We acquired the record of accidents from the Philadelphia Flyers and as we see with lots of groups, it was intensive. There was a fractured wrist for Emil Andrae, which would require surgry, a fracture foot for Noah Cates, fractured ribs for Cam York and Travis Konecny, inside bleeding (!) for Owen Tippett, amongst others. These are all serious-ish accidents, however it appears like all affected gamers needs to be able to go for coaching camp in September.
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Montreal and Buffalo went backwards and forwards within the first half of Recreation 5, going from 1-1 to 2-2 to 3-3, then a pair of Canadiens objectives late within the second interval gave them a 5-3 lead that they’d not relinquish. The Habs ended up with a 6-3 win, and now have a 3-2 sequence lead with Recreation 6 on Saturday evening again in Montreal.
The highest guys for Montreal carried the goal-scoring load as Nick Suzuki had a objective and two assists, Juraj Slafkovsky had three helpers, Ivan Demidov had one among every, and Cole Caufield additionally scored. After going six video games with no level within the first spherical, Demidov now has 5 factors in his final 5 video games – his play has improved because the postseason has progressed.
Jakub Dobes had a troublesome begin to the sport, permitting three objectives on the primary 4 pictures, however saved Buffalo off the board the remainder of the best way, stopping 33 pictures in whole.
Konsta Helenius, Josh Doan, and Jason Zucker scored for the Sabres.
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The Vegas Golden Knights wrapped up their sequence with the Anaheim Geese because of a 5-1 win in Recreation 6. Vegas now strikes on to face Colorado within the Western Convention Remaining, which can begin on Wednesday.
As was the case for the second spherical, Pavel Dorofeyev (two objectives), Mitch Marner (one objective, one help), and Brett Howden (one objective) led the best way for the Golden Knights in Recreation 6. For his half, Marner scored the prettiest objective we have seen this postseason:
Marner was a drive within the matchup with the Geese, posting 5 objectives and 6 assists in six video games.
Shea Theodore additionally had a objective and an help within the win. He had a fantastic sequence with 5 factors in six video games and the Golden Knights outscored the Geese 5-0 with Theodore on the ice at 5-on-5 within the sequence (per Pure Stat Trick).
Goalie Carter Hart stopped 31 of 32 pictures for the win. Hart posted a .935 save share within the second spherical.
Mikael Granlund scored the lone objective for the Geese.
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The season evaluation continues in right now’s Ramblings. Lately, we’ve got lined lots of floor. In yesterday’s Ramblings, we mentioned the involvement of defencemen for his or her respective groups’ energy play, and that was after going over the forwards. Additionally contained in that Ramblings are hyperlinks to the 4 articles the place we mentioned shot quantity adjustments:
Right this moment, we’re once more simply the forwards, and trying to find gamers who’re, or may very well be, under-valued in your fantasy leagues. These are gamers who didn’t have a fantastic 2025-26 season, however their uncooked manufacturing is masked by enhancements underneath the hood.
We’re going to use monitoring information from All Three Zones and participant/staff information from Evolving Hockey. That is all at 5-on-5 except in any other case indicated.
Dmitri Voronkov (Columbus Blue Jackets)
It was a bitterly disappointing season for Voronkov who grew to become a frequent wholesome scratch within the last quarter of the marketing campaign as soon as head coach Rick Bowness took over, taking part in simply 7 of the ultimate 26 video games of the season. Right here is the humorous factor: Voronkov scored 1.16 objectives per 60 minutes in any respect strengths, a fee greater than his common throughout the prior two seasons (1.07), resulting in a slight improve in his factors fee. His season decline did not come from worse manufacturing, however a diminished position.
That’s the reason it is also essential to spotlight what he did underneath the hood. Listed below are a couple of 5-on-5 monitoring stats we have a look at:
- Scoring Likelihood Assists Per 60 Minutes (SCA/60) – How usually a participant assists on a teammate’s scoring likelihood.
- Rush Contributions Per 60 Minutes (Rush/60) – How usually a participant assists on a teammate’s shot off a rush play or that participant takes the shot themselves.
- Cycle+Forecheck Contributions Per 60 Minutes (Cycle+Forecheck/60) – The identical sort of contributions as the push, however this day without work the cycle or forecheck.
- Makes an attempt Per Anticipated Purpose (iCF/ixG) – What number of shot makes an attempt a participant must generate one anticipated objective. Decrease numbers are higher as a result of they present effectivity.
These stats assist present a participant’s playmaking potential, how he can contribute to the 2 types of offence, and the way environment friendly his shot choice is. That’s the reason we’re highlighting what Voronkov did in 2025-26:
The monitoring pattern from this season is not massive, however that there are enhancements throughout all the important thing areas, and fewer shot makes an attempt per anticipated objective generated, signifies a participant who took some steps ahead.
