#Nico and Jack are giving us taking on an entire hockey team on their backs and willing it to succeed

[imperatorrrrr]

having only recently really delved deep into the Nico/Nolan lore and obviously already in deep with the Nico/Jack stuff.

I need fic about the Nolan - Nico - Jack of it all. How does Jack feel about Nico’s Nolan romance? How does Nolan feel about Nico’s new golden boy?

(and how does poor Jesper Bratt feel because he’s lived through all of it)

[lvrhughes]

Sunshine | N. Hischier

pairing: Nico Hischier x gn!reader

summary: you were the teams black cat, grumpy nurse, but Nico, the teams sunshine captain, breaks that assumption.

warnings: cursing, kissing?

word count: 2.6k

requested: yes

not my gif!

“I think you should just see, you never know.”

“He’s so… sunshine though.”

She rolled her eyes at the words, lightly smacking your arm.

“He is not! Besides, you could use a little sunshine.”

“He’s like a golden retriever!” you groaned, earning a laugh.

“He’s not blonde though.”

“A black lab.” 

“One chance, babe. Give him one, add a little sunshine to your life.”

The words haunted your mind, following you everywhere. Making you constantly think of him, getting worse when you were at work. 

The gentle knocking on your office door broke you from your thought, yelling a ‘come in’ to whoever was out there.

“Well well, if it isn't sunshine.” you grinned, pushing away all the other thoughts of him flooding your mind. He pushed a hand through his hair, a small smile forming on his lips.

“Sunshine, hmm?”

“It’s just an inside thing, so what up neeks?”

“I got slammed into the boards in practice, coach made me leave to see you.”

“Where’d you get slammed?”

“My shoulder.”

You got up, walking over to him, leading him down onto the bed in the corner. 

“Can I?” he nodded, letting you touch his shoulder, immediately wincing after. “You did some damage.”

“Not me, Jack.” he groaned. 

“Well, it looks like Jack managed a hit that dislocated your shoulder.”

He groaned at the words, muting curses at Jack under his breath. 

“I can pop it back in, you should skip the rest of practice today but fine for the next, okay?”

He hummed in response, letting you give warning it would hurt, earning another nod. So you fixed it as quickly as you can, earning many groans in the process. 

“Fuck!” he cursed, making you pause to check on him.

“Are you okay, neek?”

“Mhm.” he nodded, clearly not enthusiastic about the pain he was enduring.

“We’re done.”

“Thank God!” he grinned, moving his arm slightly, still a little sore, discomfort on his face. “I’ll go now, thank you.” he had his signature smile on his face the entire time, barely letting you rattle off any safely protocols. 

He was out quickly, almost running back to the locker rooms, assumingly to yell as Jack. letting you grab your phone to immediately text your friend.

‘He just dislocated his shoulder, he was still smiling the entire time!’

‘He’s sunshine for a reason, you could use him.’

‘I’m not taking sunshine out.’

‘Your loss, if you won’t I will’

The message leaving a unfamiliar feeling bubbling in you, not wanting him with anyone else. Of course that wasn’t up to you, unless you did something about it, but he was so happy, bubbly the opposite of what you showed.

Another knock on your door pulled you from the messages, calling the person to enter, seeing Jack walk in after.

“Jack.” you nodded, letting him repeat your name back to you with a nod. “What’s up?”

“Nico may have punched me, very hard, and I just want to know how bad it is. It fucking hurts!” he grimaced. 

“Sit.” you ordered, getting him to sit on the bed, walking over to examine the darkening bruise on him. 

“You know, you and cap would be so good together.” you choked on air at the words, making you back away from jack for a minute.

“What?”

“He’s so sunny and you're so, how do I say this, grumpy.” he deadpanned, making you roll your eyes, lightly smacking the back of his arm.

“I am not going out with sunshine.” 

“Aw you gave him a nickname.” Jack cooed, earning another smack, this time harder. “Ouch.” he groaned.

“Shut it, jack.” you return to see how badly he’d bruise, seeing nothing major. “It’ll just bruise, might be tender, but your fine, not going to kill your hockey skills.” 

“Thanks, oscar.”

“Oscar?” 

“You know, oscar the grouch?”

“Go home jack.” you deadpanned at him, raising his arms in false surrender, backing out before yelling to you once more.

“I’ll tell sunshine to meet you at six! He’ll pick you up.” 

“JACK!” running out the door after him, grabbing him tightly when you caught him. “What the fuck?”

“Calm, calm. I didn’t tell cap anything, yet, but your reaction proves me correct. You like cap.” he smirked, earning a tighter grip on his arms, making him whine and try to pull away. 

“I do not.” 

“Don’t lie.” the smirk never left his face, even when you pulled away to answer your phone.

“Hmm?”

Your friend on the other line, loudly talking about Nico, and her plan to ask him out now. The thought of jack standing in front of you left your mind, letting your shoulders drop and a sour look return to your face. 

“Okay, I love you, but please I’m at work.”

“Right right, sorry, I’ll let you go! I hope he says yes!” and she hung up, leaving you to shake your head.

“You completely like him!” he sounded like a teen girl gossiping to her friends

“Quit it jack.” 

“Give it a chance, grump. Come on, you're perfect together, it’s literally grumpy and happy, sunshine and rain. You're perfect for each other!”

“I said quit it! I’m not going out with Nico, he doesn’t like me, I don’t like him!”

“Stop lying!” Jack groaned. “He likes you, you like him.”

He glared at you, giving the most serious face you’d ever seen from Jack, earning a sigh to fall from your lips.

“He doesn’t like me, we’re polar opposites!”

“That’s what makes it perfect!”

You could hear the footsteps behind you, barely giving you the time to turn around before someone was hugging you.

“What the fuck?” was all you could mumbled out, being held against them, earning a laugh from them. Nico.

“Neek?”

“Hi.” 

“Why’re you still here?”

“Jack needed a ride home.” 

“Oh.” Of course, it’s not like he’d stay for no reason, but you forgot Jack was there the minute his arms surrounded you. 

