December 19, 2014

steve laidlaw

2014-12-19

No mumps for Fleury, Foligno keeps scoring, Green back on top and more…

 

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Some major happenings on the injury front for the Pittsburgh Penguins. First, starter Marc-Andre Fleury's mumps test results came back negative so he started last night and recorded a 29-save shutout. Then word came down that backup netminder Thomas Greiss is being tested for the mumps. So my analysis from yesterday got flipped on its head mere hours after publishing. Oh well.

 

The shutout was Fleury's league-leading sixth of the season, establishing a new career high less than half-way into the season. I'd love to argue that Fleury has used up his luck for the year but that's not how this works, especially not when the Penguins are playing so well defensively.

 

The other big news was Sidney Crosby returning to the lineup after a three-game layoff. He barely lost any ground in the scoring race. He was held scoreless last night though, leaving him three back of a now three-way tie for the scoring lead between Evgeni Malkin, Tyler Seguin and Jakub Voracek all of whom were in action last night.

 

Crosby has just two points in his last six games, an unheard of stretch of futility for him. But we all know he can make up for that in a mere game or two.

 

Malkin recorded an assist on the game-winner to draw into a tie for tops in scoring at 38. We should all knock on wood here as Malkin is possibly the only Penguin to avoid the injury bug, a big part of why he's performed so well. I wouldn't be averse to quietly shopping Malkin around to get out in front of the injury that has a high likelihood of occurring. Better to get out too early than too late right? But make sure you are asking top dollar.

 

Another score for Blake Comeau who has three goals in the last four games. All signs are pointing to a re-enactment of the 46-point season he had for the Islanders a few years back, though he is currently on pace for (51) a little more.

 

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Outstanding performance from Calvin Pickard stopping 47 of 48 shots in the overtime loss.

 

The Avalanche are a fine example of how fickle goaltending can be. Last season Semyon Varlamov was a superhero elevating Colorado to a division title. This year he's been banged up and inconsistent. Reto Berra, the backup, has been an absolute train wreck. So here comes Pickard, up from the minors and standing on his head for an objectively bad Avalanche team.

 

If this had been a year ago, I'd have bet on Sami Aittokallio being the goaltender to come up and shine having put up better AHL numbers and earning a lone NHL start. This season, not so much. Aittokallio has been ventilated on a nightly basis in the AHL meanwhile Pickard has played so well at both levels that he should probably stick around as backup.

 

Unfortunately for Pickard, Varlamov has golden boy status with his fat contract so he has little chance of stealing the starting job. He probably doesn't even get the backup job because Berra has a couple of years remaining on his own deal.

 

I never understood why the Avalanche signed Berra. Not only did he not appear to be all that talented but committing that much term to a replacement talent is just weird. It's never that bad to take gambles on goaltending but if Berra prevents the Avalanche from using Pickard signing him was a mistake.

 

Read more on Pickard, Aittokallio and the rest of the Avalanche prospects over at their DobberProspects page.

 

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As mentioned earlier, Voracek and the Flyers were also in action last night losing in a shootout to the Panthers. Voracek scored his 12th of the season though. A really positive sign for Voracek owners is that he has continued to produce even as his on-ice shooting percentage at even strength has regressed to a more reasonable 9.66%.

 

My only concern for Voracek would be how little the Flyers have in scoring depth. Not that teams aren't loading up against the Flyers' top line anyways but that becomes a tougher grind as the season wears on and there's little support behind them. I mean, this breakout season I keep hearing about for Sean Couturier doesn't seem to be happening. Nice player but I don't see anything different from what he did to get 39 points last time around.

 

Certainly Wayne Simmonds and Brayden Schenn are productive guys on the second line but digging a little deeper, over half of Simmonds' points have come on the top power play with Voracek and Claude Giroux. Similar story for Schenn with half of his points coming from either that top power play unit or from cameos on the top line. Maybe if we found those two a centerman it could work (and no Couturier is not the answer.)

 

Scott Laughton is currently in that role. No one needs to sell me on Laughton long term. He is the future solution to this conundrum. But he's a rookie so he isn't ready to fill that spot every shift, every night.

