Shallow Frozen Water

Sunday morning armchair

Trades made this week

in the Dobber Entry League Chinny traded Rick DiPietro and Michael Del Zotto for Michal Neuvirth and Dan Boyle - this trade was made simply to add Boyle to the roster.  Neuvirth might end up on the waiver wire in the near future or he could get traded elsewhere or he might end up as a significant starter for the Caps.  i’m not a fan of DiP in the least but DZ has done virtually nothing after the first month of the season so i’m perfectly fine with moving spare pieces for a significant D in Boyle.

Chinny then went on to show off some more and traded Scott Hartnell, Brad Stuart, and Dustin Byfuglien for Phil Kessel, Francois Beauchemin and Milan Michalek - my reaction when i saw what he had done was to wonder how it is that he gets other people to upgrade his roster at every guy involved in the trade.  Chinny is after SOGs mostly and he’ll get tons of that with Kessel/Michalek and Beau is just a better option than Stuart overall. 

and just when you thought it was safe to read on Chinny traded Mike Knuble for Shea Weber - how wrong is that eh?  who proposes something like that to a shark like Chinny?  i don’t imagine he could hit the accept button fast enough.  the odd thing is that he was in the process of trying to upgrade the D on that very team.  well anyway, well done.

Mark traded Mike Cammalleri and Jay Bouwmeester for Marian Hossa, Niklas Lidstrom and a conditional 3rd round pick if Lidstrom retires - i really like this deal for Mark in a multi-cat league because Hossa will continue to contribute as secondary attack for a really strong Hawks team while i fully expect that the Wings will make a run at a higher seed for the playoffs and much of the credit will be due to the leadership of their captain.  let’s get this out of the way now though, Lidstrom isn’t retiring after this year so you won’t be getting that pick.  this is a decent deal, particularly when i see the disappointing stats that JBo has put up so far.

********************************************************************************************************

WOOOOOOO!  Hockey Day in Canada live from Stratford Ontario.  Stratford is a beautiful burgh full of lots of down home types that love their puck.  the unofficial “theme song” for HDIC is Skating Rink by David Francey who is a fave of my wife and the “boyfriend” of one of her good friends.  her friend only calls him that because she “LOVES him”, as far as i know they’ve never met.  you can hear the mp3 for the tune at this link or you can go watch the vid on youtube here.  i may have to go buy this CD now and i’ve already downloaded the guitar chords so i can learn to play the song myself.  THAT is hockey in Canada lads and one more reason why i love Hockey Day.

i’ve been trying to help an emailer make some trades to keep his lead in his league and Ryan if you’re reading this Dustin Penner should be enough to land you Danny Briere this season.  if it isn’t accepted by now then it’s not happening.

i’m actually happy for the Senators and for my brother.  the Sens have been on  a huge roll and my brother is a Sens fan living in the heart of Leafland.  he and they have got to excited by the renaissance of offense for them of late.

i’ve been rostering Jarkko Ruutu and Chris Neil for a couple weeks now in the hopes of getting more PIMs and i was hoping that a divisional game like this against the Habs would’ve given me something.  what’d i get?  goose eggs.

did you see Cammalleri get hammered by Volchenkov?  that was a direct result of a pass up the butt.  the mark of a true teammate is when you DON’T hang your guy out to dry with a pass like that.

Benoit Pouliot has been a Hab since Christmas, has played 18 games and he has 11 goals and 1 assist.  he’s a big kid and he’s just the sort of talented monster that they need on that team.  dynasty leagues should be all over this guy already but i’ve got to think that most keepers should be taking a good long look at him now too.

Alex Kovalev got booed everytime he touched the puck and he still went 1 and 1 on the day.  he’s a sleeping bear when he plays and booing him is just going to motivate him to say, “screw you too”.

ha ha, Jason Spezza took an idiotic minor in OT to take the PP away from his own team.  the Sens then scored during 3 on 3 on a nice play by Mike Fisher after a sweet pass from Erik Karlsson but that’s no thanks to Spezza.

take a read at my Between the Pipes article posted yesterday when i mentioned how Brian Elliott may just be securing the job for himself in Ottawa this season.  he has as many starts as Leclaire does and he’s got better stats.

Danny Briere should be returning to his 30 goal, 70 point level this season.  he had such an awful year last year after injuries shelved him for all but 29 games but this year is not last year.  he got his 18th and yeah, 30 is not out of the question whatsoever.

Scott Hartnell with a goal, 5 SOGs and 6 PIMs.  3 minors isn’t what i really want out of him but that won’t hurt the PIM total for my team either so i guess i’ll just take that.

the Flyers are 4-3-0 with Ray Emery in the twine since his return but in 1 of those 3 losses he only gave up 2 goals.  i’m not worried about Emery at all and i can see the Flyers making a run toward a top seed  in the east.  to be realistic though the best they can do is probably 5th before they’re ready for the postseason.

