Shallow Frozen Water

Jokinen to the Rangers

Olli Jokinen and Brandon Prust were traded to the Rangers for Christopher Higgins and Ales Kotalik.

in short, the Flames got owned in this one when you look at fantasy value alone.  Jokinen is the best player in the deal and he was just a bad fit in Calgary.  in moving him they sold short on his value and they came away with little serviceable value in Higgins and Kotalik.  their hope is that Higgins returns to the value that he showed as a Hab but that isn’t a guarantee by any means and if he doesn’t … then … where’s that paddle again?  oh yeah, they’re up that creek WITHOUT a paddle.  and Kotalik is a PP specialist, and that’s if i look at him in a generous, you married my sister so i have to like you sort of light.

the Flames let Cammalleri go this past summer so that they could keep Jokinen around and now they have virtually nothing to show for it.  Jokinen didn’t mesh well as a Flame because he’s a SOGger, a sniper, and they already have enough of that.  if you can’t dish to Iggy then you’re not a good fit and Olli likes to shoot, traditionally anyway.

rumours still abound that the Flames have something more going with the Stars and Flames fans are drooling that it might be a pass happy forward like Brad Richards.  i’ve got to think that they need something like that but i don’t know how that’ll come about.   i also don’t know how Olli is a good fit on the Rangers either, i suppose i’d suggest that they team him up with Brandon Dubinsky and they resist the urge to put him with Gaborik except on the PP.

so … who does this trade help?  the Rangers.  Brandon Dubinsky.  maybe it helps Christopher Higgins, at least the Flames hope that it helps Higgins.

if i were a Flames fan then i wouldn’t be liking this deal …  but i’m not a Flames fan.

Giguere to the Leafs

the Anaheim Ducks traded Jean Sebastien Giguere to the Toronto Maple Leafs for Vesa Toskala and Jason Blake. 

i see this mostly as moving money from one pile to another and i don’t deal with that issue as a general rule so let’s talk about the fantasy impact of this deal.  the Leafs get a vet goalie who can help show the ropes to Jonas Gustavsson who they want to be their option down the road.  Monster can now handle up to half the games for the Leafs and Giggy can tutor him.  it’s an expensive idea methinks but it also addresses some needs as the team thinks they exist.

the Ducks trade a contract that was hard to move, that really very few NHL teams were even interested in.  for their troubles they got a vet goalie and another secondary scoring option.  Toskala will be the backup behind Hiller and … he won’t have much value whatsoever.  Blake actually shoots the puck a lot traditionally and that’s where most of his fantasy value lies.  he’ll be a decent addition for the Ducks if he gets the opportunity on the 2nd line that he needs to get.  he’ll probably get to line up with Saku Koivu and if he just pulls the trigger then at least he’ll have somebody who can send some saucers his way.

mostly though, this is a money move.  the Ducks got away from Giggy’s contract and the Leafs got a veteran tutor.

Phaneuf to the Leafs

the Flames traded Dion Phaneuf, Fredrik Sjostrom, and prospect D Keith Aulie to the Maple Leafs for Matt Stajan, Niklas Hagman, Ian White and Jamal Mayers.  overall i say the trade is a push.

the Leafs gave up a lot of trade chips and i would’ve preferred they got a pick on top of what they did get but nevertheless they got a fantasy franchise D who contributes across the board for a fantasy team.  in terms of real NHL play i find that PIMy D chases around too much to make a big hit and he’s prone to defensive lapses because of it.  he’s also pretty much what the Leafs need.  Sjostrom … is nothing.  he’s Primeau except smaller and with less value.  as far as Aulie is concerned, he’s huge.  that’ll probably mean that he might have NHL value as a stay at home type but i doubt he’ll have any fantasy value at all. 

overall Brian Burke has traded for 3 guys that he likes and he continues to be building from the defensive side out.

the Flames fill out their secondary scoring with Stajan and Hagman while they replace Phaneuf with White.  the D swap is a step down overall but some would argue that White is a better option than Phaneuf is anyway.  White will slot into their PP quite well and he’ll fight Giordano to contribute more with the extra man.  i expect that Giordano will win the battle in the end but White is a very valuable D3 for the Flames now.  Stajan will slot into the 2nd line at the very least and may even replace Jokinen as the top option for the Flames.  Hagman may end up stealing opportunity from Rene Bourque but i actually see Bourque getting more exposure with Iginla on the top line.  Hagman may end up with Jokinen or with Langkow, maybe both and Bourque may end up with Stajan/Iginla.  then again they may just keep Stajan and Hagman together since they have at least played together some and would know each other’s game off the top.

the Flames are trying to make a run at the Avalanche in their own division and this is a move in the right direction.  their overall game is improved with these additions.  the Leafs add a franchise D in the mould of the sort of game they want to pursue.  i still wish they had gotten a pick out of it too but i like the move overall.

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.

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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.

Between the Pipes

Hello to you and welcome to “Between the Pipes”.  This article will be posted at www.worldcupoffantasysports.com as well as at my hockey blog at www.fantasyhockey.hockeyanalysis.com, I’m Ian Fergusson and I’m grateful for the soap box.  Every month I’ll try to give you a rundown on goalies that stand on their head, lay on the table and maybe a couple bargain bin options for your fantasy team.

Well, let’s get at it.

Standing on their Head

Tomas Vokoun FLA – no starter saw more pucks or had better GAA than Vokoun over the last month.  His fantasy value is directly linked to the amount of saves he puts up in any given month and in fact nobody beats him in the Saves category over a given month.  The Panthers have 6 games in February, 4 of them on the road, and I suspect that Vokoun will get 4 or 5 of those starts before anchoring the Czech Olympic hockey team.

Evgeni Nabokov SJ – much of the Sharks success has to be tied to the fact that they have one of the best tenders in the game between the pipes.  The Sharks have 7 games in February, 6 of them on the road, and Nabokov should get at least 5 of those starts before he goes to anchor the Russian Olympic team for the remainder of the month.  The Russians should go far, so Gene will get plenty of work.

Roberto Luongo VAN – at the time of this writing nobody has more wins than Bobby-Lou in January and the Canucks have leaped to the top of the division.  The Canucks begin a 7 game pre-Olympic road trip in February as they work their way through Eastern Canada, and Florida before starting to head west again.  That means that the only Canucks that’ll be seen live in BC this month will be Olympic heroes.  There are back to back games scheduled in that trip and I expect that the captain will sit one of those 2 games.

Jonas Hiller ANA – Jonas is the man for the Ducks and the rumour has been for too long now that they’re trying to sell Giguere to whoever would make a bid on him.  Hiller ran off a string of wins to start the month and the Ducks look like they want to make a move in the West.  The Ducks have what looks like a lighter schedule for February even though 4 of their 7 games are on the road.  Hiller should start 5 of those games because there’s a couple back to backs there.

Jimmy Howard DET – he was having a fine month before getting an L and an OTL in the last week.  I mention him because I want to point out the obvious … Chris Osgood is not getting this job back this season and might only have a shot at some playoff starts if Jimmy implodes huge.  The Wings have 6 games in February, 4 of them on the road and 3 of those in California.  Jimmy should start 5 of those 6 games and I’m betting that he’ll sit out the Anaheim game on the 3^rd.  It’s going to be a tough sched for them though.

Craig Anderson COL – The Avs are getting NO respect and a huge reason for their success this season has been the play of their star goaltender.  I still think that the Canucks and Flames are better teams than the Avs but they still aren’t going away and they’ll sneak up and beat up on somebody in the playoffs.  Watch out if you get the wrong 1^st round matchup and you have to face this kiddie corps.  The Avalanche have 7 games in February with only 2 on the road.  Not only that but all those games are quite winnable.