 

This all comes back around to statuesque Vincent Lecavalier who made his return to the lineup after five straight healthy scratches. He went minus-one in 11:48 of action on the fourth line. I never understood why they kept trotting that hunk of marble out there. Sorry to say, but he should be on full-time display in the press box.

 

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Mike Green did record a couple of assists, his first points since returning from injury. He skated 4:44 on the top power play unit last night. Green is back as top dog so Matt Niskanen's value is nil.

 

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Nick Foligno's dream season continues as he scored another couple of goals and an assist. He's up to 30 points through 30 games. Unreal.

 

This is reminiscent of Dustin Penner, circa 2009. If you recall, Penner carried a point-per-game pace for much of the first half before tailing off. I can see a similar story here. Still, Penner finished with 32 goals and 63 points. It's becoming more and more plausible for Foligno to get there.

 

Foligno is shooting 22.9% though so I remain a skeptic. Sell high. That's not just fantasy advice, his agent should be trying the same. Foligno hits free agency this summer and I'd be trying to parlay this hot start into a massive extension.

 

What's crazy about last night's outburst was Foligno skated on the third line with Brian

Gibbons and Jeremy Morin. When you're hot, you're hot.

Morin, by the way, skated just 10:42 but got his first point as a Blue Jacket (and of the season.)

 

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Bad news out of Montreal with Max Pacioretty sent to the hospital after getting dumped head-first into the boards by Clayton Stoner. No word on his condition as of yet.

 

Saku Koivu returned to the Bell Centre to say goodbye to the Montreal fans. Check out the Koivu tribute video:

 

 

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A little revenge for the Kings last night. After going down 3-0 early, they came back to stomp the Blues 6-4.

 

Huge night for the Anze Kopitar, Marian Gaborik, Jeff Carter trio combining for 12 points. I'm not sure that this is necessarily where things get going for Kopitar. I still think there might be an underlying injury here but if Gaborik is rolling then an injured Kopitar could get dragged along for the ride. And woah boy, is Gaborik ever hot. Chalk him up for five goals in the last three games.

 

More scoring for the Drew DoughtyJake Muzzin duo. Give them each six points in the last five games. This is a genuine hot streak. You can't get Doughty but Muzzin is available for a brief grab in plenty of pools.

 

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Martin Brodeur is now batting about 50% in appearances so far. Not that last night was necessarily his fault but I have a tough time believing Brodeur will stick around when Brian Elliott returns based on what we've seen so far.

 

Looks like Steve Ott is the big winner with Jaden Schwartz out as he teamed up with Vladimir Tarasenko and Jori Lehtera at evens AND got some time on the top power play. No points for him though so perhaps that combination doesn't stick.

 

Dmitri Jaskin was called up and scored a goal in just 11:24 of ice time. 

 

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Tough times for the Jets as they lost another defenseman (Mark Stuart) to injury leaving them awfully thin on the blueline. They traded for Jay Harrison in an extremely low impact move to give them some added bodies.

 

The only real takeaway for me is that when the Jets get healthy again they'll have so many blueline bodies that there's less of a chance Dustin Byfuglien remains back there. But I'm not against the idea of Byfuglien at forward, especially if he gets to skate with Evander Kane and Mark Scheifele again.

 

Another side effect might be more pucks finding their way towards Ondrej Pavelec and Michael Hutchinson but those two continue to defy the odds with their play so I won't hold this against them, yet.

 

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Last night's action was pretty packed so we'll limit today's discussion of World Junior prospects to the exciting news that the Senators have made forward Curtis Lazar available to Team Canada for the tournament. I adore Lazar's dogged two-way play. There's a real good chance he is named captain for Canada given his experience with last year's team and just his general leadership skills.

 

I don't know that Lazar is a prospect I'd be leaning on for fantasy purposes. He could easily go the way of Couturier and Jordan Staal and stick to the fringes of fantasy relevance at a maximum. But getting to flash his pro game on this big stage could certainly raise his stock and net a healthy trade return.

 

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You can follow me @SteveLaidlaw.

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