October 22, 2014

Dobber

2014-10-22

My thoughts on the fantasy hockey impact of the Voynov suspension; Also Cory Conacher, Kevin Hayes and more …

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The situation with Cory Conacher reminds me of a similar situation a few years ago with Colby Armstrong. And frankly, I think the result will be the same. Armstrong was put on the Crosby line and the coach really felt strongly about it and gave it 13 games. Armstrong had two assists in that span and he began to see shifts on other lines. And by the 18th or 20th game he had about six points and that was the end of the experiment. Just an extraordinary amount of patience by the coach and it didn’t come to fruition. Conacher has now played six full games on the Tavares line and has one point to show for it. He’s getting pushed off the puck easily. One thing that he’s doing right is finding an open spot and hoping for the pass – the pass just never comes and to me that’s just a sign of zero chemistry. I have Conacher in two of my keeper leagues – grabbed him off the wire in both about 10 days ago. In one league, I can’t drop him. It was a permanent decision until I trade him or drop him next summer, but I don’t really need him. In the other league, I’m keeping him on my bench until he’s off the line because hey you just never know. But the smart money is on ‘bust’ – it’s just a question of how much longer Capuano gives him.

It bugs me when I hear Leaf fans point to the lack of the No.1 center as a weakness and that Tyler Bozak isn’t a No.1 center. Because their definition of a No.1 center is Crosby. Or some are more reasonable and say “Thornton”. But how many true No.1 centermen are there? Twelve? Fifteen? And what is the definition of the average No.1 centerman? Someone who can get 70 points and win 55% of the faceoffs, and who goes out and takes all the key draws of the game? Because I think we’re getting pretty close to defining Bozak. I’m not ready to say 70 – I’d like to see an 80-game season before I’ll judge. But 65 is looking pretty promising.

Jonathan Bernier did not play well last night. Then again, I turned off the game after the second period. Did I miss anything?

Apparently, I missed 17 saves. So it looks like he found his mojo. Which is a great thing for his fantasy owners because another period like the first two and the “Reimer is No.1” talk would heat up to a new level.

Interesting players with six points already – Joe Colborne, Bozak, Alex Galchenyuk (who has seven, actually). Galchenyuk scored and had three hits last night – please stay healthy Alex, we’re pretty excited about what you can do and injuries have so far taken that from us!

Interesting players with five points already – Ryan Strome, Andre Burakovsky.

While Eric Staal, Jordan Staal and Nate Gerbe recover from injuries, Chris Terry is seeing 17 minutes of ice time. He has five points in five games and the coach is noticing this. Very underappreciated prospect his entire career and now at age 25 he’s finally getting a chance – and only then, because the coach has nowhere else to turn. Definitely worth a pickup in most league formats and he may even be worth keeping when the other players return.

The night’s two goalies who got the hook – Jaroslav Halak and Ryan Miller.

The night’s two rookies who tallied their first ever NHL points – Jonathan Drouin and Seth Griffith. Second career points last night to Aaron Ekblad and Kevin Hayes, while Johnny Gaudreau picked up his third career point. And I mention Gaudreau because of this:

