Thursday NHL Picks & Which Team’s Fast Starts Are Sustainable? | Total Hockey Now 🏒
Heat. Heat. [Applause] Heat. [Music] Heat. Yes indeed. Welcome into another episode of Total Hockey Now. We here on the Total Hockey Now YouTube channel. that over there all the way down to uh what we’ll say is my right is uh fuzzy Chris91 Christopher MZ man in the middle there rivera86 aka Tony Rivers Anthony Rivera get to his totals later uh for tonight’s uh hockey slate here on Thursday night always jam-packed and uh yeah glad we uh hit the we were kind of doing the the stream in the podcast before we went live I’m like oh fellas easy let’s uh let’s let’s go live here as Maic says it’s the best part of his week thanks to having Barack with us here. So, uh yeah, and uh you know, uh in first place, but uh maybe didn’t handle his waiverss the way he wanted to. No, no, no, no. I I got a little ahead of myself. Uh maybe got a little too cocky this week. I tried I tried planning everything out for the week considering who I was going up against, looking at the stats, seeing everything. Oh, maybe I could take some some categories here and that plan right out the window. I only have one uh waiver move left and I’m I have to kind of save it at this point uh for the weekend. So, we’ll see how that ends up for me. But but not a good start for the week for me uh in fantasy hockey. It happens. You know, sometimes when when you’re not used to being at the top, you know, you get overwhelmed with that kind of stuff. So, but it’s okay. No Mets playoff run to, you know, throw him off for the first six weeks of the season and then, you know, that’s true. That’s true. We are we are learning as we’re doing here. That’s that’s the big thing with fantasy hockey for me. So, we learned, we made the mistake. Thank goodness it’s only what, week three. Uh week three, week four right now. No, we’re in week three. We are in week three. Week three of our fantasy hockey season. So, there’s a lot more to play around with. And uh I’m excited as we keep moving forward. It’s going to be a lot of fun. And uh later on this show, we will run through the 11ame NHL slate tonight providing our picks that at about 5:30 Eastern, 2:30 Pacific. Of course, you can reach out to this show, total [email protected]. Uh, first things I want to get to, a couple of quick headlines here. Uh, earlier today, the Avalanche signed Marty Nature’s to an 8-year extension, 11.5 million annual uh, average value, 60.4 million in signing bonuses. I’m not surprised to see this happen because you wouldn’t go out and bring N. The whole intention of bringing Nature’s in was to fill the void of Ranton in long term and now they have. So, there you go. I was told he would he didn’t want to be there. So apparently we know nothing. But the first thing that popped into my mind was Mo Rantin cuz listen I’m not going to take a single thing away from Martin Nes. He is he has earned that money. He is a great great forward. I would take him on my team. But if you ask me do I want Nes or Rantin? Uh 10 out of 10 times I’m taking Ratin. That’s there’s no question about that. and it sounded like the deal was 8 years somewhere in the $12.5 million range even if it was more than that with the way the cap is going up. I kind of feel like again I’m not going to take a single thing away from Ranton but uh sorry from nature but I mean why didn’t you just give Miko Ratin that money and call it a day? I think I don’t know if Ratin was gonna take So he gets 12 million annual in Dallas. Correct. I don’t I think he was going to want more than that. I I think you know sometimes people talk about the concept of a hometown discount and it’s like no if I’ve built my career on what I’ve done for your team. You I I’d like you to pay for that and reward that. Like sometimes like and this is exactly what happened with the Shark Sharks and Eric Carlson. They go and acquire him at the deadline that year. Helps them make a run. Doesn’t go as far as they want. They end up paying him for what he did in Ottawa. What ended up becoming of that contract? It just looked awful and they had to get rid of it. So yeah, like it’s easy to be like, well 11 and a half million, 12 million, but I don’t think Rantinon would have play stayed for 12 million. I don’t think I think he would have said that, no, I’m going to stay here. I want to be paid what I did here. So I mean I can’t imagine Nate just doesn’t like Denver. Denver is a beautiful city. If you’ve never been, go. The thing is now now that he’s in this system that’s more offensive than Carolina is, can can Nate close the gap on what Mo Ranton was, you know, to McKinnon in that tag team? Can can he take the next step and and be that, you know, second top guy like when it was McKinnon and Ranton together? So last year combined with Carolina and uh Colorado 27 and 56 in the regular season. This year he’s off to seven goals, six assists in 11 games. So he’s averaging over a point a game. So I listen may maybe the it’s not going to I mean maybe it will be the same goal total on a line with McKinnon. Maybe you know that I don’t know if he’ll get to Rantin’s numbers, but I don’t think he’s going to put up a number. I don’t think his season end numbers going to be like oh what a let down on the right wing for Colorado. It’s going to difference is going to be negligible. If he’s a 90 point player, that’s like that’s great, right? Yeah. Like let’s not spit on 90 points against I know big and can you know top 100 and everything and all the other things that he does big body and whatnot, but I mean I guess for nature’s th this is a good spot for him. Let’s not get it twisted. I I could get one secondary assist playing with Nathan McKinnon. I could I feel confident and Nate just really loses no ground here, right? I mean, he went from a team that goes to the conference finals almost constantly now to another team that has that same potential and maybe can get to the Stanley Cup when you talk about the Colorado Avalanche. So, he’s he was in a good system now into an even better one offensively to tailor to his needs. Maybe this uh this contract works out both ways. It works out for the team as well as the player. Yeah, I think everybody’s going to end up being happy here. And what maybe it would have taken 13 million to keep ranting in. They save a million and a half. That doesn’t sound like a lot, but you know, when trying to get as many players as you can in, sometimes that can make a difference. Um, let’s see. Know was asking who do we think’s a better player. I think it’s R. Like Randin’s a better player, but I think you’re not really missing a beat with Nichas in there. Like you’re still going to get a high level of production there. So maybe not like we said as much. Still probably about 90 points. Other guy that signs an 8-year extension this week, Thomas Harley in Dallas on their blue line about 10.5 million average annual value. Full no movement clause. So uh they’re committing to him being a part of that uh you know their runs for the next you know five or so years here at least. Uh being a significant part of that team. I don’t mind it. I think they’re getting ahead of the market. Thomas Harley from a fantasy perspective and from an on just on the ice perspective broke out last year. Good campaign. Let’s get him in under 11 million before, you know, defenseman contracts start going up even more. Smart move by Dallas. Yeah, he’s had a good uh two years. Uh pretty consistent, right? 47 points in 2023, 2024, 2024, 2025. Uh 50 points. So, he continues to get better and better. And this is a guy that uh is going to continue to climb the rankings even in fantasy. I mean, he was one of the most talked about defenseman out there. When you talk about Kale Mar and Rasmus Stallene, if you don’t get those guys and they go Quinn Hughes, another one, you don’t get any of those three guys there, you know, you get Thomas Arley and and you’re really not losing a beat when it comes to to defense. Yeah, I think they paid, you know, a fair a fair market for what it was. They decided to get ahead of it. It seems like a lot, but in in today’s world, it’s about not about the dollar figure. It’s it’s about the percentage to the cap. And as long as the cap continues to go up, you know, players will make more money. But Harley decides to take his money, run with it. It’s in a no state tax as well. So that again, that’s why Dallas is good. No other reason apparently, but he gets the full no move in clause as well. He gets to kind of decide his future. He gets the a ton of security there cuz three years ago we were not talking about Thomas Harley at all and then he goes to the four nations you know steps in huge roll there with Josh Morsy out and it’s he’s been buzzing ever since and if you’re curious Hin is signed through 2028 at just under eight and a half million. So those are your anchors of the blue line right there for sure. Asa Lindell up at the end of the year. Um so no, excuse me. you know, he’s got till 2029, but yeah. Yeah. So, I mean, they they’ve got their blue line set, they’ve got their top pairing, they’ve got their guys set. Now, um we want to talk about a few of the uh before we get to our picks in about 15 minutes