February 18 2015
Dobber
2015-02-18
Thoughts on the Anaheim injuries/trade talk, Crosby’s slump and a secret WW pickup…
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With two more points last night, give Michael Del Zotto 11 in his last 12. This is easily his best run in over three years and it certainly bodes well in terms of a future recovery. I doubt he’ll be the player we were certain he would be when he was a rookie. But if he can make it to 40 points this year, there’s promise. He’s an RFA this summer so the Flyers still have his rights, which is a little unfortunate given their ‘Big 3’ on the way up.
Shayne Gostisbehere and Samuel Morin will be fantasy studs, while Robert Hagg will be minute-munching two-way guy who habitually flirt with 35 points. I suspect we’ll see Gostisbehere next season, and the other two in 2016-17, which makes Del Zotto’s window of opportunity a small one. He needs to be the coach’s darling now and secure his job. None of this healthy scratch stuff.
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My buddy Cam Atkinson has quietly posted nine points in his last 10 games. He always seems to tease us with a strong final six or seven weeks of the season. It’s the first 20 weeks that he needs to work on. He’s on pace for 37 points, but I suspect he’ll get to 42 or 43 which would be a career high. Baby steps, I guess. I’d consider next year to be his fourth year breakout, though technically he played two too many games in 2011-12 to fit my definition to the letter.
Curtis McElhinney has won four of his last five games and the game that he lost saw him facing 44 shots. He’s quietly adjusted his stats to a decent level. Bobrovsky is looking at a return I’m guessing around Sunday, March 1, which would mean McElhinney is good for another six starts. Or call it five, with the back-to-back games this weekend.
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With the assist last night, Kris Letang has pulled into sole position of second place among defensemen, two points behind Mark Giordano and a point ahead of Brent Burns. The difference is, he did it in 51 games, while the other two have played 57 and 59 respectively. If he stays healthy, he’ll most definitely win this race. And if he leads all defensemen in scoring, does that give him the Norris? Sometimes that’s enough. But in his case, he would have to win by a mile. At least 10 points.
Letang owners, did this have you worried?
Letang returned to the game, ended up playing nearly 27 minutes. Seems to be okay…but what do you think of Ovechkin’s slash (36 seconds into clip for best view)? No penalty called.
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Sidney Crosby has been shut out of eight of the last 12 games. Remember when he had 24 points in the first 13 games? Very un-Crosby-like to see him with just 34 points in 40 games since then.
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Meanwhile, Alex Ovechkin is going the other way. He has 14 points in his last nine games and has only been shutout once during that span. He’s slipped into fourth in NHL scoring and seems hell-bent to win the title this year.
Cody Hodgson played over 23 minutes! Oh wait, that’s over the last three games combined. Does anyone have an explanation for this train wreck? I’m at a loss. A good, promising player having an off-year should still get 40 points. This guy is struggling to get to 10. You can’t even blame Ted Nolan for this, either. After all, Nolan gave him 15 to 18 minutes of ice time in each of his first eight games, and was rewarded with just one assist and a minus-6 rating. After that, the ice time understandably goes down to 10 to 16 minutes. If, 40 games later, it’s more of the same – then it gets cut some more, until he’s fighting with Matt Ellis for playing time.
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Tomas Fleischmann has 16 points in his last 29 games. Still terrible, but at least it’s a 45-point pace. Maybe there is some hope on a new team? I wonder if Anaheim would be a good fit. His old buddy Bruce Boudreau. Below I describe why the recent injuries won’t impact how the Ducks treat the trade deadline…I just feel like they’ll look for an offensive winger regardless.
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Phil Kessel is minus-16 in 2015. Shocking, I know. I’ll give you a moment to pick yourself up off the floor and get back in your chair.
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Kari Lehtonen had a 145 minute shutout streak that was snapped last night. The little run has pushed his SV% up to .909, which is closing in on respectable.
Jamie Benn had a hat trick. Ho-hum, right? But actually it’s the first one of his career. Now that’s a shock.
Hey, Jason Spezza tallied three assists last night and has four points in two games since the Seguin injury. I’d like to think that he’s heating up thanks to Seguin being out, but Spezza was on fire even before the injury. He has 10 points in his last six games and 17 in his last 13. His pace is back up to 68 points. That’s around the number we all figured he’d be at in a secondary role with Dallas, but a month ago I was pretty convinced that he’d turned into a 55- 60-point player.
I like how Spezza is suddenly Johnny Ironman now that’s he’s on a new team. Maybe it’s the warmer weather?
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Brian Elliott, on the heels of his first strong game in a couple of weeks, was chased after just eight minutes last night. He gave up three goals on six shots, but he was hung out to dry. Here is the second goal he gave up to Benn.