Laying on the Table

Kari Lehtonen ATL – he was sent to the AHL’s Chicago Wolves for a conditioning stint and I wouldn’t be surprised to see him start in the NHL before the Olympic break.  The Thrashers have had some struggles in goal but they also have some depth to work with there.  I personally took a flyer that maybe Kari would have some value to one of my teams recently and we’ll just see what happens.

Pascal Leclaire OTW – he’s been outperformed by his own backup this season and he’s got an abysmal history of injury.  Presently he’s shelved for seeing cartoon birdies and spinning stars from a concussion.  I have SERIOUS concerns about what fantasy value Pascal will ever have.  Ever.

Jose Theodore WAS – man has it ever been a merry go round of goalies for the Caps this season eh?  Theo has had to fight off charges by Semyon Varlamov and Michal Neuvirth so far and he’s right on the verge of returning from a hip flexor problem.  When he’s healthy I suspect that he’ll get his share of starts but in all honesty the kids have done just fine in his absence so it’s kind of a rock, paper, scissors (lizard, spock) competition to see who’ll hang on to the job. 

Bargain Bin

Antero Niittymaki TB – while Mike Smith was down Niitty held the fort admirably.  He’s on a streak of 3 in a row to end the month including a shuttie of the Habs.  He doesn’t get a fair enough shake and with the Olympics around the corner I’ll just point out that he was voted the MVP of the 2006 Olympic tourney.  People forget that.

Brian Elliott OTW – he’s actually had the same amount of starts as Leclaire but he’s put up better stats on the season.  This is his chance to run with the opportunity since a slew of Sens have returned from injury and they’re making their move by putting together a significant win streak.

Jonathan Quick LA – Dash (a nickname I just made up) went into a dry spell in November as the Kings struggled generally.  Overall though he’s been among the best tenders around this season as he’s saw plenty of rubber and racked up wins.  I mention him here because I actually saw him sitting on a waiver wire in one league this season so it could be that people just don’t realize the skill the kid has.  He’ll easily push 40 wins this season.

Jaroslav Halak MON – I actually found him on the waiver wire in one of my leagues recently too and that’s just plain WRONG.  He’ll be the Olympic Slovak goalie and quite frankly I think he has more skill than Carey Price does.  Recently it has been suggested quite strongly that Halak is the goalie that the Habs need to be hanging on to and they should be trading Carey Price, is that an interesting thought?

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.

Dub’s Warriors

Jana emailed about a possible review of her team.  she plays in an 8 team H2H league where everybody makes the playoffs.  she’s in 3rd and she absolutely smoked her opponent last week.  she’s one of the elite teams in this league and it’s always wise to position yourself for the playoffs.  she only has 3 losses on the season but unfortunately 2 of those losses were to the 1st place team.

Jana’s league has the following settings for skaters: Goals (G), Assists (A), Plus/Minus (+/-), Penalty Minutes (PIM), Powerplay Points (PPP), Shorthanded Goals (SHG), Game-Winning Goals (GWG), Shots on Goal (SOG), Faceoffs Won (FW); and for goalies: Games Started (GS), Wins (W), Goals Against Average (GAA), Saves (SV), Save Percentage (SV%), Shutouts (SHO).  that’s a lot of categories but it should be noted that this is an 8 team league so it’s not as hard to find good goaltending to handle so many cats.  every team is going to be loaded though.

let’s take a look at the Warriors.

C Henrik Sedin VAN - the scoring race leader and i’ve heard all the arguments that he can’t keep this up.  why can’t he keep this up?  he’s playing great.  that doesn’t mean that you ignore all trade requests for him because you can’t ignore the right deal in a sell high situation.

C Jonathan Toews CHI - he does everything and he’s extra good at it.  he’s very much underrated as a fantasy option, particularly if your league also factors in FW like yours does.

LW Alexander Ovechkin WAS - he’ll be MVP again.  yawn.  he’s just so dynamic on the ice eh?  he’s one guy that i don’t look to trade in any league that i have him in, at least i’d have to be getting everything the other guy has and he’d have to throw in an autographed stick or something.

LW Bobby Ryan ANA - he’s young and in any keeper league he is a consideration to be kept.  within 2 years i see 50 goals a year out of him.

RW Marian Hossa CHI - he gets lost in all the offense in Chicago but he anchors their 2nd line scoring.  i like how many of your guys are purposefully pulled off of young high scoring offenses.

RW Patrick “sugar” Kane CHI - he’s already the best purely offensive option on the Hawks, and i say that already knowing that i’ve expressed some nice futures for Toews and for Hossa.

D Duncan Keith CHI - quite possibly going to win the Norris trophy this season, his first of what could be a long line of them.

D Tobias Enstrom ATL - right now he’s 5th in D scoring and quite frankly i saw him falling back to earth and Bogo picking it up.  that didn’t happen and it’s looking like he’s definitely the D to own in ATL for the next several years.

D Alex Goligoski PIT - i had to choose between Goli and Drew Doughty earlier this year in another fantasy discussion and i’m more than pleased to have picked Doughty.  that doesn’t mean that Goli isn’t a good option, not at all, he’s just further down the pecking order in Pitt than Doughty is in LA.  the fact that he’s young and Gonchar might very well be moving somewhere else in the near future bodes very nicely for him though.

D Stephane Robidas DAL - it is really underestimated what value Roby provides to an NHL team or to a fantasy team.  he’s hard-nosed, gets a ton of ice time and he makes solid choices for transitioning the puck out of the zone.  he’s now the man in Dallas from the back end and that isn’t likely to change anytime soon.

G Cristobal Huet CHI - he’s the starter on one of the best teams in the league but he still can’t shake the concept that he should be replaced.  he should be fine for this year … i hope.

G Tomas Vokoun FLA - his best fantasy asset is the fact that he sees more pucks per game than any other starter in the league.  he’ll get 30-some wins on the season, keep the ratios decent and he’ll make more saves/game than anybody.

BN Pekka Rinne NAS - i like him to be the Preds best option but lately they’ve been relying on Dan Ellis a lot more.  in the end he’ll be the better tender but Ellis (who looks like a hobbit) will steals some starts and some wins.

BN Eric Staal CAR - wow, he doesn’t even qualify as one of your starters that’s how far his value has sunk this season.  he’s still a great talent and you do NOT want to give up on him.  he’ll be fine and a decent option for goals and SOGs.

BN Andy Greene NJ - the Devils have been without Paul Martin and Johnny Oduya for good chunks of this season so into that gap has stepped Greene.  he’s a solid NHL option although he has never been nor will he ever be a star.  it was good that you capitalized on his situation this year, good pickup.

BN Scott Hartnell PHI - i love this guy in multi-cat leagues like yours because he contributes in goals while throwing in a nice dose of PIMs.  he can be  pretty streaky but when he’s on he puts up stats like the best of them.

BN Kurtis Foster TB - he’s been hurt for a lot of years and i’ve got to say i don’t have him on a single one of my teams.  now having said that he’s been great for the Lightning of late and he’s fitting in very nicely as a PP option for them.  i don’t see him as a long term option for them but for this year he’ll produce plenty for them.

BN Mason Raymond VAN - wheels galore and he’s REALLY blossomed into some nice promise this season.  i could see 30 goals out of him for a lot of season in a row.

you have the best offense in the league and i think you carry 1 too many D for my taste.  ideally i’d like to see you trade a D in a package in order to get an extra C/RW so that you can get more FW without hurting your total offense.  you also have a 50 transaction limit of which you’ve used all your waiver moves for the season (you realize the season’s only half done right?).  i wish you had saved some move for your fantasy playoffs actually, it would’ve been nice to have about 10 moves or so for streaming over 4 wks of playoffs.  in case you’re not familiar with the concept streaming is dumping a guy who’s not playing that day so that you can roster a guy who is playing that day or perhaps more games that week than the guy you’re giving up.  you don’t stream your good guys but but you can choose your worst player and stream him for a couple weeks.  anyway sorry, you don’t have that option.

