Shallow Frozen Water

Sunday morning armchair

i hate to say it but the Habs are looking really good.  not top 3 in the league good as some are claiming but maybe top 7 or so.  if you’re in need of PPP then look no further than the Montreal Canadiens.  i’ve even seen Tomas Plekanec on some waivers wire and he’d be an easy solution to your problem if that’s the case.  Plekanec got a shortie yesterday and obviously he’d help there too.

i have a bet with a buddy on the over/under for Mark Streit’s goals this year, it’s at 10.5 and he got his 8th yesterday.  i’m going to win it and i wish we had bet more.

Andrei Markov took a puck in the face in the 3rd period but never left the game. 

Alexei Kovalev’s “great” drop pass looked to be followed by what should’ve been an interference penalty.  it ended up in a goal so it’s all good i guess.

Rick DiPietro is by far the Isles best player and if he went down for any extended period of time that team would drop down the standings like a stone.  seriously, i don’t see decent options on that team other than DiP.

Patrick Marleau told somebody at HNIC that he’s feeling great finally for the first time of the season.  he went scoreless yesterday but took 8 shots and was even in +/-.  a lot of guys cut ties with him  so there’s a good chance that you’ll find him on waivers in just about any league.  he’ll be a very viable C3.

if you’re in a hyper league that counts SHP and PPP and SOG and eye colour or crap like that then you’ll love Patrick Sharp who loads up with SHP this season, the hardest category to fill of those listed above.  i know it’s too late to find a guy on your waiver wire who’ll get close to 40 goals this season but keepers might want to try and trade for him.

Brent Sopel got a 10 minute misconduct for getting frustrated and firing a puck that nearly hit a ref.  a part of me thinks this is hilarious.

Pickles is going to be a very nice defenseman.  the Sharks should feel very confident trading him to my Maple Leafs if they like.  it’d be a mistake if they do.

Mats Sundin isn’t going anywhere so every other NHL team can just simmer down.  he won’t waive the NT clause and he’ll re-sign in TO this summer.

Robbie Earl got his first NHL point in his first NHL game.  he won’t have any value down the road but it’s always exciting for guys like that.  the young guy to watch for production down the road in TO is none other than naked boy, Jiri Tlusty.

man the Battle of Ontario sure looked to be a battle of desperation for a win.  the Leafs as a whole needed that win and Ray Emery definitely needed a win too.  Ray didn’t look good actually and standard leagues should’ve already cut ties with him.  i’m in a deep league where i’m going to keep him around as my 5th goaltender but i’m 20 games behind the pace at goaltender.  you should be able to get better options in all standard leagues.

Jason Blake is shooting the puck and contributing to his team’s overall play.  he isn’t the disappointment that he was through the first third of the season anymore.  he’s still probably going to get up toward 20 goals on the season though and that isn’t why they brought him in.

Chris Neil has a good shot at 30 points and 200 PIMs.  that’s a pretty good total for any PIMy option.

i don’t understand why the Sens D seems to have fallen apart because some of their top forwards are injured.  unless it’s about puck possession which it could very well be.

AO was held off the scoresheet for something like the 5th time of the season.  let me go check that stat.  excuse me.  ok, i’m back, i heard that stat on tv and it turns out it’s the 5th time since Dec 15 and only the 10th time this season.  think about that.

Mark Recchi has 24 pts in 26 games as a Thrasher.  he’s taking the place on the scoresheet that used to be occupied by Slava Kozlov last year.  Recchi will keep contributing too.

Kari Lehtonen made 36 saves to Olaf Kolzig’s 11 and he got himself a shuttie because of it.  that’s only his 11th win and 3rd shuttie on the season, i’ve expected more and i still do.

y’know who really impressed me during the All Star festivities?  David Clarkson looked to be all over the place during the young stars game.  i actually thought that was a lot of fun and it might be fun to make OT 4on4 like that too.  anyway, Clarkson has a shot at 30 pts and 200 PIMs too and isn’t getting enough keeper buzz for leagues that keep a lot of players.  he went 1 and 1 yesterday.

i think Travis Zajac can be Langkow good in a couple seasons.

a season like this for the Kings is bound to be good for the development of Jack Johnson and Patrick O’Sullivan.  they’re getting exposure and they have mentors around to show them the way.  both are going to be special players.

Milan Lucic needs to be watched.  he’s a burgeoning power forward and the Bruins won’t need to rely on Chuck Kobasew or Marco Sturm in their pecking order for much longer.  Kobasew has 19 goals now, Sturm 17, Lucic 6 but that’ll be heading for a reverse as soon as next year.

this just in, the Red Wings are really good.

Mike Knuble 3, Anaheim Ducks 0.  aw come on, it’s Mike freaking Knuble!  he’s never even had a hattie before.  he has some value in standard sized leagues but he’s a bench option at best.  the Ducks have lost 6 straight.

Paul Holmgren flew to Sweden recently, presumedly to speak with Peter Forsberg.  that could really happen.  if i’m Peter the great i’d sign there, they have a better shot than Colorado or Vancouver and just as good a shot as Ottawa.