Voronkov will likely be going into his age-26 season, and he crossed the 200-game threshold again in January. With Bowness getting an extension in Columbus, it’s an uphill climb for the winger as a result of for no matter cause, he clearly doesn’t have the coach’s belief. Perhaps we see Voronkov traded as a result of Bowness simply doesn’t consider in him, however the scoring winger’s fantasy hockey worth has taken an enormous hit. He would not be costly to amass in a commerce, and he brings multi-cat worth with profession charges of 47 blocks and 101 hits each 82 video games.
Anton Lundell (Florida Panthers)
This appears like a ‘two issues may be true’ scenario for Lundell:
- Placing up 44 factors in 64 video games regardless of skating over 19 minutes a sport is not superb manufacturing.
- The accidents the Panthers sustained harm the manufacturing of all of the wholesome gamers.
Lundell noticed a a lot greater position with Aleksander Barkov lacking the complete season, however Matthew Tkachuk missed 51 video games, and each Brad Marchand and Seth Jones each missed 30 video games every. By the point Lundell and Sam Reinhart had been shutdown for the ultimate month, the harm had been finished. With that stated, it is very important be aware that not solely was Lundell one of many gamers who noticed a sizeable enchancment in his shot quantity, and he paired that with a giant improve in his scoring likelihood assists:
Right here we run into an identical downside as we noticed with Voronkov. The place Voronkov has to earn his coach’s belief, Lundell will head into the 2026-27 season with a wholesome Panthers roster, so it appears almost unattainable he skates 19 minutes a sport once more. If he is again to the 16- to 17-minute mark, with secondary PP time, one of the best we will hope for is a 60-point season.
All that stated, it could be price trying out what the supervisor with Lundell on their roster needs for him. He simply had a disappointing season and that proprietor will know that Lundell goes to must cope with a wholesome Panthers roster. If he may be had for reasonable, it’s price taking an opportunity that he can leapfrog Sam Bennett on the depth chart. It’s unlikely, however as an affordable gamble, it could be price it.
Alex Turcotte (Los Angeles Kings)
The Los Angeles Kings have Anze Kopitar retiring and Phillip Danault was traded throughout the season. It appears very possible that the franchise returns with Quinton Byfield and Alex Laferriere as their high two centres, but when they do not deliver again Scott Laughton, there’s a third-line centre position up for grabs.
Turcotte is an fascinating participant as a result of his restricted NHL profession (162 video games throughout 5 seasons) has proven some good underlying monitoring processes, however a scarcity of consistency, or at the least perceived consistency, has saved him from a daily, significant position. It has additionally saved the variety of video games within the monitoring information from accumulating, however there have been enhancements in his cycle+forecheck contributions, his fee of zone entries, and the way usually he carried these entries into the zone:
The massive downside right here is that even when Turcotte does earn a third-line position, there is not lots of scoring depth on the Kings’ roster. Even with a wholesome Kevin Fiala, the staff has six top-6 forwards they’re going to lean on, after which a bunch of fellows they hope can slot in.
Rebuilding fantasy hockey rosters ought to take an strategy just like what smarter groups do in actual life: purchase a number of low-cost gamers they assume are undervalued and hope a few them pan out. If I am in a deep-ish dynasty league, and I am rebuilding my staff this offseason, Turcotte is a kind of gamers to circle.
Simon Holmstrom (New York Islanders)
Within the Ramblings discussing forwards being closely concerned of their staff’s energy play linked on the high, Mathew Barzal was talked about due to his heavy utilization for the Islanders. What wasn’t talked about was what Holmström did. As a result of Barzal had a lot heavier utilization, he had far more involvement in issues like PP zone entries, however we should always spotlight that Holmström was by far probably the most concerned Islanders ahead not named Barzal:
- Non-Barzal NYI forwards tracked 5v4 zone entries: 36
- Holmstrom tracked 5v4 zone entries: 23
Of the 59 tracked zone entries that didn’t belong to Barzal, Holmström was answerable for almost 40% of them. He acquired a little bit of high PP time by means of the 12 months, and with a brand new coach on the town, he may very well be in line for a way more impactful position in 2026-27.
Apart from Holmström’s power-play involvement, it issues that he was actually seeking to facilitate for his teammates. He noticed sizeable enhancements in his fee of scoring likelihood assists in addition to how usually he carried the puck into the offensive zone:
The query for Holmström revolves round his position. The Islanders traded for Brayden Schenn, who has two years left on his contract. Calum Ritchie noticed a key position down the stretch, Victor Eklund came to visit from Sweden and was over a point-per-game participant in restricted AHL motion, and Kyle Palmieri will likely be wholesome. Together with the highest forwards in Barzal and Bo Horvat, after which secondary choices like Anthony Duclair and Emil Heineman, there will likely be lots of competitors for top-6 and high power-play minutes. It’s going to be an uphill battle for Holmström, however he has the components to take one other manufacturing step. Simply beware {that a} lack of peripherals like pictures, hits, and blocks make him far more invaluable in points-only fantasy codecs than multi-cat leagues.