Waiver Wire Options

since you’ve used up all 50 of your transactions this season that’ll mean that the only way that you can pick up a guy off the wire would be to offer 2fer1 trades but tell them they need to pick up so-and-so and then trade that guy to you in this deal.  that’ll mean that you REALLY complicate your trading discussions if you want to do that.

at any rate, here’s a handful of names on your wire that i like, in the order i like them.

Martin Havlat - ok, i really don’t like him at all but also he can be a real gamebreaker.  he looks to have found some chemistry with Guillame Latendresse and he’s a really streaky scorer to begin with.  if you can acquire him through trade then you’ll need him to go on a monstrous goal scoring streak … which he has the gifts to do.

Tomas Vanek - i realize this is an 8 team league but he has the sort of pedigree for 40 goals in a season during most seasons.  this year has been a bad one for him but you’re going to need some significant things to go your way in order to win this league anyway.  this bears watching.

Patric Hornqvist - right now he IS the Preds offense.  the Predators seems to latch on to 1 really good option up front and then run their attack through their significant D corps.  sometimes the significant forward is Jason Arnott, sometimes it’s JP Dumont or Martin Erat and right now it looks like it’s Horny.

Kimmo Timonen - actually i think you have 1 too many D right now anyway but Timonen has a history of significant D scoring.  i actually like him a sliver more than Greene who you already roster but maybe something could be done to roster him.  by the way, i loved Timonen in The Lion King.

Tim Connolly - he’s a C with a absolutely brittle history but this season he’s stayed healthy and he’s been a pt/game (ish).  you already have some significant C’s but one never knows what could happen during the course of a season.

Trading Options

these trade ideas are only suggestions, they may blow up in your face or the other guy might absolutely love the idea.  they’re intended as a starting point and the negotiations can begin here.  i’m completely willing to discuss trade ideas by email and that’s part of the point of doing this in the first place.  i want you to know that you can ask whatever question you want and i’ll do my best to answer as quickly as i can.

trade Stephane Robidas and Mason Raymond to Got Milk? for Brian Rafalski and Nik Antropov -  Milk has some trouble on his team at LW and you have a slight hole to fill at RW.  you’d be taking a chance by adding Rafalski and Antropov to the mix because the Wings might not bounce back and the Thrash may trade Kovalchuk which would deflate Antropov’s value.  let’s be serious though, this is a reasonable chance to take since i fully believe that the Wings are going to respond in the 2nd half and much of the reason will be because of Rafalski and Lidstrom; and the Thrash would be highly stupid to trade Kovalchuk, plain and simple.  Antropov provides offense and some extra FW, which you need and you’re offensive cushion doesn’t take much of a hit here.

trade Andy Greene to Digital Bruisers for Chris Stewart - DB needs a 5th D and Greene is a more solid option than the guy he’s playing as his 4th D (Marc Andre Bergeron).  you need another RW and have an extra D to spare. 

trade Henrik Sedin, Tobias Enstrom, Kurtis Foster and Tomas Vokoun to Team Sweden for Joe Thornton, Zdeno Chara, Tomas Fleischmann and Miikka Kiprusoff - Team Sweden has been loading up on Swedes all season so you offer him 2 Swedes and 2 other guys that you could argue could sound like Swedish names (Swedes spell Curt with a K right?).  there’s no way that this trade works in a hockey sense but even if you whittle it down so that the goalies are dropped out of the deal then you get the RW help you want and you balance out some other stuff that could actually work.  just point out that Fleischmann is a Czech and Kiprusoff is a Finn so he doesnt want them anyway.  who knows?  it might work.

Conclusions

you’re solidly positioned in 2nd in your league and your only real loss of the season (twice actually) was to the guy in 1st.  that’s the team to beat by the way and your situation is worsened a little by the fact that you have no transactions left for your playoffs.  you have a solid shot at it however. 

your team is strong and your only weakness is that you have a bit of depth problem at RW while you have one extra D that you don’t need.  you’ll also need your goaltending to hold up and there is a bit of concern about that too. 

the only way to improve your team at this stage is by trade and actually i’d start by looking at Team Sweden for some help there.  it’s obvious that Sweden is trying to lock up Swedish players only so why not offer up a couple Swedes to see if he’ll bite on the proverbial apple.  if you can get that deal done then you still might need to look at another RW option better than Fleischmann but not necessarily.  if that won’t fly then i’d go talk to the other 2 trade options to see who might jump at your offer first.

don’t get me wrong, if you do nothing your team’s going to be just fine too.  it’s not like you’re life and death on the border of missing the playoffs and in H2H once you get to the dance, anything can happen in the playoffs.

well, all the best Jana.  your team is solid, not much to worry about at all.

Sunday morning armchair

Trades made this week

Ryan traded Joe Pavelski, Jason Spezza (IR), Kevin Bieksa (IR), Nik Antropov and Alex Goligoski for Ilya Kovalchuk, Shea Weber, and Derek Roy - Ryan plays in and 8 team keep 4 men league and he traded a bunch of guys he won’t keep and can’t help him win for guys who can help him win this year and a guy he might keep in Kovalchuk.  the only discussion was whether or not he should go after someone better than Roy in this deal and it turned out that there wasn’t anyone better than Roy to go after in this deal.  well done.

Ryan traded Miikko Koivu, Jamie Langenbrunner and Jay Bouwmeester for Daniel Sedin and Rene Bourque - yes Ryan was a busy dude this week and as i write this he was still working on another trade too.  remember this is an 8 team multi-cat league that rewards for goal scorers and PIMy options.  Bourque is gold in this league because of his combo of offense and PIMs while Daniel has a history of staying right along with his brother but he’s the better triggerman.  Ryan traded a lot to get this done but he got the best 2 options in the trade and he had some depth he could move off his bench.

Chinny traded Rostislav Olesz and Jose Theodore in the Dobber Entry Division to get Scott Hartnell - this is a fantastic move for Chinny.  he took advantage of a guy’s goalie panic and made him give up a valuable commodity for some goals and PIMs.  this move allows him to take Pavol Demitra off IR and Hartnell goes right into his lineup daily.  Olesz has some traditional value as a sniper but he has undershone from my perspective.

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i was watching the Leafs on Friday night and a fight broke out.  the hit the caused it was incidental but Colton Orr’s stick was high which was the problem.  nothing like a complete melee to make your night interesting.  i had 4 Leafs going in the at game and i ended up -9 from those guys by the end of the night.  sigh, it’s not like it’s surprising that the Caps score a bunch.

the Preds threw a donut at the Flames on Friday night and it looks like they’re sharing goalie starts in Nashville.  i don’t see that as being good for the keeper development of Pekka Rinne who has the capability to be a star.

Patric Hornqvist is carrying the Preds right now.  keepers take careful note.  i like him for all offensive stats but especially goal related and SOG stats.

Jimmy Howard will not be giving the job back.  cement him in as the starter this season and just endure Ozzy’s whining throughout.   i’ve said since the beginning of the season that John Tavares would win the RoY in a walk but now i’m definitely saying “hey, what about Jimmy?”.  by the way, i wonder what Smallville is going to do about the fact that they killed Jimmy Olson last season, that ain’t the way it happened.

Brad Richards scored an unassisted PP goal in the 2nd.  PPG’s are hardly ever unassisted so i must take a look at that one.  i was watching the Oilers/Sharks at the time.

i’ve offered the handcuff of Howard/Osgood around a couple times in the Expert’s League and i’m now glad that nobody bit on it.  i offered a package that included Roloson/Khabibulin coming the other way and the other guy was annoyed at the idea.  it just goes to show that you should never poo-poo a offer you don’t like since you’ll still want to continue to deal with the guy afterward.  some guys are just hard to deal with (i can be that way sometimes too but i NEVER tear the other guy a new one when i don’t like his offer).

