May 31, 2011
Dobber Sports
2011-05-31
Shorter ramblings these last couple of days of May. Not just because the 'slow' season has begun in terms of news…but because I'm hammering home the final parts of the Fantasy Prospects Report, which is released on the morrow.
A few readers sent me this link to a thread on HFBoards tracking possible free agents/back in the draft prospects.
Notable names who could go back into the draft:
Brandon Maxwell, COL
Josh Birkholz, FLA
Casey Cizikas, NYI
Nicola Riopel, PHI
Phil Varone, SJ
Notable college players who need to be signed or they become UFA's (like Bill Sweatt last year, Benn Ferriero the year before and Blake Wheeler several years ago):
Justin Vaive, ANA
Alex Kangas, ATL
Patrick White, SJ
Maybe 15 other names listed, but none who caught my eye
Today is the day that teams need to sign their Canadian junior players drafted in 2009, or they go back into the draft. Wish I could dig up a list of players who still need to sign, but the headlines in every source right now are dominated by the waste of time we call Atlanta- Winnipeg. If you find such a list, please let me know so I can share…
And yes, it's a waste of time. Winnipeg is getting a team. Do we really need minute by minute updates telling us that an announcement will be delayed for another day? Everyone is so eager to be the first to announce this. It will be funny when Bob McKenzie announces it and then within a minute everyone else will via Twitter as if it was their own scoop. It's also a shame that TSN is running with this when it was Stephen Brunt's scoop last week – now when it gets announced, it will be TSN's story. But I digress. Nothing to do with fantasy hockey. Moving on…
Okay, one more off topic. Do you guys find it…silly…that some online reporters or newspaper beat writers man the phones for their sources, work their asses off to get a scoop, and then announce it two to three minutes after Bob McKenzie or Darren Dreger do? I could save them all those phone calls right now and tell them to just follow the above two guys on Twitter. They would get the scoop even faster. But then that would be like admitting that part of their job is redundant.
Interesting review of Mathieu Perreault's season.
The Canucks have signed forward Steven Anthony, their final pick of the 2009 draft. Anthony is coming off a Memorial Cup win.
The Sens have signed forwards Louie Caporusso, a forward who could have become a UFA (the way Blake Wheeler did) were he not signed. He is ranked 133 on my Prospects list and is profiled in the FPR. The Sens also signed Jakob Silfverberg, who is ranked 198 (and rising) and is also profiled.
Detroit has signed Andrej Nestrasil, who will play next year in Grand Rapids.
The Panthers have signed Jack Skille, who is developing slowly but will be given every opportunity to thrive, because Dale Tallon drafted him, loves him, and possibly wants to marry him.
Pittsburgh will let Andy Bathgate and Viktor Ekbom go back into the draft. No interest in signing them before the June 1 deadline…
Another history will be made…