Rambling about World Cup dropouts, Olympic qualifiers, Scott Gomez and more …

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Last Fantasy Guide update was Thursday and it included my Top Calder Candidates article. Next update will be in a day or two, unless something earth-shattering happens before then. Updates start coming fast and furious (daily or even multiple times per day) when camp opens and there are lots of changes.

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Not only is it the time of year in which the unrestricted free agents give up on contracts and start accepting tryouts, but in 2016 it’s apparently time to back out of the exhibition tournament known as the World Cup. I was a little excited about this tournament. No longer.

Tomas Hertl, Radko Gudas, Jeff Carter, Sean Monahan, David Krejci, Duncan Keith, Jamie Benn, Alex Steen, Henrik Zetterberg, Ryan Callahan and Niklas Kronwall. Most of these players would magically be healthy if the tournament was called “The Olympics”. Some are legitimately out. But I’m willing to wager that at least seven of these 11 players I listed will suit up for Game 1 of the regular season.

Anyway, if I didn’t put money on Team North America to win this thing, I wonder if I’d even be watching. I’d be just as interested in NHL training camp exhibition games so I can gauge some prospect progress for fantasy leagues.

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Speaking of Team North America, the more players who back out of this tourney the better the chances of a Team North America win. So far, knock on wood, they’ve only lost Sean Monahan. Meanwhile, the Czech Republic is decimated and has been inviting KHL players to fill in. Team Sweden is also in tough, and things will get even worse of Henrik Lundqvist has to miss (rumored). Team Canada has taken a hit, and if they keep replacing injured defensemen with non-PK Subbans, then Team North America is looking pretty sweet.

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Yesterday, Slovenia and Germany and Norway clinched spots at the 2018 Olympics. Here are the three groups:

Group A – Canada, Czech Republic, Switzerland, Korea

Group B – Russia, United States, Slovakia, Slovenia

Group C – Sweden, Finland, Norway and Germany

Out: Latvia, Kazakhstan, Belarus, France, Denmark and Italy are the notables.

Surprised to see South Korea make it as they were ranked 23^rd in 2015 and still there in 2016. So I’m guessing they get a ‘bye’ because they’re the hosts. But the program is getting on the map, thanks to the influence of former NHLer Jim Paek, who coaches the team. Unless I’m mistaken though, none of Canada, Czech, Switzerland, Russia, Sweden nor USA have ever played Korea. The closest to a ‘known’ team that has faced Korea is Kazakhstan, and that team is an all-time 9-0-0 against them. In fact, Korea has never beaten Kazakhstan, Denmark, Ukraine, Latvia, Norway or Slovenia – a combined 0-23-0. So Canada will have an interesting game against them at the Olympics, assuming the NHL participates. Or even if they don’t, for that matter.

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On a side note, Jiri Hudler ignored Team Czech Republic’s calls. No seriously – they tried to call him and he wasn’t answering. And then, later, he had his agent tell them he wasn’t interested. He was probably pissed that he wasn’t on the team to begin with, nor was he on the Sochi Olympics team. But he’s always been a little bit flaky. Remember when he went to play in the KHL for a year? And then before he returned he was going nuts on Facebook with the curse words? He just seemed…not all there to me. But then he did return to the NHL and eventually blossomed in Calgary, making me forget everything. But now it comes roaring back. I suspect he’s got a bit of a temper, and a maturity issue. Regardless, his decision reinforces my notion that the tournament isn’t the big deal I was hoping it would be.

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Scott Gomez retired on Friday. It wasn’t mentioned here yet and I like to pay tribute to retiring players when I can, especially those with strong fantasy value. He finishes with 756 points in 1079 games, including 575 assists. He had a 70-point rookie season back in 1999-00, surprising us all. And how he was able to do that when the Elias-Arnott-Sykora line was still rolling, leaving him with secondary minutes, was impressive. It wasn’t until his sophomore year before he played with Mogilny. He was a four-time 70-point player and he had at least 58 points seven times. His best fantasy season was in 2005-06 when he scored 33 goals, 51 assists for 84 points.

Gomez highlights:

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BIG news! Eric Daoust has finished his cleanup and fix-up and vast improvement of Frozen Pool’s Report Generator! I’m going to draw up a quick article later Monday going over everything that was done, but in the meantime if you want you can mess around in there. My favorite new feature is the “shots” report. It was there before, but now it’s pretty awesome.

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The latest player to sign a PTO – Ryan Carter. And it’s with the team he’s played for two years.

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One of the bigger fantasy prospect disappointments of the past decade, David Rundblad, has signed to play in the Swiss League. I think players are flocking there just as much as they’re going to the KHL.

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Although I noted above that Tomas Hertl has backed out of the World Cup, I also noted above that most of those players who backed out will be ready to start the regular season. Hertl is no exception – he’ll apparently be ready to go for the Sharks. He has been rehabbing a knee injury, the one that cost him most of the Stanley Cup Final.

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DobberProspects has had a fantastic two-part series on a prospect draft that the staff (of 24) held. Seven rounds of 24. So 168 prospects were drafted for keeper league fantasy purposes. You’ll find it both helpful and interesting. You can find Part 1 here. And Part 2 here.

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I have a couple of competitive leagues for you to join if you’re interested. Here are the details…

League 1: The DobberHockey Tiered Invitational is an annual competition consisting of multiple one-year rotisserie leagues. Recruitment for the Entry division is open, and all the details can be found in the forum here. More information on the structure and settings can be found linked in HorrorFan’s signature on that thread. Furthermore, as it's the 10-year anniversary of this competition, all league winners this upcoming season will receive a free copy of the 2017/18 hockey guide!

League 2: If you think you're one of the greatest fantasy hockey minds, there are 100+ other poolies spread out across four continents who'd like to have a word with you. Elan and Brian at Keeping Karlsson invite you to truly test your fantasy hockey mettle in the most competitive and fun fantasy hockey league in the world– the Keeping Karlsson Ultimate Patron Fantrax League! You can get your invite, along with a whole bunch of other bonus fantasy hockey content, by becoming a patron of the show— keep in mind that the deadline to guarantee yourself a spot is this Wednesday, Sept. 7. Check out the league format and rules here, and hit the guys up on twitter or leave a comment below if you've got any questions.

19 Comments

larrylintz 2016-09-05 at 08:57Log in to Reply

Even though I likely won’t be able to help myself and will watch the world cup, and cheer for canada, i hope it fails. Such a transparent money-grab aimed at pulling nhl out of olympics. I realize a lot of Americans, from Bettman on down, don’t give a crap/aren’t that passionate about hockey at the Olympics. But most Canadians, and especially those of us of a certain age, consider it to be huge. I can remember the Red Army declaring themselves world champs after rolling over the gang of Canuck university schlubs we’d send over. A crying shame Orr, the Rocket, Belliveau et al never got the chance to shine on that stage. I’m certain that serious Euro hockey fans feel the same way.
- Ron 2016-09-05 at 09:22Log in to Reply
  
  That’s a bit bold to say a lot of Americans don’t care about the Olympics. The US wins more medals than any country pretty much every year in both the Summer and Winter. There are also more hockey fans in the USA than in Canada. There are 24 teams in the US and only 7 in Canada.
  - Ken Landry 2016-09-05 at 15:14Log in to Reply
    
    I think you have to look at things in terms of population density for this to truly matter.
    
    For the most part, and I’m not saying for all cases, the US cares much more about Football, Basketball and Baseball. I’d have to say that Hockey is a distant 4th, while Hockey is #1 in Canada. Canada has less than 10% of the US population but still manages 7 teams and many of the most profitable franchises. We could even support an 8th in QC but that won’t happen due to politics in the NHL. Some of the biggest struggling teams are in the US.
    
    Sure you win more medals and that’s great. Even on a per-athlete basis the US still creams everyone. However, if it weren’t for like 26 medals (or whatever the number) being given out for 1 event, the US may not care. Sure the athletes do, and that isn’t up for debate, but the population couldn’t care less as a whole.
    - Ron 2016-09-05 at 17:17Log in to Reply
      
      I agree Canadians care more about hockey as a percentage of the population. I admire Canada for that. However that’s not my point. There are more hockey fans in the US than Canada in the absolute because of the population size. Anyways, if you want to support the “Blame someone else, ain’t my fault” attitude of larrylintz then go ahead, but I don’t think it’s a good way to go through life.
      - djr417 2016-09-05 at 17:45
        
        there are approximately 10 times as many assholes in the USA as well.
        math is easy!
      - whiteshado 2016-09-05 at 22:58
        
        Lol, I cried laughing when I read that one! Good one djr417!
      - Ken Landry 2016-09-05 at 20:02
        
        What are you talking about??? Who is blaming someone else? The conversation revolves around the fact that the players seem to care less about this tourney than they do the Olympics. I think that’s clear. Also, they care less about olympic hockey than they do many other events and certainly care less about Hockey than Canadians in general.
        
        If you’re going to use the absolute argument, then I’ll throw it back at you. There are far more people that hate hockey in the US than Canada because your population is bigger. Does that make sense to make that argument? No, but I might as well use it for all the sense your “blame someone else…” comment made.
larrylintz 2016-09-05 at 08:59Log in to Reply

PS: that “McCarthy’s Gone” ad on the bottom of every ramblings sure is an annoying way to end a fine morning read!!!!
Stuart Madan 2016-09-05 at 09:57Log in to Reply

Of course Canada is hockey crazy but how will they do compared Blue Jays in contention and the start of the NFL season. Personally I will prioritize both ahead of hockey in September. This is not the Olympics and I doubt the players will treat it like the Olympics. This will get no traction in the US against college football plus the aforementioned baseball and NFL whereas Olympic hockey is a big draw in the US when the US team is playing. No idea if Russia, Sweden and Finland will care. Let’s be honest, a championship in this will pale to an Olympic gold.So, in my opinion, the only international tourney that matters is Olympics given its timing and expected level of interest across the world.
- Micchar 2016-09-05 at 10:55Log in to Reply
  
  Agreed. Its hard to take this seriously when you are making up teams like the NA-24 and under. This to me, seems more like an exhibition and would be a hard pill to swallow if any of these players get injured during this tournament and before the NHLseason.
  - Ron 2016-09-05 at 17:19Log in to Reply
    
    ESPN is promoting the World Cup in the US because they are broadcasting hockey for the first time in the US in a long time. The Everything Self Promotion Network will get some decent ratings and exposure for hockey. It won’t be as big as football or baseball, but it will be big enough to make it worth doing again in future and will help grow the sport.
Reuben 2016-09-05 at 13:52Log in to Reply

This whole ‘guys are pulling out because it’s the World Cup and not the Olympics” is such a weak argument. Seriously. Let’s see – Daniel Sedin, Steven Stamkos, Johan Franzen, Marian Gaborik, Mikko Koivu, Val Filppula, etc, etc all missed Sochi due to injuries. This may shock some of you, but offseason injuries sometimes take longer to heal than originally thought. And 10, 12 guys pulling out from eight teams is hardly an epidemic given the tourney is right before the season.
- Dobber 2016-09-05 at 14:11Log in to Reply
  
  Wow! I see how weak my argument really is. Thank you for showing me the light.
  I’m never going to take a stance on such a weak argument again. So weak!
  
  And now I like the World Cup again. Can’t wait!
  - Reuben 2016-09-05 at 14:29Log in to Reply
    
    Dobbs, I’m just pointing out that every tournament has players pull out. And when it comes at the start of the season there’s a chance a number of players are still recuperating from offseason procedures. It doesn’t mean all the players think its a complete joke and everyone wants out.
    - Dobber 2016-09-05 at 14:42Log in to Reply
      
      Most of these players will squirt some magic spray on their injury in early October and play in Game 1. They would play a little hurt if it was the playoffs or the Olympics or even a regular season game, but not for the World Cup. I didn’t think the World Cup was a joke (as I noted already), but now I do. I’m very disappointed. If the players/NHL teams won’t take it seriously, why should we? Five or six of these players – I can accept. But seven or eight others is clearly the NHL team (not even the players – their NHL team!) making the decision.
      
      Hudler another great example of this.
      - Reuben 2016-09-05 at 15:20
        
        Yeah, but how many of those players are top notch players? Benn is legitimately injured and coming off hip surgery. Zetterberg is always injured. Keith seems a bit shaky, but he’s also played every time Canada has called his name. Hertl, I think, wanted to play and was convinced not to by the Sharks – at least that was the impression I got from that Doug Wilson release. The vast, vast majority of top players are playing.
        
        Anyways. I get what you’re saying and apologize for the “weak argument’ term – was a bit harsh from me.
      - Dobber 2016-09-05 at 15:41
        
        Thanks
        I also don’t think we’re heard about the last dropout, either. More to come, I’m guessing another four or five on the way.
        
        I’d say Hertl, Keith, Kronwall, Monahan, Carter and even Steen would be okay for a playoff game. And Hudler, who isn’t hurt at all but just doesn’t care to go.
- Mark 2016-09-05 at 15:24Log in to Reply
  
  You make a good point about off-season injuries, especially to players that were in the later rounds of the playoffs, but you came off like a dick the way you wrote it.
  - Reuben 2016-09-05 at 17:15Log in to Reply
    
    That hurts, Mark. Ouch.

UPCOMING GAMES

Nov 05 - 19:11	CAR	vs	PHI
Nov 05 - 19:11	MTL	vs	CGY
Nov 05 - 19:11	BUF	vs	OTT
Nov 05 - 19:11	TOR	vs	BOS
Nov 05 - 19:11	NYI	vs	PIT
Nov 05 - 20:11	MIN	vs	L.A
Nov 05 - 20:11	STL	vs	T.B
Nov 05 - 20:11	WPG	vs	UTA
Nov 05 - 21:11	COL	vs	SEA
Nov 05 - 22:11	ANA	vs	VAN
Nov 05 - 22:11	S.J	vs	CBJ