Josh Bailey has come out of nowhere to be a surprising part of the Isles attack.  he’s got skill and he’s getting opportunity.  he shouldn’t still be on a waiver wire in any league more than 9 teams so if he is then start paying more attention.

if a goalie is going to move at the deadline i’ve got to think that Dwayne Roloson is going to want out of the Island if he isn’t getting enough starts.  i hear the Stars are looking for a tender, the Blues too, so maybe one of those are a good fit.

i see a possible 40 pts for Rob Schremp this year and i believe he’s got 65 pt upside next year.

Phil Kessel had 1 goal in January.  1 goal.  he got 2 more last night so i’m hopeful that he’s waking up and doing some good things for the rest of the season.  i suspect this lack of production wasn’t about being tired and it had more to do with the dearth of talent around him.

Roberto Luongo only made 5 saves on 8 shorts and was down 3-0 before getting pulled.  it’s probably just a rough night and i’m not worried about BobbyLou in the least.  Raycroft went in and showed himself pretty well playing perfectly in front of his former crowd.

man there was one beautiful segment in the 3rd period where the twins and Burrows kept the puck on a string while the Leafs ran around like the Canucks had just stolen their lunch money.  embarrassing for any Leaf to watch and hilarious for any hockey fan to watch.

it was ALL twins and Burrows in the 3rd.  man that was entertaining, they really are great to watch.  Burrows with a shorty and an empty one to go along with a pair of assists to both twins.

at the end of the Leaf game i was -8 on my Expert’s League team, mostly due to the fact that i had rostered 4 Leafs this week.  i did get Kessel’s 2 goals but he was -1 on the night and Ian White was -3 alone.

the Hawks threw 41 shots at Cam Ward and lost the game 4-2.  when i think of the battle for the Taylor Hall i’m more and more convinced that the Canes do not belong in the discussion.

Sergei Samsonov (1 and 1) and Tom Kostopolous (2 assists) were the no name best options from this game.  in general you want no part of either of them but the sun’s gotta shine on every dog’s butt at some time.

Andrew Ladd went 1 and 1 in a losing cause while facing his former team.  that deal that landed the Canes Tuomo Ruutu has seemed like a win for the Canes for a long time but Ladd is a pretty interesting fantasy option too.  he’s a big body who throws himself around and contributes across the board.

Patty Kane took 7 SOGs but didn’t hit the scoresheet and was -2 on the night.  Marian Hossa also took 7 SOGs but was 1 and 1, +1 with 2 PIMs.  big difference but as soon as i say that i realize that the Hawks are going to go as far as Kane will carry them (with Hossa, Toews and Keith to help).

Jarret Stoll has 35 pts on the season and got the shootout winner against the Bruins last night too.  he’s really underrated as a fantasy option and he’s been seeing more ice time with Anze Kopitar on the PP.  if i can borrow a saying from a buddy of mine, “a hydrant could score 20 goals playing alongside Kopitar” even though Stoll has a lot more skill than a hydrant.

Wayne Simmonds had 5 SOGs before getting an instigator at the 25 minute mark.  i’ve been starving for PIMs Wayne, thanks.

Marco Sturm has 16 goals and i still don’t want him on my team.

Marc Savard returned on Friday night and got an assist.  he got another assist on Saturday and he’s the only real lynchpin to the B’s attack.   his 2nd night back and already with more ice time than any other B’s forward (as it should be).  i read an interesting point this past week that the B’s wouldn’t be likely to try and trade for Kovalchuk because Savard has already shown that he has no chemistry with him.  true dat.

Bryan Little finally got some playing time with Ilya Kovalchuk tonight and he finished with 2 goals on the night.  he’s had a pretty … well it’s been … subpar to say the least.  he had 31 goals last year and this year he’ll be lucky to hit 15.  i still say that if they trade Kovalchuk though they’re going to need somebody to score goals and Little will easily step into that goal scoring vacuum.  Little also led his team in SOGs on the night.

i traded Steve Sullivan and Martin Erat for Jason Arnott and Chris Neil in January.  since the trade i’ve gotten 5 assists and 35 PIMs out of it while the other guy has gotten 3 goals, 5 assists, and 13 PIMs.  Arnott is the best Pred forward, he gets the most ice and has the best per game stats on their team.  i really was only after more PIMs with the trade so i’m still calling this a win so far.

