March 04 2015

Dobber

2015-03-04

Rielly, Stralman, Ramo, Schneider and Dumba look great for down the stretch; Franson not so much. More …

***

Well that was something. I took a flier yesterday on Rob Tallas for my daily fantasy team because he was a cheap goalie and it almost paid off. Okay, not really. But when Luongo (shoulder or collar bone area) was hurt and then Montoya got hurt (lower body), the Panthers actually dressed their goaltending coach. Tallas, who hadn’t played since 2001. Montoya actually stayed in the net, unable to move. And the Panthers kept possession long enough before Luongo saved the day by throwing his equipment back on and getting out there. Even forwards Scottie Upshall and Derek McKenzie went to the dressing room to possibly dress as the emergency goalie.

So anyway, the Leafs won. Now they keep winning, just when Leafs fans resigned themselves to actually wishing for losses. This is what they did all the time about a decade ago when they’d try their best to finish ninth in the conference – just enough to get the worst draft pick while still missing the playoffs. They jumped Carolina and Columbus in the standings and are now sixth last.

Morgan Rielly has 12 points in his last 18 games.

Richard Panik saw 19:43 of ice time last night, an indication that he may be given a lot of ice time down the stretch as the team evaluates some of the younger players. This is his chance to show that he can be a scoring-line player. It will be interesting to see if he’s successful. That was his second highest ice time all season (by one second).

Here are the Toronto line combos and defense pairings based on their new-look team:

#1	28.3%	KADRI,NAZEM–KOMAROV,LEO–PANIK,RICHARD
#2	26.1%	BOOTH,DAVID–HOLLAND,PETER–LUPUL,JOFFREY
#3	18.9%	BOZAK,TYLER–KESSEL,PHIL–VAN RIEMSDYK,JAMES
#4	12.8%	LINDSTROM, JOAKIM –SILL,ZACH–SMITH,TREVOR

#1	34.4%	GARDINER,JAKE–PHANEUF,DION
#2	26.1%	POLAK,ROMAN–RIELLY,MORGAN
#3	17.2%	ERIXON, TIM –ROBIDAS,STEPHANE

Leafs’ coaches would rather die than break up that Kessel line. You’d have to pull Bozak out of their cold, dead hands.

Ben Bishop was unable to start last night due to an injury sustained in practice. He took a puck to the midsection. I don’t guess it’s anything long term, but Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped all 28 shots he faced for the shutout. The first of his career. Apparently, Vasilevskiy was going to start the game regardless.

A lot of what I’m seeing so far is jiving with what I speculated in my trade breakdowns, but not Curtis Glencross. He didn’t get a sniff of the Ovechkin line and in fact played on a line with Brouwer and Kuznetsov.

Alex Ovechkin has nine goals and 14 points in his last 14 games.

Here is an interesting penalty called on Marcus Johansson:

* <a href="frozenpool_profiler.php?players=3947&sent=go&games=2014-2015%3AR">Matt Dumba</a> seems to have found his comfort zone in the NHL and last night he posted a career high five shots and two goals. I like him as a solid fantasy contributor next season because he’s making himself such an important part of this team over the past month. Hopefully he doesn’t sophomore-slump it up. <a href="frozenpool_profiler.php?players=3303&sent=go&games=2014-2015%3AR">Mikael Granlund</a> has nine points in his last nine games. <a href="frozenpool_profiler.php?players=379&sent=go&games=2014-2015%3AR">Chris Stewart</a> knocked <a href="frozenpool_profiler.php?players=2439&sent=go&games=2014-2015%3AR">Jordan Schroeder</a> to the press box, as expected. And he lined up with <a href="frozenpool_profiler.php?players=742&sent=go&games=2014-2015%3AR">Mikko Koivu</a> and <a href="frozenpool_profiler.php?players=166&sent=go&games=2014-2015%3AR">Thomas Vanek</a>. He saw secondary PP time with Granlund and El Nino. He picked up an assist and so I’d cautiously recommend a waiver claim (if he’s still there). * With <a href="frozenpool_profiler.php?players=656&sent=go&games=2014-2015%3AR">Craig Anderson</a> set to start tonight, it’s fitting that Andrew Hammond finally loses his first game (in OT though). Can’t ask for more than what he did in seven games: 5-0-1, 1.40, 0.955. Ottawa is 7-1-2 in the last 10 and while I’d rule out Philadelphia from the playoffs I would not rule out the Sens just yet. They have three games in hand on the Flyers, so they have a better chance of catching the Bruins. Probably won’t happen, but it will be the Sens and the Panthers who make it interesting for Boston. * <a href="frozenpool_profiler.php?players=1617&sent=go&games=2014-2015%3AR">Tomas Fleischmann</a> made his debut and was put on the second line:   <table style="border-collapse: collapse; background: #666666;" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"> <tbody> <tr> <td style="border: 1pt solid #cccccc; padding: 2.7pt; background: #eeeeee;"> #1 </td> <td style="border-style: solid solid solid none; border-top-color: #cccccc; border-right-color: #cccccc; border-bottom-color: #cccccc; border-top-width: 1pt; border-right-width: 1pt; border-bottom-width: 1pt; padding: 2.7pt; background: #eeeeee;"> 22.7% </td> <td style="border-style: solid solid solid none; border-top-color: #cccccc; border-right-color: #cccccc; border-bottom-color: #cccccc; border-top-width: 1pt; border-right-width: 1pt; border-bottom-width: 1pt; padding: 2.7pt; background: #eeeeee;" nowrap="nowrap"> <a href="frozenpool_profiler.php?players=20&sent=go&games=2014-2015%3AR">GETZLAF,RYAN</a>–<a href="frozenpool_profiler.php?players=2460&sent=go&games=2014-2015%3AR">PALMIERI,KYLE</a>–<a href="frozenpool_profiler.php?players=41&sent=go&games=2014-2015%3AR">PERRY,COREY</a> </td> </tr> <tr> <td style="border-style: none solid solid; border-right-color: #cccccc; border-bottom-color: #cccccc; border-left-color: #cccccc; border-right-width: 1pt; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-left-width: 1pt; padding: 2.7pt; background: #eeeeee;"> #2 </td> <td style="border-style: none solid solid none; border-bottom-color: #cccccc; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-right-color: #cccccc; border-right-width: 1pt; padding: 2.7pt; background: #eeeeee;"> 22.3% </td> <td style="border-style: none solid solid none; border-bottom-color: #cccccc; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-right-color: #cccccc; border-right-width: 1pt; padding: 2.7pt; background: #eeeeee;" nowrap="nowrap"> <a href="frozenpool_profiler.php?players=2462&sent=go&games=2014-2015%3AR">ETEM,EMERSON</a>–<a href="frozenpool_profiler.php?players=2906&sent=go&games=2014-2015%3AR">RAKELL,RICKARD</a>–<a href="frozenpool_profiler.php?players=4039&sent=go&games=2014-2015%3AR">SEKAC,JIRI</a> </td> </tr> <tr> <td style="border-style: none solid solid; border-right-color: #cccccc; border-bottom-color: #cccccc; border-left-color: #cccccc; border-right-width: 1pt; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-left-width: 1pt; padding: 2.7pt; background: #eeeeee;"> #3 </td> <td style="border-style: none solid solid none; border-bottom-color: #cccccc; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-right-color: #cccccc; border-right-width: 1pt; padding: 2.7pt; background: #eeeeee;"> 19.8% </td> <td style="border-style: none solid solid none; border-bottom-color: #cccccc; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-right-color: #cccccc; border-right-width: 1pt; padding: 2.7pt; background: #eeeeee;" nowrap="nowrap"> <a href="frozenpool_profiler.php?players=1617&sent=go&games=2014-2015%3AR">FLEISCHMANN,TOMAS</a>–<a href="frozenpool_profiler.php?players=1521&sent=go&games=2014-2015%3AR">KESLER,RYAN</a>–<a href="frozenpool_profiler.php?players=2728&sent=go&games=2014-2015%3AR">SILFVERBERG,JAKOB</a> </td> </tr> <tr> <td style="border-style: none solid solid; border-right-color: #cccccc; border-bottom-color: #cccccc; border-left-color: #cccccc; border-right-width: 1pt; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-left-width: 