here. We want to talk about some teams that are off to strong starts. Now, you know, we talked about doing hot and cold starts. Want to give those teams off to a cold start another week. Has nothing to do with the Rangers as alluded to on Twitter or directly suggested on Twitter. I just I don’t know how to evaluate. It’s just I don’t think they know what they are right now. So, we’ll do teams teams that are maybe cold starts that maybe have to be worried about today. We’ll focus on teams that are hot starts and whether they can surprising hot starts whether they can sustain them or not. Detroit Red Wings 7 and three and 0 out of the gate this year. A team that pretty much all of us had pegged to finish in the bottom of the uh division. Here they are seven and three sitting at top the Atlantic. Uh how do we feel? I mean, it’s easy. They’re in Los Angeles tonight. We’ll get to that game later. It’s easy to be like, “Oh, yeah, the Red Wings are going to come back down to earth, blah blah blah blah blah.” But I I don’t know. Maybe they’ll come back down to earth, but I don’t know if they’re going to come all the way back to the bottom of the division. I I I don’t know about that. I don’t think they come down to the bottom of the division like you said. But the Red Wings are are they’re certified frauds. They are certified frauds at five on five. They cannot generate offense. It just it doesn’t work. They are not a good five on five team. They are being bailed out by every other possibility. Their blue line is not great, but it is performing well. I mean, Dylan Larkin, I don’t know what he ate this summer, but I mean, the puck just finds the back of the net. He is shooting a ridiculous his shooting percentage, I think, is is is close to 30. Like, they he can’t he cannot continue to hit that level. Like, it there’s there’s regression that’s coming. And how hard is it going to hit? John Gibson has not been good. Well documented and I mean I don’t know how much you want to trust. Cam Talbot. Yeah. Right. And then there’s Cam Talbot and his whole body situation. He’s not exactly young. So I feel like this team is just one injury away or one regression away from being mid. And when they lose, they like they get they get smashed. It’s not close. By the way, Cam Talib versus Darcy Keer in Los Angeles tonight. The goalie match up there. That’s it. That’s the night cap. That’s the late game. That’s the uh 10:30 Eastern. That’s what I’m falling asleep to. Yeah, in in this division here, this Atlantic division, they’re in second right now. 14 points, just two behind Chris’s Montreal Canadians. But I got to agree. I I I think they fall back down to earth because you look at the other teams in that division. You got the Stanley back-to-back Stanley Cup champion Panthers. I see them coming back. Uh, I don’t know what’s going on with the Maple Leafs. I mean, you could say whatever you want about them in the postseason, but they have done what they needed to do to get there every single year. You also got the Tampa Bay Lightning who are off to a a you know, hard start, too. So, I I think these teams get themselves back going. And if the Red Wings are going to stay in this, they’re going to need better goalending than they’ve gotten uh from Talabet and Gibson, who, you know, got got sent away from from Anaheim. uh Dylan Larkin who who leads the the charge here. He’s a guy that we talked about in fantasy where the center position is so deep that if you miss some of these top guys, you get a Dylan Lark in there or you get a Nikicoishir and you’re pretty good. You’re pretty good with what you got going and I don’t know if he can keep up the pace, but he is definitely one of the leaders of this team and has done very well along with Alex Brinkat. Yeah, I think at the end of the day back down to earth, but maybe not all the way to the bottom of the division. But you’re also the end, right? Maybe they like they’re, you know, towards that last spot uh fighting for that final spot in the in the uh playoffs. There’s not really a ton of reason for me to think John Gibson’s all of a sudden going to be healthy, get right, all that good stuff, and be viable for them. And I can’t imagine Cam Talbot’s going to play this way the entire season. I mean, what is he? three- one, just under three goals against right now. So, I don’t know how long that’s going to last. So, yeah, I’m not buying the Red Wings uh being a team that we’ll be talking about at top the Atlantic Division later. Now, I misspoke. I said they were at top the Atlantic. Oh, no. The Montreal Canadians are the team at top the Atlantic Division with one more victory, 83 and 0. Um, this one I feel like is more sustainable. And yes, I know Domez isn’t going to play this way the entire year, but he’s while Montbo is getting his stuff figured out. Doz is carrying the load. You have to figure that pendulum’s going to swing back the other way a little bit and Montbo be out there playing the way he was the stretches last year. They’ve got a good mix in Montreal. The Dobson addition to the blue line has been huge for them. Um I I you know, I’ll let Chris talk more about the Canadians. I I don’t know if I’m buying them as Atlantic Division Champs yet, but top three team maybe having home ice in the first round. Sure. Right. So, finishing at the top of the Atlantic would be like that would even for me I would think that’s that’s a lot. But like you said, Domez is playing out of his mind. Uh the mattress king just continues to like find ways to do it for his team. He he he’s there and the Montreal Canaan are getting production. Their top line is elites. That line of Cfield, Suzuki, and Sliffkovski are built different. Marty St. Louis has finally given Ivan Demov top power play unit minutes and all of a sudden that power play starting to move different. And again, not that Zachary Balduk has not been good because that is the exact opposite. But Ivan Demidov is moving differently. He he he glides out there. Everything is so crisp. Everything is so fluid. Like you said, the addition of Noah Dobson, maybe all the points aren’t there just yet, but he’s helped move the chair for other defenseman to be where they need to be. So Mike Mat all of a sudden looks better when last year they were ready to run him out of town, right? You don’t have to worry about Arbor Jack and, you know, Jaden Strubal and how much they’re playing. You can kind of shelter. That top four is good. Lane Hudson’s doing what he needs to do. There’s a lot of pieces that are in place here that are working and even the pieces that are not just yet like Kirby Doc is still like trying to find his game. Patrick Lion is hurt again. You know, Kaden Gully’s out, but all of that doesn’t matter because the depth is there and it’s starting that the team is starting to look like what we envisioned it would be a few years ago. So, I again I don’t know if they finish at the top, but do I think they can finish in the top three of the Atlantic? Yes. Do I think they can have home ice advantage? Yes. I definitely think this is a playoff team. Uh Dovish has six of the eight victories that this team has so far with a 930 save percentage. What I love about this Montreal team is they are so freaking young and so talented. Look at the top scorers here. Nick Suzuki 16 points, Cole Cfield 13, Lane Hudson 10, Demidolf nine. I mean, you could want to throw in Noah Dobson in there as well, seven. I mean, this team is stacked right now. And the good thing, not only for Montro, the Montreal Canadians, but the fans and all that, is that this has the makings of a long nice run uh for this team. Maybe they don’t make it so far into the playoffs, but I think they are for sure a playoff team and a lot of fun to watch. Man, you got to want to watch this team play out there in Montreal and and I’m definitely enjoying it. Merrick wants to know, are we going to see Fowler if uh Monti doesn’t figure it out? I think they’re going to give Malti a real long if there’s no reason to really go down that path as long as Domez keeps playing this way anyway. It’s too early still even like like even if you bring Fowler up, right? You can’t send Monttol down because he’d have to clear waiverss. You you can do it with Domez, but that would penalize him for absolutely no reason and Montreal, right? And you don’t you do not want to carry three goalies, right? We we’ve been here, done that kind of thing. We’re not going back. That was not a fun experience. No one had fun. So, let Fowler Cook in the AHL. He I mean, he pitched a shut out yesterday for Laval. It was great. He’s he’s he’s got roughed up a little bit, but it’s fine. He was playing college hockey last year. Let him get used to playing with men. Let him go through the process. He’s a young goalie. And again, I do not believe that Monto has forgotten how to play hockey. Like, it’s not there. It’s it’s it’s trusting your stuff. I think a lot of it is between his ears right now. And it’s just trying to say, “Hey, man. you like at one point those bad lucks are going to turn and at one point once you start to find your confidence nothing you know nothing gets by you after that but you know work on it take the time you don’t have to be that guy either it