By John Cullen
As I alluded to last week, this is one of the most difficult times of the year for fantasy players. If you miss the boat on some critical moves right now, you could end up putting some of those categories you’re way behind in out of reach. That said, you pull the trigger too early on some of these slow starters and you could miss the hot streaks that win teams money.
It’s hard to know exactly what to do, and we’re still at the stage in the year where one really hot night for a team can see them jump up 5 to 7 spots in the standings, or worse yet, a really bad night can drop you just as many. It’s hard to deal with those swings, and they’re mostly due to those who are hot right now: and those who are not. So this week, I’d like to take a look at two major streaks running through fantasy leagues right now(and dominating conversation), and offering some advice on where to progress from here. We’re not a month into the season yet, so panic button time is nowhere near, but you never want to miss the boat.
Streak #1: Craig Anderson
Good ol’ Andy is putting together one of the hottest goalie streaks in recent memory, dashing out from Tomas Vokoun’s shadow to an unbelievable start with Colorado, leaving many wondering how it can last, and for how long. My answer: it can’t. A lot of people are left proclaiming Colorado to be the real deal, but history generally dictates that goalies who have stepped out from behind an elite starter to become a starter in their own right struggle, even after a hot start. The reality is that an 82-game season is a very, very long time, particularly for a goalie - and particularly for one who’s been asked to start every one of his team’s games this season so far, (with no end in sight with back-up Peter Budaj out with the H1N1 virus) and especially for one who has played over 40 games only ONCE in his ENTIRE CAREER, and that was in juniors in 2000-01 with the Guelph Storm, where he played 59 games.
One only needs to take a quick look at the last back-up to step out from Vokoun’s shadow to find that the proof is never far. Chris Mason covered for Vokoun in the 2005-06 season after Vokoun suffered a blood clot injury, and Mason played unbelievable, carrying Nashville to a first-place standing in the Central Division before relinquishing the job back to Vokoun. That was enough for the Preds to feel confident trading Vokoun at the trade deadline the following season, handing number one status to Mason. Mason posted very good numbers to start the 2007-08 year, recording 10 wins by mid-November, including a streak of 3 shutouts in 5 games. Many were ready to declare Mason an elite goaltender, and then the intensity of playing night-in and night-out hit. Mason began to struggle mightily and ironically ended up losing his job to back-up Dan Ellis. Mason struggled to a sub-.900 save percentage for the first time in his career, and was traded. He’s since regained his form, but that season was an excellent indicator of just what a full schedule can do to a goaltender. Couple that with Anderson’s defense, featuring a top pairing of two offensive-minded d-men and a couple of veterans, and this is a recipe for eventual struggle.
Advice: sell high now. A goalie’s stock has never been this high and guys will hit the panic button much earlier if their goalies are struggling. Anderson could legitimately fetch a struggling starting ‘tender and a solid roster player at the moment, and that’s a deal I couldn’t pass up.
Streak #2: Anze Kopitar
Kopitar’s average draft position on Yahoo! this season was 86.6, putting him in the 8th-round for a typical 10-team pool, and this is keeping in mind that a lot of leagues draft a week into the season, which would skew Kopitar higher. Consistently held back in LA, Kopitar has always been seen as a risk to own: his plus-minus often wasn’t worth the risk for his inconsistency issues and his overall point totals. This likely led to his low draft position, and is making those who were fortunate enough to draft him look like geniuses. But can he keep it up? To be honest, all signs point to yes. Any time anyone has commented to me over the last few years about how bad L.A. is, my standard response was “well, if they ever get someone to play with Kopitar, they’ll be fine, that kid is the real deal.” Now, I don’t believe I’m an unbelievable clairvoyant (I was in 4 pools this year and didn’t draft Kopes in any of them), but I always knew there was something about that guy, and he’s finally found linemates he can work with.
In his years in L.A., he’s been given talented linemates, but not ones who suit his style. He was usually put with guys who also like to shoot, and it took away from his ability to get quality scoring opportunities, as I don’t know if Kopitar ever felt like the #1 shooter on the lines he played on. And believe me, he is a NUMBER-ONE SHOOTER. The best Kopitar ever plays is for his native Slovenia, where he consistently logs disturbing amounts of ice-time and where you have to feel the dressing room talk contains flashbacks to Bel-Air Academy's Coach Smiley, whose one and only game plan was "pass the ball to Will". He even led Slovenia to their first ever appearance at the World "A" Championships, where Kopitar was lucky enough to play due to L.A. missing the playoffs. The guy thrives on being the top guy, both on his line and on his team, and it's clear he is now that guy for L.A.
While his shots-per-game average has only gone up slightly this year (2.8 from last year to 3), I believe that playing with two guys who would rather do things other than shoot (Smyth driving the net and Williams passing) has allowed Kopitar’s quality scoring chances to increase significantly, and in the games I’ve seen LA play, that has been the case. Playing with guys like Mike Cammalleri (who averaged nearly 4 shots a game playing with Kopitar) and Alexander Frolov (2.7/game) allowed Kopitar time playing with great players, but not complementary ones, especially when compared with Smyth (3 shots/game average in 13 games this season, around 2.5 for his career) and Williams (averaging 2/game for his career). That’s 3 shots less per night coming from Kopitar’s linemates, which means that Anze is the one getting the quality chances for the first time in his career, as a ridiculous 25.6% shooting percentage alludes to. Getting a proper grinder who can also dish the puck was a stroke of genius by Dean Lombardi, and while I don’t see Kopitar leading the league by year’s end, I see no reason why he can’t crack the top 10 or even top 5. LA’s dynamite power-play, QB’ed by Drew Doughty, certainly doesn’t hurt either and that tinted visor and cracked-tooth smile is going to make a lot more highlight reels by year’s end.
Advice: hang onto this stock and hang onto it hard. I'd value Kopitar as a top-3 centre right now behind Crosby and Thornton and a top 10 fantasy player, particularly in pools that value power-play stats.
Overall, remember that streaks can often be just that. As we talked about with the waiver wire last week, streaks can be the difference between a team’s success and failure, and it’s important to remember that individual history, team history, and time of the year all play a huge role. If you’re unsure, do a small amount of research. NHL.com has a ridiculous stats database and there’s absolutely no reason why you can’t put it to good use researching your own players, but also those who may have found themselves in similar situations to your streakers, either hot or cold. Be knowledgeable and give yourself the best chance to win every day.
The Saturday Slate
Your weekly guide to goalie sits and starts. If my “start” goalies record a win and a peripheral statistic of either 2.00 GAA or less, or .920 save % or higher, I take one point. If they record one of the two, I take a half-point. If my “sit” goalies take a loss and post either a 3.00 GAA or higher or a .900 save % or less, I take one point. If they take either one of the two, I take a half. For the year, I have 9 of a possible 12 points, recording at least a half-point in 10 of 12 predictions thus far. In the event of a starting goalie not playing the game, I will assume their backup’s stats.
START
Mike Smith v. New Jersey: I hate to keep picking on New Jersey, but if they want to keep averaging 2.5 goals/game, I’ll have no choice. Tampa remains unbeaten in regulation at home and Smith has posted 2 wins and 2 shootout losses in his 4 games at the Ice Palace, with a very impressive 2.21 GAA and .935 save-percentage alongside.
Ilya Bryzgalov v. Anaheim: Breezy’s been putting up a wall in Glendale, posting unbelievable numbers to start the year. It has to fizzle out sometime, but against an Anaheim team playing a back-to-back and averaging an uncharacteristic 2.5 goals/game, it won’t be this Saturday.
SIT
Jaroslav Halak/Carey Price v. Toronto: You won’t see me recommending goalies to sit against Toronto too often, but this Saturday seems ripe for the picking. Montreal will have played the night before in a different timezone, and coming back home to play the HNIC against their Original 6 rivals should be a recipe for disaster. Despite Toronto lacking a true scorer, they can put the puck in the net, and against the Habs the last few years, 4 or 5 goals sometimes hasn’t even won the game. Either goalie might pick up a W, but the supporting stats won’t be worth it, and I’ll take the half-point all the way to the bank.
Miikka Kiprusoff v. Detroit: Detroit is showing signs of finally putting it together, coming back from 3 down to beat Vancouver and 4 down to earn a point against a hot Edmonton squad. I see this finally translating to a solid win on Saturday night, as Kiprusoff looks to be in fine form from the last two seasons(a lot of ugly wins) and I don’t see it improving against a Detroit team that still carries so many offensive weapons.
Friday, October 30, 2009
Thursday, October 29, 2009
NHL: October taught me...
By Tim Daily
- The Avs are for real. They've got the best goal differential and penalty kill percentage in the Western Conference - not to mention a very effective power play. The Kyle Quincey acquisition gave Colorado another elite power play QB, which is almost unfair considering they have John-Michael Liles back there as well. Wojtek Wolski has always had the skills but is finally showing that his ability to be a PPG player. The story of the Avs' season so far, though, has been Craig Anderson.
- Anze Kopitar is making me look good. And by that, I mean that when I ranked him as a top 7 forward in the league last season (and was subsequently criticized), I fully knew he was going to become a big time player in this league. His ability to shield defenders off the puck is almost Jagr-like, and he has the vision and scoring touch to be a complete offensive threat.
- Don't be fooled, Marian Gaborik will get hurt. I know, you probably already knew this, but I'm a Rangers fan. I had my hopes up.
- The Sharks are again one of the best (regular season) teams in the league. Sure they're 8-4-1 and got off to a slow start but their power play is operating near 29% and Patrick Marleau is skating as well as he ever has.
- Steve Mason is going through a bit of a tough period in his development but that's actually a good thing. Professional sports are all about adjustments and the players that can consistently make them are the ones that will shine. Hopefully Mason can rebound and go back to being the best reactive goaltender in the league.
- DVR'ing NHL on the Fly at 3 AM on a Sunday morning is absolutely essential. If you're a hockey fan there isn't a better hour of television.
- The Flyers are going to have to score way more at even strength if they want to live up to a lot of experts' preseason expectations. Pronger has been more than effective (especially on the power play point) but Philadelphia is a team that can skate and bang bodies very well. Those talents are best displayed in 5 on 5 situations.
- The Central division is up for grabs. Any one of those teams can go on a run and make things interesting.
- Alexander Ovechkin is the best sniper this league has seen in a long time, perhaps since Mario Lemieux. I actually knew this already, but it's worth saying because of how true it is.
- Michael Del Zotto's 2008 training camp was no abberation, this kid can play and that's the reason he almost made the team out of camp LAST year. Last night he decked Kyle Okposo, who was coming in on the forecheck and attempted to hit Del Zotto. MDZ calmly backed into leverage position and used Okposo's momentum to drop him to the floor. Not only can the kid QB a power play, he can actually play defense in this league as well. Gilroy got all the preseason hype but I wouldn't be surprised if Del Zotto turns out to be the best Rangers d-man since Leetch.
- Sure Gomez and Gionta were great additions for Montreal, but Mike Cammalleri makes that line. No matter where he goes (LA, Calgary) the guy scores. That line may be small but you're going to have a tough time catching them. Physical puck possession teams will probably have a better chance to stop them than any other style.
- Boston sorely misses Phil Kessel, but hit a home run in making the trade that sent him to Toronto. They received Toronto's first rounder, which could give them the #1 pick. If that happens, they will have a shot to take the best player out of what some are saying is one of the best top-10 draft crops in a long time.
- The Pacific division is stacked with competition this year. Dallas, San Jose, Los Angeles and Phoenix have all looked pretty impressive to start the season. The Ducks have a ton of talent though and should be able to rebound as the season progresses.
- Steven Stamkos is going to be one hell of a player. He and Matt Duchene could be the face of the league in 5 years.
- This blog is a lot of fun. We initially intended to do something at the start of the 2008-09 season and got delayed, but I couldn't be happier with the way things have turned out. We have several terrific writers that deserve to have their material put out there and I'm glad I've been able to help them do that. Pretty soon we'll be moving to fromtheslot.com with a new design and some new features and for that I can't wait. Thanks for reading and keep checking it out!
- The Avs are for real. They've got the best goal differential and penalty kill percentage in the Western Conference - not to mention a very effective power play. The Kyle Quincey acquisition gave Colorado another elite power play QB, which is almost unfair considering they have John-Michael Liles back there as well. Wojtek Wolski has always had the skills but is finally showing that his ability to be a PPG player. The story of the Avs' season so far, though, has been Craig Anderson.
- Anze Kopitar is making me look good. And by that, I mean that when I ranked him as a top 7 forward in the league last season (and was subsequently criticized), I fully knew he was going to become a big time player in this league. His ability to shield defenders off the puck is almost Jagr-like, and he has the vision and scoring touch to be a complete offensive threat.
- Don't be fooled, Marian Gaborik will get hurt. I know, you probably already knew this, but I'm a Rangers fan. I had my hopes up.
- The Sharks are again one of the best (regular season) teams in the league. Sure they're 8-4-1 and got off to a slow start but their power play is operating near 29% and Patrick Marleau is skating as well as he ever has.
- Steve Mason is going through a bit of a tough period in his development but that's actually a good thing. Professional sports are all about adjustments and the players that can consistently make them are the ones that will shine. Hopefully Mason can rebound and go back to being the best reactive goaltender in the league.
- DVR'ing NHL on the Fly at 3 AM on a Sunday morning is absolutely essential. If you're a hockey fan there isn't a better hour of television.
- The Flyers are going to have to score way more at even strength if they want to live up to a lot of experts' preseason expectations. Pronger has been more than effective (especially on the power play point) but Philadelphia is a team that can skate and bang bodies very well. Those talents are best displayed in 5 on 5 situations.
- The Central division is up for grabs. Any one of those teams can go on a run and make things interesting.
- Alexander Ovechkin is the best sniper this league has seen in a long time, perhaps since Mario Lemieux. I actually knew this already, but it's worth saying because of how true it is.
- Michael Del Zotto's 2008 training camp was no abberation, this kid can play and that's the reason he almost made the team out of camp LAST year. Last night he decked Kyle Okposo, who was coming in on the forecheck and attempted to hit Del Zotto. MDZ calmly backed into leverage position and used Okposo's momentum to drop him to the floor. Not only can the kid QB a power play, he can actually play defense in this league as well. Gilroy got all the preseason hype but I wouldn't be surprised if Del Zotto turns out to be the best Rangers d-man since Leetch.
- Sure Gomez and Gionta were great additions for Montreal, but Mike Cammalleri makes that line. No matter where he goes (LA, Calgary) the guy scores. That line may be small but you're going to have a tough time catching them. Physical puck possession teams will probably have a better chance to stop them than any other style.
- Boston sorely misses Phil Kessel, but hit a home run in making the trade that sent him to Toronto. They received Toronto's first rounder, which could give them the #1 pick. If that happens, they will have a shot to take the best player out of what some are saying is one of the best top-10 draft crops in a long time.
