March 19, 2007
Dobber Sports
2007-03-19
Goalie rankings have been updated…
Three sets of Keeper League rules are posted. See "starting a pool" on the left menu.
Tomas Kaberle is now looking like a real possibility for the Leafs in terms of playing in the game against the Devils on Tuesday. Stay tuned…
Pavel Datsyuk has 66 points in his last 46 games. Imagine if he kept that pace up for an entire season.
Brendan Shanahan is looking to return to the lineup on Wednesday (revised – I knew it was Wednesday but for some reason I initially typed Thursday here. This is a brain fart. It was always Wednesday).
Martin Straka, pointless in seven games, is day-to-day with a knee injury.
Oleg Saprykin has been a healthy scratch for four straight games.
Eric Lindros missed yesterday's contest with a groin injury.
Simon Gagne made it through his Sunday skate without any pain. He skated at three-quarters speed. Gagne now hopes to return to the lineup on Tuesday, which is a huge about-face from how things were looking on Friday.
Joe Pavelski's foot caused him to miss another game yesterday. He has missed 11 of the last 22 games with the injury. Be wary of picking him up in your playoff pool.
Patrick O'Sullivan had a goal and two assists last night to lead the Kings to a 5-3 victory over the Ducks. The points extend his points streak to five games. He played over 18 minutes.
Keith Tkachuk has nine points in his last eight games. He could very well salvage a 65-point year (and help me save face with all my preseason talk of 70+ this campaign).
Alexei Zhitnik has 12 points in 10 games since coming over to the Thrashers.
It was a lot of effort with all my wheeling and dealing at our trade deadline, and it is still a very tight race, but I have pulled into second place in the Talented Mr. Roto's ICE experts league. I am behind TSN.ca's Scott Cullen and just ahead of Rotoworld's Michael Finewax. McKeen's Gus Katsaros has pulled up as well and has come pretty close to Rotoworld.
Radim Vrbata (wrist injury) will be back in the lineup on Tuesday.
Tim Connolly is expected to return to the ice this week. It is still hoped that he can get two or three games in before the end of the season.
Dan Paille is still about 10 days away.
Paul Stastny's rookie point streak ended at 20 games last night. He was on the ice for the overtime winner by Milan Hejduk, ready for a rebound that wasn't there. It was a great run. Meanwhile, the Avs pull within four points of the Flames…and the two teams play twice in April, including the last game of the season.
Look for Cam Ward to return to the Hurricanes' lineup on Tuesday. He may be just a backup though, to start.
Marek Svatos: 9:49 of ice time. Has he ever had more than 13 minutes? Things like this make me afraid to own him in my keeper league.
The line of Rick Nash, Geoff Platt and Nik Zherdev combined for eight points on Saturday. Platt makes an interesting dark horse for next season.
Columbus is 1-for-25 on the power play since March 7.
Nagy picked up a pair of assists against his former team on Sunday. It always seems like Nagy wakes up when things shake him up, be it a healthy scratch or a benching or playing a big game. Otherwise, for this year anyway, he goes back to sleep.
Sergei Zubov became the first Dallas player to reach the 50-point mark with a goal and an assist last night.
Tomas Fleischmann played just 11:22 but he was a huge presense for the Caps yesterday. He picked up two goals and two assists and made himself look like a strong candidate to be a real good dark horse for next year.
Dan Cleary and Johan Franzen should both return to the Detroit lineup on Tuesday. This may roll Jiri Hudler's ice time back.
Milan Michalek has nine points in his last four contests.
The Detroit media is speculating that prospect Jimmy Howard will not be ready to become a backup goalie in the NHL next season.
The Oilers may be interested in bringing future UFA and former Alberta boy Scott Hartnell to the team this summer.
Peter Budaj is 8-0-1 in his last nine and will spearhead the Avs charge from here on in. He makes a great pickup for the final run.