Time to throw Hail Mary passes in the DobberHockey Expert League. Actually, last week was the time, but I missed the bidding deadline. I’m in third place (nice comeback – was 11th in November), 4.5 points up on fourth and a whopping 17.5 points behind second. It’s all or nothing, so time to drop the third goalie and anyone with promise, and no need to overvalue a player with multi position eligibility anymore. Again, should have done this a week ago. So here are my Hail Mary moves: Drop Dan Ellis, pick up Colton Orr. Yep, tackling the PIM category head on. Dropping Tom Poti and I bid overly high on Jamie McBain ($9). I had $23 left from the $100 year budget, may as well use it on the two most important ww pickups. Orr was $1 of course. The other important pickup – Maxim Afinogenov ($7) and dropped Michael Frolik (multi position AND potential – useless to me now). Also added Ruslan Fedotenko for Alex Tanguay. It’s a long shot, just like pulling the goalie with a minute left down 4-2.

Completely missed this. From Matt Bugg’s column in the Midseason Guide (yet another reason to buy) he had ranked Bordson first in terms of college free agents. So it’s arguable – who helps whom more, Bordson or the 5-8 Jack Connolly? Here is what Bugg wrote:

Big men simply take longer to develop, but when the light goes on, it can cause a previously ignored player to out-shine the brightest star. Case-in-point: 6’2, 195 lbs Rob Bordson. A hometown boy who actually joined UMD last two years ago, the 21-year-old scored just one goal and seven points during his freshman and sophomore seasons combined.

There’s no question Bordson benefits from having two of the nation’s leading scorers – including Fontaine – on his line, but as the anchor between 5’8 and 5’10 wingers it’s arguable he’s helped them just as much as they’ve helped him. The owner of outstanding quickness and vision for such a big guy, Bordson is a great passer who gets rid of the puck before the defense can think.

Brent Seabrook was back in action playing over 22 minutes. I didn’t see the game (again will need help from the readers on this one), but I would imagine that Dustin Byfuglien was still used as a defenseman. If so, strange that Yahoo still hasn’t changed him to dual positions yet.

Colorado has signed Zach Cohen as an unsigned NCAA free agent. The way Joe Sacco and the Avs are rolling with their luck on young players, I guess Cohen will be a 100-point guy now. Naw, kidding. The 23-year-old adds goal-scoring depth, but didn’t do enough at the college level to show that he can earn a top-six spot and unless the Avs suffer about five injuries, he’s out of luck. Besides their current top six, there is Brandon Yip, Ryan Stoa, Kevin Porter and TJ Hensick waiting in line. Porter can become an NHLer as a checker if he has to, and probably Yip as well, but for Stoa and Hensick it’s top six or nothing.

Here’s a nice story about emergency signing Nathan Deobold, temporarily the Oilers’ backup goalie.

My take on Sean Bergenheim – I really felt that this year was the make or break for him. He always intrigued me as a possible second liner who could also get you penalty minutes. However, his contract holdout really cost him. He missed his chance to build on the momentum at the end of the 05-06 season, and when he returned he was out of the mix. Since then, injuries have hurt his chances further and he is probably a third liner for good. From there he still has a chance to become a 40 point, 80 PIM guy, but that would be in a dream season and he would need to stay healthy, which is another problem for him. You are likely looking at 35 points, 60 PIM in 70 games every year, give or take.

Nick Spaling was recalled to replace Joel Ward (UBI) in the lineup.

Anaheim rookie winger Matt Beleskey picked up a point for the third straight contest. He is also a plus-3 in that span. His upside is the mid to low 60s. Several years away from that point.

Steve Mason gave up six goals on 30 shots. He had been coming off a pretty strong effort and at this point in the season, much like with Carey Price, he would be best served if he played sporadically and keep the confidence up. Hopefully he can bounce back from this one.

Steve Sullivan has five points and is a plus-6 in his last six contests. Since returning from his back injury, he has proven to be pretty streaky.

In the first game without Jeff Carter, Ville Leino played just six minutes. The team was losing and it was a close game, so I would wait until (if) they grab an early lead and run away with it. Then we’ll see what kind of ice Leino earns. Claude Giroux played over 15 minutes and that is par for the course for him.

Danny Briere played just under 12 minutes and I can’t for the life of me find out why. Perhaps more will be known in the morning, or perhaps he was just benched. If someone watched the game, let us know in the comments!

I’m seeing a surge in activity over at DobberBaseball. The forum is really picking up, so if you are in any baseball leagues, you may want to bounce some ideas off of the growing community over there. And of course, you should consider picking up the fantasy baseball guide.

Brian Elliott has back-to-back shutouts now, a career first. Pascal who? My prediction – the Sens will start the season again with Pascal as their starter, but either injury or inconsistency will push him to the side again and Elliott will again prove to be the better goalie.

Kari Lehtonen started for the third time in four games for Dallas, giving up just one goal in the win. Desperate to get into the postseason, the Stars will probably ride him until he stumbles, as Turco is winless in four.

Teddy Purcell played a season high 22 minutes last night and tallied an assist. That’s very promising. I think he’ll end the season with 13 points in 20 games for TB and is an excellent dark horse for next campaign.

Jussi Jokinen has just two points in seven games. The team has just 16 goals in that span though.

Last night was Jamie McBain’s first NHL game without a point.

Anaheim has signed free agent forward Robert Bordson to an ELC. The undrafted Bordson had 40 points in 40 NCAA games this year, which is a big jump from his totals a year ago – zero points. That explains how he went under the radar for so long. His points could be the result of teammate Jack Connolly, who is probably more coveted by NHL teams right now. I don’t see a whole lot out of Bordson in the future, but I did stick him on my prospects table and will follow his progress.

It wouldn’t surprise me to see Johan Backlund get a start for Philly at some point. Not that losing has been Brian Boucher’s fault, but they may want to shake things up.

Simon Gagne snap loses it on Volchenkov. He just goes nutty on him after getting hit from behind. A good angle is at 1:03. So did he turn his back, or is Anton dirty? Gagne got several penalties on the play.