- The Pacific division is stacked with competition this year. Dallas, San Jose, Los Angeles and Phoenix have all looked pretty impressive to start the season. The Ducks have a ton of talent though and should be able to rebound as the season progresses.
- Steven Stamkos is going to be one hell of a player. He and Matt Duchene could be the face of the league in 5 years.
- This blog is a lot of fun. We initially intended to do something at the start of the 2008-09 season and got delayed, but I couldn't be happier with the way things have turned out. We have several terrific writers that deserve to have their material put out there and I'm glad I've been able to help them do that. Pretty soon we'll be moving to fromtheslot.com with a new design and some new features and for that I can't wait. Thanks for reading and keep checking it out!
Monday, October 26, 2009
NHL Players of the Week - 10/19 through 10/24
By Dara Heaps
1. Dustin Penner and Ales Hemsky, Edmonton Oilers. Penner and Hemsky turned in a fantastic performance in a come-from-behind win over the Columbus Blue Jackets. They combined for 10 points and had a hand in 5 of the Oilers 6 goals. Edmonton fell behind 4-1 but thanks to an inspiring effort by Penner and Hemsky, the Oilers came back to win 6-4. Penner went on to score a goal against Calgary and Hemsky recorded 2 assists in a 5-2 loss Saturday night.
2. Anze Kopitar, Los Angeles Kings. The Kings are off to a fantastic start this season. Kopitar lead the way this week, recording 7 points, including a hat trick in a 5-4 OT win against Dallas. The Kings are 7-4-0 this season so far. Their biggest problem has been holding the lead but so far they have had strong support from their offense. With Kopitar, Drew Doughty, Dustin Brown and Ryan Smyth leading the way, the Kings look poised for their first playoff berth since 2002.
3. Jaroslav Halak, Montreal Canadiens. Carey Price is in the doghouse again. Halak has started the past 3 games and won all 3. He allowed only one goal in his first two against the Atlanta Thrashers and the New York Islanders before allowing 4 against the red-hot New York Rangers. He ended the week with a .916 save percentage.
Honorable Mentions
Mike Cammalleri helped Halak out Saturday night by netting 3 goals and an assist. … Nashville’s J.P Dumont had 5 points (1+4) in a 6-5 OT win over Ottawa. Shea Weber netted 2 goals and an assist in the win. … Devin Setoguchi helped the Sharks rout the Rangers Monday night 7-3 with 2 goals and an assist. … Sidney Crosby scored his first career goal short-handed in his 300th regular season game Friday night in a 3-2 shootout win versus Florida. … Cristobal Huet stopped all 27 shots the Predators sent his way, recording his first shutout of the season. … The New Jersey Devils beat the Penguins 4-1 Saturday night to extend their road record to 5-0-0. … Craig Anderson continues to shine for the Avalanche, stopping 48 of 49 shots against the Red Wings, handing them their 3rd loss in a row. … Colin Wilson scored his first NHL goal against the Boston Bruins. … Roberto Luongo won 2 on 3 games for the Canucks this week putting up a .934 sv% in the process. … Zach Parise scored 3 goals and 2 assists this week for the Devils. … Mike Smith made 32 saves on 34 shots by the Sharks fror a 5-2 win. … Jason Spezza had 3 assists in an inspired effort against the Predators. The Senators ultimately lost 6-5 in overtime. … Ales Kotalik, Marian Gaborik, Vaclav Prospal and Michael Del Zotto continue to be the Rangers best players. … Brent Johnson and Tomas Vokoun battled it out Friday night in Pittsburgh, each making fantastic saves to keep their team in the game. Johnson and the Pens came out victorious in a shootout. … Boston came from 2 goals down in the final minutes of regulation to win in a shootout against Ottawa Saturday night. … Mason Raymond scored 2 goals for Vancouver in a 3-1 win over Toronto.
A lot of focus is put on the NHL top players and understandably so but the Stanley Cup can’t be won by just top players. Pittsburgh boasts two of the best players in the world in Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. Crosby and Malkin can do all the scoring on their own though, and that’s where the Penguins 3rd line come into play. Jordan Staal flanked by Tyler Kennedy and Matt Cooke are arguably the best 3rd line in the league. When they get the puck, they can cycle it and wear down the league’s best players. They play the majority of their time in the offensive zone, take few penalties and they’re responsible defensively. They do everything a 3rd line should do. Staal, Kennedy and Cooke have been playing on the same line for almost a year now and have excellent chemistry. Kennedy has 5 goals in 9 games so far this season and either Staal or Cooke assisted on 4 of them. Teams in the new NHL can’t be successful with just 2 lines. Staal, Kennedy and Cooke add excellent depth to the Pens team.
Major thumbs down this week to Carolina’s Tuomo Ruutu for his hit on Darcy Tucker of the Colorado Avalanche. Six minutes into the 2nd period, Ruutu hit Tucker from behind, showing complete lack of respect for Tucker. Ruutu smashes Tucker’s head into the glass, resulting in Tucker needing 40 stitches and an night in the hospital. Ruutu was suspended for 3 games. No one likes to see plays like this happen. Plays like this raise questions of why there aren’t more stringent rules about hitting from behind. As our junior hockey writer Andrew Harvey said, “Maybe the NHL needs to put stop signs on the back of their jerseys like the 10 year old kids have.” Players should have more respect for one another to not make plays like the one Ruutu made.
1. Dustin Penner and Ales Hemsky, Edmonton Oilers. Penner and Hemsky turned in a fantastic performance in a come-from-behind win over the Columbus Blue Jackets. They combined for 10 points and had a hand in 5 of the Oilers 6 goals. Edmonton fell behind 4-1 but thanks to an inspiring effort by Penner and Hemsky, the Oilers came back to win 6-4. Penner went on to score a goal against Calgary and Hemsky recorded 2 assists in a 5-2 loss Saturday night.
2. Anze Kopitar, Los Angeles Kings. The Kings are off to a fantastic start this season. Kopitar lead the way this week, recording 7 points, including a hat trick in a 5-4 OT win against Dallas. The Kings are 7-4-0 this season so far. Their biggest problem has been holding the lead but so far they have had strong support from their offense. With Kopitar, Drew Doughty, Dustin Brown and Ryan Smyth leading the way, the Kings look poised for their first playoff berth since 2002.
3. Jaroslav Halak, Montreal Canadiens. Carey Price is in the doghouse again. Halak has started the past 3 games and won all 3. He allowed only one goal in his first two against the Atlanta Thrashers and the New York Islanders before allowing 4 against the red-hot New York Rangers. He ended the week with a .916 save percentage.
Honorable Mentions
Mike Cammalleri helped Halak out Saturday night by netting 3 goals and an assist. … Nashville’s J.P Dumont had 5 points (1+4) in a 6-5 OT win over Ottawa. Shea Weber netted 2 goals and an assist in the win. … Devin Setoguchi helped the Sharks rout the Rangers Monday night 7-3 with 2 goals and an assist. … Sidney Crosby scored his first career goal short-handed in his 300th regular season game Friday night in a 3-2 shootout win versus Florida. … Cristobal Huet stopped all 27 shots the Predators sent his way, recording his first shutout of the season. … The New Jersey Devils beat the Penguins 4-1 Saturday night to extend their road record to 5-0-0. … Craig Anderson continues to shine for the Avalanche, stopping 48 of 49 shots against the Red Wings, handing them their 3rd loss in a row. … Colin Wilson scored his first NHL goal against the Boston Bruins. … Roberto Luongo won 2 on 3 games for the Canucks this week putting up a .934 sv% in the process. … Zach Parise scored 3 goals and 2 assists this week for the Devils. … Mike Smith made 32 saves on 34 shots by the Sharks fror a 5-2 win. … Jason Spezza had 3 assists in an inspired effort against the Predators. The Senators ultimately lost 6-5 in overtime. … Ales Kotalik, Marian Gaborik, Vaclav Prospal and Michael Del Zotto continue to be the Rangers best players. … Brent Johnson and Tomas Vokoun battled it out Friday night in Pittsburgh, each making fantastic saves to keep their team in the game. Johnson and the Pens came out victorious in a shootout. … Boston came from 2 goals down in the final minutes of regulation to win in a shootout against Ottawa Saturday night. … Mason Raymond scored 2 goals for Vancouver in a 3-1 win over Toronto.
A lot of focus is put on the NHL top players and understandably so but the Stanley Cup can’t be won by just top players. Pittsburgh boasts two of the best players in the world in Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. Crosby and Malkin can do all the scoring on their own though, and that’s where the Penguins 3rd line come into play. Jordan Staal flanked by Tyler Kennedy and Matt Cooke are arguably the best 3rd line in the league. When they get the puck, they can cycle it and wear down the league’s best players. They play the majority of their time in the offensive zone, take few penalties and they’re responsible defensively. They do everything a 3rd line should do. Staal, Kennedy and Cooke have been playing on the same line for almost a year now and have excellent chemistry. Kennedy has 5 goals in 9 games so far this season and either Staal or Cooke assisted on 4 of them. Teams in the new NHL can’t be successful with just 2 lines. Staal, Kennedy and Cooke add excellent depth to the Pens team.
Major thumbs down this week to Carolina’s Tuomo Ruutu for his hit on Darcy Tucker of the Colorado Avalanche. Six minutes into the 2nd period, Ruutu hit Tucker from behind, showing complete lack of respect for Tucker. Ruutu smashes Tucker’s head into the glass, resulting in Tucker needing 40 stitches and an night in the hospital. Ruutu was suspended for 3 games. No one likes to see plays like this happen. Plays like this raise questions of why there aren’t more stringent rules about hitting from behind. As our junior hockey writer Andrew Harvey said, “Maybe the NHL needs to put stop signs on the back of their jerseys like the 10 year old kids have.” Players should have more respect for one another to not make plays like the one Ruutu made.
Friday, October 23, 2009
Fantasy Hockey Friday: Walking the Waiver Wire
By John Cullen
There probably isn’t a day that goes by where my dad and I don’t talk about fantasy hockey. 4 years ago, I joined my first daily roster update pool. As a kid who could recognize all the NHL teams by logo at age 3(winning my dad some pocket money from his friends on “yeah, right” wagers) and who liked hockey cards more for the statistics on the back than the pictures on the front, fantasy hockey was a logical progression. It became an addiction for me, and as such, began to seep into my every day conversation. A life-time hockey fan, my father’s interest was piqued, and the next year, I started my own pool, and he joined. When he joined, the father-son talks increased. And there's no mistaking, these father-son moments weren’t always darling, and our father-son interactions don’t always conjure images of fishing at some small watering hole when I was young lad. We get along very well, but when it comes to fantasy hockey, they’re usually pretty confrontational, and they almost always center on one thing: free agents.
I have to admit, I generally get to a point where I pity people who are in “select ‘em and forget ‘em” pools. You have a few key injuries and your season is over. You make a risk pick(Michael Nylander, Sergei Kostitsyn, perhaps?) that doesn’t pay off, and your season is over. However, in pools with a waiver wire, these situations are ones that can come with a remedy. Of course, there’s never a cure for bad drafting and a slew of injuries can kill you in a daily update pool as well, but the waiver wire can provide solutions, and in the case of my dad, can win you second in a pool. Making over 125 moves last season, my dad took a horrible draft and turned it into something. And you can too.
This is typically the week where most fantasy managers will lose their patience with their roster and begin to make moves. I often try my best to preach patience, but with some teams having 10 games under their belt, there are trends being set by guys that can’t be ignored. So, if you’re new to the game or a veteran, the waiver wire can be a confusing and troubling place. Many seasons are won and lost on the wire and it is more than simply dropping a guy and picking him up. These moves can impact a team for an entire season. So how do you deal with it?
The first key (and the key to all fantasy hockey, really) is patience. Just because a guy is running extremely hot on the wire or extremely cold on your team is not necessarily a cause for concern. You need to allow situations to play out in both directions. Team play is always a very important thing to consider when you’re making these sorts of decisions. Take Shea Weber for example. His slow start to the season was as much a result of Nashville’s 6-game winless streak and their abysmal 1.5 goals-per-game average as it was of his own play. He was getting buckets of ice time, playing in all situations, but it’s pretty hard to get much happening when your team has scored one goal or less in half of its games. Yahoo! reacts by taking him off their “Can’t Cut” List. ESPN ranks him 25th out of current defenseman based on production for THE REST OF THE YEAR, putting him behind fantasy “legends” Stephane Robidas, Kevin Bieksa, Paul Martin, rookie Victor Hedman, and Pavel Kubina.
So how are you, as the newbie poolie, supposed to react? Unfortunately, people get impatient. They hit the "drop" button a little too fast. Then hey, guess what, Nashville wakes up in a 6-5 win over Ottawa and Weber puts up a line with no surprises: 2 G, 1 A, -1, 2 PIMs, 1 PPP, 1 GWG, 7 SOG, 26:27 TOI. Yes, Nashville won’t light the world on fire this season, but those of you who hit the panic button on Weber must be feeling quite silly now. So my advice? Ride the storm. It’s the same advice I gave with the goalies, and the same advice I give my dad and other poolies who come to me for advice every day. Pay attention to the TEAM dynamics before you make any rash decisions. Slumps happen. They are frustrating to a fantasy team and if they get too long, then moves need to be made, but take a look at the intangibles(is the team slumping? Has your player seen a drop in icetime? Has he been put on a different line? Is he in the coach's doghouse?, etc.) before you make any harsh choices.
That said, don’t be TOO patient. One thing I like to do each year is designate a “waiver wire” spot on my team. This is usually pretty easy, especially if your draft was a particularly deep one: you’ll always have a clunker around. I reserve this spot for whomever is playing hottest on a weekly basis. I may only keep the player for a week, maybe even less time if I really like the match-up, but teams lose out by standing pat week in and week out. While I think an itchy trigger finger can be dangerous, by giving yourself this spot, it eliminates the potential danger of getting too waiver-wire happy, because if the player busts, you were planning on replacing him anyway, or if the guy you dropped catches fire, you were planning on replacing him anyway, so the stress levels go down. As I’ve said before, fantasy seasons are much too long to be stressed out and the more you panic, the less chance you have of winning. Oftentimes the best managers are the ones who make the least moves with the most impact. So give yourself some room to breathe, keep an expendable guy around, and roll with the hot hand when you get a chance. It might be just those sorts of fringe points that win your team a season. Ask my dad, him and his 2nd-place trophy have a lot to say about it.
