Puckjunkie.com Fantasy Hockey

First Puckjuckie Freeroll at Draftstreet.com in the books

2011-10-13T22:16:00.000-07:00

Well, when Souray is your top fantasy points skater, you know you are in trouble. Giguere came through with the win as expected, but somehow the well-rested Sens managed only 14 shots on him as they got drubbed 7-1, leading to a disappointing 6 pts for Giguere. The Sens are going to have a llllooonnnngggg year.

Congrats to WChums, victor in the Puckjunkie freeroll tonight. WChums picked up uber heavy weights James Neal (9.4 pts), Matt Moulson (7.9 pts) and Kipper (12 pts) and rode them and a good supporting cast to a close victory over sabresbills04's great draft, Tavares (14.2 pts). I guess the Islanders are for real, and the Flames may be out of their slumber earlier than normal.

Have to say, after my first night, that one-day fantasy hockey salary cap drafts at draftstreet.com are way too much fun. Sign up at any time to find other free and pay-to-play games, and watch for another Puckjunkie.com freeroll later this month. (PJ-Chris)

2011-10-13T15:29:00.000-07:00

Team PJ-Jonathan Picks

Cris gave a good summary below, but to summarize: spend $100,000 draft dollars over the following positions: 2 LW, 2RW, 2 C, 2 D, 1G, 1 Flex (utility)?

Skater Scoring:
Shot 0.3 pt
Goal 3 pts
Asst 2 pts
+/- 0.5 pt
PIM 0.25 pt
PPG 0.5 pt
PPA 0.5 pt
SHG 1 pt
SHA 1 pt
Blocked Shot 0.3 pt

Goaltender Scoring:
W 3 pts
GA -1.5 pt
Save 0.3 pts
SO 2 pts

My Draft Summary:

G: J. Halak $16,351 - Dallas is a fairly low scoring team so everything bodes well for a decent amount of points...good value here
D: S. Weber $10,230 - Booming shot, toughness and premium PP time. Why wouldn't you take this guy vs Phoenix
D: S. Souray $6,435 - When Dallas does score there's a good chance Souray is in on it. Great bargain here.
C: P. Sharp $14,398 - Playing against Winnipeg this is a no brainer...great all-round guy.
C: C. Hodgson $5,363 - Needed a low cost option here and not many 2nd line centers are coming in a less than $6k.
LW: A. Ovechkin $14,331 - Ovie's season hasn't really started yet, but a game against the Pens should perk him up.
LW: M. Michalek $9,152 - Another value play here. His season has started off well and will continue tonight vs. Colorado.
RW: C. Stewart $10,223 - Nice mix of points and PIMs.
RW: P. Hornqvist $7,667 - John Franzen Jr. will have a shot at a couple of goals tonight...at least he should.
Flex: A. Babchuk $5,681 - Sometimes it just makes sense to throw a d-man in here. And even a slow-starting Flame isn't a bad option.
Total Salary: $99, 831

Play against us tonight by registering for free at Draftstreet.com. We’ve partnered up with Draftstreet to do a FREE one-day fantasy league. (More details below.) The league closes at puck drop (7:00 pm Eastern).

Team PJ-Chris for Tonight's Draftstreet.com Salary Cap Draft

2011-10-13T09:33:00.000-07:00

OK, 10 good games tonight so how to maximize $100,000 draft dollars over the following positions: 2 LW, 2RW, 2 C, 2 D, 1G, 1 Flex (utility)?

Here's what you need to know:

Skater Scoring:

Shot 0.3 pt

Goal 3 pts

Asst 2 pts

+/- 0.5 pt

PIM 0.25 pt

PPG 0.5 pt

PPA 0.5 pt

SHG 1 pt

SHA 1 pt

Blocked Shot 0.3 pt

Goaltender Scoring:

W 3 pts

GA -1.5 pt

Save 0.3 pts

SO 2 pts

Analysis and picks for tonight:

Colorado at Ottawa - Varlamov played great last night but will likely get tonight off versus the weak Sens (although Ottawa pulled out a win on their last outing). Giguere will likely get his first start, he'll see lots of shots, and he'll get the win. He's had success over the Sens in the past. Goalies are expensive and comparatively he's a bargain tonight, freeing up cap space for skaters. Hopefully the key scorers on the Avalanche finally get going.

Flames at Montreal

Even without Cammalleri, the Canadiens at home will have the edge over a struggling Flames team. Plekanec should continue his good play and we'll pick him at centre. No Flames scream out for selection yet. Montreal's Y. Weber is playing well at D and with Spacek out will see more TOI. And he's cheap.

Lighting at NYI

Although the Islanders somehow had Tampa's number last year, Tampa has the ability to score in bunches, even when they lose. The Islanders score a couple and hang on. Tampa breaks out tonight: Stamkos finally scores or gets frustrated and gets PIMs. Either way, his fantasy point total tonight should be his best this season.

Canucks at Wings

Two powerhouses here. Low score. Lots of high salaries with low leverage. Only stand-out value wise is Burrows on LW. PIMs count!

Caps at Penguins

Could be a high-scoring shoot-out, or could be a 2-1 OT win. Too many variables and risks. (You lose points for negative +/-). Can't afford to pick from this match-up.

Oilers at Wild

Dany Heatley once spurned the Oilers and now toils in Wild country. And the Oilers have lost 16 straight at the Xcel Energy Center. These are two considerably different teams from last year, and it should be a good match-up, but let's take Heatley at RW and see if continues his good start. And the Oilers are thin on RW, so Hemsky and Eberle will get lots of ice, and Eberle is cheap.

Kings at Devils

We need a big D-man who blocks the puck and may still contribute offensively: LA's Jack Johnson is good value.

Wow, the salary goes quick: $12, 686 left for two spots. Hmmmm.

Sheldon Souray (Stars) goes into the Flex spot: points, blocks, and PIMs possible.

And Paajarvi (Oilers) goes in as the best available LW for the remaining salary: he may get extra PP time this year.

Draft Summary:

G: Giguere $15,503

D: Y. Weber $6,375

D: J. Johnson $8,707

C: Plekanac $11,431

C: Stamkos $13,409

LW: Burrows $11,526

LW: Paajarvi $5,663

RW: Heatley $12,389

RW: Eberle $7,974

Flex: Souray $6,435

Total Salary: $99, 412 ($588 remaining)

OK, $100k doesn't go very far. We'll see how this first crack at the one day salary cap draft goes.

Play against us tonight by registering for free at Draftstreet.com. We’ve partnered up with Draftstreet to do a FREE one-day fantasy league. (More details below.) The league closes at puck drop (7:00 pm Eastern).

Puckjunkie.com One Day Challenge!

2011-10-11T16:34:00.000-07:00

Hey Puckjunkies,

We're back in the blogosphere!

The season is off and running and there are already some recognizable patterns: the Flames have experienced a closed-door post-game meeting with Coach Sutter to discuss two dismal performances to start the season; Rick DiPietro is yet to play in the Islander net; and Tim Connolly (the new, expensive Leaf) started the season on the IR.

But there has also been lots of excitement, with some teams surprising in their first games, and lots of rookies already making their mark.

You've already drafted your fantasy team and settled in for a long season, but you'd also like another chance to test your drafting prowess. Well, now's your chance. Puckjunkie.com staffers will be participating in a FREE one day salary cap draft for this Thursday, Oct 13th. We'll post our picks in the blog and you can draft your own team...and maybe win some real $$$ and bragging rights.

One Day FREE Fantasy Contest - $100 in cash prizes

If you haven’t heard, there is a new trend in the world of fantasy sports. Fantasy enthusiasts all over North America are now participating in daily fantasy leagues for cash on DraftStreet.com. We’ve partnered up with Draftstreet to do a FREE one-day fantasy league with $100 in prizes exclusively for Puckjunkie members.

This is a salary cap league where everyone tries to assemble the best team out of the available players. You will have a $100,000 budget to build a team of 2 LW’s, 2 RW’s, 2 Center’s, 2 Defensive players, 1 Goalie, and a FLEX. Each NHL player has been allocated a price based on their expected fantasy performance. For example, star LW Alex Ovechkin costs $14,331 where as RW Jarome Iginla costs $12,256.

You can adjust your roster up until the contest start’s on Thursday 10/13 at 7:00pm ET at which time your rosters will lock and the Live Scoreboard will be available.

CLICK HERE to sign up for free and register for the Puckjunkie $100 Freeroll on DraftStreet.com.

Fantasy Impact Deadline Deals

2011-02-28T12:36:00.000-08:00

Washington sends David Steckel and a 2nd round pick in 2011 to New Jersey for the Devils' Jason Arnott. Fantasy Impact - this is a solid deal, fantasy wise, for both teams. Arnott will likely be the Caps at least 3rd line pivot, and likely 2nd line center, feeding the likes of Alexander Semin. If he plays 2nd line, his fantasy value will increase for sure. He's a better option than Mathieu Perreault. He's likely gone at the end of the season, but if the Caps get to the Cup, it will be a risk worth taking. for teh Devils, Steckel will get a long look to see is he can supplant Danius Zubris as the Devils 2nd line center. Steckel is awesome at FOWs and if he can let his skills catch up to his big frame, he could be a diamond in the rough for the offensively challenged Devils.

Washington sends Jake Hauswirth and a 3rd round pick to Florida for Dennis Wideman. Fantasy Impact - Wideman gives the Caps some peice of mind and a more viable option on defence assuming that the horrible season for Mike Green continues. Wideman should help the Caps and he is under-rated defensively. For the Panthers, they get a long-shot prospect in Hauswirth, who is a converted defenceman now forward, who can score a little.

Edmonton sends Dustin Penner to LA for the Kings Colten Teubert, a 2011 1st rounder and a conditional 2nd round pick in 2012. Fantasy Impact - Penner is likely to gain a significant amount of relief from leaving hockey-crazed Edmonton where his periodic lacklustre play drove fans a little bananas for a guy that with his type of frame. Despite all that, Penner has managed to be a pretty consistent scorer, scoring 20+ goals in 4 of his last 5 seasons. He's likely to thrive as a part of the success story in LA rather than being the focal point of offense as he was in Edmonton. Penner should maintain his current 29 goals clip for the Kings. For the Oilers, Teubert fits the persona of a tough, physical defencemen that they hope to accompany a back end that will consist of Petry, Chorney and Maricin. If this core can grow together, the Oilers will have a terrific defence 3 years from now. To get a propsect like Teubert and a 1st rounder for Penner is a nice return on the enigmatic Penner.

Anaheim sends Maxim Lapierre and MacGregor Sharp to Vancouver for the Canucks Joel Perreault and a 3rd round pick in 2011. Fantasy Impact: Lapierre assumes a 4th line role with the Canucks. He is a high energy, robust player that can be undisciplined at times. He's not there to score goals. He is there to provide depth and to put pressure on the opposition's defence during the fore-check. If you count hits, you might take him. Sharp is a project prospect for the Canucks who was a scorer in college, but at 25 - his window to play in the NHL is closing. For the Ducks, Joel Perrault is a solid face off guy and depth center, but it will be hard for him to crack the Ducks line-up.

Florida sends Chris Higgins to Vancouver for the Canucks' Evan Oberg and a 3rd round pick in 2011. Fantasy Impact - Higgins is a nice addition to a Canucks team. He can kill penalties and has the ability to play as high as the 2nd line (are you listening Mason Raymond). He's a UFA in the summer. With both Higgins and LaPierre in the fold, the Canucks are likely to send Cody Hodgson and Victor Oreskovich back to the minors. For the Panthers, Oberg is a solid puck moving defencemen that will get a shot to crack the line-up next year. He projects as a 4-5 defencemen.

Phoenix sends Scottie Upshall and Sami Lepisto to Columbus for the Blue Jackets' Rotislav Klesla and Dane Byers. Fantasy Impact - At first blush, this is a hands down win for the Blue Jackets as Upshall has 16 goals and is a high energy player and great in the room. Upshall is a UFA in the summer and Jakcets management hopes that they can convince him to stay. In Lepisto, The Jackets get an offensive minded defenceman that has struggled to find success at the NHL level. He'll get a long look with the Jackets. For the 'Yotes they get a solid defenceman that was a very high draft pick for the Jackets, who is signed for the next few years, who can replace Jovonosvski in the off-season. He's not had his offensive junior success translate to the NHL, and at 28, likely will not, but he has developed into a shutdown defenceman. Byers is a long shot to make the club, but has proved himself adept at scoring and scrapping in the minors.

Atlanta send Niclas Bergfors and Patrick Rissmiller to Florida for Radek Dvorak and a 5th round pick in 2011. Fantasy Impact - Radek Dvorak has had some success in the NHL, while Niclas Bergfors never really seemed to get the required consistency for the Thrashers. Dvorak is an average fantasy forward in almost all pool formats at best. Bergfors was a former Devils 1st round pick that was part of the package sent to the Thrashers from the Devils last year when the Devils acquired Kovolchuk last year. Jury is still out, but he'll get every opportunity to play in Florida. Rissmiller is a sandpaper forward with limited upside.

St. Louis sends Brad Winchester to Anaheim for the Ducks 3rd round pick in 2011. Fantasy Impact - Winchester is a rough and tumble winger that will crash the net and is a load in front of the opposing zone. He's not got the best hands so his fantasy output will be limited.

Ottawa sends Chris Campoli and a conditional 7th round pick in 2011 to the Chicago Blackhawks for Ryan Potulny and a 2nd round pick in 2011. Fantasy Impact - Campoli is an upgrade at least offensively from the departed Nick Boynton, but he'll be playing behind Keith, Seabrook and Campbell. He'll get 6th defenceman minutes on the Hawks for the remainder of the season. For the Senators, they get to see if Potulny will ever be a regular NHL center for the next 20 games, while stock-piling another decent draft pick.

Atlanta sends Fredrik Modin to Calgary for the Flames' conditional 7th round pick in 2011. Fantasy Impact - Modin's fantasy contribution is going to be limited. He's a decent depth guy, but hard to imagine that he'll play on the Flames top 6 forward units. Thrasher's dump some salary while Modin adds some depth.

St. Louis sends Brad Boyes to Buffalo for a 2nd round pick in 2011. Fantasy Impact: it was evident with the Blues' acquisition of Chris Stewart that Boyes' playing time and spot on the depth chart would be moving lower. The Sabres are hoping that Boyes, who will play in their top 6, and could even play center, will re-ignite some of his past offensive glory. The bet is he'll discover a bit more of his scoring touch with the move to Buffalo and additional ice time but it's likely not that sustainable. Tyler Ennis is the likely odd man out on the Sabres top 6 to make room for Boyes.

More Rumors - Pt. II

2011-02-26T17:55:00.000-08:00

Dallas - the rumors are very hot that Stars' GM Joe Niuewendyk is taking offers on Brad Richards, who would have to waive his no trade clause. The latest have the Kings the most interested, but the problem is will they part with highly coveted Brayden Schenn? The Kings would much rather move two of the following for Richards (and failing that, likely Penner or Hemskey): Loktionov, Hickey, Voynov, Clifford or Jake Muzzin, and likely a 1st round draft pick. A deal for any of the above mentioned NHLers will really come down to whether Kings GM Dean Lombardi is prepared to move Schenn or not.

T-minus 2 days before the Trade Deadline - latest rumors

2011-02-26T17:27:00.000-08:00

Here is the latest that we are hearing around the league in terms of rumors with less than 2 days before the deadline:

Florida - having moved Froli, Stillman and McCabe, the next likely candidates to get dealt include Tomas Vokoun, David Booth and Stephen Weiss. Vokoun is an unrestricted free agent in the off-season and there is little likelihood that he'll resign in Florida. Potential suitors include Colorado, Toronto and Washington. For our money, it looks like the Capitals may win this sweepstakes as the combo of Varlamov and Neuvirth have not been consistent enough to give management the confidence that the Caps can go deep with the goaltending that they have. Also, the Capitals have Braden Holtby in the minors and he's shown signs that he can at least be a decent back-up next year when given chances with the big clus this year. If the Caps do make this deal you can expect they'll only rent Vokoun and the package going back is likely Neuvirth or Holtby and Jay Beagle - a young center in the Caps farm system.

Colorado - after wheeling Anderson, Stewart and Shattenkirk out and welcoming Erik Johnson and Brian elliott in, the Avs are also rumored to be interested in moving John-Micahel Liles prior to the deadline. The hottest destination for Liles has been Toronto, where the Leafs believe that they have a shot of catching the 8th spot in the East. Liles started like a house on fire this year, but since about the 20 game mark, his play in his own end has been brutal. The Leafs would like to get Liles by trading one of the frist round picks they received from either the Flyers or the Bruins and the 3rd rounder from the Bruins.

The Most Recent Trades

2011-02-26T17:12:00.000-08:00

Florida sends Bryan McCabe to New York for the Rangers for Tim Kennedy and a 3rd round pick in 2011. Fantasy Impact: for the Rangers, McCabe gives them a steadying influence on the back end that they have not seen since the Brian Leetch days. We are not saying this Bryan will be as good offensively as that Brian, but McCabe has better offensive upside than the likes of Staal, Del Zotto and Gilroy. McCabe is not a 60+ point defenceman anymore but he's a good bet to get some look on the PP. For the Panthers, this is all about at least getting a dp and dumping some of McCabe's salary. This will mean more minutes for Kulikov and eventually, Erik Gudbransson.

Ottawa sends Alexi Kovalev to Pittsbrugh for the Penguins for a conditional 7th round pick. Fantasy Impact: this is clearly a low risk/high reward deal for the Penguins. Kovalev has not been close to the guy they were hoping they were getting when he was signed to a 2 year deal for $5M per season almost two seasons ago. This season Kovalev has been even worse, but even at the age of 37, Kovalev still has enough offensive skills to make a difference for the next 20+ games; particularly for the Pens PP that is missing Crosby, Malkin and Kunitz. Kovalev is as enigmatic as they come and he might bag a few tallies early, but we think he'll live up to his pool killer moniker while a Pen.

Atlanta sends Brent Sopel and Nigel Dawes to Montreal for the Habs' Ben Maxwell and a 4th round pick. Fantasy Impact: Brent Sopel's days as an offensive option are long gone. He is a pretty accomplished shot blocker and was a stalwart on defence for the Chicago Blackhawks run to the Cup last year. Sopel's likely to log about 20+ minutes given the shortage of NHL ready defencemen at the Habs disposal now, but he's not going to post much more fantasy worthy stats. Dawes and Maxwell are simply changing spots on their respective AHL rosters.

Florida sens Cory Stillman to Carolina for the Hurricanes Ryan Carter and a 4th round draft pick. Fantasy Impact: Stillman is similar to Kovalev, but without all of the drama. He has the ability to score the key big goal now again, but he's not likely to be a 20+ goal scorer again in the NHL. If you are in a real deep league, Stillman might be worth a waiver look see, assuming he's relatively injury free.

