Ramblings: Elliott’s hot, Greiss is not; Plus Sheary, Guentzel, Pietrangelo and more (Mar.06)

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I hope you enjoyed Trade Deadline week. I know the “Day” was a bit of a dud, but GM’s are now making their moves several days prior. You know – as in…not waiting until the last minute. That’s smart policy, and one that more fantasy owners need to adapt.

I made three deadline deals. In the league that I run (DHP) I was winning, then I was losing…then I made a trade to tie followed by another deal to take a big league (points carry over in trades) and so I’m back to where I started. I moved Nikolaj Ehlers, Shayne Gostisbehere, Derick Brassard, Colin White, Derrick Pouliot, a first rounder and a second rounder for Mikael Granlund, Torey Krug, Charlie Coyle, a third rounder and two fourths. That one also shored up my playoffs because I think Minnesota is going deep. Later, I traded Craig Anderson, Adam Larsson, Andrej Sekera, a first and second rounder for Sergei Bobrovsky and Jason Demers. Demers is probably a dropsy for me. Then again, with Kris Letang out indefinitely, perhaps Demers catches him in points and turns out to actually help.

In my 27-year-league I made one trade, but the guy in second made two that were announced at the last minute and he stormed to a 10-point lead over me (which I’ve since cut). I traded Conor Sheary, Jakob Silfverberg, Nikita Kucherov, Pavel Buchnevich and Ryan Spooner for Phil Kessel, Nicklas Backstrom, Mikko Koivu, Sean Couturier and Valtteri Filppula. The latter two will be dropped.

Actually, just remembered – I flipped Couturier straight up for Ryan Hartman so I’ll get the added playoff help. So I made two deals in each league. My third league’s deadline is this Wednesday. But I’m in fifth place in that one with first out of range. It would have been so nice to win all three leagues – it’s never happened and probably never will.

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The red-hot Flames rolled over the cooling-off Islanders Sunday. That’s seven straight wins for the team and Brian Elliott is inching his SV% upwards. He’s at 0.905 now. Since December 14 Elliott is 15-4-2 with a 2.26 GAA and 0.917 SV%.

Meanwhile Thomas Greiss got pulled after giving up four goals in the first period. That’s three weak outings in his last four games. This couldn’t come at a worst time because the Isles are clinging to a wildcard spot in the East. They hold the final spot at 71 points – and the Leafs (70), Panthers (69) and Lightning/Flyers (68) are pushing. Especially the Lightning (5-2 in last seven). I’d be worried about Florida and Tampa Bay if I’m the Islanders.

Mikael Backlund’s assist last night gives him 47 points on the season, tying a career high set last year. More astonishing is the fact that Backlund has played in 148 consecutive injury-free games. He has 37 points in his last 40 games. At 27, this is the right age for a big breakout. He’s showing he can stay healthy so I would suggest that he could sustain this into next season.

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With Conor Sheary back, the Penguins bumped Jake Guentzel off the top line and kept Chris Kunitz there. But on Sunday, it was Kunitz who lost the coveted spot – with the rookie Guentzel getting back on it. I only watched the second period of this game, but Crosby seemed to be in his element playing with such skilled players. Both players are rather small (though Guentzel is more ‘lanky’ as opposed to ‘short’) so it remains to be seen if Crosby can thrive on an all-skill line without any size or grit around. But so far so good – against the Sabres, Sheary picked up two points in the third period including an assist on the Guentzel goal.

Right now I’m treating Sheary, in my league, as a 65-point player with potential for 75…but with one major concern: health. He needs to stay healthy and seems to be quite a risk to fall short in that department. But a worthwhile risk for you if you can trade a big-name player to steal Sheary from your keeper-league opponent. Corey Perry for Conor Sheary? Seems ludicrous, doesn’t it? So that’s why you not only do that deal – but you get him or her to throw in something extra on top of Sheary. You’re the one taking on the risk (doesn’t matter if I think you’d win this deal next season) so you should get more.

And we all know how excited I am over Guentzel. Not only do I think he’ll really cash in playing with the players he lines up with. But I also think he’ll be a line driver by next season. As in – players will benefit from playing with Guentzel, rather than the other way around.