The Saturday Slate
Your weekly guide to goalie sits and starts. If my “start” goalies record a win and a peripheral statistic of either 2.00 GAA or less, or .920 save % or higher, I take one point. If they record one of the two, I take a half-point. If my “sit” goalies take a loss and post either a 3.00 GAA or higher or a .900 save % or less, I take one point. If they take either one of the two, I take a half. For the year, I have 7 of a possible 8 points, recording at least a half-point in all 8 predictions thus far. In the event of a starting goalie not playing the game, I will assume their backup’s stats.
START
Marc-Andre Fleury v. New Jersey: Fleury’s been the hottest goalie to start the year, and the Devils are only averaging 2.75 goals per game. Simple math dictates this play, especially when you factor in the Penguins are 3-1 at home.
Pascal Leclaire/Brian Elliott v. Boston: I wouldn’t be surprised to see either goalie get the start here, and I don’t think it matters. Boston’s beat up and playing their 3rd game in 4 days, and Ottawa will be looking to bounce back from a tough home loss vs. Nashville.
SIT
Tomas Vokoun @ Philadelphia: The Flyers have been a victim of bizarre NHL scheduling to start the year, having played only 2 games in 12 days. They looked lackluster in both games, and it’s hard to blame them. One of those two games was a lazy loss to these very same Panthers, and with the Flyers finally playing games within 2 nights of one another, I expect them to find their form and exact some revenge against one of the league’s worst defenses.
Chris Mason v. Dallas: Dallas has put up some big offensive numbers this year behind a finally-healthy lineup and the emergence of James Neal and rookie sniper Jamie Benn. Brad Richards returned to the lineup Thursday vs. L.A., posting two assists, and with so many weapons and Mason still looking like he left his game in Europe, it’s tough to find him a good play here.
There probably isn’t a day that goes by where my dad and I don’t talk about fantasy hockey. 4 years ago, I joined my first daily roster update pool. As a kid who could recognize all the NHL teams by logo at age 3(winning my dad some pocket money from his friends on “yeah, right” wagers) and who liked hockey cards more for the statistics on the back than the pictures on the front, fantasy hockey was a logical progression. It became an addiction for me, and as such, began to seep into my every day conversation. A life-time hockey fan, my father’s interest was piqued, and the next year, I started my own pool, and he joined. When he joined, the father-son talks increased. And there's no mistaking, these father-son moments weren’t always darling, and our father-son interactions don’t always conjure images of fishing at some small watering hole when I was young lad. We get along very well, but when it comes to fantasy hockey, they’re usually pretty confrontational, and they almost always center on one thing: free agents.
I have to admit, I generally get to a point where I pity people who are in “select ‘em and forget ‘em” pools. You have a few key injuries and your season is over. You make a risk pick(Michael Nylander, Sergei Kostitsyn, perhaps?) that doesn’t pay off, and your season is over. However, in pools with a waiver wire, these situations are ones that can come with a remedy. Of course, there’s never a cure for bad drafting and a slew of injuries can kill you in a daily update pool as well, but the waiver wire can provide solutions, and in the case of my dad, can win you second in a pool. Making over 125 moves last season, my dad took a horrible draft and turned it into something. And you can too.
This is typically the week where most fantasy managers will lose their patience with their roster and begin to make moves. I often try my best to preach patience, but with some teams having 10 games under their belt, there are trends being set by guys that can’t be ignored. So, if you’re new to the game or a veteran, the waiver wire can be a confusing and troubling place. Many seasons are won and lost on the wire and it is more than simply dropping a guy and picking him up. These moves can impact a team for an entire season. So how do you deal with it?
The first key (and the key to all fantasy hockey, really) is patience. Just because a guy is running extremely hot on the wire or extremely cold on your team is not necessarily a cause for concern. You need to allow situations to play out in both directions. Team play is always a very important thing to consider when you’re making these sorts of decisions. Take Shea Weber for example. His slow start to the season was as much a result of Nashville’s 6-game winless streak and their abysmal 1.5 goals-per-game average as it was of his own play. He was getting buckets of ice time, playing in all situations, but it’s pretty hard to get much happening when your team has scored one goal or less in half of its games. Yahoo! reacts by taking him off their “Can’t Cut” List. ESPN ranks him 25th out of current defenseman based on production for THE REST OF THE YEAR, putting him behind fantasy “legends” Stephane Robidas, Kevin Bieksa, Paul Martin, rookie Victor Hedman, and Pavel Kubina.
So how are you, as the newbie poolie, supposed to react? Unfortunately, people get impatient. They hit the "drop" button a little too fast. Then hey, guess what, Nashville wakes up in a 6-5 win over Ottawa and Weber puts up a line with no surprises: 2 G, 1 A, -1, 2 PIMs, 1 PPP, 1 GWG, 7 SOG, 26:27 TOI. Yes, Nashville won’t light the world on fire this season, but those of you who hit the panic button on Weber must be feeling quite silly now. So my advice? Ride the storm. It’s the same advice I gave with the goalies, and the same advice I give my dad and other poolies who come to me for advice every day. Pay attention to the TEAM dynamics before you make any rash decisions. Slumps happen. They are frustrating to a fantasy team and if they get too long, then moves need to be made, but take a look at the intangibles(is the team slumping? Has your player seen a drop in icetime? Has he been put on a different line? Is he in the coach's doghouse?, etc.) before you make any harsh choices.
That said, don’t be TOO patient. One thing I like to do each year is designate a “waiver wire” spot on my team. This is usually pretty easy, especially if your draft was a particularly deep one: you’ll always have a clunker around. I reserve this spot for whomever is playing hottest on a weekly basis. I may only keep the player for a week, maybe even less time if I really like the match-up, but teams lose out by standing pat week in and week out. While I think an itchy trigger finger can be dangerous, by giving yourself this spot, it eliminates the potential danger of getting too waiver-wire happy, because if the player busts, you were planning on replacing him anyway, or if the guy you dropped catches fire, you were planning on replacing him anyway, so the stress levels go down. As I’ve said before, fantasy seasons are much too long to be stressed out and the more you panic, the less chance you have of winning. Oftentimes the best managers are the ones who make the least moves with the most impact. So give yourself some room to breathe, keep an expendable guy around, and roll with the hot hand when you get a chance. It might be just those sorts of fringe points that win your team a season. Ask my dad, him and his 2nd-place trophy have a lot to say about it.
The Saturday Slate
Your weekly guide to goalie sits and starts. If my “start” goalies record a win and a peripheral statistic of either 2.00 GAA or less, or .920 save % or higher, I take one point. If they record one of the two, I take a half-point. If my “sit” goalies take a loss and post either a 3.00 GAA or higher or a .900 save % or less, I take one point. If they take either one of the two, I take a half. For the year, I have 7 of a possible 8 points, recording at least a half-point in all 8 predictions thus far. In the event of a starting goalie not playing the game, I will assume their backup’s stats.
START
Marc-Andre Fleury v. New Jersey: Fleury’s been the hottest goalie to start the year, and the Devils are only averaging 2.75 goals per game. Simple math dictates this play, especially when you factor in the Penguins are 3-1 at home.
Pascal Leclaire/Brian Elliott v. Boston: I wouldn’t be surprised to see either goalie get the start here, and I don’t think it matters. Boston’s beat up and playing their 3rd game in 4 days, and Ottawa will be looking to bounce back from a tough home loss vs. Nashville.
SIT
Tomas Vokoun @ Philadelphia: The Flyers have been a victim of bizarre NHL scheduling to start the year, having played only 2 games in 12 days. They looked lackluster in both games, and it’s hard to blame them. One of those two games was a lazy loss to these very same Panthers, and with the Flyers finally playing games within 2 nights of one another, I expect them to find their form and exact some revenge against one of the league’s worst defenses.
Chris Mason v. Dallas: Dallas has put up some big offensive numbers this year behind a finally-healthy lineup and the emergence of James Neal and rookie sniper Jamie Benn. Brad Richards returned to the lineup Thursday vs. L.A., posting two assists, and with so many weapons and Mason still looking like he left his game in Europe, it’s tough to find him a good play here.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Discussion Panel: NHL Surprises (So Far)
Tim Daily: For me, it's been the increased contribution of youth throughout the league. Since the lockout we've seen several teams lean on young stars for production and leadership, but it seems that junior-eligible players are making more of an impact today than ever before. I had all but penciled in Michael Del Zotto and Matt Duchene as guys that would return to their junior squads, but after watching them play it seems clear to me that the NHL is the only place where they will get tested and forced to bring their game up another level.
John Cullen: Duchene I saw as a guy who had the potential to stay up if Colorado gave him enough icetime (which obviously they have), but I would have never even had Del Zotto making the team, nevermind for the year. The new NHL has allowed for that, 10 years ago there's no way a guy like Pat Kane is not only the number-one overall pick but one of the best players in the league. It's allowing younger, smaller guys to succeed without question.
Andrew Harvey: Del Zotto surprises me a lot as do Ryan O'Reilly and Dmitri Kulikov all making the league this year.
Nate Wells: I always assumed Duchene would make the Avs given how the team is; however, Ryan O'Reilly is a shocker.
Tim: O'Reilly is certainly surprising but with Duchene, I initially had him going back because it's often tough to put lottery picks in situations where they have to be the forefront of an NHL franchise right away.That said, after watching a few games its obvious he belongs in the bigs.
Nate: I agree with the thought, but it's become common to see those players stay in the new NHL. In the last five drafts there has only been one top-three pick coming out of major juniors who got sent back to his CHL team [Bobby Ryan] while most of the college players were one-and-dones [Erik Johnson, Kyle Turris] or caused friction with their drafted team [Jack Johnson in Carolina after returning to Michigan for a sophomore campaign, JVR in Philly]. In these cases, the team looks out for their best interest instead of the player.
Andrew: There was no way Duchene was going back to juniors. I bet he would have cracked every lineup in the league.
Pat Andrzejewski: Filatov being a healthy scratch is shocking too.
Tim: I'm surprised but not totally shocked. I watched Filatov play a bit timid in the corners and back away from being physical on the puck early on in the season and I'm sure Hitchcock doesn't want Columbus to miss on another 1st rounder (Zherdev). They were lucky to get anything back in return for that guy, let alone a player like Fedor Tyutin. Filatov will be fine though, he seems like he has a genuine interest in working hard to get better.
Eric Kveton: My biggest surprise is Phoenix... 5-2, with victories over Pittsburgh, SJ, and Boston, and playing absolute shutdown defense. Aucoin has been a big addition for them.
I actually think it's more surprising for the defensemen to be doing so well. I guess it's not a big surprise for guys like Hedman and Gilroy to be flourishing due to their size and experience (respectively). But the stigma that rookie defensemen can't do well in the NHL has been taking a hit with guys like them, Del Zotto, and (last year) Doughty, Bogosian, and Schenn jumping in right away and succeeding.
John Cullen: Duchene I saw as a guy who had the potential to stay up if Colorado gave him enough icetime (which obviously they have), but I would have never even had Del Zotto making the team, nevermind for the year. The new NHL has allowed for that, 10 years ago there's no way a guy like Pat Kane is not only the number-one overall pick but one of the best players in the league. It's allowing younger, smaller guys to succeed without question.
Andrew Harvey: Del Zotto surprises me a lot as do Ryan O'Reilly and Dmitri Kulikov all making the league this year.
Nate Wells: I always assumed Duchene would make the Avs given how the team is; however, Ryan O'Reilly is a shocker.
Tim: O'Reilly is certainly surprising but with Duchene, I initially had him going back because it's often tough to put lottery picks in situations where they have to be the forefront of an NHL franchise right away.That said, after watching a few games its obvious he belongs in the bigs.
Nate: I agree with the thought, but it's become common to see those players stay in the new NHL. In the last five drafts there has only been one top-three pick coming out of major juniors who got sent back to his CHL team [Bobby Ryan] while most of the college players were one-and-dones [Erik Johnson, Kyle Turris] or caused friction with their drafted team [Jack Johnson in Carolina after returning to Michigan for a sophomore campaign, JVR in Philly]. In these cases, the team looks out for their best interest instead of the player.
Andrew: There was no way Duchene was going back to juniors. I bet he would have cracked every lineup in the league.
Pat Andrzejewski: Filatov being a healthy scratch is shocking too.
Tim: I'm surprised but not totally shocked. I watched Filatov play a bit timid in the corners and back away from being physical on the puck early on in the season and I'm sure Hitchcock doesn't want Columbus to miss on another 1st rounder (Zherdev). They were lucky to get anything back in return for that guy, let alone a player like Fedor Tyutin. Filatov will be fine though, he seems like he has a genuine interest in working hard to get better.
Eric Kveton: My biggest surprise is Phoenix... 5-2, with victories over Pittsburgh, SJ, and Boston, and playing absolute shutdown defense. Aucoin has been a big addition for them.
I actually think it's more surprising for the defensemen to be doing so well. I guess it's not a big surprise for guys like Hedman and Gilroy to be flourishing due to their size and experience (respectively). But the stigma that rookie defensemen can't do well in the NHL has been taking a hit with guys like them, Del Zotto, and (last year) Doughty, Bogosian, and Schenn jumping in right away and succeeding.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Why a 1-6 Team With Shallow Prospect Depth Gave Up a 2nd Round Pick
By Nate Wells
Chuck Fletcher's trade of AHLer Craig Weller, prospect Alexander Fallstrom and a second-round pick in 2011 for Boston Bruins forward Chuck Kobasew is an interesting trade from a Minnesota standpoint. While Boston's benefits are more obvious and straight-forward - the B's get cap help and more future assets to parlay into something down the line - Minnesota's benefits and success will depend upon what else Fletcher does later this season and next off-season.
At first glance, it appears that this was a disappointing trade for the Wild as they overpaid for a twenty-goal scorer due to desperation from injuries, a 1-6 record and forward Pierre-Marc Bouchard being out longer than originally assumed. While some of that is true and Kobasew can stop some of the initial bleeding the Wild have suffered, this is a move designed for the long-term. Minnesota's new GM has been saddled with a lot of bad contracts and players who aren't set up to play head coach Todd Richards' brand of hockey. Thankfully for him, there are eight UFAs this season and one or two should fetch a good price at the deadline provided Chuck Fletcher has better asset management than Doug Risebrough. It's hard to remedy that with one player, especially when there's little prospect depth to begin with, but this is a start and will help the Wild out some in the short-term. There's no one "answer" to Minnesota's problems as Richards still has a lot of problems to get through, injuries notwithstanding.
Kobasew is a player who I believe will fit in well with Minnesota, as they need scoring now with four "top-six" players hurt and he actually has a shoot-first attitude and a good work ethic [all things the Wild need right now]. That said, he can't do everything by himself; if that's the case and he was brought in as a stop-gap, then this trade is a coup for Boston. Kobasew needs to be surrounded by more players who fit into the new vision Fletcher and Richards have for the team. It'll be interesting to see what happens next season as the team is shaped into something new and more assets are attained [it wouldn't be surprising if there are a few players who could be on their way out], but for now Bruins fans have to be very happy with the return they received for an expendable piece.
