Shallow Frozen Water

Sunday morning armchair

Brad Boyes returned to Boston yesterday and scored a goal as his way of saying SCREW YOU to the Bruins.  Boyes scored 69 pts in his rookie season for the Bruins and he followed that up with 34 pts in 62 games in his sophomore season before he was shipped off to St. Louis.  he was actually showing a bit of a rebirth to end the season last year but his start to the season is phenomenal in comparison.  Boyes’ 20 goals in 31 games is the 2nd fastest to 20 in franchise history.  in a related matter the recent trade of Andy MacDonald to StL will only help his (and Boyes’) value for the rest of the season.  Boyes is going to reach 40 goals and MacD might just get 50-60 pts in the Blues’ remaining 50 games.  it’s not like the Bruins are disappointed in Dennis Wideman’s production though.

Milan Lucic is a young power forward stud who tallied 9 PIMs yesterday.  he’ll get pts and he’s not afraid to drop the gloves.  keepers should’ve already targeted this guy a year ago.

Patrick Sharp is going to be a player.  right now most of his value in on the PK but he has a whack of value across the board too.  dude has 17 goals and 29 points now and there was too much of this season where the entire spotlight shone on Kane and Toews in Chicago.  if your league counts SHP or SHG then Sharpie is gone already (long ago actually) but in all standard leagues he needs to be rostered now, maybe even 8 teamers.

Bfugly got another assist last night and as a listed D in your league playing F then he needs to be on somebody’s team in your league.  he’ll stay up front this season despite the fact that other fantasy guys are saying that experiment was over once they traded Vandermeer (not so though, they brought up Cam Barker and kept Bfugly up front).

Ray Emery was back from his hip pain and if he’s healthy he’ll be the starter.  keep that in mind you Darth Gerber owners.

this is the 2nd time in a week  that i’ll mention Richard Park here and hopefully it’s the last time.  you want no part of him.  he’s traditionally a defensive forward who seems to be getting a tiny bit more opportunity with the Isles than he’s gotten elsewhere.  it’s a big gamble to roster him and you can find lots better options on your waiver wire.  he got a goal last night, the OT winner.  Rick DiPietro only had to make 16 saves to get the win over the Caps last night.  that Washington offense was supposed to be huge this season, it doesn’t look to be happening.  there were even some AO trade rumours this week and let me just say, that would be suicidal for the Caps.

Pavol Kubina sure took it on the chin this week after the loss to Tampa the other day.  i blame Jason Blake actually after he left Vinny Lecavalier uncovered beside the net.  it was just a broken stick Pavol, no big deal.  Kubina scored a PP goal in OT to close the door on the Panthers and boy that has to be a bit of a relief for him.

the time to trade for Vesa Toskala may be over.  he’s definitely carrying the load and if you rostered him now you’d be the recipient of plenty of saves, ratios and the occasional win.  man do i ever hope the wins pick up.

i’m hearing more about Jeff Carter’s contributions of late.  he might be sitting on your waiver wire right now.  he got 2 goals and nearly 23 minutes ice time last night to go along with 1 goal and 18 minutes ice time the night before.  he’s still in the same boat that Mike Richards was in not so long ago, a pending RFA at the end of the year.  i still say that if they don’t sign him in time then the Canucks will sign him just to say “how do ya like me now?” as payment for the Ryan Kesler signing last season.  Carter is going to be a LOT better than Kesler.

the Flyers lost both ends of a double header with the Sabres this weekend. 

Jason Pominville with 4 pts last night might finally be waking up a bit.  i’m still pegging him for 30 goals on the season and he’ll be helped by healthy C’s like Derek Roy.

i’m still trying to decide which Kostitsyn, if either, that i like.

there was the rare 2 empty net goals in Tampa last night as the 2nd one went in from Eric Staal.  i’m still hoping he explodes for stats more and i suppose that the injury to Justin Williams is going to create a little more ice time for all the big guns in Carolina.  some people are really ragging on him but please guys, he’s scoring at nearly a point per game and he’s only 23.  i certainly wasn’t the best guy in the room at work when i was 23 either, i’ll cut him some slack.

the “best player in the world” was -3 last night, ouch.  i still say that Sid is the best player in the world but i was ecstatic to get Vinny Lecavalier at 10 in the draft for our keeper league that we started this season.  ecstatic.  and then i got Jason Spezza in the 2nd round.  thank you very much.

Hank Zetterberg didn’t play last night, back problems.  Tomas Holmstrom didn’t play either (knee).  somehow Pavel Datsyuk made Valeri Filppula and Daniel Cleary good offensive options last night.  i suspect that even i could look good on a line with Datsyuk, he’s a magician.

i’d expect more out of Mikael Samuelsson this season, there looks to be some turnover for the Wings and if he gets opportunity with the big guns then i still say that 55 pts isn’t out of the question.

one of my fave watches going on this week has been Aaron Voros in Minny.  he has 11 pts this season, 58 PIMs in only 20 games.  he did NOTHING last night but that doesn’t dissuade me from recommending him to anyone looking for power forward stats.

keep your eyes open for Patrick O’Sullivan, particularly in your keeper league.  kid’s got skills.  he got 2 last night including an unassisted shortie.  it’s so hard to suggest a King for your fantasy team though since they’re all stinking it up for +/-.

the Preds sure needed that win.  JP Dumont has done so little of late it was good to see him helping Jason Arnott, who i’ve also been hearing disparaging remarks about, to find some offense.  Arnott went 3 and 1, Dumont has 2 assists.  Shea Weber had an assist but i just need him to shoot more, i need those goals that i know he can get.  don’t give up on the Preds offense guys. 

there was some discussion about franchise players on this site about a month ago, some were saying that Henrik Lundqvist is THE franchise player in the NHL.  i disagreed.  i said that Lundy may not even be the best goaltender in the NHL and the franchise player to have in the league is Sid the kid.  right now it’s looking like there’s no better goalie in the league than Bobby Lou though, and have you taken a good look at Ilya Bryzgalov?  Bryz is making that team a lot better than people think.  they’re young, they’re very good and they will be reckoned with.  Bryz may be available in my goalie starved league (Marc if you’re reading this then let’s talk about this).

i blogged about the Sharks home/road record the other day and well, things aren’t getting any better for the boys at home.  the big trees in Anaheim had themselves a very good game; Pronger 1 and 1, and Perry/Bertuzzi a goal each.  our new bloggers over at the Sharks page here at hockeyanalysis must be PISSED.  sorry guys.  if it’s any consolation your team is going to bounce back and do as they’re supposed to do, i already put it in print and i really do believe it.

the game slate today will be it until Boxing Day so it may be a quiet couple days for me around here.  i’m not planning a team review for this week in case you’re curious.  i’m on holidays, and i had a couple cups of cheer already last night.

the best of the season to all.  take a time to watch some version of “A Christmas Carol” or “It’s a Wonderful Life” or something, i always enjoy that this time of year.