Shallow Frozen Water

Sunday morning armchair

Trades made this week

Chinny traded Steve Mason for Cam Ward - Chinny is going after a 4-peat and although i truly believe this hurts him down the road it’s going to help him this year.  Ward is going to put up better stats for Chinny this year than Mason would’ve and so he’s solidifying himself for the stretch run.  given the situation this is how fantasy trades are SUPPOSED to happen in keepers.  there’s nothing more frustrating than a guy who’s on top who figures he has to get kids back in addition to the vet he’s trying to trade for to help him win this year.  that’s not renting toward a championship that’s cheating your way to a championship.  be like Chinny, be reasonable.

Chinny also traded David Backes, James Wisniewski and Nick Foligno for Ales Hemsky and Kevin Bieksa - he made this trade in a 3 tiered league where Chinny has a big lead in the top tier and the other owner is trying to make a move so that he can move up a tier during the offseason.  this move shouldn’t hurt his chances at winning this year and it’ll put him in better position to win next year too.  this an astute move at a very reasonable price.

Tony traded Tomas Vanek and Sheldon Souray for Rick DiPietro and Dwayne Roloson - i HATED this deal when i saw it and i told him so.  i was actually advising him to go get Tomas Vokoun instead of DiPietro and i suggested that he could package Chris Mason into the offer and still get BOTH Vokoun and DiPietro if he wanted DiP so badly.  that didnt happen and Tony is happy with his trade.  the deal isn’t awful, i just think that he sold incredibly low on the value of Tomas Vanek.  at least he has the Isles handcuff situation in place should there be injury issues with DiPietro this season or beyond, and i’ve got to think that there are going to be problems with his body made of fine china.

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it’s a big day for “my” New Orleans Saints as they try to make it to their first SuperBowl.  “my” teams haven’t made a championship game of any kind since the ‘93 Blue Jays repeated as World Series Champions, that’s a long drought for me.  living in Winnipeg the closest NFL team is the Minnesota Vikings so i’m surrounded by Vikes fans and i’m the only Saints fans i know.  let me just point out that the Saints are favoured, they’re playing at home where they’re really hard to beat and they have the best offense in the league this season.  i suspect that you’ll see a couple great plays out of the Saints D this weekend as Bert … er Bart … em Brent throws up a couple INT’s.

i’m really looking forward to Hockey Day in Canada next week, live from Stratford Ontario.  Stratford is picturesque if you’ve ever been there and if you haven’t then next week might be fun.  we can meet for a beer after all the fun, you’re buying.  ok, i won’t be able to make it … you’re still buying.

Nathan Horton broke a leg on Friday after getting hit by a Dennis Seidenberg slapshot.  it sucks to get hit by a puck but especially so if you end up blocking a shot from your own teammate in the process.  he’ll be back for the playoffs but he won’t have much value this year anymore.  don’t drop him though, there’s a 2 week Olympic break during which he’ll heal up some.

Kari Lehtonen got sent down to the AHL Friday so that he can get up to playing speed.  he’s made of glass but he still has fantasy value if you’re desperate for a tender.

Georges Laracque got dumped by the Habs this week and if he decides to fight whoever comes he’ll have fantasy value again, if he doesn’t then we may not see much of him again.

there’s a possibility that Marc Andre Fleury plays on Sunday against the Flyers.  he fractured the ring finger on his catching hand last week.

Brendan Morrow has missed the last 3 games for the Stars.  he actually got dumped (and immediately snapped up by me) in my work league this week presumedly because they figured he was done or worthless or something.  he isn’t.

Jason Spezza is back and seems hungry to contribute.  as the Sens get their guys back things will be looking up for them.

the boxscore looks like the Sens played a couple guys short for some reason.  i never found out why but it could be that they dressed a couple guys and let them draw stink at the end of the bench.  how humiliating.

the Bruins offense is in trouble right now.  i hope you don’t have too many B’s on your roster because i don’t see much of an improvement until Marc Savard returns.

Mark Recchi kicked it in.  it sure looked like a kicking motion to me anyway.  no that doesn’t count.

Eric Staal missed a week in January but he’s been on FIRE since the very end of November.

sometimes you see a guy’s name in the boxscore and immediately think, “oh that’s right, he’s not retired after all”.  i thought that when i saw that Sergei Samsonov got an assist.

Michael Leighton actually did a really good job for the Flyers but Ray Emery is back and so Leighton’s value has gone in the crapper.  they’ll ride Emery 90% of the time now.

Jeff Carter went 2 and 1, Chris Pronger 1 and 1 and Dan Carcillo scored a beauty.  when the Flyers are on they’re really on.

why would i go for a buy one/get one offer on a Slap Chop?  that Vince dude is smarmy to begin with but what do i need with 2 Slap Chops really?  if i gave one away as a gift i’d have to admit that i actually paid good money to Vince, which i’ve never done in case you were wondering.