* Reto Berra was back in the Colorado lineup last night and you would have known this in advance if you’re a regular visitor of <a href="http://www.goaliepost.com/">Goalie Post</a>. I’m not ready to predict a sophomore slump for <a href="frozenpool_profiler.php?players=3917&sent=go&games=2014-2015%3AR">Nathan MacKinnon</a> after just three assists in seven games. He’s still good. I still believe he’ll beat last year’s point total. Hang in there MacKinnon owners… * Puck Daddy here with <a href="http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nhl-puck-daddy/darryl-sutter-says-nhl-took--appropriate--action-on-voynov-210721758.html?soc_src=mediacontentstory">some more information</a> on the fallout of the <a href="frozenpool_profiler.php?players=2968&sent=go&games=2014-2015%3AR">Slava Voynov</a> arrest. I’ll let them give you the news/opinion on that and I’ll just delve a little into the fantasy hockey ramifications. Currently, the PP pairings were Doughty and Voynov on the top unit, Martinez and <a href="frozenpool_profiler.php?players=1137&sent=go&games=2014-2015%3AR">Mike Richards</a> on the second unit. Then you saw <a href="frozenpool_profiler.php?players=2572&sent=go&games=2014-2015%3AR">Brayden McNabb</a> get a tiny sliver – just some scraps really – of PP time, using whatever is left. Now it would be pretty simple just to slide everyone up a rung on the ol’ ladder, but now <a href="frozenpool_profiler.php?players=2530&sent=go&games=2014-2015%3AR">Jake Muzzin</a> is back (Thursday, apparently). Last season Muzzin had just a few seconds off PP time less than Voynov, but in the postseason – Voynov (2:16/game), Martinez (2:16/game) and Muzzin (2:11/game) were neck and neck. I think Martinez gets onto the top PP unit and Muzzin slots in on the second unit. This is a good time to roll the dice on Martinez, because if he makes his mark then Voynov will have trouble getting his spot back. As for Voynov, I have no idea how long he’ll be out for. Last year I thought <a href="frozenpool_profiler.php?players=1835&sent=go&games=2014-2015%3AR">Semyon Varlamov</a> was done for the season and he didn’t miss a game. But with the Ray Rice event, and the fact that Coach Sutter went to the house and apparently concluded that this was quite serious (all domestic violence is – but relative to that scale, it strikes me as very serious), I think you have to be prepared for Voynov missing the entire season. And if the NHL suspends him until things are settled via the court system, it could be longer. Add in any jail time and this could be a Mike Danton scenario in which he’s just not welcome in the NHL anymore (and too rusty regardless). I wouldn’t touch him with a 10-foot pole in fantasy hockey, unless I have room on my bench and it costs me nothing more than a middle draft pick or near dropsy. Just too risky. * You know that when Rossy does the prospects ramblings – he brings it. And <a href="http://prospects.dobbersports.com/Prospects-Rambling/nhl-prospect-ramblings-tuesday-october-21st">this</a> is no exception. Keeping up to speed with each of his ramblings will mean the difference between having the best prospect system in your keeper league, and floundering with a bunch of stiffs that other GM’s passed onto you (because they read Rossy’s ramblings!) Speaking of <a href="http://www.dobberprospects.com/">DobberProspects</a>, we have undergone a full site audit in updating the “Fantasy Outlook” ratings of each prospect. So far – ARI, BOS, BUF, CBJ, DET, MTL, NYR, OTT, TB, VAN, WAS have been done. We really do update the prospect profiles – and keep a fantasy slant – more than any other resource out there. It’s the first site I turn to when I research for the <a href="http://www.dobbersports.com/dobbersports-shop/dobberhockey-products.html">Prospects Report</a> every year. * So if <a href="frozenpool_profiler.php?players=108&sent=go&games=2014-2015%3AR">Zdeno Chara</a> hits <a href="frozenpool_profiler.php?players=2503&sent=go&games=2014-2015%3AR">Tommy Wingels</a>, who do you think would get knocked to the ice? Wrong!   <iframe width="560″ height="315″ src="//www.youtube.com/embed/3bhDJnV4CgI" frameborder="0″ allowfullscreen>

UPCOMING GAMES

Mar 18 - 19:03	MTL	vs	OTT
Mar 18 - 19:03	WSH	vs	DET
Mar 18 - 19:03	NYR	vs	CGY
Mar 18 - 19:03	PIT	vs	NYI
Mar 18 - 20:03	DAL	vs	ANA
Mar 18 - 20:03	NSH	vs	STL
Mar 18 - 20:03	CHI	vs	SEA
Mar 18 - 21:03	EDM	vs	UTA
Mar 18 - 22:03	VAN	vs	WPG