takes a little bit of pressure off right you don’t have to worry about you know when you struggle the whole team falls apart because that’s not it anymore so he can go through the process do whatever he needs to do you know I don’t know go get a massage man take it easy let’s be honest Uh Montabel just has to look around the league and there’s not been great goalending around the league to start the season. So he’s I don’t think he has anything to worry about. I think it helps that Dobish is playing so well to to kind of relieve the pressure because I’m pretty sure Montel started uh thinking when the season was going to begin that he was going to be the starter and have to carry the load for this team and he doesn’t have to do that right now. Just get yourself going. As soon as you do that then I’m pretty sure they’re going to split this somehow. keep you guys fresh uh for a playoff run. Nothing to worry about. Not to look too far ahead, but Canada literally has no goalie for the Olympics. Like there’s not like like say what you want about Jordan Bennington. It has not been good to start. Uh Aiden Hill is hurt and Sam Maltau hasn’t found it yet. So somebody’s got to figure it out by the time we get to Italy cuz Kennedy’s goalie. We’ll do some Olympic roster stuff as we uh get closer here to the end of the year and uh roster reveals and all that. A couple more teams I want to get to before we get to tonight’s preview in terms of teams that surprising teams off to really really strong starts. And this kind of, you know, I know Chris was uh hypothesizing Sydney Crosby being an excellent trade deadline acquisition to be one of those top two centers cuz let’s face it, if Montreal is going to try and make a deep run, they do need to add another center. The Penguins are 72 and two out of the gate. I mean, they might be adding at the deadline. Maybe not to a crazy extent, but yeah, you owe if this team is still playing like this in three, four months, you might probably owe it to them to maybe do something. I I think this is more sustainable than the Red Wings. Another team we expected to probably be at the bottom of their division. And here we go again. Sydney Crosby dragging this team to just new heights every time. Just when you think like, oh, they’re done. This is the year they’re going to bottom out. Oh, no. No. Having two and two, you know, Malin is 39. Yeah. just that’s not going to last. He’s top five in the NHL and boys are like, “Okay, man. What is What are you drinking? What have you like? Have you been hanging out with with Obie in the offseason? What’s he giving you over there?” It’s Listen, I I can’t buy into this. This team is there’s still too many there’s too many holes. They’re one injury away from it falling apart. Tristan Jerry apparently is good again. So, we’re going down that path a little bit. I Man, I want to I want to believe it, but a part of me also wants them to fall apart. So Sid can be like, “Okay, I’ll leave.” I don’t know if we’ll get to that point, but we’ll see. Well, may not. Pittsburgh comes back to the same two players, Malcolin and Crosby, top of the leaderboards in points. Uh Justin Brazo as well, and Anthony Mantha, Eric Carlson up there. So, a lot of the old guard uh is leading this team, but most importantly is the goalending right now. Civos and Jerry uh respectively 919 save percentage as well as 916. So, they’re doing their part in keeping this team in games and giving them enough uh will to find ways to win. And Pittsburgh right now sits at top of the metro along with the Devils. So, I’ll say this. I think the stretch of games they got coming up that started with the road trip in Philadelphia the other night continues in Minnesota tonight. We’ll give our thoughts in that game at Winnipeg, at Toronto, home for the Capitals, then at the Devils and home for the Kings before they head to Europe to play the Predators at a twoame set over there. I think that stretch leading into that Europe trip, that’s a lot of quality teams right there. I know the Leafs aren’t playing great. Maybe not the Wild aren’t playing that great, but everybody else playing at least solid, if not better. That’ll be a true test as they, you know, if they come through that, you know, with a decent amount of points, I’ll be ready to be like, “All right, maybe we need to take this more seriously. Maybe they’re a team that’s closer to the wildcard picture than we expected come March.” But yeah, just like Detroit, there’s a lot of things that are going real right for them right now, including Malcolin playing at a fantastic level, but again, he he gets hurt, so it’s going to come at some point. Just take care of business in this stretch against a struggling Minnesota team, a struggling Toronto team. That’s two out of three wins because Winnipeg is going to be tough. Uh you got Washington as well, that’s another tough team, uh New Jersey. And then if they can finish, what is it? three and three on this on these games. I I think that’s that’s good for Pittsburgh. And if Washington listen, if Washington starts Charlie Lingering, they got a you know, they got a great shot of beating him, too. Seven goals this guy gives up. I I had to decide whether I was going to play Dustin Wolf or not on Sunday because Charlie Lingren decided to ruin my entire save percentage. Uh and and and all the goals and I seven goals in a game. Seven. Damn. I don’t know if that’s worse or threw it or or Marstrom is worse. Like he gave up eight goals. It’s like pull the guy already. Yeah. Sometimes they just leave the guy out there. It’s like what? Unless we’re trying to rest somebody for a back to back or something like that. Like what’s happening here? Um before we get to the mammoth, just wanted to mention the Kraken. I thought that you know they started off a little bit stronger getting points. What was it? five or six straight. They’ve come back down to earth a little bit. And I think we’re already seeing the regression and the crack and falling to their proper spot in the standings. But hey, when you get points in your first five games, you got it’s worth mentioning even if they, you know, have only won two since then. But the Utah Mammoth, you know, a team that we thought was going to be battling Minnesota and St. Lewis in the for, you know, those last couple of playoff spots either in the wild card or the in the central division maybe, you know, and it’s amazing what happens when you have ownership that invests in the team and starting to see they have an identity now. They’re not the Utah hockey club. They’re the Mammoth, you know, Tusky, the mascot, which I I I like. I know it’s probably a little, you know, probably a little obvious, but nonetheless, I like the name. Uh there’s a lot of, you know, Utah’s got a strong blue line. The top lines are producing. Logan Kulie gets his extension. Welld deserved. If Vamela holds up, and they seem to have a lot of confidence in VMA because, you know, they went out and got Vanichek as the backup and that’s fine. But that that to me tells me you’re playing Vamela two out of every three at a minimum. So there’s a it’s a tough division, but with the way St. Louis is playing, with the way Minnesota’s playing, maybe this is the fourth best team in the division. Yeah, Vamela is still giving up a lot of goals. He’s got 891 save percentage right now to start this season. He’s gotten most of the starts. Vanichek’s been a little bit better uh than he has, but I mean I feel like everyone has bought into Utah. The ownership, front office, the fan base, the players, everyone has bought into Utah Mammoth. I know it’s a a a good start so far, but you got players here. You mentioned them, Adam, all the players. And how about Nick Schmolz and already 17 points he’s had. I know he goes on his hot streaks, but this is we’re talking about a guy on a contract year. This could be a big year for Nick Schmaltz, so they’re looking good. Uh they’re my my West Coast team, so I’m happy to see them play well. Sergeev has had a good season to start. I mean, this is a team that could could make some noise in what I always find as the toughest division with the Avalanche, the Jets, the Stars. Look at the Blackhawks off to the start that they’ve gotten on. Uh the Wild are going to have to make up a lot of ground if they’re going to be players in this because uh this is going to be a tough division with all those teams including the Mammoth. You said you mentioned Nick Schmolz. I don’t think he keeps that production up, but the fact that you’ve got about nine guys that are producing four or five points or better. It’s it’s a balanced scoring attack which is nice. And that and that’s exactly it. Like the the first part is ownership. Now you have an owner who says, “Hey man, if you need a check, I’ll cut it.” Like you know what I mean? like you sleep better at night. You you know where you’re playing. You don’t have to worry about in three years, will we be playing in a college rink? Will we have a home? It just it takes all that off. And yes, the fans get to buy into it. But also, like listen, I I’ll I’ll pour one out here for Arizona Coyote fans. They had to crawl and go through all this so the Mammoth could run because this team was young. We