April 02, 2013

Dobber Sports

2013-04-02

The DobberBaseball Fantasy Guide is fully updated through yesterday – and DobberBaseball broke a traffic record for March, topping 230,000 page views. Great work by Fred Poulin and Eamonn McCauley, who have really turned that site around with a great team – and of course Chris Goudey, who put together an awesome guide and stayed on top of it with updates.

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Jagr to Boston, Roy to Vancouver – firesale in Dallas! I’m back and on top of it – analysis/ breakdowns on the way

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Toronto has been given permission to speak to Miikka Kiprusoff’s agent, no doubt trying to gauge the odds of Kipper returning to the NHL next year and/or what kind of extension he would like, if any.

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Mats Zuccarello played in his second game of the season last night and he’s getting a lot of love. He’s seen 18 minutes per game and has an assist so far. Some surprising early PIM as well (six), that may be an adjustment to the league, or perhaps he just feels more secure that he’ll hold his spot in the lineup no matter how aggressive he is. Rangers line combos last night:

Nash – Stepan – Callahan

Zuccarello – Richards – Gaborik

Pyatt – Boyle – Hagelin

I think Torts is starting to recognize that the torch has been passed to Derek Stepan. Richards isn’t ‘the guy’ anymore. So Leafs fans who were sour on Brian Burke not going after Richards – which I said in advance would be dumb – now you can see clearly that a seven-year deal for Brad Richards would get you one star-caliber season if that, and a couple of decent seasons. Not just Leaf fans, but any fans of any team who wished their team pushed hard to sign this guy for that term and that amount – thank your GM.

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The trade deadline is starting early again this year. It will make for an exciting Monday and Tuesday… but you’ll be disappointed in Wednesday. That’s not to say that deals won’t get done, but it’s more spread out now. Easier on guys like me.

Robyn Regehr was traded to the Kings for two second-round draft picks. It will open up a bit of ice time for young Buffalo rearguards, but nothing in the way of power-play time. And the only concern you might have for LA rearguards is the less-proven Jake Muzzin. But he saw 19 minutes of ice time Sunday and had five shots on goal. He has just a point in six games, but I think that’s just a slump. He’ll bounce back.

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The Ducks traded Jay Rosehill to the Flyers for Harry Zolnierczyk. This was for the Flyers to shore up their farm system and do Zolnierczyk a favor by giving him a fresh start.

Speaking of the Ducks, Radek Dvorak has been underwhelming, seeing just 11 minutes in each of his two games and posting zero points. In case you were curious and too lazy to look it up yourself – I got your back.

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The Sharks traded Michal Handzus to the Blackhawks for a fourth-round draft pick. Handzus at this point is just a depth addition, bringing experience and faceoff skills. He’ll draw in a few times down the stretch and it will be at the expense of young players such as Marcus Kruger. For now, with Dave Bolland out (seems to be short-term), he’ll get in without taking a job.

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Mike Fisher missed last night’s game because of a hand injury. He is out indefinitely.

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The Ryane Clowe rumors continue to swirl, now it seems like Philadelphia or Montreal. He was scratched from San Jose’s game last night so you know it’s coming.

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There won’t be a live chat this year for the deadline. I had wanted to give Google Hangout a try, but didn’t have enough time to test it in advance. So back to the old way of just breaking it down trade by trade in articles, as well as forum chatter.

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Jay Bouwmeester was dealt to the Blues for your Uncle Frank and your neighbor’s cousin Jimmy. Or something like that. Actually it was a “conditional” first-round pick, defenseman Mark Cundari and Swiss goalie Reto Berra. Interesting that they were interested in the Swiss goalie. Do they see something? Anyway, I will have an analysis on this one later Tuesday. Not because J-Bo has fantasy implications… but because his absence from the Calgary lineup has them.

The first-rounder, per TSN, becomes a fourth this summer and a first in 2014 if the Blues miss the dance. Otherwise it’s just the first in 2013.

Incidentally, this trade was announced after the St. Louis game started, but before the Calgary game started. So Bouwmeester’s 611-games-played streak continues.

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Jaroslav Halak left last night’s contest with a LBI. Gotta think it’s the ol’ groin again. That guy’s groin is weaker than my grandma after some sleeping pills. Without a walker. Anyway, I’m predicting that Brian Elliott will blow it, and Jake Allen will thrive again. Allen didn’t thrive with Halak hovering over his shoulder, but when the Blues truly needed him… Allen stepped up.

I say this even after Elliott’s strong game last night, stopping 19 of 20 shots.

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Ville Leino has an undisclosed injury and the Sabres have finally recalled Luke Adam. Adam has had a horrible time of things since hitting a wall after his tremendous NHL start. He’s still not doing great, posting just three points in his last nine AHL games and going minus-8 in that span.

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Nathan Beaulieu picked up his first NHL point last night. He was also plus-2 in 15 minutes of action.

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If Jarome Iginla wants to sign an extension with the Penguins, he would probably need to settle for something below $4 million. Would the NHLPA appreciate such a paycut/discount? He can still get over $6 million on the open market. But with the Pens already tied in up with several big contracts and with the cap going down, that is what Iginla is looking at. I’m sure he knows this.

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Matt Cullen left last night’s game with an LBI. He has 19 points in his last 20 games, so obviously fantasy relevant. Look for the Wild to trade for Clowe recall Jason Zucker or Mikael Granlund.

Granlund has 14 points in his last 12 games – including the last one in which he was shutout, snapping an 11-game points streak dating back to before the lockout. He has seven points in seven games since being sent down.

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Kostopoulos left the game after getting dropped by Matt Martin in this fight:

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Amazing game by Ryan Callahan – four points and plus-4 with four hits. Including this beautiful goal:

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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
JORDAN GREENWAY BUF
ANTHONY DUCLAIR T.B
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 L.A Players
23.9 ANZE KOPITAR ADRIAN KEMPE QUINTON BYFIELD
21.0 TREVOR MOORE KEVIN FIALA PHILLIP DANAULT
15.9 ALEX LAFERRIERE PIERRE-LUC DUBOIS VIKTOR ARVIDSSON

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