Chuck Fletcher's trade of AHLer Craig Weller, prospect Alexander Fallstrom and a second-round pick in 2011 for Boston Bruins forward Chuck Kobasew is an interesting trade from a Minnesota standpoint. While Boston's benefits are more obvious and straight-forward - the B's get cap help and more future assets to parlay into something down the line - Minnesota's benefits and success will depend upon what else Fletcher does later this season and next off-season.
At first glance, it appears that this was a disappointing trade for the Wild as they overpaid for a twenty-goal scorer due to desperation from injuries, a 1-6 record and forward Pierre-Marc Bouchard being out longer than originally assumed. While some of that is true and Kobasew can stop some of the initial bleeding the Wild have suffered, this is a move designed for the long-term. Minnesota's new GM has been saddled with a lot of bad contracts and players who aren't set up to play head coach Todd Richards' brand of hockey. Thankfully for him, there are eight UFAs this season and one or two should fetch a good price at the deadline provided Chuck Fletcher has better asset management than Doug Risebrough. It's hard to remedy that with one player, especially when there's little prospect depth to begin with, but this is a start and will help the Wild out some in the short-term. There's no one "answer" to Minnesota's problems as Richards still has a lot of problems to get through, injuries notwithstanding.
Kobasew is a player who I believe will fit in well with Minnesota, as they need scoring now with four "top-six" players hurt and he actually has a shoot-first attitude and a good work ethic [all things the Wild need right now]. That said, he can't do everything by himself; if that's the case and he was brought in as a stop-gap, then this trade is a coup for Boston. Kobasew needs to be surrounded by more players who fit into the new vision Fletcher and Richards have for the team. It'll be interesting to see what happens next season as the team is shaped into something new and more assets are attained [it wouldn't be surprising if there are a few players who could be on their way out], but for now Bruins fans have to be very happy with the return they received for an expendable piece.
Monday, October 19, 2009
NHL Players of the Week - 10/12 through 10/16/09
1. Milan Michalek, Ottawa Senators. Michalek came over to Ottawa in the Dany Heatley trade and is a great fit in Ottawa. He scored his first career hat trick on Thursday against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Two of his goals came shorthanded, the third on the power play. The Sens are off to a 5-2-0 start this season and looking like they can compete for a playoff spot. Their scoring is more balanced and Pascal Leclaire has made a huge difference in net.
2. Alexander Ovechkin, Washington Capitals. As expected, Ovechkin is leading the league in goals with 9. This week, he scored 2 goals against San Jose and netted another 2 against Nashville. Ovechkin totaled 6 points this week and a whopping 26 shots on goal in 6 games. The Caps boast a formidable, offense-heavy team with the likes of Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom, Alexander Semin and Mike Green. They should contend for top seed in the Eastern Conference this season.
3. Marc-Andre Fleury, Pittsburgh Penguins. Fleury is off to his best start of his career this season winning all 7 games he’s played. Fleury allowed just 4 goals on 83 shots in 3 games, good for a sparkling .956 save percentage. The Pens are showing why they’re the defending Stanley Cup champions, playing a great puck possession game and finding ways to win.
Honorable Mentions: Nicklas Lidstrom became the first European blueliner to score 1,000 points on Thursday against the LA Kings with his assist on Henrik Zetterberg’s goal. … Henrik Lundqvist is off to a great start for the hot New York Rangers (more on that later). He won all 3 games this week, allowing only one goal in each game. … Pittsburgh’s Tyler Kennedy scored 2 goals against the Ottawa Senators. Kennedy has 3 game winners this season so far. … Tyler Myers (BUF), Matt Duchene (COL) and Ryan Vesce (SJS) all scored their first NHL goals this week. … Pat Kane lead the Chicago Blackhawks to a stunning come-from-behind win against the Calgary Flames on Monday. Kane had a goal and 2 assists, helping the Hawks win in overtime against the Flames after being down 5-0. … Cam Ward was stellar in a 3-2 shootout loss to the Penguins on Wednesday, making 36 saves and absolutely robbing Billy Guerin and Evgeni Malkin late in the game to keep the Hurricanes in it. Ray Whitney scored 2 goals for the Canes...The Dallas stars thrashed the Nashville Predators on Wednesday. Captain Brendan Morrow lead the way, scoring 2 goals along with Loui Eriksson, who also had an assist. Brad Richards had a goal and 2 assists and goaltender Marty Turco made all 29 saves for the shutout. … Tim Thomas notched his first shutout of the year, stopping all 27 shots the Stars threw at him. … Joe Thornton had 3 points against the Islanders Saturday night (1g, 2a). … Martin Brodeur needs one shutout to tie Terry Sawchuk’s record of 103 shutouts. Brodeur stopped 26 shots against the Carolina Hurricanes for the win. … Jay McKee blocked a whopping 7 shots against Tampa Bay for the Pens on Saturday. McKee leads the league with 28 shots blocked. … St. Louis beat the Anaheim Ducks 5-0 Saturday, lead by Andy McDonald who had 2 goals and an assist. Ty Conklin made 26 saves.
Big thumbs down to the Toronto Maple Leafs who are winless 7 games into the season (0-6-1). The Leafs team defense has been awful. Last season, the Leafs had no quit whether they were winning or losing. This year, the team seems to have no motivation. Vesa Toskala has been atrocious in his only 3 games. It doesn’t help having Toskala out with injury along with highly touted Swedish goaltender Jonas Gustavsson. Head coach Ron Wilson is stuck playing third-string goalie Joey MacDonald. Offense is also hard to come by. The Leafs have only scored 14 goals this season while allowing 32 goals (which happens to be the league-leading Rangers GF). The Leafs don’t play again for a full week when they travel to Vancouver to play the Canucks. The team and coaching staff need to figure out how to fix this and get the ball rolling. The fans are displeased, along with the players. The lone bright spot for Toronto is the fact that newly acquired winger Phil Kessel has been progressing ahead of schedule in his rehabilition from off-season shoulder surgery and should be ready to play by mid-November.
On the flip side of things, the New York Rangers have been arguably the best team in the league so far. They’re 7-1-0 with their only loss coming against the Pittsburgh Penguins October 2nd. Henrik Lundqvist has been stellar so far with a 6-1-0 record, 2.15 GAA and .932 save percentage. For the past 4 years, he has been the best player for the Rangers and continues to give them a chance to win every night. Lundqvist is now getting solid support up front. Marian Gaborik is leading the team in points with 12 and goals with 6. Vaclav Prospal has been a fantastic signing by general manager Glen Sather. Prospal and Gaborik have great chemistry and usually if one scores, the other assists. Rookie Michael del Zotto has been the key to the Rangers 8th ranked power play which is clicking at 26.3%. The Rangers are almost exactly opposite of the Leafs. The Rangers are getting the offense, goaltending, special teams play (the Rangers PK is also 8th in the league at 86.1%) and they have the chemistry the Leafs seem to lack. Rangers head coach John Tortorella has really implemented his aggressive system this season, helped by the fact he had a full training camp to work with the players. The Rangers look like they won’t be slowing down any time soon.
2. Alexander Ovechkin, Washington Capitals. As expected, Ovechkin is leading the league in goals with 9. This week, he scored 2 goals against San Jose and netted another 2 against Nashville. Ovechkin totaled 6 points this week and a whopping 26 shots on goal in 6 games. The Caps boast a formidable, offense-heavy team with the likes of Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom, Alexander Semin and Mike Green. They should contend for top seed in the Eastern Conference this season.
3. Marc-Andre Fleury, Pittsburgh Penguins. Fleury is off to his best start of his career this season winning all 7 games he’s played. Fleury allowed just 4 goals on 83 shots in 3 games, good for a sparkling .956 save percentage. The Pens are showing why they’re the defending Stanley Cup champions, playing a great puck possession game and finding ways to win.
Honorable Mentions: Nicklas Lidstrom became the first European blueliner to score 1,000 points on Thursday against the LA Kings with his assist on Henrik Zetterberg’s goal. … Henrik Lundqvist is off to a great start for the hot New York Rangers (more on that later). He won all 3 games this week, allowing only one goal in each game. … Pittsburgh’s Tyler Kennedy scored 2 goals against the Ottawa Senators. Kennedy has 3 game winners this season so far. … Tyler Myers (BUF), Matt Duchene (COL) and Ryan Vesce (SJS) all scored their first NHL goals this week. … Pat Kane lead the Chicago Blackhawks to a stunning come-from-behind win against the Calgary Flames on Monday. Kane had a goal and 2 assists, helping the Hawks win in overtime against the Flames after being down 5-0. … Cam Ward was stellar in a 3-2 shootout loss to the Penguins on Wednesday, making 36 saves and absolutely robbing Billy Guerin and Evgeni Malkin late in the game to keep the Hurricanes in it. Ray Whitney scored 2 goals for the Canes...The Dallas stars thrashed the Nashville Predators on Wednesday. Captain Brendan Morrow lead the way, scoring 2 goals along with Loui Eriksson, who also had an assist. Brad Richards had a goal and 2 assists and goaltender Marty Turco made all 29 saves for the shutout. … Tim Thomas notched his first shutout of the year, stopping all 27 shots the Stars threw at him. … Joe Thornton had 3 points against the Islanders Saturday night (1g, 2a). … Martin Brodeur needs one shutout to tie Terry Sawchuk’s record of 103 shutouts. Brodeur stopped 26 shots against the Carolina Hurricanes for the win. … Jay McKee blocked a whopping 7 shots against Tampa Bay for the Pens on Saturday. McKee leads the league with 28 shots blocked. … St. Louis beat the Anaheim Ducks 5-0 Saturday, lead by Andy McDonald who had 2 goals and an assist. Ty Conklin made 26 saves.
Big thumbs down to the Toronto Maple Leafs who are winless 7 games into the season (0-6-1). The Leafs team defense has been awful. Last season, the Leafs had no quit whether they were winning or losing. This year, the team seems to have no motivation. Vesa Toskala has been atrocious in his only 3 games. It doesn’t help having Toskala out with injury along with highly touted Swedish goaltender Jonas Gustavsson. Head coach Ron Wilson is stuck playing third-string goalie Joey MacDonald. Offense is also hard to come by. The Leafs have only scored 14 goals this season while allowing 32 goals (which happens to be the league-leading Rangers GF). The Leafs don’t play again for a full week when they travel to Vancouver to play the Canucks. The team and coaching staff need to figure out how to fix this and get the ball rolling. The fans are displeased, along with the players. The lone bright spot for Toronto is the fact that newly acquired winger Phil Kessel has been progressing ahead of schedule in his rehabilition from off-season shoulder surgery and should be ready to play by mid-November.
On the flip side of things, the New York Rangers have been arguably the best team in the league so far. They’re 7-1-0 with their only loss coming against the Pittsburgh Penguins October 2nd. Henrik Lundqvist has been stellar so far with a 6-1-0 record, 2.15 GAA and .932 save percentage. For the past 4 years, he has been the best player for the Rangers and continues to give them a chance to win every night. Lundqvist is now getting solid support up front. Marian Gaborik is leading the team in points with 12 and goals with 6. Vaclav Prospal has been a fantastic signing by general manager Glen Sather. Prospal and Gaborik have great chemistry and usually if one scores, the other assists. Rookie Michael del Zotto has been the key to the Rangers 8th ranked power play which is clicking at 26.3%. The Rangers are almost exactly opposite of the Leafs. The Rangers are getting the offense, goaltending, special teams play (the Rangers PK is also 8th in the league at 86.1%) and they have the chemistry the Leafs seem to lack. Rangers head coach John Tortorella has really implemented his aggressive system this season, helped by the fact he had a full training camp to work with the players. The Rangers look like they won’t be slowing down any time soon.
Friday, October 16, 2009
Fantasy Hockey Friday: 10/16/09
By John Cullen
Hello everyone and welcome back to the second edition of Fantasy Hockey Friday, your weekly dose of fantasy musings.
Last week, we began to take a look at how best to deal with fantasy goaltending, an much-maligned issue amongst poolies and one that seems to be a huge struggle for fantasy players year in and year out. We began a countdown of my top 5 tips for poolies on how to deal with goaltenders, designed to minimize your stress level and maximize your goalie’s potential throughout the course of a fantasy season. We also looked at not playing your match-ups specifically and handcuffing your elite goalies. This week, the final 3 tips for making your life with your goalies that much easier.
The Last 3 Tips for Fantasy Goalie Management(it’s really not so bad):
Create a depth chart.
This is a tip that is more for your own personal benefit than anything else, but I think it’s a great way to manage your goalies(and your skaters, to that end). Each week, sit down, review your goalies, and create a depth chart for the week. Number your goalies according to what you believe their role would be if your fantasy team were a real hockey team. So, for example, in one of my pools, I have 4 goalies, but can only start 2 each night.
My depth chart right now looks like this:
Henrik Lundqvist--putting up consistent numbers and the Rangers are winning a lot of games. If he’s starting for the Rangers, he’s starting for my fantasy team.
Jonas Hiller--his GAA/save % have been startlingly low and despite not racking up as many wins as Lundqvist, I still prefer him over...
Ray Emery--While Emery and the Flyers have been racking up the wins, his goalie numbers haven’t been too impressive outside his first two games and he seems to be in a bit of a stats funk. Unlike my number four...
Jean-Sebastien Giguere--...who is in a huge wins funk. He makes enough saves to win games, but his team seems reluctant to put a game together in front of him.
By making a depth chart, you ease the pain that is coming to your computer after a Saturday slate of games and realizing the goalie you benched recorded a shutout or made 40+ saves in a winning effort, and the goalie you started let in 5 goals for a sub-.900 save percentage. It won’t ease the pain entirely, of course, but at least you can rest easy knowing that you made the decision well in advance of game day and you made the decision to the best of your ability.
You can always update your depth chart on a daily basis as well, but that’s a whole other can of worms. And of course, you don’t always stick to it religiously, if you have a gut feeling about a match-up, go for it, but this is a great way to not only ease your pain, but also to analyze the trends we talked about in Tip #1 last week. It’s hard to remember how well your goalie has been doing over the last 5 games, so sitting down and making a depth chart is a great way to force yourself into it.
Winning isn’t everything.
If you play fantasy hockey in the dreaded “office pool” where you pick guys out of categories or boxes and then never take a look at your lineup for the year, then wins are everything. But in the real world of fantasy hockey where daily updates are the norm, you have to remember that wins are not the only goalie stat ever invented. This might be more of a draft day strategy than anything else (where I laugh as guys like Tomas Vokoun perpetually fall to the “teen” rounds and end up on winning teams a good percentage of the time), but it’s important to note as you go through the year that wins are usually only one stat of five, and there is great, great value to be had in keeping goalies around with great support statistics.
