RotoRob

The Colorado Rockies made a bit of progress in 2024 (if you can call losing “just” 101 games progress), but last season the bottom really fell out. Colorado barely avoided becoming just the third team since 1900 to lose 120 games. Yikes.

The Vermont Catamounts, the No. 2 seed, are trying to get back to the NCAA Tourney for the fourth time in five years after regressing last season. Vermont enjoyed a slightly better campaign in 2025-26, going 21-11, and should be able to take out NJIT in the semi-finals on Tuesday after bitch-slapping Bryant by 20 points in the quarterfinals.

Having dropped five straight games (and eight of the last 10), Dallas has fallen 2.5 games behind Memphis for 11th place in the West and 8.5 games behind the final spot in the play-in tournament, all but ensuring a second straight season out of the postseason.

Newhook has never been very good at faceoffs, but has gotten even worse the last couple of seasons, and that raises questions about his ability to stay at centre long-term, but for now let’s revel in his production, made all the more impressive by a reduction in PT over the last couple of seasons.

With a goal and two helpers on Saturday, Gostisbehere snapped a three-game drought, finishing February with five points in five games (and six points over the last eight) after potting five goals in just nine games in January. He already has more goals than he did all of last season, reaching double digits for the sixth time in his career.

Yes, he scuffled in back-to-back games and then missed the final two after suffering a helmet-to-helmet hit in Week 16. But his strong effort in the playoff game, which included four TDs and zero picks, capped a strong campaign which included more completions, a better completion rate and a significant reduction in interceptions compared to 2024.

Duke went 35-4 in 2024-25, going all the way to the Final Four before bowing out, and this season the Blue Devils are even better with 25 wins and just two losses as we head into the home stretch. They've won four straight and 14 of 15.

The Utah Mammoth (nee Arizona Coyotes) is a team that’s been on the rise for some time. Since bottoming out with just 25 wins in 2021-22 as the Coyotes, this club rose to 70 points and then 77 in its final season in Arizona. Last season, in its debut in Utah, the club made a big leap to 89 points and is on pace this season to top 90 and make the playoffs for the first time since 2019-20.

Council, playing for his third NCAA school in three seasons (Wagner and St. Bonaventure; and Juco ball in the two previous seasons), has been a full-time starter in each of the last two seasons, but isn’t seeing quite as much PT on deeper Kansas squad. His touches are down for the second straight season, but he’s never shot it better from downtown (although it wasn't a big hurdle to top here) and is logging more assists than ever.

After bottoming out in 2021-22, the Philadelphia Flyers have slowly been building themselves back up. Last season didn’t go very well thanks to awful goaltending and a horrific power play which has plagued them for many seasons, but Philadelphia has bounced back this season (notwithstanding an ugly January slump), however, it remains on the outside of the playoff picture as it seeks its first postseason appearance since 2019-20.