You didn’t hear the words said between Jack and Nico, letting yourself find comfort in his warmth this once. Staying against him until he moved, making you move away, groaning. 

“My personal heater!” Nico laughed, bringing you back into his arms after he sat on the floor. 

“I’ll stay your heater as long as you want.” heat rose to your cheeks, burying in his chest to hide quickly, a small smile on your face.

“I made them smile!” he sounded so proud, jack, who now sat beside him, rolled his eyes. 

“You know, I might've heard some of your conversation.” Nico whispered, making you shoot up from his chest, staring at him with wide eyes.

“What?” panic filled your chest, his hands immediately running circles on your skin to calm you.

“Calm baby, is s’okay.” the words giving no comfort. “I’m not going to say yes to your friend.”

“Oh.” that conversation. 

“I’d rather go out with someone else.” your heart dropped again, but letting yourself try to move on. 

“Well I hope they say yes.”

“Me too,” he grinned, placing a kiss on the side of your head. “So, will you go out with me?”

Expect the unexpected, right? Yet, you were not prepared for that, choking on air again.

“What?” you managed to cough out, his hands running up and down your back softly.

“Do you want to go out with me?” A small nod was all you could manage, letting you watch the smile grow on his face, jumping up quickly. Spinning around, spinning you in his arms, laughing the entire time, earning a few laughs from you. 

“I’ll pick you up at six, okay?” he grinned, his smile never faltering, letting you nod back. He place one last kiss to your temple before running off with Jack, letting you comprehend everything.

In a haste calling your friend, explaining what just happened, and asking what to do.

“Go get ready, dummy!”

Rushing home, for no reason, giving you just over three hours. Choosing your average attire, not knowing what he was doing, letting you sit and overthink everything before the sound of your doorbell pulled you away, running to go open it. Nico, with a bouquet of flowers in hand, stood outside, making you melt a little at the sight.

“I got you these.” he passed you the flowers, letting you put them in water before leading you to his car. Making sure to open the door for you, buckling your seatbelt for you, and then running over to his side, starting the car swiftly. 

“So, where are we going?”

“I asked your friends, and they were pretty unhelpful,” he laughed, “But I thought something casual at first, then we’ll go out alone later.” he grinned, making you slightly smile at him. 

“So others are there too?”

“Yeah, I hope that’s okay, I thought it was a good time for team bonding, and you’ve gotta be a part of the team now.”

“Oh, do i?” teasing, but a small moment of panic flashed Nico, making sure you grabbed his hand to calm him.

“Please?”

The drive wasn’t long, holding Nico’s hand the entire time, him making sure you stayed in the car til he could run over. Opening your door for you, grabbing your hand again after, leading you in. 

“CAP!” was cheered at him, his teammates immediately spotting him. 

“Well would ya look at that,” one of the boys started, “our little sunshine cap and the black cat nurse.” he grinned, earning a smack from you, a laugh from Nico.

“It’s so cliché!” Jesper added, “Grumpy and sunshine!”  

“Stop.” you groaned, turning into Nico. letting his arms wrap around you, keeping you tight against his chest.

“See I bet if I did that they’d stab me.” Jack groaned from the side, earning a side glare, making him cower behind Dougie.  

Nico, maneuvering with you in his arms, sat down beside Dougie, pulling you up into his lap to sit. 

The night went on similarly, never ending comments about their ‘sunshine, happy’ cap and the ‘black cat, grumpy’ nurse, until you yelled at them, making them all freeze, the comments ending right after. Sharing drinks with Nico, never leaving his side. Until he left for a few minutes, leaving you to speak with Timo

“I would’ve never expected you to be so… clingy?” you knew he meant nothing with the words, letting him say what he wanted, cutting Timo off after a minute.

“Only with certain people, I have to really trust them. The black cat thing kinda just came up, it was my way of keeping people out.” 

“You know you don’t have to keep us out, we won’t hurt you and if we did I think Nico would kill us.” you grinned at the words, making him smile back at you.

 “Maybe.” 

“Maybe?”

“Maybe I’ll let you in.” the smile on his face grew, opening his arms, giving you a cue, if you wanted, to hug him. You slid in his arms, letting them secure around you, an oddly comforting feeling. 

“TIMO CAN HUG YOU BUT I CAN’T!” Jack's voice yelled towards the scene, making you pull away to glare at him. “See! They hate me.” he dramatically groaned. 

“Jack.” the stern voice luring to run behind Jesper, yet again. “Come here.” slowly, he walked over, looking like a child in trouble.

You open your arms when he a got close, seeing the smile arise on his face, he quickly jumped into you. Snaking his arms around you, letting the two of you hug for about 30 seconds before he was bouncing off the walls again.

“They don’t hate me!” he almost screamed, running around now, telling everyone, making you laugh at his antics. 

“What did you do?” the words spoken right beside your ear, making you jump a little at the feeling of his warm breath on your neck and his arms around your waist. 

“I gave him a hug.” Nico laughed at the confession, letting you feel the movement from his chest, tugging you down onto his lap when he sat down again. 

“You’re gorgeous” he murmured, pressing his lips lightly on your neck, making you lean to give him more access. 

“You’re so pretty, neeks.” making him lift from his place of leaving kiss down your neck, turning you around in his lap to face you. Letting you hold eye contact with him for a minute, letting him lean in. placing a gentle kiss to your lips, reciprocating immediately. Melting against him, your hands running through his hair while he held you tight around the waist. 

“You don’t know how long I’ve wanted this.” he mumbled against your lips, moving to pepper you with kisses, making you laugh. 

“I swear this is the most I’ve ever seen them smile in a day!” the voice belonging to Dawson, who sat with Ryleigh in his lap. A chorus of agreement flooding in after. 

“What? I like Nico, can you blame me?” laughter from the team filled the space, a smile and more kisses from Nico following. 

“Can we go home?” your question was quiet, but Nico was listening, nodding before picking you up. 

