September 17, 2014
Dobber
2014-09-17
My personal fantasy hockey trade checklist; Bill Daly’s new award smacks of ‘wrong’, Overhardt’s an idiot – and more …
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Sergei Samsonov is back with the Hurricanes! As a…scout. What does this mean to you? Uh, nothing.
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Reports from several sources indicate that Daniel Alfredsson’s back injury will probably mean that he won’t sign before the regular season. I know Laidlaw touched on this yesterday, and his statement of not counting on more than 50 games this season is bang on. If it gets to this point though, then he really should just retire. He has all the respect in the world right now, there is no need to put himself through any pain or risk of pain at this point.
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Bill Daly and Paul Holmgren will receive the 2014 Lester Patrick Trophy for dedication to hockey in the U.S.. In related news, I no longer respect the Lester Patrick Trophy and I think anyone who actually dedicated himself to USA hockey in the past and won this award should feel a little less proud for having won it. Bill Daly is in a position of power. He can grant a lot of favors for the media, ownership, general managers, sponsors and many others. How many votes did he receive in exchange for future favors? Whether he deserves the award or not (ha!) is not the point. It’s like a college student who dates their professor – sure, they can do it…but it would be better for all involved if they waited until they graduated, or the professor changes jobs, or at the very least that particular semester has ended!
Shades of Gil Stein…
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Monday I touched upon how Johnny Gaudreau was getting some hype. Here is more on that from TSN. Johnny Hockey is moving up a lot of preseason draft lists for sure.
Read up on him and more in Rossy’s incredible prospect ramblings from yesterday – easily 5000 words on prospect camps from across North America. If you own, or may draft – Nylander, Domi, Perlini, Samuelsson, Gauthier, Finn, Brown, Morrissey, Kosmachuk, DeAngelo, Drouin, Koekkoek, Mantha, Wennberg, Samuelsson… alright fine – everybody. Seriously, give it a read.
But that’s not all. THN posted an article later yesterday with what president of hockey operations John Davidson had to say about Johansen’s agent Kurt Overhardt (wow!):
—–"It makes no sense, Davidson said. "When you see numbers that are thrown at us, we shouldn't even respond. That's how bad it is. It's embarrassing. And if the kid sits out, he sits out. I wonder if the agent's going to pay him his money back that he's going to lose by sitting out.
"With the numbers they come back with…are so one-sided it's nonsensical. It's extortion is what it is. I don't make this stuff up. I've been in this league doing this for a long time now and this one here, it's baffling is what it is. This one's baffling. Baffling."
Davidson insisted that no matter how bitter things become between the two parties, the Blue Jackets will not even entertain the thought of trading him.
"He's a good guy and he's a good player, but you can't sit here and have the (Steven) Stamkos and the (Jonathan) Toews and the (Patrick) Kane (numbers) thrown at us," Davidson said. "He's a good player, but he's not Stamkos and he's not Toews and he's not Kane.”
Davidson pointed out that it took three months last year to get an entry-level deal for prospect Kerby Rychel, who is also represented by Overhardt. "If we ever caved to what (Overhardt) is demanding, we'll all get fired," Davidson said. "And I take it personal. I don't understand it. I take it very personal. What's he trying to do, get us fired?” —–
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Yeah, so Johansen owners – I would start to count on his missing the first five or six games anyway…and stand by for an increase in that number…
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With the season about to begin, it’s time to introduce the new group of writers here on DobberHockey:
Rob Vollman you’ve already seen his work. He’s an expert on advanced statistics and he is the author of two very successful books – Hockey Abstract 2013 and 2014. He’ll present to you analysis every Friday that you can use to get a new perspective on players around the league in his article “The Analytics Advantage”
Chris Pudsey you may remember recently won a summer contest – his was the best ramblings and it was used as the ramblings for August 14. “Axeman”, as he’s known in the forum, will have a column every second Wednesday starting next week called “An Axe to Grind” (or something like that!)
Karl Paquette was the runner up in that contest (his handle is “Fighting Emu”) and I found his writing style to be very entertaining. So good, in fact, that I knew I wanted to get him on my writing team somehow. Well, Bob Fisher had to step down as the “Looking Ahead” author (he and his wife had their second child – those with two kids would understand). So Paquette takes over that one and will give it his own personal twist.
Randy Buschmann has been a senior scout for DobberProspects for the past year, covering the Tampa Bay Lightning. He will be taking over “The Journey”, a weekly column on prospects presented here every Saturday. Brad Wilson has stepped down and will focus on covering his two teams over at DobberProspects (Calgary and the Isles).
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RotoRob.com has given you guys access to their Draft ratings – a team-by-team in-depth look at the players drafted this summer. You can pick up the PDF here.
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Some more unsigned RFA’s have come off the board – Detroit signed Danny DeKeyser to a two-year deal. He’s been one of the bigger success stories when it comes to undrafted college free agents. And he showed some underrated offensive talent last season too. In the Fantasy Guide, I have him for 30 points and 38 PIM in 75 games – but I also have him on the sleeper chart as a heavy favorite (20% confidence in 43 points)
And Devante Smith-Pelley signed a two-year ELC as well. He and Patrick Maroon would be the next in line for that sweet winger spot if (when) Dany Heatley fails.
The key RFA’s still on the board:
Reilly Smith, Darcy Kuemper, Torey Krug, Ryan Johansen, Ryan Ellis, Jaden Schwartz, Cody Eakin and Brenden Dillon.
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Teuvo Teravainen – this is why everyone in your league wants him…