Shallow Frozen Water

Sunday morning armchair

it had been nearly a month since Burnaby Joe Sakic had scored a goal.  i saw a quote by him earlier this week agreeing that he’s really stunk lately and he needed to turn it up.  well, he got a goal last night and if you figure you have to worry about Joe Sakic producing offense then you’re probably not going to win anyway.  Joe will produce and if you worried too much about him and made a panic trade to get a lesser light then you deserve to lose.  in the same game i noticed that Daymond Langkow and Matthew Lombardi each went 1 and 1 while Jarome Iginla tallied 2 helpers.  if you play in a league that counts SHP as a category then look at Lombardi, he’s very valuable there.

i was reading another site that seems to have some good inside dope on hockey and they were all abuzz about how this was the last straw for the Leafs last night.  it was truly bad.  i’m a Leaf fan and i actually turned the channel to watch anything else after they let the 4th goal in in the 1st period.  something has to be done in Leafland, i hate to see them suck.  that goal that Peter Mueller scored looked really good, sharp angle, nice shot and no defender in sight.  Mueller is a big kid and he’ll be seen and heard for a lot of years.

there have been some returns from injury in the recent past.  Sami Salo is back (perhaps a bit too soon but they need him), Alexander Semin returned and apparently needs to be shelved again, Shea Weber (big name will put up big stats), Tim Connolly (he’ll help Vanek’s resurgence a LOT), and Martin Havlat is on the cusp of returning.  little girl Havlat, i started calling him that after he had 2 (!) kicking incidents that caused him to get suspended (who kicks?  who throws a shoe? wait that was in a movie or something).  all of those names are going to contribute significantly for any fantasy team.

i see that Nicklas Backstrom has put up 5 pts in the 2 games after Glen Hanlon has been fired and i said he wouldn’t amount to much … ya, my bad.  there’s going to be lots of offense for the Caps now that they have to show more to the “higher-ups” and Backstrom will get plenty.  at least i got the more offense part right.  i still REALLY like Clark and Ovechkin, Semin too whenever he comes back.

Marc Andre Fleury got a shuttie after stinking up the joint and getting pulled in his previous start.  Fleury is the goalie you want in Pitt.  Colby Armstrong and Ryan Malone still look like fine adds right now.

Buffalo had themselves a pretty good week, beating Ottawa once and then Montreal in back to backs.  Buffalo will be heard from in the Northeast. 

i don’t know what to tell you about Brian Gionta who got 2 last night.  he won’t return to his 40 goal prowess, that’s my prediction.  then again i also said that Jamie Langenbrunner was a pure plumber and then he goes and puts up a 60 pt season last year.  i kinda like both of them.

i caught the tail end of a discussion on HNIC saying that somebody told Mike Keenan not to use Adrian Aucoin nearly as much as he has been because he just isn’t as good as he was in Chicago.  whoever that guy was is a genius.  Aucoin is fairly average at best in terms of NHL defensemen.

the Sens played without Alffy last night and Darth Gerber got hooked too.  as a guy with Ray Emery on his fantasy team and without Alffy on it then i’m ok with both of these things happening.  now please, trade Emery or Gerber.  for me?

i saw that Jason Labarbapapa had a shuttie going into the 3rd last night as i went to bed.  it then turns out that Michalek potted one in the 3rd.  Labarbera was solid and Anze Kopitar led the offense going 1 and 1.  if you can stomach the slight +/- problem then Anze is an excellent option.  it’s looking like the +/- will be much less of an issue this season than it was last year.

i told my team review guy to go add Martin Erat this week and he’s got 10 pts in his last 6 games.  Erat doesn’t belong on a waiver wire unless you’re playing in a 6 team league or something so everybody else should make sure that he’s on a team somewhere in your league.