Angus here – opening up my fantasy hockey mailbag today! Fire me a question here.

These two finalists are so good for hockey. It’s the copycat syndrome – when Anaheim won the Cup, many teams went out and got tougher. When New Jersey won the Cup it kicked off the dead puck era as teams scrambled to implement a trap system. With the defensively responsible yet offensively exciting Penguins winning the Cup last year and two offensive teams going at it this season, more coaches will open things up just a little more.

Too bad for Philly that they had to pull Leighton. With Boucher stopping 11 of 12, there is now a goaltending contraversy. Maybe there isn’t, really, but the media will make it one and the team doesn’t need that.

The teams were fantastic at shutting down each other’s top line. Simon Gagne, Mike Richards and Jeff Carter were combined pointless and minus-7. Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews and Dustin Byfuglien were combined pointless and minus-9. Shut down! But for the second lines it was another story – the Hossa line stepped up as did the Briere line. Briere had a four-point game after going pointless in three.

Is anyone else in a playoff pool where the leader has the crappiest playoff team in the history of mankind? I’m in one where the guy is built for the regular season (it’s a keeper) and he only paid half attention to the postseason. His players are all over the map. But he has Briere, Pronger and Carle – and they’ll win him a trophy now. That guy, by the way, is Hallsey, who has subbed in for me on these ramblings on occasion. Hallsey if you’re reading this – you suck!

Troy Brouwer was pointless in eight games and then the ‘Hawks started scratching him. Well he learned his lesson. He has six points in six games since. He’ll improve on his 40-point season next year by at least 20%.

Brendan Smith, a top prospect for the Red Wings (and profiled in the Fantasy Prospects Report), has been charged with “disorderly conduct”. Apparently he was at a party three weeks ago and some bonehead kept trying to get in when he wasn’t welcome. So Smith is alleged to have punched him several times. My take – Isn’t that the proper process in college when drunken dummies try to get into a party after being asked to leave? Cops are just following the book, and Smith is just guilty of enjoying a party and trying to defend the host. In no way hurts his future in the NHL or his image in my books.

In response to a comment yesterday regarding lack of positions in the Prospects List – The main reason I don’t have LW/RW/C noted in the forwards section (it is already split between Top 185 forwards and Top 30 d-men) is because when the kids get to the NHL they more often than not play a different position. Half the wingers in the league were centermen as 18-year-olds. A portion of RW’s used to play LW, and vice-versa. If your league is in-depth and you need to identify a prospect by position because you are desperate for LW’s…then simply take the best forward available and hope he gets moved to LW when he makes the show! My two cents on the matter…

In 48 hours I will be releasing the fourth annual DobberHockey Fantasy Prospects Report. I didn’t sit down and count the amount of player profiles that we did, but I think 400 is a good estimate. I’ve told a couple of people my Top 5 in terms of players who have not played a single NHL game, and everyone seems to be shocked at my No.4. Order it now!

Our good friends over at McKeen’s have put together a Draft issue as well, for those of you who want another opinion on the players. Worth a look!