The plot thickens as the season continues to unwind. Teams are battling for their playoff lives and it looks as if some team’s fates will be decided in the last game or two of the regular season. It’s always painful towards the end as you cheer on your team to win each and every game to secure a playoff spot and hope that another team loses just so you get in. Things are tight in the East, but the West is ridiculously tight coming down the stretch of the final 15+ games. Vancouver, Calgary, Minnesota, Winnipeg, Los Angeles and even San Jose and Colorado have a shot at making it.
The Ducks are still holding the rank one position in the league, but the Habs are nipping at their heels just a point behind with a game in hand. Nashville who was in front of everyone in the rankings has taken a dive since the return of Pekka Rinne. The offense seems to have dried up for the moment and they have lost six games in a row. They are still going to maintain the top position in the Pacific, but there is a good chance St. Louis will catch up and take the trophy in the Central. The Blues have played two less games than Nashville and are only two points behind, keep an eye on Nashville heading down the final stretch here. Hopefully for you Predator fans your team didn’t peak early and crumble when it counts most.
The McDavid/Eichel race is on as the bottom dwellers continue to play some horrendous hockey. Edmonton, Arizona, Buffalo and Toronto seem to be the most likely candidates at this point, although Columbus is doing a great job of racking up the losses as well. Sorry Hurricane fans, it looks like your team has gotten back on track as the season continues to unfold; although anything is possible as there is always a chance!
HBSL Playoffs (16):
Congratulations to everyone who made it to the sweet sixteen bracket as that is quite the accomplishment in itself. Prepare those rosters accordingly and make sure you don’t pick any players who are injured or only have a two game week. This is a heavy duty fantasy week for anyone still in the HockeyBuzz SuperLeague; prizes are just around the corner if you manage to keep up the winning ways. The Quarterfinals begin next week, use your salary dollars wisely and best of luck to everyone remaining.
Upcoming games this week:
(4) Games: Anaheim – Boston – Carolina – Columbus – Dallas – Detroit – Nashville – New York Islanders – New York Rangers – Ottawa – Philadelphia – Pittsburgh – St. Louis – Toronto
(3) Games: Arizona – Calgary – Colorado – Edmonton – Florida – Los Angeles – Minnesota – Montreal – New Jersey – San Jose – Tampa Bay – Vancouver – Washington – Winnipeg
(2) Games: Buffalo – Chicago
As you can see this is a very heavy schedule this week; tons of games.
In many fantasy pools, playoffs are just around the corner. For myself, this is the last week of the regular season in my Yahoo pools and luckily for me, I have clinched first in both of my pools and this week means absolutely nothing to me. I’ll also have the luxury of a bye in the first round of playoffs, so next week is also a meaningless week in terms of worrying about my team performing.
Now, enough about my fantasy, let’s give some tips out to those who are in a good position themselves...
If you happen to be in an excellent position like myself, you will want to prepare your team as best you can for your first meaningful playoff week. How do you do this? Well, it’s quite simple…take a look at your roster and take a look at what week you will be needing your players to perform. What players will be playing three or four games in that playoff week, and which players will be playing two games. You likely will want to use your roster moves that are allowed weekly in order to get the most out of your roster.
For example: If Boston only plays two games that week, and one of them is on a Monday and the other is on a Saturday; you will want to play your player on the Monday, and then use that slot to rotate a player or two into your roster to get a few more games played, and hopefully some points. You can then try to pick that player back up on the Saturday before their game and voila, you keep your roster together but you got a game or two in as well. If someone scoops up that player before you, so be it, but at least you are giving it your all and preparing yourself to win. The championship week means nothing to you if you don’t make it there, so go for it, all out.
Remember though, you only get so many transactions per week, so it’s wise to save one move for the final day of the week (Sunday). That way if you feel you need a certain category to secure the week, you can add the player or goalie that day and hope for the best. Sometimes you may need a goalie win, penalty minutes or just straight up points…make sure you are on the ball.
Best of luck to everyone in their fantasy this week, any feedback in the comments section is always appreciated and good to hear how people are doing. Any quality players you have picked up over the past week or two? Let’s hear some of your insight!
Thanks for reading.