“Goodnight!” he yelled to his team, leaving with a chorus of other goodnights and some use protection jokes. Carrying you to his car, setting you in the passenger seat, buckling your seatbelt, and then running over to his side just like before. 

“Such a gentleman.” you cooed, when he got in, him leaning over for another kiss. 

This time, his hand stayed on your thigh the entire drive, rubbing soft circles. Until he pulled into your driveway, making sure you stayed til he could open your door again. Following you to your door. 

“Are you going to stay out there all night?” 

“Do you want me to come in?”

“Mhm, need some cuddles.” he grinned at the words following you in, sitting on the couch with you, letting you lay on him while he rubbed your back, some random show on tv. 

Staying like that until you were about to fall asleep, fighting to stay awake, the consistent beating of his heart and his gentle touch luring you to sleep. 

“I’ll bring you to your room, which one?” he asked picking you up.

“Second door on the left down the hall.” you managed before yawning. Letting him bring you to your room. He set you on your bed gently, kissing your temple again.

“Goodnight, love.”

“You’re not staying?” the tiniest bit of hurt could be heard in your voice, making him immediately freeze.

“Do you want me to?”

“Please.” you murmured, your arms reached out for him. Letting him slide in your arms, rolling to lay with you against his side.

“Are we really going to sleep in our clothes?” you asked, noticing both of your attires. 

“I don’t have any other clothes.”

You groaned, getting out of bed, ruffling through your closet, grabbing any random shirts you had that could fit him and throwing them to Nico.

“Should fit.” you mumbled, turning to change into another one to sleep in. Sliding back in beside Nico, where he was now fitted in a random t-shirt and his boxers. Letting him pull you tight against him, his grip tight but not too, leaving a few kisses to your neck before giving you one last proper kiss, whispering some sweet words in German, kissing your temple once more after. 

“Goodnight, meine liebe.” he mumbled against your hair, your head against his chest letting his heartbeat lull you back into a peaceful sleep, not not before whispering him a goodnight in return, making a reminder to figure out what ‘meine liebe’ means in the morning.

[fear-of-flyers]

new perspective

tracklist

<<play last current song play next>>

featured lyric(s): "you and all of your new perspective now, wish i could shut it in a closet and drag you back down."

parental advisory: mentions of cheating

when you started dating jack in sophomore year there was no denying that he would end up playing professional hockey. and when you were just as serious halfway through senior year you decided you would follow him anywhere; and anywhere ended up being new jersey. jack was playing with the ndtp and you were at johns hopkins studying psychology but when he was drafted it was easy enough to transfer to rutgers. when you got there you were assigned a dorm but started helping ellen help jack look for an apartment. throughout the process jack insisted that you found something you liked too because he wanted you to move in with him. and despite constantly asking “are you sure?”, the two of you found a nice two bedroom apartment halfway between his practice facility and the prudential center but still close to campus for you.

and things were going well. jack was living his dream and you were on your way to living yours. classes were going well and you went to games whenever you could. you were there for his debut and went to dinner with ellen, jim and luke after. and you were there for his first goal in a game against the canucks of all teams. you went out for dinner with his family after that game as well, but dinner was a shorter affair because the team wanted to take jack out to celebrate. everyone understood though and it worked out because ellen and jim got time to themselves while you, quinn, and luke got ice cream at a place near your apartment. at the end of the night you sent them back to the hotel in an uber and welcomed a slightly intoxicated jack back home. “you know i love you right?” jack asked as you were shuttling him to the bathroom. “yeah jacky, i know.” you respond, giggling as he turns to hug you, making the entire process of getting ready for bed harder. “okay good.” he says “gotta make sure you still do after tonight.” hearing that you pause slightly, not having a clue what he was talking about. but you don’t think too into it, assuming he’s referring to being drunk and needy.

but everything comes to light a few weeks later. the devils are on the road in california and after a game against anaheim you keep the tv on in the background as you clean your apartment. jack had texted that he was giving an interview after the game and you wanted to hear it. the game had been good for him, an assist and a goal late in the third that led to a devils win. the interview started normally, he was congratulated on the game and asked about the team; but the question that stook out to you was when the interviewer asked what being in the league had been like so far. his answer? “it’s been really good, it’s like i have a whole new perspective on everything.” as far as you were aware jack’s outlook on life hadn’t changed all that much, but you pushed it aside thinking that if something was really important jack would tell you himself. 

you were mistaken though because the next morning you woke up to what felt like hundreds of texts from everyone you knew. the one that stood out the most though was from pk subban. he had almost adopted the two of you when jack started with the team and had been there for everything you might need. the text simply read “i’m so sorry. i promise we tried to stop him.” sitting up you rubbed your eyes, confused, and scroll through the rest of your messages. they all loosely said the same things and contained the same screenshots. one from nico “he was drunk but that doesn’t excuse it. i’m here if you need anything.” a couple from your friends back home “he was stupid for that, call us asap.” and a couple in the groupchat you had with all of the hughes brothers. luke had seen it first, in the background of someone’s since deleted instagram story and texted quinn to confirm before immediately texting you. the message was simple, a screenshot captioned “jack what the hell?” quinn had responded with something similar and texted you separately to let you know that he wouldn’t choose jack’s side (if that’s what it came to). and jack hadn’t said anything.

for a full day after he cheated jack had no communication with you. no “i’m sorry” or “it was a mistake” not even an “i don’t regret it.” just radio silence. finally, after his third west coast game, on his way to the plane back home he texted “can we talk when i get back?” sighing to yourself you liked the message and went about your day. you weren’t exactly looking forward to the conversation that would inevitably end in a breakup. you had talked to your friends and parents, and everyone said that ending the relationship would probably be for the best. so, taking that into account, while he was on his flight across the country you were packing all of your things into suitcases and storage bins to move into the dorms. your roommate was in a bunch of your classes and when you didn’t initially move in she let you know that the room was always there if you needed a break. 

