We made it. The National Hockey League regular season is in the books, and we’re ready for the postseason. There will be 16 teams competing for Lord Stanley’s holy grail, and 15 other organizations will be watching on their television sets. It’s an exciting time in Raleigh, as the Carolina Hurricanes punched their ticket to the playoffs for the first time in 10 seasons. The Colorado Avalanche also dominated down the stretch to secure a wild-card spot, while the Arizona Coyotes, Minnesota Wild and Montreal Canadiens lost out in the last couple of days, unable to join the party. It’s going to be an amazing postseason. Let’s get started!
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[[ad:athena]]As mentioned, the Hurricanes are back in the playoffs for the first time since 2009 and they will face the defending champion Washington Capitals in the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals. I can tell you first hand that the Raleigh area is a hockey area. Yes, attendance has been an issue in recent seasons, but winning is a cure for everything, and there hasn’t been a lot of that until the new ownership regime made some key changes. If you don’t know, the ponds occasionally freeze here. There is a tremendous youth movement on the ice, and the North Carolina State University Icepack, led by head coach Mike Gazzillo, were the 2018-19 ACCHL Champions. They went to ACHA Nationals after an unbeaten regular season, losing in the Semifinals.
As far as the Hurricanes are concerned, they had nine skaters appear in all 82 games this season, setting a new franchise record. They are the 12th team in NHL history to have at least nine players play in every game of a full season. Durability has been a key to their success, as has timely and unexpected strong goaltending by Petr Mrazek and Curtis McElhinney, who emerged as useful fantasy options for a good chunk of the season.
In addition, Teuvo Teravainen emerged as a superstar this season, racking up 21 goals and 55 points with a plus-30 rating with eight power-play goals and 24 points on the man advantage, all new career highs with the exception of his goal total. He has found a home in Raleigh, averaging 22 goals and 70 points over the past two seasons with at least five power-play goals in each of the past three campaigns. Fellow Finn and All-Star Sebastian Aho was scoreless in Philadelphia on Saturday, but he had a great season. He ended up with 30 goals and 83 points with a plus-25 rating and 24 power-play points. He is going to be a great fantasy option in dynasty pools for many years to come.
In Columbus, general manager Jarmo Kekalainen had to be sweating bullets in recent days. He mortgaged the future to bring in the likes of Matt Duchene, Ryan Dzingel, Adam McQuaid and Keith Kinkaid from outside of the organization for a bevy of draft picks, while also holding impending free-agents Sergei Bobrovsky and Artemi Panarin with the likelihood of getting nothing back in return. The Jackets finally clinched a spot over the weekend and they will face off against the President’s Trophy winning Tampa Bay Lightning after the Hurricanes edged them out in the standings.
Out west, Calgary’s Johnny Gaudreau picked up an assist in the regular-season finale to come up just short of a century mark with 99 points. Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon scored a goal in Saturday’s game against San Jose, as he also came up just short in his quest for triple digits, ending up at the 99-point mark. Regardless, both players had amazing seasons for fantasy owners and they’re outstanding options in postseason pools and DFS play as well.
It’s bad enough the Edmonton Oilers missed the playoffs, and that was determined a while ago, but Connor McDavid (leg) suffered a left leg injury after he was tripped by Mark Giordano in the second period. McDavid crashed into the goal post and was down for several minutes before being helped off the ice by Zack Kassian and a medical trainer. McDavid had X-rays which were negative, but the superstar will have an MRI on Sunday to determine if he suffered any structural damage or a more serious injury.
Also in Edmonton, Leon Draisaitl reached the 50-goal mark to become the first Oilers player since Craig Simpson in 1987-88 to notch 50 or more goals in a single season. He finished with 50 goals and 105 points to prove he is not just riding McDavid’s coattails, but the German pivot is a legit superstar in his own right. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, a former top pick in the 2011 NHL Entry Draft, also wants to be in that superstar discussion. Perhaps he is a bit of a late bloomer, but he posted 28 goals and 69 points while also scoring eight power-play goals for a career year. It will be interesting to see where he goes in fantasy drafts next season.
Quick Hits: Arizona’s Darcy Kuemper did not play in the regular-season finale, but he had a tremendous season. He wrapped up the 2018-19 campaign with a 27-20-8 record, 2.33 GAA and .925 save percentage with five shutouts. He actually tied Tampa Bay’s Andrei Vasilevskiy for the lowest GAA among goaltenders with at least 50 games played. Not many predicted that before the season, and Kuemper was a big reason why the Coyotes were in the playoff hunt until the final weekend. … Connor Hellebuyck played in his 63rd regular-season game in Saturday, allowing two goals on 21 shots in the road win against the Arizona Coyotes. He was third in games played behind Minnesota’s Devan Dubnyk (67) and Montreal’s Carey Price (66). The difference between Hellebuyck and those two netminders is that the Jets are going to the postseason. … Ben Bishop turned aside all 24 shots he faced in Saturday’s 3-0 victory against Minnesota. Bishop wrapped up the regular season with a 27-15-2 record, 1.98 GAA and .934 save percentage in 46 games, and the shutout was his seventh of the season. If he gets hot during the playoffs the Stars could be dangerous. He’ll be a popular DFS option early on, too. … Ryan Poehling made his debut in the final against the Toronto Maple Leafs and he had a game. He registered a hat trick and the sent the home folks away happy with the winner in a shootout, too. … Florida’s Aleksander Barkov posted a goal and an assist in Saturday’s finale against the New Jersey Devils, giving him 96 points for a new franchise record. The previous record was held by the great Pavel Bure back in 1999-2000. … Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby was able to reach the 100-point mark for the sixth time in his career.
