August 28, 2014

Dobber

2014-08-28

“No expansion” says the NHL; “Yeah right” says Dobber; Alfredsson’s decision; goalie strategies; and more …

***

The Fantasy Hockey Guide was last updated again last night – I put in my Top 50 Calder Picks. Find me another fantasy guide out there with Devin Setoguchi in the Calgary lineup with a projection. I dare ya! The Draft List was also updated with Band-Aid Boys, plus/minus and power-play points added.

And my Puck Daddy piece yesterday went over some key fantasy hockey goaltenders (and reviews my personal “tier” system that I allude to in my Fantasy Guide)

And Puck Daddy from the day before that checked out the key fantasy hockey defensemen.

The NHL denies that expansion is in the works. They also denied that a lockout wasn’t coming, and later they denied that a CBA had been reached. I could go on and on with how they love to spin their fairy tales, but you get the idea. The NHL is expanding and I’m guessing it will be to 34 teams for some strange reason. I think 32 is a good idea, and then keep it there for at least 50 years. Anyway, hockey is growing, the amount of markets reached will grow – and the number of fantasy hockey players and managers will also grow. That’s good for DobberHockey and the community here. Let’s make some friends in Vegas!

Scott Gomez has been invited to the New Jersey Devils camp on a tryout? Yep. He made some pretty massive dollars since leaving the Devils and now he returns, hat in hand, on a doubtful quest to make the team. No Mogilny to save you now, Scott!

And wait, there’s more! How about…Tomas Kaberle to the Devils on a tryout as well? Not official yet, but definitely in discussion.

Interesting, from the world of analytics – Hockey Reference now gives career PDO. See Crosby’s, here.

The Columbus beatwriters over at the Dispatch have been reviewing – player by player – each member of the Blue Jackets’ roster and then they finish off the review with a projection. Get the full list of players here. One example – they have Cam Atkinson at 46 points (25 of them goals) and 22 PIM.

Ken Holland said Wednesday that any decision from Daniel Alfredsson won’t be made until mid-September. So he’ll be a hot waiver-wire guy at that point, since a lot of drafts will be done by then. Alfresson will be 42 in December.

Tomas Kaberle tribute: