Hartley Fired!
Dobber Sports
2007-10-17
Atlanta has fired their head coach Bob Hartley after the team suffered through six regulation losses to open the season. This has huge repercussions on the fantasy world.
Let's ignore whether or not the firing was fair (myself, I would have given it three more games) and let's focus on what this does to the team.
Marian Hossa will be the same player with or without Hartley – he's just that kind of star. As he gets back to 100 per cent, his numbers will come and with his numbers, Todd White's and Slava Kozlov's will come too.
Ilya Kovalchuk, on the other hand, strikes me as a player who is in need of a new environment. That means either a trade or a new coach. A new coach will now come in. GM Don Waddell will be the temporary coach, but whoever it ends up being – Kovalchuk will be treated like a king. He'll respond as such, too. He is a 100-point player and now you will see him play like one. At least for a dozen games!
The other big change is this – Hartley was a little reluctant to play the younger players…but he was very reluctant to play smaller players. See Paul Kariya for details. With him out of the picture, Brett Sterling should see a lot more ice time (plus he's Waddell's pet). Ditto for Tobias Enstrom. AHL star Darren Haydar may actually get a chance now and is worth taking a flyer on. The only thing that can stop these players from producing now is if the team brings in Pat Quinn – who is just as reluctant to play the young guys and just as reluctant to play the small guys. See Steve Sullivan for details.
Overall – this is a good thing for owners of Atlanta players.
Agree? Disagree? Comment in the fantasy hockey forum . Thousands of others are!
Related Posts
UPCOMING GAMES
| Apr 16 - 19:04 |
 BOS
| vs |
 OTT | |
| Apr 16 - 19:04 |
 CBJ
| vs |
 CAR | |
| Apr 16 - 19:04 |
 MTL
| vs |
 DET | |
| Apr 16 - 19:04 |
 PHI
| vs |
 WSH | |
| Apr 16 - 19:04 |
 FLA
| vs |
 TOR | |
| Apr 16 - 20:04 |
 WPG
| vs |
 SEA | |
| Apr 16 - 22:04 |
 VAN
| vs |
 CGY | |
| Apr 16 - 22:04 |
 VGK
| vs |
 CHI
| |
Starting Goalies
Top Skater Views
| Players | Team | |
|---|---|---|
| LUCAS RAYMOND |
DET | |
| LANE HUTSON |
MTL | |
| CONNOR MCDAVID |
 EDM | |
| FRANK NAZAR |
CHI | |
| NATHAN MACKINNON |
 COL
| |
Top Goalie Profile Views
S.J
NYI
LINE COMBOS
| Frequency |
CGY Players
| |
|---|---|---|
| 19.8 | MARTIN POSPISIL ANDREI KUZMENKO NAZEM KADRI | |
| 17.9 | CONNOR ZARY DRYDEN HUNT JONATHAN HUBERDEAU | |
| 13.4 | YEGOR SHARANGOVICH ANDREW MANGIAPANE MIKAEL BACKLUND | |
DobberHockey Podcasts
Fantasy Hockey Life: Tim-Eh’s Time in the TIDY Top Tier
When one of the managers in the TIDY league top tier left midseason, Patron Tim volunteered to give up his excellent team to take over a mid-season orphan fighting to escape relegation. And Tim did not go quietly. Ryan, Jesse and Victor welcome Tim to talk through his experience and the trades he made in […]
Keeping Karlsson: Better Off Nedeljkovic
On this week’s Keeping Karlsson Fantasy Hockey Podcast mega-show, Elan and Brian gather and analyze the latest fantasy hockey news, notes and data from the past season to work on projecting the 2023-24 NHL and fantasy hockey season. — Join the Keeping Karlsson patron community! Patrons get guaranteed KKUPL invitations, plus monthly bonus AMA episodes, and full access to […]
Fantasy Hockey Life: FHL Player Cards with Brandon
Our guy Brandon has been doing great work behind the scenes to great Fantasy Hockey Life prospect player cards, visualizations with the metrics we care about most – including BASH. These are a great tool to catch at a glance the stats for upcoming players. Jesse interviews Brandon and Victor on the decisions behind what […]
Keeping Karlsson: Short Shifts – One Final Lap
Lewis goes for a solo skate to bring Short Shifts season five to a close. He starts by covering some of the headlines including broken records for Quinn Hughes and Nikita Kucherov, taps the stick for Jeremy’s brilliant call on Matchup Maximizer to stream Trevor Moore for his hat trick, and celebration for Wyatt Johnston […]
Keeping Karlsson: A Fortnight of Flowers
On this week’s Keeping Karlsson Fantasy Hockey Podcast mega-show, Elan and Brian gather and analyze the latest fantasy hockey news, notes and data from the past season to work on projecting the 2023-24 NHL and fantasy hockey season, including: Is having a top-tier goalie really ever worth it come playoff time? Which players have been the most clutch for […]