March 3, 2015

steve laidlaw

2015-03-03

Giordano done for the year, Vermette and Timonen debut for Chicago and more…

For a trade deadline in which all of the big names had already been moved yesterday was still surprisingly busy. I won’t lie though, I slept through a bunch of it. One of those rare years when you actually get sick on deadline day.

The biggest news to come out yesterday wasn't a trade but an injury report. Mark Giordano is done for the year with a torn biceps. That's one of those ones that's so bad that I'm not even sure anyone benefits. I mean, Dennis Wideman, TJ Brodie and Kris Russell will all see more minutes to help pull up the slack but without Giordano there to help get that puck moving in the right direction, those minutes won't be near as productive.

It's always possible that the Flames overcome this injury, they've been a lunch pail team all year. Karri Ramo and Jonas Hiller could goaltend the Flames out of this. But I think it's the goaltenders who will be hit hardest of all. The Flames were already getting outshot more often than not. Losing Giordano won't help on that front.

The biggest trade yesterday was undoubtedly Anaheim's acquisition of puck-moving wizard, James Wisniewski. He is exactly what this team needs. He brings a solid right shot with 10 power-play goals and 42 power-play points over the past two seasons to an Anaheim team tied for 20^th in power play efficiency. He's an instant replacement for what was lost with Sami Vatanen out.

Unfortunately, you may not be able to take full advantage of Wisniewski. He's a band-aid boy and he's hurt right now. Out one to two weeks with a bone bruise after blocking a shot against the Penguins. That bone bruise can be tricky. Sometimes guys can play through it. Other times it costs them a couple of weeks like it did Nick Bonino recently. Or it can become a real problem like it has for Taylor Hall where he came back too early.

This was a pretty low-risk acquisition for Anaheim though. They were able to dump Rene Bourque who had recently cleared waivers so the only real asset they gave up was Wild Bill Karlsson (read more on him here). Even if Wisniewski's injury becomes problematic and they only get a couple of weeks plus playoffs out of him it's probably worth it, especially since he's signed beyond this year.

For you, however, there would be inherent risk in acquiring Wisniewski especially since the Ducks have as few games as any team remaining (18) and seven of those come in the next two weeks, which is time he could miss. Ramping up on H2H playoff time here. Every little edge (games played is one) matters.

You have to feel for Vatanen owners. He comes out guns ablaze but gets hurt and now has a veteran replacement with a big contract in his way. I'm not sure when exactly the correct time to sell high on Vatanen was but it was somewhere around November. He can still be an asset, mind you. At least in keeper leagues he can. But now we are looking at a couple of years of struggle. Good buy low window open right here I think.

I can't say that I'm overly excited about the Chris Stewart acquisition for the Wild. I really didn't think of them as a viable destination at all. I was looking at teams with a lot of stability who could stomach a player with Stewart's flaws and give him insulated minutes.

I suppose that you could argue Minnesota fits that description. They've been one of the better possession teams all year and have found success now that they have good goaltending. But this team already has the underwhelming talents of Thomas Vanek dragging down their puck possession and requiring plenty of insulation.

Maybe Stewart pushes Vanek down the lineup but that seems unlikely just based on contract politics, though Vanek did play on the third line for a good chunk of the year. It's also possible that Vanek and Stewart are used together on a line that sees predominantly offensive zone starts in an effort to minimize self-inflicted damage.

It will be very interesting to see just where Stewart fits in and if his impact is more positive than negative. Here are the Minnesota lines from their most recent game:

Frequency	Strength	Line Combination
17.97%	EV	64 GRANLUND,MIKAEL – 11 PARISE,ZACH – 29 POMINVILLE,JASON
16.41%	EV	23 BERGENHEIM,SEAN – 9 KOIVU,MIKKO – 26 VANEK,THOMAS
14.06%	EV	3 COYLE,CHARLIE – 22 NIEDERREITER,NINO – 10 SCHROEDER,JORDAN
9.77%	EV	21 BRODZIAK,KYLE – 14 FONTAINE,JUSTIN – 56 HAULA,ERIK

It seems as though Jordan Schroeder, who had been playing really well last time I checked in on the Wild will take a hit here and get bumped from the top-nine. This is one of those ones where tinkering probably wasn't necessary but it's worth mentioning that the Wild could ill-afford an injury up front so now they've got a little more depth to work with.

