September 23, 2010
Jeff Angus
2010-09-23
The 2010-11 DobberHockey Pool Guide is updated through September 22nd. Pick it up here.
Goldie Says: “Learn about four different goalie dynamics to watch for during these pre-season games!” Stand-outs so far include Bernier, Lack, McKenna, Lehner, Hiller, Desjardins and golden boy Tuukka Rask. Three veterans in Turco, Luongo and Kiprusoff also stood out in their first pre-season action.
Anaheim has made some significant cuts – Nick Bonino, Nicolas Deschamps, Peter Holland, Kyle Palmieri, Brandon McMillan, Emerson Etem among them.
Colorado cut Trevor Cann, Tom Fritsche and several others.
The Wild cut Jarod Palmer, Josh Tordjman and a couple of others.
Keven Veilleux and Nick Petersen were among 15 Pittsburgh cuts today.
Columbus cut Petr Straka.
The Derek Stepan show continues in the Big Apple. He’ll center Gaborik and Frolov tonight. Tortorella is giving the kid every opportunity to earn that top line spot out of camp.
Johan Franzen suffered a charley horse from the Orpik hit – he’ll be fine. Great news for Franzen owners (like me). If healthy, he has at least one 40 goal season in him.
Both Brett Sterling and Mike Comrie scored for the Penguins last night. Comrie also had seven shots on goal.
Brooks Orpik went knee-on-knee with Johan Franzen last night. I didn’t see the hit, but Franzen left the game with a knee injury. It doesn’t sound serious, but it is definitely something to keep an eye on.
I only caught the end of the Vancouver/Edmonton game (as good as it is to have hockey back… preseason hockey isn’t exactly thrilling). Hamhuis-Edler looked good and will be Vancouver’s top pairing this season.
On the Edmonton side… Dubnyk looks clumsy again. Not sure how he got the Oilers to commit multiple years to him. Ryan Whitney looked pretty good. He’ll get a fair share of assists with the speed and skill up front for the Oilers.
Alex Edler looks to be building off of his extremely strong postseason. I have him projected to hit 51 points this season – with his skating, passing, shot, and chances of playing with the Sedins in a variety of situations, I feel confident in my prediction.
Curious news out of Washington – Michal Neuvirth has re-signed for two years (cap hit $1.15 million per). This is a calculated risk here, as the money doesn't represent much of a raise over the qualifying offer he would be due next summer.
Neuvirth and his agent know that Washington will be in tight against the cap next summer with several impending free agents, and having a starting goalie at $1.15 million will help immensely. Your move, Varlamov.
Bob McKenzie urges people not to sleep on the Red Wings. As usual, I agree. I am not a huge Jimmy Howard fan (rebound control is subpar), but he proved me wrong last summer. Hudler will provide a huge spark to the secondary attack (especially the second PP unit).
I'm interested in seeing if Babcock is serious about two roster changes – keeping Datsyuk with Zetterberg, and splitting up Rafalski and Lidstrom at even strength.
The Central Division will be extremely competitive this season, though. I don't have Detroit (or Chicago, for that matter) winning it.
A bit of a Vancouver update – the two players with the best shot at earning the top six spot are Sergei Shirokov and Jeff Tambellini as of right now. Both had strong games against Calgary.
Cody Hodgson will play this Saturday against the Ducks. If things go well, he could slide in to start the season with Torres and Malhotra on the third line.
Jordan Schroeder looks good at times, but he is a step behind the play. He'll be sent to the Moose pretty soon unless he turns things around quickly. He hasn't had a bad camp, but he hasn't had a great one either.
Lee Sweatt really impressed me with what he showed. He is small, but stocky, mobile, and he has a huge point shot. He has a better shot than many think at playing some NHL games for a few reasons – he shoots right, he isn't waiver eligible, and he makes close to the league minimum.
Brett Sterling is getting a long look for a roster spot in Pittsburgh. The odds are still stacked against him, though. As of right now, Pittsburgh's top two lines are Crosby centering Kunitz and Dupuis (poor Sidney), and Comrie centering Malkin and Tangradi.
Tuesday was the first time I had seen Robin Lehner play before, and I came away very impressed. One viewing doesn't completely change my opinion of a player, but in Lehner's case I didn't really have one to begin with. He's got a lot more fantasy value than comparably skilled goalies because of Ottawa's lack of a true number one goalie.
Souray to Columbus makes a ton of sense. The Blue Jackets desperately need a PP defenseman. They have some solid defensive guys to pair Souray with (most notably Jan Hejda). And finally, they have a lot of cap space to absordb his big contract. Edmonton would probably be willing to take a big contract back in return (some are speculating that Mike Commodore could be headed the other way).
In Columbus, Souray would boost the fantasy value of the entire power play unit. Nash and Huselius are locks for the top unit, and other contenders include Voracek, Brassard, Filatov, Stralman, and Vermette.
Stralman likes to shoot the puck but he's also a solid passer from the point – his short-term upside skyrockets with Souray as his partner (again, this is just me speculating).
John Tortorella has indicated that his top two centers to start the season will be Christensen and Anisimov. Frolov-Christensen-Gaborik, and Prospal-Anisimov-Callahan? Perhaps Zuccarello Aasen slides in on that second unit…
Check this link out for more from New York. Dubinsky is starting the season at wing, even with Drury's injury.
Matt Stajan hurt his shoulder against Vancouver on Tuesday night. With Langkow out for an extended period of time, this is not what the Flames want to hear. If Stajan misses any period of time, look for Backlund to slide in as the center on the second offensive unit.
Matt Duchene channels Pavel Datsyuk on this ridiculous shootout goal against Colorado prospect Trevor Cann:
New addition to the DobberHockey 2010-11 Pool Guide – a snazzy partnership with the HockeyPoolGeek crew. On Page 85 of the updated Guide, there is a wealth of information about what the HockeyPoolGeek can offer you. More information is available here.
Want to see some of the tools that HockeyPoolGeek uses in action? Last month they audited a team of mine in a Head-to-Head league. Check the results out.