It helps if you have a wins magnet like a Kiprusoff or Nabokov, but without great GAA and save percentage stats(and Kipper owners of the last two years will testify to this), you’re screwed. They are without question the hardest stats to accrue/make up, especially late in the season, and if you’re playing in 10- to 12-team pool, the numbers that win GAA and save percentage are usually on the extreme high end(in my 2 pools last year they were 2.17/.918 and 2.24/.920 respectively). So get in now while the getting is good and don’t be afraid of a Craig Anderson, Tomas Vokoun, Jon Quick, or even Mike Smith, who is putting up some mighty fine numbers down on the Bay.
Be patient.
Guys panic when their goalie stats plummet, and they do really, really stupid things like drop bonafide starting goalies for the hottest back-up in the game. I’ve seen guys drop goalies like Carey Price and Marty Turco for Antti Niemi because he’s won a couple of games in a back-up role, and when you do that, you’re losing yourself a pool. Unless the starting goalie is injured or a miserable excuse for a starter like Andrew Raycroft(who thankfully isn’t doing that anymore), a back-up is NEVER worth as much as a starting goalie. A platooned goalie like Hiller/Giguere, maybe. But a back-up? No way. I understand it’s hard to sit back while Cristobal Huet puts up a 25.29 GAA with a .400 save percentage on the night, but take a look at his numbers tonight following that debacle: 1 W, 1.00 GAA, .923 save percentage. As I’ve said before, goalie is a very, very fickle position and goaltenders will struggle. Be patient. Ride the storm. Have faith in your drafting. Until your goalie has struggled for 15 games or more(I’d say more if the goalie is on a particularly strong team, much like Huet) or has been completely usurped by the back-up, let it go. Fantasy seasons have been made on second-half goalie performances and there’s no reason why it can’t happen to you.
I’m going to cut off the sit/starts this week due to an illness(just can’t seem to shake this damn sinus infection), but in short, I love the Rangers and Henrik Lundqvist @ the Leafs on Saturday, as I still don’t think the Buds are there yet and the Rangers always seem to have the Leafs’ number, and I like Roberto Luongo @ Minnesota, whose inability to score this season won’t be helped any by meeting the league’s best netminder. On your pine, I would really hope to find either Dan Ellis or Pekka Rinne as Washington is never a good match-up for a struggling defensive team, and Mike Smith or Antero Niittymaki for Tampa Bay, as they roll into Pittsburgh after a humbling loss at Ottawa and Pittsburgh’s power-play should carve Tampa’s Bay’s 9th-worst PK unit into pieces.
Hello everyone and welcome back to the second edition of Fantasy Hockey Friday, your weekly dose of fantasy musings.
Last week, we began to take a look at how best to deal with fantasy goaltending, an much-maligned issue amongst poolies and one that seems to be a huge struggle for fantasy players year in and year out. We began a countdown of my top 5 tips for poolies on how to deal with goaltenders, designed to minimize your stress level and maximize your goalie’s potential throughout the course of a fantasy season. We also looked at not playing your match-ups specifically and handcuffing your elite goalies. This week, the final 3 tips for making your life with your goalies that much easier.
The Last 3 Tips for Fantasy Goalie Management(it’s really not so bad):
Create a depth chart.
This is a tip that is more for your own personal benefit than anything else, but I think it’s a great way to manage your goalies(and your skaters, to that end). Each week, sit down, review your goalies, and create a depth chart for the week. Number your goalies according to what you believe their role would be if your fantasy team were a real hockey team. So, for example, in one of my pools, I have 4 goalies, but can only start 2 each night.
My depth chart right now looks like this:
Henrik Lundqvist--putting up consistent numbers and the Rangers are winning a lot of games. If he’s starting for the Rangers, he’s starting for my fantasy team.
Jonas Hiller--his GAA/save % have been startlingly low and despite not racking up as many wins as Lundqvist, I still prefer him over...
Ray Emery--While Emery and the Flyers have been racking up the wins, his goalie numbers haven’t been too impressive outside his first two games and he seems to be in a bit of a stats funk. Unlike my number four...
Jean-Sebastien Giguere--...who is in a huge wins funk. He makes enough saves to win games, but his team seems reluctant to put a game together in front of him.
By making a depth chart, you ease the pain that is coming to your computer after a Saturday slate of games and realizing the goalie you benched recorded a shutout or made 40+ saves in a winning effort, and the goalie you started let in 5 goals for a sub-.900 save percentage. It won’t ease the pain entirely, of course, but at least you can rest easy knowing that you made the decision well in advance of game day and you made the decision to the best of your ability.
You can always update your depth chart on a daily basis as well, but that’s a whole other can of worms. And of course, you don’t always stick to it religiously, if you have a gut feeling about a match-up, go for it, but this is a great way to not only ease your pain, but also to analyze the trends we talked about in Tip #1 last week. It’s hard to remember how well your goalie has been doing over the last 5 games, so sitting down and making a depth chart is a great way to force yourself into it.
Winning isn’t everything.
If you play fantasy hockey in the dreaded “office pool” where you pick guys out of categories or boxes and then never take a look at your lineup for the year, then wins are everything. But in the real world of fantasy hockey where daily updates are the norm, you have to remember that wins are not the only goalie stat ever invented. This might be more of a draft day strategy than anything else (where I laugh as guys like Tomas Vokoun perpetually fall to the “teen” rounds and end up on winning teams a good percentage of the time), but it’s important to note as you go through the year that wins are usually only one stat of five, and there is great, great value to be had in keeping goalies around with great support statistics.
It helps if you have a wins magnet like a Kiprusoff or Nabokov, but without great GAA and save percentage stats(and Kipper owners of the last two years will testify to this), you’re screwed. They are without question the hardest stats to accrue/make up, especially late in the season, and if you’re playing in 10- to 12-team pool, the numbers that win GAA and save percentage are usually on the extreme high end(in my 2 pools last year they were 2.17/.918 and 2.24/.920 respectively). So get in now while the getting is good and don’t be afraid of a Craig Anderson, Tomas Vokoun, Jon Quick, or even Mike Smith, who is putting up some mighty fine numbers down on the Bay.
Be patient.
Guys panic when their goalie stats plummet, and they do really, really stupid things like drop bonafide starting goalies for the hottest back-up in the game. I’ve seen guys drop goalies like Carey Price and Marty Turco for Antti Niemi because he’s won a couple of games in a back-up role, and when you do that, you’re losing yourself a pool. Unless the starting goalie is injured or a miserable excuse for a starter like Andrew Raycroft(who thankfully isn’t doing that anymore), a back-up is NEVER worth as much as a starting goalie. A platooned goalie like Hiller/Giguere, maybe. But a back-up? No way. I understand it’s hard to sit back while Cristobal Huet puts up a 25.29 GAA with a .400 save percentage on the night, but take a look at his numbers tonight following that debacle: 1 W, 1.00 GAA, .923 save percentage. As I’ve said before, goalie is a very, very fickle position and goaltenders will struggle. Be patient. Ride the storm. Have faith in your drafting. Until your goalie has struggled for 15 games or more(I’d say more if the goalie is on a particularly strong team, much like Huet) or has been completely usurped by the back-up, let it go. Fantasy seasons have been made on second-half goalie performances and there’s no reason why it can’t happen to you.
I’m going to cut off the sit/starts this week due to an illness(just can’t seem to shake this damn sinus infection), but in short, I love the Rangers and Henrik Lundqvist @ the Leafs on Saturday, as I still don’t think the Buds are there yet and the Rangers always seem to have the Leafs’ number, and I like Roberto Luongo @ Minnesota, whose inability to score this season won’t be helped any by meeting the league’s best netminder. On your pine, I would really hope to find either Dan Ellis or Pekka Rinne as Washington is never a good match-up for a struggling defensive team, and Mike Smith or Antero Niittymaki for Tampa Bay, as they roll into Pittsburgh after a humbling loss at Ottawa and Pittsburgh’s power-play should carve Tampa’s Bay’s 9th-worst PK unit into pieces.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Calder Trophy Candidates: Rookies to Watch
By Pat Andrzejewski
John Tavares: The most coveted player coming out of this past draft class is also the most expected to make an instant impact at the NHL level. John Tavares’ junior career was spectacular. He set new scoring records in the OHL and led the Canadian Juniors to 2 straight gold medals. The Islanders will expect immediate results from the young phenom as they will most likely plug him in their first line. Unfortunately for Tavares, he plays on a very young, unproven squad on the Island, but his pure talent alone is enough to take him seriously in early Calder talk. How long will it be until Tavares carries this team on his back?
Semyon Varlamov: Semyon Varlamov took the world by surprise when he led the Washington Capitals to the 2nd round of the playoffs last summer and made highlight reel saves night-after-night to get them there - all this with just 6 NHL regular season games played under his belt. Coach Bruce Boudreau would not commit to naming a starting goaltender in the pre-season, but Varlamov will battle Jose Theodore from day one, and don’t be surprised if Theodore’s reign as starting goalie is short-lived. Playing for the offensive powerhouse Capitals also adds to his value, as he will be able to accumulate quite a few victories.
Victor Hedman: Victor Hedman was Tavares’ biggest rival in the rankings of this past draft. He is expected to be a franchise defender, due to his great skill set, his size (6’6’ and still growing), and his knowledge of the game. At the age of 16, Hedman was playing in the Senior Modo Team for the SEL. The new Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman is consistently compared to Chris Pronger, because of his overpowering size and offensive aspect of the game. Hedman was logging over 20 minutes a game in the pre-season, so expect him to start the season off with a bang.
Nikita Filatov: Probably one of the most individually skilled players out of all Calder candidates is the small sized, hard working Nikita Filatov. Filatov has enough talent to make scoring chances alone while making his surrounding players superior. In his 8 regular season games last year for the Columbus Blue Jackets in the regular season, he managed to score a hat trick against a defense first Minnesota team, but was then sent down to the AHL to familiarize with the North American style of hockey. With explosive speed combined with quick hands, this offensive force is not one to be ignored and could be primed for a big rookie campaign.
Jonas Gustavsson: Jonas Gustavsson is a late bloomer that led his Farjestad team in the SEL to a championship last season. Brian Burke flew out to Sweden in an effort to bring him to the Toronto Maple Leafs and succeeded. “The Monster” earned his appropriate nickname by his 6’3” stature and his ability to cover the whole net. He also has an aggressive perspective on the game so he can limit shooting angles. Expect him to push Vesa Toskala for the starting goaltender role once he finds his NHL stride and with the improved defensive corps, it’ll be fun to watch.
Michael Del Zotto: As the 20th overall pick in 2008 by the New York Rangers, Michael Del Zotto was drafted for his offensive output on the blue line. After roughly averaging a point-per-game in the OHL, this 19-year-old wasn’t expected to make the Rangers this year. After an impressive pre-season, he has opened the eyes of coach John Tortorella and has made the team and is now quarterbacking the 1st PP unit. For now, Tortorella prefers Del Zotto to highly priced Wade Redden and Michal Roszival and if he continues his strong play, there is no doubt that the London Knights, his junior team, will have to look for his replacement immediately.
Matt Duchene: Often compared to Steve Yzerman for his speed, hockey sense, and great hands, Matt Duchene is one of the most complete players to come out of the 2009 draft class. Duchene played on a team with a plethora of future NHL talent, the Brampton Batallion, and amassed 79 points in 57 games. One of the many bright sides to his game is his 2-way sense of hockey and his ability to throw his weight around even though he isn’t the size of a typical power forward (5’11”, 200 lbs). Duchene pumped his fists as Victor Hedman was drafted the Tampa Bay Lightning, which allowed his childhood favorite team to select him at 3rd overall. With Colorado in rebuilding mode, Duchene will be counted on as the 2nd line center and he has the potential to be an impact player in this young Avalanche lineup.
Jamie Benn: Jamie Benn who was drafted in the 5th round in 2007 by the Dallas Stars has progressed admirably in his final year on the Kelowna Rockets of the WHL by scoring 46 goals in 56 games. He is a natural goal scorer who always manages to get to loose pucks before his opponents do. He’s going to get a chance to prove his NHL talent as he has made the Dallas Stars’ opening roster and will play on the second line with Mike Ribeiro and Brenden Morrow. He will need to adjust his defensive skill and start using his 6’2” frame more if he wants to be as successful as he was in the WHL, but with his raw offensive talent, he has more than enough to become a successful NHLer.
Ville Leino: When Ville Leino was called up to the Detroit Red Wings at the beginning of February last season, he made a huge impact fast. He accumulated 9 pts in 13 games including his first NHL goal in his first NHL game. This year is a different story for the 26-year-old rookie hailing from Finland. In the off-season, the Red Wings lost over 80 goals to free agency this off-season and another 34 goals in the season-threatening injury to Johan Franzen. He will be heavily relied upon to make up for those lost goals and being on a team which is a perennial cup contender and being used as a top 6 forward, Leino has a big opportunity to make a strong case for the Calder Trophy.
Colin Wilson: When Colin Wilson was drafted 7th overall in 2008 by the Nashville Predators, they knew they had drafted a player that will be the foundation of their hockey team for years to come. An offensively gifted Wilson, who is the son of Carey Wilson who played over 500 games in the NHL, has great size, remarkable offensive capabilities, and incredible hockey sense. He led Boston University to a NCAA national championship last season and put up impressive point totals in his 2 years on the team. With plenty of open roster spots on the Predators this year, Wilson is poised to have a big season if he can translate his junior success into his NHL form.
John Tavares: The most coveted player coming out of this past draft class is also the most expected to make an instant impact at the NHL level. John Tavares’ junior career was spectacular. He set new scoring records in the OHL and led the Canadian Juniors to 2 straight gold medals. The Islanders will expect immediate results from the young phenom as they will most likely plug him in their first line. Unfortunately for Tavares, he plays on a very young, unproven squad on the Island, but his pure talent alone is enough to take him seriously in early Calder talk. How long will it be until Tavares carries this team on his back?
Semyon Varlamov: Semyon Varlamov took the world by surprise when he led the Washington Capitals to the 2nd round of the playoffs last summer and made highlight reel saves night-after-night to get them there - all this with just 6 NHL regular season games played under his belt. Coach Bruce Boudreau would not commit to naming a starting goaltender in the pre-season, but Varlamov will battle Jose Theodore from day one, and don’t be surprised if Theodore’s reign as starting goalie is short-lived. Playing for the offensive powerhouse Capitals also adds to his value, as he will be able to accumulate quite a few victories.
Victor Hedman: Victor Hedman was Tavares’ biggest rival in the rankings of this past draft. He is expected to be a franchise defender, due to his great skill set, his size (6’6’ and still growing), and his knowledge of the game. At the age of 16, Hedman was playing in the Senior Modo Team for the SEL. The new Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman is consistently compared to Chris Pronger, because of his overpowering size and offensive aspect of the game. Hedman was logging over 20 minutes a game in the pre-season, so expect him to start the season off with a bang.
Nikita Filatov: Probably one of the most individually skilled players out of all Calder candidates is the small sized, hard working Nikita Filatov. Filatov has enough talent to make scoring chances alone while making his surrounding players superior. In his 8 regular season games last year for the Columbus Blue Jackets in the regular season, he managed to score a hat trick against a defense first Minnesota team, but was then sent down to the AHL to familiarize with the North American style of hockey. With explosive speed combined with quick hands, this offensive force is not one to be ignored and could be primed for a big rookie campaign.
Jonas Gustavsson: Jonas Gustavsson is a late bloomer that led his Farjestad team in the SEL to a championship last season. Brian Burke flew out to Sweden in an effort to bring him to the Toronto Maple Leafs and succeeded. “The Monster” earned his appropriate nickname by his 6’3” stature and his ability to cover the whole net. He also has an aggressive perspective on the game so he can limit shooting angles. Expect him to push Vesa Toskala for the starting goaltender role once he finds his NHL stride and with the improved defensive corps, it’ll be fun to watch.
Michael Del Zotto: As the 20th overall pick in 2008 by the New York Rangers, Michael Del Zotto was drafted for his offensive output on the blue line. After roughly averaging a point-per-game in the OHL, this 19-year-old wasn’t expected to make the Rangers this year. After an impressive pre-season, he has opened the eyes of coach John Tortorella and has made the team and is now quarterbacking the 1st PP unit. For now, Tortorella prefers Del Zotto to highly priced Wade Redden and Michal Roszival and if he continues his strong play, there is no doubt that the London Knights, his junior team, will have to look for his replacement immediately.
Matt Duchene: Often compared to Steve Yzerman for his speed, hockey sense, and great hands, Matt Duchene is one of the most complete players to come out of the 2009 draft class. Duchene played on a team with a plethora of future NHL talent, the Brampton Batallion, and amassed 79 points in 57 games. One of the many bright sides to his game is his 2-way sense of hockey and his ability to throw his weight around even though he isn’t the size of a typical power forward (5’11”, 200 lbs). Duchene pumped his fists as Victor Hedman was drafted the Tampa Bay Lightning, which allowed his childhood favorite team to select him at 3rd overall. With Colorado in rebuilding mode, Duchene will be counted on as the 2nd line center and he has the potential to be an impact player in this young Avalanche lineup.
Jamie Benn: Jamie Benn who was drafted in the 5th round in 2007 by the Dallas Stars has progressed admirably in his final year on the Kelowna Rockets of the WHL by scoring 46 goals in 56 games. He is a natural goal scorer who always manages to get to loose pucks before his opponents do. He’s going to get a chance to prove his NHL talent as he has made the Dallas Stars’ opening roster and will play on the second line with Mike Ribeiro and Brenden Morrow. He will need to adjust his defensive skill and start using his 6’2” frame more if he wants to be as successful as he was in the WHL, but with his raw offensive talent, he has more than enough to become a successful NHLer.
Ville Leino: When Ville Leino was called up to the Detroit Red Wings at the beginning of February last season, he made a huge impact fast. He accumulated 9 pts in 13 games including his first NHL goal in his first NHL game. This year is a different story for the 26-year-old rookie hailing from Finland. In the off-season, the Red Wings lost over 80 goals to free agency this off-season and another 34 goals in the season-threatening injury to Johan Franzen. He will be heavily relied upon to make up for those lost goals and being on a team which is a perennial cup contender and being used as a top 6 forward, Leino has a big opportunity to make a strong case for the Calder Trophy.
Colin Wilson: When Colin Wilson was drafted 7th overall in 2008 by the Nashville Predators, they knew they had drafted a player that will be the foundation of their hockey team for years to come. An offensively gifted Wilson, who is the son of Carey Wilson who played over 500 games in the NHL, has great size, remarkable offensive capabilities, and incredible hockey sense. He led Boston University to a NCAA national championship last season and put up impressive point totals in his 2 years on the team. With plenty of open roster spots on the Predators this year, Wilson is poised to have a big season if he can translate his junior success into his NHL form.
Monday, October 12, 2009
Players of the Week - 10/5/09 through 10/11/09
By Dara Heaps
1. Dany Heatley, San Jose Sharks. Heatley made quite a debut at home for the Sharks, netting a hat trick, an assist and was an astonishing +6 on the night. This week, Heatley exploded for 5 goals, 4 assists and finished a +5. The Sharks top line of Heatley, Joe Thornton and Devin Setoguchi are starting to click with great results.
2. Mike Richards, Philadelphia Flyers. Somewhere in Canada, Pierre McGuire is estatic. Richards upstaged Alex Ovechkin, scoring three goals in an overtime win against the Capitals. He went on to add two assists against their bitter rival Penguins and scored a goal in a shootout loss to the Anaheim Ducks. Philly is loaded up front, but it all starts with Richards.
3. Ryan Malone, Tampa Bay Lightning. Malone powered the Lightning to their first victory of the season Saturday night with a hat trick versus Carolina. He also had a goal in a shootout loss to the Canes on Tuesday. He, Marty St. Louis and Steven Stamkos have great chemistry.
Honorable Mentions: San Jose’s Joe Thornton had 8 assists in 3 games. … Jordan Staal was one of the bright spots in Pittsburgh’s loss to the Phoenix Coyotes, winning 12 of 13 faceoffs. He also scored 2 goals this week. … The Finnish Flash scored 2 goals against Boston, then Teemu Selanne repeated the feat, scoring another 2 against Philadelphia. … Marian Gaborik, Michael Del Zotto and Vaclav Prosopal all had a great week for the Rangers, combining for 12 points in 3 games. … Jonas Hiller won both of his starts for Anaheim, allowing only 3 goals on 69 shots. … Sidney Crosby netted 2 goals for Pittsburgh against Toronto. He also was 21-3 on faceoffs in Philadelphia. … Henrik Sedin scored 3 goals this week and 7 assists. Bad news for his brother, Daniel, who will be out 4-6 weeks with a broken foot. … Mathieu Garon spoiled the Coyotes sold-out home opener by posting a shutout, stopping 36 shots. … In a battle of goaltenders, Ryan Miller topped all 25 shots against the Predators for his first shutout of the year. In the opposite net, Pekka Rinne only allowed 1 goal on 42 shots. … Stephen Valiquette made his first start for the Rangers and stopped all 18 shots the Ducks threw at him.
Thumbs down to… Tim Thomas. The reigning Vezina winner has looked awful for Boston this year. He’s been out of position and failing to make saves to keep his team in the game. Its early in the year, but for Boston to finish top in the conference again, Thomas needs to find his form.Also thumbs down to Los Angeles’ penalty kill. LA finally looks poised to make the playoffs, but no way they’re going to if they allow San Jose 4 power play goals. If LA does make the playoffs, there’s a good chance they’ll be seeing San Jose in the first round. Special teams are extremely important in this league and the Kings need to improve their penalty killing.
1. Dany Heatley, San Jose Sharks. Heatley made quite a debut at home for the Sharks, netting a hat trick, an assist and was an astonishing +6 on the night. This week, Heatley exploded for 5 goals, 4 assists and finished a +5. The Sharks top line of Heatley, Joe Thornton and Devin Setoguchi are starting to click with great results.
2. Mike Richards, Philadelphia Flyers. Somewhere in Canada, Pierre McGuire is estatic. Richards upstaged Alex Ovechkin, scoring three goals in an overtime win against the Capitals. He went on to add two assists against their bitter rival Penguins and scored a goal in a shootout loss to the Anaheim Ducks. Philly is loaded up front, but it all starts with Richards.
3. Ryan Malone, Tampa Bay Lightning. Malone powered the Lightning to their first victory of the season Saturday night with a hat trick versus Carolina. He also had a goal in a shootout loss to the Canes on Tuesday. He, Marty St. Louis and Steven Stamkos have great chemistry.
Honorable Mentions: San Jose’s Joe Thornton had 8 assists in 3 games. … Jordan Staal was one of the bright spots in Pittsburgh’s loss to the Phoenix Coyotes, winning 12 of 13 faceoffs. He also scored 2 goals this week. … The Finnish Flash scored 2 goals against Boston, then Teemu Selanne repeated the feat, scoring another 2 against Philadelphia. … Marian Gaborik, Michael Del Zotto and Vaclav Prosopal all had a great week for the Rangers, combining for 12 points in 3 games. … Jonas Hiller won both of his starts for Anaheim, allowing only 3 goals on 69 shots. … Sidney Crosby netted 2 goals for Pittsburgh against Toronto. He also was 21-3 on faceoffs in Philadelphia. … Henrik Sedin scored 3 goals this week and 7 assists. Bad news for his brother, Daniel, who will be out 4-6 weeks with a broken foot. … Mathieu Garon spoiled the Coyotes sold-out home opener by posting a shutout, stopping 36 shots. … In a battle of goaltenders, Ryan Miller topped all 25 shots against the Predators for his first shutout of the year. In the opposite net, Pekka Rinne only allowed 1 goal on 42 shots. … Stephen Valiquette made his first start for the Rangers and stopped all 18 shots the Ducks threw at him.
Thumbs down to… Tim Thomas. The reigning Vezina winner has looked awful for Boston this year. He’s been out of position and failing to make saves to keep his team in the game. Its early in the year, but for Boston to finish top in the conference again, Thomas needs to find his form.Also thumbs down to Los Angeles’ penalty kill. LA finally looks poised to make the playoffs, but no way they’re going to if they allow San Jose 4 power play goals. If LA does make the playoffs, there’s a good chance they’ll be seeing San Jose in the first round. Special teams are extremely important in this league and the Kings need to improve their penalty killing.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Saturday Roundup: 10/10/09
By Tim Daily
All but 4 teams were in action last night. Here are some of the things I noticed on the second hockey Saturday of this NHL season:
- John Tavares is the real deal. The passing and shooting skills have been obvious since we first started watching him in the OHL, but really what impresses me most is the way he moves his feet. He is an efficient skater that gets to where he's got to be and does it before anybody else. Tavares detractors would always point to his skating ability as the one thing he needs to improve, but trust me - he has a burst, and uses it when he needs to.
- The Kings are a solid club and will contend for a playoff spot this season. There are a plethora of top 9 forwards on this club and really a legitimate group of top 6 guys as well. The Ryan Smyth and Justin Williams additions really opened up things perfectly for Anze Kopitar who has proven to be a skilled skater, passer and scorer. Add in the blue line contribution Drew Doughty and you get a team that can make you pay
- Kyle Quincey and John-Michael Liles is one hell of a power play quarterback tandem for Colorado. Both guys can move the puck extremely well and are also a threat to score. The Avalanche will fight to stay in a playoff bubble scenario but on a game to game basis, you better stay out of the box if you want to beat them.
- The Penguins are looking like defending champions. Outside of their 3-0 loss to the Coyotes, Pittsburgh has demonstrated the ability to stay in and control games by using their entire lineup. Malkin and Crosby are a killer one-two punch, but last night we were reminded of just how deadly Sergei Gonchar can be on the power play point. Matt Cooke scored on a beautiful shot and played a physical, pestering game. The addition of Mike Rupp was key because it allows the 4th line to get a little more space in the shooting and passing lanes, which means more chances for a player like Pascal Dupuis - who skates and forechecks very well and could benefit from additional quick scoring opportunities.
- The Sharks have some issues and most of them lie in their own zone. Last season, San Jose's fantastic regular season was the result of a phenomenal power play, a balanced scoring attack and a quick breakout that rarely allowed opposing teams any second-chance opportunities. This season, the defensive zone pursuit has not been as consistent as it was a year ago. Luckily for Sharks fans, it seems like they will provide more than enough offense to make up for any defensive lapse.
- If we keep seeing Columbus get fantastic goaltending from both Steve Mason and Mathieu Garon, the Blue Jackets are going to be tough to beat. The team has bought into Hitchcock's defensive game and can still spring forwards up for scoring chances...and if there was any doubt, eliminate it now: Rick Nash is a superstar.
It was a busy night in hockey and I'm sure there was more to be noticed, but that's all for today. Stay tuned throughout the week for some of our regular spots (players of the week, fantasy hockey Friday) as well as additional pieces on the NHL and hockey in general!
Friday, October 9, 2009
Fantasy Hockey Friday - Goalies: A Never-Ending Saga
By John Cullen
Hey folks, this will be the first of my weekly column, Fantasy Hockey Friday. I’m currently in 5 fantasy pools and having been an avid hockey fan and statistics follower for the last 20 years of my life, I’ll look forward to bringing my unique brand of advice to you each Friday.
Each week I’ll focus on a different topic in relation to fantasy hockey to help you best with managing your team. 4 of the 5 pools I’m in are pools with daily roster updates, so my advice will sometimes focus on pools with day-to-day rosters and each column will end with a small sit/start section for the Saturday slate of games. My hope is that you’ll find the advice useful, regardless of the format you pool in. This column will never be a “recommended pick-ups” column, but will instead focus on long-term advice that will serve to help you this year and in the future.
With the slow starts of elite fantasy goaltenders Roberto Luongo, Evgeni Nabokov, Martin Brodeur, and a few others, many have been left sitting at their laptops shaking their head. “Why did I ever draft a goalie in the first round?” is extremely common to see on message boards and Facebook statuses across the web, and really, you shouldn’t have. But that’s another conversation for another time. Goalies are the bane of every daily roster update poolie. Goalie stats normally account for half (sometimes more) of a poolie’s entire statistical output, and an injury or a slump for a key ‘tender can sometimes be the difference between winning a pool and finishing completely out of the money. So what can you do to avoid the massive amount of frustration that comes about every time you’re forced to make a sit/start decision, an add/drop decision, or simply when you are forced to sit idly by and watch your goalie get blown up? Sometimes, not much. Over the next two weeks we’ll be examining 5 tips for keeping your goalies straight. Here’s the first two:
2 Tips For Managing Your Goalies
I. DON’T play match-ups. What? Yeah, that’s right, I said it, DON’T play match-ups. Or what I should say is don’t play match-ups EXCLUSIVELY. Far too many poolies look at the team their goalie is playing and make the decision on whether or not to play their goalie based entirely on the team their goalie is playing, which is faulty logic at best. Would you sit or start a skater because he might receive a minus playing a great team? Probably not, so why would you do the same for a goalie? There are a lot of factors that go into sit/start decisions and while the straight-up matchup is not a bad way to go for the casual poolie, there are a few questions you should probably ask yourself first:
1. What is your goalie’s team record in the last 5 games? To me, this is the most important question you need to ask yourself. Playing net at the NHL level is a very fragile position, and you need to constantly be aware of how your goalie and his team is playing. If the team is playing hot and the goalie’s playing hot, the match-up shouldn’t matter, run the hot hand over the other every time. The opposite holds true if the goalie is playing cold. Another key thing to remember is the sheer difficulty of an 82-game NHL schedule and long-term winning streaks are a thing of the past. More often than not if my goalie has won his last 4 or 5 starts, I may bench him for another goalie because the streak is bound to end sometime, and the same goes for a goalie who has lost a few. You always need to exercise SOME caution, but food for thought nonetheless.