Tampa Bay sends Dan Ellis to Anaheim for the Ducks' Curtis McElhinney. Fantasy Impact: this is a deal that sees the Lightning save some $ in changing McElhinney for Ellis' salary, while the Ducks get a bit more depth in net with incumbent No. 1 on the DL suffering from vertigo. For the Ducks, Ellis will be an upgrade from McElhinney and they are likely to ride Ellis or recent call up Ray Emery until Hiller returns. Emery seems like the better bet from a fantasy poolie perspective, particularly in keeper leagues where if he performs well, someone is likely to take a gamble on signing him in the off-season.

The Impact Deals to Date

2011-02-25T09:19:00.000-08:00

As the trade deadline looms closer, just like in past years, Puckjunkie wants to give you the fantasy poolie out take on the latest deals and rumors around the league. Unlike past years however, the deals have been plentiful weeks prior to the deadline, so – without further delay, let’s dive in to the ones completed so far.

Toronto sends Tomas Kaberle to Boston for the Bruins 1st round draft pick in 2011 and prospect Joe Colborne and a conditional 2nd round pick is Kaberle resigns with Boston or they make the 2011 Finals. Fantasy Impact – for owners of Kaberle this is very good news. Kaberle is an excellent PP QB and makes the first pass from his own end as well as any other in the league. He moves from a team that is not likely destined to make the playoffs, to one that thinks it’s got a legitimate shot at the title. Kaberle improves a decent Bruins PP and alongside Zdeno Chara, gives the Bruins an excellent tandem from the back end and indirect benefactors should be guys like Krejci, Lucic and Bergeron. One guy who’s points may be adversely impacted is Mark Recchi, who’s spot on the Bruins PP will likely be taken by Kaberle. For the Leafs, they get a valued 1st round pick (likely in the 20-30 range) and a decent prospect in Joe Colbrone – a huge center who is a decent skater and projects as high as a solid 2nd line center.

Toronto sends Kris Versteeg to the Philadelphia for the Flyers 1st round pick & 3rd round pick in 2011. Fantasy Impact - After acquiring Versteeg in the off-season, it never seemed that the young forward could ever live up to the expectation of hockey mad Toronto. Versteeg’s best success has been when he gets to play a complimentary role from the 3rd line, kills penalties and chips in with some timely goals. This will be his role with the Flyers and he should thrive.

Toronto sends Francois Beauchemin to Anaheim for Joffrey Lupul, prospect Jake Gardiner and the Ducks 4th round pick in 2014. Fantasy Impact – it’s been pretty hard to fathom just how far Beauchemin’s confidence has fallen from his happier days in Anaheim. Beauchemin heads back to the Ducks, where he had the most success in his hockey career and should provide the Ducks with some steadying influence on defence. He’s the 3rd offensive fantasy option behind veteran Visnovsky and rookie Cam Fowler. This will be Joffrey Lupul’s fourth trade and fourth organization in his 10 year NHL career. There’s no doubting his scoring ability, he’s hit the 20+ goal mark three times in his career, it’s his inability to stay healthy which is a concern. Lupul heads to a goal starved Leafs with the hope that he’ll be able to give the Leafs a needed offensive boost. He’s risky, but he’s going to get every opportunity to play on the top offensive lines and PP, so in the short term, he’s a low risk/high reward acquisition. In Jake Gardiner the Leafs get a decent defence prospect with some offensive upside. He projects as a solid 2nd blue-line pairing guy with some offensive upside.

St. Louis sends Eric Johnson, Jay McClement and a 1st round pick in either 2011 or 2012 for Kevin Shattenkirk, Chris Stewart and a 2nd round pick in 2011 or 2012. Fantasy Impact – on it’s face this appears to be a bit of a steal from the Blues. Stewart is a budding fantasy stud power forward, with soft hands and does play with a bit of an edge. Last year he registered 28 goals and if not for an injury earlier in this year, he’d have eclipsed that this season. In Shattenkirk the Blues get an offense first defencemen who has been excellent since his call up after about 10 games in to this season. He won’t replace Johnson’s defensive abilities but he’s at least as good offensively. The Avalanche are clearly hoping that Johnson regains his form of 2009-10. Perhaps the change in scenery will benefit Johnson but this season, we are not liking his fantasy value for this year, but next season he’s a good risk/reward pick for poolies. Johnson’s absence will give more PP playing time for the arriving Shattenkirk and Alex Pietrangelo.

St. Louis sends Eric Brewer to Tampa Bay for the Lightning’s Brock Beakeboom and a 3rd round pick. Fantasy Impact – Eric Brewer is the epitome of a very solid stay at home defenceman that can play 25+ minutes a game. He’s not a significant offensive fantasy option any longer, but the ‘Ning have brought Brewer in to steady their defence core and provide some solid veteran leadership on the blue line. In return, the Blues have picked up the son of former NHL defencemen Jeff Beukeboom; and he is a chip off of the ol’ block. The younger Beukeboom is not fleet of foot, but he is a big, tall, stay at home defenceman with a mean streak. He’s not going to add much offensive fantasy value, but as early as next season, Beukeboom could be patrolling the Blues defence. A Blue that should benefit from the most two recent defence departures is Nikita Nikitin. Nikitin has some offensive upside and the Blues have been slowly bringing the Russian born rearguard along but most recently he had supplanted Johnson from the Blues 2nd unit PP.

Boston sends Blake Wheeler and Mark Stuart to Atlanta for Rich Peverley and Boris Valabik. Fantasy Impact – after acquiring Kaberle, the Bruins needs to clear some cap space and thus shipped Wheeler and Stuart to Atlanta. Wheeler has yet to realize his fullest potential for a guy that was drafted 5th overall in 2004. Wheeler’s a big body with some nose for the net. The question has been his desire to consistently go to the critical spots on the ice to get his goals. He’s a good fit in Atlanta to give them more size and additional youth, but he’s a 20 goal a season max guy. In Stuart, the Thrashers are getting the perfect example of a gritty stay at home defenceman that won’t add much in terms of offensive fantasy stats save for hits and possible blocked shots. For the Bruins Rick Peverley gives them a decent fill-in for the injured Marc Savard. Peverley’s decent in the offensive zone, but has some flaws on his own zone. Expect him to play likely on the 3rd line behind Krejci and Bergeron, but there is a risk that he may have limited minutes and much less playing time on a deeper Bruins team then what he saw with the Thrashers. The Bruins also acquired massive defenceman Boris Valabik who reminds many scouts of Derek Boogaard, save he’s a defeceman. Valabik’s skating is not yet up to NHL level, but if he ever gets the chance to play alongside Zdeno Chara, the Bruins might have the league’s newest “Twin Towers” as Valabik is 6’7”.

Ottawa sends Chris Kelly to Boston for the Bruins 2nd round pick in 2011. Fantasy Impact – Chris Kelly was a favourite of current GM Pete Chiarelli, back when he was with the Senators’ organization. Kelly will provide additional speed, the ability to kill penalties and much needed “glue” in the room for the Bruins. A very popular guy amongst his team mates, Kelly’s ice time will be more limited than what he was seeing in Ottawa but he’ll now be playing for a Stanley Cup. If Kelly kills penalties, he’s got some fantasy value. Without it, he’s just another excellent skating 3rd or 4th liner.

Ottawa sends Brian Elliott to Colorado for Craig Anderson. Fantasy Impact – this is a bit of a noggin’ scratcher for us to be sure. Ottawa jettison’s a young turtle for a guy that is an unrestricted free agent sounds like the Sens believe that Robyn Lehner is the heir apparent for the Sens top job (and he’s been good on some games and not so good on others at every level he played at) or it’s part of the concerted effort of the Pens to off-load as much salary as they can. We think it’s the later. For Anderson he’ll likely welcome the change in scenery and will likely be auditioning for a new contract – in other words, he’ll be motivated to turn around just an ok year. For Elliott it’s the chance to be the No. 1 guy for the Avalanche. Poolies can expect he and Budaj to compete for the No. 1 job for the remainder of the season.

Ottawa sends Mike Fisher to Nashville for the Predators 1st round pick in 2011 and a conditional draft pick in 2012. Fantasy Impact – as much as Alfredsson and Spezza are the flashier players, it seems evident for the Senators that as Fisher went, so did they. This season Fisher has been playing hurt since training camp and just looks like he’s not playing at 100%. This move now vaults Fisher to No. 1 center status for the Preds and they are desperately hoping that he will re-discover his scoring prowess that has seen him score at least 22+ goals in 4 of his 10 seasons in the league. Fisher is also likely to benefit from not playing in hockey mad Ottawa as well, where every move by the players is under scrutiny. The Predators he will play with should benefit as well; guys like Erat, Hornqvist and Sullivan.

Chicago sends Jack Skille, Hugh Jessiman and David Pacan to Florida for Michael Frolik and Alexander Salak. Fantasy Impact – for the Blackhawks, this is clearly an attempt to add some more scoring depth top the Blackhawks. Frolik has put together back-back 20+ goal seasons for very bad Panther teams and should see top 6 forward duty for the Hawks right away. The Hawks also get a nice goaltending prospect in Salak, who’s putting up solid numbers over in Europe. For the Panthers Skille was a now Panthers’ GM Dale Tallon selection and should get a long look and more minutes for the remainder of the season to entice the Panthers to sign him to a long term deal. Jessiman is a long-shot prospect that has yet to fulfill his potential while Pacan, at 19, is a longer term prospect that projects as a 2nd line forward.

Carolina sends Ian White to San Jose for the Sharks 2nd round pick in 2011. Fantasy Impact – Ian White is a poor man’s Dan Boyle. They play similar style’s, are about the size and based on their size, are forever proving that they belong. White should stand to make a significant impact for the Sharks. After pursuing the then Leaf’s Beauchemin, the Sharks settled on the soon to be UFA Ian White. White should help Boyle and the struggling Sharks PP. White has 40 point production in him and he will likely find the up tempo play in the Western more to his liking, The ‘Canes, this deal allows them to focus on signing Pitkanen. White has been just OK as a Hurricance and this move to the Sharks should please White owners significantly.

Pens-Stars Deal: Neal, Niskanen & Goligoski

2011-02-24T14:47:00.000-08:00

Dallas sends James Neal and Matt Niskanen to Pittsbrugh for the Penguins' Alex Goligoski. Fantasy Impact: hard to imagine that the Pens were able to get two young, still improving guys in Neal and Niskanen for Alex Goligoski. It's not that Goligoski is not good, he's a very good offensive defenceman, but his stats are likely to take a longer term downturn as he'll play on the less talented Stars PP. For the Stars this may be also an attempt to clear some cap space with the hope of being able to sign Mike Richards. Goligoski still has two years left on a less than $2M per season, while Neal has just one year at $3.5M and Niskanen is owed $1.75M. Niskanen has had a brutal year offensively, but had 35+ points only two seasons ago. If Neal plays with Crosby upon his return you can expect Neal to flirt with 40 goals. Pens seem to win this deal, hands down.

2011 Trade Deadline Rumors

2011-02-24T14:46:00.001-08:00

The latest rumors from around the league, let’s start in Montreal. After only winning 4 of their last 10 that Habs are searching for some more offense. They have already lost Andrei Markov and Josh Gorges for the remainder of the season. The Canadiens have repatriated Paul Mara to assist them, but they are interested in possibly acquiring Bryan McCabe from the Florida Panthers, Chris Phillips from the Sens and forwards Ales Hemskey and Dusting Penner from the Oilers. The latest has the Habs dangling Jerred Tinordi and a 1st round pick for Penner and Hemskey. In the alternative, the Habs are dangling their 1st round pick to the Panthers for McCabe. In order for McCabe to move he’d have to waive his no trade clause, but there is little doubt that McCabe would be able to help the Habs right away. The price being dangled for Penner and Hemskey, whom are both under contract into next year, seems a bit light, but both Hemskey and Penner would give the Canadiens some offense right away. The issue for the Habs would be creating the cap space to make the deal.

The other suitors kicking the tires around on Hemskey and/or Penner have been the LA Kings and the Nashville Predators. The Kings have been talking Thomas Hickey for either of the Oilers veterans but to date Hickey has not been able to continue his junior success into the minors and thus position himself as a likely prospect for an NHL roster. Of stronger interest for the Oilers would be Colten Teubert, also a defensive prospect for the Kings, but the Kings are reluctant to part with him. From the Predators, the Oilers would love to ply either Ryan Ellis or Jonathan Blum from the defense heavy prospects list of the Predators. Another defensive prospect that may be more acquirable would be Charles-Olivier Roussel. The Oilers are desperate for solid defencemen prospects or center prospects for both Hemskey and Penner.

In Ottawa the Senators are rumored to be dangling Alex Kovalev and Chris Phillips to the highest bidder. Both Kovalev and Phillips are UFAs this summer but the asking price for both has been significant to date. GM Murray is looking for at least a 1st round dp for each of those guys. The rumored landing place for Phillips has been Montreal. For Kovalev the Penguins have been kicking the tires on his availability. The Sens have wanted Eric Tangradi in exchange but the Pens are loathe to part with that high of a prospect for the enigmatic Kovalev.

2010 Canucks Training Camp Report - A Fan's Perspective

2010-09-19T11:37:00.000-07:00

From Canucks fan and former PJ columnist Ted Hagmeier who lives in Penticton, BC where Vancouver is holding their training camp:

"I attended the first day of Vancouver Canucks training camp. The players were divided into two groups, each group on the ice for 90 minutes, each group doing the same drills. The first ice time was at 9am, the second at 11:30am. I watched both groups. Players were out skating around beforehand and each practice started promptly. Vigneault ran the practice but Bowness often did the shouting during the drills to keep players moving. The other coaches were pretty invisible. There were no special team drills. Everything was designed around north-south hockey: transition and break outs with full ice flow. There was an ice clean half way through each practice. Here are my observations:

· Luongo let in lots of soft goals during the drills. Wow

· During practices coaches will put in breaks. Often, a coach will bang his stick, blow the whistle and everyone does a hard lap then goes for water. Luongo's 'hard lap' is from blue to blue cause he is slower than everyone else - even the best goalie in the world skates like a goalie! Then he goes for water.

· The coaches didn't do a lot of talking to explain the drills and never used the dry erase board.

· Towards the end of the practice some of the players were looking tired. During a 2 on 2 drill, Vigneault yelled at Dan Hamhuis, "Push it, Hammy"

· Schaefer did extra stretching while his group was on the benches for an ice clean. He looked a little sore, not surprising since he was out of hockey last year. But he looked good in the drills and he has a heavy wrist shot

· O'Brien seemed to be the team funny man - laughing and bear hugging some of the players in between drills.

· He also took a few shots at Sergei "The Sheriff" Shirokov during some 5 on 5 drills in the defensive zone

· The 'Sheriff' impressed me with his speed

· Morrison looked okay but it’s hard to see where he is going to play

· He made a lovely deflection, directing a shot along the ice to score off the crossbar

· Bieksa is a very smooth skater and puck handler, maybe the best among d-man and tops in the team

· The goaltenders, except Luongo, took extra coaching at the end of practice.

· Malhotra, Kessler and Rypien practiced face-offs at the end of practice

· Janik Hansen is a terrible skater. He is fast but no points for style

· Often, it’s the captain who leads the team during stretching in games and practices. Sedin led his group. Malhotra led the group that included Kesler. Sort of odd, if Ryan is being considered for captain

· Both squads got applause when they came on the ice and when they left

· O'Brien was in the second group and came out before his ice time to sign autographs. He might have been the only player to do that.

· Between drills Vigneault spotted someone he knew by one of the gates to the ice (so it was a restricted area). He skated over to him with a broad smile and tapped on the glass to say high. I think that guy was a person with special needs. Otherwise he showed no emotion at all.. Didn’t even tap a player on the pads.

· Schneider looked good in his first practice as the "it's my back-up goaltender job to lose” guy

· In drills the Sedins don't really stand out. Neither has great speed, size or shot. I didn't even recognize Daniel until half way through his session. But in 3 on 3 drills cycling the puck they stood out, even though they were playing without each other

· Bill Sweat, who they just signed, looks like a player. He was one of the best forwards during the 'Young Guns' game I watched and he didn't look out of place with the big boys. I am not saying he'll make the team but he is a good addition for the farm

· Schneider took a puck off the melon. It was a drill early in the practice to warm up the goalies and the skaters. The skater attacks the net with the puck, shoots, and then screens the goalie for a point shot. The point shot had players ducking and we heard the 'doink' as the puck hit mask. The d-man yelled, 'Sorry'

· Henrik badly missed the net on one shot and held both arms up in mock celebration. The players around him laughed. Everyone cheered.

· In the same drill a prospect I don’t know made a nice play to score on Luongo. When he went back to the corner to wait his turn in the drill Henrik tapped him on the pads as if to say, ‘nice play.’

If you ever get a chance to see training camp - do it. Go Canucks Go."

Visnovsky for Ryan Whitney

2010-03-03T12:32:00.000-08:00

The Oilers have traded Lubomir Visnovsky to the Ducks for Ryan Whitney. A great deal for both teams. Whitney's rep has taken a bit of a hit, and to be able to pick him up is a steal for the Oil. Visnovsky may be helpful to the Ducks in the short term as the try and secure a playoff spot.

Fantasy Impact: This season Whitney will see a TON of PP time now that Souray is out for the year. Get him NOW! Visnovsky should see a slight bump in production, but an much great improvement in plus minus.

Corvo a Cap

2010-03-03T12:28:00.000-08:00

Washington picked up Joe Corvo for Brian Pothier and a prospect.

Fantasy Impact: Corvo could be a very interesting pickup for the Caps. He'll likely see a significant amount of second PP time. If your league requires you to have 5 or 6 d-men, Corvo could fit in very nicely at the lower end of your roster.

Fredrik Modin is King of the World!

2010-03-03T12:25:00.001-08:00

Modin has been traded to Los Angeles for futures.

Fantasy Impact: Modin should add some very nice veteran production. The knock on Freddy is that he is a significant injury risk. But if he stays healthy he could be a bit of a surprise. He's likely unowned in most leagues and we'd recommend picking him up and seeing what happens.

Leafs Trade Lee Stempniak to Phoenix

2010-03-03T11:55:00.000-08:00

The Coyotes have acquired Lee Stempniak in a deal that will provide the some decent scoring depth.

Fantasy Impact: Stempniak should see a bit of a boost in production as there is no pressure to perform. We think he's worth a flyer.

Are the Sabres Daffy to Pick Up Raffi?

2010-03-03T11:44:00.000-08:00

The Sabres acquired Raffi Torres for Nathan Paetsch and a 2nd rounder. The Sabres then traded Clarke McArthur to Atlanta.

Analysis: Raffi has been solid this season and should help the Sabres with secondary scoring and penalty killing.

Fantasy Impact: if you have shorthanded scoring as category in your league, then Torres may have some decent upside. And his goal production is nothing to sneeze at. But it's not like he's playing with with a high powered offence so don't get too excited.

