Hockey home

There are many moments during a game when a skater can afford the luxury of taking their eyes off the play. They can catch some air in the penalty box, quickly re-tie their skates or re-tape their stick on the bench or even take the rare shift off to recover from a gut-wrenching blocked shot.

Not so for a goaltender. They must be so attuned to the puck’s movement that even the most sudden bounces must be stopped. Juicy rebounds off lively back-plates, crazy caroms off the glass, deflections, re-directions, hard shots from bad angles – it doesn’t matter. If the goalie sees the puck, he must effectively make saves, control rebounds, recover quickly and be ready for the next shot. (*1)

Ville Leino has been one of Philadelphia’s best players in the 2010 Stanley Cup Playoffs. He was acquired back in February from Detroit for next to nothing (no offense to Ole-Kristian Tollefsen), and not much was expected of him. He came over to Detroit from Finland in 2008 after recording 77 points in only 58 games for Jokerit of the SM-liiga. He showed flashes of skill during his two years with the Red Wings, but the production wasn’t there (only 16 points in 55 games as a Red Wing).

Where does he go from here? Has Leino simply caught fire at the right time of year, or should we be expecting more from him in 2010-11 and beyond?

I have decided to spice things up a bit this week while Dobber is off enjoying a few cervezas in sunny and warm Mexico. Each day this week, I will be auditing a different fantasy hockey team submitted to me by DobberHockey members and readers. Wondering what your plan of attack should be this summer? Preparing for a draft? Upset about some trades you made in the past? I’ll weigh in with my thoughts on the interesting and important issues.

I will be running these audits on a weekly basis throughout the summer. Fire me an e-mail if you want to get in line!

Today I’ll be taking a look at the team submitted to me by DobberHockey reader Nathan, who has a talented young roster in an auction keeper league.

I have decided to spice things up a bit this week while Dobber is off enjoying a few cervezas in sunny and warm Mexico. Each day this week, I will be auditing a different fantasy hockey team submitted to me by DobberHockey members and readers. Wondering what your plan of attack should be this summer? Preparing for a draft? Upset about some trades you made in the past? I’ll weigh in with my thoughts on the interesting and important issues.

I will be running these audits on a weekly basis throughout the summer. Fire me an e-mail if you want to get in line!

Today I’ll be taking a look at the team submitted to me by DobberHockey reader Jim, who is trying to nagitave his team through a rebuild in the WFHL.

I have decided to spice things up a bit this week while Dobber is off enjoying a few cervezas in sunny and warm Mexico. Each day this week, I will be auditing a different fantasy hockey team submitted to me by DobberHockey members and readers. Wondering what your plan of attack should be this summer? Preparing for a draft? Wondering about some trades you made in the past? I’ll weigh in on the interesting and important issues with my thoughts.

Today I'll take a look at tml4ever, submitted to me by AJ (known as hockey4ever on the message boards).

It was an eventful two weeks in Russia. As you might have heard, Evgeni Dadonov didn’t wait too long to say that he doesn’t like the AHL and he made some loud declarations. On the other hand it looks like Alexander Avtsin is more than likely to do the opposite trip and come over to North Americap, and that’s certainly a good news for all the folks who support Les Canadiens.

I have decided to spice things up a bit this week while Dobber is off enjoying a few cervezas in sunny and warm Mexico. Each day this week, I will be auditing a different fantasy hockey team submitted to me by DobberHockey members and readers. Wondering what your plan of attack should be this summer? Preparing for a draft? Wondering about some trades you made in the past? I’ll weigh in on the interesting and important issues with my thoughts.

Today I’ll be taking a look at the team submitted to me by Ryan (known as Renegade on the DobberHockey message boards).

I have decided to spice things up a bit this week while Dobber is off enjoying a few cervezas in sunny and warm Mexico. Each day this week, I will be auditing a different fantasy hockey team submitted to me by DobberHockey members and readers. Wondering what your plan of attack should be this summer? Preparing for a draft? Wondering about some trades you made in the past? I’ll weigh in on the interesting and important issues with my thoughts.

Today, I’ll be looking at “Pierre’s Monsters,” submitted to me by Jonathan S.

Don’t look now, but the goalie factory known as Finland has just churned out another quality fantasy prospect. Meet Jussi Rynnas, the second European goalie to attract attention from a number of NHL teams and ultimately choose to start their pro hockey career with the Toronto Maple Leafs. Rynnas, who turns 23 on Saturday and is a monster in his own right, just completed a breakout rookie season in the SM-Liiga with Assat Pori. In 31 games for one of the league’s weakest teams, he posted a brilliant 2.50 goals-against average and a league-high .929 save percentage.