August 1, 2014

Darren Kennedy

2014-08-01

 

Dobber's 2014-15 Fantasy Hockey Guide is…

NOW…

AVAILABLE!

Happy Friday

 

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I remember when I first came across this site a number of years ago. At the time I was regularly buying three or four of the print fantasy magazines that come out every fall. I can honestly say that no guide goes into the level of detail that Dobber does – from team strategies, to projections, and advanced stats, it's all there in spades.

 

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I've been seeing an oddly high number of Ovechkin trades on twitter of late. It's hard to say what exactly is precipitating the action. He turns 29 in September, which, typically, is an age where you will start to worry about goal scorers. Washington didn't do a tonne to augment their offence this summer, which means teams will once again be able to 'sell-out' defensively against his line at even strength.

 

 

The one that really intrigues me is Niemi/Stalock in San Jose. It's a bit of a perfect storm, with the early playoff exist, Stalock's strong numbers last year, and the fact that Niemi is a UFA this summer and will be looking for a raise on his $3.8 million salary. If there was a year to drop him down a few slots on your board, this might be it.

 

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Kent Wilson of Flames Nation took a look at Calgary's goaltending situation and what the addition of Jonas Hiller could mean:

 

Over his last 4500 even strength shots, Hiller has stopped an above average 92.4% of them. In two of those seasons, he managed near elite numbers (.931 and .936) and only one year did he dip below average (.915). This suggests Hiller has a true talent in the .920-.925 range, absent some injury or age related step backwards.

 

I don't typically think of Hiller as one of the games top 15 goalies, so these numbers caught me a bit by surprise. He'll struggle to get wins, and that goals against average is going to be an issue no matter how herculean Giordano's efforts are. But if you're in a league with saves and save percentage as categories, maybe he as value as a low end number two tender or high-end three.

 

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Your crazy factoid of the day (I'm told a factoid is essentially just a fact, but I prefer factoid – sounds all fancy-like): of goalies that played 41 or more games, Sergei Bobrovsky had the sixth best even strength save percentage (.931%). Behind only Rask, Varlamov, Price, Bishop, and Bernier.

 

I've been driving the "Bobrovsky should be treated as a top 10 option" bus for a couple seasons now. I'll continue to drive said bus, at least until it gets a flat tire, or Jack Johnson starts allowing too many prime scoring chances. Whichever happens first. 

 

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This isn't really fantasy related, but stick with me here. There has been a lot of buzz around the internet around the upcoming Batman-Superman cross-over movie. I'm nervous about it. Ideally Christian Bale would have been back as the Caped Crusader. He isn't. They went with Affleck, and I've got reservations. Also, the script for Superman: Man of Steel wasn't all that impressive, and apparently a lot of the writing crew is back for this one.

 

Of course even with my doubts – it's Batman versus Superman. It's what we've all wanted since we were old enough to want things. Little kids tug on their Dad's coats at the grocery store asking "Daddy, why can't Batman and Superman be in a movie together?" Well they are, finally.

 

In hockey, we sort of had our climatic 'best versus best' moment a few years ago when Crosby and Ovechkin played each other in the 2009 playoffs. I bring this up as a sort of tie in to the looming decline of both players – a decline that will likely hit at some point over the next five or so seasons.

 

We need at least one more memory. One more playoff series. One more game. One more moment.

 

I don't know if I've ever enjoyed hockey for hockey's sake as much as I did that series. There is something innately special about watching arguably the two best players of a generation at the peak of their powers. Immovable object versus unstoppable force – pick your narrative.

 

 

 

Maybe Affleck and Cavill will let us all down. Another ill-fated summer blockbuster with too many bells and whistles and not enough direction. But as long as they're making Batman and Superman movies I'll be lined up outside the theatre, begrudgingly ready to hand over 15 bucks.

 

 

Darren Kennedy (@fantasyhockeydk) is a writer for Dobber and Mckeen's Hockey. He'll talk about anything and everything. Except Kovalchuk. Never, ever, Kovalchuk.

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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
ANTHONY DUCLAIR T.B
JORDAN GREENWAY BUF
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 SEA Players
23.5 JADEN SCHWARTZ JARED MCCANN JORDAN EBERLE
19.1 BRANDON TANEV YANNI GOURDE ANDRE BURAKOVSKY
18.8 EELI TOLVANEN OLIVER BJORKSTRAND MATTY BENIERS

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