March 11 2015
Dobber
2015-03-11
Could Dubnyk get 40? Could Talbot get 30? Did Pavelec blow it? Why I traded Nelson for Vrbata; More …
***
The Rangers effectively shut down John Tavares in the battle of New York. And they also shut down Kyle Okposo, who was back in action. He was due back in mid- to late- March, but as per usual with NHL players, his return was a week early. Although he’ll end up on the Tavares line soon enough, he wasn’t there last night. After the game that Kennedy had with Tavares on the weekend, the coach wanted to keep that line intact. The problem with that theory is – the big game that he had with Tavares was against Toronto. In that situation, my grandmother would have had a big game. I don’t expect Kennedy to last there. I also think it will be Okposo and Bailey on that line and they’ll keep Lee on the second line.
Capuano also didn’t want to break the second line, which meant that Okposo toiled on the third line. Here were the line combos:
|
#1 |
17.7% |
|
|
#2 |
17.4% |
|
|
#3 |
14.7% |
|
|
#4 |
14.7% |
*
If Cam Talbot is 15-6-4, are the Rangers in a rush to get Henrik Lundqvist back? In the last four games he’s 3-0-1 and has allowed just four goals. He’s handling a heavy workload just fine. Lundqvist is taking shots now, but no timetable for his return. But I would suggest that he’s going to miss at least another two weeks and then return in time to get in five or six games of action to get warmed up just in time for the postseason. So Talbot probably has a shot at 23 wins.
*
Interesting Dallas line combos:
|
#1 |
24.4% |
|
|
#2 |
19.1% |
|
|
#3 |
16.4% |
|
|
#4 |
16% |
With Seguin back, Eaves is back on that line. And they’ve reunited Hemsky with Spezza (forgive me if they did that earlier, I haven’t checked the Dallas lines or watched a Dallas game in several weeks) and Hemsky fired seven shots on goal. Ruff also put the two prospects on Horcoff’s line.
Despite all the shots, Hemsky is pointless in seven games (23 shots).
The trade deadline for my last league is on Friday and it’s the league in which I’m shooting to four-peat. If you’ve been following my yapping about this in the ramblings this season, you’ll remember that I took over first place for the first time this season about a week or two ago. It was a looooong comeback. But my lead is a slim one and because of how hard it is to win a title four straight years when it’s a tough league, I’ve had to pay the price. I’ve been stripped of half of my draft picks for this summer, including the first three rounds. Anyway, on Tuesday night I agreed to a deal in which I got Radim Vrbata and gave Brock Nelson and a ninth rounder. Not only does this upgrade my likely points-per-game going forward on the wing, but Vancouver plays three more games. And that was what clinched it for me. Neither player would make my 12 keepers in the summer, and while I think I could probably get a fifth rounder for Nelson in the offseason… I could still probably snag an eighth or ninth rounder for Vrbata, thus getting that pick back.
By the way, DobberHockey has a tool that you can use to find out how many games each team plays during a given window. It’s the Game Planner, found here.
*
Kevin Connauton was back in the Columbus lineup last night and picked up an assist. I don’t have tremendous hopes for his breaking out next year, or ever – but I do believe it’s possible. I’m thinking we’ll see an inconsistent 30-point season next year (if healthy) and then he hopefully builds on that. We’ve already seen he can run hot and cold.
With three points last night, Justin Faulk has 15 in his last 14 games. I bought into the Faulk hype in his rookie season, but I was somewhat skeptical as I thought his potential was more of an elite two-way guy and his offense would probably be limited to 45 points. By this weekend, I’ll probably stand corrected. He’s sitting at 44 points right now.
*
Great work by the Jets to come from behind and score three goals in the third period to tie the game against a great team in the Blues. Fighting for their playoff lives, the team yanked Michael Hutchinson after he gave up four goals in seven shots and in goes Ondrej Pavelec who stopped 19 shots that he faced. Did Pavelec redeem himself? Is he finally earning that big paycheck? Is he stealing back the No.1 job that Hutchinson took from him?
Um…no:
Now THAT, my friend, is CLUTCH!
*
With six points in his last four games, Blake Wheeler has crawled closer to re-taking the team lead in points. And really, that’s where he deserves to be. With all due respect to Ladd and Little, Wheeler is the best offensive player on this team. Until Scheifele comes into his own.
And with another goal last night, Michael Frolik has points in seven straight games. And his countryman Jiri Tlusty is having similar luck. And by ‘similar’ I mean ‘very, very different’. Just one point in five games since joining the team.
*
I started a thread in the forum yesterday with a poll asking who people thought would finish with more points – Tyler Johnson or Steven Stamkos. Even those results are close. As I noted there, the psychology fascinates me. Even if Johnson wins this year, if the same poll was taken in September for 2015-16, Johnson would get zero votes. And if he were to win again, then the same poll taken the following year I’m guessing would still see Johnson getting zero votes.
And then of course later that day Johnson scores the only goal of the game…