when most of your stuff was moved you sat on the couch, waiting for jack’s return home. and finally, just past one, you heard his key in the door. you listened as he took his shoes off and placed his keys on the rack ellen made you get. you followed his path further into the apartment via the familiar sounds of his routines until he eventually appeared in front of you. you nodded your hello and motioned for jack to sit on the couch. “so…” he started, trailing off and fidgeting with his fingers. “so?” you prompted, adding “you cheated on me” when jack seemed at a loss for words. “i’m sorry.” jack finally says. “i was drunk and wasn’t thinking. i shouldn’t have.” you nod, expecting him to continue, to say anything that feels genuine but that never comes. “i think we should break up.” you say, not wanting to drag the conversation out any further. jack’s head shoots up to look at you, eyes wide in shock. “what?” he asks. “why?” you almost laugh, “what do you mean ‘why’ jack?” you ask. “you kissed someone else.” at that jack shakes his head “i was drunk y/n, it can’t be that big of a deal.” then you can’t even be bothered to hold back your laugh. “it’s a pretty big deal to me jack.” you say, not getting how he doesn’t understand. “what if i kissed someone else?” 

“that’s different” jack say and you snap. “how the fuck is it different jack? how is me kissing someone else different than you kissing someone else? why is it okay for you to cheat but i can’t even bring it up?” you ask, standing up. “is this what you meant in that interview? is this your new perspective? whatever jack. we’re over.” hearing that makes it real to jack, “what? no, come on, let me fix this.” he says, standing up to face you again. and looking into his eyes you see pieces of the man you fell in love with, but no matter how much you want to cave you know you can’t. “you can’t fix it jack.” you admit, sighing softly, “i wish i could shut this all in the hall closet and drag you back down with me but i can’t. you will always be my first everything jack and i wouldn’t trade it for the world. i think this is gonna be good for both of us, and it’s not like you’ll never see me again. we’ll figure it out eventually, we’ll just be apart while we do it.”

[andrewuttaro]

New Look Sabres: GM 2 - NJD - Goals for Everyone!

Undefeated. Let’s just say that as many times as possible before we inevitably can’t anymore. If this team plays well these first couple weeks not only could it be good for the long run to get a good start but, there are some very telling challenges coming up. We’ll get to last night’s opponent, a very well upgraded Devils team in spite of what the score says, but tomorrow we take a jaunt down to Columbus to face a Blue Jackets squad that isn’t what it was last year. Next week proper we got the two divisional rivals Buffalo maybe fighting for wildcard spots with later this season: Montreal and Florida. The Sabres hammered the Habs last season but I’m not certain that will happen again. Florida absolutely had our number and the addition of Coach Q and more competent goaltending is a little frightening. Then Dallas visits before the annual October California road trip. There is a lot of off time in early November because of the Global Series in Sweden so if October looks good we’ll have a lot of time to sit on it. If we’re all being honest, we need some time to just feel good about this team. The Devils are an interesting club to consider this season. Some folks have them winning the Met while others have them missing the playoffs by dozens of points. It’s weird in a league that stresses parody so much that such a wide chasm can exist between predictions but here we are. I’m going to err on the higher side after the first couple games they’ve put up. A 2-0 drubbing of Columbus followed by a shootout loss to Winnipeg that looked like a rout the other way for most of the game. Those examples are here to say what we just saw last night was a little explicable. It’s a bit of tale of two games in that this would’ve been a night to remember no matter the outcome.

Fifteen of the Sabres Twenty plus former Captains participated in a pregame ceremony that was touched off by Rick Jeanneret coming out to get a standing ovation. There was emotion before the puck even dropped. The crowd went crazy for the 50th Anniversary jerseys when they appeared on the jumbotron and booed when the Devils came out. It was bordering on a religious experience already and then… *breathes out nostalgically* …then this current Buffalo Sabres teams put together the fourth, fifth and sixth straight periods of complete, full-effort team hockey. Before we get to the four-course meal that was this game, I think it’s important to say the reason we have to get legitimately excited about this club right now is that we’re seeing levels of effort and consistency through two games that were few and far between in past seasons. A lot of people were talking about how bad a Coach Phil Housley must have been to not get this level of play out of mostly the same the roster last season. I see the reasoning there but all that blame you’re sending that way, turn it into credit and send it Ralph Krueger’s way. We joked about how this new coach talked a big, group buy-in rhetoric in the preseason that was supposed to pay dividends beyond the mere culture this culture that we’ve gotten so used to with the Buffalo Bills. But the tight, fast, everyone playing-together jargon we kept hearing is now unfolding right in front of us. If this guy gets Marco Scandella, Vladimir Sobotka and dare I say it… Rasmus Ristolainen to not be statistical black holes then he’s the miracle worker we’ve been waiting for. Only time will tell after all, we’re two games into an 82-game season. Wow though. Just wow, what a game I got to be at.

This game was incredible from almost the very start. Will Butcher got called for holding on Jack Eichel and to that I say: Will, you could’ve been Sabre and gotten to hold Jack legally, but there you are going to the Sin Bin for it! On the ensuing powerplay the puck found it’s way to Eichel beside the net and instead of shooting point blank the current Captain threw it out to Victor Olofsson who winds up for maybe a half second and then shoots it through the woods into the net. That goal was special. I don’t know if Devils goalie Mackenzie Blackwood even saw it. That will become a theme tonight by the way. The Sabres goalie, Carter Hutton, has now had two great games and I want to give him huge props for holding the fort again last night, but he only needed to make 18 saves to win this after facing a total of 20 shots. He’s seen far busier nights. The whole game I’m trying to figure out if the Sabres defense is good now or is the Devils offense just so bad? I mean the Devils have Hall, Hischier, Simmons, Zajac and Hughes so they should be a threat, but Marco Scandella had the best 5 on 5 corsi of every person wearing skates in this game. Like… what is going on? If I wasn’t at the game with people yelling all around me I would have thought I ate something strange and was on some kind of groovy hallucinogenic trip. Well the good kept coming and after another holding call against the Devils Jack Eichel cleaned up a Jeff Skinner rebound on the powerplay. Blackwood couldn’t control it deep in his own crease and there it was 2-0 Sabres at 17:26 of the first. For what a fun start it was, you go to the intermission with the most dangerous lead in hockey thinking this game is still very much a game. By the end of the next period it would become a rout.

