As reported in the Toronto Star recently, Ken Holland circles the American Thanksgiving on his calendar every year in red ink. By then, he says, a team has established its true winning percentage.
Not everyone takes so long a view of things as the Red Wings GM, but even on teams where an October overhaul is needed, many NHL GMs and coaches still often say they like to wait ten or twelve games to get a feel for their players.
Every couple of weeks during the 2009-10 season I will roll out my High Five/Low Five. The list is open to teams, players, coaches, and fans – basically anything hockey-related qualifies. The High Five are five things that have impressed me (with an emphasis on recent games), and the Low Five are five things that have me shaking my head.
We’re now into the second week of the NHL season and a lot has been happening. Similar to last week, I’ll walk you through the Western Conference to see what’s been happening and catch you up with the latest trends, plus this week’s hot pickups/cold starters.
Nothing is constant, nothing is pure, nothing comes easy and nothing is for sure. In almost every game so far this season, goalies have been prone to more bad bounces, heavy collisions, puck mishandlings or lop-sided shot totals than I care to remember. Whether it was Craig Anderson battling with Patric Hornqvist in Nashville, Mike Smith being nearly decapitated by Jamie Langenbrunner’s knee, the “Khabi-boo-boo” mishap against Calgary or Carey Price punching a hole in the wall after a 7-1 loss in Vancouver, I’ve learned it’s time once again to expect the unexpected.
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.
Just eyeballing some of the early season scoring leaders, the old guard is already starting to take their positions. There are a few pleasant surprises though, and some unpleasant ones when scanning the bottom of the NHL stats list. Nicklas Backstrom, Alexander Ovechkin (Washington), Dany Heatley and Joe Thornton (San Jose) are sure to be in the Top 10 by season’s end. Here are some thoughts on some other names you see up there.
It’s great to be back for another year. I’ve spent most of the summer trying to drink away the sorrow of receiving a beat down last season from my four legged counterpart. Hopefully Thunder gets distracted with all the snow we’re getting today. It’s time to start fresh with a case of beer for all of the Saturday night action, and let’s hope I still have a prayer after the 7pm starts!
The majority of league start on Monday’s so I’ll be focusing on Monday Oct 12 – Sunday Oct 18.
This week I will be taking a quick look at two players on each team. The first will be a player whose value is on a sharp rise while his counterpart will be a player whose value is resembling Nortel in 2001. Bear in mind that this "value" shift is based on the first week of the season, which is a very small sample to work with. However, I believe it is never too early to start making note of possible trends, and by knowing first, you can act first.
The start of the 2009-2010 NHL season is well and truly underway. There were certainly plenty of surprises, as well as plenty of hair-pulling mistakes. The main thing that you need to keep reminding yourself is that it’s only six days into the new season, and not to panic too much, there’s still plenty of time left in the season, before you call a fire-sale. Similar to last season I’ll provide you with weekly updates, so that you have access to the latest news that’s been happening from the Western Conference front.