1pt; padding: 2.7pt; background: #eeeeee;"> #4 </td> <td style="border-style: none solid solid none; border-bottom-color: #cccccc; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-right-color: #cccccc; border-right-width: 1pt; padding: 2.7pt; background: #eeeeee;"> 15.7% </td> <td style="border-style: none solid solid none; border-bottom-color: #cccccc; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-right-color: #cccccc; border-right-width: 1pt; padding: 2.7pt; background: #eeeeee;" nowrap="nowrap"> <a href="frozenpool_profiler.php?players=600&sent=go&games=2014-2015%3AR">COGLIANO,ANDREW</a>–<a href="frozenpool_profiler.php?players=1821&sent=go&games=2014-2015%3AR">MAROON,PATRICK</a>–<a href="frozenpool_profiler.php?players=149&sent=go&games=2014-2015%3AR">THOMPSON,NATE</a> </td> </tr> </tbody> </table>   Silfverberg was also on that line and it clicked – they combined for five points, with Flash getting an assist. The Ducks were never on the power play though so we couldn’t see where he fit in there. With three points last night, Silfverberg has 14 in his last 20. * <a href="frozenpool_profiler.php?players=1285&sent=go&games=2014-2015%3AR">Joe Thornton</a> with a pair of cheap empty-net-goal assists! Gotta love it when you own a player who quickly sneaks in two points via empty net at the end of a game… * Poor <a href="frozenpool_profiler.php?players=2428&sent=go&games=2014-2015%3AR">Jacob Markstrom</a>. Dominates the AHL, bombs in the NHL. An ugly cycle. He was yanked after seven minutes and three goals on four shots. * I just finished my second trade deadline (my first was Monday night). In both leagues I did a combined zero trades. Disgusting. But I had just several players that I would part with and I didn’t budge from that stance, no matter how much trade fever hit me. I learned that in one set of rules, <a href="frozenpool_profiler.php?players=1641&sent=go&games=2014-2015%3AR">Sam Gagner</a> has absolutely zero value. Couldn’t give him away. He offered zero playoff value because he’s on Arizona, and his 30 points (at the time) wasn’t enough to make him worth the transaction under those rules. And in another set of rules in which defensemen aren’t required and it’s points only – <a href="frozenpool_profiler.php?players=250&sent=go&games=2014-2015%3AR">Mark Giordano</a> is worth zilch. A defenseman like that, who has never topped 50 points before (and won’t this year either), who is out for the season and playoffs, has zero value. I can’t even give him to a team that is tanking, because he has too many points. So he’s this anchor sitting on my pro team for the next three weeks until <a href="frozenpool_profiler.php?players=13&sent=go&games=2014-2015%3AR">Chris Kunitz</a> and <a href="frozenpool_profiler.php?players=1521&sent=go&games=2014-2015%3AR">Ryan Kesler</a> catch and pass him.   So here are my three keeper leagues, and my situation after the trade deadline: 1. The league I run. It’s a deep league, points only, 35 players on my roster, playoffs count. I’m in fifth of 14 teams, top nine get into the playoffs. I focused on shoring up my rebuild for both regular and post season titles and up until January I still thought I could win. In the end, my goaltending was nowhere near the top guy’s and so I just tried to shore up playoffs. Now 31 of my players are going to be in the playoffs, with focus on PIT, NYR, NYI, WPG and bits and pieces elsewhere. The next best playoff team has about 16 players, so I should be able to get that trophy (the best 12 F, 3 D and 2 G count). 2. The league that got me started 26 years ago. My rebuild ended and this year I’m in second. My team is awesome and it’s on fire and I would have toppled first place soon if he didn’t do a deadline deal that extended his lead to 27 points. By the end of Tuesday night, that lead was down to 23. I still think I’ll get the win but it will be close. I wouldn’t damage the dynasty I finally built to take the title – usually if the title is there I take it. But in this case I’m confident that I’ll win for a few years. I also have a great shot at the playoffs thanks to strong PIT, TB and ANA pieces. 3. The Forecaster League – it’s a Keep 12, NHL rosters and multi-cat points system and I’ve won for the last three years. This year it’s very close and I had to pay a huge price three weeks ago to shore up my goaltending (<a href="frozenpool_profiler.php?players=713&sent=go&games=2014-2015%3AR">Jonathan Quick</a>). That’s about when Quick went from crappy losing streak to awesome winning streak. Just great timing. I’ve pulled into first with a slim lead – I actually took over first a few days ago for the very first time this season. I think I can four-peat! * Here is a well-edited group of clips that shows the Robb Tallas story from last night:   <iframe width="560″ height="315″ src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/IL78awC-UVE" frameborder="0″ allowfullscreen>

UPCOMING GAMES

Dec 22 - 12:12	NYR	vs	CAR
Dec 22 - 17:12	T.B	vs	FLA
Dec 22 - 17:12	UTA	vs	ANA
Dec 22 - 17:12	WSH	vs	L.A
Dec 22 - 20:12	EDM	vs	OTT
Dec 22 - 20:12	COL	vs	SEA