March 9, 2014

Dobber Sports

2014-03-09

A friendly reminder: today is the “Spring forward” daylight savings time adjustment. Remember to adjust your clocks, and try not to think too much about how you lost a precious hour of your life overnight.

By far the biggest hockey story of the night – from both a fantasy, and a playoff implications stand point – is the concussion sustained by Dallas Stars goaltender Kari Lehtonen on Saturday night. Lehtonen was bowled into by Wild forward Erik “ain’t no” Haula “back” and left the game.

Lehtonen is one of the most consistent and underrated starting goaltenders in the show. So, yeah, this injury is untimely to the max. Not only does Lehtonen go down just as the Stars are beginning to really roll in the Western Conference, his injury also comes only a week before the fantasy postseason for fantasy owners playing in an H2H league.

Rush and pick up Tim Thomas if he’s still available would be my advice, though that’s about as obvious as it gets. Personally I own Lehtonen in a very deep H2H league (20 teams, 15 players) and I’m really at a loss for how I’m going to replace him.

Sunday, I figure, is sort of a day for big picture reflection about your Fantasy team. Usually H2H owners have a pretty good idea of whether or not they’ve won their week by Sunday, and unless they’re in a dog fight most owners begin to look ahead somewhat (at least I do).

One thing to watch for this week: Washington Capitals super prospect Evgeni Kuznetsov is poised to make his NHL debut on Monday, however, he’s yet to be added to the players list in Yahoo! leagues. Kuznetsov would be a spec add, of course, and conceivably the Capitals will ease him into the lineup while deploying him in an extremely limited role – similar to what they’ve done with Tom Wilson.

While there’s some inherent risk, Kuznetsov could provide average top-six forward production and will be available for free on the wire at some point this week. Probably sometime on Sunday. So keep a keen eye on the NHL Roster Changes page this week, and use “page refresh” liberally.

So Ryan Miller is playing some pretty dominant hockey at the moment, huh? Since “the trade” Miller has won four in a row, while posting a 1.50 GAA and a .933 sv%. Miller has been dialed in all year and playing behind a talented team deploying Ken Hitchcock’s low-event system, it’s not inconceivable that Miller might be the most valuable fantasy player over the balance of this season.

Not only did Miller stop 26 shots (of 27 faced) on his way to another convincing victory for the Blues, but he also put a halt to Nathan MacKinnon’s jaw-dropping, record breaking 13 game point streak.

I was looking into MacKinnon’s underlying numbers a bit today and figured I’d write a bit more about a player who is plainly going to win the Calder trophy, and is lighting it up while playing a significant role for a pretty good team. MacKinnon won’t turn 19 until September, but he’ll tie a bow around a remarkable 60 point rookie season (barring injury) by mid-April.

James van Riemsdyk didn’t manage a point this week, which is a bit uncharacteristic for the big forward enjoying a breakout campaign in Toronto. Watching him play on Saturday, however, it’s clear he’s not banged up (there was some concern he might’ve been, after he blocked a shot with his neck in Sochi). He’s getting his chances, some weeks the puck just doesn’t bounce in.

So, Ondrej Palat might be really good. While looking at scoring rates, one guy stuck out to me as a surprise entry among the NHL’s top-30 even-strength point producers this season. Palat is among the top-30 forwards, leaguewide, in scoring efficiency at even-strength this season.

A good deal of that is just good fortune (Palat’s on-ice sh% is above 10% and he seems unlikely to be driving it), but Palat has still impressed me. His line with Filppulla and Ryan Callahan got eaten up against Zdeno Chara on Saturday, but Palat still managed a goal, an assist, two shots and five hits – the five hits being a useful fantasy biproduct of Palat spending so much time in his own end.

Anyway, Palat has been crushing top competition all year long and is producing a mind-bending amount of offense considering his age and responsibility. While some of his production is likely to prove ephemeral: there’s no doubt that Palat has a bright, bright future.

So if you decided to pick up Tuomo Ruutu in the immediate aftermath of the NHL trade deadline: that’s looking like a pretty good bet. Ruutu has slotted in on a big line with Travis Zajac and Jaromir Jagr, and he managed a goal and an assist in New Jersey’s victory over his former team the Carolina Hurricanes. Ruutu also managed five shots and four hits for good measure…

Eric Gelinas was back off of New Jersey’s first power-play unit, and played just a tick over 10 minutes in total. So expect to see him back on your league’s waiver wire for the 9000th time this season next week.

Radim Vrbata scored a power-play goal in a losing effort for the Coyotes – a team really choking away its playoff hopes lately – against the Washington Capitals on Saturday. Vrbata was another name that surprised me in showing up while I was doing my MacKinnon research. Vrbata is in the top-5 among NHL forwards in 5-on-4 shot rate this season behind only Alexander Ovechkin, Ryan Kesler, and Zach Parise. What a hugely useful player Vrbata is…

Alex Ovechkin: no points, no PIMs, -1. But still six shots and six hits. What a player.

Artem Anisimov scored the only goal in Saturday’s Blue Jackets vs. Predators tilt. Anisimov – who is an absolute beast – is on quite the run, as he’s now managed six goals in his past six games.

The Stars are really good, and that ridiculously dangerous top-line looks to be right back to playing the type of potent hockey they were stringing together before the Olympic break. A fun question to ponder: which young Western Conference team has the most exciting group of young forwards – Dallas or Colorado?

Sad but true: despite a bevy of first overall picks and 8 seasons of complete futility, the Edmonton Oilers aren’t even in the conversation.

The Canucks played the Flames and enforcers were in the starting lineup and zzzzz…

Logan Couture had an excellent week but couldn’t capitalize on his chances until Saturday night, when he blew up against an overmatched Habs side in San Jose. Couture managed three points in the victory (a goal and two assists).

Daylight savings bright side: the season finale of True Detective is one hourer nearer to airing.

Thomas Drance is an NHL news editor at theScore.