September 07, 2013
Dobber Sports
2013-09-07
As any good poolie knows, drafting someone that has dual-position eligibility can be a great asset throughout the season. After perusing through Yahoo's rankings yesterday, there seems to be more players than usual that are labelled with that distinction.
Some notable names are: Evgeni Malkin (C,RW), Patrick Kane (C,RW), Claude Giroux (C,RW), James Neal (LW,RW), Rick Nash (LW,RW), Thomas Vanek (LW,RW), Bobby Ryan, (LW,RW), Tyler Seguin (C,RW), Joffrey Lupul (LW,RW), Pavel Datsyuk (C,LW), Henrik Zetterberg (C,LW), Logan Couture (C,LW), Jeff Carter (C,LW,RW) just to name a handful.
There's no worse feeling when you have to keep someone on the bench because you can't work them into your lineup, due to their position designation. Players with multiple uses allow for more versatility and increased overall production for your squad, so keep an eye on it even in the deeper rounds when drafting.
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One goalie to monitor closely during training camp would be Nashville's Pekka Rinne. He underwent hip surgery back in May and although he is apparently progressing steadily, that's a tricky injury for netminders to recover from. It's certainly not enough to avoid him in pools this year as his reliability has been excellent the last five seasons, but you might want to have a serviceable number two just in case. He started 73 games in 2011-12, and 43 in the shortened 2013 campaign, however, coming off hip surgery the Preds may not push him that much this year and his starts could drop slightly.
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A couple of veterans will be looking to make an NHL team when training camps open up shortly. Anthony Stewart has reportedly been invited to the San Jose Sharks camp. The Sharks have a history of giving cast-offs a shot and getting some minimal results, and it was only a few years ago that Stewart picked up 14 goals and 39 points with the Thrashers. There is plenty of talent in San Jose, but you would have to think even if he cracks the squad, Stewart would be relegated to nothing more than fourth line duties.
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Danny Cleary will skate with the Red Wings next week in hopes of landing a new deal. He had offers from Pittsburgh, Anaheim and Philadelphia this off-season, but ultimately wanted stay with Detroit. The Wings would probably want him back, but the issue is they already have 16 forwards under contract for this season. However, those include the injury-prone Darren Helm and Mikael Samuelsson, so a Cleary insurance policy wouldn't be a terrible plan. There is still fantasy value for the 34-year-old with Detroit, as he was the team's second leading playoff scorer earlier this spring.
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Where does Jean-Gabriel Pageau fit into the Senators lineup this season? Or does he even make the team? He had that nice playoff run scoring four goals, but nine career regular season games shouldn't guarantee him a spot on the Sens in 2013-14. He did look good Thursday night in Ottawa's first prospect game and picked up a goal. If he does crack the roster he would likely have to move to wing and could be a nice sleeper to watch out for if he gets third line minutes, with perhaps Mika Zibanejad and Colin Greening.
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Staying with the prospects tournament for a second, Mikhail Grigorenko has been deemed ineligible because he played too many games for Buffalo last year, which is too bad. Grigorenko could have used the experience and he would have been fun for the fans to watch. He skated in 25 games for the Sabres in 2013, which made little sense. Buffalo was never really in playoff contention and playing more than nine squandered the first year of his entry-level deal.
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Jeff Angus will be pleased to know that Pavel Bure will have his number retired by Vancouver on November 2nd when the Canucks take on the Toronto Maple Leafs. Bure tallied 437 goals in just over 700 games and it was good to see him finally go into the Hall of Fame in 2012. His career may have been brief, but he was a dominant player when healthy and can boast to having back-to-back 60 goal campaigns.
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In honour of Bure's number retirement.
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Somebody please tell me these aren't Team Canada's Olympic jerseys. They have a Petro Canada like feel to them. The look on Jonathan Toews' face pretty much says it all. Even Captain Serious can't take them seriously.
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Good news on the Claude Giroux front as it looks like the splint protecting his injured right index finger will be coming off on Monday. Giroux had surgery on August 15th to repair a couple of damaged tendons he injured in a freak golf accident. He has already been skating and hopes to work himself into at least one preseason game before the Flyers opener.
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Ales Hemsky looks to be sticking around in Edmonton at least for the time being, General Manager Craig MacTavish said this week. It's hard to believe a couple of things, 1) the Oilers still haven't found a way to trade a player with Hemsky's skill after trying for what seems like five years, and 2) Hemsky is still just 30-years-old. Quickly glancing at Edmonton's forward group makes it tough to picture Hemsky ending up in their top six this season, especially with the addition of David Perron. With right wingers Jordan Eberle and Nail Yakupov likely ahead of him on the depth chart and Hemsky's history of injuries, proceed with caution in your pools where he is concerned in 2013-14.
Michael Amato is an Associate Editor for DobberHockey and a News Editor for theScore. You can follow him on Twitter at @amato_mike