After some big time fantasy players were sidelined with injuries in week two, I wanted to chime in with my two cents:
Boston – well the injury bug has hit hard in Beantown. Marc Savard has been sidelined for up to 6 weeks with a broken foot, Milan Lucic is gone for at least 3 weeks with a dislocated finger and Dennis Wideman has been injured, but returned just last night. For the other B’s these two big injuries should translate into additional ice-time for the like of David Krejci, Brad Marchand (just called up), Blake Wheeler should and the newly arrived Daniel Paille (from Buffalo). In Krejci, the sleek play-making center will get more opportunities to create and that’s good news for fantasy owners as he has a meager 3 assists so far in 8 games. Paille’s arrival was a salary dump for the Sabres, but not as great as one for the Bruins – who essentially moved Chuck Kobasew to the Wild and then picked up Paille. The Bruins save more $ against the salary cap as well as get a bit bigger in terms of the comparison between Kobasew and Paille. To date, Marchand has not lived up to his junior hype in the AHL, and will have to show he deserves the opportunity in Boston with Savard gone. Don’t rush out to get him right away.
Minnesota – reached out and acquired Chuck Kobasew with the hope that they will get some secondary scoring, on a team that has not generated a lot of offense. Pierre-Marc Bouchard has been sidelined indefinitely with a concussion and the hope from Wild management is that Kobasew can provide for the loss of some of his offense. From a fantasy perspective, Kobasew will likely skate with James Sheppard on the team’s 3rd line, but we’re not betting that he’s going to make that large of a difference statistically to make you want to get him.
Pittsburgh – Sergei Gonchar is out for 6 weeks with a broken wrist. This will be Gonchar’s 3rd big injury in three years. The good news, is that it’s only 6 weeks and not longer, and that hopefully he’ll be rid of the injury bug for the remainder of the season. This unfortunate news will mean a slight decrease in the Pens PP, but it will mean more minutes and fantasy points for Letang and Goligoski in particular. With Gonchar out, these two young guns will likely man the points for the vaunted Pens PP. I expect a dip in their special teams production, but only slightly until Gonchar returns.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
After Week One...
After week one to this years’ NHL season, there has already been a number of fantasy developments so let’s get it.
Montreal – how bad is it for the Habs to lose their best player, Andre Markov, for four months in the first game of the season. This is bad news for the Habs PP, as well as the other Hab forwards who would have been the recipient of Markov’s excellent break out passes. For fantasy owners of Markov this is pretty disastrous. Not only is it going to be 16 weeks before Markov may return, he’s going to need a least another month to hit his stride. In the meantime, GM Bob Gainey has turned to the much travelled Marc-Andre Bergeron to fill the offensive void. Bergeron should be not bad at QB-ing the Habs PP, but he won’t do much on the defensive end of the ice. He’ll be a decent waiver pick up until at least Markov comes back.
Toronto – after 4 games the Leafs are still winless; and this is only a mild surprise to smart poolies. Tell us if you’ve heard this before; Toronto is struggling to score and the goaltending has been suspect – already. The Leafs revamped defence has been below average, Toskala has been below average and the play of team’s top 6 forwards has been the also below average. Rumors have already started that Burke is looking at trying to change out Toskala – names making to rounds are Manny Fernandez (formerly of Boston) and Erik Ersberg (backing up Jonathan Quick in LA). Gustavsson has been not bad, but has been slowed by a sore groin – which can’t be good this early in the season. Phil Kessel is targeting Nov. 1 as his return, and it can’t come soon enough for coach Wilson. He should be fine, just needing a week or two to break off the rust.
Los Angeles – hard to imagine that Ryan Smyth would have this type of impact on a young Kings team, but after 4 games – the line of Smyth, Kopitar and Williams has 11 points. The Kings young defence has also been better and the early result is the Kings are playing decent hockey. Chances are Smyth won’t keep producing at this clip, but Kopitar could crack the top 10 scorers in the league this season. If Williams is also available is your drafts, he’d be a nice regroup pick at this stage.
Colorado – Craig Anderson has been playing like a legitimate #1 puck-stopper and the Avalanche have been...well...surprising. If he’s still available, Kyle Quincey appears to be repeating his solid season from last year and leads the team’s defence core early in terms of scoring. The line of Hejduk-Stastny-Wolski has been clicking early; we like Stastny and Hejduk to continue, but Wolski is just too fantasy flighty to maintain it and should be a guy you think about moving right now while he’s hot. \
Carolina – Erik Cole looks to be gone for between 4-8 weeks with a leg injury. Cole’s injury may have a season long impact upon him as it’s not the type of injury that will allow Cole to hit the ground running when he comes off the DL. Tuomo Ruutu should be the recipient of Cole’s spot alongside Eric Staal for at least the next month.
Vancouver – the Canucks looked to be just hitting their stride after a shaky 0-3 start, when Daniel Sedin broke his foot after being hit by an Alex Edler shot. Sedin is going to be gone for 6-8 weeks. It appears that the Canucks may try a number of players to fill-in while Sedin’s gone. The early favorite is Steve Bernier, who has played with Henrik (and Daniel) before. For Henrik the loss of his brother will likely mean a drop is his offensive production. Also adversely impacted will be the Canucks PP, where the Sedins often play 1:30 to 2:00 minutes of a Canucks’ PP.