knew that. And all that young talent is starting to hit at the same time. All of it is starting to get there like like Gunther’s starting to figure out Yesh’s in a contract year, but I mean players perform in contracts years years. This isn’t new to us. They go out, they get Purka. He’s fit in absolutely nicely as well. This this whole roster is starting to get deep. And when you have deep rosters, it makes it a challenge for opposing teams cuz you got to watch somebody. And if you let the big boys run, they will terrorize you, right? And it speaks of the fact that they’re eight and three despite Vamela not being where he needs to be just yet. So if he can figure it out, that blue line is okay. They’re probably going to need to go out and get a piece or two at the deadline, but at least you’re in a position to say, “Hey, we can do this now. We can spend money. We have an owner who is willing to go closer to the ceiling. We’re not going out and getting those LTIs. We’re no longer facilitating trades. We want to be in that mix. So, I want to see them go a little bit because again, they do play in the toughest division in sports. So, as this goes on, those, you know, those games in March are going to be a lot tougher than they are today. And playing teams over and over again, even though the Wild are bad, but you know, Colorado, Dallas, Winnipeg, having to play those guys is, you know, is something. I I I feel bad for the Arizona fans, but let’s be honest, they are not playing this way. If they’re still in Arizona in a college hockey rink with the least amount of amenities possible for the players, they are not as fun as they are right now in Utah. So, it’s kind of like how the end of of what happened in Quebec when they go to Colorado and and then Colorado goes off to become a Stanley Cup. Not saying that this is going to happen in Utah so quickly, but at a certain point, you know, you you leave an area that that’s just not taking care of their players and the ownership’s not doing what it needs to do to make this a winning team to now a place where everyone has bought in on what Utah is doing. Whether it’s the record or not, the fan base has bought in on these on this team and uh the players are are, you know, showing them what needs to be done. Oh, it’s not even apples to oranges. It’s like apples to hot dogs in terms of like how this would be going if they were still in Arizona. They would not have acquired Sergev. They would not have acquired Purka. You know, maybe Kulie or Keller or somebody gets Delta. So, yeah, it’s it’s it never would have gone this way in Arizona. Last thing I want to get to quick before we get to our Thursday night preview. Uh Cody checking in our boy over here. Has DOS already replaced Mount? I asked last week about drop when to drop a starter for a surging backup and now Doba seems to be gone in most of his leagues. Yeah, it’s, you know, sometimes that happens, but you know, again, I don’t think the door is closed on Montbo. And again, Doz is not going to play this way into December, January, February. He’s going to come back down to earth, too. And how far he comes back down to earth will dictate the opportunities for Montbo. Maybe Montbo gets going when he the door opens for him again and then Doz isn’t the start. So, I mean, it goes both ways. And you can’t I I don’t remember who Craig said his goalies were, but like you can’t give up on your established goalies this early in the season. Some sometimes some guys are just like you’re going to some team is going to be gifted with one of these players. Maybe Dobish is the guy. Who knows if this lasts as as long. I mean, we you Chris hopes for it, right? and we hope to see him continue to play well, but he has not played in the league as long as some of these other goalies that you may have drafted. Uh maybe if he was your third goalie like he he wasn’t even someone’s third goalie at at the time. Like we he was still on the waiver wire for for the start of this season. So that you know if you get him it’s great that you have him now, but if you didn’t get him I I wouldn’t I wouldn’t get too upset about it right now. Um, you just have to you just have to play it the the waiver wire the way that you can. Just don’t give up on on your entire team at the beginning so far. Also, overall goalie play has just not been awful enough. And like you look at the like he was going to me Montbo is going like all right if I didn’t get like Bennington like that was, you know, the next guy and then you start to get into that VLA like those guys. So like none of those guys are performing great. No, no, look at for me, Dustin Wolf, a great example in Calgary. They’re not getting any wins there, but my hope was and and I went into it kind of having a feeling that they weren’t going to win as many games. Maybe Dustin Wolf leads them to to certain wins, but I was hoping that the rest of his stats would carry and the team in front of him still isn’t playing well and he’s still giving up goals. Like, he was he was doing so much against Toronto and they did not help him out. So it just, you know, sometimes it you just get the hand that you’re dealt with. Listen, I would listen, I would love to tell you to drop Monteo and pick up Dopez, right? But the fact of the matter is is that it’s it’s not going to be like that. Montbo is going to get the opportunity to fix fix his stuff. So maybe like this seems more like for Craig of of more like the FOMO, which is fair because now if he’s already scooped up, you’re like, damn, I missed that boat. But having said that, if I was a doz owner today, I’m trying to move him. I’m trying to move him to get piece. You know what I mean? So if you’re trying to buy him now, you’re paying a premium for a guy who, you know, is going to balance out. It’s just the way the world works. He is outperforming every metric. He is he is standing on his head most nights. So I I like the only comfort I can give you here is cuz I I also don’t have Domez in any spots. But I understand how it is tough especially when your goalending is struggling. Then you got to, you know, dig deeper and try to find guys in good situations or try to target goalies that are struggling and see if you could get somebody else to bite. Maybe you flop, you know, goalies. Listen, I also own all all Mark in a couple of leagues. I get Bennington is is terrible. I don’t know what to do with Cyrus anymore. I mean, he’s supposed to be good. He’s not. But it’s it’s tough. Like, I I know. But if you drop one of those guys and they go off, you’ll feel even worse cuz now you’re behind the eightball and you put yourself even farther of it. So, and every guy that you mentioned from Craig’s list here that he has all have track records. Yeah. Of being good at some point, whether it’s in the past or whatever. Doish doesn’t have that just yet. and three weeks into the season like I I I don’t know if you got him great. You got lucky there. Like Chris says, you are flipping him as soon as possible and getting the most value that you can for him. So, you’re not even keeping him if if you if you got him. You’re going to trade him if you can. All right. A mentioned Dustin Wolf. He’s not starting tonight in Calg for the Flames as they take on the Ottawa Senators. Let’s not waste any more time and get right to our pick. [Music] All right, 11 games on the 11 games on the board tonight. Uh we’ll go in order of uh the way the goalies are starting goalies are posted here. Uh Devin Culie at Ottawa tonight f facing Lenus Omar and the Ottawa Senators. Uh if you’re looking to uh place a wager on that game, the Senators minus 175 on the money line. Calgary plus 145. Your total is 6 and a half. Uh looking at this game, I got nothing to play here uh out of this one. Nothing appealing to me. Neither team both teams are just messes right now. Ottawa is so up and down inconsistent. Calgary can’t score. Nothing not touching this moment of 10 football. Yep. It always goes back to my fantasy team for me. I got Nazim Kadri as well as Dustin Wolf and I’ve been watching as many Calgary games as possible which is is kind of hard these days considering how bad they’ve been them and the Senators like you are definitely uh you know fight what is it fighting with fire if you’re you’re you’re betting on this this matchup here because I I really don’t know what leanin that you you could possibly get into with this these two teams. I can’t I will touch this. Oh wow. With a with my bare hand. It’s the over. Of course. It’s the over. These are two absolutely terrible teams. They’re terrible. They’re So, the good news is is goalending will be figured out because Lidar can’t stop a beach ball. I’m not buying Koulie’s one decent start. Not buying that. Uh I know the Flames can score, but every once in a while sometimes they do. If I remember correctly, I’m pretty sure didn’t Calgary light up uh Eagle or something like, you know what I mean? Like he did, right? So, you don’t have to go there. I I know. I know. But I’m I’m saying listen, if they can light up sh I know. Listen, I they scored against Toronto, too, in their last matchup. Yeah. So, you know what? They can score against the Senators. The Senators have been redhot, too. They They