George “porn moustache” Parros scored a killer win in a knuckle war with Riley Cote.  i bet it brought a lot of asses out of seats when the decisive uppercut landed.  it was huge.

Teemu Selanne will play on Tuesday.  i’m sitting in a sports bar earlier this week and i made the mistake of saying that i thought Teemu could get 20 goals in the 32 games left for the Ducks.  it turns out that he’ll only get in 25 games at best for the Ducks so 20 goals ain’t happening imo.  never shoot your mouth off in a bar.  15 goals, i think that’s possible.  seriously. 

Derick Brassard got his first goal of his NHL career and you WILL hear about a lot more from him.  the Jackets are going to have a lot of goals on their roster in a couple years, all they need is a superstar disher and i somehow doubt that Gilbert Brule is the answer, maybe that’s just a gut call though.

i, like you, wish i could figure out the goalie situation in Minny.  i want it to be Josh Harding actually and it was looking that way after how Nikl-back played for a while there in January.  i’m now firmly thinking that it’ll be slightly more of Nikl-back than it will be Harding.

Marian Gaborik only has 2 SOG’s but got 2 goals.  that isn’t luck. 

Brian Rolston led both teams in SOG’s and got a goal himself.  i really like him and had him pegged for goals in the high 30’s this season.  he can still do that too although it’s looking like low 30’s is much more feasible.

Cam Ward and the Canes had a 1-0 lead going into the 3rd and they gave up 4 goals (2 on the PP) to decidedly lose the game.

Sergei Samsonov has value as a Cane but not if Justin Williams is healthy and playing for them.

Ty Conklin has surprised and really helped my team.  that all changes when MAF returns though.

Ryan Malone is taking up some slack with the absence of Sid.  Malone is a nice power forward option who’ll provide serviceable offense and a nice mix of PIMs too.

Jordan Staal has 4 pts in the 6 games since Sid went on IR and he had 13 in the 46 previously.  he’ll continue to get more exposure as there’s more room amongst the top forwards until Sid comes back.  a lot of Staal’s contributions last year happened on the penalty kill and things are really different for him in that area this year.

Erik Cole got into a fight with Brooks Orpik last night, only his first 5PIM of the season.  all that stuff with his neck last year has meant that he has to be more careful.  maybe he’s feeling better and has decided “enough of this crap, i’m hitting somebody”.

which is the better team in Florida?  the cats won last night but i look at their rosters and i have a hard time trying to figure out why this Lightning team isn’t among the best in the league.  i just don’t get it.  fire Tortorella.

i expect LOTS of improvement out of the offenses in Phoenix and Nashville over the rest of this season and both are going to make a decent run at playoff positioning.

Alexander “goat boy” Radulov got his 20th goal of the season in OT last night as it bounced off his shoulder and into the net.  he set a Preds record by scoring in 6 straight games.  i’m expecting 40 out of him next year but they’ll be a lot prettier than that goal.  write it down.

  Dan Ellis looks like he’s a hobbit.  i think i’ll call him Frodo from now on.

Daniel Carcillo got 25 PIMs last night.  unfortunately he shoved a linesman in the process and is probably going to earn a suspension because of it.

Ryan Suter played in his 200th game last night.  really?  isn’t he still a rook?  guess not eh?  he’ll put up 30 pts this season and that’ll go up until he’s among the top scoring D in the league.  i really like his future.

the way that Peter Mueller started out the season i didn’t think he’d have any value at all and in fact i dropped him in my keep 3 league.  i picked him back up and he’ll be a 50 pt rook by season’s end.

TJ Hensick got 2 goals in only 10 mins of ice time.  they’re bringing him along slowly which is interesting given all the injuries going on in Colorado this season.

Wojtek Wolski has really benefitted from the extra ice in Colorado but that’ll drop back down as soon as guys return to the lineup.

Boyes/McDonald/Kariya combined for 2 goals and 2 assists last night as the Blues got stomped.

Dallas swept through Western Canada on the road over their last 3 games.  they are a substantial team in the West and they look to be ready for the playoffs now.

Marty Turco wasn’t heard from for too much of this season, there were even rumours of the Stars trading him away so that they can just go with Mike Smith.  Turk’s play in Calgary last night was reminiscent of his battles with Luongo in the playoffs last year.  in other words, phenomenal.  just imagine what the Stars will be able to do when they get Zubov and Boucher back in their lineup.

Matt Niskanen is a rook and yet he’s had a handful of nights where he’s led his team in ice time.  i noticed that Dobber over at dobberhockey.com ranked him at 54 for D in the NHL behind some notables like Keith Ballard, Marc Staal, MA Bergeron, and Craig Rivet.  my reaction to that is … huh?  it could just be me though.  trust me guys, deep keepers and dynasty keepers need to make a move on this guy soon because i can see him being Lidstrom good very soon.

Jarome Iginla and Steve Ott had words last night and if i’m the Dallas Stars i’d love for Ott to take Iggy off the ice for 5 minutes at a time so whatever you have to do to get in his face eh?