What a crazy week it has been - we had an equipment truck on fire, another Wing is clipped, the Preds, Blues, Ducks and Wild are red-hot and we have a new “win and you’re in” strategy employed in Columbus. Let’s take a look at the latest news of what’s been happening on the Western front.
Goldman delves further into the Mason/Garon situation in Columbus
Ken Hitchcock met with Mathieu Garon and Steve Mason together on Sunday morning, less than 24 hours after the team suffered a self-induced early implosion against the Colorado Avalanche. To summarize what the conversation entailed, Hitchcock had this choice quote for Aaron Portzline of the Columbus Dispatch:
"Win and you're in," Hitchcock said. "That's where we're at now. If a guy wins, he keeps on playing." (Source)
As a fantasy hockey GM, the easy thing to do when evaluating prospects is take your cue from NHL teams. They spend a lot of time and money scouting players, so one can safely assume that the higher a player was drafted, the better he is, right? Wrong.
It’s that wonderful time of the year, where we are all supposed to be in the spirit of giving. As much as I’d love to give you all guaranteed winners so you have some extra spending money on Boxing Day, I’m quite busy rushing around trying to find adequate Christmas gifts, as I have left my shopping till the last week... again. Enough of this fluff talk, let’s get right to it. If you want to win money I’d bet on my dog before putting money on me... Happy Holidays!!!
Crazynuck delivers the goods as always! Want to see what teams have the best and worst schedules from a fantasy perspective? It doesn't matter what day your fantasy pool sets the lines, it's all in here!
Only Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin average more ice time amongst Pens forwards than Jordan Staal, who averages over 19 minutes of playing time each night. No one on the Pens logs more short-handed minutes than Staal. Unfortunately for his fantasy hockey owners, he only receives the eighth most average power play time. That makes Staal more valuable to the Pens than on your fantasy squad.
Canada’s final roster for the upcoming World Juniors has been released. Upon first glance, the 2010 edition of Team Canada lacks some of the firepower that has been on display in recent years. However, there still is a lot of talent and grit at all positions, and Canada has to be considered a favourite as they look to win a record-setting sixth straight gold medal. If you haven’t had a chance to check out my article on the WJHC and how you can use it to your advantage in your hockey pool, do so now.
The Christmas break is fast approaching, so this week we’ll just take a look at what’s been going with each of the Western Conference teams.
Chris Boyle is back with his monthly roto rankings. Unfortunately, to quote Boyle - "my real job got in the way of my fake job this month", so you'll have to wait until January for the hilarity of his fine wit to resume.
Just remember that unlike the other rankings on this site, the roto rankings gives you the value of the player in rotisserie leagues season-to-date, and does not project for the future...
The fine lines separating quality long-term fantasy goalie gems from total busts become more blurred with every passing day. The position is kind of like an amorphic, shape-shifting biological entity that finds a way to mutate into a stronger, more refined being. The different genetic codes that make up every NHL goalie then leads to many different interpretations of what the future holds for said goalie. To be blunt, nobody knows for sure what will happen next.
Now more than ever, with so many seemingly solid prospects evolving at a younger age (and all over the European leagues), you need to have a much wider scope of things and see the big picture. By that, I just mean understanding what it takes for any style of goalie to compete and win in today’s NHL game, both mentally and technically.