Brendan Morrow only had 6 minutes of ice in this game.  he suffered an upper body injury and he’s DTD.  he hasn’t been doing enough like he can this season anyway, the only Stars worth their salt this season are Richards, Eriksson, and Robidas thus far.

Steve Ott’s shootout winner was controversial.  i briefly saw the goal review but one official said it crossed the line after the other said he lost sight of it.  he called it a goal and then the review was inconclusive to overturn.  the problem is that the guy who said he lost sight of it first waived it off decisively.  i think it was a bad call and the Wings have a point here.

my wife and i watch “Numbers” on Friday nights and i always chuckle because every freaking week Charles Epps (the math prof character) has a teacher moment where they pull out a bunch of graphics to explain muzzle velocity and how it relates to the aerodynamics of a stork or something.  i think that he’s Bill Nye the science guy everytime.  it’s almost as annoying as all the one-liner crap that Horatio pulls out on CSI Miami.

Steve Mason continues to struggle.  he had a 4-3 lead going into the 3rd and eventually took the loss 6-5.  i’d actually target him in keepers if i’m right out of it and i was playing for next year only.  it’s just a soph slump and the price tag on him couldn’t get much lower.  i still believe and Mathieu Garon is pretty long in the tooth so the upside is still there.  Mason is a big kid who’ll continue to fill up the net, whenever the game in C-bus is back together we’ll see a return to last year’s stats.

Patty “sugar” Kane got the 3rd star for 3 assists on the afternoon.  the weird thing with his boxscore is that he didn’t take a single SOG in 15 minutes of ice.  i appreciate the assists kid but goals are always better and you won’t get those if you don’t shoot.

Jonathan Toews had a couple beautiful snipes to go along with an assist.  man that kid is special, he does everything and he does it well.

Troy Brouwer has had a decent run of points in January and i’m sure that any average league could make use of a bottom of the roster, hard-nosed RW.  if he’s available then he shouldn’t be.

Duncan Keith (cousin to my buddy Dave) is a monster of a D-man.  i’ve just now started to hear the rumblings that he’ll win the Norris and i’ve got to think that he’s the fave for it right now.  he had zeros completely across the board against the Jackets but the Jackets scored 5 goals on the night so there wasn’t a single blemish while Keith was on his watch.  i remember saying earlier this year to Dave that i didn’t think Keith was among the top 8 D for Canada and yeah, that was dead wrong.

Mike Commodore is pretty unsung.  if he can control his +/- situation he has some good value for PIMs and a little offense.  unfortunately though his defensive play this season has been pretty tough as he’s lined up facing some of the best offensive options in the league on every night.

Antoine Vermette is a completely different player in C-bus than he ever was in Ottawa.  his faceoff percentage is really good, he can be Rick Nash’s defensive conscience and he’s the beneficiary of the excess offense that the captain creates.

Tomas Greiss got the start at home for the Sharks because you can’t COMPLETELY run your starter into the ice all season.  i didn’t think that Greiss didn’t look very good at all.  he tried to clear a puck right up the middle with loads of traffic coming right at him and i didn’t think his reaction time looked even close to good.  Nabokov has no worries about this guy taking his job.

Devin Setoguchi scored the Sharks 3rd goal but he very nearly missed a wide open net, the shot banked in off Dubnyk.  he also has a new haircut that he’s sporting.  i can’t really work the shaved head look, i’d look like a giant thumb.

speaking of Devin Dubnyk (pronounced Doob-nick), he’s getting a tryout to see if he’ll be Khabibulin’s backup next year and he’s looking pretty good actually.  the kid looks HUGE in the net, his angles are solid and he looks agile enough to be decent.  JDD has something to worry about here.

the Sharks completely outclassed the Oilers.  the difference in talent is immense right now and the Oil is right to give kids like Doobie a shot.  just imagine Taylor Hall as an Oiler (i think i’m going to be ill at that thought, oh please let it be the Canes and not the Oil or the B’s).

man i’ll love to watch the Sharks and the Hawks in the Western Conference Final and that’s exactly how i see it right now.  they’ve just got the best teams across the board in the West.  you guys in the East don’t get to see enough of them because you don’t stay up to watch them very much (i know, i’ve lived in the East too) and you’re missing a lot.

from Nov 25 to Dec 31 Wayne Simmonds had 12 pts in 13 games even though he was hurt for 2 weeks in there.  since the new year he’s gotten 2 pts in 6 games coming into the game on Saturday.  that’s just not enough, if you’re getting top 6 minutes then i want top 6 stats and that’s saying a lot with the firepower available on the Kings.  he got an assist in a Kings shootout comeback win.  he got to line up with Kopitar and he’s even a good source of some PIMs.  i like him.

David Krejci and Zdeno Chara are the only offensive options i trust in Boston right now.  they won’t go far if they have to rely on Sturm, Satan or even Wheeler.

Miro Satan scored his 2nd goal of the season.  even though there’s an offensive dearth in Boston right now i still don’t want him on my fantasy team.

Blake Wheeler got 45 pts last year and was a killer +36.  this season he’s about on pace for the same amount of points but the +/- is looking like it might be the neighbourhood of the freezing level (that would be about zero for our non-Canadian friends).  i  still like him for a nice career in most keeper formats.

the Kings have so much offense at their disposal and then Jaret Stoll leads them in SOGs on Saturday afternoon.  Stoll is really underrated, an excellent 2 way threat who’ll contribute with decent offense.  the injury history is his biggest problem but go ahead and look at the stats on a per game basis.  he’s an excellent C4 option in any league with 12 teams or more.

Chris Stewart is 6′2″ and 228.  he’s a big dude that i think needs to play with a bit more edge but who am i to complain, he’s got 15 goals and 31 pts on the season.  he’s on the 1st line and he might end up with 30 goals by season’s end.  the lanche need guys just like him to step up and they’ve been waiting on him for a couple years now.  he’s arrived and he isn’t going away.  it’s probably too late to get him for a reasonable price but it’s still worth looking into it.

i traded for Zach Parise last month with the hope to improve my +/-.  he cost me Cammalleri and Ryan Whitney and then i added Pitkanen off the wire.  in terms of total stats i’m ahead by a couple goals and about 6 assists but i really expected this trade to be more huge than it has been.  Zach was -3 yesterday, and they only gave up 3 goals.  you can’t get beat up with your best player on the ice like that.

don’t buy into the hype that all will be well with Mike Fisher.  he’s a decent NHL’er don’t get me wrong but his talents are best served as a checking center.  he had a phenomenal 1st half but expect the stats to come back to the norm for him over the 2nd half.

it was good to see Alffy back on the ice, i love him as a leader and he’s underrated as an offensive option.  he’s getting older and more brittle but he still has plenty to contribute.  it was hilarious to me that it was Dad’s day for the Sens and Alffy’s own dad wasnt in his seat for his nice snipe.  i fully expect his stats to be in line with the sort of contributions he’s put up when healthy over the recent past.

Roman Hamrlik and Jaroslav Spacek get used much more 5 on 5 than MA Bergeron gets used but MAB goes out there on the PP.   if all you’re after is special teams points then i like MAB since he’ll be out there more with Markov but for overall play i like Spacek and then Hamrlik.

i answered a question over at Dobberhockey this week that asked me to choose between Benoit Pouliot or Matt Moulson and i went with Pouliot because i honestly like his talents and opportunity more than Moulson.  i see Moulson disappearing as the talent matures on the Island but i can see Pouliot blossoming into a power forward option in Montreal if he can handle all the pressure there.

Tomas Plekanec scored his 11th goal and 47th point on the season on a puck that Mike Brodeur didn’t see and went straight 5-hole.  i’ve never really liked Plekanec, i thought his feet were slow and that he’d never amount to much but i also didn’t see this level of contribution from him … ever.  i suppose i’d be willing to consider having him on my team but i still have some reservations.