Before most of the enthusiastic crowd was back to their seats Kyle Palmieri scored a one timer off a Taylor Hall assist to cut the lead in half. Now I don’t know why but this game featured bone-rattling hits. The kind of thunder dome stuff that gets a crowd going. Jake McCabe was landing them left and right. This is generous for me to say because the shots were lopsided in favor of the home team throughout this game, but this was the only time the Devils could’ve taken control of this game. A goal to tie it early in the second and this would’ve been an entirely different game. Even at the 2-1 score line the crowd was a factor in this game. There were sporadic Bills cheers and totally spontaneous Let’s Go Buffalo chants. This little tyke rarely-sitting next to me was losing his mind and he was something of a barometer of the fans overall. Every time the puck got knocked out of the defensive zone there was deafening cheers. It felt like a playoff game and I’ve only been to Amerks playoff games and those have all turned to shite lately. This game did not. It was electric in there. Want to know how good the Sabres were doing? Kyle Okposo and the retread third line that we decried at the end of Training Camp were hemming the Devils in their zone! What!? Kyle Okposo redirected a shot originating from Rasmus Dahlin at the blueline and we’re up 3-1. Unreal. It only got better. Jeff Skinner, streaming into the zone with Marcus Johansson and *checks notes* Vladimir Sobotka, gets a cross-ice pass and shoots in short side. 4-1 Buffalo.

We all feared the guy we just signed for eight years to big money wouldn’t score until November with that Vladdy anchor on his line; but no, on only his tenth shot of the young season he sinks one and we get to see that beautiful smile again. The second period was a total shooting gallery, but one non-scoring play this period made a girl sitting a few seats down from me screech in a way you normally only hear in comedy clubs. Jack Eichel skates through red-jersey defenders moving the puck all around and dekes the ever-living daylights out of Nico Hischier. The poor kid fell on his ass like they were playing street basketball or something. The crowd went wild for the rest of the shift. In this environment, the Devils gave us another powerplay opportunity! You’ll need to watch the replay on this one. A clinic in Captaining unfolded as Eichel dribbles the puck in the right circle looking for someone and makes the kind of meaningful eye contact with Victor Olofsson on the other side that can only mean one thing: go to the goal. Eichel passes it through not one, not two, not even three but four Devils defenders to Victor who bounces it off of either Reinhart’s skate in front or Blackwood’s pads and recollects his own rebound. Not a second later Olofsson takes another shot and buries it. Correction, Reinhart passed it back to him. It’s as if this goal was going to happen one way or another. That made it… *pauses for dramatic effect* FIVE to ONE Sabres. Gee, I felt greedy.

I could talk for hours about how completely new the Sabres powerplay looks through two games this season, but the score was now 5-1 and I still have more goals to get to. In most games I’d call that box score a rout, but this game gets chippy. Remember I told you Jake McCabe was leveling hits left and right? He landed one in the middle of the game here on Taylor Hall that immediately unleashed pandemonium. I need to use every meaning of that word here because the crowd went wild and rose to their feet while some “extracurricular activities” if you will unfolded on the ice. It took a couple minutes to sort out the penalties, but McCabe knew what he did and went down the tunnel bopping fist bumps like he just won a WWE title. What resulted was three minors and two majors and a 23-year-old building struggling to keep the noise in. The Devils didn’t get the lift they needed from that fight. Not from that fight, not from running McCabe, not from running Hutton. The third period begins, and we get Travis Zajac goal to make 5-2 but… here’s the reason this article is so long again: the Sabres still had more goals to score. Sam Reinhart gets the puck way out by himself in the left circle and shot it bar down. I know Blackwood was trying to catch it with his glove over his head, but it was already in and it just looked like the poor kid was begging for mercy. “Please oh please don’t keep shooting at me!” 6-2! I’m feeling greedy now! The crowd is now doing that chant where they count the goals and ask for another. I am not swearing in disbelief now for no other reason than the child sitting next to me. I just didn’t know what to do with myself. My teams don’t score this many goals. We’ve seen probably a dozen breakaways in these first two games and no goals off of any of them. That changed when Sam Reinhart challenges PK Subban in his own defensive zone and poke checks the puck free. Subban can’t get to Reinhart and falls down briefly. Reino just takes off and goes five-hole on Blackwood. He puts his hands in the air like, yeah, just pay me now. Can we just pay him now? At this rate he’s going to score 5.2 million goals and Terry is going to have to drill a new well just to pay for it. 7-2 Sabres is the final outcome of this home opener.

There is so much to take away from this game that I’ll probably be referencing it for a couple weeks. Our New Look Sabres reply guy tweet of the game is actually a tweet not a reply. It comes from The Charging Buffalo’s Joe Marino who points out “the Sabres haven’t won the first three games of the season since the 08-09 season”, exclaiming Monday is huge. This recap is getting a little long and I’ve got a Bills game to go watch so I will agree wholeheartedly and invite you to look forward to Monday night’s away game in Columbus. I for one cannot wait. This team has got me in hook, line and sinker. Like, share and comment on this blog; at this rate we may have some fun this season and fun is best when it’s shared. I hope we can share in the fun together here. Who knows what these guys can accomplish if this is the level of play we see out of them in even half of the remaining eighty games ahead. Let’s Go Buffalo!

Thanks for Reading.

P.S. Rasmus Ristolainen: actually good! I’m looking at you Winnipeg, that blueline ain’t looking so hot!

[thrashermaxey]

Ramblings: Aberg Traded; Troy Terry Called Up; Pettersson Traded; Larkin; Konecny – January 17

  Don’t forget to grab your copy of the 2019 Dobber Midseason Fantasy Guide! It’s available right now in the Dobber Shop. There is something for everyone: projections and tips to push for a league title this year as well as prospects and call-ups to watch for those that might be at the bottom of their league and looking to 2019-20 and beyond. Everything the smart fantasy owner needs is contained in those digital pages.

