Shallow Frozen Water

sunday morning armchair

well, i’m on holidays from work presently, doing the family thing.  unfortunately i’m also sick, hopefully it’ll all be good soon.

who does Joffrey Lupul think he is?  he’s on pace for a 35 goal campaign, which is significant for him.  i was pegging him for goals in the 20’s this season.  i still think that his ice time is going to be hurt by the return of Simon Gagne who is just plain a fantasy hockey monster when healthy.  if i had Lupul i’d start shopping him right now, particularly if you can land someone like Brendan Morrow, Rick Nash or Zach Parise who are all putting up similar stats to Lupul who has gone 4 and 4 in his last 4.

i’m betting that Karri Ramo is just what the doctor ordered for the Lightning.  now if only Tortorella can stay out of his goalie’s head then they might be able to do something.  Marc Denis was supposed to be what it now looks like Ramo is to be.  i actually drafted Denis last year with the expectation that he’d fulfill the promise he had shown in previous years.  he’ll be a career minor leaguer from here on out.

Jordan L-L-L-Leopold got his 2nd goal of the season yesterday afternoon and is a dark horse to pocket some goals for a Avs team that doesn’t really have a stalwart D to lead the way anymore.  John-Michael Liles has 14 goals each of the last 2 seasons but only has as many as Leopold has this season in 3x the games.  i also like Brett Clark but that’s mostly for assists.  some of these D’s in Colorado need to get out the hammer.

apparently Ladislav Nagy is playing with Alexander Frolov and Derek Armstrong.  that might be a good mix if Frolov decides he wants to shoot more and Nagy realizes that he’ll get stats if he can just get Frolov the puck.  don’t hold your breath though, Frolov can be very inconsistent.

Jonathan Bernier took the loss to the Swedes at the World Jr’s in the Czech Republic yesterday.  after his stint in LA earlier this year he should be used to losing.  and no, obviously i don’t want Bernier to keep losing, i am Canadian after all.  Bernier is still the future of the Kings and he’ll be fine.

Ryan Smyth is -5 on the season, that’s just wrong.

Patrick O’Sullivan has 11 pts so far in December in 14 games.  keepers should’ve already snapped this guy up.  by the way he’s also -10 in December but that’s par for the course in LA lately.

there were some goalie spankings going on in Ottawa as the two nation’s capitals squared off in a slugfest.  both Kolzig and Gerber played the whole game and the Caps won 8-6.  AO went 4 and 1, Mike Fisher with a hattie including a shortie and a PPG, Wade Redden with 3 assists, and Mike Green with 2.  by the way, go trade for Mike Green, he’ll give you about 15 goals from a D and will come at a reasonable price.

i read one fantasy columnist recently who wrote that Scott Gomez was hot and Jaromir Jagr was cold.  are you kidding me?  Jar-o-meer only has 11 pts in his last 6 games now.  will he get to 85 on the season?  well that would be 52 pts in 45 games so it doesn’t seem likely but at the same time Jagr has shown his mettle before and if anyone can produce like that then he’s one of a handful that can reach those levels over 3 months.  Scott Gomez is one of the best assist men around so if chemistry is developing for them then the time to pounce on a deal is now.  if that chemistry is with Martin Straka then who cares so long as it helps my team?

trade Andrew Raycroft.

Marc-Andre Bergeron scored a PPG after having been a healthy scratch for 5 straight games previously.  this is the 2nd year and the 2nd team in a row to love his shot from the point with the extra man but just can’t deal with his complete lack of defensive play otherwise.  i used to be a proponent of his but not any more, the reward just isn’t worth the grief from scratches.  if you want a PP option on the Island then the answer is Chris Campoli.

Richard Park goes through streaks of scoring but don’t be fooled, he’s a 4th liner forever.

Bill Guerin took on David Clarkson in a fight.  that’d take some jam to stand up under that.

Kari Lehtonen only has 6 wins in 15 starts, still he’s a viable G2 for your team and he got a shuttie last night.  ATL is a team that is going to do some damage over the rest of the season.  Hossa and Kovalchuk are monsters, we really haven’t heard from Slava Kozlov yet this season, and Tobias Enstrom will be a Brian Rafalski type (nice D2) within a season.

Alexei “plays like” Zhitnik got his 2nd goal of the season last night.  his time has passed and you don’t need him on your team anymore.

man what a difference a year makes for Nikolai Zherdev.  i don’t know what he changed outside of getting a better coach but keep doing that stuff Nikki.  he could break 3o goals this year.

i believe in Pascal Leclaire, even though he’s only had 2 wins in all of December.  a guy in one of my leagues put him on the block for trade and is looking for offense.  this is the guy with the best offense in the league so i don’t understand that but still, i’ll trade for Pascal.  i’ll find out today what the price tag is to be.

i told you to forget about Dany Sabourin.  i also said that Ty Conklin isn’t a better option though.  Ty got his 4th win in a row (shuttie too) which of course is good for him and for my team too.  when MAF returns though it’s going to be his gig again. 

the Pit/Buf game was the front end of back to backs that will finish with the outdoor game on Tuesday.  my sister lives close to Buffalo and i thought maybe i’d look into tix for that outdoor game since they’re seating 70,000 people, maybe it’ll be affordable.  it isn’t.  for me, my bro-in-law and his 3 boys to sit together would’ve cost us $1000.  seriously.  think i’ll just watch it on the tube.

Gary Roberts broke a leg after getting tied up with Tim Connolly.  he’s probably not on your team anyway and if he is you won’t need him now.

the Oilers get 2 SHG’s and still manage to let a win slip away from them as the Wild came from behind to kick them there.  Kyle Brodziak (no fantasy value) got 2 shortie assists.

Ethan Moreau returned after over a year off.  he’s actually a decent option for close to 20 goals and some PIMs.

Joni Pitkanen left the ice after a Demitra crosscheck at the end of the 2nd.  the Oil and particularly Sheldon Souray will need Pitkanen.

David Legwand left the ice in the 1st period and didn’t return against the Sharks last night.  i think Legwand is a Daniel Alfredsson clone and has a shot at being a 100 pt player in a couple seasons.

i blogged about the Sharks road record a couple wks back and now they have a franchise record 9 game win streak on the road.  if they remember how to play at home then perhaps only the Red Wings stand in their way.

people forget that Paul Kariya is an 85 pt player in a mediocre season.  he got a hattie last night and i think that Andy McDonald is going to be really good for Paul Kariya not the other way around.  if Brad Boyes is the sniper then Mac can setup all day long and Kariya goes back to be the all around setup/goalscorer that he can be.  i’ve been complaining that Kariya hasn’t been shooting enough for over a half decade now, i’m really hoping this is a turning point for him.  with all the talk of how people should trade for Mac after his trade to STL, how about trading for Kariya?  you’ll be happier with that idea. 

on a related note, Andy McDonald has a pulled chest muscle and Mac’s trade to STL allows for someone like Keith Tkachuk to play on a line with David Perron.  i love Perron for keeper leagues.

you’ve seen that Mike Ribeiro is playing like a monster right?  over a pt/game and i’ve actually seen him on waiver wires in shallow leagues.  he shouldn’t be.

got take a look at Antti Mietinen and Matt Niskanen on the Stars.  i think that Mietinen may be smoke and mirrors but he bears watching in case i’m wrong.  Niskanen is being groomed to be a nice 2 way D who may get to take over Zubov’s gig after he’s done.  i still say that Philippe Boucher becomes their best D when that happens but it’s still worth watching the situation now.