Roos Lets Loose

 
Despite never having laced up a pair of skates (except for those of his two young sons) and growing up in Red Sox crazed Massachusetts, Rick Roos has been a huge hockey fan nearly all of his life.  Inspired by often wearing a Canadiens jersey to the old Boston Garden (it’s a long story…) and living to tell about it, Rick started to join fantasy hockey leagues back in the 90s, where he found himself waiting eagerly by a fax machine for weekly stats updates.  He has since been in – and won – leagues featuring elite fantasy hockey writers. In real life, Rick is an attorney, which made him the perfect choice to write his previous “Holding Court” column on DobberHockey, where he debated both sides of a fantasy hockey issue and rendered a verdict for readers to debate. Later, for several years, he did similar for the popular “Cage Match” series. Today, Roos is freewheeling through a variety of monthly pieces: Forum Buzz takes a look at some hot topics our readers are discussing in the forum; Mailbag allows readers to write in to Roos with fantasy hockey questions; Goldipucks and the Three Skaters takes a look at three players (in the spirit of the old Cage Match, except Roos determines who is too hot, too cold…and ju-u-ust right); The Tournament is where Roos polls the readers and the forum community on a certain topic, just the way Tourneys ran in the old Cage Match, until a winning player in that topic is declared.
 
  

Ryan Kesler vs. Jonathan Toews

By |2015-07-24T09:05:33-04:00January 12th, 2012|Roos Lets Loose|

jt

 

The Blackhawks-Canucks rivalry is truly a thing to behold. Over the past three seasons no two teams have faced off against one another in the playoffs as much as these two have. The result is a familiarity that breeds tight-checking, hard-hitting action even in regular season contests and yet, the Blackhawks and Canucks are among two of the most skilled teams in the league so in the midst of their tightly contested matches there is plenty of skill, speed and creativity on display.

 

Dion Phaneuf vs. Dustin Byfuglien

By |2015-07-24T09:06:27-04:00December 28th, 2011|Roos Lets Loose|

Byfuglien

 

Happy Festivus everyone! It truly is a Festivus miracle that every year the NHL shuts down for two days around the holidays. It is the perfect time to gather your fantasy squad around the aluminum pole and take part in the airing of grievances. Here is an excerpt from my Festivus dinner this past Friday evening:

 

Jamie Benn vs. Evander Kane

By |2015-07-24T09:06:48-04:00December 21st, 2011|Roos Lets Loose|

Benn

 

Cage Match: Jamie Benn vs. Evander Kane

 

The single toughest aspect of fantasy hockey is analyzing breakouts. Obviously you want to get ahead of the game but pre-season estimates are hit and miss. You just can’t know for sure until you see the product on the ice. Once you see a breakout in action you need to quickly decipher its validity and the future implications. In this week’s Cage Match we look at to players in the midst of breakout seasons and analyze what these breakouts mean going forward. It’s Jamie Benn vs. Evander Kane – and no, it is not a boxing match.

 

Ryan Callahan vs. Dany Heatley

By |2015-07-24T09:07:59-04:00December 7th, 2011|Roos Lets Loose|

Callahan

 

Callahan vs. Heatley - I wish I could have gotten this week’s Cage Match out before the start of the season. I feel like it could have saved you all some pain. Much like last week’s Filppula vs. Ribeiro Cage Match I will be comparing an in-decline veteran with an up-and-coming youngster. This week it is Dany Heatley vs. Ryan Callahan. Does the vet have anything left in the tank? Is the youngster ready to usurp him? Let’s find out. Ring that bell!

 

Valterri Filppula vs. Mike Ribeiro

By |2015-07-24T09:08:36-04:00November 30th, 2011|Roos Lets Loose|

Rib

 

My two favourite mantras in fantasy hockey are; buy low sell high and; proven over potential. As we saw last week in the Giroux vs. Kane Cage Match sometimes you just have to throw those out the window. Things do eventually change. Learning to tell the difference between a buy low stock and a sinking ship is tremendously valuable. Being able to tell the difference between a breakout player and a fast starter is similarly valuable. In this week’s Cage Match we look at two different players in two very different situations – one in the latter situation and one in the former. It’s Valterri Filppula vs. Mike Ribeiro. Are these two contenders or pretenders?

 

Patrick Kane vs. Claude Giroux

By |2015-07-24T09:09:07-04:00November 23rd, 2011|Roos Lets Loose|

Kane

 

I cannot lie to you guys, I have been afraid to write this Cage Match article for quite some time. I mean, it is easy to compare Patrick Kane and Claude Giroux but how do you discern a difference beyond the logo on the front, and the name on the back of their sweaters? They are pretty much the same guy, as far as fantasy hockey is concerned.

 

Kris Versteeg vs. Joffrey Lupul

By |2015-07-24T09:09:39-04:00November 16th, 2011|Roos Lets Loose|

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It is November 16 guys. Think on that for a moment. Not counting the days off, there are 144 days left in the season. We have yet to even reach the quarter mark so the fate of your fantasy team is far from sealed. If you are one of the lucky few to have come out of the gates flying, soak it up but do not get complacent. Likewise, if your team looks out of it now, chin up.

 

Dmitri Kulikov vs. Tyler Myers

By |2015-07-24T09:10:46-04:00November 2nd, 2011|Roos Lets Loose|

Kulikov

 

On Monday forum member mvp0207 asked the question: Myers or Kulikov? As I was diving in to answer his question I realized that this would make for the perfect Cage Match. His league has the standard 6x4 H2H rotisserie format and while it is a one year league I will answer his question for both the one year and keeper scope. You ready?  Let’s do this.

 

Rick Nash vs. Ilya Kovalchuk

By |2015-07-24T09:11:20-04:00October 26th, 2011|Roos Lets Loose|

Kovalchuk

 

In my mind Ilya Kovalchuk and Rick Nash will always be connected as two of the wasted talents of this generation. Their careers are far from over but having used up their youth as the faces of two of the league’s most moribund franchises I feel confident making that claim.

 

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