Shallow Frozen Water

Impertinent fantasy thoughts

Ryan Malone looked like the star that many thought he was going to be last night; Marc Andre Fleury … didn’t.  Fleury got bounced after 4 shots, 2 that went in.  Malone got to line up with Sid and Colby Armstrong who also looked strong.  Malone may be turning a corner in his fantasy value, watch carefully or better yet, don’t wait go add him now.

Martin “Darth” Gerber is quickly become a god in Ottawa.  the guy lets 5 past him and nobody hiccups about how good or bad he really is.  won’t you all come over to the dark side?

one of the hottest sticks over the last 10 games or so has been Daniel Cleary.  he went on a streak like this last year too, and then went cold as ice RIGHT AFTER i traded for him.  he’ll easily get to 20 this season and might approach 30 if he keeps getting the opportunity he’s being afforded of late.

Radek Bonk has 9 freaking goals.  he only has 2 assists on the season though and that says to me that he’s been unnormally opportune so far this season.  he won’t keep this up and won’t be anywhere near the team lead for goals by season’s end.

everyone talks about Kane and Toews in Chicago but that young team is chock full of decent talent.  Patrick Sharp may be the best penalty killer in the league right now, although Shawn Horcoff looks to be on fire right now, and Sharp is helped out a lot by a really good supporting staff too.  Dustin “bfugly” Bfuglien (although i hear it’s actually pronounced closer to Buff-lin but Bfugly-en is funnier) is helping a young D corps get even better.  when this team matures they could have a real start at something special in Chicago, especially if Cam Barker and Brent Seabrook turn into something.

just imagine if the Oilers could land an established offensive point getter by raffling Dwayne Roloson off.  Mathieu Garon looks to be stealing every start away from Rolly and so why not try and get say, Vinny Prospal or something.  that is strictly a rumour that i made up there is nothing that i’m seeing, hearing or reading that says there is anything like that in the works.

go get Shawn Horcoff.  he’s lighting it up, his name is all over the highlight board whenever you’re listening to a game recap.  it’s not the Oil has many options so if they can ride Horcoff to a 30 goal, 85 pt season then why not?

the firing of Glen Hanlon in Washington is going to open up the offense in Landover since guys are anxious to show they don’t suck.  now that they’re finally healthy i expect big things out of all the big guns except Nicklas Backstrom who i read is relegated to 4th line duty.  get Chris Clark in your lineup, he’ll skate with AO.

Ilya Bryzgalov returns to Anaheim this afternoon and you just know he’s itching to play and win this game.  i don’t know what sort of odds you could get on the outcome and since i’m not a big betting man i’m not going to look either but i like his chances on coming out of this game with a win.  i expect it’ll be low scoring though.  bet the under.

watch out for the Montreal/Buffalo game tonight.  Tomas Vanek looks to be waking up, Tim Connolly is back and Buffalo is tired of not showing what they can do.  the Montreal Gazette is reporting that Carey Price will get the start and if the Habs keep giving him all the tough divisional road starts they might as well just hand him the job, trade Huet away and give Halak the shot at backing up the kids.  that would actually help my fantasy team a lot so please do.

Josh Harding is a bit dinged up in the head and will be re-evaluated today.  there has been some frustration over an apparent goalie tandem in Minny, which is brutal for fantasy owners.

did you see Marian Gaborik apologize to fantasy owners for the defensive shell style that the Wild puts out there.  funny.  Gaborik is the only guy on that team who should have NO restrictions on him when talking about counter attack.

the Lightning head into Carolina tonight for what should be a good game to watch.  they have the Conference’s two best offenses and they have two coaches that i mix up for one another all the time, don’t know why.  Tortorella is a goalie killer by the way.  the man is an offensive genius but he messes with his own goalie’s head and that ain’t good.

it should be a fun night of puck. 

we up here in Canada have the CFL championship this weekend and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers face the Sas-scratch-me-one Roughriders in the big game on Sunday.  to add to all the fun here in Winnipeg, the Manitoba Bisons battle for the university football crown in the Vanier Cup this weekend too.  it’s a big weekend for us folks up here in the cold.  Winnipeg gets this far so seldom, we need this.