Cowtown reunites Finnish Tandem

2010-03-03T11:27:00.001-08:00

Calgary has acquired Vesa Toskala from the Anaheim Ducks for current back-up Curtis McElhinney. FANTASY IMPACT - not much either way, but if Kippersoff gets injured, Toskala is a much better option than McElhinney. The Flames were hoping to give Kipper days off down the stretch but they are barely hanging on to a playoff spot, so don't expect that to happen much.

M. Schneider to the 'Yotes

2010-03-03T10:40:00.000-08:00

Phoenix appears to be loading up for the playoffs, after acquiring Derek Morris earlier today they have acquired Matthieu Schneider from the Canucks for a rumored late round draft pick. FANTASY IMPACT - Schneider's niche is his ability to move the puck and play on the PP. He'll get a solid chance to do that in Phoenix but his play away from the puck will limit his minutes. Watch for his +/- as well.

Ducks get D-Help

2010-03-03T10:24:00.000-08:00

Anaheim has moved Justin Pogge and a 4th round pick to the Hurricanes for Aaron Ward. FANTASY IMPACT - almost none in terms of Ward unless your league counts blocked shots, hits and a few PIMs. Pogge now joins his 3rd NHL organization this year and looks to be the heir to a back-up job of Cam Ward or perhaps more if Ward's injury issues continue.

..and there is more...

2010-03-03T10:01:00.001-08:00

Carolina has traded Scott Walker to the Washington Capitals for a 7th round pick. FANTASY IMPACT - clearly Walker's impact is going to be more of a grinder, good guy in the room rather than an offensive dynamo. Don't expect alot unless he somehow draws top 6 forward duty to create room on the ice for more skilled players.

St. Louis has traded Yan Stastny to the Vancouver Canucks for a minor league PIMs specialist. FANTASY IMPACT - there isn't any unless Stastny plays and you count face-off wins. He's not offensively gifted. At this time, and depth guy.

Colorado has shipped Wojtek Wolski to the Coyotes for Peter Mueller and Kevin Porter. FANTASY IMPACT - Mueller and Wolski are both under-achieving but Wolski seems to have better upside as Mueller's desire to compete is reflected in his putrid offensive stats. Mueller was a scoring best in junior, but something has happened along the way for him to really developed into a fantasy bust. Trade him if you got him or let someone else take the "flyer". Wolski makes the 'Yotes better in terms of pure offense and if he buys into Tippett's counter-punch style of play, is worth a waiver scoop. Porter, a Hobey Baker Award winner, is actually pretty skilled and pretty tenacious and joins an Avs team that welcomes US College guys alot. Porter has at least 3rd line skills with upside.

The Fantasy Impact Deals so Far...

2010-03-03T08:21:00.001-08:00

Alright – so all morning and afternoon we’ll be settling in to give you the best Fantasy take on the deals that are made. Expect a lot of deals, but don’t expect many quality ones is our prediction. So far, there’s not been a ton, but there have been some from last night and we’re here to break them down:

Ponikarovsky to the Penguins – Malkin has been complaining about the quality of his wingers all season and GM Shero has addressed the issue by acquiring Ponikarovsky from the Leafs for Luca Caputi and Martin Skoula. Skoula’s in the deal to allow the Penguins to get under the cap, and today was moved to the New Jersey Devils . Caputi is the key for the Leafs. A guy that sniped 50+ goals in his final year of junior and has had some success at the Minor League level, but he’s doesn’t play big and his skating is rumored to be at best – just OK. We think he projects at most a 2nd line winger, but likely more 3rd line. That all said, the offensive starved Leafs are going to try him right away. For the Penguins, expect Ponikarovsky to patrol one the left side of either Crosby or Malkin; our bet is Malkin. Ponikarovsky should hit career highs now in goals scored as he’ll be playing with much better line-mates than he has had for some time. If he shows any sort of chemistry and keeps his stick on the ice, he may even flirt with 30 goals this season. He’s streaky – but when hot, he’s very solid.

Phoenix has acquired Derek Morris from the Bruins for a 4th round pick. This should help the ‘Yotes stabilize their young defence as Morris can chip in with the odd point and play on the PP, but more importantly smells like a salary dump in anticipation of bigger deals yet to come for the Bruins. Boston has lost 8 straight games at home and can’t score to save their collective lives. With them not landing Kovalchuk prior to the Olympic break, we think the Bruins are after the Hurricanes’ Ray Whitney. Whitney wants a contract extension before he waives his no-trade clause and this looks like the Bruins are getting ready to oblige.

Hogtown begins the Dealing...

2010-02-01T09:49:00.000-08:00

This past Sunday, Toronto GM Brian Burke tried to share things up on his roster by dealing Ian, White, Matt Stajan, Niklas Hagman and Jamal Mayers to Calgary for Dion Phaneuf, Fredrik Sjostrom and Keith Aulie. He then kept the trade winds blowing and dealt Jason Blake and Vesa Toskala to the Anaheim Ducks for Jean-Sebastien Giguere.

Fantasy Impact: In Toronto, the Leafs should now have two bona-fide studs on the PP with Kaberle (who’ll do the passing) and Phaneuf (who’ll do the shooting). The latest rumor out of Calgary is that Phaneuf and Jarome Iginla had got into a “donny-brook” that led to fisticuffs in the locker room and it was pretty evident that the chemistry in the locker and on the ice was suffering. The Leafs are now trying to build from the crease out with Giguere as the team’s #1, Phaneuf and Kaberle mentoring Schenn and Carl Gunnarson while Komisarek and Beauchemin should round out the Leafs likely top 6. Aulie is the next coming of Hal Gill and a potential Leaf in 2011. The Leafs PP should be better, but Phaneuf’s +/- is about to take a pounding. The Leafs are going to have to call up a bunch of guys from the farm to finish out this season unless they turn Ponikarovsky into 3 new forwards. Jeff Finger seems to be a defencemen that Bruke would like to move, and is he does, he'll get at least one forward coming back that can play in the NHL. Giguere still has this year and next on a big $ deal, so he’ll start plenty. The Leafs won’t be hugely improved and we’re not convinced the Giguere can capture the magic he did in the ’02-’03 season. That said he’ll be better than Toskala and Gustavsson – at least in the short term. For the Flames, they get some depth and some cap relief. It will be intriguing to see if Stajan adopts the #1 pivot, or the #3. Rumors are swirling that the Flames are trying to move Jokinen to the Rangers as well. Stajan is a younger version of Daymond Langkow and may see his point per game drop with a reduced role and minutes. Hagman stands a strong chance or helping the goal starved Flames as he has 20 goal potential and seems not to need prime minutes to achieve them. Ian White actually has more points than Phaneuf and has decent offensive skills. He’s worth a flyer in deeper leagues’, but he’ll be the 3rd option on the PP from the point after Boumeester and Giordano. The Ducks, well they get a little cap relief and some forward depth in Blake who may be so relieved to escape the pressure cooker that is Toronto, that he might put up some decent fantasy numbers. Watch him closely as he’ll get second line duty right away.

The East/West Discrepancy

2010-01-08T00:45:00.000-08:00

It’s no secret that the NHL has an unbalanced schedule. Those who support it say that it’s necessary to deal with travel costs, time zone changes and player fatigue. Those who oppose it point to all teams not having the opportunity for all fans to get equal access to the game’s stars.

It’s not secret that many Western fans feel that they are unfairly treated when it comes to not seeing the NHL’s young elite. And now, a simple analysis of the top two picks of the past 15 years tends to bear that out. Of the 30 total players taken either first or second since the 1994 draft a whopping 22 were drafted by Eastern Conference teams. Simply on volume that would seem to indicate a distinct advantage. But consider this: 12 of the last 15 first overall selections were made by Eastern Conference clubs.

So what does this all mean? It means the best young talent is not playing game in and game out in the Western Conference. At best, once a year the top young talent in the league plays in your arena if you happen cheer for a team that plays in either the Pacific, Northwest or Central Divisions…that is, unless you happen to meet in the Stanley Cup Finals.

Major League Baseball has an easy remedy in their entry draft given that the two leagues are split with only limited interaction between clubs during the regular season (sound familiar?). They alternate between the American League and the National League. The team with the worst record overall drafts first and then the team from the opposing league with the worst record drafts next. And they carry on from there. IF that had been the case things may be drastically different for some teams. Consider that Evgeny Malkin would most likely play for the Chicago Blackhawks, Eric Staal may be captain of the Columbus Blue Jackets, Jason Spezza may have been skating with Anaheim, and Dany Heatley could have been plying his trade in Minnesota. Sure this is all speculation, but that is the level of talent that could have been in the Western Conference with a fair and equitable distribution of talent.

Here’s the full draft list of first and second overall picks. First overall picks are bolded.

East:

John Tavares (NYI - 2009)
Victor Hedman (TB - 2009)
Steven Stamkos (TB - 2008)
James Van Riemsdyk (PHI – 2007)
Jordan Staal (PIT – 2006)
Sydney Crosby (PIT – 2005)
Alex Ovechkin (WAS – 2004)
Evgeny Malkin (PIT – 2004)
M-A Fleury (PIT – 2003)
Eric Staal (CAR – 2003)
Kari Lehtonen (ATL - 2002)
Ilya Kovalchuk (ATL – 2001)
Jason Spezza (OTT – 2001)
Rick Dipietro (NYI – 2000)
Dany Heatley (ATL – 2000)
Patrik Stefan (ATL – 1999)
Vincent Lecavalier (TB – 1998)
Joe Thornton (BOS – 1997)
Chris Phillips (OTT – 1996)
Bryan Berard (OTT – 1995)
Wade Redden (NYI – 1995)
Ed Jovanovski (FLA – 1994)

West:

Drew Doughty (LA - 2008)
Patrick Kane (CHI – 2007)
Erik Johnson (STL – 2006)
Bobby Ryan (ANH – 2005)
Rick Nash (CLB – 2002)
Daniel Sedin (VAN -1999)
David Legwand (NAS – 1998)
Patrick Marleau (SJ – 1997)
Andrei Zyuzin (SJ – 1996)
Oleg Tverdovsky (ANH – 1995)

Week #2 - Here comes the MAS*H unit

2009-10-22T13:24:00.000-07:00

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.

After Week One...

2009-10-13T06:07:00.001-07:00

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.

Game On - '09-'10

2009-10-01T14:25:00.001-07:00

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....

Kessel Turns Over as newest Leaf

2009-09-20T21:25:00.000-07:00

Boston has finally traded disgruntled RW Phil Kessel to the Toronto Maple Leafs for two 1st round and a 2nd round draft pick. Immediately the Leafs opened the vault and signed Kessel to a 5 year deal worth $27M.

Fantasy Impact – the rumor around the league is that Kessel was not a popular guy in the young Bruins locker room and that he and Bruins head coach Claude Julien also did not see eye to eye. Now Kessel will join the Leafs and become the teams’ best RW hand down. Poolies should be smiling widely at the prospect of Kessel playing a ton of minutes and will be getting the tap on the shoulder from head coach Ron Wilson in all offensive situations. Kessel’s arrival should also mean good news and added offensive input for the likes Mikael Grabovski and Alexei Ponikarovsky; the Leafs center and left winger on the teams’ top line. The Leafs PP should be improved as well. Now, make no mistake, Kessel won’t be riding shotgun alongside Marc Savard, but his fantasy stats should be about the same. This of course all assumes that Kessel is 100% when he returns to regular season action some time in November.

For the Bruins, this may be a little bit of addition via subtraction. In addition to Kessel’s “lone wolf" sentiment in the locker room and alienation with the coach, there are further rumors that Kessel was not comfortable with the Bruins media either. There is no doubt that the team is going to miss the 36 goals in 70 games that Kessel tallied last year. But his absence also means opportunity for the likes of Ryder and Blake Wheeler. Wheeler seems to be the most likely candidate to receive Kessel’s minutes. Neither Wheeler or Ryder are as talented as Kessel so there might be a slight drop on production for the likes of Savard and Lucic. Similarly, the Bruins PP should see a slight decline in output, but as mentioned the Bruins are a tight team and Kessel’s absence won’t hurt them from a chemistry perspective.

Lastly, don’t be surprised if the Bruins are active toward the trade deadline with now two first round draft picks in the coming two years, as the two first rounders will be attractive to teams looking to off-load veteran salaries for draft picks.

Heatley Swims with the Sharks

2009-09-12T19:02:00.001-07:00

Ottawa was finally able to get some value back for the disgrunteld Dany Heatley after then dealt Heatley and a 5th round draft pick to San Jose for Milan Michalek, Jonathan Cheechoo and a 2nd rounder.

Fantasy Impact - for Joe Thornton and the San Jose Sharks, their ability to land a bona fide 50 gaol scorer for essentially Michalek and a 2nd rounder, is impressive for the Sharks. It's been a few season since Heatley hit the 50 gaol plateau, but he has done it twice and he'll get prime time minutes with Thornton and as much PP time as he can stomach. Heatley's arrival will also impact the Sharks in another way: what happens to Marleau. Marleau also plays LW, same as Heatley and it makes me wonder if he'll be asked to move to the RW, or perhaps back to his natural center position and allow last years' RW sensation Devin Setoguchi to remain with Thornton and Heatley? Depending on where utlimately either of those two guys end up playing, your best bet for poolies in keeper leagues is to trade Marleau and/or Setoguchi as their trade value may not be any higher than it is right now. We did see Thornton between Marleau and Heatley at the recent Team Canada Olympic Training camp and they were reportedly excellent together. Poolies should also recognize that the Sharks PP has become even deadlier and perhaps the best in the league in Thornton-Setoguchi-Heatley-Boyle-Marleau as their top 5 unit.

For Ottawa, they receive a younger very solid offensive contributor in Michalek, and a big question mark in Cheechoo. They did not receive an NHL ready defenceman as part of this deal, and that could come back to haunt this team. Michalek will now patrol the top spot on the left side beside Spezza and he should do very well. He's not the natural goal scorer that Heatley is, but he did tally 23+ plus goals for the last 3 seasons. He's only 24 and still got some room to improve. That said, he's not ever going to score 50 goals. Jonathan Cheechoo was a bust last season after hitting the 20+ goal plateau the previous 3. On the upside, if he's healthy and gets a decent play-making center to play with, Cheechoo should see 20 goals yet again this season. On the downside, he may just be one of those players who's best year(s) are behind him. For the Senators, the Oilers offer was a better deal for them. Right now, they need Cheechoo to rediscover his scoring touch and they need Michalek to tally at least 30 goals this year for the bad taste in their mouths to dissipate. For the rest of the Senators, they will at least be able to move on now that the Heatley fiasco is behind the team. If the Senators stink early this season, both Cheechoo and Michalek could be moved yet again as the Sens start from scratch and rebuild.

New Look Puckjunkie Finally Up

2009-09-09T15:10:00.000-07:00

Usually our blog is reserved for rumours and innuendo throughout the season, but we thought we should drop in a note about our long awaited site redesign. It's literally taken YEARS, but we think we finally have it looking the way we want! Combined with an enhanced Predictor this year (new categories include faceoff wins and faceoff %) we really think we are now the be all and end all of the fantasy hockey prediction business - not that we weren't before, but the look was so 1990's. But who are we to brag? Post a response and let us know what you think about the new look Puckjunkie. And then make sure you have your subscription to the Predictor, because training camp is about to start and hockey season isn't far off!

Trade Deadline Day.

2009-03-04T23:03:00.000-08:00

It was not as big a day as last year in terms of the number or names, but there is still enough activity this day in the NHL to make it worth a poolies while to understand any fantasy implications of the moves conducted today. So let’s get to it.

Calgary – in perhaps the biggest trade of the day, Phoenix moved Olli Jokinen to Calgary for Matthew Lombardi, Brandon Prust and a 1st round draft pick. This has been Jokinen’s worst year statistically and fantasy wise in X. It was pretty apparent that he wasn’t going to fit into the long term plans of the ‘Yotes and his move to Calgary should reinvigorate him and his fantasy value. He’s not the best fit to play with Iginla and Cammallerri, but he does provide excellent depth on the 2nd line playing with Moss and Bertuzzi. Jokinen is a better scorer than playmaker, and allowing Bertuzzi to play the role of set-up man should prove beneficial for both players. The fact that he’s going to play in the playoffs for the first time in his career will be a strong motivator as well. For Phoenix, Lombardi will get the chance to perhaps learn from the best player ever how to maximize his considerable talents. He should see his playing time remain about the same with a small bump in value as most players do when they are dealt. If he can actually gel with the ‘Yotes young guns in Mueller, Turris, Boedeker, he may finally realize more fantasy value.. The Flames were not done there, after getting Jokinen, they then turned to the Avalanche and picked up the oft injured Jordan Leopold for Lawrence Nycholat, Ryan Wilson and a second-round pick in 2009. Leopold has never developed into a fantasy relevant player and he’s not going to now.

Edmonton – after watching provincial rival Calgary acquire Jokinen, the Oilers shipped Erik Cole back to Carolina in a 4 team swap that saw Justin Williams go from the ‘Canes to the Kings, the Kings shipped Patrick O’Sullivan to Edmonton, the Sabres shipped Ales Kotalik to the Oilers and the Sabres received a 2nd round pick from the Oilers. All season Erik Cole has looked like a fish out of water and just not comfortable in Edmonton. His move back to Carolina should be a welcome addition to the team and to Cole’s confidence. The Kings get former 30+ goal scorer in Williams, who has not looked like the same player since coming back from achilles tendon surgery earlier this year. Williams’ talent has not abandoned him but it’s apparent that a change of scenery may be a good tonic to restart his game. Patrick O’Sullivan joins an Oilers team and becomes yet another smallish center for the team; but his talent is under-rated.. Kotalik is a former 20+ goal guy, that is not small but sometimes plays that way. Ultimately, the Oilers didn’t want to lose Cole for nothing, and O'Sullivan and Kotalik should help their offense if they get the ice-time and right team-mates.

Pittsburgh – after placing an ex-Islander in Miro Satan on waivers, the fact that the Pens went and acquired another one in Bill Guerin is confusing. Guerin is not as talented as Satan, but he is grittier and does add an element of toughness to a team of forwards that needs someone for them to lead by example. Guerin’s best days are behind him, but if he can click with either Crosby or Malkin he’d be worth a waiver pick of the next 20 odd games. It’s a low risk, high reward situation for the Pens and for you the poolie.

New York (Rangers) – the Rangers were active this trade deadline as they acquired Derek Morris from Phoenix for Dmitri Kalinin, Nigel Dawes and Petr Prucha. They then turn around and acquired Nik Antropov from Toronto for a 2nd round pick, and a conditional draft pick. From a poolies perspective, the Morris move seems to be a lot to give up for a guy that used to be a decent two-way defencemen, but is no longer an offensive threat. He’s a better puck mover than Kalinin, but not enough to part also with Dawes and Prucha. Anticipate a slight bump in Morris’s fantasy value, but not a lot. For Phoenix, the key to this deal is acquiring a steady defenceman and a diminutive, yet talented scorer (at least in junior) in Dawes. Dawes will need top 6 forward minutes to produce, but he another low risk – high reward guy that may blossom with the added ice time. In Antropov, the Rangers get another big bodied forward that has some offensive upside and may be relieved to be out of the fish bowl that is Toronto. Someone is going to place a lot fantasy value on him right now, and he’d be a guy that we’d move for a surer thing.

