February 17, 2014

Dobber Sports

2014-02-17

The big news of the day, that’s rocked the fantasy hockey world to its very core, is that the DobberHockey Forum has finally completed the upgrade and re-launched. A process started in mid-November and began with a failed VBulletin 5 upgrade, is now complete as a successful VBulletin 4 upgrade. The forum looks as it always did, logins and registration all seamless, and I look forward to finally enjoying the boards again.

The other news – Dobber Sports is having an event in Toronto Friday at the Sports Centre Café. Details here.

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Oh, and that Olympics thing. If you want to see how your team is doing in the Olympics Pool, click here. Me? I’m not doing well. Nine points, 566th place. Already lost Zetterberg.

I find it fantastic that the members of the Los Angeles Kings are going nuts on the scoreboard at this level. It really says a lot about their coach. Sorry Mr. Sutter, you won a Cup and congrats for that. But that style only works once – you have to actually score some goals in order to win games. And you can’t use the “lack of personnel” excuse, as you can plainly see. But all the poolies care about is – will Jeff Carter, Dustin Brown and Drew Doughty keep it up when they get back to the NHL?

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Michael Grabner has five goals in the tournament to lead the way. He’s on a hot streak. He gets those. Doesn’t change my outlook for him in the least. He’s a 20-goal, 35-point penalty killer.

Olli Maatta, on the other hand, is really impressing. Not just in Sochi (four points so far), but throughout the NHL season. Each game he gets better – and the improvement is on the offensive side of the puck. And that’s where us poolies want to see it. And another Finnish defenseman Sami Vatanen is justifying my faith in him from the last two years. He’s absolutely flying.

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It was hinted Saturday that Alexander Radulov would be scratched Sunday. Apparently not:

Still – what an attitude. If we only knew about this reputation when he was a prospect, we could have stayed clear! (By the way, the Olympics are pretty damn tight with their hoarding of rights, so it wouldn’t shock me if the above clip disappeared soon).

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Sidney Crosby is averaging 15:43 per game. That’s low, but he’s behind only Toews in that department. The bigger question mark is John Tavares only seeing 12:31. There’s a guy who can make a difference in an awful hurry. Four minutes a period?

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Phil Kessel leads the Olympic Tournament in scoring with seven points. In fact, since December 1, no player has more NHL/Olympics points (he has 48, Crosby has 42+2=44). Here are the top scorers since Dec.1 courtesy of the Report Generator over at Frozen Pool:

 

Rank

Name

Pos

Age

Yrs

Team

GR

GP

EV

PP

SH

PPG

Total

1

CROSBY,SIDNEY

C

26

9

PIT

24

30

28

14

0

1.40

42

2

KESSEL,PHIL

C

26

8

TOR

22

33

27

14

0

1.24

41

3

GIROUX,CLAUDE

R

26

7

PHI

23

33

24

15

0

1.18

39

4

HALL,TAYLOR

L

22

4

EDM

22

33

29

8

0

1.12

37

5

TAVARES,JOHN

C

23

5

NYI

22

32

23

13

0

1.13

36

5

GETZLAF,RYAN

C

28

9

ANA

22

30

27

9

0

1.20

36

5

OKPOSO,KYLE

R

25

7

NYI

22

32

27

9

0

1.13

36

6

SHARP,PATRICK

R

32

11

CHI

22

32

22

12

0

1.06

34

7

KANE,PATRICK

R

25

7

CHI

22

31

22

11

0

1.06

33

7

SEGUIN,TYLER

C

22

4

DAL

24

32

21

12

0

1.03

33

8

VANEK,THOMAS

L

30

9

NYI

22

33

22

10

0

0.97

32

8

ST. LOUIS,MARTIN

R

38

15

T.B

24

32

22

10

0

1.00

32

9

WHEELER,BLAKE

R

27

6

WPG

22

32

24

7

0

0.97

31

9

OVECHKIN,ALEXANDER

L

28

9

WSH

23

30

18

13

0

1.03

31

9

BACKSTROM,NICKLAS

C

26

7

WSH

23

32

13

18

0

0.97

31

9

HOSSA,MARIAN

R

35

16

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CHI

22

32

19

9

3

0.97

31

9

PERRY,COREY

R

28

9

ANA

22

31

21

10

0

1.00

31

10

TOEWS,JONATHAN

C

25

7

CHI

22

32

23

5

2

0.94

30

10

SIMMONDS,WAYNE

R

25

6

PHI

23

33

20

10

0

0.91

30

10

DUCHENE,MATT

C

23

5

COL

24

33

22

8

0

0.91

30

11

KREJCI,DAVID

C

27

8

BOS

25

30

18

11

0

0.97

29

11

PAVELSKI,JOE

C

29

8

S.J

23

33

20

8

1

0.88

29

11

SKINNER,JEFF

C

21

4

CAR

24

31

17

12

0

0.94

29

11

NEAL,JAMES

L

26

6

PIT

24

24

19

10

0

1.21

29

11

HARTNELL,SCOTT

L

31

13

PHI

23

33

16

13

0

0.88

29

12

ZUCCARELLO,MATS

C

26

4

NYR

23

32

20

8

0

0.88

28

12

LANDESKOG,GABRIEL

L

21

3

COL

24

33

25

3

0

0.85

28

12

KARLSSON,ERIK

D

23

0

OTT

23

33

16

12

0

0.85

28

12

KUNITZ,CHRIS

L

34

10

PIT

24

30

19

9

0

0.93

28

12

IGINLA,JAROME

R

36

17

BOS

25

30

18

10

0

0.93

28

12

VORACEK,JAKUB

R

24

6

PHI

23

33

18

10

0

0.85

28

12

MACKINNON,NATHAN

C

18

0

COL

24

33

19

9

0

0.85

28

 

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I’m surprised that Blake Wheeler is getting five minutes per game. He’s better than half the wingers on the team who are seeing more.

I think Canada is wise to roll four lines the way they are and run through the defense pairings the same way (unless your name is P-K…or Dan). I think it will really pay off down the line. Team USA on the other hand, under Bylsma, is being run like an NHL team. The top line gets top minutes, the depths line not so much. It will be interesting to put the two strategies to the test against each other in a meaningful game.

If you have anything you want me address next ramblings, ask away below. I swapped days with Steve this week so he’s got Wednesday and I have Friday, so make sure the Q’s aren’t time sensitive!

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Don Cherry – Price “unbelievable”, Doughty – “nobody in this tournament as good as him”:

 

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