August 21, 2014
Dobber
2014-08-21
Jumbo Joe – is he happy? New NHL Lottery Odds, Corsi vs. Fenwick and more …
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The latest update for the Fantasy Hockey Guide is ready for download. Buy it here. Find me another fantasy guide out there with Kevin Hayes in the New York lineup with a projection. I dare ya! I also projected goals-for for every team, and the Draft List now has salary and cap information.
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Joe Thornton was stripped of the captain’s ‘C’ yesterday, under the explanation that the team will have a clean slate and that nobody will wear the ‘C’. This is per beatwriter David Pollak. I’m not sure how this will help his production. It certainly won’t hurt it. But it may rub Jumbo Joe the wrong way and if that negativity grows, I suppose his odds of being traded will increase. The Sharks hinted at a major rebuild this offseason but I haven’t seen it. All I’ve seen were the natural ins and outs of players. Martin Havlat and Dan Boyle are out, while John Scott and Tye McGinn are in? That’s uh, quite the fire sale. Will fans even recognize this team anymore? Wow.
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The three worst teams took a pretty big hit with these changes, but I do agree it’s more fair. That being said, the timing is curious. It is the Connor McDavid year, right? How much will this discourage tanking? Optically, it looks to do a better job of discourage tanking. In reality, it does nothing. If I’m in a fantasy league with a lottery like this, and I need to rebuild – I’m still sinking as low as I can.
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For those curious and interested in learning about some advanced stats, the Blue Jackets posted an article comparing Corsi and Fenwick. My own opinion is – Fenwick is useless, since we have Corsi. And frankly, I don’t know why it’s even a commonly referred to stat in the hockey community. The explanation that blocked shots is often lucky is silly. Blocked shots are another “event” and the more events you can track, the more accurate the data. Sure, some blocked shots are lucky. Most are, even. But how is that relevant? The shot is still taken and that’s what you’re measuring. Anyway, FYI, Fenwick is useless.
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I still have the Bruins with a hole on the right side. Maybe they’ll move Ryan Spooner there, or Matt Fraser. But still lots of unsigned options available too. Maybe they were waiting for the Hayes decision before going after someone like Devin Setoguchi (who would be useless on a checking line) or Drayson Bowman. Ryan Malone or Todd Bertuzzi are other options. Maybe Ryan Jones.
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Carolina is another team in need of one more right winger, though if Elias Lindholm or Riley Nash move to the wing they’re okay. And Philadelphia could move one of their centers to the wing as well, but they also have a hole on the wing as things stand. I can see Boston, Carolina and Philly signing a winger before the summer is out.
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Announcement – I have a new product released. Just five bucks. Rob Vollman created a list of every player in the NHL and compared them by age and production historically to other players in other eras. It makes for a very interesting read if you like looking at charts, as he provides the “at best” and “at worst” scenarios to project a number for the coming season. It makes for a great reference when looking at my Fantasy Guide and Draft List. More details here.
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The site crashed again yesterday. I wish I could say it won’t happen again, but it probably will as we work out some of the minor bugs. And that’s all there is left really, just small things. But occasionally you make the wrong little tweak and things go very wrong. And yes, I should be doing it in a test environment now, but these are things that worked there and aren’t working live because you can’t mimic the traffic and load demands.
Three times I’ve fixed that article “How to Start a Keeper League” and the links within, and three times they broke again. Now they’re fixed. Again.
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Kings’ season in 60ish
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