The Detroit Red Wings are among what is apparently several teams who have invited Raphael Diaz to training camp. He’s “considering his options”. The 28-year-old played for three different teams last season. He showed signs of being a decent fantasy own in his first year, but had an injury at a bad time and then never really regained his footing as an important piece on a team’s offense. Not draftable, no matter where he signs.

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Here is a good article on free agent signee Tomas Nosek, whom the Red Wings landed in the summer. If you want still more on the talented prospect, his fantasy profile is here. Don’t look for him to make the team this year, but definitely look for him to make his mark in the AHL and get strong consideration one year from now.

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I’m extending a warm ‘thank you’ now to one of my key guys who is moving on. Mike Amato, who has been trying to juggle managing this site two days per week with his full-time job at the Score and it’s become too much. So he has stepped down and his last ramblings here will be the Tuesday ramblings, likely posted late Monday night. Replacing Amato will be – more Steve Laidlaw. Laidlaw has agreed to take on both halves of the job and you will now see him here with Angus-like frequency. And frankly, given the quality of his ramblings, that’s pretty damn good. Anyway, let’s wish Amato well in his future endeavours. Thanks Mike!

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 Still waiting on a Torey Krug contract. While we wait, let’s watch all his goals!

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On another side note, just a few words about DobberFootball. The editor over there Dave Cushard is one of the best fantasy sports minds I’ve ever met. He knows football, baseball and frankly hockey as well, better than most. He’s won national fantasy sports championships and plays $10,000 buy-in contests. His advice wins you pools, I believe that whole-heartedly. And his two assistants Matt Price and Steve Braun are similarly gifted when it comes to fantasy football.

Last year, Dave brought six new writers on board in July. Two quit before even starting and two more quit by September. Often great reasons – “mom is sick” or “got a new job”, etc etc. So no hard feelings towards those writers, but it made the job of having a ton of fresh football content difficult. So this year, he learned his lesson and recruited through his circle of “big guns” (you know, the guys who get into the $10,000 buy-in serious leagues) and had 10 signed up. He figured that three or four of them would bail like last year and he would still have his six. Sound logic. But get this – EIGHT writers bailed on him before the season even started. The reasons were all sound. Similar to the above – “father had heart surgery”, or “just moved” or “I’ll have one next week”, or “dog died”, etc. Each one very legitimate, but combined it just kills the site. It eats at you, I can imagine. And so Steve Braun, who poured his heart and soul into the site, has resigned. The wind was sucked out of his sails.

Dave plans to push on with Price and his other two remaining writers. He’s not giving up because he has knowledge to share and he believes in the Dobber brand. If you are a fantasy football addict and are interested in writing and can be counted on – please fire us a note via the contact link under the “home” button up top. I will forward your contact info to Dave and thank you for your help.