December 16, 2009
Dobber Sports
2009-12-16
Dan Sexton just got an extended stay and an improved shot at continuing to impress – Joffrey Lupul will undergo surgery on his back that will sideline him for 6-8 weeks…
Colby Armstrong is on another one of his hot streaks. He has points in four straight (five in all). He usually goes hot/cold in 7-10 game spurts.
Todd Bertuzzi has eight points and eight PIM in his last nine contests.
Nik Hagman has 13 points in his last 13 games. He’s really clicking Grabovski right now, although both players tend to run hot/cold for stretches. Still, I think both will see career highs.
In the Expert’s League, I mentioned that I snagged Brian Boucher last week for a dollar. I also have Bryzgalov, Lundqvist and Theodore. So I traded Theodore for Brad Boyes (who had three points last night, but they won’t count for my roster as he doesnt’ get on there until Friday). My biggest weakness is the “goals” category, followed by shots and followed by power-play – so I hope to have addressed that a bit. I also won the bidding this week for Dan Sexton, plus Mike Knuble is back off of IR. Those changes should bring my goals up, while my three remaining goalies continue to hold the fort.
Henrik Sedin has zero goals in his last seven games. But he has FOURTEEN assists.
Bob McKenzie gives us the final roster for Team Canada’s WJC team – C: Cormier, Schenn, Kadri, Henrique, Adam. LW: Della Rovere, McMillan, Bourque, Hall. RW: Eberle, Nemisz, Kozun, Caro; D – Pietrangelo, Ellis, Teubert, Scandella, Hamonic, Cowen, DeHaan. I watched De Haan play a week or two ago at the Generals game. By far and away their best player. Not even close. Seemed to want to take on too much though, but then again with the team around him I don’t really blame him. Goalies are Jake Allen and Martin Jones.
Goaltender Olivier Roy was cut and Dallas prospect wing Scott Glennie suffered a concussion that led to his being cut. Glennie is ranked 59th on my prospects list.
revengespoon did a couple of great bits for the ramblings in the comment section below – I wonder if I can make the ramblings user-based now, and just sleep in? Sweet! I’ll reprint them for you up here and my own thoughts: “Kyle Wilson had 2 assists in his debut for the Caps last night in 11:15 of ice time. He centered a line with Fleischmann and Fehr, which combined for five points.” Wilson was a castoff of the Minnesota Wild – a ninth round pick – who was signed by the Caps in 2007 and has plugged away as a solid AHL producer. He just turned 25 yesterday, so the two points in his first career NHL game were a nice gift. However, I think his NHL production is mostly linemate based. He is taking Mat Perreault’s spot and had Perreault not lost some of that intensity and been sent down, it would have been his two points. I think you’ll see Wilson stick around for a handful of games and chip in another point or two, but then go down. I have him currently ranked 276 on my prospects list because he is a bit of a longshot, but this solid debut bumps him up to around 200th – he still may not make the Top 185. We’ll see how he does over a couple of weeks. Perreault, meanwhile, is ranked 35th.
“Mike Green was decked from behind by David “Mr Clean” Koci in the 2nd period and did not return. He received stitches over a black left eye but should be okay. Koci will undoubtedly get a few games for the hit.” Tarik El-Bashir has indicated that Mike Green will not miss any time.
Grebeshkov returned to the lineup last night. Souray and Gilbert were the top PP pairing, while Visnovsky and Grebby were the second pairing.
Patrick O’Sullivan has been demoted to the fourth line. Frankly I think he should just be scratched for a couple of games. He is far too talented and his production has been abysmal. He played eight minutes last night.
So Brian Boucher follows up a decent performance by giving up six goals. Granted it was to the Pens and granted, his team really stinks right now – I still have him stashed on my bench until I see back-to-back good games from him.
Rumors cropped up on the Internet yesterday about a player on Philadelphia possibly boffing the wife of another player. We already went through that in Philly about 10 years ago? I won’t substantiate the rumor by putting in the name, but I’m sure you could dig it up if you really care. At any rate, if true, the team may not get things settled down until one of the two players is traded. For the record, I assume that every dressing room has a player who is boffing another player’s wife at one time or another. What isn’t so common is when a player gets caught doing it!
Another two points for Patric Hornqvist gives him four in five games since he was scratched. He is now lining up with JP Dumont, which may get them both going. We saw what happens when they get going as well as their top line of Erat, Sullivan and Arnott – seven goals.
So Nashville is eighth in the NHL and Colorado is sixth. Buffalo is ninth, Los Angeles is third, while Philly is 24th. Did you see any of this coming?
Nick Spaling played just six minutes in his first NHL game, but picked up an assist.
Alex Tanguay was a healthy scratch last night. Look for him to come back with a vengeance, as is often the case when a talented player gets scratched. His linemate, Lecavalier, scored three points without him.
JVR had 13 minutes of ice time while Giroux had 20. The coach really likes Giroux. We’ll see how the return of Gagne impacts things. Gagne could be back Thursday or Saturday.
Scott Hartnell has three points in his last 10 games and is a minus-5 in that span.
Jordan Staal has 14 points in his last 15 games. I think he’ll get in that 57-60 range this year and his upside is in the mid-70s, which I think he’ll get to next season.
Koci vs. McGrattan from a couple of days ago: