February 20, 2013

Dobber Sports

2013-02-20

The Fantasy Baseball Guide will be updated by noon today. You can pick it up here. And don’t forget that DobberBaseball has content flowing daily now, including the new Cage Match feature from Monday.

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Nine games and $5.8 million dollars. Talk about making an impression! The Ducks have signed Viktor Fasth to a two-year extension. A huge vote of confidence – and the type of dollars that will not sit on the bench as a backup for more than a season, tops. Look for Hiller to be shopped next summer and early into 2013-14. Fasth is now a legit fantasy own in all keeper formats.

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Lindy Ruff has been fired! Until we know who will replace him, there is little to go on as to the future of your Sabres players. But first coaching vacancy open and Ruff is there. In fact, teams not even thinking about a coaching change could be thinking of a coaching change now. As I said on Twitter – how quickly could Lindy Ruff whip Alex Ovechkin back into shape?

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Mikhail Grigorenko was scratched for the second straight game and third time in five games. So in essence, the Sabres made the decision to keep him so that they could let him play for six more games…and then start scratching him every other game. Worth it?

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The Jets seem lost without Tobias Enstrom. The entire team, top to bottom, can’t find the net. I say this after a win!

Blake Wheeler has been held off the scoresheet in five of his last six games.

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Thomas Vanek is developing a reputation as the NHL’s leading scorer in imaginary 10-game seasons. It’s after the hot start that we worry about. Vanek has been shut out of four of the last five games.

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Love the steady Raphael Diaz. I was concerned when PK Subban came back and Diaz suddenly stopped producing. But Subban is still there and Diaz has started up again. Diaz has points in three straight games and is plus-5 in that span.

Yes, as I noted yesterday (or was it Monday? Bah, days are running together), Max Pacioretty is heating up and he’s taking David Desharnais with him. They combined on a goal last night.

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Cam Fowler is hoping to return next week – I would guess that since the team is off until Sunday, he will be shooting for that game. The Ducks play five games in seven nights, starting Sunday.

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I’m tellin’ ya – Jakob Silfverberg is finding his legs now. Sure, it’s only two games with points, but I just get that feeling.

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Three more assists for Benoit Pouliot last night. He has seven points in his last four games and is up to 13 in 15 on the year. His emergence is picking up where Cory Conacher left off. Conacher hasn’t stopped, he’s just slowed down to a more suitable pace.

Tampa prospect Alex Killorn has scored in consecutive games – his first two goals of his NHL career. He is rated 47th on my Prospects List, but has been moving steadily upward. That will continue – I really like him for next season, clearly he’ll be ready (if he’s not ready now).

Victor Hedman has nine points in his last 12 games.

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Matt Lombardi is ready to return to the Phoenix lineup. I don’t think it will slow Martin Hanzal, who’s off to a great start, any. Nor will it slow Antoine Vermette, who has just started heating up.

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The flu bug has hit the Bruins. Thank goodness they don’t play until Thursday. But here are the players hit (so far): Campbell, Horton, Paille, Bergeron, Ference, McQuaid and Khudobin.

Milan Lucic missed last contest due to personal reasons, but is good to go next game.

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Mikko Koivu missed practice for the Wild because he was sick – not sure if it’s the flu as well.

Also in that link above – PM Bouchard‘s wife had a baby Monday night, and Ryan Suter‘s wife was scheduled to be induced Tuesday night.

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Mike Green skated briefly in practice, but left after five minutes. The Caps next play on Thursday and it doesn’t look good for Green.

Adam Oates is being stubborn about keeping Backstrom and Ovechkin apart. Here are the line combos in practice:

Chimera-Ribeiro-Ovechkin

Wolski-Backstrom-Brouwer

Fehr-Perreault-Ward

You can actual line combos – FREE – for the last three games, all teams, right here.

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Make it five straight games for Colin Wilson now – he has seven points in that span.

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San Jose winger Tim Kennedy has goals in back-to-back games, giving him two on the year. Kennedy was a once very promising prospect, but has been unable to get into the lineup after playing a full season in 2009-10. How a prospect debuts with 26 points and then disappears from the face of the earth NHL the next year is beyond me. I’ve never seen it before. Anyway, he’s shown he can score at the AHL level and the Sharks are desperate. He’s not on a good line, but hell – he’s doing more than Martin Havlat is, so there’s that.

Hard to believe, he’s still only 26, too.

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Jordan Leopold was a healthy scratch for the Sabres and TJ Brennan drew back in – and Brennan played a near-season-high 17:08. He was pointless and plus-1.

Alexander Sulzer did play a season high last night – 22:54. He was shutout though. In 15 games with the Sabres last year he had eight points. In 15 games this year he has four.

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Brent Seabrook didn't play last night because of a lower-body injury. He is considered day-to-day, but then aren’t they all?

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Gabriel Landeskog was back in practice for the Avs, but he wore a “no contact” jersey. So still a week or two away, I’m guessing.

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Something is wrong with Rick Nash, but John Tortorella ain’t talking. John, is there an update on Nash?

“Nope. He’s out.”

Gee…thanks. So he could miss anywhere from one to 30 games…

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Tomas Tatar was a minus-2 with zero shots last night and was held to 9:27 of ice time. Next stop is probably the minors and with Mikael Samuelsson sitting out (hand) we could finally see Gustav Nyquist back up and on a scoring line.

Jimmy Howard left the game with an upper body injury – quick, grab Gustavsson!

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Marian Hossa scores twice…and then leaves the game after this hit from Hansen:

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UPCOMING GAMES

Nov 22 - 19:11 PIT vs WPG
Nov 22 - 22:11 ANA vs BUF

Starting Goalies

Top Skater Views

  Players Team
WYATT JOHNSTON DAL
KENT JOHNSON CBJ
JAKE WALMAN S.J
WILLIAM EKLUND S.J
VALERI NICHUSHKIN COL

Top Goalie Profile Views

  Players Team
YAROSLAV ASKAROV S.J
DUSTIN WOLF CGY
PYOTR KOCHETKOV CAR
SEBASTIAN COSSA DET
ALEXANDAR GEORGIEV COL

LINE COMBOS

  Frequency N.J Players
19.5 ONDREJ PALAT JACK HUGHES JESPER BRATT
18.7 STEFAN NOESEN TIMO MEIER NICO HISCHIER
12.3 DAWSON MERCER ERIK HAULA PAUL COTTER

DobberHockey Podcasts

Keeping Karlsson Short Shifts – Regicide

Jeremy and Shams are here to break down all the new injuries and update timelines as well. After all the injury news they close out the show covering all the cold Kings players giving actionable fantasy advice on each one. Lastly, they close out the show the latest hot Russian forward for Columbus that is only 1% rostered on Yahoo right now.

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