Everyone is safe,” Bush said in a text message to the newspaper.
The Los Angeles Police Dept. told the Times that a resident of the house reported hearing a window break and broken glass was found outside. Police said nothing was stolen and that three male suspects dressed in black were seen leaving the scene.
Bush starred at Southern California and in the NFL. The former running back was reinstated as the 2005 Heisman Trophy winner this year. He forfeited it in 2010 after USC was hit with sanctions partly related to Bush’s dealings with two aspiring sports marketers.
VANCOUVER – A fresh face has been gracing the B.C. Lions‘ highlight reels in recent weeks.
Midway through his second CFL campaign, wide receiver Ayden Eberhardt has contributed touchdowns in two consecutive games.
The 26-year-old wide receiver from Loveland, Colo., was the lone B.C. player to reel in a passing major in his team’s 37-23 victory over the league-leading Montreal Alouettes last Friday. The week before, he notched his first CFL touchdown in the Lions’ win over the Ottawa Redblacks.
“It’s been awesome. It’s been really good,” Eberhardt said of his recent play. “At the end of the day, the biggest stat to me is if we win. But who doesn’t love scoring?”
He’ll look to add to the tally Friday when the Leos (7-6) host the Toronto Argonauts.
Eberhardt signed with B.C. as a free agent in January 2023 and spent much of last season on the practice squad before cementing a role on the roster this year.
The six-foot-two, 195-pound University of Wyoming product has earned more opportunities in his second season, said Lions’ head coach and co-general manager Rick Campbell.
“He’s a super hard worker and very smart. He understands, has high football IQ, as we call it,” Campbell said.
The fact that Eberhardt can play virtually every receiving position helps.
“He could literally go into a game and we could throw him into a spot and he’d know exactly what he’s doing,” the coach said. “That allows him to play fast and earn the quarterback’s trust. And you see him making plays.”
Eberhardt credited his teammates, coaches and the rest of the Lions’ staff with helping him prepare for any situation he might face. They’ve all spent time teaching him the ins and outs of the Canadian game, or go over the playbook and run routes after practice, he said.
“I’ve played every single position on our offence in a game in the last two years, which is kind of crazy. But I love playing football,” he said. “I want to play any position that the team needs me to play.”
While B.C.’s lineup is studded with stars like running back William Stanback — who has a CFL-high 938 rushing yards — and wide receiver Justin McInnis — who leads the league in both receiving yards (1,074) and receiving TDs (seven) — versatility has been a critical part of the team’s back-to-back wins.
“I think we’ve got a lot of talented guys who deserve to get the ball and make big plays when they have the ball in their hands. So it’s really my job to get them the ball as much as possible,” said quarterback Nathan Rourke.
“I think that makes it easy when you can lean on those guys and, really, we’re in a situation where anyone can have a big game. And I think that’s a good place to be.”
Even with a talented lineup, the Lions face a tough test against an eager Argos side.
Toronto lost its second straight game Saturday when it dropped a 41-27 decision to Ottawa.
“We’ll have our hands full,” Rourke said. “We’ll have to adjust on the fly to whatever their game plan is. And no doubt, they’ll be ready to go so we’ll have to be as well.”
The two sides have already met once this season when the Argos handed the Lions a 35-27 loss in Toronto back on June 9.
A win on Friday would vault B.C. to the top of the West Division standings, over the 7-6 Winnipeg Blue Bombers who are on a bye week.
Collecting that victory isn’t assured, though, even with Toronto coming in on a two-game skid, Campbell said.
“They’ve hit a little bit of a rut, but they’re a really good team,” he said. “They’re very athletic. And you can really see (quarterback Chad Kelly’s) got zip on the ball. When you see him in there, he can make all the throws. So we’re expecting their best shot.”
TORONTO ARGONAUTS (6-6) AT B.C. LIONS (7-6)
Friday, B.C. Place
HOME FIELD ADVANTAGE: The Lions boast a 4-1 home record this season, including a 38-12 victory over the Redblacks at Royal Athletic Park in Victoria, B.C., on Aug. 31. The Argos have struggled outside of BMO Field and hold a 1-5 away record. Trips to the West Coast haven’t been easy for Toronto in recent years — since 2003, the club is 4-14 in road games against B.C.
CENTURION: B.C. defensive back Garry Peters is set to appear in his 100th consecutive game. The 32-year-old from Conyers, Ga., is a two-time CFL all-star who has amassed 381 defensive tackles, 19 special teams tackles and 16 interceptions over seven seasons. “Just being on the field with the guys every day, running around, talking trash back and forth, it keeps me young,” Peters said. “It makes me feel good, and my body doesn’t really feel it. I’ve been blessed to be able to play 100 straight.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
