We will pass the 20% mark of the season on Saturday November 15. The good news is there is still 80% of season left to play. The Oilers still have 37 homes games left while only 29 on the road. The Kings have the opposite problem with 37 road games and only 30 home games left.
Marcus here:Semin was not on the bench for the 3rd period and the reports have him as day to day. Barry Melrose has been fired. For my reaction on the move, CLICK HERE . Tarik El-Bashir reports in his blog that Michal Nylander will be a healthy scratch tonight. Let the Chicago trade rumors heat up! There [...]
Not many people gave the Thrashers a prayer this season. Atlanta has been Hotlanta of late, winning four in a row after going winless in the previous six contests. It’s interesting to note that they’ve done this without their most experienced defenseman or top goaltender in the lineup. Schneider is scheduled to return this Friday, whereas Lehtonen reinjured his back at practice Tuesday and his status is unknown.
I just realized that it was two years ago today where I sat down in front of the computer for the first time to do this website on a full-time basis. That decision, I would say, was a good one!
Dobber, back with more: Derek Roy is the perfect buy-low candidate. The guy got 51 points in 39 games to end last season, but just 30 in the first half. It looks as though that is happening again as he has just eight in 15.
Dan Girardi - nine points in his last 10 games and he has seen more than 20 minutes of ice in nine of his last 12. A great under the radar d-man.
Angus here with some afternoon updates.
Brent Burns is playing tonight, and may even line up at forward. He skated at both forward and defense in practice this morning... very interesting situation, although I think the Wild just want to ease him back in. He is their best defenseman and will be back there full-time very soon.
Pavol Demitra is playing on Saturday against the Leafs, but it isn't clear where he will be playing. The Canucks like Wellwood's playmaking up the middle, but they may try out these lines: Sedin-Sedin-Wellwood, Raymond-Demitra-Bernier, and bump Pyatt down to the fourth line.
After a rough start to the season, Peter Budaj has looked great lately, posting a shutout against the Predators last Saturday, and then going save for save against Luongo last night in an Avalanche shootout victory.
Ondrej Pavelec has been recalled because Lehtonen hurt his back again. Lehtonen is too big a Bandaid boy to hang onto this job and I feel the same way about Leclaire. Although Steve Mason has injury problems of his own, I can see he and Pavelec as starters in the NHL within two years.
Patrik Berglund is red hot, with seven points in his last five games. I had said from the start that his responsibility and production would improve as the season wore on. Once Oshie went down, things started to really move for Berglund.
Travis Zajac has quietly had a good season. He is on pace for 60 to 65 points, which would nearly double last year's sophomore jinx season.
Alexander Semin - FIVE points last night. No, he won't get 145 points this season. That means you should trade him now. Even if he played right through his projected career ceiling and became that breakout superstar that every poolie hopes their player becomes... and even if he plays all season with Ovechkin... his absolute upside is maybe 110 points. And that's assuming full health and all his ducks are in a row. That's still 25% less than what is pace is at, so see what you can get for him. I still think he'll finish in the high 80s.
Hopefully you were patient with Nicklas Backstrom as I told you to be - hell, I even tried to peel him away from an owner. His four points last night show that he'll be just fine.
It is events like this that give backups the chance to steal the starting job, or struggling starters the chance to take their job back. Brent Johnson hurt his hip last night and left the game. Jose Theodore came in and stopped all 13 shots he faced. That, combined with Johnson's injury, should be enough to see Theodore getting the next start. If that happens, a strong game will secure his job back.
Antti Miettinen has just two points in his last five games. He seems to be falling back into his proper range now.
Lundqvist has now allowed three or less goals in 34 of his last 35 games. Numbers like these prove that elite goalies are a must start in roto-leagues.
With Paul Kariya out, David Perron has been playing a lot more. Kariya is expected back Friday so look for Perron to slip in ice time again. Perron finally got his first goal of the season to go along with two assists. The line of Perron, Berglund, and Stempniak combined for seven pts and were on the ice for all three St.Louis goals.
Paul Stastny PPG ended Luongo’s shutout streak of 242 minutes and 36 seconds. All four of Stastny’s goals have come on the PP.
Welcome once again to “An Expert’s Audit”. This audit will be posted here as well as on my fantasy hockey blog at Hockey Analysis . During the season I do weekly reviews of teams for people who email in to me for a look-see, they’re less indepth but just as much fun. Dobber audits will continue to appear here monthly and if you’re interested in having your keeper team “worked over” then you can begin by emailing Dobber about it before November 19.
This month, and every month through March, not only does a lucky entrant get his or her team audited, but he or she also receives a FREE book courtesy of Firefly Books . The winner can choose either "Shooting From the Lip " or "Hockey Now! "
After taking a look at players who seemed to have turned into unforeseen princes in my last article, this week I’m focusing on players who’ve been mainly frogs this season when you expected them to be your fantasy team princes. You’ll notice that there have been much more disappointments this season than there have been pleasant surprises.
An interesting player is sitting at the bottom of the plus/minus race with minus-13. Rod Brind'Amour. Carolina is having a weird season, but some of these weird numbers will straighten out. Daniel Briere scored yesterday, but left with a lower body injury. It is unrelated to his abdominal surgery - or so he says. Jiri Hudler is [...]
The value of defensemen is a widely debated topic in fantasy hockey, a few people believe strongly in “big named” D, while some completely ignore it and depend solely on waiver wire pick ups throughout the season. My argument is that the difference in owning Niklas Lidstrom, Dion Phaneuf or Chris Pronger is quite apparent when compared to just owning waiver wire D. Let’s look at an extreme example, Team A owns, Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Alex Semin along with Alex Edler, Paul Mara, and Roman Hamrlik. Team B owns, Dion Phaunef, Dan Boyle, and Shea Weber along with Jason Chimera, Mason Raymond and Alex Ponikarovsky.
I apologize for the lateness of the Fantasy Prospect Rankings. T'will be done shortly... Trivia question has been answered. Thanks all! Trivia - this one for five Karma points, answer in the NHL Discussion section of the forum. Evgeni Malkin is currently on a 10-game assist streak. Name the only player to have a double-digit assist streak [...]
Whether it’s used correctly or not, the trendy term “goaltending controversy” is being tossed around in many markets right now. I can’t get away from it here in Denver, nor can analysts in Ottawa, Dallas, Chicago, St. Louis…and the list goes on. But no matter what the reasoning is, when you look a little deeper, all of these situations actually walk a very fine line between healthy competition and a real full-fledged controversy.