Cory Stillman was moved up with Steven Weiss and Michal Frolik on the top line so expect more of that while Horton is on the shelf.

Ian White is insanely important to the Leafs blueline, he’s probably the most consistent two-way D-man they have and yet there’s talk that they won’t want him around beyond this year.  i figure they’ll lock up both him and Kaberle and all this chatter about T-Kabs no movement clause is moot.  i don’t see him going anywhere.

the call on the trip that led to Florida’s 1st goal looked weak to me but maybe i’m just biased.

Tomas Vokoun hates rebounds.  everytime the puck came near him he froze it.  maybe that’s why he gets so many saves, he forces a lot of faceoffs in his own zone and anything close becomes a save as he freezes it.

in contrast Jonas Gustavsson looked really ugly on at least two occasions when he tried to move the puck from behind his own net.  there were a couple slap pass attempts that went virtually nowhere.

FASCINATING interview with Kenndle McArdle after he got his 1st NHL goal last night.  McA has a slight stutter and i thought it was great to hear from him after a big moment for him.

the Habs put the boots to the Rangers on the night.  i wasn’t watching but i’m betting that Tortorella’s head was about to explode.  couldn’t happen to a nice guy (now where’s that sarcasm button on my keyboard?).  i did manage to see Tort’s postgame and he got annoyed with the same NY Post writer it seemed but in general he kept it under control but gave no info.

i said last week that Benoit Pouliot is a good fit in Montreal and i fully stand by that opinion.  he got his 12th goal on the season and i believe he could be a 40-50 goal guy one day.

18 of MA Bergeron’s points coming into play on Saturday were scored on the PP.  that is the definition of a specialist if you ask me.  the line on MAB for years now has been abysmal defensive play so … don’t let him on the ice except with the man advantage.  he still got a hammer from the point so basically, problem solved.  he got 2 pts last night, both on the PP.

i was advising a guy this week that a star LW who might be easier to trade for might be Mike Cammalleri.  of course Camm goes out and goes 2 and 2 on the night.  yeah, it might not be very easy to trade for him after he has a game like that.

i actually found Jaroslav Halak on the waiver wire of one of my 12 team leagues this week.  it’s a lower priority to check the wire on that league but Halak should not have sat on the wire in any 12 team league.

i’ve been working with an Isles fan recently and it has made me consider Robbie Schremp.  Schremp was lost in Edmonton but on the Island he’s finally getting a chance to show his skills and he’s REALLY well liked on the Island.  i think he’s really found his niche and although he may never be the superstar we expected years ago i actually think he can be kinda serviceable as a fantasy option.

Zach Parise got 2 goals and Travis Zajac with 2 assists.  Z and Z are a significant tandem.

Kyle Okposo went 1 and 1, both on the PP.  with all the hype about Tavares on the Island i sometimes wonder if OH-poso will be the best of the entire crop.  both do they ever need another D to go along with Streit.

Lauri Korpikoski got 2 goals and took more shots than any other Yote in the game.  if Korp is your best player on a given night then, you’re going to lose.

Mike Green played.  he missed the Penguins game on thursday night but he was back leading his team in ice time on Saturday.

Eric Fehr (Manitoba boy) i’m glad you got 1 and 1 with 2 PIMs but you were also -2 when your team only gave up 2 but scored 4.  that’s not right.

Alex Semin did a lot more with less ice than a lot of guys on his own team last night.  i’ve always liked him, except for that fight last year where he punched like a little girl in a slapfight.

Richardson, Simmonds and Kopitar brought the Kings back for a win against the Wings.  the Kings and Wings are in a dogfight for playoff positions so it was a huge comeback for them against a team they had to beat.

Todd Bertuzzi continues to have great value in the absence of Johan Franzen.  i’m pleased that i called that one.  Bert never would’ve put up anything like this if Franzen were around to do most of the work that Bert is doing.

i watched the pilot for Human Target this week while waiting for Day 8 of “24″.  i’ll never get that hour back.  maybe i was just stoked for 24 … nah, the show sucked.

Nik Antropov had 2 goals on Dec 1/09 and then he got his 13th last night.  he has 3 goals in January so far so it seems that he isn’t shooting as much again and it really is needed.

Todd White and Bryan Little have disappeared because much of the opportunity alongside Kovalchuk has been given to Antropov.  if the Thrashers lose Kovalchuk then they’ll need White and Little to step back up.  i’m confident that Little has the skills to do just that.

