Fantasy Hockey Dec 8 2014
Dobber
2014-12-08
Eric Staal (foot injury), Evander Kane (suspension?), the analytics on Andrej Sekera and more …
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Just four games Sunday, but heavy on fantasy implications – or so it turned out. Evander Kane is looking suspension square in the eye (again) and Eric Staal is now on crutches. Ramble on!
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The Corey Perry-less Ducks were up against the Jets One thing I’ve noticed about the Ducks lately – Ryan Kesler and Jakob Silfverberg are starting to roll (or is that two things?). For Kesler, this will happen on again/off again all season. He runs hot and cold. But when it comes to Silfverberg, this is really his first example of the talent within since joining the Ducks. Actually, he was starting to show a glimpse of this a year ago before sustaining that broken hand. He has points in four straight, but more importantly – he has scored in two straight. Silfverberg has been snake-bitten this year so far, as he had just one goal on his first 71 shots. You do the math here – does that sound right to you? Maybe if the name was Clayton Stoner, but for anyone else in the league in the top nine on their team, one goal in 75 shots is an aberration. He should have six or seven goals at that point. Anyway, he’s found the net now and with the monkey off his back I’d expect to see some nice numbers. Especially with Perry on the shelf.
Here were the line combos sans Perry:
13.99% |
EV |
39 BELESKEY,MATT – 17 KESLER,RYAN – 21 PALMIERI,KYLE |
11.19% |
EV |
14 BOURQUE,RENE – 15 GETZLAF,RYAN – 12 SMITH-PELLY,DEVANTE |
10.84% |
EV |
18 JACKMAN,TIM – 19 MAROON,PATRICK – 44 THOMPSON,NATE |
10.84% |
EV |
7 COGLIANO,ANDREW – 67 RAKELL,RICKARD – 33 SILFVERBERG,JAKOB |
Bourque scored his first of the season thanks to his new appointment on the Getzlaf line. Still not worth grabbing off the wire until we get a firm grasp of how long Perry is out.
I’m amazed at how long it’s taking Bruce Boudreau to try Silfverberg with Getzlaf…
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Alright, so here is the footage on the Evander Kane hit from behind on Clayton Stoner:
He could have held up. And he’s a repeat offender, so I can’t help but think that this could be a long one.
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I mentioned last week that Jacob Trouba could be turning it around and several games later it’s obvious that he is. He has nine points in his last eight games and has been Winnipeg’s best player in a number of the recent ones. Hopefully, as with Silfverberg owners, you hung in there with him.
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As an Andrej Sekera owner in one league, I don’t like how the new coach is using him as a shutdown guy. He is seeing the toughest minutes on the team among defensemen and the second-worst offensive zone starts. Despite that, he’s still driving possession. And despite that, he’s still a minus-10. Take a look at the player usage chart for the Carolina defensemen, courtesy of our own Rob Vollman’s website Hockey Abstract: (sorry, unable to embed it today, but go here to set up a usage chart for yourself)
And while Sekera faces the toughest competition (and does quite well with it, despite what the plus/minus tells you), John-Michael Liles is as sheltered as anyone I’ve ever seen. A good 62% of his shifts start in the offensive zone and the quality of competition that he faces is a team low. As long as Liles is in the lineup, there is no hope forthcoming for Sekera owners.
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Tomas Tatar has points in 13 of his last 15 games (15 points). He’s playing with Pavel Datsyuk – and with a second line of Nyquist – Zetterberg – Jurco (or is it Franzen – Sheahan – Weiss?), the Red Wings are looking pretty potent offensively (and they’ve won seven of eight).