Steven Weiss left the battle of Florida with a lower body injury but it’s expected that he’ll be fine and shouldn’t miss any time.

Cory Stillman was in my lineup and got me 2 and 1.  he can be really streaky but that team is so young that they need some older guys to show the way.  Still waters run deep.

Kurtis Foster has been all the rage in most leagues lately and that’s because he’s on fire over the last few weeks.  this doesn’t come out of the blue though, he had 40 pt potential in Minnesota and given the right chance he can do that for the Lightning.

Rostislav Olesz got 2 goals on the night but i’m still not changing my mind from the Trades section above.  he still has a pedigree as a shooter but he’s never really shown himself as a goal guy at the NHL level.  he’s on pace for close to 20 goals and that’s to be considered a good season for him.

Rick DiPietro got his 1st win of the season in a shootout against Ryan Miller and the Sabres.  i still like Roloson for the lion’s share of starts for them this season, he’s been a godsend for them.

John Tavares got his first goal since before Christmas, that’s forever when your team needs you to be the man on offense.  he’ll still get 30 goals though … i hope.

by the way, WHO DEM SAINTS eh?  Who dem?  yeah, sorry to introduce a different sport to the discussion but my Saints haven’t done this sort of thing in the past i’d just love to see a lot more of them this season.  they get to host their first ever NFC championship game next week.

Eric Staal with 10 SOGs and 1 assist as they get stomped by the Thrash.  EStaal is still going to show you something this season, don’t forget to pay attention.

Nik Antropov, Zach Bogosian, Ilya Kovalchuk and Rich Peverley each went 1 and 1 to get it done.  i’m a believer in 3 of them this season, you’ll have to read back to previous posts a little to be sure who it is on that list that i don’t trust.  ok, it’s Peverley.  i just think that his contributions are too dependant on the talent around him.

i’m wearing my Winnipeg Jets t shirt as i type this.  oh and look, the Coyotes won too.  this might be a big year for them, they can jump up and surprise a team or two in the playoffs.

Guillame Latendresse is completely at home on the Wild.  he was lost as a Hab but getting away from that boiling pot of hockey madness has been phenomenal for him.  he won’t be a superstar but the Wild run decent options at you over four lines and Guillame can be more than serviceable for that team.  by the way he got a hattie in a losing cause and he has 12 pt in his last 7 games.

Martin Havlat assisted on all of Latendresse’s goals and the two of them are developing some nice chemistry of late.

Ed Jovanovski led his team in ice time, got 4 assists and was +4 on the night. 

the Blues are 4-2-1 under their new coach.  as much as i like Andy Murray a new coach and a new perspective often turns a team around.

Alex Steen (born in Winnipeg while Daddy played for the Jets) has 10 pts in his last 10 games.  he went 1 and 1 in 16 minutes of ice.  if you’re in the market for a bottom of the roster C then you could do a lot worse.

David Backes scored on his only SOG last night and had more ice than any Blues forward outside of TJ Oshie.

TJ Oshie played in his 100th game already.  he isn’t the green rook that many think he is.  by the way, his future is a lot brighter than Patrick Berglund.

the Rangers put Marian Gaborik on the ice a lot.  that’s because nobody else can score for them.  that’s just a hard truth right now.  i still like Brandon Dubinsky though and Ryan Callahan might be decent.

Roman Polak was the 1st star going 1 and 1 and carrying most of the load defensively on the ice.  i don’t think he has much fantasy value overall but i suppose that he could be affected really nicely by the coaching change and i’m willing to be surprised by his contributions.

i don’t care how much your starter sucks on that night, unless he’s hurt and CAN’T play you don’t put in the kid who just signed a 1 day tryout contract while you’re on your western swing.  that’s just stupid but that’s exactly what the Penguins did after John Curry got pressed into duty and got shelled.  they should’ve just told him to “suck it up princess, we need you in the twine tonight”.  it turns out this tryout kid wore MA Fleury’s pads and only let one past him in half a game.  he still didn’t belong in there though.

Pavol Demitra played his first game of the season after 2 shoulder surgeries this year.  he was -1 with zero SOGs in 14 minutes of ice but i doubt he’s complaining because he’s finally back.

Jannik Hanson was impressive with the Manitoba Moose a couple years back and he shows flashes of NHL ability when he gets the chance to contribute in Vancouver.  he went 1 and 1 in 11 minutes of ice.  things are plenty crowded for ice time for him though since guys like Mason Raymond and even Tyler Glass have already shown their better at the sorts of stuff that he can do.

Evgeni Malkin scored a fugly one but when you’re struggling you take everything you can get.

Eric Godard lost it a bit in the 3rd period with 3 minors and a misconduct.  4 minutes of ice time and 16 minutes in the box, i doubt he even needed a shower after the game.

An Expert’s Audit - Hello? Are you still in this league?

Welcome once again to “An Expert’s Audit”. This audit will be posted here as well as on www.dobberhockey.com. I also do weekly reviews of teams for people who email in to me for a look-see. These audits will continue to appear here monthly and if you’re interested in having your keeper team “worked over” then you can begin by emailing Dobber (contact link at bottom of website) about it. But send it in by the 15th, as I will be starting on my next one at that point.

One of the fun things about this gig is that I get to see different leagues played in different game systems.  Most leagues that I see are at Yahoo but it can be even more fun to see how CBS or ESPN play the game.  This past month I went to ESPN to see Andrew Wilson’s 16 team H2H fantasy point league keeper.  This league is different than just about any other I’ve looked at because ESPN gives you options for your league that other systems just don’t allow.  This particular league gave extra value to goals than assists and it also tracked faceoff wins, faceoff losses, blocks and hits.  Do you have any idea how that changes the value of a checking center in the NHL?  Or the defensive defenseman who’s a shot-blocker?  Or just a PIMy hitter who gets ice time and spends all night running people over?  This was truly a lot of fun.

Andrew Wilson is a Leaf fan who plays in a league that has the following fantasy point settings: G(5), A(3), +/-(.5), PIM(.6), PPG(4), PPA(2), FOW(.5), FOL(-.3), HAT(3), SOG(.3), HIT(.4), BLK(2), SHP(6), W(5), L(-3), GA(-1), SV(.5), SO(6) and OTL(1).  That’s a lot of stuff to track but thankfully ESPN also provides a free stattracker and provides you with a season average fantasy point total for every player you inquire about.  If you wanted to find a few diamonds in the rough you just had to search a little for shot blockers and C’s with good FW% and then you found options that are outside the norm in your standard hockey pool.  Additionally this 16 team league started with a premise that you could grandfather in 3 keeps off the team that you represent in the real NHL plus an additional 7 keeps outside of that.  It should be pointed out that Andrew only took control of this team after the season had begun so he was already hamstrung with a bad roster.

First things first though, let’s look at the Carolina Hurricanes.  I’ll provide you with each guy’s fantasy point average in brackets after their names.  You’ll get to keep 3 Canes and another 7 options after this season

C Eric Staal CAR (7.5) – Cane keeper – during a normal season he’ll be your best scorer but this one has been a bit of a nightmare for him.  He’ll be fine so don’t worry about this keep.  Do not trade him and most guys in your league are going to ask about him since his fall this season has been immense.

C Brooks Laich WAS (6.5) – keeper – most of the stats he generates in this system are directly due to the offense that he generates.  He doesn’t hit, block or get SOG much and he doesn’t win enough faceoffs for his value to spike up so most of his points come straight from his offense.  I like his offense to increase and I expect his SOGs and hits to go up too as his career continues to grow.

C Steve Ott DAL (5.7) – keeper - PIMs and hits are his currency in your league and this year has been a bit of a down year for him so far.  I expect a return to hardnosed offense he put up last year (7.5 in 2008-09).

LW Evander Kane ATL (4.3) – keeper – I expect that as he grows into his NHL career his goal, SOG and hit totals will go up a lot.