Boston – the Bruins have had a very good season and have played above most pundits expectations. As a result, they tinkered with their line-up by adding veteran Mark Recchi and Steve Montador at the deadline for a group of young prospects that were not going to be unseating any of the young guns on the Bruins any time soon. Recchi should likely play on the 2nd line with Krejci and Lucic. He’s a much better playmaker now than he is a goal scorer but that’s just what those young guys will be looking for. He’s also likely to see 2nd duty on the PP. He likely to be decent for the next two weeks and a good filler for another guy that might be injured.

Ottawa – in a move to try and shore up the team goaltending, the Sens acquired Pascal Leclaire and a 2nd round pick from the Blue Jackets for consistently inconsistent Antoine Vermette. Leclaire has been injured a lot this season and when healthy, he has not looked like the same goaltender from last year. Expect him to be back sometime in April, but he’ll be the team’s #1 guy come next season. Vermette gets a change in zip code, and the new start should be helpful. He’s better than what he’s displayed this season, but one has to wonder how he’ll flourish under even tougher coach Ken Hitchcock?

Trade Deadline - T Minus 5 hours

2009-03-04T06:49:00.000-08:00

Here's the latest -

Anaheim - there are reports that the Anaheim Ducks have told all NHL brass that Chrtis Pronger won't be traded today and he is off the market. This impacts teams looking for d-upgrade as this leaves Kaberle, Kuba, Kubina, Boumeester and Morris moving up the depth chart.

Toronto - Tomas Kaberle left last night game after injuring his recently recovered hand. This is likely to quash any chance that he'll be moved if the injury can be verified to be anything more than day to day.

Ottawa - the Sens are trying to re-sign Chris Neil and Philip Kuba this morning but it appears that both may be moved today if they are unable to reach an agreement with the team. Look for Kuba to garner the most attention, particularly if Pronger and Kaberle are off the market for different reasons.

Trade Dealine - T Minus 24 hours

2009-03-03T20:35:00.000-08:00

With less than 24 hours until the NHL's trade deadline, here's the latest rumors we're watching:

Toronto - Domink Moore and Nik Antorpov reportedly did not play tonight and speculation is rampant that the two forwards will be moved tomorrow. Moore is rumored to be headed to the Red Wings to anchor their 3rd line. Antropov appears to be headed to Columbus or Florida. We're not believing the hype on Moore - this is his season to get lots of ice-time and capture lightening in a bottle. With Antropov, C-Bus would welcome the offensive upgrade from Antropov, and he would help them. Tomas Kaberle left tonight's game after apparently re-injuring his hand that had kept him away from the roster for the last 3 weeks.

Minnesota - with the signing of Nik Backstrom today to a long term extension, the Wild can focus on moving Gaborik for at least another roster player and a prospect.

Tampa Bay - Gary Roberts was placed on waivers, while Mark Recchi did not play tonight indicating that both are likely to be moved tomorrow. Recchi appears destined to land back with the Penguins for a playoff push, and Roberts was rumored to be landing with the Sharks or the Flames. Recchi still has some fantasy value, particularly if he sees some time on the PP. Roberts best days are way behind him as is his fantasy value.

Phoenix - Derrick Morris is going to be moved t0morrow, it just remains to be seen where. His fantasy value however is pretty minimal. Oli Jokinen is also on the block, and the list of potential suitors includes Edmonton, Columbus, Minnesota and Vancouver. Asking price will be a prospect and a pick for the cash strapped 'Yotes.

Trade Deadline Day: T minus 3 days (udpated)

2009-03-01T09:41:00.001-08:00

Sunday March 1 - with only 3 days to go until the trade deadline, the rumors are really heating up. Here is the latest:

Chris Pronger - St. Louis has reportedly been inquiring about Pronger's availability. St. Louis certainly has the cap space and young talent that the Ducks may be interested in acquiring. The Blues are only 6 points out of a playoff spot and Pronger's appearance would certainly assist them in making a push for that last playoff spot.

Jay Boumeester - with the Panthers apparently unable to re-sign Boumeester, it looks as though they are seeing what they'd be able to get for the pending UFA. The latest is the Flyers dangling Briere, Coburn, van Riemsdyk and Nittymaki for Boumeester and Craig Anderson. This would certainly lighten the salary cap load on the Flyers and finally allow them to get the puck moving defencman that they are desparate to acquire. Anderson is an upgrade for the Flyers as well. For the Panthers, they'd get decent return on Boumeester.

Bill Guerin - has been pulled from the Islanders line-up, in preparation of moving. The mystery team invilved is rumored to be the Boston Bruins. The hang up, is the Bruins not wanting to part with both Matt Hunwick and a 2nd for Guerin.

Buy, Hold, or Sell Part II

2009-01-02T08:26:00.000-08:00

Calgary Flames - sitting atop of the division, the Flames are getting decent scoring from other soruces not named Jarome - Conroy, Moss, Boyd and Cammalleri have all contributed. In all three of those cases, we'd be "selling" as these players are playing above their normal fantasy value. The tandem of Iginla and Langkow have been very good and you should continue to "hold" on both. Buying either may be expensive and not necessarily a good thing. Phaneuf is a "hold" as is Kipprusoff - who has been inconsistent still, but better than he has been not. A strong "buy" in deeper league's may be Giordano; plays the powerplay and ships in with a few points and is a mere few games away from gaining the confidence of his coach to playing more minutes. We warned you about Todd Bertuzzi, and even though he's been better lately, he's a serious "sell".

Colorado Avalanche - the injuries just keeping piling up for the 'Lanche. First Joe Sakic suferes a hand injury with his snow-blower and then Paul Stastny blocks a shot with his arm and breaks it and is gone for 6-8 weeks. The only silver lining here is that if the Avalanche can stay close, they will get both of those guys back in about 8 weeks. right in time to help down the stretch toward the playoffs. Sakic is a "buy" as he'll likely be very available and come cheaply. Stastny is a "sell" in our books, as he'll come back that is for certian, but if you are in the hunt, you need scroing right away, and you'll likely still get plenty for him in keeper leagues. JM Liles is the Avs best defencemen, and he's a "sell". He's over-rated, and his shot couldn't break a pane of glass. There has to be some unsuspecting Avs fan that you can move this guy too. Expect the Avs offence to be challenged and they will likely try to move guys into the void where Sakic and Stastny were like Hensick, Arnason and you may see Svatos and/or Wolski play up the middle to try and generate offence. All of these guys should be "sells" in your future plans.

Minnesota Wild - with the news that Marian Gaborik is contemplating season ending surgery to repair a "hip deficiency", the Wild are going to have no choice but to move him for whatever they get for the guy - and it won't be much. For poolie owners, the only hope is that in a keeper league you can move the guy to a team that is rebuilding. The surgery contemplated is one he's had before on his other hip, and he's managed to come back and play very well. If he opts for it, his success to come back for next season should be high, but he won't help anyone this year. He's a "sell" as well as an owner and a "buy" in deeper keeper league's as he should come cheaply. PM Bouchard has been a bust, and with Gaborik out of the line-up, he's been below average. He's a "sell". Brent Burns has also been a disappointment, but he's shown signs of life recently and is a "buy" or "hold" for fantasy owners. Mikko Koivu has been awesome to date, and can't play any better than what owners hav ebeen receiiving; he's a "hold" unless some owner is prepared to give you what his stats show you he may be worth.

Market Buzz - Buy. Hold, Sell...

2008-12-22T09:53:00.000-08:00

After about 30 games each for the respective NHL teams, and given the state of the the world-wide economy, we thought it was time for us to chime in on our annual buy, hold or sell segment during our trip around the league. We'll start with the Northwest Conference first:

Vancouver Canucks - with the recent signing of Mats Sundin, the Canucks appear to have found the offensive shot-in-the-arm that they have been looking for all season. Sundin's arrival should bolster the Canucks PP, and allow for further offensive opportunities for his linemates and even the defencemen. It's likely Sundin will be paired with Demitra and Wellwood, and both those guys should be good "buys" in your trade dealings. Of course, like all things fantasy pool related, much of this depends on Sundins' own health - and frankly, we are not convinced he's 100%. Track records of guys similarly coming back mid-season as free agents (see Niedermayer and Selanne from last year) has not been great. Their conditioning usually is not good, and they are prone to the dreaded "groin injury". Right now, the buzz around Sundin is terrific - and he hasn't played a game yet. As a result, we'd be "selling" as his trade value won't be any higher. Kevin Bleiksa squeaks in as a "hold" commodity right now, as he's playing well on the Canucks PP and should see an uplift in points. Sami Salo is hurt, big surprise, and gone for about a month. You might be able to convince someone else to take a flyer on him with Sundin in the mix, so we'd "sell" if you could. Same goes Edler and Ohlund, who we think are about maxed in terms of offensive production, even with Sundin. Roberto Luongo is taking longer to come back from his groin injury, and that's never a good thing. Look for him sometime mid-January and should be a "hold".

Edmonton Oilers - such high expectations are the start of the year that have not been realized is how we'd characterize the Oilers to date. Hemsky and Souray are the only consistent guys at this stage - and both are high on our "sell" lists. Hemsky continues to be the marquis name in trade rumors for guys like Boumeester and Kovulchuk. His move to either of those teams could adversely impact his fantasy value. Souray has been very good, and there is sure to be a lesser "injury-risk" defenceman that you can parlay him into at about the same fantasy value. Erik Cole has been a big disappointment and he's a "hold" for now. Playing now the 3rd line, he's trying - just not producing. You won't get much for him. Horcoff is under-achieving, and at this stage looks to have reverted tio his 2nd line status of a few years ago; he's a "sell" in our books. Ditto Dwayne Roloson, who for now appears to be the #1guy in Edmonton. Despite Sam Gagner's sophomore slump, which we did warn about, he's a "hold" or "buy" if you can. He should come cheap and he might not turn it around this year, but he's too good to be this bad for the remainder of his career.

...the rest of the Northwest conference tomorrow.

15 games in ... Part II

2008-11-17T14:23:00.000-08:00

Phladelphia - after just returning from missing time with an injury, Flyers center Daniel Briere is sidelined for about 2-3 weeks with a sore groin. This is bad news for Briere owners, but good news for Jeff Carter and Mike Richards owners. Both young guns should rack up more points with the additional ice-time. We are a little concerned about Briere's "brittleness" this season and as we've seen in the past, these types of injuries could linger for the majority of the season. We'd sell our stock in Briere to be sure.

In Toronto, Jason Blake's recent tirade about sitting a few games has resulted in him quietly asking to be moved. The problem for the Leafs is that he makes way too much for a disgruntled veteran. Time will tell if he is able to right the ship, but to date Ron Wilson has lowered his sights on Blake and the results are not good for Blake owners.

In Vancouver, Kevin Bieksa is on the shelf again for another 2-3 weeks with a broken bone in his foot. Just as it looked as though Bieksa was hitting his stride, yet another injury has sidelined him. This will mean more fantasy valued ice time for Salo and Ohlund, and will effective silence any more trade rumors involving Bieksa at least for the time being.

In Edmonton, the Oilers are said to be trying to package Dustin Penner, Robert Nilsson, Taylor Chorney and a first round draft pick for Ilya Kovulchuk. Kovulchuk has made it very well known he wants out or Atlanta and would prefer that to be sooner rather than when he is a UFA. There would be many other teams interested in Kovulchuk's services, but the kicker is that any deal would be subject to Kovulchuk agreeing to a contract extension.

Around 15 games and Wow!

2008-11-14T14:51:00.000-08:00

Lots to discuss, so lets get started.

Tampa Bay - the Lightening announced today that they gassed Barry Melrose as coach and replaced him with associate coach Rich Tocchet. This comes as a mild surprise, but clearly it looks like the team that many picked, including us, to dominant the Southeast is not playing to its' potential. The issue for some is team chemistry and roles. There are alot of new faces on the club, and that usually takes some time to gel. Goaltending has been pretty good, but the play of the team's defence has been shaky. Tocchet is a no nonsense kind of guy and should positively influence the team for the next few weeks. If that doesn't happen, you can expect that guys like St. Louis, Malone and Prospal to begin to get shopped in possible trades.

Sticking with the Lightening, them moving Matt Carle to Philly for Steve Eminger and Steve Downie was a surprise. No question the Lightening could use some more grit, and Downie, when in control, could fulfill that Steve Ott-Matt Cooke mold. Carle was supposed to be better than last years' disaster, but so far, he's not been able to improve. Eminger was a high draft pick for the Capitals, moved to the Flyers at draft day, and gets yet another chance to realize the potential that made him a first round draft pick. If Eminger finds his game, and Downie keeps his cool, the 'Ning could really benefit from this swap.

New Jersey - news that Martin Brodeur is going to be gone for about 3-4 months with a ligament injury in his elbow has got to make not only Devils players scared, but also poolies in general. Already a an offensively challenged team, the loss of Brodeur and his ability to steal some games is likely going to mean a clamping down on any offense that the team may have been able to generate. Look for guys like Parise, Elias and Zajac to struggle even more now that Marty is gone. Kevin Weeks is not the short term answer either, so we anticipate that the Devisl may try to add another goalie to the mix. Rumors have them inquiring about Dwayne Roloson or Matthieu Garon from the Oilers.

More to follow tomorrow...

2 weeks in and...

2008-10-23T06:48:00.000-07:00

...too every poolies' surprise (not), Pavol Demitra and Marion Gaborik are injured. Like we couldn't see that coming. Demitra is out with a rib injury and Gaborik and his nasty groin are on the sideline as well. This is very problematic for the Wild, who are already rumored to be shopping Gaborik after he reportedly turned down a contract extension in the $7M-$8M per year range. Problem for all involved is Gaborik's health is always a question mark. Vancouver is rumored to be very interested in acquiring Gaborik; he and Demitra are best friends. The players rumored headed back to Minnesota are Mason Raymond, Corey Schneider and a first round draft pick. The Flames are also rumored to be interested in Gaborik; dangling Dustin Boyd, Leland Irving and a first rounder. For now, Gaborik looks to e at least a few weeks away, and Demitra is supposed to be back before then. As a poolie, you should be trying to move these guys for more dependable options.

In Chicago, Denis Savard got axed 4 games into the season with Joel Quenville taking over. You can anticipate that the Blackhawks should rebound and begin playign better for a few weeks with a new bench boss, but the team needs to do something about the goaltending situation which is rumored to be causing a rift in the dressing room. New and very young captain, Jonathan Toews is struggling early to find his offensive game as well. The Flyers are said to be interested in looking at Khabibulin as their tandem of Biron and Nittymaki have been under-whelming to date, but there would need to be some salary cap management on the part of both teams to make a trade work.

Day one - of a long season

2008-10-09T06:33:00.000-07:00

Despite the boring NHL games in Europe last weekend, the league's regular season kick-offs tonight and I wanted to catch you up on the latest...

Sergei Zubov - is gone from 4-6 weeks with surgery on his hip. Expect him back late October early November. Not deadly for the Stars as they existed without him for sometime last year, but their PP will not be nearly as potent without him manning the point. On the flip side, Niskanen, Boucher and Robidas will all see more minutes as a result.

Nik Khabibulin - after being placed on waivers last week and no takers, it looks like the Blackhawks will try and move the former #1 within a week. Likely destinations are the LA Kings and also now entering the talks are the Ottawa Senators, who might take a flyer on the Bulin Wall if the Hawks take Martin Gerber back as part of the deal. The Sens would likely also need to jettison someone else to make the deal work under the salary cap as well (i.e., Donovan). Watch the Sens close out of the gate, if Gerber struggles, the talks will heat immediately. For the Kings, it's all about making sure they are at the league minimum as well as storing a potential trade asset at the deadline as well as not wrecking Bernier's psyche by having their young stud goalie see 40 shots per game.

In Vancouver, the Canucks added some needed grit in the addition of Shane O'Brien and the versatile Michel Ouellet from the Lightening for Lukas Krajicek and mid-level prospect Juraj Simek. O'Brien's offense is under-rated, but he'll be counted on to add some toughness for the Canucks defence. Krajicek has some puck-moving ability and Lightening brass are stock-piling slick puck-moving defencemen in attempts to get as many rearguards as they can that may get the puck up to their very talented forwards.

In Montreal, Chris Higgins has had a sore groin for almost the entire camp, and remains on shelf for the start of the season. This is not good news for the Habs. Higgins needs to be healthy for them to win, and this smell like it could turn into an issue that may linger for the entire season. Higgins owners be warned.

Blues, Canucks, Oilers and Red Wings

2008-10-02T11:13:00.000-07:00

St. Louis - just so were clear, a 20 year old kid went golfing and says he tore not only his ACL, but MCL as well, while getting his foot caught between the barking brake and the golf cart floor of his golf cart...uh-huh. Wow, and our dogs ate our homework too! Erik Johnson is the kid, and right now the Blues have got to be cringing at the fact that Steve Wagner and Eric Brewer are now their best options as an offensive defencemnn. For Johnson owners, it's a full 12 months (and likely more like 18) from surgery, rehab to skating before we think begins to be close to 100%. Basically a lost year. Again - wow! I thought kids were smarter than this?

Vancouver - someone is going to have to convince me that naming Luongo the captain isn't a blatant attempt to kiss-up to the Canucks net-minder. There is a reason that goalies don't wear letters, and haven't since before we were born. On the fantasy side though, who cares! If it motivates the hardest working guy on the team to work that much harder (usually meaning even better fantasy value), give him the alphabet - we don't care. Still with the Canucks, it looks like Demitra is going to be centering the 2nd unit, between Taylor Pyatt and either Mason Raymond or Kyle Wellwood. Wellwood has shown offensive touches, particularly on the PP, while Raymond's speed is always appreciated by his coaches.

Edmonton - as it looks now, Dustin Penner is and will skate on a line with Moreau and Pisani, while Erik Cole moves to Penner's spot on the #1 line. Good news for Cole, bad news for Penner fantasy-wise

Detroit - Chelios is gone for at least 4-6 weeks with a broken foot. His fantasy value is low, but this makes room for Lebda, Kronwall and others for more playing time early.

Gonchar, Schnieder and other stuff

2008-09-29T16:27:00.000-07:00

All right, it's our first blog of the new hockey season, officially, so let's get down to business.

Pens Gonchar out 4-6 months - hard to imagine the machine that is the Penguins offense not reeling from this development that Gonchar will be gone from 4-6 months because of shoulder surgery. Already without their best 2nd option in Ryan Whitney until mid-November, the Pens best answers to replace the stats are Kris Letang and rookie Goligoski. This isn't good news, and right now the Pens PP may be housed by Letang and 4 forwards as you may see Peter Sykora playing the point on the PP.