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Elias Pettersson was skating before the optional game-day skate for the Canucks on Wednesday, and even skated with a few players during the optional. He did not play on Wednesday night, however. All the same, it appears he’s on the cusp of returning, which I’m sure is music to the ears of many a fantasy owner.

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Peter Cehlarik was called up by the Bruins and skated on the second line with David Krejci and Jake DeBrusk in the team’s game Wednesday night. This is important because it resulted in the healthy scratch of David Backes. I had hopes that Backes could flourish with a play-making centre and talented, young scoring winger but he’s simply floundered. Some of his play-driving metrics were strong as recently as last year so I don’t think he’s fallen off the map as a player. With that said, the 20-goal, 50-point seasons are long gone. If he can be a solid two-way, bottom-6 winger for the balance of his contract, I think that’s the best Boston can ask for.

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It was announced last night that there would be no World Cup of Hockey in 2020. You hear that? That’s the sound of our next work stoppage stampeding through the gates.

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The Ducks traded forward Pontus Aberg to the Minnesota Wild for forward Justin Kloos. Kloos has 80 points in his last 110 AHL games going back to the start of the 2017-18 season. You can read his Dobber Prospects profile here.

Here’s the thing with Aberg: Minnesota has a lot of talented wingers. There are the veterans in Jason Zucker, Nino Niederreiter, Zach Parise, and Mikael Granlund. Luke Kunin has looked good since returning from injury and they’re really trying to make Jordan Greenway work. In other words, there is a lot of competition for Aberg. He also shot 14.3 percent at five-on-five with Anaheim, which is absurdly high, especially for a player of his calibre.

This is my best guess as to what happens. Aberg comes in and gets a middle-six role out of the gate. That lasts about two weeks, and then he’s pushed to the fourth line. After that, he becomes part of the rotation with guys like J.T. Brown and Marcus Foligno. If deep-league owners want to chase him, go ahead, but that’s the only instance I’d have interest.

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Speaking of Anaheim, among other moves, they recalled prospect forward Troy Terry. That is a guy to keep an eye on, on the other hand. He’s been tearing up the AHL and has a lot of offensive tools the Ducks could use. Let’s see where they slot him, though, before getting too excited.

Patrick Eaves was sent on a conditioning assignment so he should be back in a week. Another guy to get excited over because he might slot right on the top line with Ryan Getzlaf and Rickard Rakell.

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Both Ryan Kesler and Jakob Silfverberg are going to be out in the near-term for the Ducks. We’re waiting for further updates.

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William Nylander was back on a line with Auston Matthews in practice on Wednesday, along with Zach Hyman, while Andreas Johnsson moved up to skate with John Tavares and Mitch Marner. Does that last? Only Mike Babcock knows, but this is where Nylander should have been all along. Let’s see what he can do with it.

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Montreal forward Paul Byron was suspended three games for his charge on Florida defenceman MacKenzie Weeger. Byron had recently been skating on the third line for Montreal though their lines have been a bit in flux of late.

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Matt Duchene scored a pair of goals in his first game back in the lineup following the birth of his son, a 5-2 win, and against Colorado no less. That gives his 20 goals and 45 points in 38 games this year. That also tied him with Aleksander Barkov in points over the last calendar year at 82 (though Duchene did it in three fewer games). Whether in Ottawa or elsewhere, he’s going to get a hefty contract.

Both Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen managed multi-point games in the losing effort. Rantanen’s two helpers give him 50 assists on the season. He had 55 all of last season.

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Sean Couturier scored a natural hat trick en route to the Flyers overcoming a 2-0 deficit to take a 4-3 win from the Bruins. Carter Hart shined, making 38 saves in the victory. Boston looked very good most of the night but sometimes one team cashes their chances and gets some saves, and the other doesn’t. Hockey.

Ivan Provorov had a pair of assists in the game, his first multi-point game since November 27th and just his third such contest of the campaign. I’m sure the Flyers, their fans, fantasy owners, and the defenceman himself were hoping for a better season this year. Let’s see what he does over the final 11 weeks of the season.

Peter Cehlarik scored two of Boston’s three goals in the loss. He skated the entire game on the second line with Krejci and DeBrusk, got secondary power play minutes, and even scored a six-on-five goal with Halak pulled, skating with their top line. You can read his Dobber Prospects profile here.

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More in the morning. 

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I was looking over the points per 60 minutes leaders since the start of the 2017 season yesterday for something unrelated to these Ramblings but came across some interesting names. All the names you’d expect are inside the top-25 but after that there are some guys we might not expect. Here are a few (minimum 1500 minutes).

  Nico Hischier (T-28th, 2.33 points/60 between Ryan Getzlaf and Phil Kessel)

Though Hischier’s production hasn’t been eye-popping with 84 points in 124 games, that is still a very solid total, especially for a player his age. The thing is, out of those 84 points, only 12 have come on the power play. It’s not a bunch of secondary assists boosting his scoring, either, as he’s 26th in the league in that span in primary points/60 minutes (goals and first assists), sandwiched between Jack Eichel and Sean Monahan. Playing with Taylor Hall and Kyle Palmieri obviously helps, but almost no centre in the NHL can produce without talented wingers.

  Travis Konecny (T-35th with Sidney Crosby at 2.19 points/60)

Speaking of guys who produce good-but-not-great numbers because of a lack of power play production (and minutes)…

I understand that 24 points in 46 games isn’t a great fantasy campaign for Konecny owners, but he’s second among the team’s forwards in points/60 minutes this year, trailing only Claude Giroux. He’s also first among their forwards in shot attempts/60 minutes. And he does everything we look for in a player’s underlying metrics: drives the play, shoots, looks for exits/entries with possession, and knows how to find his teammates (from CJ Turtoro’s tableau):

He’s a burgeoning star. This is a guy fantasy owners who are currently way out of the league race should be targeting. You can probably get away with a very good roster player and a draft pick to get him. I would be at least inquiring. This kid is going to be a very, very good fantasy asset for the next decade.