LW Andrei Kostitsyn MON (5.4) – keeper – again most of his points are generated out of the pure offensive categories he contributes to.  He doesn’t shoot enough, he’s not PIMy and he doesn’t really hit or block either but the offensive upside is still pretty significant so that, along with his age makes him a keeper in my books.  The fact that he’s injured right now is immaterial because you’ve pretty much thrown in the towel this year anyway.

LW Ray Whitney CAR (5.0) – he doesn’t hit, block or shoot much and most of his stats are generated from the significant ice time he gets in Carolina.  Unfortunately the fact that he’s 37 years old makes him an unattractive option for the future in this league.

RW Tuomo Ruutu CAR (6.2) – Cane keeper – offense and hits are what he brings to the table.  I was never a fan when he was a Hawk but he’s stayed healthy as a Cane and he’s hitting guys.  He’s a 30 goal guy in waiting too.

RW Steve Sullivan NAS (4.0) – see Ray Whitney except he’s 35 and not as good at offense.

RW Tom Kostopoulos CAR (4.0) – I wanted to tell you to turf this guy immediately before I realized that you didn’t have a better option at RW to fill in for him.  We’ll have to figure something out here and failing that you do have a couple IR guys who are eligible at RW.

D Dennis Seidenberg FLA (9.2) – keeper - brace yourself but he’s actually top 20 in scoring in this league because he’s the best shot blocker in the NHL and he’s top 30 for hits.  It’s funny how guys who don’t get a 2^nd look in a roto league are GOLD in a league like yours.  This is your biggest asset and we’ll shop him pretty hard to all the big fish.

D Brooks Orpik PIT (6.6) – keeper – He has a reputation in the NHL for being a hard hitter and he’s the 2^nd most hitting D in the league so far this season (behind Stephane Robidas).  The extra offense he chips in make him of great value to your team. 

D Tim Gleason CAR (7.9) – he contributes in PIMs, hits and blocks plus he’s put up 5 goals for a D corps that needs some help this season. 

D Mark Giordano CAL (6.2) – I considered him for a keep because of his age but he’s also got more than a couple options ahead of him in the pecking order in Calgary so I think his value is a bit further down the road than the next year or so.

D Cam Barker CHI (4.9) – he got 40 points in the NHL last year but he was still only a 5.7 option in your league.  His struggles this year have been pretty immense and he’s gotten himself listed as a healthy scratch which just doesn’t work if you’re going to rely on him as a keep.

D Brian Pothier WAS (5.4) – I don’t think he has much fantasy value no matter what system you’re playing.  He doesn’t get enough offense, isn’t PIMy and doesn’t hit or block so he’s not much value for you.

G Cam Ward CAR (9.5) – Cane keeper – one of the few reasons why getting to keep 3 Canes on your roster is a nice little stroke of luck.  You’re not going to want to move any of your Cane keeps as long as your grandfather protection clause is in place.

G Pekka Rinne NAS (12.5) – keeper – a 16 team league with 2 goalie slots means you need to keep at least 2 starting tenders.  You’ve got yourself 2 really good young starters so you’re money in goal.  Keep them both and don’t trade them anytime soon.

BN Tyler Kennedy PIT (3.8) – he actually started the season shooting the puck a lot but he completely dropped off the table about 10 games into the season.  He’s not worth keeping around in this system at all.

BN Clarke MacArthur BUF (4.7) – he’s on pace for 40 some pts this season and I think in a couple years could blossom into a 30 goal option.  He doesn’t hit or block and his faceoff percentage is pretty bad but for pure offense there is some potential here.

BN Kris Russell CBS (4.8) – there was all sorts of upside here but he hasn’t reached any of it.  His opportunity is being given guys like Tyutin and Stralman now and I’m not sure that it’ll ever come back around his way.

BN Dan Carcillo PHI (5.0) – I like PIMy options in fantasy hockey as much as the next guy but I just don’t see Carcillo getting back to anything close to 25 pts and 200 PIMs that made him famous a couple years back.  He’ll get the 200 PIMs easily but he’ll fall really short on the points.

BN Robert Lang PHX (5.4) – surprising offense but his real value in this league is in the FOW bonus he provides to your team.  His age and brittle history make him so that he’s not a consideration for a keep though, not even close.

BN Andrew Ebbett MIN (3.2) – yeah … uh no.  He’s a checking center who doesn’t generate offense in any system whatsoever.

BN Matt Hunwick BOS (3.4) – he’s young, which is his only asset to your squad.  He really doesn’t help you in this league.

BN Sergei Kostitsyn MON (2.1) – again he’s young but I can’t get past the cloud of trouble that has circled him for the last couple seasons.  He still has some keeper value if you can find a taker.

IR Joe Corvo CAR (6.0) – he put up 14 goals and 38 points last year and that’s nothing to be ignored.  He’s been hurt for a month now and should be absent for at least one more but when healthy his best value is in his offensive contributions.  I’d actually seriously consider him for one of the keeper slots and if you do then the guy I’d look to remove from your keeper consideration is Laich.

IR Erik Cole CAR (5.0) – he’s a 30 goal guy who has fallen to 15 goal depths.  I was tempted to say that he gets injured too much but actually he’s played a lot of games over the last couple seasons so maybe it’s just that he’s lost it.

IR Chris Neil OTW (6.0) – I just traded for him in the Expert’s League because I needed PIMs and that’s pretty much his game.  In this league however, he also hits and gets the occasional goal.  You have a dearth at RW so I like that you can at least roster him there.

Well … there’s lots of room for improvement here.  There’s a reason why this team was winless so far this season, it isn’t very good at all.  Your grandfather options off the Hurricanes aren’t having a good season whatsoever and the rest of the squad has a lot of growing to do.  Now having said that I like Staal, your goalies, your LW options, your D is remarkably good in this system, and the PIMy options on your squad are well rewarded by the PIM and HIT bonus your system provides.  This isn’t going to be a quick fix however, your team is a long way away from competing but you have more than a decent shot at Taylor Hall this summer and we’ll see what more we can do to help.

Waiver Wire Options

Jonathan Ericsson DET (3.8) – he’s young and he’s got some good upside.  He’s hurt so you’ll just have to reevaluate his upside at some later point.  I like him but only when I use the lens that lets me look at his longterm future.  He went on to your IR and Pothier went to the wire.

Bryan Little ATL (3.4) – he’s been awful this season but he got 31 freaking goals last season and you just don’t forget how to pocket goals.  Adding him is a decent gamble because of his youth and he’s got a shot at returning to last year’s production.  He went to your bench and Ebbett went to the wire.

Mikhail Grabovski TOR (5.4) – his value is in offensive stats, FOW and youth.  I like his upside for the future and you’ll just have to decide on his value at a later date.  We added him and Kennedy got turfed to the wire.

Jeff Finger TOR (7.7) – You may not like him as an NHL player and you may agree with many pundits who declare him to be the worst Leafs signing in many years of bad signings but nevertheless he gets a decent amount of blocks and hits and that has value in your league.  We put in a claim for him but he got snapped up by someone else.

Kevin Bieksa VAN (5.7) – We actually spent a good amount of time trying to acquire some injured guys who would have value for you down the road.  PIMs is his market and he’s a fave option of mine when I’m shopping for PIMs in any system.  We put in a claim for him and he got snapped up by someone else.

Trading Options

Offered Dennis Seidenberg, Brooks Orpik, and Robert Lang to Columbus for Antoine Vermette, Niklas Kronwall IR, and Nikita Filatov NA – in the end this didn’t go through.  It was right on the edge of being done and then C-bus had the audacity to insist that Staal be included in the deal.  Andrew was giving up a top 5 D in Seidenberg (in this league where blocks give you a bonus), another hitter and a C with some nice FW for a nice FW bonus type in Vermette, an injured young hitter and a kid who may end up staying in Russia after this season.  It was unbelievable that we worked on this for so long only to have it implode in front of our eyes.