Schneider to Thrashers - wholly salary dump Batman. The Ducks basically had to give Schneider away for a mid-level prospect in Painchaud and of almost no fantasy interest in Larsen of Klee. Ilya Kovulchuk should benefit, as should the Thrashers anemic PP. But that said, Schneider is 39 years old, and is not likely to complete an entire season. He's even less likely now that he is the Thrashers best offensive defenceman. He'll see more icetime though and more PP time for sure.

Tim Stapleton of Leafs sent down - sometimes the Euro-gamble pays off and sometimes it doesn't. Early on, it looks like the Leafs bringing back Tim Stapleton from Europe this year is not going to pay the big dividends some thought it might. Stapleton may be back later in the season, or the club may be looking to get him some North American playing time. Whatever the reason, it's too early to send a "big part of your offense" down, so let the Leafs' fans take a flyer on this guy and choose a more stable option.

More to follow tomorrow.

Free Agent Frenzy - Part IV

2008-08-04T22:13:00.000-07:00

New York Islanders

Adds or Resigns: D-Mark Streit, F-Mike Comrie, F-Doug Weight, F-Jeff Tambellini, F-Sean Bergenheim, F-Frans Nielsen.

Subtractions: Likely D-Bryan Berard and coach Ted Nolan.

Fantasy Impact: Unsure if the actual signings for the team will have as much of an impact as the loss of players coach Ted Nolan. Nolan was actually hired prior to GM Garth Snow it was evident that the two of them were not seeing eye-to-eye. For the poolie, Mark Streit should bolster a fairly anemic Islanders PP, but Doug Weight’s signing was about bringing in someone to get the team to the floor of the league salary cap, rather than actually believing the team will be better with Weight in the line-up. To date, the signings do little to inspire fantasy poolies to think the Islanders will get much better. Tambellini might be worth a very late round pick as Snow wants the team to play it’s young guys.

New York Rangers

Adds or Resigns: F-Markus Naslund, D-Dmitri Kalinin, F-Aaron Voros, F-Patrick Rissmiller, D-Michal Rozsival, D-Wade Redden, G-Stephen Valiquette, D-Paul Mara, F-Nigel Dawes, F Greg Moore, F-Fredrik Sjostrom, F-Nikolai Zherdev and F-Dan Fritsche.

Subtractions: Jaromir Jagr, Martin Straka, Fedor Tyutin, Christian Backman, Ryan Hollweg.

Fantasy Impact: No Jagr, no Straka and potentially no Marek Malik appears to have sent the message that the NY version of team Czech Republic is over. Zheredev is an enigmatic talent who has the ability to really shine, while Naslund has not been a premier sniper now for 4 seasons. Watch for both those guys to be paired with either Gomez or Drury respectively. Redden will need to seriously rebound to make fans forget about Tyutin, as Redden offensive game has stalled for the past two season. Actually the stronger signing may have been Dmitri Kalinin from the Sabres, who’s defensive game is very strong and offensive game is developing. Voros, Rissmiller and Fritsche bring size and energy to the 3rd and 4th lines likely. The Rangers will certainly be a much harder team to play against. Currently the Rangers are still talking with Brendan Shanahan to see if he’ll re-sign.

Ottawa Senators

Adds and Resigns: F-Josh Hennessy, F-Antoine Vermette, F-Chris Kelly, G-Alex Auld, F-Shean Donovan, F-Jarkko Ruutu, D-Jason Smith.

Subtractions: G-Ray Emery, D-Wade Redden, likely D-Andrej Meszaros.

Fantasy Impact: Pretty uneventful signing period for the Sens, who reportedly were trying to land Brian Campbell and then, Marian Hossa. Biggest impact may be Jason Smith, who will very likely wear an A, and provide just a ton of grit and desire on the Sens back-end. Gone is uber-distraction Emery, replaced with “white bread” Alex Auld. The Sens are still rumored to be looking for a puck moving defencemen, or to try and off-load Martin Gerber contract on someone, but that will also come through trade. Super-pest Ruutu is a decent bet if you need non-goon PIMs.

Philadelphia Flyers

Adds and Resigns: F-Jeff Carter, D-Steve Eminger, D-Ossi Vaananen, F-Glen Metropolit, F-Nate Raduns, F-Riley Cote, D-Randy Jones, F-Arron Asham, F-Joffrey Lupul, D-Danny Syvret, D-Janne Niskala.

Subtractions: F-Vacalav Prospal, F-RJ Umberger, D-Jaroslav Modry, D-Denis Gauthier, F-Tristan Grant, F-Patrick Thoresen.

Fantasy Impact: the young Flyers will have a speedier, yet softer defence; come the start of play in 2008-09. Eminger was a very high draft pick for the Capitals that has yet to realize his potential. Umberger became expendable when the Flyers signed Carter. Carter should build on a very productive 2nd half of the season last year. Lupul will play with either Carter or Briere and should tally many goals if he stays healthy. We think the young Flyers will again be an exciting team to watch, as well as draft earlier in your pool, we are just not sold on the strength of their defence or goaltending in general.

Toronto Maple Leafs

Adds or Resigns: D-Jeff Finger, G-Curtis Joseph, F-Mikhail Grabovski, F-Dominic Moore, Matt Stajan, F- Jamal Mayers, F-Ryan Hollweg, F-Ben Ondrus.

Subtractions: F-Mats Sundin, G-Andrew Raycroft, D-Andy Wozniewski, F-Darcy Tucker.
Fantasy Impact: And let the gutting begin. Interim GM Cliff Fletcher is certainly making all the tough decisions; letting Tucker go, letting Raycroft go, trying to sign Sundin but he likely won’t be back. These are actually the pretty good moves. Jeff Finger is a bit of a noggin’ scratch – big $ for a guy that made it to the NHL as a 28 year old rookie. Mayers and Hollweg will try to ensure that the team plays tough, but we are not sure if Mayers has much left in the tank. All in all it’s going to be a lean season for the Buds.

Washington Capitals

Add or Resigns: D-Mike Green, G-Jose Theodore, F-Keith Aucoin, F-Sergei Fedorov, LW- Brooks Laich, F-Boyd Gordon, D-Shaone Morrisonn. Subtractions: G-Cristobel Huet, G-Olaf Kolzig, D-Steve Eminger.

Fantasy Impact: On an improving, young team the moves made by Caps management, save for the Green signing, are worrisome. Sergei Federov played very well for the 20 games that the Caps had him and into the playoffs, but we’ve seen this before and he’s going to be a waste of a roster spot by the All-Star break. Jose Theodore’s decent season last year for the Avalanche will not be repeated in Washington. He’s just not that good. No real improvements for the team. In fact, from a poolies view point it looks as though they’ve gotten weaker and that’s not good. Green’s a budding NHL offensive super-star, and he’ll need to be for the caps to repeat last year.

Fantasy Frenzy - Part III

2008-07-21T18:28:00.000-07:00

Atlanta Thrashers -

Adds or Resigns: D - Ron Hainsey, F - Jason Williams, F - Eric Boulton, F - Marty Reasnor

Subtractions: Alexei Zhitnik, Bobby Holik

Fantasy Imapct:
As a poolie looks at the depth of talent for the Thrashers, one has to be left with there is very little help for the Thrashers. Jason Williams will be an under-rated winger for the Thrashers, but he won’t make anyone forget about Marian Hossa. Williams will likely be on the top-line for the Thrashers – almost via default. Hainsey gives the Thrashers their best overall defenceman, in the team’s franchise history. Hainsey isn’t the best offensive defenceman, but he will log a lot of minutes. Reasoner is a 3rd liner at best, and Eric Boulton will out up lots of PIMS but little else.

Boston Bruins -

Adds or Resigns: F-Michael Ryder.

Subtractions: no one of fantasy impact

Fantasy Impact:
It’s been a pretty lean UFA signing period for the Bruins. Management of the team is banking on the return to health of Patrice Bergeron and the continued development of young players like: Kessel and Lucic. In Ryder, the Bruins shucked out a lot of dollars for a guy who is as streaky as they come and at times, so poor defensively that the offensive starved Habs couldn’t have him in the line-up. Come draft time, he might be a worth a flyer, particularly if the Bruins move Murray prior to the start of training camp.

Buffalo Sabres -

Adds or Resigns: D-Craig Rivet, G-Patrick Lalime, F-Paul Gaustad (resign), F-Dan Paille (resign), G-Ryan Miller (resign).

Subtractions: Steve Bernier

Fantasy Impact:
For the low budget Sabres, being able to keep the core of the team still in tack year to date has been pretty good. Rivet should help for the loss of Bernier - but he's not Brian Campbell. The team has got to move some your talent, and the stock pile of draft picks they now have, for proven scoring or they'll likely be on the outside looking in come playoff time.

Carolina Hurricanes -

Adds or Resigns: D-Joni Pitkanen, G-Michael Leighton, D-Tim Gleason (resign), F-Tuomo Ruutu (resign), D-Josef Melichar, D-Dennis Seidenberg, F-Chad Larose.

Subtractions: D-Bret Hedican, D-David Tanabe, F-Jeff Hamilton, F-Erik Hamilton.

Fantasy Impact:
The Hurricanes traded for and then signed enigmatic Joni Pitkanen to play a critical role for the ‘Canes and in particular, their power play. The issue is that Pitkanen hasn’t been that type of consistent defencemen since 2002. He’s a risky selection to be sure. Resigning Ruutu and Gleason are solid depth moves for the club. Losing Erik Cole to Edmonton means Andrew Ladd get a serious chance at a top 6 forward position.

Florida Panthers -

Adds or Resigns: F-Cory Stillman, F-Rostislav Olesz (resign), F-Gregory Campbell, D-Keith Ballard, D-Nick Boynton.

Subtractions: F-Olli Jokinen

Fantasy Impact:
There is no denying that losing the teams captain and main offensive threat in Jokinen is going to be a tough hole to fill. Stillman still has some offensive clout, and he’ll see top 6 forward action for sure. Ballard and Boynton were traded together and are very likely to be paired together and log a huge amount of minutes for the offensively starved Panthers. Olesz’s resigning will help but he’ll be challenged to be better than what he’s been to date. Nathan Horton and Stephen Weiss are going to have to grow mightily for the Panthers to get better.

Montreal Canadiens –

Adds or Resigns: F-Alex Tanguay, F-Georges Laraque, Maxim Lapierre (resign), G-Jaroslav Halak, D-Shawn Belle.

Subtractions: Bryan Smolinski, Patrice Brisebois., Michael Ryder

Fantasy Impact:
After failing to land any of the big higher profile free agents in Hossa or Campbell, the Habs finally swung a deal for long sought after Alex Tanguay. Tanguay is a pass first winger with soft hands, starts slow and does have confidence issues. In Montreal the spotlight will be firmly shining upon him to produce and he’ll see top 6 forward time for sure. Locking up Halak gives the Habs excellent young net-minding when paired with Carey Price. Laraque will supply the much needed muscle for the smurf like Habs.

New Jersey Devils –

Adds or Resigns: F-Brian Rolston, F-Bobby Holik, F-Bryce Salvador (resign), F-Jay Pandolfo (resign), F-David Clarkson (resign), D-Bryce Salvador (resign).

Subtractions: none of fantasy value

Fantasy Impact:
The signings of Holik and Rolston actually brings the Devils full-circle as they re-sign two players that they originally drafted. Rolston will likely be the premiere center for the team while Holik will anchor the teams 3rd line. Without losing Elias, Parise or Zajac the most recent signings should help them on the offensive side of the game.

Free Agent Frenzy (cont.) - Pittsburgh

2008-07-07T12:25:00.000-07:00

Pittsburgh Penguins:

Adds or Resigns – F Pascual Dupuis (resign), G - M.A. Fleury (resign) , F – Evgeni Malkin (resign), D – Brooks Orpik (resign), F - Ruslan Fedentenko, F - Miro Satan, F - Eric Goddard, F - Matt Cooke, D- Mark Eaton.

Subtractions – F - Ryan Malone, F- Gary Roberts, F- Marian Hossa, F - Georges Laraque, F - Jarkko Ruutu, G - Ty Conklin

Fantasy Impact:

With Malkin and Fleury still having to be resigned to long term deals as RFAs, it looked like Pens GM Shero was caught between a rock and hard place when trying to sign Marian Hossa. That said, Malkin gives the Pens the best 1-2 punch in the league down the middle and getting Fleury under-contract long term was crucial to the teams success. While still prone to the odd “bad goal” Fleury was very good in the playoffs and should elevate his game this year.

Fedetenko and Satan should together provide the grit and the scoring prowess of the departed Malone. In fact, Satan is in an excellent position to receive passes from either Crosby and Malkin. He’s a better scorer than Malone and looks more like a Petr Sykora type of player. If Fedetenko cracks the top 6, he might break 50 points. Eric Goddard assumes Laraque's role as the peace keeper for the Pens, while Matt Cooke is a better fit both on the ice and in the room than Jarkko Ruutu, but likely sees only 3rd line time.

Free Agent Frenzy and More...

2008-07-06T09:19:00.000-07:00

OK - it's taken a little time to catch up to the dozens and dozens of deals over the past week and a bit, but we think we've gotten there and are ready to give our two-cents from a fantasy perspective on all the moves. We are going to go team by team, give you an idea of the additions and subtractions and what we think the fantasy impact may be for the players and their respective teams. So, let's get started:

Tampa Bay Lightening:

Adds: F - Vaclav Prospal, F - Ryan Malone, F - Gary Roberts, D - Matt Carle, F - Radim Vrbata, F - Adam Hall, G - Olaf Kolzig, F - Ryan Craig (resigned), D - Janne Niskala, D - Ty Wishart.

Subtractions: D - Dan Boyle, D - Brad Lukowich.

Fantasy Impact: Wow. Where to start. the Lightening are clearly "reloading" and they are doing it right away. The additions to their team should make the team bigger and harder to play against. Vinnie Prospal is back and likely patrolling the wing with St. Louis on Lecavalier's line. Radim Vrbata and Ryan Malone made the best of their opportunities last year. Vrbata had 27 goals last season on a surprising Coyotes team. Malone had a similar goal out put last year in Pittsburgh. Both players will likely see 2nd line duty in Tampa so expect a little less production from him this coming season even with Steve Stamkos centering them. Hall, Roberts and Craig will battle for spots on the 3rd and 4th lines. Moving Dan Boyle to the Sharks creates a pretty big void for the Lightening. Their defence and goaltending were weak links last year, and Matt Carle regressed last year in San Jose. If new coach Barry Melrose can get Carle playing with confidence, the Lightening's impressive offence may turn him into a solid sleeper selection. Olaf Kolzig's contract isn't expensive, but it's loaded with incentives and we wonder what that holds for the future of Mike Smith. With younger goalie prospect Kari Ramo already in the fold, it looks like Smith may be on the outside looking in and is very likely being shopped. There are not very many teams however that may be looking for a #1 unproven goalie, but Colorado has to be a potential. Kolzig will face the same challenges that he had in Washington where the team is very likely to give up alot of scoring chances, but the team's potential for wins could be very high. Another solid sleeper.

Trade Deadline Day - Part VI 1:15

2008-02-26T12:09:00.000-08:00

Pittsburgh - the Pens picked up Marian Hossa and Pascal Dupuis from the Thrashers for Colby Armstrong, Erik Christensen, Angelo Esposito and a first round pick. This is a decent deal for the Thrashers, they get some depth, a decent prospect and a pick. For the Pens, they get a big shot in the offensive arm (potentially) and this could be a boom or bust swap. If Hossa can click with Crosby or Malkin, the East is the Pens to win.

Toronto - the Leafs moved Hal Gill to the Pens and Chad Kilger to the Panthers for a 2nd and 5th round pick. Gill gives the Pens some depth, while the Leafs get some extra picks in a deep NHL draft. Not much impact on the fantasy front however. Kilger gives the Panthers some size for a 3rd round pick.

NY Islanders - the Islanders moved Chris Simon to the Wild for a 6th round pick and Marc-Andre Bergeron to the Ducks for a 3rd round pick. Simon give the Wild even a tougher look for the next 20 games, and Bergeron should assist the Ducks in terms of moving the puck to their talented forwards and might see some 2nd unit PP time.

Detroit - the Red Wings scoop Brad Stuart from the Kings for a 2nd and 4th round pick. Stuart gives the Red Wings another decent defencemen to assist their injury plagued d-core. Stuart won't contribute enough offensively to make him worth alot of poolie attention.

LA Kings - the Kings also shipped JS Aubin to the Ducks for a 7th round pick. Aubin is a security blanket for the Ducks in case Giguere and/or Hillier go down; nothing more.

Phoenix - the Coyotes shipped Fredrik Sjostrom, David Leneveau and Josh Gratton to the Rangers for Marcel Hossa and Al Montoya. Not much fantasy impact here as the tow teams exchange at one time blue-chip prospects that could use a change of scenery.

NY Rangers - the Rangers acquired Christian Backman from the Blues for a 4th round pick. Backman is an average NMHL defenceman that gives the Rangers some depth for a draft pick for the Blues.

Trade Deadline Day - Part VI 12:00

2008-02-26T11:01:00.000-08:00

Washington - the Capitals have traded Matt Pettinger to the Vancouver Canucks for Matt Cooke. Fantasy impact wise, neither of these guys will excite poolie's as they both play a similar game. Unless your league counts hits, this won't be that much help. Cooke has not been a coach favorite.

Trade Deadline Day - Part V 11:30 a.m.

2008-02-26T10:28:00.000-08:00

Columbus - the Blue Jackets have sent Sergei Federov to the Capitals for defenceman Theo Ruth. This is little more than a salary dump as Federov is little more than a 3rd line center/winger. Ruth is a long-term prospect. Not much fantasy value here.

New Jersey - the Devils have acquired Bryce Salvador from the Blues for Cam Janssen. For poolies, there isn't much value here other than perhaps Janssen PIMs.

Trade Deadline Day - Part IV 11:18 a.m.

2008-02-26T10:18:00.000-08:00

Denver - the Avalanche appear to be loading up for the playoff run as they have made two separate deals to add Adam Foote from Columbus and Ruslan Salei from Florida for Karlis Skrastins and a 3rd round pick. Fantasy impact will not be significant for all teams involved. Salei is a better puck moving defenceman than Skrastins, and might see a little time on the PP. Foote has lost a step or two from his days in Colorado. For the stretch drive, he'll be counted on for his physicality and his leadership more than his offence.

Carolina - the Hurricanes have added Tuomo Ruutu from Chicago in exchange for Andrew Ladd. Both players could benefit from a change in scenery. Ruutu can settle into his role as the next Mike Ricci, while Ladd will get a long look as a top 6 forward from the 'Hawks.

Trade Dealine Day Part III - 11:00 a.m.

2008-02-26T10:10:00.000-08:00

Ottawa - GM Bryan Murray has dealt a 6th round draft pick to the Blackhawks for Martin Lapointe. For fantasy poolies this is not the impactful deal that many were hoping the Sens would make. Expect Lapointe to contribute a little in the first few weeks, and then assume his role as a grinding checker on the Sens third-line.

Trade Dealine Day Part II - 8:00 a.m.

