November 29, 2015

Stepan injury ramifications, Price update, Boedker hat trick, plus more…

Steve Mason stopped all 24 shots in the Flyers’ 3-0 win over the Rangers. The shutout is Mason’s first of the season, and he’s finally gotten his goals-against average down to a reasonable 2.78. The thing I like about owning Mason is that the Flyers give up a ton of shots. An average of 32.8 shots allowed/game, which is the second-highest total in the league. You ask why I would be okay with that? It’s because this league counts saves, although goals are subtracted from that saves total. I paid a premium for him during offseason bidding, so it better be worth it.

Wayne Simmonds ended his drought in a big way, scoring two goals and adding an assists. Since he had been held to six games without a point, a few fantasy owners probably moved him to the bench. Doesn’t that suck when that happens?

It might be time to put Jakub Voracek into bust territory. Last year’s 81-point scorer has been pushed down to the fourth line, where he played 15:40 on a line with Chris Vandevelde and Pierre-Edouard Bellemare. I’m assuming that the demotion will be temporary. But with just one goal on the season, Voracek is going to have difficulty reaching 20 goals and 60 points.

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Since Derek Stepan is now sidelined with broken ribs, here are how the Rangers’ line combinations played out during Saturday’s only matinee game:

18.5%    EV           MOORE,DOMINIC – STALBERG,VIKTOR – STOLL,JARRET

16.14%  EV           BRASSARD,DERICK – NASH,RICK – ZUCCARELLO,MATS

11.42%  EV           FAST,JESPER – LINDBERG,OSCAR – MILLER,J.T.

10.24%  EV           ETEM,EMERSON – HAYES,KEVIN – KREIDER,CHRIS

The most notable move was Kevin Hayes shifting over to center between