Matt Walker has had a very busy weekend for the Lightning with 3 fights in 2 games.  he has very little fantasy value otherwise but he could be used as a bench D if you can’t find enough rosterable offense to put on your team.  he’ll only bring PIMs to the table, be forewarned.

the Blues had a 3-0 lead and lost it by a 3rd period comeback by Bobby Ryan and the Ducks.  Ryan got his 2nd goal of the night with 30 seconds left in the game and he took a whopping 10 SOGs on the night.  i’m telling you, there’s 50 goals in that kid.  hear me now.

Eric Belanger got his 13th goal and his 31st pt on the season.  he’s a guy that … YAWN … ah drat i nearly got through that and managed to show that i actually care.  i don’t.  neither should you.  sorry Mrs. Belanger, i’m sure your boy is a nice lad.

Miikko Koivu is the Wild captain and he’s their best skater.  yes i realize that Martin Havlat is on that team but he’s a little girl and Miikko is a real NHL’er.  the captain got 2 goals on the night, led their forwards in ice time and i wouldn’t be surprised to see a career best statline at the end of the season.

Jared Boll and Derek the Boogeyman Boogaard had a fight last night.  that must’ve been SOME tilt since both guys are monstrous in their own rights.

my 2 “break” friends with whom i take my breaks at work are a Hawks fan and a Canucks fan.  we’ll have plenty to talk about on Monday as they each rehash that game.  we were already discussing it all this week so they can go on and on and on some more about it this week.  that’s probably a good thing because my Leafs got shut out so maybe they’ll leave me alone.

who would’ve really picked Henrik Sedin for the NHL scoring lead this season?  and don’t try to tell me that you did ’cause i don’t believe you.  he has been freaking amazing though.  you guys in the East should stay up late and watch him go.  it’s becoming a hobby of mine to stay up late and watch either Hank or Big Joe work their magic (depending on the night).

there’s this old Cheers episode where Sam Malone becomes a sports reporter for an episode, you ever see it?  he does this AWFUL rap having to do with a GROIN INJURY, a GROIN INJURY, G … G …. GROIN INJURY.  my wife heard on tv that Sami Salo was hurt with a groin injury this week and she started doing the rap.  gotta love it when the entertainment you get is right here at home.

Antti Niemi got a consecutive start for the Hawks.  that was odd because teams regularly mix their goaltending around when they go on a western swing.  uncle Antti got smoked and was gone by the 2nd period though.  the door may be open again for Cristobal Huet to put some distance on Antti in the minds of his coaches.  they’re paying him so much they might as well run him out there.

Pavol Demitra got his 1st point on the season.  i have him in the Expert’s League so that i could take a flyer on him.  he should be on your bench for the most part but lots of people take lots of chances on guys in his position.  he has a history for stats and opportunity when he’s not injured.

Henrik, Daniel and Alex Burrows combined on 3 even strength goals.  right now they’re the best line in hockey.

Ryan Kesler is a checking center but sometimes i forget that he’s 6′2″ and 2 bills.  he got into his 2nd fight of the season last night.  that’s a nice bonus for a fantasy guy because it’s relatively unexpected.

Duncan Keith’s team lost 5-1 but Keith was even on the night and took more SOG’s than anyone else in the game.  Duncan for the Norris!

Joe Thornton only had 1 assist on the night.  slacker.

the Sabres jumped out to a lead and looked like they were going to surprise the Sharks but the fins got 2 in the 2nd and 3 more in the 3rd (including an empty one) to put the game away.

Dan Boyle missed his 2nd straight game with an upper body injury.

Joe Pavelski and Jed Ortmeyer with 2 goals each.  JP has value and JO doesn’t.  Pavelski has shown in the past that he can get stats with some opportunity having put up 59 pts last season, it’s also extra value that he’s eligible at C and RW on yahoo.  Ortmeyer is a 4th line energy guy who doesn’t really contribute much in any one category.

Manny Malhotra is Jed Ortmeyer except he gets more opportunity and can take better faceoffs.

Jason Pominville is on pace for 60 pts this season and that just isn’t good enough.  he got 80 pts two seasons ago and 66 pts last year but both he and Vanek have severely disappointed in Buffalo this season.  in a season where Tim Connolly is playing over his head and Derek Roy is basically on pace for what he should provide then i’ve got to think that Pominville should be able to leach off some of those stats and create more of his own.  the Slugs can’t win if they don’t score more, Miller can’t do it all.

Tyler Myers has been incredible for the Slugs this season.  some are touting him for the RoY and i suppose i wouldn’t be surprised if it happened but i may just call Jimmy Howard the RoY now after saying John Tavares was the only choice.  JT may end up 3rd in the voting before this is all over.

ok, with that i’m out.  it has snowed in Winnipeg for the last couple days, a heavy, wet, slippery snow.  beware the g … g … g … groin injury.