May 6 2015 Fantasy Hockey

Dobber

2015-05-06

Do we finally have a suitable CapGeek replacement? Thoughts on Goligoski, Despres and more …

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If you were to rate Chicago’s game throughout the year on a scale of one to 100, there would be some weeks and some games where maybe you’d give them an 85. At other times, they played poorly and perhaps you’d score them at 40 or even 30. But what I’m seeing out of them this round is 100. I mean, everything is perfect right now. Offense. Defense. Coaching. Even Corey Crawford is in the zone. The scorers are scoring, the hitters are hitting and the checkers are checking. At this point, the Blackhawks are making me waver on my Rangers Cup pick. Yes, I still think the Rangers will take out the Caps (all due respect to the Caps, who look real good right now).

And of course Kane scored the only goal of the contest. Was there any doubt? These days, if you see a game with only one goal scored and No.88 is playing in that game, then you can safely bet your life savings on him being the player to score it.

On Monday in the Ramblings I railed against Brad Richards getting too much ice time. Does Quenneville read my stuff? Richards was down to 12 minutes last night. As he should be.

Chicago had just one power play and they scored on it. The Wild had three and were shut down. That’s textbook hockey – keep the penalties down to a minimum. And they still couldn’t win.

Here’s some evidence that Crawford is in the zone – look how close this puck is to crossing the line (best replay is at 27 seconds):

Simon Despres has five assists in seven playoff games. As a prospect, I had him tagged as a promising offensive defenseman. I figured he was potential 40-point guy and on the Penguins maybe he could tweak that up to 45. But then some untimely injuries hit, and he struggled at times. Was given very little power-play time. Scratched a lot this year. I wrote him off. He gets traded to Anaheim and after six points in 16 games I still had him written off. His ice time increased and he wasn’t getting scratched anymore, but he’s still not seeing PP time.

But this game will be remembered for the “goal that wasn’t“. That one was to tie the game, in case you missed it. And the NHL was good to call down and stop the refs from dropping the puck at the next stoppage. Then there was a lengthy, lengthy pause as the war room looked at it 100 times. And then they chickened out from calling it a goal. The NHL’s explanation:

The Ted Lindsay Award nominees were released. This is award is voted on by the players. Jamie Benn, Alex Ovechkin and Carey Price. Interesting that Benn got in via his peers, but not via the journalists (Hart Trophy). He didn’t make my voting card of five players, primarily because of Tyler Seguin (who I would have had sixth). To me, Benn – who led the league in points – would not have made my Top 10 for MVP. A) no playoffs and B) Seguin was the driving force behind many of his first-half points.

For the record, all five players on my Hart ballot made the postseason.

For those who care about such things – Brandon Prust was fined $5000 by the NHL for his comments about referee Brad Watson. Prust also apologized yesterday for those comments.

I believe we have potentially found a replacement for Cap Geek. Yes, nhlnumbers has been filling in, in a pinch. But it was always my Cap Geek backup site and it still kind of has that “substitute” or “temporary” feel. But this new site that launched has a great feel to it, with most of what Cap Geek offered plus a handy draft pick tracker. The site is called General Fanager and if they can stay on top of updates, we have a winner.

Here is an interesting look at Alex Goligoski‘s season. I know fantasy owners were frustrated by him and his 36 points. And John Klingberg there now, and Trevor Daley having reinvented himself, Goligoski is most definitely not going to reach 50 points while in Dallas. But he played the early part of last season with “some broken bones”, missing practices but never games.

Andrew Ladd will undergo surgery Friday to repair a sports hernia. He’ll be fine for training camp.