If you have ever been to London, England, I’m pretty sure you would have attended the changing of the guard ceremony at Buckingham Palace. It’s actually quite a neat tradition to observe and seems fitting for the many changes that have come down this week in the Western Conference.
Steve Mason has seven shutouts on a team that has never made the playoffs before. He’s only 20 years old and although still a rookie, is probably never going back to the minors again. Sounds like another classic Cinderella goalie story…one that has to end sooner than later, right? Well it turns out that the clock may never strike midnight for Mason because he’s performing better as the season ticks down.
Jarret Stoll a conquis la confiance des poolers de nouveau. Par contre, les gens dans des pools à plusieurs catégories entrent lentement dans la danse.
L’attaquant des Kings de Los Angeles a eu un sommet en carrière de 68 points en 2005-06 avec Edmonton. À ce moment, il avait 23 ans. Amasser autant de points à un si jeune âge est un exploit en soi, et les poolers l’ont étiqueté comme futur attaquant de 80 points.
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Jarret Stoll has to earn the trust of poolies again. But those in leagues that track multiple categories are slowly getting back on board.
The Los Angeles Kings’ forward had a career high of 68 points in 2005-06 while with Edmonton. At the time, he was just 23 years old. To tally so many points at such a young age was quite an accomplishment and poolies pegged him as a future 80-point forward.
Many fantasy pools have their playoffs the last few weeks of the regular season. Over the next few weeks I would like to address the 'playoff' schedule a few times. I want the analysis to be tailored to your rules, your formats, yours teams and your concerns so please post your playoff schedule questions in the 'Article Feedback' forum.
This is an underrated deal in fantasy circles, not unlike the one that brought Lindstrom to Phoenix last month. Dan Fritsche was traded to the Minnesota Wild by the Rangers in exchange for defenseman Erik Reitz.
With the trading deadline set to happen in little over one month, many teams may be looking to deal with their various free agents now. Who’s in line for a big payday this summer? Who will get traded? Who will get inked to a new deal? Why do they call them “free” agents, when there is nothing free about them?
I’ll rate each of the Eastern Conference team’s likelihood of becoming buyers, sellers or standing pat at the deadline.
Before the season started, many expected Florida to be a bottom-feeder in the Eastern Conference. They traded their captain and best player (Olli Jokinen) in the off-season, in what many said was an incredibly lopsided deal (the Panthers received Keith Ballard and Nick Boynton in return). However, new head coach Pete DeBoer has the Panthers playing a very strong team game, The Panthers are built around a solid defense and a balanced group of forwards. In their past 11 games they have scored 41 goals. It is offensive production like this that is making Florida a fantasy-relevant team.
You Never Know What You’re Gonna Get.
Although that quote was made famous by Tom Hanks portraying Forrest Gump in the 1994 film, it could be very fitting for plenty of fantasy hockey pools out there. The All-Star break has come and gone, and with a little over 30 games remaining for each team for the rest of the season, most teams will be either preparing for the postseason or prepping up for the future. We’ll take a look at what’s been happening in the Western Conference leading up to the All-Star break and into some insight as to what potentially could happen in the final two and a half months of fantasy hockey.
An interesting goalie stat was thrown my way last week regarding NCAA products and the surprising number of them making it to the NHL and performing quite well. Below are the current goalies on an NHL roster based by their league of origin:
INT'L – 18 NCAA – 14 QMJHL – 12 OHL – 11 WESTERN – 8
At first glance, that impressive number 18 proves what we already knew – there’s a steady rise of European and Scandinavian goalie products over the last decade. Goalies like Miikka Kiprusoff, Niklas Backstrom and Vesa Toskala have not only made their mark since 2000, they have changed the entire world of overseas scouting.