Matt Murray got the hook in that one after giving up three goals on 21 shots. Marc-Andre Fleury shut the door and stole the win.

Justin Schultz has five points in his last two games. You know who could use a defenseman like this? Edmonton.

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Interesting note – Jack Eichel had 10 shots on goal in the game, and that wasn’t even the most. Evander Kane had 11. Eichel's goal gives him a 10-game points streak.

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Remember Richard Bachman? He’s back in the NHL and he got the start for Vancouver – and stole a win by stopping 43 of 44 Anaheim shots. He’s won both of his Vancouver starts and is 19-14-2 in his career. The 29-year-old will probably never get another chance to be a backup goalie, but I’ve always wondered why he didn’t get more of a look than he did. One bad season in Dallas (13 games, 0.885 SV% in 2012-13) buried him.

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Loui Eriksson left the game after this hit:

Looks like his left knee. That’s bad capper on a bad season for Eriksson. His fantasy owners have long since dropped him anyway unless they’re in leagues that don’t have adds/drops or the league is incredibly deep.

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Patrick Eaves is making me think he’s the perfect complimentary player for a superstar. He has goals in each of his last two games playing with Ryan Getzlaf. Often used as a fourth-liner, coaches have teased us with glimpses of him on the first line. Between injuries and coaches changing their mind, Eaves never seems to get an extended stay up there. But this seems to be the year and all it took was to not get injured. His 23 goals and 39 points are career highs, and he also has 16 power-play points.

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The Avs hope to find the next hidden gem by grabbing other team’s castoffs. It’s a move that seems be used a lot in the cap era by building teams (Vancouver and Carolina do it all the time). This time it’s Sven Andrighetto who is their project. Check out the line combos last night:

Too bad Colorado was shut out. That usually means the lines will be juggled again for next game.

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Kevin Shattenkirk is gone and it’s been Alex Pietrangelo who has filled the void for St. Louis on the power play. They use a four-forward system with Pietrangelo as the lone defenseman. So Colton Parayko is stuck on the second unit and that hasn’t changed. He did grab an assist (on the power play!) last night though.

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Sam Gagner had been floundering of late, but John Tortorella recently replaced Lukas Sedlak with Oliver Bjorkstrand on his line. The result was two points on Sunday for both Gagner and Bjorkstrand. Gagner scoring is something to keep an eye on. Or maybe the reason is the fact that I dropped him last week.

Josh Anderson left the game with a lower body injury, but after the game John Tortorella reported that he doesn’t believe it is serious.  Anderson has been a multi-category stud this season, on pace for nearly 20 goals, 30 points a plus-9 rating, 80+ PIM and 140 hits.

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Olli Jokinen announced his retirement on the weekend. You probably figured he’d already done that. But now it’s official. He finishes up with exactly 750 points in 1231 games and 1071 PIM. Of his 321 goals, 54 of them were game winners. His career playoff numbers? Five points in six games. Not many players (any?) have played more than 1200 regular season games and fewer than 10 playoff games.

Jokinen’s best season was in 2006-07 when he had 39 goals and 91 points, as well as 78 PIM and 351 shots on goal. In fact, he had 251 points during a three-season span from 2005-2008. He may be best known in fantasy for his surprising season. After four full NHL campaign’s, Jokinen’s best was 29 points. He was 24 years old and four years in the NHL produced just a 29-point season at best. “Bust” was a label we throw around all too easily in fantasy hockey, and it was thrown at Jokinen, too. But in his case it was “fifth-year magic” and he popped for 65 points. His 91-point season (06-07) happened when he was 29 years old.

Olli Jokinen highlights:

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Server Update: The forum issues (double posts, broken quick reply, edit posts) are all fixed. The forum is on the new server and it loads as fast as lightning! The rest of the sites are still waiting on a Frozen Pool fix. I have decided to keep making those changes and move the sites over as is (as opposed to a clean-slate re-launch). I’ll readdress the decision in a few days if we still haven’t moved.