November 13, 2014

steve laidlaw

2014-11-13

Why you should pick up Franson, Kopitar and Gaborik are heating up and more…

I’m off to Edmonton this weekend to visit my grandparents so Dobber will be covering my ramblings for the next couple of days. Safe to say you guys are in good hands. Here’s a question: do I dare check out an Oilers game?

Is Cody Franson still available in your league? If he is, (and at 29% ownership in Yahoo! leagues there's a good chance that he is) then he'd make an excellent pickup. Franson notched a couple of assists to extend his scoring streak to five games. I was fortunate enough to pick him up on Sunday to take advantage of the Leafs' packed schedule this week and he has been a hit.

I'm not sure that Franson is actually that good of a player but he has good offensive skills and the Leafs are deploying him in an optimal manner for fantasy owners. He is skating 2:38 per game on the top power play unit and is skating most of his even-strength shifts with Dion Phaneuf who has become a more effective player now that he's not being asked to be a big-time offensive player.

Half of Franson's points this season have come on the power play, which is where you'll see him do most of his damage – 38% of his career points have come with the man-advantage. The Leafs boast the league's sixth most efficient power play this season, which means you can count on that production to continue.

Franson looks like an easy bet for 40 points, which would be a career high but it would also push him into the top 30 or so defensemen scorers you'd have to figure so there is little reason for him to be so widely available.

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Jake Gardiner was skating on the top power play unit with Franson last night and I sure liked what I saw. It's been Phaneuf in that spot more often than not but I like Gardiner to get more and more chances there. It's easy to say after a blowout but he looked good there.

And if it isn't Gardiner on that top unit then I'd be fine with Morgan Rielly. Basically, anyone but Phaneuf. Phaneuf just doesn't have the puck-moving skills of these other three. He's always been a power play guy because of his big shot but like we've seen with Jason Garrison, a big shot isn't very useful if you aren't hitting the net and struggle to move the puck when teams key on you. And the reality is that Phaneuf has been shooting less and less these past few seasons. It's why he is a rapidly depreciating fantasy asset.

Sure, Phaneuf has been productive so far this season and he'll always have value in leagues that count PIM and hits but with just 263 shots in the last 144 regular season games (that's since the start of the lockout shortened 2013 season in case you think 144 games is an oddly arbitrary end point.) That's just 1.82 SOG/game. Still good for a defenseman but he used to average over three SOG/game. You can practically see the offense draining out of him.

The Leafs really banged up the Bruins but Tuukka Rask really didn't have it last night anyhow. And yes, full marks to Phil Kessel for gouging him with two wicked wristers but Rask absolutely needed to get yanked. It sure didn't help the Bruins' effort any though. The Leafs really had that game for the full 60 minutes.

Torey Krug has been back for a couple of games now but it's tough to say that his return has really helped the Bruins. He's at his best when the Bruins are at full strength and have the two-way horses to put Krug in a position to use his offensive instincts and quality shot from the point. It doesn't really work if they can't sustain offensive zone pressure and Krug has to come back in transition. Krug is also skating with a rookie in Zach Trotman, which doesn't make for a very dependable pairing.

I think Krug is still banged up a little too. His finger might be good enough for him to play but no doubt his grip isn't what it would be at 100%. That affects passing, shooting and even a willingness to get into traffic. There's just going to be pause when you aren't completely confident your hand is going to hold up. So I wouldn't be shocked if he struggles for the next little while, which is why I've left him on my IR in the Experts League.

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I love the Kings-Ducks rivalry. What an awesome game last night. Both teams played with excellent speed, checked hard and created a playoff atmosphere. It helps that the crowd really got into it as well. And there was plenty of scoring too. The game was tied 5-5 after the Ducks clawed back from a two-goal deficit for the second time in the game to force overtime. Overtime was just as fun but solved nothing. Apparently one of the teams got an extra point for some reason but all I cared about was having witnessed an awesome game between two of the league's best.

Freddie Andersen did not show up for this one like the rest of his teammates did. He got beat by Anze Kopitar on a penalty shot, which will happen but the next two were kitten soft. Bruce Boudreau was quick to yank him and he gets full marks because it clearly kept his team engaged. I don't think Jason LaBarbera was that much better as the two goals he allowed weren't particularly strong chances but the Ducks were resilient. It doesn't particularly matter anyhow because I think we all can agree that LaBarbera isn't much of a threat to Andersen's starting position.

The Ducks truly played amazing outside of their goaltenders. Ryan Getzlaf was a beast carrying a top line with Emerson Etem and Devante Smith-Pelly (and at times Patrick Maroon). He landed seven SOG, scoring one goal late in the third period to force overtime.

Corey Perry appears set to return now that his mumps are no longer contagious. It will be interesting to see who gets dropped from the top line. Presumably it will be Etem but maybe both Etem and Smith-Pelly are dropped in favour of Maroon who did hang onto his spot on the top power play unit.

I should mention how impressed I was with Maroon. I didn't know the big man had such good hands. He made several moves with the puck in the offensive zone I simply wasn't prepared for. But if I had to guess he sticks on the fourth line while Etem gets scratched when Perry returns. And Etem played well last night. Such is the awesome depth of this Ducks team.

Sean McIndoe makes the Hall-of-Fame case for Daniel Alfredsson.

Plenty of Hall-of-Fame stories this week. Here's one on Rob Blake and one on Mike Modano.

You can follow me @SteveLaidlaw.