can score. The Senators have scored seven goals in a game what, twice now. The problem is they can’t keep it out of their net. They are They are fun. They are a coach’s worst nightmare, but they are fun. So, I’ll take the over. I’ll take the over. It probably could get a plus money, too. Listen, you’re asking for seven goals between two terrible teams. Easy. Over 6 and a half, plus 114 over at DraftKings right now. Can we find a better number than that? Uh, no. Plus 115 at ESPN bet. So, there you go. Those are going to be your two best spots if you want to take Chris’s advice and play the over there. Uh I he does make a very strong argument there. So I I I’m I’m leaning that way a little bit now. Stars at Lightning 7 o’clock. Tyler Sean’s thousandth career game. Kudos to him. He’ll get his silver stick either before the game tonight or at the next game or whatever. I don’t know if they’ll do it on the road, but he will get his silver stick. Uh you got Attinger versus Andre Vasalefki here. You’re looking to bet either of these teams on the money line. Tampa Bay home favorite minus 155. Dallas plus 130 on the money line. Total uh for this game is 52 1/2. Um for me, uh it and it did open at 6 1/2, but I would still take this under at 5 and a half. Uh it’s at six in some places. Now, you look at what Dallas has done in their recent uh Dallas has done in the recent games. They they they’re not scoring, just not putting the puck in the net. They haven’t scored more than three goals in a game since October 14th or a loss. Um, for Tampa Bay outside of the Anaheim and Nashville games, they’ve been a low-scoring team. Maybe their offense has finally gotten going against those two teams. We talked about Sorrowos not being a good goalender, but I’m not ready to buy in that the Tampa Bay Lightning offense is a full boore yet. I think you’re going to get a close matchup. Dallas will play it similarly to the way they played the Capitals the other night, uh, which was also a very lowcoring game. So, yeah, give me the under here. I’m with you there. I’m taking the under as well. Under six and a half for this game. Something’s not right with Tampa. Just like overall, Basilleski is not right. Braden Point, I can’t get points out of him and my fantasy team. And then when it comes to the Stars, you know, I had Logan Thompson in net loses a one- nothing shutout thanks to Jakeer. So, I I do feel like this is going to be a lowscoring game and because of that, they’re probably going to score more goals, right? Like that’s how it works out. Yeah. I mean, that’s, you know, because because Chris predicted a high-scoring affair in the Canadian capital tonight. It’s going to be like a one- nothing with five minutes to go in third. Oh, what did what did we call it uh in our text chain? The Chris of death. The curse of death. Yeah, the curse of death. Listen, that’s a thing. My record supports it. I am not touching this game. Uh like you said, Tampa Bay is just an absolute mess. The Stars are without Rupe Hints. They’re already without Duchain. Sam Steels on the wing. Tyler Sean on the top line. I no I don’t I don’t want any of that. I don’t want nothing to do with that. All right. So, uh so far we got a game where Chris has touching a game playing it where and I aren’t doing anything now. Vice versa. We go to Predators Flyers here. 7:00 puck drop for this one. Uh looking at the goalending matchup here. It’s going to be Jussi Sorrowos. Uh well, unconfirmed yet, but likely. And Dan Vladar going for the Flyers here. I’ve got no play in this one. Philly looked it was a good win against Pittsburgh the other night, but you know the only thing maybe I would consider here is the under. Uh looking at that total here if you want to play that it’s 5 a half at even money on the money line. The Predators plus 130, the Flyers minus 155 favorites at home. That would be my only lean here is maybe the under because neither team is great at scoring but I’m not playing this one. Yeah, I’m with you on that. I’m staying away. I I don’t need to care about this one. All right. So, if you were looking for uh anything there, sorry we couldn’t provide anything for you. If you are a Predators or a Flyers fan, sorry you made it this far with Duffin. Sorry. Like I said, I’ll lean under. That’s all I got. Uh Sabres Bruins here. Alex Lion and Ununis Corposal. The two guys going in net tonight. Uh looking on the money line. Uh Buffalo on the road at DraftKings right now. Minus 122. Uh the Bruins at plus 102. Uh, for this one, I I’ve got no lean on this one or anything to go with here. Chris, what do you got? Anything? The Bad Bruins versus the Bad Sabres. No, I I will not be taking the Sabres as a favorite ever because that is a that is a a road I will not travel. And that means I have to trust Corpusal. No, we’re not doing we’re not doing that either. I want nothing to do with this game. I hope it finishes 65 though for fantasy related reasons. But if you’re asking me to pick somebody who’s going to win, no idea. Everything that Chris said about the Flames Senators game, you could just copy and paste that to this one. Uh cuz both teams stink. And I’m taking the over six and a half here uh on goals. They these two teams are just not good. I mean, the Bruins are awful. Sabres have kind of, you know, evened themselves out after a horrific start, but they’re just nothing. So, I’ll take the over six and a half that these guys beat the crap out of each other. All right. I like it. A little old-fashioned Northeast rivalry there. Uh, again, so far we we’ve got, except for Predators Flyers, we’ve given you something for every game here. So, uh, thank you for watching here on Total Hockey Now here on our YouTube channel. We do this every Thursday. first half hour or so is fantasy or storylines or headlines or you know things like that and then we run the board 5:30 5:40 p.m. Eastern and go all the way through. So we’re through all the 7:00 Eastern puck drops. We do have a staggered one at 7:30 thanks to it being the ESPN plus Hulu game. Islanders at the Hurricanes 7:30 Eastern puck drop. Uh David Riddick going for the Islanders. Brandon Busy going for the Carolina Hurricanes there. He’s been given a chance with coachov hurt there and Freddy Anderson being as fragile as he is. Um it looks, you know, I know we call him red light Rick, but he’s 2 and 0, 939 save percentage right now, 2.0 goals against Ilia Sroken. Not been off to the best of starts here, so maybe they lean on Riddick a little bit. Um for this one, you know, I think, you know, there the Islanders have been fun to watch. They’ve been playing all right. Matthew Schaefer has been very well played very well out of the gate. I I I don’t trust Riddick to have another strong performance against a team like the Hurricanes here. So, I’m going to take the Hurricanes on the puck line because the regulation uh victory is already too juiced at minus 150. But, uh grabbing the Hurricanes on the puck line here. Why not? Of course, DraftKings takes everything off the board at that exact moment. As I’m about to say what what that is currently for the Hurricanes minus a puck and a half plus 114 at DraftKings. I’ll take that at plus money. Looking at the schedule for the Islanders, seven goals, six, seven, six, nine, seven, nine, seven, seven. I’m taking the over six and a half here. I think the Hurricanes are are going to go wild here and and the Islanders will probably score a couple goals. So, I I’ll take the over six and a half. I have no problem doing that with this this matchup. I will meet you guys somewhere in the middle there. I do believe that there will be goals that will be scored here. Uh no Matthew Barczel tonight cuz he could not get to the rink on time apparently for practice yesterday. That downtown traffic in New York apparently even for there’s no downtown traffic. He’s in Long Island. They they don’t even have to deal with Brooklyn for the rink there. I don’t know. I have I have no Southern State Parkway. I don’t know. No idea. Maybe he slept in at that point. Man, blame your wife for not waking you up. I will take the Hurricanes but in regulation. It’s not as juicy. It’s close enough where I think it’s fine. I just I just don’t trust the Islanders to score and uh I don’t trust David Riddick to continue the pace that he’s on. It’s It just doesn’t It doesn’t sound like something he was going to do. The Islanders are going to get some help. It sounds like Romanov is going to be back in the lineup, but I mean that’s still a pretty thin forward group. Their defensive group is still not the best. I The Hurricanes are just a better team overall. So, I need them to take care of business within the 60-minute window. So, Riddick uh played against the Red Wings and the Oilers this year and gave up two goals in each one. So, you know, maybe maybe he’s got a little something going, but I’m not ready to buy into him yet. So, I I’ll take the puck line here. I think car like Carolina is just going to I think they’re going to light him up for sure. As the resident Florida Panther fan is about to come off the screen over here for me as the Cats jumped up. We go to the 8:00 Eastern puck drops here. Penguins at Wild uh getting the start and net for that game. It’s going to be Tristan Jerry against Philip Gustoson here. Tristan Jerry as Chris alluded to earlier. Somehow someway 4-1 2.62 goals against 917 save percentage and a shut out. Um Philip Gustiffson numbers not looking as good on his end. Good thing I took him as my top goalie. 