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Before the season started, many expected Florida to be a bottom-feeder in the Eastern Conference. They traded their captain and best player (Olli Jokinen) in the off-season, in what many said was an incredibly lopsided deal (the Panthers received Keith Ballard and Nick Boynton in return). However, new head coach Pete DeBoer has the Panthers playing a very strong team game, The Panthers are built around a solid defense and a balanced group of forwards. In their past 11 games they have scored 41 goals. It is offensive production like this that is making Florida a fantasy-relevant team.

All summer long I touted Mathieu Garon as the “surprise goalie of the year” because I truly felt he had all the elusive pieces in place. He not only has great positioning and the flexibility of a jellyfish, but he also got a big boost of confidence thanks to last year’s strong finish. Touted as the starter after training camp, it really was a picture-perfect setting for Garon to take charge as Edmonton’s go-to guy.
 

Eric Maltais first approached me with regards to joining the Industry Experts League he was running in the summer of 2008. I jumped at the opportunity to join a league featuring writers and bloggers from the likes of TSN, Yahoo, Rotoworld, Rotowire, McKeen’s Hockey; in other words the cream of the crop with regards to fantasy hockey on the internet. Maltais won the league last year, so I wanted to make sure that DobberHockey was going to be well represented in this league once again.

S’il avait passé au travers du processus de ballotage, il y avait une bonne chance que Rich Peverley passe sa carrière dans les mineures, se retrouvant constamment dans les 20 meilleurs marqueurs de la AHL. Il aurait rejoint les Jason Krog, Darren Haydar, Keith Aucoin – la liste est longue lorsque nous mentionnons des vedettes de la AHL qui n’ont jamais percé dans la LNH.

With the month of December- and the World Juniors- over and done, it's time for a new '09 Draft review. Instead of a mock, though, check out an honest-to-goodness, old-school Top 30 inspired by all the always... creative... NHL Central Scouting Mid-Term Rankings.

Late last February Chicago and Carolina swapped talented and underachieving forwards in Tuomo Ruutu and Andrew Ladd. Ruutu was drafted ninth overall in 2001, while Ladd went even higher at fourth in 2006. Both came into the league with a lot of expectations and on the whole both failed to deliver. This trade did not register anything more than a minor blip in the fantasy hockey world, but it should have.