Montreal – how bad is it for the Habs to lose their best player, Andre Markov, for four months in the first game of the season. This is bad news for the Habs PP, as well as the other Hab forwards who would have been the recipient of Markov’s excellent break out passes. For fantasy owners of Markov this is pretty disastrous. Not only is it going to be 16 weeks before Markov may return, he’s going to need a least another month to hit his stride. In the meantime, GM Bob Gainey has turned to the much travelled Marc-Andre Bergeron to fill the offensive void. Bergeron should be not bad at QB-ing the Habs PP, but he won’t do much on the defensive end of the ice. He’ll be a decent waiver pick up until at least Markov comes back.
Toronto – after 4 games the Leafs are still winless; and this is only a mild surprise to smart poolies. Tell us if you’ve heard this before; Toronto is struggling to score and the goaltending has been suspect – already. The Leafs revamped defence has been below average, Toskala has been below average and the play of team’s top 6 forwards has been the also below average. Rumors have already started that Burke is looking at trying to change out Toskala – names making to rounds are Manny Fernandez (formerly of Boston) and Erik Ersberg (backing up Jonathan Quick in LA). Gustavsson has been not bad, but has been slowed by a sore groin – which can’t be good this early in the season. Phil Kessel is targeting Nov. 1 as his return, and it can’t come soon enough for coach Wilson. He should be fine, just needing a week or two to break off the rust.
Los Angeles – hard to imagine that Ryan Smyth would have this type of impact on a young Kings team, but after 4 games – the line of Smyth, Kopitar and Williams has 11 points. The Kings young defence has also been better and the early result is the Kings are playing decent hockey. Chances are Smyth won’t keep producing at this clip, but Kopitar could crack the top 10 scorers in the league this season. If Williams is also available is your drafts, he’d be a nice regroup pick at this stage.
Colorado – Craig Anderson has been playing like a legitimate #1 puck-stopper and the Avalanche have been...well...surprising. If he’s still available, Kyle Quincey appears to be repeating his solid season from last year and leads the team’s defence core early in terms of scoring. The line of Hejduk-Stastny-Wolski has been clicking early; we like Stastny and Hejduk to continue, but Wolski is just too fantasy flighty to maintain it and should be a guy you think about moving right now while he’s hot. \
Carolina – Erik Cole looks to be gone for between 4-8 weeks with a leg injury. Cole’s injury may have a season long impact upon him as it’s not the type of injury that will allow Cole to hit the ground running when he comes off the DL. Tuomo Ruutu should be the recipient of Cole’s spot alongside Eric Staal for at least the next month.
Vancouver – the Canucks looked to be just hitting their stride after a shaky 0-3 start, when Daniel Sedin broke his foot after being hit by an Alex Edler shot. Sedin is going to be gone for 6-8 weeks. It appears that the Canucks may try a number of players to fill-in while Sedin’s gone. The early favorite is Steve Bernier, who has played with Henrik (and Daniel) before. For Henrik the loss of his brother will likely mean a drop is his offensive production. Also adversely impacted will be the Canucks PP, where the Sedins often play 1:30 to 2:00 minutes of a Canucks’ PP.
Thursday, October 01, 2009
Game On - '09-'10
Just prior to the first regular season games happen this evening, I wanted to take a trip around the league and give you my thoughts on the latest news.
In Toronto, by all reports Vesa Toskala has not been great in the pre-season and many a Leaf fantasy owner is pinning their hopes on Jonas Gustavsson. Toskala's gonna start and Burke will force Wilson to play him early and hopes that he finds fantasy value form, mostly so that he can trade him. Toskala isn't in the long term plans of the Leafs. If he stinks early, expect Burke to start hunting for a legitimate NHL prospect netminder to push Gustavsson. That's a lot of pressure on "the Monster" out of the blocks; smart poolies will remember the fantasy impact of Fabian Brunstrom last year - or the lack thereof. Rumor has Burke already kicking the tires on Corey Schneider's availability out of Vancouver.
Still in Toronto, Viktor Stalberg has been a pleasant surprise for the Leafs this preseason. He's lightening fast and has decent hands and isn't small by NHL standards. We'll see how he does over 82 games, but for now - he's slated to play in the top 6 forwards for TO.
More to follow....
In Toronto, by all reports Vesa Toskala has not been great in the pre-season and many a Leaf fantasy owner is pinning their hopes on Jonas Gustavsson. Toskala's gonna start and Burke will force Wilson to play him early and hopes that he finds fantasy value form, mostly so that he can trade him. Toskala isn't in the long term plans of the Leafs. If he stinks early, expect Burke to start hunting for a legitimate NHL prospect netminder to push Gustavsson. That's a lot of pressure on "the Monster" out of the blocks; smart poolies will remember the fantasy impact of Fabian Brunstrom last year - or the lack thereof. Rumor has Burke already kicking the tires on Corey Schneider's availability out of Vancouver.
Still in Toronto, Viktor Stalberg has been a pleasant surprise for the Leafs this preseason. He's lightening fast and has decent hands and isn't small by NHL standards. We'll see how he does over 82 games, but for now - he's slated to play in the top 6 forwards for TO.
More to follow....
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