25-1 3.41 goals against 890 save percentage. Does have a shut out there though. you’re looking to grab the uh either side on the money line. Penguins are plus 145 and then the Wild are minus 175. So heavy home favorites for an inconsistent team versus the Penguins team that’s been surprising out of the gate here. Uh total there is six and a half. Uh I mean and I see in this one because I could see the Doc. We’re both all over the over this plus 100. Um both teams can put the puck in the net. You know Gustoson’s had trouble stopping it. I know we just put out the numbers for Tristan Jerry, but do you really buy that? Know we’re going against a lineup that has Capriov, Marco Rossy, and Joel Ericson Ek and Matt Baldy. So, yeah, I I’m all over the over on this one. It’s one of my favorite plays of the night. Yeah, the over six and a half. I love it. Uh I’m taking it. Uh Gustin fooled me once in one of my fantasy leagues. Wasn’t going to allow it to happen again. Uh he struggled to to start the season. And then when you got the goalending out in Pittsburgh, I mean, you’re looking like at giving up, you know, at least three goals a game, you know, that that’s what’s been for the most of the season. They’re either they’re either scoring three or more goals or giving up three or more goals. So, uh, especially with the Wild and and the talent that’s out there for that offense, I I think we’re going to have a high-scoring game here. So, I’ll take the six and a half over. I’ll make it a consensus. We finally agreed on something. We finally got there. Two-1. Ah, yeah. 100%. Tristan Jerry’s listening right now. He is he he’s popping a shout out. Um, the Wild are very consistent, but they’re consistent at being inconsistent and they’re fun to watch cuz the Wild have like one of the best power plays and the worst penalty kills. So, it’s just all over the place. It’s absolute chaos and I love it. They’ve move from a Zambium fan, they’ve moved him off the top unit. Brock uh Brock Faber has gone back to the unit. All of a sudden, apparently he’s good again. So, I’m just here for the chaos. That’s what it is. I I I think six and a half is fine. I would have felt even better if it was six, but if you give me six and a half and you get a little bit, you know, and you get an even money, I’ll take it from there. I expect maximum chaos between these two teams. Maximum. I think that, like we said, we’re all very confident in this one, so it’s going to be a two-1 victory one way or the other. I really think this is this the way the scoring there’s been a lot of scoring in the NHL out of the gate this year and this has a feeling of like one of those 65 kind of affairs. Yeah. So, we’ll see how that goes. Another game in the 8:00 window of the three uh 5:00 Pacific window. The Blackhawks are at the Jets. Uh the Chicago Blackhawks likely going to roll. Spencer Knight. Conor Hellabuk going to go for the uh Jets. He’s got a 53 and0 record. 225 goals against 926 save percentage. Spencer Knight 42 and one 2.11 goals against and 930 say percentage. You know sometimes you you know you look at the way teams are playing you look at the goalie matchup and like to me this is just this is this has got underwritten all over it. For the most part Chicago’s been involved in lowercing games this year and it’s Connor Halabuck and net for Winnipeg. You know I I this one is the one I do see kind of like a 3-1 final. Yeah that’s what I took. I took the under five and a half here just because of what you mentioned Spencer Knight in net. You got Connor Hellbuk in net as well. The Jets are home. So I see them having a great game here and the offense being limited for for both teams. Even though Connor Bedard had his first uh hat-tick of his career uh the other night. I think that the offense for both teams are going to be uh very very slow uh to start and and it’ll probably be what 2:1 3 to1 game or you know even worse it’ll be like a 67 type affair. So that yes they did just put in seven on Ottawa and yes they had eight on St. Louis but we’ve talked about how we feel about Ottawa being inconsistent. St. Louis we’re going to get to in a second here. Those are the only two teams they’ve really put up a ton of goals against here. You know you look at the rest way. one against the Kings, three against the Lightning, two against the Ducks, two against the Canucks, three against Utah, two against So everything points towards the under here with the way the Blackhawks are. And the Jets are just a lowcoring team in general. So yeah, I I’ll take the under five and a half here. Uh which you can get for uh plus 110 over at DraftKings right now. Uh if you’re looking to do it elsewhere, uh let’s see here. That’s probably the ESPN bet. Those are going to be the best two. If you wanted to go up to six at some spots, you could get it at minus 115. So, there you go. Chris, I’m just going to say this once. I said on the playbook today, I put together a fancy alarm. I I’m just going to say it once. The Jets are mid. Um Wow. We’re just going to say that the record does the record is good, but the play does not support it. So, the Jets cannot drive offense. They they can’t do it. They on at five on five. They cannot drive offense without Kyle Connor and Mark Shiffley. That team is just it’s not working. Shley is shooting 30% this year. 30. That is ridiculous. Connor uh Connor Hellabuk is putting together his goal say to have expected through the roof. So it’s not surprising to see Connor Hlebuk elite. It is surprising to see though his goal state above expected to be that high because it means that he’s having to do more. He is making an impact. He’s going above and beyond what he needs to do. Spencer Knight is also having a great he is ahead of Connor Halabuk. But I would understand why because Spencer Knight has to be out of his mind to to give his team even a sniff of an opportunity. The Blackhawks have also been decent on the road, which is something we could not say last year. We could not. We looked at the We looked at the Blackhawks. They were on the road. We pound whoever’s playing against them. Now, the sports books have basically given that like the Jets are like minus two what 220 or something like this. This needs to be this should be closer, but it’s not because of the teams that are named. So, I will go the other way because the value is there. I’m not saying they win, but they will keep it close enough. So, I’m going to take the Blackhawks money line straight up. I don’t know. This might This might be a a fun game considering what we could get from the Blackhawks. Like the Blackhawks could probably make this a fun game. They’ll keep it close. Like they’re not getting throttled 6-1. Now that I say it, they are. But before that, they’re not. So if it’s close, maybe they squeak it out in overtime. I don’t know. Because again, the Jets do not drive the play. So you can get the Blackhawks at what plus 190 95 certain places. If you can find plus 200, even better. But plus 190 is the best I saw. Would you consider, you know, maybe go plus a puck and a half at minus 135 in some places? You could if if you don’t want to live life like I do, which I suggest you don’t, you should probably take the Blackhawks puck line. But I think the Blackhawks the value to me, this is purely on value. That this line should be it shouldn’t be this wide. So there’s value on the Blackhawk side. There’s enough of it that if it does hit, then I’ll get paid for it. There you go. I like I like it. That’s That’s a good uh spot to maybe go out on a limb and take a shot there, especially because like you said, it’s up to plus 190 in a lot of spots. That’s not nothing. Now, the last game of the 8:00 window on the Easter or 8:00 puck drops, I should say. Canucks at Blues. And when I looked at this one initially, I’m like, I got no play. I don’t trust Vancouver. I don’t love the And the Blues have just been atrocious. The Blues have been really really bad to the point where I was like, you know, for the for the same reason you kind of just took the Blackhawks on the money line. It’s a good spot to plus 130 for Vancouver on the road. Somehow St. Louis is a minus 155 on the money line. St. Louis is on a fivegame losing streak. Have lost six of their last seven. Um have not really been close in any of the games except for the Kings game. Get blown out by the Blackhawks. They, you know, start the season 5 nothing lost to the W. There’s nothing really positive going on there. I’ve moved on from Cam Fowler as my fourth defenseman or third defenseman in some leagues because he’s just he’s got one assist on the season. Nothing’s going right in St. Louis right now. And not that I love the Canucks, but they are a scrappy team and they do play tough and they’ve been in competitive. They’ve been a lot. I’ll take a shot on them in the money lineup plus 130 here just because it’s a complete fade of the Blues. scrappy team because they got rid of JT Miller, the