February 15, 2012

Dobber Sports

2012-02-15

 

Marek Zidlicky has waived his NTC for the Devils. We’ll see if the Wild can come up with a trade to move him there. If so, his value goes from zilch to pretty high, while Kurtis Foster will slip quite a bit.

 

Wojtek Wolski has five points in six games for Connecticut of the AHL during his conditioning assignment. He may be recalled soon to replace the injured Fedotenko so watch for that. He needs to be showcased in order to be traded.

 

Lots of great Rick Nash chatter when Twitter exploded yesterday. Some idiotic rumor got out there that Jonathan Bernier, Trent Hunter, Dustin Penner and pick was about to get him. I jumped in and had some fun speculating. I felt that the Blues would be a great fit – lots of assets, former coach, etc. But detrimental to that was a) ownership and b) St. Louis probably not on Nash's list of a handful of teams he would waive his NMC for. Florida is another great fit – they have the assets and the cap space, but again I doubt they were on his list.

 

So who was on his list? I can only speculate, but I would think that Toronto, Vancouver, Detroit, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and New York are solid guesses.

 

I don't believe the Leafs will get him because a) The length of his contract and b) They need a big center not a big winger. I don't believe the Canucks will get him because they are up against the cap. I do think Los Angeles is a solid choice, but not for that stupid package noted above. Not when the Kings have so many great assets in their pipeline. A goaltender would go, I would guess Bernier. But then we're talking about some top prospects and picks. So who is underused? Oscar Moller is in another country because he wasn't happy with his chances in LA. How would he feel about Columbus? Slava Voynov and Andrei Loktionov are two other under-utilized players. Is a package with all four of these players plus a pick or two enough to get Nash and a couple of contracts that the Jackets want to shed?

 

So now we have to consider which other contracts Columbus would want/need to move, versus what would fit on the Kings. Samuel Pahlsson, Derek McKenzie, Radek Martinek all UFA's this summer. Antoine Vermette has another three years on his deal that the Jackets may want off the books. Is Marc Methot worth $3 million per on a rebuilding team? Wherever Nash goes, I am certain that you will see a couple of the above players going with him in order to make it work financially for both clubs. Fire sale!

 

Craig Anderson can be activated once again. On my bench these last two weeks, I was waiting for a signal. Because I notice that Anderson and Senators win in spurts. So his shutout last night is pretty promising.

 

Bobby Butler is averaging about 13 minutes a game right now and he has a three-game points streak (five in that span).

 

Jason Spezza is on a torrid run right now with nine points in his last three games. He's hit the 60 mark and while I don't believe he'll win the scoring title, he belongs in the conversation now.

 

Speaking of Rick Nash, he had his five-game points streak end last night in a Columbus win. Already they're proving they can without him!

 

Another guy with four points was Ilya Kovalchuk. He was back with Adam Henrique (yay for Henrique owners). Kovy and Parise combined for 14 shots on goal.

 

Derek Roy has four points and is a minus-5 in his last 19 games.

 

Joey MacDonald was between the pipes as the Wings won their 21st home game in a row. No asterisk for the shootout wins either. Otherwise stick an asterisk on the Bruins of the late 20's for having such an easy travel schedule, or only five teams to play again, etc. Or add an asterisk to the Flyers for their record because it was done during a 75-76 season that had just 80 games and 17 other teams.

 

Anyway, MacDonald is now 4-1-1 on the season with a 0.930 SP and a 1.72 GAA.

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Jiri Hudler's goal broke a five-game pointless drought, and he's another streaky one so look for a run here. Zetterberg's goal gives him nine points in the last six games.

 

Jonas Hiller is 11-2-3 in his last 16 decisions.

 

Look at this Marek Zidlicky "in the lineup" vs. "out of the lineup" graphic. WOW. The highlights:

With Zidlicky 12 wins and 26 losses. Without him 13 wins 4 losses.

With Zidlicky 1.95 goals scored per game. Without him 2.94

With Zidlicky 2.82 goals against average. Without him 2.18

With Zidlicky 9.8% on the PP. Without him 25.9%

 

Ryan Malone was back in the TB lineup last night, was a minus-2 and played nearly 20 minutes. The TB line combos with Malone back: Lecavalier with Malone and St. Louis; Stamkos with Purcell and Downie; Moore with Pyatt and Shannon.

 

Drayson Bowman was recalled to replace Tuomo Ruutu (out three weeks). Jerome Samson was reassigned.

 

Would Ruutu still be traded now that he's hurt? It's happened before, but I have to think that it won't in this case. Still nearly two weeks away so you never know.

 

Very promising Mike Green news. Band-Aid Boy or not, his value has never been lower and I'd be inclined to make inquiries. Caps "not ruling out" his playing this weekend.

 

No goal to tie this game up, but watch Jeff Carter tripping up TJ Oshie (40 second mark):

 

 

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