The Sven Baertschi trade yesterday is a nice reminder of the dangers of rebuilding and I don't just mean for NHL teams but for fantasy teams as well. A couple of years ago Baertschi had a ton of momentum and was supposed to do a lot of what Johnny Gaudreau has done for the Flames this year. Now he's been dealt for a second round pick. This is a guy once selected 13^th overall. Talk about diminishing returns.

Dobber thinks that a fresh start could be good for Baertschi. I agree but I'm skeptical. This is a guy whose points per game have dropped for the second consecutive season at the AHL level. Maybe that's a result of trying to refine his game. I think it's the result of simply losing it. Baertschi's game is offense. If he's not scoring, I'm not sure what he's providing.

Read more on Baertschi over at DobberProspects. His profile has been updated to reflect the trade.

While we're on the subject of DobberProspects, check out Brendan Ross' latest prospect ramblings discussing some of the prospects who have been dealt in the past week among other topics.

📢 advertisement:

Interesting wrinkle to the Andrew Desjardins–Ben Smith swap. The Sharks retained some salary which enables the Blackhawks to keep Teuvo Teravainen up with the team. What capacity that will be in remains to be seen. Fortunately, the Blackhawks played last night so we can glean something from their line combos courtesy of Frozen Pool:

Frequency	Strength	Line Combination
25%	EV	81 HOSSA,MARIAN – 19 TOEWS,JONATHAN – 23 VERSTEEG,KRIS
20.24%	EV	20 SAAD,BRANDON – 10 SHARP,PATRICK – 80 VERMETTE,ANTOINE
17.86%	EV	29 BICKELL,BRYAN – 91 RICHARDS,BRAD – 86 TERAVAINEN,TEUVO
16.27%	EV	16 KRUGER,MARCUS – 42 NORDSTROM,JOAKIM – 65 SHAW,ANDREW

I don't hate it as a Vermette owner! He skated only 12:55 last night but that's pretty good company assuming Patrick Sharp can even get his game going.

That also isn't too shabby if you are a Teravainen owner. No power plays for the Blackhawks last night so we can't come to any conclusions on that front. We probably shouldn't come to any conclusions in general but considering they won convincingly it seems reasonable to assume that these lines will be in play for next game.

It's also worth mentioning that Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook were split up with Kimmo Timonen joining Seabrook and Keith carrying David Rundblad. That will help Rundblad's Jeff Schultz Memorial Trophy candidacy! Timonen skated just 17:29, but again, no power plays so we can't be sure where he fits on that front.

The New York Rangers are a problem. They beat up the league-leading Predators with Cam Talbot in goal versus Pekka Rinne. The Rangers outshot the Predators 40-26 and pushed Shea Weber to a minus-four rating. It's only one game but it's as much of a statement as one game can be.

Keith Yandle was scoreless with a minus-one rating but the telling stat for me was this – the Rangers played for two minutes on the power play and Yandle skated every second of it. The Rangers power play is already good in terms of efficiency, ranking 10^th, but they don't actually draw a lot of volume. If the Rangers are going to give Yandle all of the minutes then that lack of volume won't matter so much.

Mats Zuccarello fresh off his contract extension tossed two assists on the board. I don't know how many times I've confused him and Martin St. Louis while watching Ranger games. Probably just a size thing but Zuccarello plays one heck of a dynamic game. Very important signing for the Rangers. Between him and Yandle that probably means St. Louis won't be brought back or if he is, it's going to be a sweetheart deal for the Rangers.

UPCOMING GAMES

	Jun 04 - 20:06	EDM	vs	FLA

Starting Goalies

View on GoaliePost App

Top Skater Views

	Players	Team
	GRACYN SAWCHYN	FLA
	JJ PETERKA	BUF
	MATEJ BLUMEL	DAL
	MARCO ROSSI	MIN
	MAVRIK BOURQUE	DAL

Top Goalie Profile Views

	Players	Team
	MICHAEL HRABAL	UTA
	JUUSE SAROS	NSH
	THATCHER DEMKO	VAN
	LINUS ULLMARK	OTT
	THOMAS MILIC	WPG

LINE COMBOS

	Frequency	BOS Players
	20.2	DAVID PASTRNAK ELIAS LINDHOLM MORGAN GEEKIE
	14.6	PAVEL ZACHA FABIAN LYSELL MARAT KHUSNUTDINOV
	13.4	CASEY MITTELSTADT VINNI LETTIERI COLE KOEPKE

DobberHockey Podcasts

Audio Player