the problem out there in Vancouver. It feels like they’re what is it? Li Patterson playing a whole lot better because of that. Um I I could not take anything in this game. I don’t know. I just that’s the exact look that just clip it right there. Yeah, that’s that’s what every Blues fan I’m assuming feels. I I also have no play here. Uh Quinn Hughes is not going to play. Connor Garland is not playing. Um, even at that minus 150 for the Blues is just that is like that is believing the Conucks are like AHL quality team right there and they’re not. But I can’t trust the Conucks. They can’t score. They can’t score. They They cannot They cannot generate offense. It doesn’t matter where it’s coming from. Elias Patterson is blocking shots. The wrong Elias Patterson, not Elias. Elias Patterson can or can I think that the defense defenseman Person can block as many shots as he wants both of them. But the forward the one that they gave the 11 million bag to I don’t I don’t want you blocking shots. I want you filling the net. Yeah. You should be blocking shots by accident at that point. That’s what you’re doing. Exly the same way I do. You get in the way of your own teammate shots and you’re like, why did I do that? That’s the only way you do it. But I I don’t want anything to do with this. The Blues are terrible. No, I was just going to say the Blues are terrible. Uh, not that any like we know this, but Logan Mayu is just having an absolute terrible terrible start in St. Louis defensively and Blues fans are like, what is happening? And I’m like, well, that’s kind of that’s kind of how this goes defensively. Uh, it’s a work in progress there. Also, the Montgomery I guess the honeymoon’s over now. Like is that is that are we like I don’t know what we’re going to do here but if I’m a Blues fan I am very concerned very and Blues No Robert Thomas either so I could care less or Jake Neighbors. No Jake Neighbors just everybody’s out including me. Robert Thomas is out. Robert Thomas I I’m out too. I I would not suit up for them. Pablo moves to Navage for the uh for the rescue and that’s everything we’re saying here. Again, this is not a pick for me that has a ton of faith in the Canucks. It’s just everything is going wrong for St. Louis right now. Let’s take that that that’s to me that’s a good place to maybe take a stab. So, we got three games to go here. We are now in the 9:00 uh Eastern puck drop window. Only one of these Rangers at Oilers. Uh looking at the goalending matchup here for tonight. Uh you’re looking at Igor Shurken versus Steuart Skinner. Got to mention the goalies and Canucks Blues. That’s Lankin and Bennington by the way. Um, so maybe I don’t love the pick as as much with Lankin in in there, but I still will take my chance. Uh, Shist Sturken versus Skinner. If you’re looking to play either side on the money line, Knucks – 162 home favorites, Rangers plus 136 on the road. Total’s 5 12 here. I’ve got no play on this one. But I would, if I’m going to have a lean, it would probably be under. You know, the Rangers haven’t really been great at scoring. Maybe they can, you know, Shurken gets his groove back a little bit here. So may maybe the Rangers still lose. I just don’t necessarily see this being a high-scoring game, but no play for me here. See, if it was over 6 and a half, I would agreed, but since it’s just over five and a half, I am going to take the over there. I know the last time these two teams met, it was two nothing uh for Edmonton. That was like one of the first games that the Rangers could just not score in Madison Square Garden, but they’re on the road this time. They score a little bit better on the road. You never know what you’re going to get when you play against Edmonton’s offense. So, I will take the over five and a half. Maybe it’s 4-3 type affair. I can’t trust the Rangers offensively. I just can’t do it. Nobody can. I don’t think the Rangers can trust themselves. So, yes, they don’t they don’t they score more on the road, but I mean, a number that’s a little bit higher than zero at home is pretty easy to beat. Um, I also can’t trust Steuart Skinner. like it’s just I know it’s not that bad, but it’s not where it needs to be. Uh the Oilers are also not dominating. Like if it wasn’t for their power play clipping as it as it usually does, this team would really be struggling offensively. Uh and McDavid doesn’t score goals anymore. He’s like, “No thanks. I’m I’m done with that.” So, I just want nothing to do with this game. Rangers on the third of a four game road trip out to Pacific Northwest. They finish up with the Kraken on Saturday for coming home to play the Hurricanes on Tuesday. So there you go. So just a great stretch of games for the Rangers there, though it gets a tiny bit easier after that. Detroit Islanders, Nashville, uh Tampa, Columbus, Detroit, but then before having to head back out west to play Vegas, Colorado, Utah. Uh yeah, so just uh chance for the Rangers to maybe get a little bit right here, but going to be a bumpy month for them nonetheless. So that is the only game dropping the puck at the 9:00 uh hour Eastern. When we head to the 10:00 hour for the San Jose Sharks down in the South Bay hosting Ants, New Jersey Devils there. Goalending matchup for tonight. It’s going to be Alex Nadulkovich for the Sharks. No surprise there. Askar have not been playing well for the Sharks as of late. Jake Allen going for Devils. Jake Allen here has got a 50 and0 record, a 1.93 goals against and a 923 save percentage. Um if you’re looking for Nadulkovich’s stats, one two and one, 3.98 and an 874. Uh, so you know if the foreshadowing will probably tell you one of the ways I’m going to go on this game. Money line here, Sharks at home plus 170. Devils minus 205. Money line on the road total 6 and a half. Devils puck line plus 110. I’m This was what this is the other one besides the Penguins Wild over 6 and a half. This is the other one I think for sure. The Devils Listen, I know they had a rough time in Colorado tonight. That was a wild game being down four nothing and coming back and all that. That was the avalanche. Now they’re playing the Sharks. This they’re going to bounce back. I think they’re going to bounce back big. You could look at the over here too because nobody Devils may hit the over on their own potentially. It could be that kind of night. But you know, the Sharks offense has been getting going. So, you know, maybe they get one or two behind Jake Allen. I think the Devils take care of the rest to maybe get you that over. But definitely the puck line. I might have to switch. I might have I have the under. Okay. But I might have to switch now knowing who’s in net. The last time these two teams faced each other, uh it was a three to one affair, but Ascarov was in net. This is a different Yeah, this is a different uh goalie they’re going up against here. Thankfully, Jake Allen, and I can’t believe I’m saying this, but Jake Allen has been the best goalender on this team. So, Markstrom coming back giving up eight goals. I know last time we talked about the Devils, they had stopped I think it was 21 of 24 power plays on the on the penalty kill and they pretty much got destroyed it. Embarrassed by Colorado uh when it came to the penalty kill. Uh I think that they bounced back like you said here. I will take the over. Now I have switched to taking the over six and a half mostly because I think the Devils are going to bounce back offensively. Uh I they they really didn’t uh they scored five goals. They they made it a onegoal game in Colorado surprisingly enough after you know kind of being destroyed most of the game. So I I think that they’ll they’ll score their goals here. But also San Jose uh with Celibbrini and Smith. I mean they’re they’re a threat to score some goals here. And I know our Devils goalies can can give up some some easy goals at some point. So I’ll take the over here. switching my my numbers to over. Uh Jakob Gomez is uh 6 and0. Jac is 5-0. The only person on this panel without a goalie that is undefeated. Um right, I I won’t say any names, but it’s Adam. Uh listen, the Devils getting absolutely smacked in Colorado with Jake, like Marshmall was thrown to the wolves there. That was certainly a choice to say, “Hey, welcome to Altitude. This should go well.” Um, and like you said, they still made it a game. Um, I also have the Devils puck line. I can’t believe we can get this at plus money still. Uh, the Sharks are the Sharks are bad and their two wins that they have, they still needed to score six goals and those were in overtime. So, they have no regulation wins. They They can’t defend. They it it truly does not matter. Uh I think John Clingberg is back and that might actually make them worse. Uh if he plays Yes, if he plays more that’ll make them worse defensively. That’s that’s saying a lot about their blue line. Uh I don’t know what Michael Misa has done because he was on an absolute mini tear here. He is out of the lineup. I I guess, you know, being 18, living by the beach, man, you you know, load management for kids now. I don’t know. Uh he he should be in that lineup, but he’s not. So, this just seems like a good spot for the Devils to just smack them around. Just go out there. I