2008-02-26T08:54:00.000-08:00

Montreal - the Habs have dealt soon to be UFA Cristobal Huet to the Washington Capitals for a 2nd round draft pick. Fantasy Impact - it appears that Montreal is clearing cap space with this move for a bigger deal to come (Hossa, Tanguay ?). For Washington, a bit of a noggin' scratcher in that they already have Kolzig and Johnston, unless they believe Huet can give them more than those two 'tenders.

Trade Deadline Day

2008-02-26T07:35:00.000-08:00

6:51 - It's trade deadline day in the NHL, and we'll try and keep a running blog all day with the deals, rumored deals and other signings around the NHL. So let''s get to it.

Denver - it looks as though Peter Forsberg is going to give it another try, at a date TBD, sometime this year. Forsberg announced he signed with the Avs for the equivalent of $1M for the next 20 games. for poolies, it really comes down to how Forsberg's foot is feeling it terms of gauging his impact. If he was 100% healthy, we'd be saying to move heaven and earth to get him. That said, he's not, won't be and likely closer to 80%. He'll probably see time on the team's PP, and may even skate on the wing where he won't have to skate as much.

New York Islanders - Mike Comrie has re-upped with the Isles for another year at $4M. Solid move for both parties; Comrie's been the best Isle forward this year and he likes it in Long Island. Not much will change for the Isles on the fantasy impact front though, as the Islanders are likely on the outside looking in come playoff time.

Philadelphia - the Flyers have acquired Vaclav Prospal from the Tampa Bay Lightening for defensive prospect Alexandre Picard and conditional draft picks. Prospal should supply some secondary scoring for the Flyers. He's not the toughest guy in the locker room, but on the PP, he could be pretty solid. Picard is a rangy stay at home defenceman with limited up-side. The Lightening are getting a big guy, with good quickness but no hands.

Tampa Bay - and with the Lightning, GM Jay Feaster has locked up defenceman Dan Boyle with a 6 year, $40M contract. Boyle is one of the league's premiere offensive weapons, and should post excellent numbers for the years to come. Still with Tampa, it appears the 'Ning are close to trading Brad Ricahrds and Johan Holmqvist to the Dallas Stars for goalie Mike Smith, center Jeff Halpern and winger Jussi Jokinen. Fro ma poolie perspective, if you have either Smith of Richards this is a wonderful move for both players. Richards emerges from the shadow of Lecavalier, and likely forces Modano to the wing in Dallas, while Mike Smith gets the legitimate shot to be a #1 in Tampa Bay.

Buffalo - it looks as though the Sabres are on the verge of trading Brian Campbell to the Sharks for forward Steve Bernier and a first round draft pick. Fantasy impact - is wow, did Buffalo every screw themselves. The Sharks pick up a premiere defenceman in Campbell and give up a forward that was in and out of the coaches dog-house and a draft pick that is assured to be a very late first rounder. What a steal by the Sharks and what a cluster goober by the Sabres. What message does this send to the rest of the Sabres hockey team?

Toronto - the Leafs have dumped Wade Belak on the Panthers for a 5th round pick. Fantasy impact wise, unless you need PIMs, there isn't one.

Selanne a Duck Again

2008-01-29T02:35:00.000-08:00

Anaheim - Teemu Selanne's signing for the remainder of the NHL season, does one of two things; it gives the Ducks yet another veteran weapon without actually giving up any assets, and it announces to the rest of the league that the Ducks full intend on defending the title; ferociously. The Ducks look poised to make some noise over the last 30 games of the season.

Fantasy Impact: we anticipate that it will take Selanne a few weeks to get his timing before he begins to make an impact. Look for him to be paired with Bertuzzi and Weight on a very good 2nd line.

More league rumblings

2008-01-17T15:48:00.000-08:00

Tampa Bay - how much longer coach John. T. holds his job will depend on how well his team comes out of it's latest slump. Their goaltending has not been very good again, but the bigger concern is the teams' defence - which is practically non-existent. Almost every game the 'Ning are falling behind in games forcing them to play their big 3 a ton of minutes. Soon to be returning Dan Boyle should help, but the team may be too far down the standings to make a push for the playoffs. With Vinnie Lecavalier a pending RFA, and rumors are already heating up that Montreal will gladly pay the 5 draft picks to sign him, Tampa is really up against. Look for them to try and move either St. Louis or Richards if things don't improve for a goalie and some defence help.

Calgary - the Flames watched like many a GM last month at the performance of Curtis Joseph. So much so, that they signed the veteran netminder to a remainder one-year deal. CuJo comes in to back up Kippersuff and gives the team a little more depth between the pipes should they need to call on their back-up. He won't put up huge numbers, but he should see a few more starts in the 2nd half as the Flames ready themselves for the playoffs.

Ottawa - is rumored to be combing teams in the Western Conference looking for a veteran forward that could play in their top 6. With Phoenix playing so well, the 'Yotes won't be parting with Sahne Doan any time soon. In LA, Michal Handzus and/or Kyle Calder could be had, but the real question would be if either of those players could help the Senators. Columbus Blue Jackets are set to welcome Fredrik Modin back from a season long back injury, and it may be to showcase him.

Toronto - now that the Leafs have lost a number of games, the team is reportedly looking to gas GM John Fergsuon Jr.. In the meantime, JFJ is said to be shopping under-achieving Jason Blake, but to no one's surprise there are very little takers for him and his $15M over the next 4 years still owed, as well as $2.5 for this season. The Canucks were reportedly interested in looking at Blake, but they're wouldn't be much coming back to the Leafs in return for the salary dump.

Around the League and the Latest Rumblings

2007-12-28T13:48:00.000-08:00

Toronto - with the Leafs actually playing better hockey over the last 12 games, the banshee's have stopped the screeching for the head(s) of GM John Ferguson Jr. and/or coach Paul Maurice. Quelled is one of the hottest rumor around the league that the Red Wings have a standing offer for Leafs star Mats Sundin. Headed to the Leafs would be Jiri Hudler, Valterri Fillipula and Nik Kronwall, back to the wings would go Sundin and Darcy Tucker. The wings have been smoking hot lately, but as happened last year, the playoffs are another story. Landing Sundin would be huge.

Pittsburgh - the Penguins are a mere rumored two more straight losses before coach Michel Therrien gets the axe. The team has under-achieved to date: poor goaltending and defensive zone coverage have been the major down-falls, but watch for Therrien to get fired before the All-Star break. If that does happen, whomever is the new guy is likely to unite Crosby and Malkin together to begin to generate some offense and immediately look for some defensive help up front with the formation of a 3rd "shut-down" line.

Atlanta - Marian Hossa has been playing better, but even the arrival of veterna Mark Recchi may not be enough to prevent the team from shipping him out to get something prior to him becoming an UFA. The rumored suitors are many, but the strongest package appears to be from the Oilers who are ready to move youth for Hossa. Headed to Atlanta would be Andrew Cogliano, Matt Greene and Robbie Schrempf in exchange for the rental of a bona fide top 10 player.

More to follow.

Sell, Sell, Sell…a Mike Comrie Special Addendum to the Quarterpole Review

2007-11-22T15:57:00.000-08:00

There are some pundits who like to react early in the season…you know the people we mean. The ones who think that after a couple of games that players are going to hit their career highs. Or the ones who will go out on a limb to and project 10-20% increases in projections after an impressive week.

That was the case with the Islanders back in early October. After white hot start, there were fantasy prognosticators fitting them for Stanley Cup rings and calling guys like Bill Guerin, Ruslan Fedotenko and especially Mike Comrie to mow down their previous statistical highs.

It is for this reason that we rarely change our projections in October unless there is a trade, injury or significant call-up. It’s too easy to get caught up in the hype. Why spend an entire summer slaving over numbers only to second guess yourself after a few games?

The poster boy for this is Mike Comrie. Here’s a guy who had 4 goals and 6 points after his first two contests. All around the fantasy world owners scrambled to pick him up and “experts” heralded a new era for the diminutive Edmontonian.

But wait, what have we heard of him and his Islander teammates lately? Did we miss the news release with the Stanley Cup parade route?

Nope, Comrie and the rest of his Islander teammates have come back to earth. After 6 points in his first two games and 6 points in a 4 game streak between October 18 and November 1st, he has tallied 6 points in the other 12 games. This is hardly a ringing endorsement for Mike. And more importantly, when you run the numbers again using his first 18 games, it quickly becomes apparent to us that we’re happy sticking with our 55 point projection.

If we were you, we’d look for a taker and trade Comrie as quickly as possible.

Quarterpole Article 3 - D-men and Goaltending Surprises

2007-11-22T12:46:00.000-08:00

There have been some amazing goalie and d-men surprises. Here's the list and what you should do with them.

Paul Ranger - TB - There are few that would have seen him as being the eighth best scorer at the quarterpole...and his +11 makes him even more valuable. All that said, we think that you'd be crazy to at least not look for a trading partner given that the majority of his production has come due to the absence of Dan Boyle. And while Boyle is likely out for another month, once he gets back Ranger will likely slow.

Ed Jovanovski - PHX - Many are surprised that he's actually upped his production...we're not. He's a quality guy who has struggled due to injuries and a poor supporting cast. We expect these numbers to continue as long as he stays healthy. We say hold onto him.

Chris Campoli - NYI - We projected a good season from him and he hasn't disappointed. In fact, he's pushed MA Bergeron to the sidelines. We think you should hang onto him and hope he puts up a 40-45 point season.

Mark Streit - MTL - There were many who thought that he'd be valuable because he'd qualify as a d-man but play some wing. But his production has come on the blueline and he's been impressive. That said, it can't hurt to test the water and see if you can pick up a Wade Redden or Bryan McCabe-type player in exchange for him.

James Wisniewski - CHI - We put him on the list only because there are probably some of you who picked him up on the waiver wire early on. He's been hot and cold and we don't think he'll have a lot of trade value...so get whatever points you can from him and drop him once he looks tapped out.

Pascal Leclaire - CLB - Leclaire and the Blue Jackets started off incredibly strong, but have slowed of late. It may not be the worst thing to see if you can move Pascal for a top 3 veteran tender - think Kiprusoff, Broduer or Luongo - even if it means putting together a package including a forward. I heard of one deal that was essentially Leclaire and Vanek for Kiprusoff. Hard to argue with that kind of return!

Martin Gerber - OTT - This is a hard one to predict. Ray Emery has struggled with injuries and in his absence Gerber has been spectacular. It also doesn't hurt that the Sens have played extremely well in front of him. Our feeling is that once Emery sorts out his latest back spasm woes he'll at least challenge to split time with Gerber which will reduce his value. If you can get a quality package in return, we'd move him.

Martin Biron - PHI - No-one really doubted that Biron was capable of being a starter, but few believed that the Flyers or Marty were capable of putting up the number of wins they have this early in the season. Biron is NOT a top 5 goalie and as such, we'd say you should look to move him and take advantage of his early production.

Johan Hedberg - ATL - With Kari Lehtonen hurt, Hedberg has been great in the Thrasher nets. But once Lehtonen sorts out his latest groin injuries, we think that Johan will be quickly forgotten. Trade him if you get a chance.

Jose Theodore - COL - While he hasn't been spectacular all season, Theodore has been very streaky in the Avalanche nets while sharing time with Peter Budaj. At this stage, unless you're dealing with a closet Theodore fan, we'd suggest hanging onto him in the hopes he gets moved to a team looking for a starter...think maybe LA or even a team like Tampa if the Avs were willing to take back some salary - including former Av Marc Denis.

Quarterpole Article 2 - Forward Surprises

2007-11-22T11:52:00.001-08:00

As we head into the quarterpole there are ten forwards who stand out in our mind as bona fide surprises. We'll ID them here and let you know whether we think they're going to keep it up or whether you should be looking to take advantage of their lofty status and trade them while you have a chance.

Jarome Iginla - CGY - The Flames are struggling, but Jarome isn't. There are many who would see this as a perfect opportunity to trade him and maximize your profit. We don't think you should. Iggy is the perfect Keenan player. As long as Iron Mike keeps his job (never a guarantee) Jarome will be in the top 10 in scoring. Don't trade!

Rod Brind'Amour - CAR - It's not that we don't think he's an excellent overall player, but it's just that he's 38 years old and it may be in your best interests to try and pick up a couple of younger underachievers. We'd say trade him while you can!

Cory Stillman - CAR - He's not as old as Brind'Amour but we'd definitely put him in the overachieving category. And if your league splits up the forward positions he could be even more valuable because he is a LW'er. We say put him on the market and see what you can get.

Vaclav Prospal - TB - Like Stillman, he qualifies at LW in many leagues and we just can't see him keeping up this pace. And he's a guy ripe for a trade. The Lightning have been rumoured to have him on the market...so why not you?

Mike Richards - PHI - Early in his career many thought that Jeff Carter would be the scorer and he'd be the all-round player. Well, it seems that he's taken a page out of Rod Brind'Amour's book. We're going to give him a cautious hold. Unless you get an offer you can't refuse don't move him. He's getting the chance to play and he's taking advantage.

Patrick Kane/Jonathan Toews - CHI - Because these two super rookies play together we decided to write about them as one. We think that both will likely slow as the season hit's the dog days of January, but don't trade them. They're the future of the Hawks and they could be a building block for your team. We were very surprised when Chicago kept up Kane, but as of now it seems like the right decision.

Tomas Holmstrom - DET - To many this isn't a surprise. He's a beast in front of the net on the powerplay and as long as he stays with Zetterberg and Datsyuk he's going to continue on this torrid pace. We'd hang onto him for now...but be prepared to pull the trigger if it looks like he'll be replaced on the top line.

Nik Antropov - TOR - He started incredibly hot and has slowed. If you can find another sucker...er, owner...to take him off your hands, we suggest doing it quickly. The Leafs are in turmoil and the fewer of them you have the better right now.

Mike Ribeiro - DAL - We knew he was talented, but we didn't think he'd prove himself to be the top centre in Dallas until after Mike Modano retired. He is more than capable of keeping up this pace...keep him for a while.

Markus Naslund - VAN - The guy is on fire with 6 goals in his past 4 games. He's looking like a guy playing for a contract. As long as he stays with the Sedin twins you'd be crazy to trade him. This is a case of squeezing every last point out of him, even if it means you lose trade value if he quickly slips.

Look for defencemen and goalies in our third quarterpole article

Weekly Rumblings...

2007-11-21T20:22:00.000-08:00

Calgary - Wow - we actually thought it would have taken ol' Iron Mike Keenan not nearly this long before he began to call out his goalie's play in the media - but after 17 games, Iron Mike has let it be known that he has not been fond of Mikka Kippusoff's play. Frankly, Kipper has been just above average on some nights, but the Flames' defence has been below average and as a result, the Flames are just average. Most would have thought a recent injury to Daymond Langkow would mean more minutes for Craig Conroy between Iginla and Tanguay. Keenan has decided to go with speedster Lombardi on the big line, and the results have been pretty good so far. Looks as though Keenan will keep Lombardi there for now as well, despite Langkow's return. Watch for Langkow to slip alongside Huselius and Conroy to be a pivot for Owen Nolan.

Fantasy Impact:

Lomabardi - Positive
Lankgow - even
Conroy - negative
Iginla - even
Kiprusoff - negative

New York - the Rangers are winning games without major contirbutions from the 4 big guns: Jagr, Gomez, Drury and Shanahan. Of the four, it looks as though Shanahan and Jagr are showing signs of beginning to score while Gomez and Drury are making GM Glen Sather signing of them look like a terrible decision. Brandon Dubinsky was even seeing some time as Jagr's pivot - and the Rangers are still winning. Lundqvist has been very good lately and that has helped, but watch out for the Rangers if the offense begins to catch up. The news that may fly under the radar is that Martin Straka has been finally cleared to begin contact drills and he just might be the lift that the Rangers offense needs.

Fantasy Impact:

Jagr - positive
Shanahan - even
Gomez - positive
Drury - even
Dawes - negative

Phoenix - with the news that Ilya Bryzgalov was placed on waivers, it seems only natural that the Coyotes would scoop him up as this is the team that is still wondering if one of the 4 back-ups they have brought in will become a consistent starter. Bryzgalov is the best of the bunch and when he gets hot, he's proven that he can carry a team for a few months. That said, Giguere was not exactly the west-coast version of Marty Brodeur in playing tons of games, yet Bryzgalov did not take advantage of his opportunity. In Phoenix he'll gets lots of playing time, in front of a young, improving but mistake prone team. he'll likely play very good for a few weeks and then begin to sag somewhat as his team loses close games.

Fantasy Impact:

Bryzgalov - positive
Auld - negative
Tellqvist - negative

Quarterpole Article 1 - Buy, Sell or Hold?

2007-11-20T21:47:00.000-08:00

As we approach the quarterpole, it’s natural for most poolies to take a look at their rosters and take stock of who’s playing well and who’s underachieving. Many a poolie has panicked and made an ill-advised trade – moving an underachieving fantasy stud only to have them regain their form. We give you ten guys who are under-achieving immensely, as well as a prognosis of whether we think it’s time to unload (SELL) or hang on to them (HOLD) or get them (BUY). And if you disagree, feel free to post a comment - but make sure you tell us why!

Patrik Elias – NJ – now we knew that it was likely that the very talented Elias was going to miss part-time center Scott Gomez, but no one would have believed that he would have only 3 goals after 17 games this season (and be a disgusting -7). Elias now finds himself playing with Brylin and Gionta and the results have not been very good. Elias has the skills and speed to be a difference-maker for the Devils, but to date his play is indicative of the Devils; it’s just been OK at best. A new style of play, a new coach and a new building have not translated into offence for the Devils. The Devils season is sliding quickly and Elias already has become the subject of many trade rumors. If you can move him, we’d SELL Elias ASAP.

Scott Gomez – NYR – and speaking of the aforementioned Gomez, he is getting paid $10M this season as a high profile free agent, and so far, he’s not been very good. The spooky thing is that he’s been playing with either Jagr or Shanahan – two guys that are familiar with finding the back of the net, and yet still he is struggling. Gomez is still the Rangers most talented pivot, but right now he’s making the team miss Michael Nylander immensely. Chances are Gomez will get it together and begin to find some chemistry with Jagr. When he does, he could be an excellent trade right now as his value should be low. We’d HOLD if owned or BUY if not.

Patrick Marleau – SJ - as a poolie owner, Marleau’s lack of stats are a huge concern. But just imagine how frustrating it has been for the player himself: playing for a coach who benches his best players, plays you (one of his best players) out of position, and doesn’t play you in all special team opportunities. As angry as we may be as a fantasy owner, Marleau has got to be praying for a coaching change. He’s on pace for less than 40 points – his lowest point totals since his rookie season. That said, we think Wilson is on borrowed time, and when he gets fired, you’re likely to see the entire Sharks team breathe a big sigh of relief and then watch out for the offense explosion. We’d HOLD or BUY.

