NHL Today: Dallas Delivers
This week, the Devils shut down Luke Hughes for the rest of the season; Connor McDavid recorded his 15th career hat trick to lead the Oilers into first place in the Pacific; and Alex Ovechkin will wait until the summer to decide what he wants to do next season. Other Fantasy hockey related stories we’re tracking include…
Jason Robertson Plays the Hero
Just under a year ago, we lauded how the Dallas Stars shook off a tough end to their season to once again reach the Western semis. Dallas continued to roll, taking out Winnipeg to advance to reach the Conference Finals for a third straight season, each time bowing out in that round.
Well, here we are again as the Stars have been even better this season and are again playoff bound, but a recent skid has them worried about losing home ice advantage to a surging Minnesota squad. And in this instance, home ice is vital considering how dominant Dallas is in its own arena.
Fortunately, the Stars held on for a 5-4 home win in a critical match against Minnesota on Thursday to give themselves a four-point cushion over the Wild with three games to go. The first round series between these rivals is going to be fantastic!
And the best part is that – barring some unforeseen injury over the next few days – Dallas will have its leading scorer for the first round. Last season, Jason Robertson missed the opening round of the postseason, but he should be good to go this time around.
Not that we needed more proof how important he is to this team, but on Thursday, his goal midway through the third period provided the difference. Robertson has scored in back-to-back games, totaling three points as Dallas has gotten back to its winning ways after a rough couple of weeks.
He had been quiet to begin April after a blazing March (see video below for one of his sweeter tallies last month), so hopefully he’s hitting his stride right in time for the postseason when he’s found it tougher to rack up points (.756 points per game in his playoff career vs. 1.07 in the regular season). But after two meh seasons (for him, anyways), Robertson has bounced back in 2025-26, reaching 40 goals and 50 assists for the third time while being an absolute beast on one of the NHL’s top power plays (40 points on the man advantage). The game-winner on Thursday was his eighth of the season.
You have to go back to 2022-23 to find a season in which he’s had more Fantasy points than he’s put up so far this campaign. Robertson is likely at the top of the heap when it comes to Fantasy left wingers, and it’s going to be fascinating to see how Dallas will handle its financial crunch this summer and what that might mean for the pending RFA’s future on the team (other squads will be lining up for him), but that’s a future problem to deal with; for now, it’s Stanley Cup of bust for the Stars.
Right now, you’d probably have to (begrudgingly) admit that Auston Matthews is the best California-born player in NHL history, but in a few years, Robertson may have something to say about that.
Anton Frondell Giving Hawks Hope
Movingh from near the top of the West to a bottom feeder, the Chicago Blackhawks have again made progress this season, but are slumping down the stretch of what will be a sixth straight season outside of the playoffs. Here’s hoping you didn’t lay down too big a FanDuel wager on them earlier this season when they were 10-5-4 in mid-November.
Exactly a year ago, we talked about the baby steps they had taken in 2024-25, and they’ve made a similar jump this season, but while they’ve improved a bit defensively, they are even worse on offense. And after getting smoked at home by Carolina 7-2 on Thursday, Chicago has dropped seven of its last eight. Clearly, this rebuild is not over.
The good news is that a huge part of that rebuild – 2025 first round pick Anton Frondell – arrived in the NHL late last month and immediately looks like an impact player. With both Blackhawk goals on Thursday, he now has points in back-to-back games and has piled up eight in his first nine NHL tilts.
The third overall pick last year, Frondell made an instant impression with an assist and two shots on goal in his debut, and while he started on the wing with Connor Bedard at centre, he’s since moved to the 2C role. Frondell won’t be 19 until next month and is already almost a top 175 player for Fantasy purposes — with tremendous upside in dynasty formats.
Waiver Wire Pick of the Week
Jason Zucker, LW, Buffalo Sabres (ESPN: 20.5 per cent; CBS: 41 per cent): It’s hard to believe it’s been nearly a decade since Zucker was a fourth liner on Minnesota. He’s bounced around a bit since then, but has really found a home in Buffalo, enjoying a couple of his best seasons with the Sabres. With another helper on Thursday, Zucker has recorded assists in three straight (2-3-5), giving him 15 points in 20 games since the beginning of March. Okay, so he’s not racking up helpers at the same pace as last season, but with 24 goals, he’s already passed his 2024-25 output by three – in 12 fewer games. The 2019 Masterton Trophy winner missed time early this season with a serious viral illness, but he’s done an impressive job of shaking that off and has really hit his stride over the last few weeks.
RotoRob Tune of the Day
One of the best things about the Grateful Dead was that their eclectic sound was virtually impossible to categorize. It was a blend of rock, blues, jazz, folk, country, bluegrass, gospel, reggae, world music and psychedelia. In 1991, they released Infrared Roses, a live compilation album that featured “Speaking in Swords,” one of their lesser-known space rock tracks.
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