February 19, 2013

Dobber Sports

2013-02-19

The Fantasy Baseball Guide is updated through this morning. You can pick it up here. And don’t forget that DobberBaseball has content flowing daily now, thanks to seven great new writers added over the past month or so.

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So I was looking through my one-year leagues (I’m in two of them). I had to spend a good hour on them because they’ve been neglected. My brutal start in the daily league with the gang at Yahoo has recovered enough for me to slide out of last place – I was 75 points out of first with 21 after two weeks, thanks to Fleury and Ward. I’ve crawled up to third last and 30-some odd points back.

In the DobberHockey Experts league I am sinking like a stone. Down to 11th now. Erik Karlsson is done, Scott Hartnell has been moved to IR and Miikka Kiprusoff is out. Yeah, that’ll do it. Also, the PM Bouchard experiment is over. It was over three weeks ago, but I was asleep at the wheel, and then I was on vacation…needless to say, lots of waiver wire work to be done. This is a deep 16-team league, so the pickings are slim. But I will share with you the players I bid on. Because I know that the other 15 owners of the DobberHockey Expert League don’t read my ramblings. Right? Here they are, in random order (I have to keep them guessing):

Mark Fraser (not really a top-notch Erik Karlsson replacement, eh? But he’s a plus-9 and he Hits – which is a category); Jack Skille; Tomas Tatar; Danny Taylor; Darcy Kuemper; Eric Fehr; Tomas Kundratek; Jakub Kindl; Paul Gaustad; Tyson Barrie; Jake Allen; Aaron Palushaj; Marcus Kruger; Andrew Cogliano; Drew Shore; and Alex Burmistrov (surprised me with his Hits).

Yep – 16 bids for four spots. Sharing some of these deep waiver considerations with my readers is more important than my winning the bids, but hopefully my competition won’t up their bids because they read this – be honorable guys!

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Jakob Silfverberg saw a career high if 21:02 of ice time Sunday. He assisted on the only goal and scored the shootout winner. He had a slow start in the AHL as well, so perhaps this kick starts things.

The Senators have scored just one goal in regulation since Karlsson went down.

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Andrei Loktionov played the big 9:31 in his New Jersey debut and was a minus-1.

The great thing about David Clarkson this year – when he’s not scoring goals, which isn’t often, he’s giving you things like 14 penalty minutes and four Hits, as he did Sunday.

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Okay, let’s talk some Flyers. Seven goals last night, plus a shutout. Everyone is out of their slumps in one shot. I now look like a genius for calling Jakub Voracek for a breakout, as his four points puts him close to a point per game now. Claude Giroux and Matt Read, his linemates, had three each. The performance was impressive enough to keep the line together for the next few games – great news for owners of all three.

Read was never really in a slump. What a great player – consistent at both ends of the ice and on all lines. But us poolies prefer him on a scoring line, don’t we? Sure, he could be a 45-point third liner. But he can also be a 70-plus point first liner. I’ll take Option B, thank you.

Daniel Briere‘s three points means he’s doubled his 11-game production in the last two games (four and four). We knew going in already that his regular season numbers have been declining, so his eight points in 13 games now are about what his pace will finish at.

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I have Nabokov in each of the one year leagues I noted above. He was on my bench in the daily one with the Yahoo folks (otherwise I’d be back to last place). But with Kiprusoff hurt…I had to dress Nabokov in the Experts League. And that’s a big D’OH with capital letters.

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As a fantasy owner, I hate how the Predators stifle defensively and refuse to score more than a goal or two. Because we see that, if they ever fall behind and suddenly need goals, they can get goals in spades. Very frustrating.

But Colin Wilson has taken the next step. He has points in four straight games and is up to 12 in 16 games. He’s not one for shooting – I pity the poor centerman who is ever on a line with him and Sergei Kostitsyn. Wilson has 21 shots in 16 games. SK has 14 shots in 16 games.

Speaking of Kostitsyn, he’s a streaky player and that streak could be just starting. He has three points in two games and actually saw some PP time Sunday.

Gaustad left the game with an upper body injury. He’ll probably miss at least the next game. But for now, I’ll keep my bid intact (referring to the above waiver ramble).

Patric Hornqvist was back in the Preds lineup and had 12 shots on goal!

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Aaron Palushaj has played four games for the Avs and thanks to his three-point effort Sunday he has four points in four games. He’s seeing third-line minutes, but the team appears to be treating him based on his AHL skill-set. That is to say, more about offense. He’s playing with Paul Stastny and David Jones and makes an intriguing waiver pickup.