Jonathan Cheechoo - SJ – as painful as it has been for Marleau, multiple that degree of frustration by 1000 when discussing the challenges of Cheechoo. Once again, he appears to be the coach’s whipping boy; he sometimes plays on the top line, but more often than not, the former Maurice “Rocket” Richard trophy winner is getting 3rd and 4th line minutes. Most recently, he has also been the subject of trade rumors which has not exactly helped his confidence. A whopping 4 goals to date, and yes he started terribly last year – but we don’t think lightening strikes twice. Do the right thing and SELL Cheechoo ASAP and hope you can get 30 goal value in return.

Tomas Vanek - BUF – what a difference a year makes. Last year, Vanek was establishing himself as a bona fide sniper. This season, he’s been a mere shadow of himself with only 4 goals; he had 43 tallies last year. After matching the RFA offer sheet that the Oilers presented to the young stud last summer, it could not have been a good sign for Sabres management when Vanek publicly came out and stated that he was “scared” how he would perform under the pressure of a massive contract. Well, the proof’s in the pudding and Vanek has been bad, and playing with almost no confidence. That said, we’d still recommend that Vanek is a HOLD or BUY candidate. He’s going to get the hang of things very soon and as a result, he could be a steal…we hope.

Maxim Afinogenov - BUF – similar to Vanek, Afinogenov has had a horrible start and has showed very few signs that he is going to be turning it around soon. He’s actually playing similar hockey to what we saw earlier in his career, where he would not involve his linemates and as a result, he was not that fantasy-worthy. Slowed by injury last year, Afinogenov was almost a PPG guy. This year he has 3 goals in 16 games. Unlike Vanek however, our advice is to SELL. Maxim’s talented, but we’ve seen this act before, and frankly it’s a little scary.

Mark Recchi - PIT– it’s not that we expected that Recchi would revert back to a 30 goal scorer, but after 18 games for Recchi to have only 2 goals…well, that’s a little disconcerting. Yes, he is more a playmaking winger these days then a scorer, but only 2 goals on an offensively talented team is not good. It’s time to let someone else think Recchi’s upside includes time with Crosby and SELL him.

Glen Murray - BOS – after 24 goals in 60+ games and then 28 goals in 58 games, it’s got be more than a little of a noggin’ scratch to understand why Glen Murray has 1 goal in 17 games. He’s been playing with either Savard or Bergeron, so that can’t be the excuse. He’s not been getting much PP time true, but then again his play has not warranted it. He’s the subject of trade rumors daily – most notably to San Jose for under-achieving Cheechoo. We think this is Murray’s last season with the Bruins and very likely the first guy traded from Beantown this season. SELL.

Doug Weight - STL – with only 3 assists and no goals in 15 games, Doug Weight needs to retire and return the contract $ that he’s been collecting this year. No longer the premiere pivot for the Blues, Weight has actually fallen to the 3rd line and now sees only occasional PP time. Even still, he’s been playing the majority of the season with Tkachuk, and well, he’s been really bad. If you can SELL Weight, we’d recommend that you do, because there is no way that he improves enough to make us want to BUY him.

Martin Brodeur - NJ – remember when Marty set the NHL record of 48 wins? Remember when it was just last year that he did that? In 15 games that he’s started, Brodeur has 5 wins and a save percentage in the .880s. Yikes! Yes, the style of play of the team is different, and yes the team is missing Scott Gomez and Brian Raflaski, but there in no way that Brodeur’s save percentage numbers should be this bad. He kind of did something similar last year when he was just OK early and then went crazy over the last 60 games. This year, he’s not been OK and the team looks like they might be in trouble. We put a cautious SELL at this point, but watch for some results from the return of Colin White and Jamie Langenbrunner. This could result in a change to HOLD or BUY if the return of these result in a some improved team performances.

More Rumblings and Happenings

2007-11-12T16:31:00.000-08:00

Philadelphia - Simon Gagne finally returned to the Flyers line-up after a bout of 'dizziness' and promptly lasted two periods before exiting with symptoms like, 'dizziness'. It's pretty evident that Gagne is suffering concussion like symptoms from a hit almost three weeks ago. he's improving, but expect him to be out for quite some time. The benefactors of advancing on the roster are Joffrey Lupul and Mike Richards. The Flyers generally will miss Gagne's scoring ability. Mike Knuble likely the most, as he is the one that gets the "garbage" after Gagne and Briere attempt to create offensively

Fantasy Impact:

Lupul - positive
Knuble - negative
Briere - even
Flyers offense - negative

Buffalo - hard to imagine the offensive starved Sabres could been in a worse condition, but after hearing that Tim Connolly is out with an oblique muscle, well, it got worse. Look for the Sabres forwards to try and step up, but the depth on the team is clearly being tested. Daniel Paille, Jochan Hecht and McArthur should get extra minutes, but on a team with a shaky confidence offensively (see Tomas Vanek, it might be a tough ride until Connolly returns.

Fantasy Impact:

Paille - positive
Pominville - negative
Hecht - even
Vanek - negative
Sabres PP - negative

End of an Era?

2007-11-05T18:41:00.000-08:00

Peter Forsberg announced today that his attempt at a comeback may be over. After working out for an hour with the Swedish National Team preparing for a possible return to competitive hockey later in the week, Forsberg pulled out saying that his chronically injured foot couldn't take the strain.

If this is indeed the end of his career, he will be remember along with guys like Mike Bossy and Bobby Orr as truly gifted players who had their careers cut short by injuries. We at PJ believe that his career is worthy of Hall of Fame consideration. Here is a guy who even made Euro-trasher Don Cherry sit up and take notice. He was tough as nails, not afraid to battle for the puck and was willing to play through injuries.

From a fantasy perspective this is a blow to those who took a flyer on Peter at the beginning of the season. But there is one thing to remember, he has played through this injury before and he may just do it again...at least for a half season anyway.

Watch this situation closely, if he finds the right NHL "fit" he may just decide to work through the pain for another (final) shot at the Cup.

There are probably only three or four teams that fit the bill and they would have to be competitive at Christmas for him to even think about a comeback. These teams would be: Philadelphia, NY Rangers, and maybe Detroit. There is a darkhorse candidate here...a competitive Canadian team like Montreal might be able to attract Forsberg because it would give him a chance to do something he's never done...play for a Cup in a hockey crazy Canadian city.

Latest Rumblings

2007-11-05T09:03:00.000-08:00

Ottawa - Jason Spezza's most recent groin injury, has sidelined the Sens center for the foreseeable future. All this coming on the heels of Spezza signing a huge extended contract (7 years, $49M). Spezza does have the reputation for not being a speedy healer, so we'd be watching this injury very closely. Watch for Steve Kelly and Randy Robitaille to get more playing time, with Robitaille getting the lions share between Alfredsson and Heatley. Robitaille is one of those under-rated guys that should be able to fill the void effectively in the short-term. In the long term, he won't be able to replace Spezza's numbers however.

Fantasy Impact:

Spezza - Negative
Robitaille - Positive
Kelly - Positive
Heatley - even
Alfredsson - even.
Sens PP - Negative

Minnesota - with the return of the Pavol Demitra, it appears that the Wild's offense has been sparked as well. Demitra's an excellent talent, that just needs to stay healthy to reach his fantasy potential. Look for up-swings in production from the Wilds' PP, Demitra's line-mate (Marian Gaborik) and dark horse Mark Parrish, who may get a first line promotion if Demitra's moves to center and Koivu back to 3rd line pivot.

Demitra - positive
Gaborik - positive
Wild PP - positive
Koivu - negative
Parrish - positive

Toronto - there have been rumors aplenty in Hogtown that John Ferguson Jr. is on thin ice and madly trying to stop the bleeding on their back end via trade. From one game to the next, the Leafs defence has looked solid at one moment and then sieve like the next. Rumored on the offering table have been Steen, Weldwood and/or Ian White. Problem for the Leafs are that none of those players, or a combo of, will attract a top 4 defenceman in return; not until the trade deadline. Another rumor has the Leafs moving Tomas Kaberle for soon to be UFA (and under-achieving) Marian Hossa. Scoring is not the issue for the Leafs, but limiting offensive chances is. When Weldwood comes back this week, the Leafs will have a clearer indication of what they have to offer in the hopes of getting defensive help.

Gagne Sidelined/Toronto Rumor

2007-10-27T15:21:00.000-07:00

Philadelphia - after suffering a hit in a recent game, the Flyers medical staff now believe that Simon Gagne may have suffered a concussion and he is listed day-to-day, but could go on the DL any day. Gagne is still suffering from dizziness, and is not close to skating. for poolies, this is bad news for Gagne owners. Joffrey Lupul owners should see a jump in opportunities however, as it appears that he and Scott Hartnell will vie for the #1 wingers' spot alongside Daniel Briere.

Fantasy Impact:

Gagne - negative
Briere - negative (mild)
Hartnell - positive
Lupul - positive

Toronto - there are reports from Hogtown that the Leafs are inquiring about the availability of Marian Hossa from the Atlanta Thrashers. Hossa has started slowly, and has also been dealing with a nagging groin injury, and so far, his stats are weak. For Toronto, the issue really isn't getting more scoring up front (despite the ACL injury to Tucker), it is there defensive play in their own end that is costing them games. This trade seems unlikely, but it would certainly shake things up for both teams. Hossa would welcome a move, but we're not sure just how well he'd do under the micro-scope of Toronto.

Fantasy Impact:

Hossa - even
Kaberle - negative
Leafs Offense - positive (slight)
Leafs Defence - negative
Thrashers Defence - positive
Thrashers Offense - negative
Hossa - negative

Bergeron out indefinately after check from behind

2007-10-27T15:07:00.000-07:00

Boston - After watching Flyers defenceman Randy Jones run Patrice Bergeron's head into the top of the dasher on the boards, one can't help but wonder what the frick is going on with the Flyers. Steve Downie, Jesse Boulerice and now Jones, have been involved in incidents that have to be characterized as harmful not only to the player, but also the game. Undoubtedly, Jones' careless play will be seen by every media outlet in North America for the next week, and the question has to be asked, what is going on with the NHL? Of course, everyones' concern has got to be for Bergeron, but despite the previous suspensions, it looks as though the players are still not getting the message. Regrettably, from a Fantasy perspective there is impact. Jones has been a pleasant sup rise for the Flyers on the point this year, and Bergeron has actually played much better this season as well. Expect the impact to the Flyers to be more significant as the players will have to answer questions for the next 2 weeks about what kind of team they are and the impact of the incident. For the Bruins, Bergeron is a big part of their offense and his absence won't be easily replaced; particularly for his line-mates.

Fantasy Impact:

Bruins PP - negative
Flyers PP - negative
Sturm - negative
Savard - positive (more ice)
Kessel - negative

Can a New Coach Mean New Life for a Team?

2007-10-17T10:46:00.000-07:00

The firing of a coach can be a wakeup call for a team and often results in a short term boost in points. In the case of the Atlanta Thrashers it may also result in two bursts. With Bob Hartley fired and no permanent replacement on the horizon, GM Don Waddell will step behind the bench.

Look for the Thrashers to produce over the next couple of days...and in fact, it may be a good time to flip a couple of these guys if the price goes up.

Many will think that the reason for Waddell taking up the coaching duties, even temporarily, is a move of desperation or shows a lack of planning on his part. I don't buy that for a second. I think he has an idea of who he wants to be the coach but he wants to see the game from "ice level" to get a sense of the changes that might need to be made.

From a fantasy perspective, don't be surprised if one of Hossa or Kovalchuk are moved. Right now this team is far two unbalanced because of the salaries of these two guys and with Hossa a pending UFA at the end of the year, it may make more sense to use him as an asset to add depth the squad...depth that was squandered in trading for Keith Tkachuk and Alexei Zhitnik at the trade deadline last year.

If Hossa or Kovalchuk are dealt it will most likely be to a team with a top-end center already in place...this could mean an almost instantaneous bump in points.

But that is mere speculation right now. In the short term look for a slight bump in offense from the big boys in Atlanta, but don't expect it to last very long without a significant change in personnel.

The Latest Rumblings...

2007-10-11T16:10:00.000-07:00

Minnesota - the Wild's big line of Demitra-Koivu-Gaborik looks to have not found the same offensive success as it's 2nd line of Roslton-Belanger-Bouchard. The Wild are trying Koivu at center between their two big guns and so far, not much is happening. Koivu's not a natural play-maker and so far, it's adversely impacting Demitra and Gaborik. Belanger, a solid two-way forward, seems to be providing the spark for the unheralded Rolston and Bouchard. If Belanger is available in your league, go and get him. He may not be able to maintain this production for an extended period, but he'll be hot for awhile.

Fantasy Impact:

Belanger - positive
Bouchard - positive
Rolston - even
Gaborik - negative
Demitra- negative
Koivu - positive

Nashville - with Shea Weber out with a dislocated knee, this should mean more playing time on the PP for Dan Hamhuis and Marik Zidlicky. So far, it appears that Hamhuis seems to be thriving much better than Zidlicky. Weber may be gone for up to 6 weeks, and if you haven't gotten Hamhuis, you should.

Fantasy Impact:

Hamhuis - positive
Zidlicky - even (so far)
Preds PP - even

Boston - Manny Fernandez is out with an injury, and the team is turning to last years incumbent Tim Thomas to carry the laod. Fernandez is not supposed to be gone for long, and Thomas should hold the fort while the team continues on a long road trip. Of bigger concern is the absence of Marc Savard, who is out with a rumored groin injury. Savard is needed to provide the spark for the Bruins offense.

Fantasy Impact:

Savard - negative
Murray - negative
Bergeron - positive
Sturm - even
Thomas - positive

After the First few days...

2007-10-05T13:08:00.000-07:00

...here's the latest rumblings that we are hearing after only a few days.

San Jose - the new big line of Marleau-Thornton-Cheechoo we think won't be together for very long. Marleau's a better scorer and the hope from the Sharks is that his move to the wing will be able to use his speed and shot to generate offence. Marleau hasn't played on the wing since junior and this move puts alot of the Sharks offensive eggs in one basket. Coach Ron Wilson will be adversely impacting Marleau's and Michalek's stats significantly with this experiment...and not positively.

Fantasy Impact:

Marleau - negative
Thornton - positive (marginally).
Cheechoo - positive
Michalek - negative

Edmonton - with three rookies in their line-up, the Oilers are pinning their hopes on their youth movement. Gagner, Brodzniak and Cogliano are showing some chemistry early, but we still think it will be Brodzniak and Cogliano that stay for the season and Gagner likely gets sent down.

Fantasy Impact:

Cogliano - positive
Gagner - positive
Brodzniak - positive

Chicago - it took all of one game for Martin Havlat to suffer what appears to be a significant injury; this one to his shoulder. If it's a separation or dislocation he'll be gone from 2 weeks - 4 months. Watch this closely...

Fantasy Impact:

Blackhawks offense - negative
Robert Lang - negative
Sergei Samsonov - negative

Predictor Updating - When We Do It

2007-10-02T09:15:00.000-07:00

Every year we get questions about when and why we update the Predictor. We always get notes that say...you said you would be updating every day, but there are players that haven't been updated in a month!

There's a reason for that. We are very confident in our predictions and the only reason we will make a change is if a particular circumstance changes. Below we list the only reasons we will make a change to a prediction:

Injury
Trade
Signing
Rookie/Prospect makes the team
Other significant news

That's it. We don't like to "tweak" just for the heck of it. We are not likely to play with a star's stats just because of his linemates...however, if a roleplayer has a shot at playing with Jagr or Crosby or Ovechkin, you'll likely see that reflected with an update.

We are very proud of our predictions. We exceeded the accuracy of our competition last season (using their own criteria). But it's important for all of us to realize that just like with your fantasy team it's sometimes best not to react...instead take a deep and evaluate the situation. And that's what we like to do.

Days Away...Update

2007-10-01T16:07:00.000-07:00

With only a few day from the start of the season for everyone that was not a Duck or King, here is the latest from training camps:

Montreal - the future appears right around the corner for the Montreal Canadiens and goaltender Carey Price. Price won the back-up job from Jaroslav Halak in camp and looks to be the heir apparent for the Habs between the pipes. The good news for Price is that Huet has shown he won't likely finish the season without a stint on the DL. The bad news is that there will be lots of pressure on him if he does get a crack at the No. 1 job; so don't be surprised if he struggles a bit early. That said, Huet owners would do well to snag Price in their drafts just in case.

Fantasy Impact:

Price - positive
Huet - negative/positive
Halak - negative

Edmonton - it looks like the Oilers pivots this season will be Horcoff, Stoll and the a rotation of Marty Reason, Sam Gagner and Andrew Coglinao. Cogliano has looked very good in camp, and Gagner recently signed, may get sent right away to junior or he will audition for 9 games before getting sent down. Cogliano likely will cement himself on the 4th line for now, but should see lots of minutes early in the season. He's still at least one year away from a full-time impact role while Gagner will need likely two.

Fantasy Impact:

Cogliano - positive
Reasoner - negative
Gagner - positive

Vancouver - it looks as though defence prospect Luc Bourdon will be headed for Winnipeg this season as he has not had a memorable camp. Bourdon looks to be a longer term project at this stage the the Canucks had orginally hoped...and fantasy owners too.

Fantasy Impact:

Bourdon - negative
Canucks D-depth - negative

Los Angles - after cementing a roster spot in camp, it looks as though coach Marc Crawford is going to roll the dice with 19 year old goal-tending blue-chipper Jonathan Bernier as he starter. Bernier had a better camp than Jason LaBarbara, and as a result has the inside track on the No. 1 job for now. Expect Crawford to play both likely 60-40 assuming Bernier and LaBarbara stay healthy and perform.

Fantasy Impact:

Bernier - positive
LaBarbara - negative
Kings goal-tending - positive (they had Sean Burke for a spell last year...yikes).

More Training Camp Updates...

2007-09-26T15:47:00.000-07:00

Philadelphia - after an exhibition game with Ottawa recently, the Flyers are walking wounded. Lupul and Upshall are down with left wrist injuries and R.J. Umberger broke a finger in his hand. These guys are all likely be back long before Dean McAmmond after McAmmond received a devastating hit in the same game and left the game on a stretcher. My take on the fantasy impact is as follows:

Lupul's Offense - Negative
R.J Umberger's secure roster spot - Negative
Scott Upshall's secure roster spot - Negative
Flyers Depth - Negative
Dean McAmmond's secure roster spot - Negative

Anaheim - Matthieu Schneider's broken ankle is at least two weeks from having him place his foot in a skate. Not great news for fantasy owners as Schneider will be counted on to pick up some of the offense from the indifferent Scott Niedermayer. The good news is that Schneider misses 10 games every season, and this year, it will be at the beginning of the season.

Fantasy Impact:

Schneider's contribution - Negative

Washington - recent reports have seen the Caps trying Viktor Kozlov playing with Alexander Ovechkin. Michael Nylander has been under-whelming to date, but it's hard to imagine that they would pay this much for a UFA and not play him with Ovechkin. He's a better play-maker than Kozlov but needs to show more than he has to date. That said, watch this development closely.

