December 22, 2014

Dobber

2014-12-22

Going after Carolina players; Zuccarello heating up; Pickard/Raanta on fire; and more …

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I noted on Wednesday that I thought Kopitar’s performance with Gaborik was very promising despite just the one point. But I guess I didn’t know the half of it. Eight points in two games after that brought more than a handful of poolies back up among the leaders in their league. I have him in two of the leagues, both of which I think I should be leading but have not been. Just from those two games – one player – and now in both leagues I’ve pulled into a three-way tie for first (or close enough). The scary thing is that he’s on pace for just 56 points. Still. He’ll get at least 64, and probably closer to 70 or 72. Which means about 47 points in the next 48 games.

I love it when injuries strike and the beneficiary of said injuries is obvious. So when Jacob Trouba and Mark Stuart were injured, I was all over Grant Clitsome like a fat kid on a Smartie. He has two points in three games now and with the added ice time and power-play time I think you’ll see some pretty decent production for the next several weeks. With some players, their niche really matters. Clitsome isn’t good enough to be a star power-play quarterback on purpose. But if he is an injury fill-in for a couple of weeks in that capacity, he’s quite good. But use him as a depth or defensive defenseman and he’s not going to help a team. A good guy to have in the press box if the NHL team has several puck-moving defensemen who tend to get hurt. So he’s tailor-made for the Jets. With Bogosian, Trouba, Enstrom and even Postma (and Byfuglien, of course), there is no place for Clitsome. But take three of those guys out – such as now – and he’s solid. Think seven or eight points in say 15 games.

And while I’m on the topic of defensemen taking advantage of injuries, I have two words for ya: Andrej Sekera. You saw it last year when the Hurricanes acquired John-Michael Liles. Sekera went through a slump because he lost the power-play time and the offensive zone starts. Then Kirk Muller came to the realization that Liles is horrible, so Sekera got the PP time (and zone starts) back and his points returned. Now with Bill Peters in, there is another new coach who needs to see for himself that Liles is horrible. He’s taking awhile to learn this, so Sekera’s numbers suffer. All that being said, Liles is out with a UBI and Sekera has three points in those three games. So will it continue? No, because Liles is back.

Look at last night’s game. It’s not just the PP time, which remained the same for Sekera. But with Liles back and getting all the easy minutes, Sekera returned to his old shutdown role. So until Liles is hurt again or the coach wakes up, Sekera will be fantasy-useless (but real-world stud).

Jake Gardiner led the Leafs in ice time with 22:50. Still not getting any points.

Mike Santorelli is pointless in four now after his blazing hot streak. His 13:11 in ice time was his lowest in over a month. But in his case it’s a Carlyle-fulfilling prophecy. If you roll back a hot scorer’s ice time quickly like that just because he went a couple of games without a point, then his cold streak will continue. Especially when you don’t give him PP time. I’m not saying that with 17 minutes of ice time with two minutes on the PP would result in a goal for Santorelli, but it sure as hell increases the odds. Anyway, that’s what non-Golden Boys put up with. And that’s why in fantasy hockey you invest more in Golden Boys than non-Golden Boys. You obviously want the guy who gets the preferential treatment.

I don’t feel as anxious about putting Antti Raanta on my Top 15 Calder list now. He’s won five straight and has a shutout, with a 0.945 SV% in eight games.

Seven game points streak for Mathieu Perreault.

Winnipeg has been going on an “every second game” goalie rotation, but they’re in the playoffs right now. They need to win more than they lose in order to get in. So we’re getting closer and closer to that point where Paul Maurice says “screw it” to the Golden Boy status of Ondrej Pavelec and gives the reins to Hutchinson. I think it’s going to happen within two or three weeks, barring a sudden turnaround.

I thought that Michael Del Zotto had found the right fit in Philadelphia and was bouncing back. Not to his potential, or where we once thought he would get to – but a rebound nonetheless. But he’s been scratched for six games in a row. The coach says he’s been working hard, but it’s his decision making. MDZ is still only 24, but he’s fallen so far.

An update on the Frozen Pool player profiles – you can click on a player name here in the Ramblings and take a look. We’re about halfway done but the info there is still fantastic. We now have the goalies fixed, the team name and date of birth added, the game logs have the full season. Still LOTS more to add, but at this point there is enough there to make it my go-to player profile page.

Still to come – the news links will link to every mention of the player in the ramblings or an article here on the site, plus the recent line combos for the team, and some aesthetics fixes (such as spacing and pictures added).

Also – goalie rankings will be up today. I had them 90% done on Saturday and had to go (personal matter). And then my excuse Sunday – I forgot. Wish it was something more creative but seriously had I remembered that I didn’t post them Saturday, they would have been done Sunday. But with them mostly done, I’ll hop to it Monday morning and polish them off and post them.

Everyone should have seen this Ovechkin goal by now, but in case you haven’t…

UPCOMING GAMES

Nov 14 - 19:11	NYR	vs	S.J
Nov 14 - 19:11	T.B	vs	WPG
Nov 14 - 19:11	OTT	vs	PHI
Nov 14 - 19:11	FLA	vs	N.J
Nov 14 - 19:11	BUF	vs	STL
Nov 14 - 20:11	DAL	vs	BOS
Nov 14 - 20:11	MIN	vs	MTL
Nov 14 - 21:11	EDM	vs	NSH
Nov 14 - 22:11	VAN	vs	NYI
Nov 14 - 22:11	SEA	vs	CHI