know sometimes it’s hard to get up for these games, but considering the embarrassment that was in Colorado, I think that Sheldon Keith and the boys are going to be like, “Hey, let’s try to get the ship back. Let’s try to, you know, get back on track here. Let’s get back to what we were doing. Go out here. Let’s completely obliterate an inferior opponent.” They all take the puck line. All right. So, uh, got a two puck lines and an over in this one. And then the last game of the night, Red Wings got kings. is the night cap 10:30 puck drop at a crypto.com Arena. As mentioned earlier, it’s going to be Cam Talbot versus Darcy Keer tonight. I initially had no play on this game, but you mentioned the Red Wings power play earlier and the Kings penalty kill is pretty bad at 76%. So, part of me wants to take a stab here on, you know, the Red Wings money line on the road, which you could uh get here on DraftKings at went away on me. Of course, it does that every time. About to talk about it. There we go. Plus 124. Kings minus 148 at home. It’s a late ad. It’s not my most confident of ads, but if Detroit can only score on the power play, the Kings are just not a great penalty kill team, which is surprising to say right now, but it’s the truth. I I’ll take a plus 124 Red Wings moneyline bet. I’m staying away from this game. I really don’t like either of these two teams. Like, I am not I don’t I don’t have any interest in this game at all. I don’t know. I just they don’t do anything for me. I think they’re just middle of the pack. Uh I can’t I can’t feel anything either way. Makes uh that makes sense. Maybe this is the Camtal revenge game in some way. Uh but I don’t want to sign up for that because that’s not how I want to fall asleep. So I also have no play on this game. I I don’t I don’t know. I I can’t trust the Red Wings because they’re only good on the P they’re only good on the power play. Maybe the Kings stay disciplined. Maybe they take only one or two penalties and Red Wings don’t capitalize and you know I have to trust Darcy Keer as well. I don’t want to do that. Not this year. So I just I just don’t want anything to do with them. One thing going in the Kings favor is that I mean they’ve beaten a mix of teams. You know maybe the other thing too is they’re coming back home for what a fivegame road trip here. They won the four out of five. So, probably feeling good. I don’t know. Just something about the Red Wings tonight. Maybe the Kings come out a little bit slow at home. I don’t know. Maybe they got the Devils, you know, eyeball on that uh game on Saturday. But, uh yeah, I’ll take a a chance here with the Red Wings power play to get me a moneyline victory. Doesn’t have to be regulation. Doesn’t matter if it’s a shootout, just to get the win. Sure, why not? I’ve got the 10:30 Pacific game tonight. So, uh, at least I’ll have something to check, uh, while I’m killing time at the rink so I don’t fall asleep waiting for the, uh, 10:30 puck drop. So, there we go. Red Wings at Kings wraps us up for another Thursday here on Total Hockey Now here. That’s what we do. First half hour or so is fantasy and headlines. Then we uh, run the board and give our picks for tonight, which thanks for me taking the Red Wings money line. We could say only one game we did not give any plays for. That is true. The Predators and who was the other meaningless? Predators Flyers. Predators Flyers. That’s the other meeting. Let’s see what I forgot about. If you do care, 7 o’clock puck drop. That is the uh one orphan here from the uh pickless game. If you’re watching that game at 7:00, just explain why. Just send if you’re not a Predators or Flyers fan, that’s a reasonable re fan of those teams. Watch that. You always watch it. I still I’m still I’m still watching the New York Jets at least a little bit on some. That sounds terrible. And I’m still, you know, the Rangers I’m not, you know, it’s too early to bail on them. I’m watching the Sharks. I’ve got a lot of losing my view. You got you you’re you’re collecting L’s over there. Oh yeah. Uh let’s see. We got uh let’s see. First up, uh let’s talk about the Slapshot podcast. What do we got coming up on the or what do we have on the most recent edition? We uh talked a little bit about uh Dopez and Montbo. That’s basically it. I I tell you exactly why it’s not going to be a takeover just yet. There you go. It’s Craig Cody should listen in then. I’m gonna I go in through it in detail. We break it down. There’s lots of good numbers there. It’s it’s there’s like 3% science as well. Uh 97% gut, but also 100%, you know, coaching as well behind it. So, if you if you care about that, then you can hear my 100% correct opinion. Ant subway to Shay podcast in hiatus. This does get a nice segue into the World Series here. Chris’s Blue Jay is coming back to Toronto with a 3-2 series lead. How do we see the rest of that series going? My very limited baseball knowledge and opinion, I feel like the Dodgers win a heartbreaker in game six and then they just completely take care of business in game seven. That’s what I think here. You can’t count the Dodgers out. Although, I would like to see Toronto win it, but I I just I don’t think the Dodgers are dead yet. Listen, uh, Trey Yavage is Trey Yan Nasty. That kid, that kid, that kid barely made any money this year. I don’t know where he’s sleeping because he cannot afford to live in downtown Toronto. I can tell you that. Uh, but listen, it’s all about it’s all about clutch there, right? I listen, I I wore the Expose hat just so we don’t get confused. I would like to see though the, you know, trophy come north of the border to the one Canadian baseball team for now. For now. So, it’d be kind of nice. It’d be kind of nice. See how it goes. Game six is Friday on Halloween 7 Saturday. What are your thoughts, Ant? I think the Blue Jays wins this. Uh, my man, my man. I I think it’s I think it’s going to be in six because unless unless the Dodgers deploy Yamamoto to to pitch another nine inning game. Their pitching staff has just not been good throughout the whole postseason. I know they made it to the World Series, but they just have finally met their match in a team that’s just going to pick them apart. And that’s what the Blue Jays have done. So, I think that they finish this off uh in six and and really ride that momentum there. And then once that ends, uh, Sunday 10:00 a.m., Subway to Shay returns. We got the hot stove kicking off. All right, there we go. So that’s it. Baseball season ends on Saturday. Offseason coverage at Subway to Shay. Pick you right up on Sunday. Not even 24 hours from last pitch. No, no, no. You saw You saw me limp to the finish line in exhaustion. The energy is back, baby. The energy is back for at least the next two months before the season begins again. You need to distract yourself from all those terrible waiver wire picks up. So he’s like, “You know what? Let’s shift the focus here instead.” Yep. Good to have you back, Ant. Good to have the Subway the Shay podcast back and not a burnt out version because of the way the Mets season ended there. And totally understandable. That was a bad Yeah. We’ll see how next year goes. And then finally, ripen riff on YouTube and X. Myself and at Mr. Jared Moore, we come at you on Mondays recapping the NFL and looking ahead talking hockey, talking a little bit of baseball, but mostly football and hockey. That’s what we like to do and like we what the cards we like to open on the show. Uh I talk about why the Jets got their one first uh victory of the year. No, let’s not go crazy and win too many more. Let’s uh let’s try and have a good draft pick here. Let’s not do something stupid. Beat teams like the Saints and the Dolphins. And uh every day you can find my NHL picks uh not on Thursdays because I give them to you here, but uh most other days, Tuesdays, Saturdays, and then if I feel something on those other lighter days, wizardsports picks.com. That does it for this edition. Before Before we we close out, I apologize. before you close out here because you mentioned the Blue Jays and Trey Yavage 2024 draft. Uh he he got drafted by the Blue Jays at number 20. Who went before him? The New York Mets at number 19. They took Carson Benj. So Toronto, you’re welcome. Not like your Savage would help a pitch staff or anything. Just more just more pain for it. Yep. Just more pain. On that note, get out of here so Ant can go cry in a corner and uh right before it’s about dinner time out there. So uh you coming down for dinner? [Laughter] We’re at Fuzzy Chris 91 and Ed Rivera 86. I’m at Pucking Throats, Adam Bernard with your next Thursday, all new episode of Total Hockey Now. Running the board, going through all those picks and uh we’ll talk about some of those ice cold teams out of the gate in the first month of the season. Thanks for watching everybody. [Music] Heat up here.
Total Hockey Now is back for another Thursday of fantasy hockey and betting analysis. The guys will run the board and give their picks from the 11-game slate. They’ll also discuss the Canadiens, Red Wings, Penguins & Mammoth’s strong play the first month of the season and if they can sustain it into the Spring.
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