For your listening pleasure - put it on your Ipod or just listen in on your computer! Usually Dobber Nation is out on the 25th of every month, but due to health issues the October edition was pushed back. Finally it's here, so let's talk some fantasy hockey!
The New Jersey Devils had their eight game win streak snapped Monday night in Philadelphia. Most everyone lowered expectations or avoided drafting Devils predominantly based on the team bringing back the notoriously defensive-minded Jacques Lemaire as Head Coach. Other than a guy named Brodeur and more recently Parise, New Jersey has not typically been a fantasy friendly team.
This week we’ll take a deep look at the Western Conference wingers. The fantasy value of wingers can be similarly identified using the same two stats as we used last week in judging the value for defenseman, which is PP ice-time and SOG. The reasoning behind it is the same. The amount of PP ice-time given usually separates players who are heavily relied upon to carry the team offensively than those who are considered role players. On a similar note, SOG usually maintains a similar line of thought. The more a winger shoots, the higher the chance that a puck goes into the net or at least generates chances for a poaching rebound. The opposite also holds true, the less a winger shoots, the lower the chance that the puck goes into the net, thus a lower potential for points. Now that we’ve established clear indicators on determining the fantasy value of wingers, let’s take a closer look at a few of the wingers from the Western Conference.
The Olympics are approximately three months away. Team Canada’s roster will be announced on December 31st. That gives Olympic hopefuls only six or seven more weeks to show what they can bring to help Canada recapture their 2002 form after a horrendous showing at the 2006 games in Turin, Italy. This is the final version that I will put together, and the theme for this roster is “duos.” Instead of the prototypical scoring line/checking line/energy line format, I have put together four duos and then included four players that can rotate between the pairings depending on things like chemistry, health, and strategy.
The only way to bury the haunting ghosts of past failures is to focus fully on the current task at hand. In a season where slumps and losing streaks have hit outrageous levels for some, the importance of non-statistical goaltending factors is stronger than ever before. So if you’re going to battle the pangs of tough weekly losses in your own fantasy league with any success, you need to heighten your sense of situational awareness.
For many of the top fantasy goalies, their path to the top is never a straightforward journey. It’s a winding climb, a fall followed by a rise, followed by another fall. We’ve all heard the saying, “You have to lose before you can win…” and it certainly rings true for the likes of Craig Anderson, Ondrej Pavelec and Jaroslav Halak. But another phrase we hear often is, “You play like you practice…” and that is where the art of internal compete is revealed.
The ranking reflects the statistics accrued through Nov 13th and does not compensate for games missed. So although somebody like Malkin is projected for large numbers, his injury affected his ranking.
I decided to change pace slightly this month because of the abundance of new names on this chart. I have taken the consensus pre-season projections I collected (6 fantasy sources) and offered a comparison to where their 2010 statistics have projected them forward. Will they be able to hold on? Or are they one-hit wonders?
Notch's NHL picks for Saturday, November 14th.
Crazynuck steps up and delivers the goods once again for all you poolies. Having a tough time figuring out your lineup for this coming week? Your prayers have been answered.
Carolina is winless in their last 13 games (0-10-3) and have only seven points in 17 games (2-12-3) on the season, good for last place in the entire NHL. They look nothing like the team that eliminated the third seed New Jersey Devils and one seed Boston Bruins in last year’s playoffs.
Welcome once again to “An Expert’s Audit”. This audit will be posted here as well as on my fantasy hockey blog at www.fantasyhockey.hockeyanalysis.com . I also do weekly reviews of teams for people who email in to me for a look-see. These audits will continue to appear here monthly and if you’re interested in having your keeper team “worked over” then you can begin by emailing Dobber (contact link at bottom of website) about it. But send it in by the 15th, as I will be starting on my next one at that point.
