January 2, 2015

steve laidlaw

2015-01-02

Doughty living up to the hype, buy Holtby, Versteeg hurt and more…

If you want to know who to buy and sell for the second half make sure you pick up the Mid-Season Guide due out January 12th. Only $9.99!

I think I say this every year but I'm over the Winter Classic. It's no longer novel. And the actually quality of the games is disappointing. This year was fairly exciting, what with Troy Brouwer scoring the winner with little time left on the clock but overall it wasn't great. The wrinkle with the glare this year was interesting, in as far as it led to a long goal by Patrick Sharp and multiple situations where players were blinded but if I wanted to watch an obstacle course I'd flick on Wipeout.

Of course, there's tons of pageantry surrounding the event to help try and draw in a broader demographic but Super Bowl the Winter Classic is not.

Here's a question for you: who is more washed up Billy Idol or Brad Richards? Honest question.

I mentioned Sharp above, on top of the goal he scored he also fired 10 – yes 10! – shots on goal. Safe to say the "shoot from anywhere" directive was in full effect.

Kris Versteeg left the contest after blocking a shot with his hand. No word on the severity but I fear we are looking at a break here, which would mean losing about a month. We shouldn't be totally surprised, injuries derailed Versteeg's time with the Panthers as well.

It might be a blessing for Versteeg owners as it's an excuse to cut bait. I argued that Versteeg could remain productive with Sharp returning to the lineup but that hasn't been the case. Versteeg scored just five points in the previous 11 games despite having maintained a chunk of his minutes. One missing component was getting bumped to the second power play unit but with only four power-play points this season power-play scoring simply wasn't a big factor anyway. What really happened is Versteeg's luck ran out but that doesn't mean there aren't some juicy minutes up for grabs here.

Sharp will probably jump up from the third line at even strength but the question is who will grab the second unit power play time. Yesterday it was Bryan Bickell who might be in for a nice boost.

Two assists for Mike Green despite skating just 14:59 yesterday. You can see that he is losing minutes to the rest of the Capitals' blueliners as the season wears on. He hasn't lost his gig on the top power play unit though, which is most important. We'll warn you to jump ship if that time ever comes.

What's interesting is that just five of Green's 20 points have come on the power play. Over the previous three seasons 46% of his points came with the man advantage. I take that to mean there's reason to expect more from Green going forward, especially considering how lethal that Capitals power play is.

Braden Holtby is a serious buy for me right now. He's 9-1-3 in the last 13 with some very solid underlying numbers. I think the Capitals will go on a nice run in the second half and that Holtby's going to be one of the best goalies to own for your stretch run.

No you don't need to get your eyes checked that stat is for real. Robidas has scorched the Earth the past month and a half. He hasn't gone minus in a game since November 18 a 16-game stretch in which he has gone plus-10 to vault into the "Schultz" running.

Of course, none of this stopped Randy Carlyle from benching Robidas in favour of Korbinian Holzer the past couple of games. The universe works in strange ways and thank goodness Carlyle is here to affirm that.

T4. Jason Garrison – Plus-12

T4. Jonas Brodin – Plus-12

T6. Hampus Lindholm – Plus-11

T6. Marc-Edouard Vlasic – Plus-11

T6. Kevin Klein – Plus-11

T6. Robyn Regher – Plus-11

The Leafs have called up forward Greg McKegg to fill in for injuries to Joffrey Lupul and Peter Holland. I don't see much of a fantasy impact here but you never know.

Read more about McKegg over at DobberProspects.

Keith Aulie has been suspended two games for a hit to the head on Matt Stajan. Thankfully it seems that Stajan will be fine. There isn't much fantasy relevance to this suspension but it is an opportunity for Oscar Klefbom to grab a larger foothold. Klefbom has been skating some big minutes the past few games though without much for power play time.

Martin Brodeur isn't going away quite yet. He'll start tonight against the Ducks with Brian Elliott going Saturday against San Jose.

That's got to be disconcerting for Jake Allen owners who just a week ago had what they thought was the Blues starter. Now he's the odd man out in a three-headed goalie monster.

I wouldn't be too worried though. I suspect that the Blues are keeping Brodeur around as a precaution. They don't have to pay his first roster bonus until February 1^st so they can keep him around without incurring any extra fees until then. Of course, if he wins tonight that's an extra $20K but I'm holding firm that Brodeur will get cut before February 1^st barring another goalie injury.

Nick Foligno signed a massive six-year extension with the Blue Jackets. I love the mid-season extension for guys overachieving in a contract year because it opens up the "he got paid" narrative for why the player slows down even if it's probably just regression.

Either way, Foligno is going to slow down. He is currently one shy of a career high in goals having scored on 22.1% of his shots despite being a career 12.3% shooter. I'll say it again. Regression, it's coming.

One reason Foligno won't completely fall off the map is his usage. He's skating three more minutes per game than last season, more than a minute of which has come on the top power play unit. More than half of his 32 points (17) have come on the power play.

So Michael Del Zotto finally gets into a game after sitting out the month of December and he takes a skate to the neck. He ended up fine but needed 20 stitches. The pictures of the gash are disgusting.

Check out Dobber's latest for Puck Daddy. Dobber also has an article coming here this afternoon so keep an eye out for that.

As always, some great nuggets in Elliotte Friedman's latest 30 Thoughts:

18. Probably the least surprised person in the NHL with Johnny Gaudreau's recent success is Los Angeles Kings associate head coach John Stevens, who has known the rookie since he was five. Gaudreau's father, Guy, coached Stevens' two boys (John and Nolan, now at NCAA Northeastern) for years.

"Like great offensive players, he's an inside edge skater," Stevens said. "And he doesn't just think a step ahead, he thinks two steps ahead… When we're preparing our team for players they might not know well, I'll give them another player as a similar example. For Johnny, I use Patrick Kane."

Praise doesn't get much higher than that.

Brouwer with the well-timed goal:

You can follow me @SteveLaidlaw.

UPCOMING GAMES

Nov 13 - 19:11	WSH	vs	TOR
Nov 13 - 19:11	PIT	vs	DET
Nov 13 - 21:11	UTA	vs	CAR
Nov 13 - 22:11	ANA	vs	VGK
Nov 13 - 22:11	COL	vs	L.A