Ilya Kovalchuk isn’t a superstar every night.  he wants AO type of money but he just isn’t worth it.  he’s not going to get 10M per and the flirting toward 50 goals and ending up with 40 just doesn’t cut it with me.  goal guys are hard to find though so i expect that somebody’s going to pay him in the end.

the Preds should be using Pekka Rinne a lot more.  he’s just a better tender than Dan Ellis but Ellis still gets more starts than the typical backup.  at least Rinne will be fresh for the playoffs but that doesnt help my fantasy team now.

did you see Johan Hedberg lose his head this week?  hilarious.  there’s this great Calvin and Hobbes cartoon where Calvin sneezes and then hides his head inside his shirt like he blew his head off.  kinda reminiscent for me.

Nik Antropov assisted on both of Little’s goals even though he didn’t get a SOG all night.  he’s a better asset when he shoots the puck.

Mikkel Boedker got his 1st goal of the season after a callup from the AHL.  he’s a great Dane with a lot of skill and a huge future for the Desert Dogs.  keepers need to be all over him because the upside is pretty huge.

Vernon Fiddler had a much better moniker when he was a Nashville Predator.  not that he’s a Yote the Nashville banjo images go right out the window and so does any fantasy interest he might’ve had.  he did get 2 assists to total up at 19 pts on the season but still it was much cooler in Nashville.

Erik Christenson and Brandon Dubinsky continue to get a boost in value while they get some ice time with Marian Gaborik.  Dubinsky has some extra value because he has more skill that is less dependant on having pure goalscorer talent next to him.

man the Rangers have Gaborik for offense … and very little else.  i still like Dubinsky but he’s only a secondary option right now.  eventually i think Doobie could be Zajac-good … eventually, i said.

i was just looking at the boxscore for Columbus/St Louis and the most interesting thing about the game appears to be an instigator given to Brad Winchester.  Andy Mc had a goal and 6 SOGs but otherwise it looks more than a little boring.

Antoine Vermette had more ice than any other forward for both teams on Saturday.  he got nothing done with it but he was on the ice the most.

Paul Brandt sang the national anthem in Calgary and performed a tune during the 2nd intermission.  i’m not ashamed to say that i like Paul Brandt’s music and i also don’t have a single one of his albums.

the Oilers and Flames had the 2 longest losing streaks in the league and it was interesting to find out who was going to throw the monkey off.   the Flames had a significant lead by the midpoint.

Michael Backlund got called up by the Flames this week because they were freefalling and needed some sort of offensive boost.   he got as assist on the Flames 1st goal and i often think that he could be to Jarome Iginla what Nicklas Backstrom is to Alexander Ovechkin.  yes, he’s that good.

Sheldon Souray tried to even the score for his concussion earlier this season by taking on Jarome Iginla and what happens?  Souray fractured his hand.  that is freaking brutal.  what’s going on in your head?

Jay Bouwmeester came out of the box to get this beautiful saucer from Curtis Glencross on an immediate breakaway.  the pass went right under JBo’s stick and the length of the ice.  JBo was so heartbroken that i don’t think he had anything left to swear at himself for missing the chance.  man, he’s snakebit this season eh?

Jarome Iginla has been fairly quiet during the Flames losing streak until this week.  last night was a banner night though going 2 and 2, +4, 5 PIMs and scoring on both SOGs he took. 

it was known fairly early into the game that the Battle of Alberta wasn’t going to be much of a battle this time.  the Oilers are a truly bad hockey team right now.  i still hate the idea of them getting Taylor Hall though.

i was expecting at least 20 goals out of Dustin Boyd this season and it looks like he’ll fall short of that.  he’s been short on promise all season though and hasn’t shown nearly enough to be fantasy worthy.

Mark Giordano got into a fight with Shawn Horcoff.  i mention it because both guys have some fantasy value and a bonus 5 PIMs is valuable anytime.  i’m seeing more guys bail on Horcoff this season but in keepers he still will produce once all the missing pieces (i’m looking at you Hemsky) are back and contributing.

Devan Dubnyk is still winless but they keep running him out there.  he does have a load of talent but i wonder if all this losing will hurt his psyche.

Patty Marleau went 2 and 1, Dany Heatley had 2 assists but i want to highlight Joe Thornton who had a PPA, took zero SOGs and had 2 PIMs.  looks like Joe took the night off and let the other guys carry the load.

the Sharks scored 4 of their 5 goals on the PP.  ouch, that’ll destroy the psyche of a penalty kill and any goaltender.

Miiko Koivu took 9 SOGs for the Wild.  nobody else had more than 3 except Nick Schultz who had 4.  that’s just wrong, they need a lot more offense on that team and Martin Havlat is not the answer.

Evgeni Nabokov was behind 2-1 after the 1st but he barred the door and got the job done.  he has 31 wins already and a decent chance to break his career high of 46 wins on the season.