The Dobotomy

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The title says it all. So without further ado…

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When Jeff Carter was drafted 11th overall in 2003, I figured that Philadelphia nabbed a potential 40-goal and 90-point man. When Scott Hartnell was selected sixth overall in 200, I felt that Nashville had a potential 30-goal, 70-point leader who brings energy to the game. When Joffrey Lupul was picked seventh overall in 2002, my initial assessment was that the Ducks acquired a kid with the potential to score 30 and see 80 or 85 points.

All three of them are now Flyers, they play on the same line and they are now playing up to their potential.

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It’s certainly a lot more complicated than this, but a macro look at a successful hockey team tells us that it has strong goaltending, a stud defenseman four star forwards and strong secondary scoring. Heading into 2008-09, the Boston Bruins had Zdeno Chara as their defenseman, Marc Savard as a star forward, and they hoped that Patrice Bergeron could recover from is concussion to be that second big scorer. The B’s also hoped that the tandem of Tim Thomas and Manny Fernandez would keep them in enough games to squeak into the postseason.

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So how does a defenseman go from eighth on the depth chart on one NHL team to second on another? Every season, there seems to be a defenseman who is discarded either via waivers or as a throw-in in a deal and that rearguard ends up performing fairly well on his new team.

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Thursday night we lost one of the most important fantasy players in the world for the rest of the regular season. Not only was Brenden Morrow a multi-category stud, but he also played one of the most difficult positions to fill in fantasy hockey – left wing.

But his torn ACL does not just impact Brenden Morrow owners. Far from it. For better or for worse, owners of any player in the Dallas organization will feel this one.

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Joe Thornton is not quite at a point per game and his fantasy owners are deeply disappointed. They shouldn’t be, because everything is proceeding according to plan.

Big Joe is a top-six fantasy player (according to the DobberHockey player rankings ) in leagues that do not have positional requirements and count strictly points.

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How comfortable did you feel drafting Alexander Semin in September? Not comfortable enough to draft him when you should have? Was he taken by somebody else in the ninth round when you were considering him in the eighth?

How do you feel about that now?

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The Stars are 1-3-1 this season, which is good for 27th in a league with 30 teams. The time to act is now – but not in the way we are seeing.