Stefan Elliott saw 12:55 in his season debut, but was pointless. Tyson Barrie has a three-game points streak going now, averaging over 23 minutes per game in that span.

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Max Pacioretty is heating up – four points in two games including his first goal of the season Sunday. This not only helps out his owners, but owners of David Desharnais as well.

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Petr Budaj has allowed just one goal in two starts. He’s only faced 38 shots, but still – good numbers this year. Unlike last year. You may see Carey Price rest a lot more this season, if Budaj proves to be a solid backup this time around.

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I said this 18 months ago when the Leafs acquired Cody Franson – and since then I looked stupid – but he is their best offensive defenseman. Forget about the weaknesses and focus on the strengths. The guy has hockey sense. He knows where to put the puck. He thinks like a forward. Randy Carlyle is seeing what Ron Wilson did not see. And now Franson has nine points in 13 games and is plus-10. So now who looks stupid? I feel vindicated.

Back-to-back shutouts for Ben Scrivens. Goaltending hasn’t been an issue for Toronto, wouldn’t you know it. So was Brian Burke right?

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Hey, check out today’s starting goalies here – and don’t forget to bookmark it. While you’re there, go up to the top menu of Goalie Post and click “Teams” and check out what is under a given team – tons of cool stuff including a one-month chart looking at long team breaks and back-to-back games. Very relevant when planning ahead for your goaltending.

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Danny Taylor made his first NHL start and played very well, allowing just one goal after two periods. But he gave up three goals in the third, ruining things.

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After eight games without a point, Antoine Vermette how has points in his last two contests.

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Neither Cam Atkinson nor Artem Anisimov were able to play last night. Best to play it safe, but both are close.

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Matt Beleskey has points in three straight games now.

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Remember yesterday when I mused about the Kings turning to Tyler Toffoli for scoring help? Well, the LA Kings Insider went to Darryl Sutter with the idea.

Sutter, on the possibility of Toffoli, or other players from Manchester joining the team:

"We're at our roster [limit]. You only have a 23-man roster. That's what we have right here, is 23. So you just can't put players in."

Sutter, on whether a player could go down to bring Toffoli up:

"You'd need a paper trail for that, but I don't think that's our situation. We have some young players on defense that didn't play very well tonight, and we have some forwards up front that aren't ready for the heavy lifting, so I don't think going to Manchester's going to help that."

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Jonas Gustavsson has been recalled. Petr Mrazek has been sent down.

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The Hockey Writers looks at the Top 10 Calder Candidates so far, written by DobberBaseball editor Fred Poulin.

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Oye. Cam Ward. Yikes. My 4-year-old daughter stopped a similar shot on my backyard rink yesterday when I flipped the ball to her…

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UPCOMING GAMES

Mar 28 - 19:03 OTT vs CHI
Mar 28 - 19:03 TOR vs WSH
Mar 28 - 19:03 MTL vs PHI
Mar 28 - 19:03 PIT vs CBJ
Mar 28 - 19:03 FLA vs NYI
Mar 28 - 19:03 CAR vs DET
Mar 28 - 20:03 MIN vs S.J
Mar 28 - 20:03 STL vs CGY
Mar 28 - 20:03 WPG vs VGK
Mar 28 - 21:03 EDM vs L.A
Mar 28 - 21:03 COL vs NYR
Mar 28 - 22:03 SEA vs ANA
Mar 28 - 22:03 VAN vs DAL
Mar 28 - 22:03 ARI vs NSH

Starting Goalies

Top Skater Views

  Players Team
TAGE THOMPSON BUF
JJ PETERKA BUF
ANTHONY DUCLAIR T.B
JORDAN GREENWAY BUF
JURAJ SLAFKOVSKY MTL

Top Goalie Profile Views

  Players Team
ALEKSEI KOLOSOV PHI
JOONAS KORPISALO OTT
KAREL VEJMELKA ARI
UKKO-PEKKA LUUKKONEN BUF
JUSTUS ANNUNEN COL

LINE COMBOS

  Frequency VGK Players
17.2 JONATHAN MARCHESSAULT JACK EICHEL IVAN BARBASHEV
9.1 CHANDLER STEPHENSON BRETT HOWDEN MICHAEL AMADIO
8.1 ANTHONY MANTHA WILLIAM KARLSSON PAVEL DOROFEYEV

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