Saturday, June 6
Neil Parker
2015-06-06
Tyler Bertuzzi, James Wisniewski, PIMs-format targets and oodles more …
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Things were relatively on course for this rambling, as I pieced together a thought daily since my last session Tuesday. Then Cliffy’s ramblings added a few more nuggets, and then there have been a few interesting tidbits popping up in the news.
All said, you might need a coffee refill or bathroom break midway through.
To help with my ramblings, I grabbed a keeper/dynasty team which was posted on the forum. Over the next few weeks, I’ll likely try everything I can do completely make it over and give it my own feel. I look forward to hearing your thoughts.
I’ll likely overpay for players I want, and you’ll chirp me, and it’ll be a lot of fun during the summer lull.
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I left three teams from the Metropolitan Division out of my Master and Commander analysis from a past ramble session. If you missed those, here they are, I just went through each team and cherry-picked one thing I would do if I had control of the club.
New York Rangers – This team is short on skill, which is something extremely difficult to acquire. Rick Nash is a solid player, but at this stage of his career, it is safe to say he isn’t going to carry a team, right? Could Derek Stepan be that guy? Chris Kreider? The Rangers’ No. 1 priority is re-signing Stepan, and then staying the course. It has been a long time since a team won without a go-to player, although, maybe a healthy Ryan McDonagh can be the guy. The window is closing on this group, though.
Pittsburgh Penguins – Find a No. 2 center, to enable the option of playing Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin together. Why not? Brandon Sutter might just be that guy, too. If it doesn’t work, you’re already in a great position up the middle, so why not try. Pittsburgh isn’t going to win when those two don’t score, anyway, so why not increase their offensive upside by pairing them on a line? After all, their last cup was six years ago, and they don’t have the cap space to rework much of the roster.
Washington Capitals – Bringing back Braden Holtby, Marcus Johansson and Evgeny Kuznetsov is paramount, but doing so with enough cap space to shore up the rest of the roster will help. Of all the teams in the Metropolitan Division, it could easily be argued the Capitals are in the best shape. They have all the significant pieces in place, and there is no sign of Alex Ovechkin slowing down. Plus, Holtby taking another step forward isn’t out of the question.
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Regardless of your/my personal stance on penalty minutes being included as a fantasy category, it is common. There are a number of strategies to attack the category, but spending up or reaching for the Milan Lucic, Scott Hartnell, Brad Marchand and David Backes types to accumulate PIMs at the expense of offense is risky.
Obviously, it doesn’t mean he’ll make the jump immediately or at all in 2015-16, but he is putting together an impressive audition tape during the Rapids’ Calder Cup run.
Here is a recent story on Bertuzzi.
Detroit doesn’t exactly have anyone, Justin Abdelkader aside, who brings the physical and agitating style that Bertuzzi projects to, either.
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Again, piggy backing off of Mike’s ramblings from yesterday, his curiosity about James van Riemsdyk‘s fake value next season made me think a little.
I’ve attached a few highlight reels, which are primarily of goals JVR scored during the 2013-14 season. I’ve watched roughly 95 percent of the Leafs games over the past three seasons, and what impresses me the most about van Riemsdyk, is his ability to score in a variety of ways.
He owns an excellent shot, he can score off the rush, and he has solid hands in tight and around the net. What also should become extremely obvious is just how well Phil Kessel sees the ice as a playmaker.
Any rebuilding process should involve van Riemsdyk, and Kessel, for that matter. Imagine how easy it would be to play Toronto without those two.
While the organization claims they’re in a full and committed rebuild, this season’s fourth draft selection might be the highest they land in awhile. Whether that is a positive or negative largely depends on your stance, personally, I’m not even sure.
Though, I guess, Kessel, Dion Phaneuf and others could be shipped out, which wouldn’t upset me. What would, though, is changing course at any point. The focus needs to remain on the draft and assembling young talent.
It doesn’t take a top-five pick every year to turn a franchise around, after all. Toronto just needs to consistently add capable players to the organization annually.