2. Back-to-back? Given the sheer volume of B2B games this season because of the Olympics, this is something you need to have on your mind all the time. Goalies will very rarely get a win in a B2B start, regardless of whether or not they played both games. It definitely depends on the overall trend of the team(see #1), but generally speaking, a team will split a B2B situation so take a look at how they performed in the first game.
3. Is your goalie streaking? This is similar to #1, but an individual goaltending streak can be just as important as a team streak. Pay attention to your goaltender’s individual numbers over the last 5 games and ride the hot hand. Wins are much harder to guarantee as they're more reflective of the team than the goalie, but individual goalie statistics come in bunches so if your goalie's running GREAT(sub-2.00 GAA or over a .920 sv. % over his last 3-5 starts) then throw the match-ups out and start that goalie.
II. Handcuff, Handcuff, Handcuff. If you’re new to fantasy, “handcuff” might not be a term you’re familiar with, but it’s one you should get to know right away. If you own an elite goalie, you need to own their backup, because if they go down and you DON’T own the backup, you’re basically telling the rest of your pool they can pick them up first. Unless you’re prepared to be the absolute fastest to the internet when your goalie goes down, you may as well give yourself some ease of mind and keep that goalie on the bench. The only excuse for not handcuffing your goalie is that if you have one of the few elite goalies whose backup is so bad that if your goalie ever got injured his team would trade for a goalie straightaway(a great example being Curtis McIlhenney in Calgary: if Kipper ever goes down, they’re buzzing Anaheim, Minnesota, Washington, or the Islanders immediately to enlist some help). Most backup goalies in the current NHL will get 15-20 starts anyway, and if your backup plays on a good team, a lot of those starts will be wins, so they’re certainly worth your investment over a bench skater who might only pay a minimum of dividends. So look up the number of Brent Johnson, Mathieu Garon, Ty Conklin, Josh Harding, et. al. and keep yourself on the happy side of goalie heart attacks.
The remaining 3 tips will come in via FantasyMail next week. I always want to err on the side of low blood pressure, and since goalies are such a difficult position to fill on a nightly basis, the best thing to do is to ease your own pain.
Now let’s take a look at some one-sentence goalie/team sit/starts for the upcoming weekend, October 10, 2009.
Team Forward/Defense
Start:
Los Angeles Kings: Ryan Smyth is finding the Captain Canada magic with Kopitar and against a still-jetlagged Blues team, Kings forwards are an easy play.
Columbus Blue Jackets: The team should be due a big game after mid-week let down at San Jose; Phoenix can’t play this well forever and should be the perfect medicine for the Jackets.
Sit:
Minnesota Wild: The team still hasn’t found its happy place yet and until they find some offence it’s hard to find a lot to like fantasy-wise outside Koivu and Havlat.
Toronto Maple Leafs: While it’s unlikely you have too much vested interest in the Buds, they’re at home to Pittsburgh who they’ve had minimal success against and it’s best to leave any Leafs you’ve got on the pine.
Goaltenders
Start:
Cristobal Huet @ Colorado: Huet needs to start winning some games to keep rookie Antti Niemi on the bench, so look for him to assert himself against an Avalanche team devoid of real shooters.
Ryan Miller @ Nashville: Miller’s off to his usual excellent start and Nashville looks to have another year of scoring 2-3 goals a game on their hands.
Sit:
Tim Thomas @ New York Islanders: I know what you’re thinking, but Boston’s been embarrassed twice already this year, Thomas hasn’t looked great, and this plucky Islanders team has shown a real willingness to go to the net so far this season.
Ilya Bryzgalov @ Columbus: Breezy can’t carry this team forever and a letdown needs to happen somewhere: the hands of Rick Nash, perhaps?
There goes the first FHF. Swing by next week for the remainder of my goalie tips list. Thanks for reading and may your bench players never score a point and your goalies never let in a goal.
Hey folks, this will be the first of my weekly column, Fantasy Hockey Friday. I’m currently in 5 fantasy pools and having been an avid hockey fan and statistics follower for the last 20 years of my life, I’ll look forward to bringing my unique brand of advice to you each Friday.
Each week I’ll focus on a different topic in relation to fantasy hockey to help you best with managing your team. 4 of the 5 pools I’m in are pools with daily roster updates, so my advice will sometimes focus on pools with day-to-day rosters and each column will end with a small sit/start section for the Saturday slate of games. My hope is that you’ll find the advice useful, regardless of the format you pool in. This column will never be a “recommended pick-ups” column, but will instead focus on long-term advice that will serve to help you this year and in the future.
With the slow starts of elite fantasy goaltenders Roberto Luongo, Evgeni Nabokov, Martin Brodeur, and a few others, many have been left sitting at their laptops shaking their head. “Why did I ever draft a goalie in the first round?” is extremely common to see on message boards and Facebook statuses across the web, and really, you shouldn’t have. But that’s another conversation for another time. Goalies are the bane of every daily roster update poolie. Goalie stats normally account for half (sometimes more) of a poolie’s entire statistical output, and an injury or a slump for a key ‘tender can sometimes be the difference between winning a pool and finishing completely out of the money. So what can you do to avoid the massive amount of frustration that comes about every time you’re forced to make a sit/start decision, an add/drop decision, or simply when you are forced to sit idly by and watch your goalie get blown up? Sometimes, not much. Over the next two weeks we’ll be examining 5 tips for keeping your goalies straight. Here’s the first two:
2 Tips For Managing Your Goalies
I. DON’T play match-ups. What? Yeah, that’s right, I said it, DON’T play match-ups. Or what I should say is don’t play match-ups EXCLUSIVELY. Far too many poolies look at the team their goalie is playing and make the decision on whether or not to play their goalie based entirely on the team their goalie is playing, which is faulty logic at best. Would you sit or start a skater because he might receive a minus playing a great team? Probably not, so why would you do the same for a goalie? There are a lot of factors that go into sit/start decisions and while the straight-up matchup is not a bad way to go for the casual poolie, there are a few questions you should probably ask yourself first:
1. What is your goalie’s team record in the last 5 games? To me, this is the most important question you need to ask yourself. Playing net at the NHL level is a very fragile position, and you need to constantly be aware of how your goalie and his team is playing. If the team is playing hot and the goalie’s playing hot, the match-up shouldn’t matter, run the hot hand over the other every time. The opposite holds true if the goalie is playing cold. Another key thing to remember is the sheer difficulty of an 82-game NHL schedule and long-term winning streaks are a thing of the past. More often than not if my goalie has won his last 4 or 5 starts, I may bench him for another goalie because the streak is bound to end sometime, and the same goes for a goalie who has lost a few. You always need to exercise SOME caution, but food for thought nonetheless.
2. Back-to-back? Given the sheer volume of B2B games this season because of the Olympics, this is something you need to have on your mind all the time. Goalies will very rarely get a win in a B2B start, regardless of whether or not they played both games. It definitely depends on the overall trend of the team(see #1), but generally speaking, a team will split a B2B situation so take a look at how they performed in the first game.
3. Is your goalie streaking? This is similar to #1, but an individual goaltending streak can be just as important as a team streak. Pay attention to your goaltender’s individual numbers over the last 5 games and ride the hot hand. Wins are much harder to guarantee as they're more reflective of the team than the goalie, but individual goalie statistics come in bunches so if your goalie's running GREAT(sub-2.00 GAA or over a .920 sv. % over his last 3-5 starts) then throw the match-ups out and start that goalie.
II. Handcuff, Handcuff, Handcuff. If you’re new to fantasy, “handcuff” might not be a term you’re familiar with, but it’s one you should get to know right away. If you own an elite goalie, you need to own their backup, because if they go down and you DON’T own the backup, you’re basically telling the rest of your pool they can pick them up first. Unless you’re prepared to be the absolute fastest to the internet when your goalie goes down, you may as well give yourself some ease of mind and keep that goalie on the bench. The only excuse for not handcuffing your goalie is that if you have one of the few elite goalies whose backup is so bad that if your goalie ever got injured his team would trade for a goalie straightaway(a great example being Curtis McIlhenney in Calgary: if Kipper ever goes down, they’re buzzing Anaheim, Minnesota, Washington, or the Islanders immediately to enlist some help). Most backup goalies in the current NHL will get 15-20 starts anyway, and if your backup plays on a good team, a lot of those starts will be wins, so they’re certainly worth your investment over a bench skater who might only pay a minimum of dividends. So look up the number of Brent Johnson, Mathieu Garon, Ty Conklin, Josh Harding, et. al. and keep yourself on the happy side of goalie heart attacks.
The remaining 3 tips will come in via FantasyMail next week. I always want to err on the side of low blood pressure, and since goalies are such a difficult position to fill on a nightly basis, the best thing to do is to ease your own pain.
Now let’s take a look at some one-sentence goalie/team sit/starts for the upcoming weekend, October 10, 2009.
Team Forward/Defense
Start:
Los Angeles Kings: Ryan Smyth is finding the Captain Canada magic with Kopitar and against a still-jetlagged Blues team, Kings forwards are an easy play.
Columbus Blue Jackets: The team should be due a big game after mid-week let down at San Jose; Phoenix can’t play this well forever and should be the perfect medicine for the Jackets.
Sit:
Minnesota Wild: The team still hasn’t found its happy place yet and until they find some offence it’s hard to find a lot to like fantasy-wise outside Koivu and Havlat.
Toronto Maple Leafs: While it’s unlikely you have too much vested interest in the Buds, they’re at home to Pittsburgh who they’ve had minimal success against and it’s best to leave any Leafs you’ve got on the pine.
Goaltenders
Start:
Cristobal Huet @ Colorado: Huet needs to start winning some games to keep rookie Antti Niemi on the bench, so look for him to assert himself against an Avalanche team devoid of real shooters.
Ryan Miller @ Nashville: Miller’s off to his usual excellent start and Nashville looks to have another year of scoring 2-3 goals a game on their hands.
Sit:
Tim Thomas @ New York Islanders: I know what you’re thinking, but Boston’s been embarrassed twice already this year, Thomas hasn’t looked great, and this plucky Islanders team has shown a real willingness to go to the net so far this season.
Ilya Bryzgalov @ Columbus: Breezy can’t carry this team forever and a letdown needs to happen somewhere: the hands of Rick Nash, perhaps?
There goes the first FHF. Swing by next week for the remainder of my goalie tips list. Thanks for reading and may your bench players never score a point and your goalies never let in a goal.
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Directv: National TV? NHL loses, again
By Tim Daily
Monday night was supposed to be perfect. I was headed to the bar to watch my Rangers play the Devils for the first time this season, catch some Monday Night Football and celebrate a friend's birthday with beer and other unflattering forms of alcohol.
I got there at 6:55 to make sure I could get at least one television focused on hockey, as 90% of the bar's patrons would be focused on Brett Favre and the Vikings playing the Packers. When the channel flipped to Versus, I got the following message:
'Unfortunately, Versus is no longer available on DIRECTV. Comcast, the largest cable company in the U.S. and our largest competitor, owns the channel and has forced us to pull it down.' For more information go to www.directv.com/versus .
Upon further reading I found that Directv asserted Comcast was forcing Directv to pay more than its competitors to air Versus. Directv even used the 'difficult economic times' phrase to help bolster its argument. Great.
I could keep going and outline the highlights of both arguments, but honestly that would be a waste of time. Who cares about another television channel dispute? I've been begging for the NFL network for years, but the Cablevision logo on my cable box reassures me that I will never get it.
What I care about is the fact that anybody with Directv (including all of the bars that get the service for NFL Sunday ticket or the baseball package) could not watch a NATIONALLY TELEVISED GAME. It is the National Hockey League's responsibility to make sure its entire customer base has access to a game shown in every television market and boy has it failed here. We're talking about a major sports league that is still struggling to regain credibility after a devastating 2004-05 lockout season. Showing your games is step one in that process!
Look, I'm aware of the reality that is high-level contract disputes. These things do not often get resolved quickly. What I want to see is the NHL step up and use its leverage as a billion dollar industry to get its high profile weekly matchups shown to ALL potential viewers. Until the economic downturn, this was a growing business that is still more than afloat. Let's see the league use some of its resources wisely and get the Versus situation right.
Monday night was supposed to be perfect. I was headed to the bar to watch my Rangers play the Devils for the first time this season, catch some Monday Night Football and celebrate a friend's birthday with beer and other unflattering forms of alcohol.
I got there at 6:55 to make sure I could get at least one television focused on hockey, as 90% of the bar's patrons would be focused on Brett Favre and the Vikings playing the Packers. When the channel flipped to Versus, I got the following message:
'Unfortunately, Versus is no longer available on DIRECTV. Comcast, the largest cable company in the U.S. and our largest competitor, owns the channel and has forced us to pull it down.' For more information go to www.directv.com/versus .
Upon further reading I found that Directv asserted Comcast was forcing Directv to pay more than its competitors to air Versus. Directv even used the 'difficult economic times' phrase to help bolster its argument. Great.
I could keep going and outline the highlights of both arguments, but honestly that would be a waste of time. Who cares about another television channel dispute? I've been begging for the NFL network for years, but the Cablevision logo on my cable box reassures me that I will never get it.
What I care about is the fact that anybody with Directv (including all of the bars that get the service for NFL Sunday ticket or the baseball package) could not watch a NATIONALLY TELEVISED GAME. It is the National Hockey League's responsibility to make sure its entire customer base has access to a game shown in every television market and boy has it failed here. We're talking about a major sports league that is still struggling to regain credibility after a devastating 2004-05 lockout season. Showing your games is step one in that process!
Look, I'm aware of the reality that is high-level contract disputes. These things do not often get resolved quickly. What I want to see is the NHL step up and use its leverage as a billion dollar industry to get its high profile weekly matchups shown to ALL potential viewers. Until the economic downturn, this was a growing business that is still more than afloat. Let's see the league use some of its resources wisely and get the Versus situation right.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Players of the Week - 10/5/09
By Dara Heaps
1. Alexander Oveckin, Washington Captials. With 6 points in 3 games (3 goals, 3 assists), Ovechkin is leaving no doubt in anyone's mind that he wants to three-peat MVP.
