NHL Picks/Props

While you’re deciding whether to spend your weekend working on a six-pack of Labatt suds or still somehow striving toward your NY’s resolution of sculpting a six-pack of abs, here’s my NHL Saturday Night Six-Pack Special for you to chew on. With a new precedent set by Toronto Maple Leafs GM Brian Burke since I last spoke to you, the glorified madness of Deadline Day has seemingly lost a bit of its lustre. A monkey-see monkey-do reaction by eager GMs league-wide has resulted in an early and frankly unprecedented frenzy in the market in the weeks prior to the traditional deadline caving.  Thus, with tonnes of new faces zipping off to strange settings and meeting new teammates all over the league, new chemistries will be abuzz, making for an interesting weekend for sure.

Let’s cut to the chase...

Trying to pick six certain winners isn’t as easy as it looks. Quite a few third period letdowns led to only one correct prediction two Saturdays ago.  Caribou didn’t hit .500 so she’s getting sent down as Thunder has been clawing to get back into the action. Only nine games on the schedule this Saturday as a warm up to Hockey Day in the US and the Heritage Classic out at McMahon Stadium on Sunday.  Hope everyone has a safe and happy weekend.

Looks like CBC is trying to make up for the less than intense ASG from last Saturday with a triple header today, not to mention five Canadian teams in action that can all be seen on the Canadian network. This is a terrific prelude to Hockey Day in Canada coming up next Saturday.  We’re trying to incorporate a slightly different format for the picks this Saturday, focusing on six matchups from the days’ action. I’m going to roll with the Hot Mutt, still up from the minors, as Caribou picked six winners last time out, beating yours truly by one. Plenty of hockey all day long so let’s get to it:

Every Saturday, we deliver the goods for the night’s action. This week Anthony Lancione brings you his picks for the games on January 22^nd.

The picks are coming a little early this week as I’m heading down to watch the Wild – Avs game Friday night, which means I have to drop my dogs off at my in-laws Thursday evening.  Thunder (the brown/black mutt) isn’t feeling so well, so her sister Caribou (black lab) has been called up on an emergency one game basis from juniors. The best part about the trip down to St. Paul is making my wife (a beloved Leafs fan) wear my Nordiques jersey!  Although the highlight of the weekend for me will be the hockey game, for my wife it’ll probably be a visit to IKEA the following day...  Anyways, let’s hope to some fortunate bounces to start 2011 off on the right foot!

Happy December poolies! Two Saturdays ago didn’t exactly go exactly as planned. However, aside from the four shootouts (coin tosses) I managed to split my picks down the middle. Unfortunately, the SO’s cannot be excluded and will be on the rebound this weekend. As we enter the NHL’s 3^rd month, this is where things start to get that much more interesting. Preliminary evaluations have now surely been made by GM’s league-wide and resulting plans of action will begin to stimulate some activity, as evidenced by the Hannan, Hunwick, Fleischmann movements this week. And so, without further ado let’s get to this week’s Saturday night slate!