Offered Tim Gleason and Sergei Kostitsyn to Boston for David Krejci and Michal Frolik – the manager of this team changed hands during the middle of the month I was looking around the league and discussions hadn’t gotten very far by month’s end.  I don’t know if this is going to go anywhere but discussions continue.

Offered Dennis Seidenberg and Brooks Orpik to Detroit for Johan Franzen IR and David Booth IR – Detroit was in 4^th and could’ve certainly used an upgrade on two defenseman with the cost being a couple guys who won’t help him much this season anyway.

Offered Dan Carcillo and Kris Russell to Philadelphia for James VanRiemsdyk and Erik Karlsson – Philly was in 1^st place and this offer actually upgraded both positions for him in the short term but benefitted Andrew long term.  We were hoping that he’d want to go after another Flyer who did have some value in a league like this but it didn’t “fly”.

In many occasions offers sat on the table and weren’t responded to.  In many cases offers went out that wouldn’t work in a standard roto league but had some real value in a league that gave bonuses in FOW, hits and blocks.  I just wish that guys would respond, even a no is better than dead air.

Conclusions

It’s frustrating when trade offers sit on the table for weeks on end and emails aren’t responded to and that’s exactly what happened all month.  We only had one real trade discussion over the course of the month and that imploded right on the verge of a deal.  I’m still annoyed with Columbus over that one.  Sigh.  Deals can still be made and I’ll keep myself available for any advice you care to ask for in the future.  Essentially the working relationship is in place and we can continue to fine tune your keeper options in preparation for your next pressure moment, next year’s draft.

We did manage to get rid of some of the deadwood on your roster and we added some potential found in a handful of kids on your roster.  We’ll need to tweak your 10 keeps over the summer and I’ll definitely suggest you invest in a Fantasy Guide in preparation for next year’s draft. 

Good luck Andrew.

Sunday morning armchair

Trades made this week

Mark Adema had a review a couple week’s back and he traded Kris Letang for Brad Boyes in a league that overvalues goals and gives bonuses for goals on special teams.  this is a money move since Boyes is a quality goalscorer who’ll get plenty of opportunity with a new coach in St Louis.  Letang was one of the guys i was suggesting he shop around and he got himself a great deal.

i traded Steve Sullivan and Martin Erat to Youth Injection in the Expert’s League for Jason Arnott and Chris Neil - i’m done adding PIMs to this team after several recent additions but this deal also upgrades my C’s, gets me more goals there, more SOGs and better +/- over the course of this season.  it’ll mean that i have to balance my lineup every week based on schedule since i now have to decide between Arnott and Krejci and Simmonds/Clarkson/Neil for 2 slots at RW.  obviously Neil provides me with the PIMs i’m after but he also has been providing his own decent share of offense of late.

Chinny traded Matt Carkner to get Mason Raymond - he needed LW games and was beyond the games played limit at both RW and at D so this was a no brainer.  Raymond is getting huge opportunity in Vancouver and kid’s got mad wheels to get his game up to another level.  if he continues to hang with Ryan Kesler for awhile he’ll be more than fine.

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

every time i watch my beloved Leafs it seems they start to lose.  it’s giving me a complex.  however, when your team is losing more than it’s winning then it’s natural that they start to lose while you watch more often.  i shouldn’t take it personally.  i’m not the jinx.  still … just win losers.

i got an email this week from a guy that was in the best league i’ve EVER been in over all these years of playing fantasy.  the Can-Am 4 Sport league matched us up in all 4 major sports and we kept a running standings that continued over all the sports.  it seems we’re going to try and get the band back together.  nice.

there’s lots of chatter about how Tuukka Rask is going to take the next big step in the next year or so but quite frankly, Tim Thomas isn’t going anywhere so i think it’s all just a bunch of wishful thinking.  Thomas is the Bruins option and he’ll be keeping his chair for a long foreseeable future.

Michael Del Zotto started off the season absolutely on fire for the Rangers but he really hasn’t been heard from much since Nov 1st and there’s been next to nothing since Dec 1st.  he got 12 of his 21 pts in October and going into yesterday’s afternoon game he was -16.  he has upside for some nice production down the road but i’d be staying away from him in all one year leagues. 

what’s it say about the Rangers offense if DZ is your best stat producing D?  it doesn’t say many good things although i have noticed that Vaclav Prospal has been carrying significant responsibility for their offense and heaven help them if they lose Gaborik for any period of time.

if you want an unsung stat producer and for whatever reason you want that to be a Ranger then the guy you want is Brandon Dubinsky.  go trade for him and you’ll get plenty of assists,decent goals and enough SOGs to be valuable.  go ahead and look at his average stats over the last month.

the Rangers pounded Tim Thomas with 21 shots in the 2nd period alone and then the Bruins returned the favour firing 16 at Henrik Lundqvist in the 3rd.

the Bruins without Marc Savard are in for some looooooong nights.

did you see the broccoli commercials?  a guy survives a fall from a plane but the real miracle is the nutrients in my broccoli?  is the broccoli association that hard up?  is there a broccoli surplus somewhere that requires the hard sell? 

you know the difference between snot and broccoli?  kids don’t eat broccoli.

there was all this talk about the Pens poor PP and the Leafs lousy PK and how they would clash.  was there any concern that the Pens PP was going to take off?  really?  they can run Sid, Geno and Gonchar out there and i’ve got to think that they aren’t worried whatsoever.

Rickard Wallin missed a wide open net at the end of the 2nd period and he looks fairly lost on the PK too.  you don’t want any part of him and his Mike Foligno hands.

they got the call right and that negated the Leafs penalty shot opp.  it sucks but it’s right.  it seems stupid and wrong that Gonchar still had to serve the penalty though, shouldn’t that time be wiped out after the goal?

my wife saw that Iginla commercial for the bank and she immediately knew who that was.  i’m wearing her down, she knows more and more hockey everyday.

i really like watching the HNIC Hotstove after the 2nd period but Mike Milbury continues to underwhelm as he says absolutely nothing of value during the segment.  Elliotte Friedman was a great add to the mix and i also say good riddance to Al Strachan.  

Cory Stillman can still be found on many waiver wires and he’s a LW option that was going on a pt/game pace just prior to his injury.  i fully expect a return to that level asap.  he can be of good use in standard leagues and deeper.

cool, i traded for Chris Neil this week and this was the first Saturday night on my roster.  he got me 14 PIMs and Jarkko Ruutu got me 12 in the same game.  i’m pegging Neil for some extra offensive stats while all the big guns are injured.

i’m not sure that Alexei Kovalev is motivated if i look at his play many nights this year but he had a 4 goal game this week that made me consider trying to trade for him.  i didn’t and i think i’m happy that i didn’t.  he’s the only offense on that squad right now.

i can’t believe that Steve Reinprecht has the value that he’s got this season,  it is just so far beyond the norm for him.  i didn’t see it coming, i wouldn’t have predicted it and … i’m still not a believer that it’ll continue.

Steve Weiss though?  that guy is going to be a star.

