Shallow Frozen Water

Hockey Night in Europe

Ahhhhh, it’s the start of the 2008-09 NHL season, and you know what that means,
beer, your favourite easy chair, and of course Hockey Night in Canada.
So what if its Monday morning, that’s right, kick off your shoes, put your feet up,
lean back and set up your weekly lineup before you start another week of work
After all, fantasy hockey is your life.

My name is Marcus Schalle and I ‘m looking forward to contributing to shallowfrozenwater and being your Monday morning read. Some of you may know me as Crazynuck from Dobberhockey.com. I’m a die hard Nucks fan and a fantasy hockey junkie. I hope to use this blog to analyze the past weekend and help you prepare for the week ahead.

9am PST on Saturday marked the start of the season or as I like to call it X-mas #2.
I thought it would be helpful to state the starting lines, PP and PK units of the 4 teams that opened their season on the other side of the Pacific Ocean and some of my game notes.

Prague - New York Rangers vs Tampa Bay Lightning

New York Rangers
Drury – Gomez – Naslund
Dawes – Dubinsky – Zherdev
Callahan – Korpikoski – Prucha
Voros – Betts - Orr

Redden – Rozsival
Mara – M.Staal
Girardi – Kalinen

Lundqvist

PP#1
Drury – Gomez – Naslund
Redden – Rozsival

PP#2
Dawes – Dubinsky – Zherdev
Mara – Girardi

PK
Drury - Gomez
Redden – Rozsival

Tampa Bay
Prospal – Lecavalier – St.Louis
Malone – Stamkos – Vrbata
Artyukhin – J.Jokinen – Recchi
Roberts - Gratton – Hall

Meszaros – Mihalik
Carle – Heward
Niskala – Lundin

Smith – Kolzig

PP#1
Prospal – Lecavalier – St.Louis
Carle – Meszaros

PP#2
Prospal – Lecavalier – St.Louis - Recchi
Heward

PK
Gratton – Hall
Lundin – Meszaros

Crazynotes:

Smith/Kolzig - 39 & 37 saves respectively, both goalies were outstanding. If only the top 2 lines could have provided a bit of offense, T-Bay could have left Prague with 4 pts.

Carle/Meszaros – Barry Melrose showed that he will be using his two newly acquired D-men in all situations. Both played between 25-30 mins and although they combined for 1 pt in 2 games you can expect both to put up offense numbers once the top 2 lines get going.

Naslund – He’s back and clicking with Gomez. A return to 65 pts is realistic and 70+ is in the cards.

Prucha – Continues to be one of the hardest workers on the team but just can’t seem to find the finishing touch to earn a top 6 spot. If he doesn’t start finding the back of the net he may lose his spot on the team.

Redden – 2 games in and Redden is just what the NYR’s PP has been looking for. With Roszival manning the point, Redden will be given plenty of opportunity to leave the point and roam around the slot.

Stockholm - Ottawa Senators vs Pittsburgh Penguins

Ottawa
Heatley – Spezza – Alfredsson
Vermette – Kelly - Winchester
Ruutu – Foligno - Neil
Schubert - McAmmond – Donovan

Kuba – J.Smith
Phillips – Volchenkov
Picard – Lee

Gerber – Auld

PP#1
Heatley – Spezza – Alfredsson
Kuba – Picard

PP#2
Vermette - Foligno – Neil
Schubert – Lee

SH
Kelly - Vermette
Kuba – Smith

Pittsburgh
Fedotenko – Crosby – Satan
Kennedy - Malkin – J.Staal
Cooke – Talbot – Dupuis
Thomas/Taffe – Bissonette – Godard

Gill – Scuderi
Letang - Orpik
Eaton – Goligoski/Sydor

Fleury

PP#1
Malkin – Crosby - Fedotenko
Letang - Goligoski

PP#2
Malkin – Crosby - Kennedy
Eaton – Orpik

SH
Dupuis – Talbot
Gill – Scuderi

Crazynotes:

Goalie controversy – With Emery off to the KHL, Gerber was supposed to be the undisputed #1 in Ottawa. 3 weak goals and Auld being 1 second away from a shutout equals possible goalie trouble in the nation’s capital. This may be an exaggeration but keep a close eye on things if you’re a Gerber owner.

Kuba – 4 pts in 2 games was a nice surprise for Kuba owners. The go to offense option on the back end has been over looked in many leagues but that may not be the case any longer. If you’re in a deep league, take a chance on Kuba who will be feeding the puck to the likes of Heatley, Spezza and Alfredsson.

Winchester - After spending most of the pre-season on the top line Jesse has earned a spot on the 2nd line. As a rookie you would expect him to be nervous but he handled the puck like a veteran holding onto the puck and making crisp passes. His great puck control earned him an assist.

Crosby/Malkin 4th line – Michel Therrien is trying to get his superstars more ice time and is double shifting them on the 4th line. As a result Thomas saw very little ice time.

Pens PP woes – After going 0/7 on Saturday, Goligoski was brought into the lineup and the Pens finally broke the goose egg in the last second of the game. Using Letang & Goligoski on the point allows the Pens to use Malkin on the half boards where he is more effective. Look for the Pens PP to improve the next few games.

The Week Ahead

The Rangers are the only team to play 3 games in week 1. Stay away from Minnesota, Edmonton, Los Angeles, Philadelphia & Phoenix who don’t play any games in week 1.