  Alex Tuch (43rd in points/60 at 2.11, ahead of Blake Wheeler at 2.08)

Vegas is a team I really struggle with. Their top two lines, one of which Tuch is a part of, are incredible. I know the top line has struggled to score this year but that’s more luck than anything. The second line has been great, particularly when Brandon Pirri was there. But it’s not a situation where they’re given huge opportunities for success. For example, no forwards this year is averaging 19:30 of ice time per game, only two are over 19 minutes at all (William Karlsson and Jonathan Marchessault), and Reilly Smith is the only other guy over 18 minutes. They also spread out the power-play minutes, having 8 forwards within 2:06-3:00 in PPTOI/game. Without loads of ice time and heavy PP usage, can Tuch be a 70-point player? Well, the top line did it last year. Why not the second line this year (or in future seasons)?

Tuch is a very, very good real-life player and a very, very good fantasy option, particularly in leagues that count hits. He’s only 22 years old and has seemingly locked himself into top-6 minutes plus one of the power-play units. Maybe he doesn’t hit his true ceiling, but that doesn’t mean he can’t be very valuable in the fantasy game.

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They didn’t play on Wednesday night but I wanted to take some time to discuss the Red Wings. In particular the current top line of Gustav Nyquist, Dylan Larkin, and Tyler Bertuzzi. I’m aware that they shuffled lines a bit in their Tuesday night game but it’s those three I want to review.

Larkin was one of my off-season favourites but then my actual projection had me rank him much lower than I had anticipated. Such is life. Anyway, he currently has 45 points in 48 games and he’s doing so with Detroit shooting under 6 percent with him on the ice at five-on-five. A high individual points percentage (over 85 percent) is keeping him afloat, but if that shooting percentage climbs over the final 30-plus games, he has more room for production growth. Imagine that.

Nyquist is up to 40 points in 48 games, tying his production for 2017-18 in 34 fewer contests. His 29 assists are the second-most of his career and he needs just eight more down the stretch to set a career high. He needs 15 total points to set a career high in that regard. He’s doing this while shooting 8.7 percent despite being a career 11.4 percent shooter heading into the year. His on-ice shooting percentage is more normal than Larkin’s at 9.1 percent and he’s currently sporting a career-high in secondary assists at five-on-five. Maybe he has some positive regression coming but don’t forget he’s a likely trade deadline candidate. He may not be in Detroit another month.

He’s bounced all around the lineup but Bertuzzi has apparently found a home on the top line with Larkin. He managed a hat trick over the weekend and currently has a career-high 25 points in 46 games. He’s getting about 30 seconds more ice time post-Christmas than he was prior and he’s shooting more, too, though he’s not at two shots per game just yet.

All told, all three players are having very good seasons individually. Together, they’ve been an excellent line for the Red Wings. That’s not hyperbole, either: in about 87 minutes together at five-on-five, adjusted for score, that trio is enjoying a 62.7 percent shot share. They aren’t wasting shots, either, as their high-danger shot share is over 58 percent. For the record, the only line over the last 1 ½ seasons with 400-plus minutes together sporting a shot share exceeding 60 percent was the old top line for Montreal of Phillip Danault, Brendan Gallagher, and Tomas Tatar. In other words, this Detroit trio has been absolutely sublime, though whether they could keep it up for hundreds of minutes is up for debate.

As I mentioned, this will, at best, only last another month or so until Nyquist is traded. All the same, if they’re skating together, they all deserve some consideration in most fantasy leagues. Maybe someone like Anthony Mantha can take up Nyquist’s mantle when he’s gone? Just some food for thought in your fantasy leagues.

Also, we need more league-wide hype for Larkin. This kid is blossoming into a superstar.

from All About Sports https://dobberhockey.com/hockey-rambling/ramblings-aberg-traded-troy-terry-called-up-pettersson-traded-larkin-konecny-january-17/

[thrashermaxey]

Ramblings: Two possible “Bailey Breakouts”, those damn triplets, Hamming on Hamilton, and more (Oct 15)

Just had my final draft of the year, 28th year in this league but it’s also the most basic – strictly points, 12 best at the end of the year count from your 20-player roster. Keep everyone. One thing about having it a few games into the season is that the owners tended to ignore or move down the players who were off to slow starts. Dahlin was actually grabbed ninth, and Lias Andersson wasn’t drafted at all in the 26 picks. I picked 10th and 23rd and got Ryan Donato and was about to take Max Comtois because I really like him for this season and beyond. He’s really clicking well with Jakob Silfverberg and believe he will stick throughout the year and continue to be reasonably productive. But he was grabbed 22nd and so rather than acquiring help for this season I went with the high upside in Vitali Kravtsov. Yes, he only has six points in the KHL right now, but he’s still only 18 years old and those six points are exactly what Tarasenko and Kuznetsov had at a year older and in the same amount of games (15).

Two weeks ago in my deep keeper league (15-team, 33-player, keep all, 18th year) I didn’t pick until 34th overall and I picked seven times between 34th and 60th and I had the last three picks of the draft. Here are the players I grabbed, in order (points only, positions count): Vinnie Hinostroza, Warren Foegele, Vince Dunn, Tom Wilson (just an hour or two before he went head hunting), Ethan Bear, Auston Czarnik and Alex Formenton. I also burned the one FA pick that we get for the entire season, just a couple of days ago. The player has to be at least 24, and it’s first come first served. I rarely use it so early, but grabbed Chris Tierney.

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It was a real shame seeing Elias Pettersson go down like that on Saturday. As far as players go, and my early impressions so far this season, it’s Pettersson and Auston Matthews. Pettersson is an elite player and I had no idea just how elite until watching two of his games in the NHL. I feel like he’s gonna do what Mathew Barzal did last season, production-wise. It would be a shame if this injury has any long-term implications on his health (i.e. susceptibility to concussion).

