Join expert panelists as we break down the latest trades and rumors leading into Wednesday's trade deadline, and ask questions of your own! Hockey Utopia's James Anderson and Crash the Crease's Curtis Tudor fires fantasy questions at Dobber and trade rumor questions at Spector (and who better, really?) on Tuesday at 8pm ET for one hour.
Since we’re transitioning from the Olympic aftermath to the onset of March Madness, today’s lecture will reflect on a number of goaltending dynamics that were revealed to me over the last two weeks. I think these trends will not only affect how your fantasy goalies play this week, but if the Olympics were any indication of what the NHL’s playoff push will be like, they could impact your goalie’s long-term potential as well.
The fantasy take on the upcoming trade deadline – this week featuring the Eastern Conference
Ilya Kovalchuk has already been dealt, but there are still some smaller deals out there that could have serious repercussions on your fantasy squad. Here are some things to watch out for. All cap figures are according to Cap Geek.
The quest in Calgary to find a centre to mesh with Jarome Iginla might still be going on by the time Mitch Wahl is ready for the NHL.
The quest continues partly because of a lack of quality centre prospects in the organization, but also because finding good chemistry between linemates is sometimes elusive when you’re relying on logic – no matter how sound. Sometimes, plain intuition, a coach’s gut instinct or dumb luck can be the catalyst for a potent line combination.
A tough decision can be made easier with these charts showing you the best five and worst five schedules for upcoming seven-day periods. Some of you used them last year but for the benefit of new readers here is a refresher. The number next to the team indicates the 'multiplier' to use on a player's point-per-game pace to give you an idea how many points to expect for that week.
Welcome to part two of a three part look at the remaining schedules and a subsequent fantasy breakdown of the Eastern Conference teams. While NHL teams have to abide by a trade freeze during the Olympic Games, us fantasy owners certainly don’t have to.
Welcome to part two of a three part look at the remaining schedules and a subsequent fantasy breakdown of the Eastern Conference teams. While NHL teams have to abide by a trade freeze during the Olympic Games, us fantasy owners certainly don’t have to.
Following the must-read footsteps of my Eastern counterpart, here is the first part of the Western Conference postulations.
The first week of men’s ice hockey at the 2010 Olympics has produced no shortage of highlights and lowlights. Canada started the week with a bang, but went out with a fizzle. Alex Ovechkin’s seismic hit on Jaromir Jagr was a collision of arguably the two most physically dominant forwards of the past 20 years. Ovechkin is more of an aggressor, while Jagr could shield off entire teams behind his unusually large rear end. From a fantasy hockey perspective, many dream line combinations have been realized. How would Evgeni Malkin look centering Ovechkin and Alex Semin? We finally have the answer, and it is “fantastic.” And with regards to Team USA, the question marks surrounding their inexperience have been overshadowed by the sublime play of Ryan Miller.
Flying well below the radar of the average hockey fan have been two forwards looking to make a name for themselves – Mats Zuccarello Aasen of Norway, and Jagr’s sidekick on the Czech Republic, Roman Cervenka. Both are good enough to be playing in the NHL, especially the pint-sized Zuccarello Aasen, who should expect the offers to pour in after his season in Europe finishes up.
It took just 30 ticks for Martin Brodeur to mishandle a puck behind his net and 11 more for him to needlessly go paddle-down on a routine Brian Rafalski slap shot. A tiny redirection sent the puck just over Brodeur’s blocker and like a sudden slap in the face, Team USA struck first for an early 1-0 lead in both team’s final preliminary game.
