March 05, 2012

Dobber Sports

2012-03-05

 

TSN is reporting that Mike Cammalleri will not face his former mates because he is out with an upper body injury.

 

The Oilers have recalled Linus Omark from the AHL. I’d love to see this work out, because he’s a dynamic player and if he doesn’t make headway this year I’d be worried about him leaving for Europe.

 

Today’s Studs and Duds can be found here.

 

Champing at the bit to get back at it this week. Probably because I took the better part of two days almost completely off… but not to relax with some drinks. Sick toddler. And it's always fun trying to keep a toddler away from the baby. As many of you know, if the baby gets it, then lights out. All productivity in the toilet for a week or two.

 

Being in the Toronto area, I had been asked several thousand times about my thoughts on Ron Wilson and if he should be fired. I have always been one of the patient ones when it comes to this stuff, but this recent losing skid meant that he had to go of course. So I thought either the team makes the move immediately and brings in Randy Carlyle, or they wait until summer and bring in Dallas Eakins. The latter is on the cusp of an NHL job and I wouldn't be shocked if the Leafs lost him in the summer. But with Carlyle in place, I would put the over/under at 7.5 wins in their next 10 games – that's enough to claw their way back into the playoff hunt and make for an interesting final seven games.

 

Line combos from Carlyle's first game – Bozak, Kessel and Lupul are intact; Grabovski was with Frattin and MacArthur this time and it worked very well. Steckel with Kulemin and Connolly to me is a solid third line. And I love this energy line of Lombardi, Brown and Crabb – do their legs stop moving? I think they're still going now…

 

Pittsburgh fans are really down on Paul Martin this season, but I wonder if his last three games have put him back in their good books – three points and plus-7. He has a shot at 30 points and plus-10 with a strong stretch run. And with Kris Letang possibly out for awhile, he'll get every chance to do that.

 

Stamkos vs. Malkin. How exciting is that? For the FanDuel contest on Saturday, I took Stamkos. I was right – he beat Malkin two points to one… and now they are deadlocked at the top of the standings. The steady, healthy 100-point guy Stamkos versus the elite, but oft-injured 120-point guy Malkin. Dead even, with 17 games to go for Stamkos and 18 for Malkin. What does this mean to me personally? I've never really placed a serious bet before, but when Malkin had 30-1 odds of winning the scoring title in September I jumped on it and bet $100. You do the math. All my hockey pool winnings combined won't add up to that number. Now if only I bet $100,000 …

 

Speaking of the Fan Duel contest, the results are here. There were 276 entries, edged was the winner of $100, 'powers' won $75, 'nixigo' wins $60 and 'cwonnell' gets $50. Only 25 people managed to beat me, so they get $5. Keep an eye out for these contests, as I'll try to run them once per month (on DobberBaseball as well). They're free, easy, and pretty fun – but they only get announced 48 hours in advance, so make sure you check in on Fridays at the very least.

 

Bypassed in his draft year, the Sharks signed him later in the summer and Michael Sgarbossa has not looked back. He followed it up with 82 points in 63 OHL games last season. And now, for Sudbury he is tops in the OHL in scoring with 89 in 58 thanks to a five-point game on the weekend. We can see why Colorado had him put in their Galiardi trade with San Jose. He needs to get bigger and stronger, but he is fast shooting up the prospect charts.

 

Maybe a Portland (AHL) or Peoria fan can help me with this one – why were Patrick O'Sullivan and Brett Sterling re-assigned to swap teams?

 

Marc-Andre Bergeron will have back surgery and that will end his season.

 

It was good (for my fantasy team, as well as real life) to see Michael Del Zotto back and picking up two points.  He had left the last game possibly concussed/ possibly not concussed (you know how it is these days).

 

Ray Emery is revving up again. Remember December? Well watch him roll off a bunch of wins in a row – provided that they keep starting him. He needs to keep starting to keep that rhythm going.

 

Speaking of goaltenders, I wouldn't be shocked to see Michael Hutchinson get into NHL action at some point. With Tuukka Rask injured, Thomas has allowed six goals on his last 30 shots. Very un-Thomas-like.

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What is it with the Avalanche and picking up players? I remember when they got Peter Mueller, he was a superstar right away until the concussion. They get Steve Downie a couple of weeks ago and he goes nutty. Now that he's hurt, they turn to… Jamie McGinn? Two goals for McGinn Sunday night in the first period alone.

 

I don't believe anyone should rush out and pick up Casey Cizikas. But I think he's giving you a taste of why I believe the Isles will be successful next year. Three points in five games, lots of hustle and grit. He'll be a steady 50-point player with the intangibles that every team wants, and next year I can see mid-30s. This team as is, with an improved Tavares plus Cizikas and Ryan Strome, will be a goaltender shy of a playoff spot. And if they can re-sign Nabokov – the way he's playing right now – then the latter is settled.

 

I don't think their goaltending situation is bad. It's just confusing. I like Al Montoya, but he hasn't had the regular starts that he needs. I like Kevin Poulin, and he should be the goalie of the future. Then Anders Nilsson comes in on Sunday and posts a 24-save shutout.

 

The line on Marek Zidlicky as a Devil – five games, no points, minus-3, three shots. But they've put Matt Taormina back in the lineup at least. But he's still not getting any PP time.

 

Jimmy Howard left Sunday's game as well. In comes Joey MacDonald again. Lots of surprise opportunities this year to get a desperately needed starting goalie off the wire in fantasy leagues.

 

Nik Kronwall – three Lidstrom-less games, points in all three of them, seven points in all.

 

Mike Green has yet to record a point since returning.

 

The Capitals haven't scored in 120 minutes.

 

Both Kimmo Timonen and Andrej Meszaros are out indefinitely with LBI's. Erik Gustafsson got into the lineup – he's not a bad No.8 defenseman at all…

 

A couple of injury notes, Travis Zajac will return and play again this year, according to Pete DeBoer.  Alexei Ponikarovsky has an injury to his leg, but an MRI showed no damage and he will return to practice Monday.

 

Don Cherry vs. Brian Burke – Cage Match!

 

 

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