Matthews has been on another planet. You don’t need me to tell you that. But it’s as if adding John Tavares on another line has freed things up for Matthews to the point where he’s just toying with the poor suckers that the opposition trots out there to try to stop him. I had always considered him a Patrick-Kane type of talent, but now I wonder if he’s a Sidney-Crosby type of generational talent. I don’t use that label very easily.

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Back to Jakob Silfverberg, I have this “breakout” vibe on him, a la Josh Bailey (last year) or Brad Marchand (three years ago). That’s how good he’s been looking, and I think a big part of that is Comtois. Here:

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That’s why it’s such a shame that he left last night’s contest with an upper-body injury in the third. No word from the Ducks about the seriousness. Back in August I mused that Silfverberg was the perfect Bailey/Marchand situation template: Has more offensive talent than he’s shown, has solidified his production window in around that 50-point range, and it’s now at the point where we don’t expect more (just as it was with Marchand and Bailey). And then “whoa”, he gets 65 points out of the blue. So far Silf has seven points in six games so let’s hope he returns soon. The Ducks play just once (Wednesday) before Saturday so maybe he just misses the one game?

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So far my “triplets” theory from the summer is holding. Alex Pietrangelo is pointless in five games. I will reiterate – you can’t become a new father and have triplets and expect your offseason regimen to remain unaffected.

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San Jose is just two for 22 on the power play so far, after six games. St. Louis is 1-2-2 in their first five games. These are two of the team-based stats that are a little surprising.

But we did know, at least with St. Louis, that there was a risk there with Jake Allen. And sure enough he has allowed 17 goals in four games. In an effort to maximize the odds that Allen will pan out, the Blues put all their eggs into that basket. To give him confidence, and remove any competition for his job. But now we’re seeing the downside to that. Chad Johnson, who started Sunday and was decent, is not going to bail this team out the way Carter Hutton did last year. It’s Allen or bust. Mike Yeo could be the first coach fired this year.

Jaden Schwartz didn’t play Sunday because of an LBI. No further word on that other than it’s his foot or leg. Sammy Blais has taken his spot on the power play and seen a lofty bump in ice time. He didn’t do anything with it, which is discouraging, but it does offer us a glimpse of the coach’s personal preference. Blais got the PP ice time over Robert Thomas and Jordan Kyrou. Keep an eye on that, if Schwartz is out for long.

Ryan O’Reilly was 19-6 at the faceoff circle, Sunday.

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Dougie Hamilton is seeing 2:11 of PP ice time per game, his lowest in four years. His overall ice time is down nearly two minutes from last year with Calgary. Meanwhile, Justin Faulk – he of just seven power play goals in his last 180-odd games – is actually seeing his PP time going up! The only logic for this is that it’s a statement. Why did Calgary want to move Hamilton? And is Carolina (Rod Brind’Amour) trying to stamp out that reason with some tough love?

In the third quarter last year, Hamilton had 21 points in 22 games. He had 23 points total in the other three quarters. Just having him for streaks like that makes him worth pursuing if his owner is starting to panic about the PP situation.

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I like doing the Monday Ramblings, but I especially like it in the first half of the season. Because there are only a couple of games I can usually watch most of them and Ramble the shit out of them here. In the second half, after the NFL season ends, the Sundays start to fill up and the analysis gets spread out!*

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Paul Maurice is shortening his bench and as an owner of several Jets in one of my leagues, I don’t like it. He’s no longer trusting the likes of Mathieu Perreault, though we saw signs last year in the playoffs that this was coming. Perreault’s ice time is now seven or eight minutes a game. The Jets outright waived Marco Dano, so we know where he stands. And Kristian Vesalainen, a kid with tons of potential, has seen about 12 minutes of ice time over the last two games combined. Even Jack Roslovic, a prospect with a reputation for over-achieving and hard-working, is getting eight minutes per game. The top line of Blake Wheeler, Mark Scheifele and Kyle Connor are getting 20 or 22 minutes per game now (and even Connor was cut to 15 on Sunday when he went minus-2). He’s not trusting his players the way he did last year and that worries me. Will Roslovic get a chance to snap his funk? Nikolaj Ehlers?

One thing I do like as a guy who does not own Dustin Byfuglien but does on Josh Morrissey in three of my four leagues – Morrissey is getting the sweet ice time with Big Buff out, and he’s taking full advantage. Morrissey picked up two assists Sunday, with one coming on the power play. Buff is listed as day-to-day with a UBI.

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Micheal Ferland was a wrecking ball Sunday, scoring a goal but adding eight hits. He even had four faceoff wins, to help out those leagues that count that. His 18:53 of ice time was a season high for him. Boy was I wrong about this guy. I had him trending the opposite way in the Guide. I should have read it better – the Hurricanes wanted sandpaper, they have a hard-working coach. So of course they would give Ferland top billing. I miffed this one, just a poor read. Seems so obvious now.

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Kyle Palmieri’s game log after three games: two goals, two goals, two goals. He also has a hit and  PPG each game, and has a total of 14 shots on goal. I talked about Silfverberg and the Bailey Breakout, but Palmieri is also a suitable candidate. He’s 27, we have very firm expectations for him and what he can do, as it’s been very stable and reliable in that range. He also plays with Taylor Hall, which can’t hurt.

The big Devils’ line (Palmieri, Hall, Nico Hischier) is also the first PP unit and the trio saw over nine minutes on the power play on Sunday.

Keith Kinkaid is 3-0-0 so far and has allowed just four goals.

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Warren Foegele leads all rookies and is 18th in the league overall in terms of shots on goal with 19. He had another four on Sunday but was pointless.

I noted this last week and I’ll repeat it again here. Hell, I’ll repeat it every week until it stops – because it will stop. Arizona has been shut out of three of four games this year. They’ve only scored two goals. Now is the time to acquire them. Clayton Keller is on pace for 20 points. Keep the Coyotes on your team benched until they wake up, but as far as trades go, the value won’t get any lower. So acquire and stash.

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See you next Monday.

    from All About Sports https://dobberhockey.com/hockey-rambling/ramblings-two-possible-bailey-breakouts-those-damn-triplets-hamming-on-hamilton-and-more-oct-15/