After what has seemed like decades of speculation, prospect Carl Soderberg has finally decided to come to the NHL. The Boston Bruins inked the 27-year-old forward to a three-year contract with an unofficial cap hit of $866,667. The first year of the deal will be lost when he joins the Bruins within the next few days but having such a talented forward locked up for multiple years at such a low cost is a big deal for both the Bruins and his fantasy hockey potential.
* Dobber's latest for Puck Daddy - check it out. * My fantasy hockey mailbag is open for a few days - ask your questions here. * Roberto Luongo was great last night making the surprise start – he stopped 40 Calgary shots (letting in only one goal against). Cory Schneider [...]
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This week's fantasy hockey cage match: Anisimov vs. Matthias.
Post-hype sleeper is a term you don’t hear often in fantasy hockey (it’s more of a fantasy baseball term) but I feel like it’s a term every poolie should get acquainted with regardless of his fantasy sport of choice. The reason is that the post-hype sleeper is quite possibly the best bang for your buck you can find. For instance, if you were patient or savvy enough to acquire any of Sam Gagner, Nazem Kadri or Jakub Voracek you’d have landed yourself a player far exceeding his projections and his draft slot if only because some of the shine had worn off because of exposure. These guys pop up every year though – after disappointing us for years they finally “get it” and produce. Joffrey Lupul and Blake Wheeler were two fine examples from last year and if you still aren’t convinced that the post-hype sleeper is a real thing well then I guess you can just keep on hitting the snooze button. This week’s Cage Match features two such post-hype sleepers, Artem Anisimov vs. Shawn Matthias.
Schmidt takes a look at some of the injuries around the league, including Varlamov, Getzlaf and Lupul...
Kari Lehtonen left the game in the first period with a lower-body injury. Richard Bachman came in and was fantastic. I get the feeling that he and Nihlstorp will split duties for a couple of weeks. It's early - and no real word has come out. But Lehtonen missed five games with a groin [...]
At this point in the season, several players are still scoring at a pace that’s well above their career high in points. Of course the question is whether their current jump in production will continue down the road, or just amount to a blip in the radar once we get to next season and beyond. This is a big issue, since in some cases it could turn a fantasy unworthy player into someone you'd want to draft or pick up, or it could help convince you to take steps to acquire a player (through the draft or by trade) that might already be on your fantasy radar. With these things in mind, we'll look at four forwards who have seen a big increase in point production pace this season, and I’ll issue a “Final Verdict” on what point production you should expect from that player in the coming years.
Miller finishes up his look at the East playoff race, with Isles, Sabres, Flyers and Jets
With the regular season rapidly winding down, only three Eastern Conference teams can say with much certainty that they will make the playoffs - Pittsburgh, Montreal and Boston. Conversely, only three teams have all but mathematically eliminated themselves from playoff contention - Carolina, Tampa Bay and Florida.
This week (in two parts - you can take a look at the first part here), we'll take a closer look at which of the remaining nine Eastern Conference teams have a real shot at punching one of the five available tickets to the post-season dance or are just pretenders this year. Below is a table of the Eastern Conference standings. I've added games remaining because I hate to do math - simple subtraction drives me to distraction.
Miller takes a deep look at the Eastern Conference playoff contenders
With the regular season rapidly winding down, only three Eastern Conference teams can say with much certainty that they will make the playoffs - Pittsburgh, Montreal and Boston. Conversely, only three teams have all but mathematically eliminated themselves from playoff contention - Carolina, Tampa Bay and Florida.
This week (in two parts - the second part is out later today), we'll take a closer look at which of the remaining nine Eastern Conference teams have a real shot at punching one of the five available tickets to the post-season dance or are just pretenders this year. Below is a table of the Eastern Conference standings. I've added games remaining because I hate to do math - simple subtraction drives me to distraction.
Boston beat writer Kirk Luedeke reports that the Bruins have signed Carl Soderberg, and that he thinks it is a three-year deal. Soderberg still needs to secure release from Sweden, but at his age (27) he should see time in the NHL right away (it's likely a one-way deal). More on Soderberg over at DobberProspects. [...]
