What an underrated team the Slovaks are. I've always been a fan of this team, whose only weakness had been in goal over the years. Now that problem is solved with Halak, although they aren't quite as deep as they were up front in the past. Easily the fifth best team in the tourney and [...]
The fantasy take on the upcoming trade deadline, featuring the Western Conference
Ilya Kovalchuk has already been dealt, but there are still some smaller deals out there that could have serious repercussions on your fantasy squad. Here are some things to watch out for. All cap figures are according to Cap Geek.
Angus here, popping in for a moment before I head off to watch some women's curling! Andy Strickland is reporting that Tomas Kaberle IS willing to waive his NTC. Quite a change from even a few weeks ago... However, he wants to stay in the Eastern Conference. I'll have an article out this [...]
It took just 30 ticks for Martin Brodeur to mishandle a puck behind his net and 11 more for him to needlessly go paddle-down on a routine Brian Rafalski slap shot. A tiny redirection sent the puck just over Brodeur’s blocker and like a sudden slap in the face, Team USA struck first for an early 1-0 lead in both team’s final preliminary game.
The first week of men’s ice hockey at the 2010 Olympics has produced no shortage of highlights and lowlights. Canada started the week with a bang, but went out with a fizzle. Alex Ovechkin’s seismic hit on Jaromir Jagr was a collision of arguably the two most physically dominant forwards of the past 20 years. Ovechkin is more of an aggressor, while Jagr could shield off entire teams behind his unusually large rear end. From a fantasy hockey perspective, many dream line combinations have been realized. How would Evgeni Malkin look centering Ovechkin and Alex Semin? We finally have the answer, and it is “fantastic.” And with regards to Team USA, the question marks surrounding their inexperience have been overshadowed by the sublime play of Ryan Miller.
Flying well below the radar of the average hockey fan have been two forwards looking to make a name for themselves – Mats Zuccarello Aasen of Norway, and Jagr’s sidekick on the Czech Republic, Roman Cervenka. Both are good enough to be playing in the NHL, especially the pint-sized Zuccarello Aasen, who should expect the offers to pour in after his season in Europe finishes up.
The biggest news of the day is the unsurprising announcement that Canada will ride Roberto Luongo the rest of the way. Because, at this point, if another goalie change is needed, the team is toast anyway. Angus didn't really say he was off to see women's curling last night. Really he meant to type... [...]
Following the must-read footsteps of my Eastern counterpart, here is the first part of the Western Conference postulations.
The Preds are expected to re-sign Pekka Rinne today. That will mean that the odds of Ellis getting moved have just gone up. Rinne because an improved fantasy asset as the undisputed No.1 and Ellis's value actually increases a bit as well due to the fact that he could be moved to a team that [...]
Calgary has re-signed Rene Bourque to a six year deal, worth $3.3 million annually. Upon first glance it seems like a fair deal for both sides. Bourque is a bit of a band-aid boy, but on many nights he is the straw that stirs the Flames offense. He should be a consistent 20-30 goal guy [...]
Welcome to part two of a three part look at the remaining schedules and a subsequent fantasy breakdown of the Eastern Conference teams. While NHL teams have to abide by a trade freeze during the Olympic Games, us fantasy owners certainly don’t have to.