2. Craig Anderson, Colorado Avalanche. Anderson stood tall, knocking off two teams expected to finish top in their divisions (San Jose and Vancouver). With Anderson in net, the Avs will have a chance to win.
3. NHL Rookies. John Tavares (NYI), Victor Hedman (TB), Evander Kane (ATL), Matt Duchene (COL), Michael Del Zotto (NYR), Benn Ferriero (SJS), Jason Demers (SJS) and Frazer McLaren (SJS) all scored their first NHL point this week.
Honorable Mentions: Chicago netminder Antti Niemi earned his first shutout on home soil, besting the Florida Panthers 4-0 in Helsinki, Finland. ... Ray Emery showed he's still a capable number one goalie, winning back-to-back games. ... Keith Tkachuk lead his team past the Red Wings in Sweden, scoring 2 goals. ... Alexander Semin had 2 goals and an assist against Toronto. ... Sidney Crosby scored the opening goal in a 4-3 win against the Islanders and he ended it in a shootout. He also opened the scoring in a 3-2 win over the New York Rangers.
What's up with... Martin Brodeur and Roberto Luongo? Brodeur looked downright awful in the Devils home opener against the Philadelphia Flyers. Its early into the season, but hopefully this is just rust and not a sign of old age and declining skill. Luongo was also uncharacteristically bad in the Canucks first two games, allowing 7 goals on 50 shots in 2 games.
1. Alexander Oveckin, Washington Captials. With 6 points in 3 games (3 goals, 3 assists), Ovechkin is leaving no doubt in anyone's mind that he wants to three-peat MVP.
2. Craig Anderson, Colorado Avalanche. Anderson stood tall, knocking off two teams expected to finish top in their divisions (San Jose and Vancouver). With Anderson in net, the Avs will have a chance to win.
3. NHL Rookies. John Tavares (NYI), Victor Hedman (TB), Evander Kane (ATL), Matt Duchene (COL), Michael Del Zotto (NYR), Benn Ferriero (SJS), Jason Demers (SJS) and Frazer McLaren (SJS) all scored their first NHL point this week.
Honorable Mentions: Chicago netminder Antti Niemi earned his first shutout on home soil, besting the Florida Panthers 4-0 in Helsinki, Finland. ... Ray Emery showed he's still a capable number one goalie, winning back-to-back games. ... Keith Tkachuk lead his team past the Red Wings in Sweden, scoring 2 goals. ... Alexander Semin had 2 goals and an assist against Toronto. ... Sidney Crosby scored the opening goal in a 4-3 win against the Islanders and he ended it in a shootout. He also opened the scoring in a 3-2 win over the New York Rangers.
What's up with... Martin Brodeur and Roberto Luongo? Brodeur looked downright awful in the Devils home opener against the Philadelphia Flyers. Its early into the season, but hopefully this is just rust and not a sign of old age and declining skill. Luongo was also uncharacteristically bad in the Canucks first two games, allowing 7 goals on 50 shots in 2 games.
Thursday, October 1, 2009
College Hockey Preseason Top 10
By Nate Wells
1. Miami University - The RedHawks, who came within a minute of a national title last season before collapsing, are in prime position to take the next step and win their first national championship. Although only two teams in the last fifteen years have won the Frozen Four after finishing second the year before, Miami returns almost everyone from last year's squad; including both goalies and five of their top-six defensemen. There are a couple questions for the RedHawks, namely whether or not they can recover from such a devastating loss, but a well-balanced team returning most of their scoring and defense makes Miami the best team on paper.
2. University of Denver - Another well-balanced team which keeps most of their scoring [losing only Tyler Bozak's PPG average over the past two seasons to the Toronto Maple Leafs] and goaltending, the Pioneers can be considered a 1A to the team that ended their season last year. With forwards Joe Colborne, Rhett Rakhshani Tyler Regsegger and defenseman Patrick Wiercoch looking to replicate their scoring touch from last season, the pre-season WCHA favorites' biggest test will be on the blue line. While Freshmen William Wrenn and Matt Donovan come in to replace seniors and long-time staples J.P Testwuide and Patrick Mullen, goalie Marc Cheverle has shown that he is capable of stealing a game or two on his own if needed.
3. Boston University - The 2008-2009 champs are still a talented-laden squad despite heavy losses. With Hobey Baker winner Matt Gilroy, Colin Wilson, Brandon Yip and Chris Higgins now in the pro ranks, the Terriers will be depending on their blue line more than last year. Fortunately for Boston University, they return four of their top six defensemen from last season, including Kevin Shattenkirk, David Warsofsky and Colby Cohen, plus sophomore goaltender Kieran Millan. Even without the offensive explosiveness that Wison, Yip and Higgins brought (forty-plus points a piece), this is a dangerous Terrier team.
4. University of Michigan - After losing to Air Force in one of the greatest upsets in tournament history [tied with Minnesota losing to Holy Cross in 2006 and only outdone by CCHA rival Notre Dame losing to Bemidji State the same night], the Wolverines look to bounce back and challenge Miami and Notre Dame for the CCHA crown. Although Michigan lost sophomore Aaron Palushaj's fifty points to the pro ranks, the Wolverines return all other key components from a 29-12-0 team and are ready to reload behind junior Louis Caporusso and sophomore David Wohlberg up front and junior Bryan Hogan between the pipes.
5. University of North Dakota - Although last season was Dave Hakstol's first season not reaching the Frozen Four in his tenure as the Fighting Sioux's head coach, North Dakota continues to be one of the more consistent teams in college hockey. With a large senior class, including former Hobey Baker winner Ryan Duncan and Brad Miller graduating, the Sioux look ready to reload with new leadership from seniors Chris VandeVelde, Chay Genoway, Darcy Zajac and sophomore Jason Gregoire. North Dakota also adds a large and talented freshman class, with heralded forwards Danny Kristo, Michael Cichy and Corbin Knight; their play will dictate how brief the Sioux's Frozen Four hiatus will be.
6. Notre Dame - In what has become a recurring theme for the top CCHA teams, all eyes will be on the Fighting Irish as they bounce back from being the first team to lose to the #16 seed. Coach Jeff Jackson has some holes to fill with the loss of seniors Erik Condra, Christian Hanson and 2010 top-five draft pick Cam Fowler before he ever suited up in South Bend, but Notre Dame has enough talent to make a Frozen Four run. The Irish return their top four defensemen, led by junior Ian Cole and have plenty of depth up front with Calle Ridderwall, Kevin Deeth and Billy Maday each scoring thirty points last season. The biggest question mark is between the pipes, as goaltender Jordan Pearce graduated and Notre Dame will be depending on an untested Brad Phillips.
7. University of Massachusetts Lowell - The stakes are high this year for the River Hawks. With eleven seniors this season and a 12-5-2 second-half finish that brought them within a game of the NCAA tournament [losing to Boston University in the Hockey East championship], U-Mass Lowell is a trendy pick to win Hockey East and make their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1996. While pegging the River Hawks, who finished fifth in Hockey East last season, to win a conference with two of the final four teams is a stretch, they will be a good team with junior Scott Campbell up front and goalies Nevin Hamilton and Carter Hutton stopping pucks.
8. University of Minnesota - After struggling down the stretch and losing to Minnesota-Duluth in the WCHA Final Five play-in game, the Golden Gophers found themselves in an unusual spot of watching the NCAA tournament instead of participating. Instead of wallowing in their sorrows, the Yankees of college hockey have reloaded by bringing in a stellar recruiting class and expect to finish near the top of the WCHA and take advantage of a hometown regional; however there are still too many questions about the Gophers to anoint them to that status. While Minnesota needs to have a player step up to replace Ryan Stoa's forty-six points last season, the two big question marks for them are defense and goaltending. If the Gophers can toughen up their offensively-talented blue line (a problem over the second half) and have goaltender Alex Kangas play closer to his freshman form, than Minnesota will be a dangerous team.
9. Cornell University - The Big Red return most of their core from last year's squad, including outstanding goaltender Ben Scrivens and Riley Nash, and look to be on top of a competitive ECAC come March. Cornell is known for their defense as they gave up on seventy-four goals in thirty six games last season; this year should be no different. The key for the Big Red this year will be offense, while they do return their top three scorers from 2008-2009, Cornell is going to need a boost from their upperclassmen and seconday scoring if they want to win an ECAC title and return to the NCAA Tournament.
10. University of Vermont - The Catamounts return from their trip to the Frozen Four last year with some major holes to fill, but still should be able to battle for the Hockey East crown. While Vermont lost their top two scorers in Viktor Stalberg and Peter Lenes to the NHL and graduation, respectively, they do have the players to step up in Brian Roloff and Justin Milo. It also helps that they return their bread and butter in goalie Rob Madore, and the entire blue line, but until it is seen if the offense can step up, it's hard to place the Catamounts any higher.
Honorable Mention: University of Wisconsin, University of New Hampshire, Yale University, Princeton University, Boston College and St. Cloud State University
1. Miami University - The RedHawks, who came within a minute of a national title last season before collapsing, are in prime position to take the next step and win their first national championship. Although only two teams in the last fifteen years have won the Frozen Four after finishing second the year before, Miami returns almost everyone from last year's squad; including both goalies and five of their top-six defensemen. There are a couple questions for the RedHawks, namely whether or not they can recover from such a devastating loss, but a well-balanced team returning most of their scoring and defense makes Miami the best team on paper.
2. University of Denver - Another well-balanced team which keeps most of their scoring [losing only Tyler Bozak's PPG average over the past two seasons to the Toronto Maple Leafs] and goaltending, the Pioneers can be considered a 1A to the team that ended their season last year. With forwards Joe Colborne, Rhett Rakhshani Tyler Regsegger and defenseman Patrick Wiercoch looking to replicate their scoring touch from last season, the pre-season WCHA favorites' biggest test will be on the blue line. While Freshmen William Wrenn and Matt Donovan come in to replace seniors and long-time staples J.P Testwuide and Patrick Mullen, goalie Marc Cheverle has shown that he is capable of stealing a game or two on his own if needed.
3. Boston University - The 2008-2009 champs are still a talented-laden squad despite heavy losses. With Hobey Baker winner Matt Gilroy, Colin Wilson, Brandon Yip and Chris Higgins now in the pro ranks, the Terriers will be depending on their blue line more than last year. Fortunately for Boston University, they return four of their top six defensemen from last season, including Kevin Shattenkirk, David Warsofsky and Colby Cohen, plus sophomore goaltender Kieran Millan. Even without the offensive explosiveness that Wison, Yip and Higgins brought (forty-plus points a piece), this is a dangerous Terrier team.
4. University of Michigan - After losing to Air Force in one of the greatest upsets in tournament history [tied with Minnesota losing to Holy Cross in 2006 and only outdone by CCHA rival Notre Dame losing to Bemidji State the same night], the Wolverines look to bounce back and challenge Miami and Notre Dame for the CCHA crown. Although Michigan lost sophomore Aaron Palushaj's fifty points to the pro ranks, the Wolverines return all other key components from a 29-12-0 team and are ready to reload behind junior Louis Caporusso and sophomore David Wohlberg up front and junior Bryan Hogan between the pipes.
5. University of North Dakota - Although last season was Dave Hakstol's first season not reaching the Frozen Four in his tenure as the Fighting Sioux's head coach, North Dakota continues to be one of the more consistent teams in college hockey. With a large senior class, including former Hobey Baker winner Ryan Duncan and Brad Miller graduating, the Sioux look ready to reload with new leadership from seniors Chris VandeVelde, Chay Genoway, Darcy Zajac and sophomore Jason Gregoire. North Dakota also adds a large and talented freshman class, with heralded forwards Danny Kristo, Michael Cichy and Corbin Knight; their play will dictate how brief the Sioux's Frozen Four hiatus will be.
6. Notre Dame - In what has become a recurring theme for the top CCHA teams, all eyes will be on the Fighting Irish as they bounce back from being the first team to lose to the #16 seed. Coach Jeff Jackson has some holes to fill with the loss of seniors Erik Condra, Christian Hanson and 2010 top-five draft pick Cam Fowler before he ever suited up in South Bend, but Notre Dame has enough talent to make a Frozen Four run. The Irish return their top four defensemen, led by junior Ian Cole and have plenty of depth up front with Calle Ridderwall, Kevin Deeth and Billy Maday each scoring thirty points last season. The biggest question mark is between the pipes, as goaltender Jordan Pearce graduated and Notre Dame will be depending on an untested Brad Phillips.
7. University of Massachusetts Lowell - The stakes are high this year for the River Hawks. With eleven seniors this season and a 12-5-2 second-half finish that brought them within a game of the NCAA tournament [losing to Boston University in the Hockey East championship], U-Mass Lowell is a trendy pick to win Hockey East and make their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1996. While pegging the River Hawks, who finished fifth in Hockey East last season, to win a conference with two of the final four teams is a stretch, they will be a good team with junior Scott Campbell up front and goalies Nevin Hamilton and Carter Hutton stopping pucks.
8. University of Minnesota - After struggling down the stretch and losing to Minnesota-Duluth in the WCHA Final Five play-in game, the Golden Gophers found themselves in an unusual spot of watching the NCAA tournament instead of participating. Instead of wallowing in their sorrows, the Yankees of college hockey have reloaded by bringing in a stellar recruiting class and expect to finish near the top of the WCHA and take advantage of a hometown regional; however there are still too many questions about the Gophers to anoint them to that status. While Minnesota needs to have a player step up to replace Ryan Stoa's forty-six points last season, the two big question marks for them are defense and goaltending. If the Gophers can toughen up their offensively-talented blue line (a problem over the second half) and have goaltender Alex Kangas play closer to his freshman form, than Minnesota will be a dangerous team.
9. Cornell University - The Big Red return most of their core from last year's squad, including outstanding goaltender Ben Scrivens and Riley Nash, and look to be on top of a competitive ECAC come March. Cornell is known for their defense as they gave up on seventy-four goals in thirty six games last season; this year should be no different. The key for the Big Red this year will be offense, while they do return their top three scorers from 2008-2009, Cornell is going to need a boost from their upperclassmen and seconday scoring if they want to win an ECAC title and return to the NCAA Tournament.
10. University of Vermont - The Catamounts return from their trip to the Frozen Four last year with some major holes to fill, but still should be able to battle for the Hockey East crown. While Vermont lost their top two scorers in Viktor Stalberg and Peter Lenes to the NHL and graduation, respectively, they do have the players to step up in Brian Roloff and Justin Milo. It also helps that they return their bread and butter in goalie Rob Madore, and the entire blue line, but until it is seen if the offense can step up, it's hard to place the Catamounts any higher.
Honorable Mention: University of Wisconsin, University of New Hampshire, Yale University, Princeton University, Boston College and St. Cloud State University
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