Rostislav Olesz has been a guy that i’ve periodically suggested as a sniper type but he’s never realized the potential that i’ve seen in my crystal ball.  he got 2 goals and 4 PIMs in 15 minutes of ice but i still don’t see that trend continuing.

i have to wonder how contract negotiations have affected Ilya Kovalchuk who has been ice cold for a solid week now.  the Thrash got demolished by a “pretty good” Caps offense but Kovy took 7 shots and got nothing for it (he was -3).  i can’t afford rostering a cold sniper but it’s also difficult to determine who i should trade him for to carry my LW goal-scoring load.  don’t do anything hasty here, he’ll put it together again and it was just a week ago that he had a 4 pt game and December was a really nice streak on its own.

a guy who has been ignored in the Thrash offense this season is Bryan Little.  dude got 31 goals last year and if they do trade Kovy then somebody is going to have to score for them.  i could see a return for him and it’d be extra sweet because so many have poo-poo’d on Little this season.

pick any Cap getting more than 12 minutes of ice a night and i can make an argument that you should be keeping him in your keeper.  seriously, all the big guns qualify and we can throw Fleischmann, Laich and Fehr into the mix too.

we might actually be seeing Jose Theodore as the odd man out in the Caps goalie situation before the end of the season.  Neuvirth doesn’t look like he wants to give anything up.  i remember looking at one keeper league that had both Neuvirth and Varlamov on it last year and that guy must be just giddy looking at this situation.

i think that Jason Chimera is a good fit for the Caps and it enabled them to part ways with Chris Clark on good terms.  it was obvious that the captaincy needed to be handed to Ovie and this has let them do it smoothly.

Michael Leighton has been good for the Flyers lately.  Ray Emery should return anytime now but they don’t have to rush him back now.  the Flyers are in arm’s reach of the playoffs.  still can’t stand them though.

Scott Hartnell with a goal and a fight.  i like him for any PIM and goal dominated league.

Braydon Coburn has 30 pt potential but he’s on pace for 25.  i can accept a drop like that if only the +/- isn’t affected.  unfortunately, i hate it when my D are below freezing for +/-.  HATE.  IT.

Blair Betts got 2 goals in the 3rd to put the game away but he still doesn’t draw any fantasy interest.  seriously, no fantasy interest.

the Lightning will finish their suspended game against the Devils on Sunday night.  i guess they don’t want to leave the area only to come back and play half a game.

i think i had the wrong take on Brandon Yip a couple weeks back.  he got his 5th goal in his 10th game and he’s getting plenty of opportunity for offense.  if you need the help at the bottom of your roster then it’s more than a decent gamble to go get Yip(pee).

shoutout to Beth when i note that Matt Duchene got his 13th goal of the season.  Beth and Matt are both Haliburton, ON kids.  Duchene has creeped up on John Tavares for the rookie scoring lead.  i still say that JT will win the rook but Duchene is looking pretty special himself.  i think of the Yzerman mold when i see Duchene.

there has been lots of talk about how good Drew Stafford will be one day but Clarke MacArthur has more goals and just as many points as Stafford.  in case you missed it earlier this season, i like Mac.

Zach Parise hasn’t been Zach Parise for the last month.  i’ve been waiting for him to do what he can do ever since i traded for him over a month ago.  last night he went 1 and 1 with 2 PIMs and +2.

Travis Zajac is about to become a star.

Scott Gomez is finally playing like he should.  ever since Christmas he’s been on FIRE.  maybe it’s just the season and he loves giving gifts.

the Hawks let the Wild score 4 times in the third to take the game to a shootout.  un-freaking-believable.

Guillame Latendresse got 2 goals for the Wild but you still don’t want him for your team.  he’ll get up toward 20 goals this season … if he’s lucky.  he’ll also be much better off playing in Minny than he would’ve in Monny.

i saw Kris Verteeg do very well in the NHL Poker Shootout on tv this week.  i haven’t a clue when it was taped but he did well.

in another massive comeback the Yotes came back on the Isles to secure a point.

i can’t believe that Peter Mueller only got his 2nd goal of the season.  if you recall the World Jr shootout where Jonathan Toews won the gold for Canada well it was Mueller putting up a huge showing of his own for the Yanks.  the kid has serious skills that are looking fairly untapped so far this season.  he got 54 pts a couple years back and he has the upside to be a 80-90 point guy in the right situation.

Josh Bailey has skill.  nobody is talking about it but he has definite skill and he’s getting some good chances for the Isles this year.  he got his 11th goal and 22nd point last night.  the stat growth will be slow but there is definite upside there still.

Rob Schremp deserves the chance he’s getting with the Isles.  like Bailey he’s got skills and many have noticed it, it’s interesting that he’s finally getting some different chances.

Jovo-cop got an elbow major and a misconduct to go along with a PPG.  his biggest problem has and always will be +/- but otherwise he’s nearly as valuable as upper echelon D like Chara who contribute across the board.

Jovo’s elbow happened at 19:43 of the first and then the Yotes forgot to put anyone in the box to start the 2nd (Jovo was serving his misconduct).  there was no stoppage in play before the major ran out and so the Isles had an extended PP because the Yotes had to wait for a whistle to put a 5th man on the ice.  stupid coaching move.

Radim Vrbata should be able to contribute a lot more than he actually does.

Teemu is back and got a goal on his first night back.

Jason Arnott didn’t play because of what i found out later was a “minor” upper body injury.  it sucks that i traded for him this week and didn’t know this was coming in any way.  i should’ve asked for Teemu instead although i doubt that the deal would’ve been done then.

Patric Hornqvist is leading the Preds in many ways without being their actual “leader”.  lots of shots and opportunities there and you should move to lock him up or roster him if you have the option.

i LOVE the national anthem in Vancouver.  the guy doing it there stops singing and the crowd carries it for 30 seconds or so.  very cool.  you should check it out.

with the Northwest Division lead on the line the Flames and Canucks battled it out to a great game in Vancouver.  you could see the disappointment in Luongo’s body language when the shootout winner got past him.  i still hate that most leagues don’t have a way to score the one point they get from a SOL or an OTL.

the hottest line in the NHL isn’t in San Jose, it’s in Vancouver as Alex Burrows has benefitted greatly from lining up with the twins.  Burrows is really hard to trade for because he had such a huge stat season for fantasy last year.  this year will be no different so it’ll continue to be hard to trade for him.

i had to stop and think about the keeper value of Mark Giordano this week.  in the end i decided that there are too many options ahead and behind him that makes his keeper value deflate.  he’ll never take the place of the big guns in Calgary and i like Adam Pardy about as much as i like Giordano anyway so he’s actually easily replaceable.

David Moss took 8 SOGs in 15 minutes of ice but saw no fruit whatsoever for his efforts.

the Canucks got outshot at home by a nearly 2 to 1 margin, and they nearly won this game too.  man this matchup is just plain a dogfight.

i wasnt a believer in Mason Raymond before the start of this season.  i figured that 20 goals would be phenomenal for him but never did i picture the nearly 40 goal pace he’s on right now.

Dan Cleary and Henrik Zetterberg are back with the Wings now and Cleary has 2 goals in 2 road games this week.  my buddy Johnny G must be pleased since he’s a Wings fan living in SJ and he went to that game last night.  Cleary has been teamed up with Filppula since his return and i think that can be a very beneficial relationship worth watching.  in case you weren’t looking it up Cleary had a goal, a fight and 9 PIMs in total.

Davis Payne is the new coach of the Blues and he nearly cost his team a goal by circling the wrong name to start the game against the Kings.  Perron was on the ice and Boyes should’ve been when Brad Winchester scored at 14 seconds.  the goal counted because Perron wasnt involved in the scoring but the Blues still got an illegal substitution call.  that was Payne’s first NHL coaching win.

Brad Winchester got that goal to start the game but he also got into 2 (count’em 2) fights on the night.  dude must’ve been exhausted by the time he made it back to the hotel room pillow.  Matt Greene got into 2 fights also but only one of them was against Winchester.

at one time last year i figured that Patrik Berglund would be the better option over TJ Oshie but it’s not even close now.  Berglund has disappeared and Oshie is getting 20 minutes of ice and doing plenty with it.

what is up with Brad Boyes?  he’s only got 9 goals after a couple 30 and 40 goal campaigns.  just one quick observation but he got 2 assists last night and didn’t take a single SOG.  you’re a sniper dude, shoot the puck.

can you imagine the Kings with a sniper like Ilya Kovalchuk?  it could happen you know.  think Kopitar might be pleased by that development?  uh yeah, you know he would.

the Oscar Moller wiener just has a great nickname.