Subbing in for Drance with a marathon of a Sunday Fantasy Hockey Ramblings, including lots of Isles talk …

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Dobber here, covering for Drance who will grab my ramblings on Wednesday. So you have me back to back!

The season has started and I’m pretty happy with how things are going. I’m in three keeper leagues this year, plus I put together a team for Dobbernomics just because I enjoy that game and I just put myself in a random league. (It’s not too late to join). I have yet to put my team in my own free pool (details here), but I will be taking care of that before the Tuesday deadline.

But I’m happy with how things are going. For me, happiness not only lies in how my leagues are going, but also in how my prognostications are doing. When thousands of poolies are riding on things that you say, you sure as hell hope you’re right more often than you’re wrong. And regardless of whether two games have been played, or two hundred – you still hope for the best. My three leagues are doing well and there is no reason at this point to believe things will change, barring injury of course. So my focus is on how my ramblings – both in the Guide and here on the site – are looking….

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I’m happy about Jiri Tlusty. If I were to single out a player who I’ve been beating the drums about when it comes to a breakout season and/or a comeback year, it’s Tlusty. My position was that he had a strong year down the stretch of 2012-13 playing with Staal and Semin, but last year was a setback because a) he was injured or b) Staal was injured or c) Semin was injured. I think the trio had like three healthy games together. That, combined with the fact that Tlusty is entering his prime, bodes well. I was unable to get him in my Dobber League (that I’m commish) because of rules regarding reacquisition of a player within 11 months of trading him. In my Forecaster League I drafted him. In my 26-year-old league I had the Tlusty owner tell me he was available and I told him that I would give him the eighth overall pick for him if my player wasn’t around at that point. He accepted that, and I was told by several owners that I was crazy for giving up such a high pick – but it’s a two-round draft and I didn’t have any second rounders. It turns out that my guy was indeed around – Kasperi Kapanen. So I didn’t get the deal done.

I’m kicking myself for that.

Tlusty is going nuts and frankly, he’s been the best player on that line (mind you it was my secondary game, not my primary game – but he was pretty awesome). While 164 points on the season is unlikely, if he can play 80 games (unlikely because he’s injury prone, a little) he can post in the high 60s. He would also need Eric Staal to be healthy (update – which apparently didn’t happen, as he left the game with an upper body injury)

Speaking of Staal, did I see on Hockey Night in Canada that scouts were watching Staal and he could be in trade talks? Forget the trade talks for a moment, because I’m not big on that stuff, but…what? Why in the hell would scouts be watching Eric Staal? It’s Eric Staal! What do you need to see? If your GM is asking you to scout Staal…what is he asking you to look at? His skating? Talent? Hockey sense? Leadership? If I’m a team owner, I fire that GM for wasting scouting dollars. There are about 50 players you just don’t need to scout, come on.