Fantasy Impact:

Ovechkin - Negative
Nylander - Negative
Kozlov - Positive
Caps offense - Negative

Vancouver - Young Ryan Kessler has been centering Markus Naslund and Ryan Shannon in training camp to date, and Brendan Morrison has been between Matt Cooke and Jannick Hansen. It appears that Canucks management is not sold on the Morrison-Naslund combo and are seeing if Kessler can jump-start Naslund's offense...risky!

Fantasy Impact:

Kessler's Offense - Positive
Naslund's Offense - Even
Morrison - Negative

Training Camp Updates

2007-09-21T19:37:00.000-07:00

Toronto - the Maple Leafs are reporting that Kyle Wellwood is experiencing trouble with his surgically repaired abdomen. So much so, that it looks like he will need further surgery. Fantasy Impact: this is a huge blow to the Leafs as Wellwood was pencilled in as centering the 2nd line and being the offensive spark-plug for the PP. It will mean Matt Stajan may move up the dpeth chart, but he's not as offensively skilled as Wellwood.

Tucker - Negative
Ponikarovsky - Negative
Stajan - Positive
Leafs PP - Negative

In Pittsburgh, Petr Sykora is recovering from a broken nose. So far, Sykora had been playing with Crosby on the 1st line, which is great news if you held on to Sykora from last year. He's expected to miss 2 weeks at the most. Fantasy Impact: this likely gives Ryan Malone another chance to show that it should be him and not Sykora that deserves the shot with Crosby.

Malone - Positive
Sykora - Negative
Crosby - no impact
Pens Offense - Negative.

In Chicago, young center prospect Jonathan Toews has been sidelined for 2-3 weeks after breaking a bone in his hand. He'll likely be fine by the start of the season, but it does impact his ability to make an impression during training camp. Watch for other prospects to step up to try to fill his spot.

Toews - Negative
Chicago Offense - Negative
Jack Skille - Positive
Michael Blunden - Positive

A Crash Course On Sleepers

2007-09-12T09:16:00.001-07:00

As training camps open you'll hear a lot of talk about this guy or that guy being sleepers. I know that we've written about this in the past, but we'll write about it again. Many people misuse the term. In our mind a sleeper is a guy who could, given the right circumstances, perform BETTER than expected. It is different than a risk pick - which we would define as a guy who, because of potential injury, attitude or a trade, could perform BETTER or WORSE than expected. So, is it possible for a top 20 scorer to be a sleeper? Absolutely. Off the top of my head there is one guy that comes to mind - Michael Nylander. Here's a guy that performed very well last year, but this year, playing with Alex Ovechkin in Washington, he could be even better.

Some pundits get it. They mine the depth charts of teams and come up with some really interesting names. Here's an interesting article I found. Rather than use the same old tired names, Sean Allen dug a little deeper. Sure there are some "standards" in here - Dainius Zubrus, Petr Sykora and Scott Hartnell - but there are also some other guys who he thinks could go from the depths of obscurity to some decent playing time in the NHL. Props to Sean for an interesting and inspiring piece. Check out the article here: http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?id=3012943&sport=nhl&ft=ss

Oh, and by the way, subscribers to the Puckjunkie Predictor will get to see our own Sleeper Projections in an article to be released in the next couple of weeks. Stay tuned.

Training Camp Surprises

2007-09-08T12:25:00.001-07:00

With training camps starting to open on Tuesday, we thought we'd list a few of our thoughts heading into the pre-season.

Scott Niedermayer hasn't made a decision on retirement. For a guy with supposedly so much class, this is nothing but a distraction (and arguably a detriment) to his team.
Teemu Selanne hasn't made a decision on retirement. Unlike Niedermayer, Selanne is a free agent and is entitled to do what he likes. You have to wonder if the Niedermayer decision (or lack of decision) is also impacting what he does.
Ray Emery still looking for medical clearance. This was kept very quiet throughout the off-season, but Emery still hasn't received clearance from his doctor to resume playing after his wrist surgery. Here's hoping that it's just a formality.
What's going to happen in the Leafs' crease? With Vesa Toskala and Andrew Raycroft in camp, there will be a real dogfight for "pipe time" during the pre-season. Someone better establish themselves as the undisputed #1 or it will make for a very uncomfortable October.
Are the Oilers good enough to keep from handing Brian Burke a good lottery pick? Heading into camp there are many who wonder if the Edmonton Oilers are good enough to make the playoffs. There are those who even think that the loss of Jason Smith on the backend will make them even more vulnerable. And more importantly, after losing a 2008 1st, 2nd and 3rd to Anaheim to sign Dustin Penner, they better hope they don't end up giving the Ducks the top pick in next year's draft.

Roenick un-retires to be a Shark (Wow?)

2007-09-04T20:33:00.001-07:00

The news that Jeremy Roenick has accepted a deal to join the San Jose Sharks is great news for fans and writers of the game, but for fantasy owners, his impact days are long behind him. My take is he'll play third line center at most, behind Thornton and Marleau, and be a decent shut-down pivot but very limited offensively. If you're drafting Roenick with the hope he might rekindle some magic, you are wasting a draft choice. My advice is to avoid him altogether and instead take a real flyer on a younger player with upside.

Negative - only if you draft him.
Positive - who knows, he might see 35 points if sees a little PP time.
Positive - for what he brings to the room, and the Sharks run to the playoffs.

Does San Jose Know the Way to the Cup?

2007-09-04T10:30:00.000-07:00

If I was building a team, any team (either in sports or the business world), I would be sure to take many pages out of Doug Wilson's book. The man is a genius. In fact, I would almost guarantee that in the next few years you will see his works in print - not as a hockey biography, but as a strategy for building an organization.

I don't know how he does it. First off he now has 19 NHLers under contract, yet has in excess of $13 million of cap space. And we're not talking about a team like Phoenix, who are actively stay at the salary cap floor. Here we have a team bursting with talent, that is positioning itself to have its pick of the litter when its opponents are looking to jetison salary. Could we be looking at another Joe Thornton-type trade? I would almost guarantee it.

In the past week alone, Wilson has also done two things that have turned heads. First, he was able to get Patrick Marleau to sign a two-year extension at, what many believe, is a bargain basement price - ensuring that the captain will be in the Bay area through the 09/10 season. Second, he signed Jeremy Roenick to a 1 year, $500k contract. To many people this is an act of folly, but let's dig a little deeper and see what we see. Wilson and Roenick have a long relationship, dating back to their days in Chicago. Wilson was the veteran leader of the Hawks and Roenick grew a lot under his mentorship. If anyone knows JR, its Wilson. If he thinks Roenick can contribute, then he can. And more importantly, if there's anyone Roenick would not want to disappoint, it's Wilson.

Add these two moves to locking up Joe Thornton and Craig Rivet through 10/11 and Milan Michalek through 13/14, and you have a team with a nucleus all signed to reasonable contracts.

Sure they are still 1 or 2 d-men short and they've lost a good chunk of their goaltending depth, but let's revisit this in November, once teams have started paring salary and Doug Wilson comes acalling.

Joe Thornton - neutral (still 2nd leading scorer in NHL)
Patrick Marleau - positive
Milan Michalek - positive
Craig Rivet - positive

Kunitz Re-Ups in Anaheim

2007-08-27T11:10:00.000-07:00

Something very interesting happened in Orange County today. No, it's not more surfing penguins on a movie lot. But the Ducks signed Chris Kunitz to a 4 year , roughtly $15 million contract. Whether Kunitz is worth that or not is debatable. But the fact that he's signed prior to Ryan Getzlaf or Corey Perry, is very surprising.

There is one of two things at work here. Either a) the agents for Getzlaf and Perry have insisted their clients are going to become restricted free agents and Burke had no choice but lock Kunitz up. Or b) Getzlaf and Perry contracts are nearly done and they just haven't been announced yet because of the situation surrounding Scott Niedermayer's possible retirement. For the sake of Ducks fans we hope it's the latter.

Kunitz is a solid overall player...he benefitted considerably from playing a lot with Andy MacDonald and Teemu Selanne, and we think it will be a stretch for him to repeat his offensive success of last year. He may get matched up with Getzlaf and Perry, which will help them defensively, but that's probably it.

Kunitz - neutral (or slightly negative)
Getzlaf - neutral
Perry - neutral

Peca - where is he going?

2007-08-19T08:33:00.000-07:00

With what appears to be the imminent signing of Mike Peca with the NY Rangers, TSN is reporting that the Columbus Blue Jackets are interested in the 33 year old center's services as well. With the Rangers current cap between $51-55M in salaries, it would appear that the Blue jackets, closer to $38M, have the space to offer Peca more in terms of guaranteed $. Peca's impact will now no longer been on the regular season stat sheet, but comes in the dressing room and when the playoffs arrive. Poolies should not be convinced that Peca can turn back the hands of time to re-gain some of his offensive flare, as he's suffered some horrific injuries and has a lot of miles clocked on his hockey odometer. That said, Peca's signing would have a very good impact on the younger Blue Jacket players and bring some much needed leadership and spirit to a team that appears to be devoid of it. The Jackets have even more space with Alexander Svitov signing up over-seas. He'd see more playing time in C-Bus and play a larger role there. If he signs with the Rangers, it means Peca's focus is on on trying to win a Cup this year. His impact won't be a large with the Rangers, but would certainly be felt once the playoffs began.

Peca - positive w/ CBJ and even w/ NYR
PK - positive
Playoff Impact - big positive at both places.

Fantasy Hockey Sites vs. Hockey Rumour Sites

2007-08-16T11:48:00.000-07:00

The debate over the value of hockey rumour sites rages on blogs all over the net. My own personal views on anonymous rumour bloggers and other speculation-driven sites aside, I think that's important that we address where the Puckjunkie Blog fits.

Rarely will we ever report a "unique" rumour. That's not our job. Most times what you'll hear from us when it comes to trade/signing speculation will be the fantasy impacts of these rumours. The best example of this would be the two-part entry we did on d-men (July 15th and 20th). None of the rumours in there were new...they have been bandied about on a number of sites for quite a while. What we wanted to do was talk about what could happen to the players' fantasy value if they actually DID happen or, possibly speculate on other homes for these guys based not on what media folks bandy amongst themselves in the dog days of summer, but on team needs, cap space and a small dose of logic.

And that's really where we see our role in this era of the overly speculative bloggers. We have an obligation to our readers to let you know the potential impacts from all these "what-ifs". But that doesn't mean that we'll comment on every crazy rumour out there...and believe me there have been so many wacky ones of late, it's hard to keep up.

Thanks,

Jonathan Kinney, President
Puckjunkie.com

Auld on the Move

2007-08-13T15:49:00.000-07:00

Phoenix - The Coyotes are certainly changing the face of their goaltending; Curtis Joseph is out and David Aebischer and Alex Auld are in. That said, the 'Yotes goaltending consists of a bunch of tier II calibre goalies: Aebischer, Auld, David LeNeveu and Mikael Tellqvist. This should prove an interesting battle for the #1 and assuredly #1A spots between the pipes in the desert. With this list, we think it's pretty obvious that the organization wants to ensure that Tellqvist can be a #1. For the Coyotes, this deal is a low risk high reward. None of these guys is paid much by NHL standards, but they all have the ability to carry a team for a stretch of 20 some games. That said, some time, you get what you pay for. Here's how this signing impacts the fantasy picture in Phoenix:

Auld - Positively.
Aebischer - Negatively.
Tellqvist - Negatively
LeNeveu - Negatively.

Who's Next?

2007-08-06T20:12:00.000-07:00

...as we slide into the dog days of summer, Baroids Bonds is about to sully the most impressive single achievement record in professional sports, the hockey poolie has to be wondering "what's going on with my team?" as training camps are now a mere 5 weeks away. Here's the latest off the rumor wire...Edmonton - now that GM Kevin Lowe has p-o'ed his good buddy GM Brian Burke, [but really, should Burke be that peeved that Lowe over-spent for Penner? Was he supposed to take a bigger risk in poolies' eyes and sign Bertuzzi to the same $ but only over 2 years? Is it Lowe's fault that few, if any, free agents want to come to Alberta's capital?], rumor has the Oilers and Thrashers talking about a potential move of Ilya Kovulchuk to Edmonton in return for draft picks and 3 players - Cogliano, O'Marra and Matt Greene. This is a similar rumor to that coming out of San Jose, where the Sharks management is worried that they may not be able to sign Patrick Marleau in 2008 and as a result, are looking to see what they could get for the soon to be UFA. In Atlanta, an ownership squabble has forced the Thrashers to trim payroll to $40M. GM Don Waddell has got to move either Kovulchuk or Hossa, whom the team would rather try and sign as he is the more complete player, but Hossa is going to be a UFA in 2008 as well....in Montreal, after signing Patrice Brisebois to a one-year deal, the Habs are rumored to be in the market to sign Danny Markov, and unite the Markov brothers. Detroit is still trying to bring the burly d-man back as well. Wherever he signs, don't expect a lot of offensive production. The Brisebois signing begins anew the love-hate relationship between Hab-fans and Brisebois. Brisebois does provide them with some veteran presence as well as a 2nd unit PP QB....Peter Forsberg remains unsigned, and most teams are rumored to be interested in seeing how he heals up in the next few weeks before beginning serious talks. Rumor has the Canucks trying to land Forsberg with an incentive laden contract to let him play with close friend Markus Naslund. However, the smart money is that Forsberg wants to play in Colorado one last time - assuming he's ready to go by training camp....Mike Peca has been advertising his desire to return to Buffalo and pilot the team where he saw the greatest success in his career. The Sabres are said not to be interested, particularly given that Peca is looking for $4M for a one year deal. If he comes down to the $2M per season level, the Sabres, Habs, Canucks and Coyotes are rumored to be "kicking the tires"....Anson Carter remains unsigned, and might remain that way right into the start of training camp. Carter had a brutal season last year, and any thoughts of him singing for more than $1M per season are ludicrous. He needs the precise situation to succeed - he had it in Vancouver two seasons ago but got greedy and now may be on the outside looking in for quite some time....

Penner an Oiler

2007-08-05T11:55:00.000-07:00

What impact will Brain Burke not matching the Oilers' offer sheet for Dustin Penner have? Well, the only thing we know for sure at this point is that Kevin Lowe isn't going to be on the Anaheim GM's Christmas card list this year.

But other than that...it's all up in the air. Penner will be expected to play on the top line. He will be expected to meet or exceed the 29 goals he had in 06/07. And, most importantly, he'll have to deflect the scrutiny of the Edmonton faithful who may resent the fact that this money should have been directed towards re-signing Ryan Smyth at last season's trade deadline.

The lineup in Anaheim is still a bit uncertain. GM Burke signed Todd Bertuzzi as insurance against Teemu Selanne jumping ship...not against losing Penner. As a result, he's still one forward down. But he can't go out and trade for a big name without knowing whether Scott Niedermayer is going to retire. Add to this the fact that Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry (who are RFAs next summer), will be looking for Penner money PLUS, in order to lock them up early.

So out of this what do we see for production:

Penner - even (or maybe a drop)
Hemsky - even (similar to his production when Smyth was in the lineup)
Perry and Getzlaf - improved (doesn't matter who they match with them)

The D-Man Factor - Part Deux

2007-07-20T13:05:00.000-07:00

As promised we'll take a quick look at a few more buyers and sellers on the blueliner market.

Philadelphia: The Flyers, as of this writing, are currently pushing the cap so will be looking at a number of options including tradiing Denis Gauthier or Derian Hatcher (although rumours abound that they'll just put him on waivers with the intent of sending him to the minors - thus freeing up a significant amount of cap space). Gauthier, on the other hand, could be an interesting pick up for a team looking for a little sandpaper. There are a number of teams who could be interested, but the Flyers have themselves in a bit of a pickle...they would need to get a d-man in return...and they'd probably need one who could play some decent minutes - but he'd need to be cheap. Possible trading partners would include:

Anaheim - if Niedermayer retires they will have plenty of cap room and will need a minute eater with some grit. Going the other way would be a guy like Huskins or Hnidy.
Detroit - the loss of Danny Markov would mean Gauthier would be a great fit. The Flyers would probably want a guy like Lebda, but it's doubtful the Wings would give him up.
Nashville - with the loss of scoring, they're going to need to rough up the opposition a bit more. Trading a guy like Greg Zanon and a pick for Gauthier could make some sense.

Regardless of where Gauthier goes his fantasy value is really limited to PIMs plus possibly +/- if he goes to the right team.

Toronto: With the recent signing of Derrek Walser, the Leafs have 10 NHL-calibre d-men under contract. Rumours of a Pavel Kubina trade abound, but the question remains as to who could absorb the contract. A quick review of the numbers reveals that there are very few contenders who could make a deal without sending significant salary back to the Leafs. The three teams with the best balance of cap space and ability to contend would be San Jose, Nashville and maybe the Devils. In all three cases Kubina would likely be given more PP time than he would have received in Toronto, but he would be counted on for his all-round play. If he were to move you could expect a point bump up to near his career norms in the mid-30s.

New York Rangers: Talk of a Paul Mara trade has been circulating for a few weeks. There are two problems with this deal. First is the fact that Mara will be making $3 million this season which limits possible takers AND he's entering his final season, which limits those looking for long-term value. Although he could move to a team looking to off-load long term contracts and still maintain the minimum cap levels. If that happens and he ends up on a team like Phoenix, Chicago or Columbus, he could struggle and the numbers could be disastrous from a fantasy perspective.

The New NHL

2007-07-17T07:27:00.001-07:00

Ottawa - already the changing face of the Ottawa Senators has begun, as new club GM Murray has dealt Peter Schaefer and his 3 year, almost $7M deal to the Bruins for Sean Donovan, at 1 year, just under $1M. This is pretty much a salary dump, that changes the chemistry a bit for the Senators, but gives Schaefer a legitimate shot to be a top 6 forward on the Bruins, hungry for scoring. Schaefer has soft hands and good wheels, and is an under-rated penalty killer. Donovan can skate, and is a gritty guy in the corners, but the message Murray sends here is that he is clearing cap space to sign some cheaper Tier II UFAs or getting ready to try and lock up Dany Heatley prior to him becoming a UFA next season. Fantasy Impact with the Trade:

Schaefer – Positive
Savard or Bergeron – Positive
Senators Depth - Negative
Bruins Powerplay – Positive
Bruins Penalty Kill - Positive

The D-man Factor

2007-07-15T16:20:00.000-07:00

With Sheldon Souray off the block, the last of the big-time blueliner UFAs is officially off the market. So what now for teams looking to bolster their rearguard ranks?

Rumour has it that a few teams (very few) are willing to move d-men in exchange for either younger/cheaper talent, similarly priced talent in different positions or less talented players going into their free agent years (meaning cap flexibility next season).

We'll take a quick look at the buyers and sellers and the fantasy implications:

Vancouver: With Bieksa locked up, the signing of Aaron Miller and the chance of either Alex Edler or Luc Bourdon filling a full-time roster spot, Mattias Ohlund is rumoured to be on the move in exchange for a top end forward. Most people are talking Patrik Elias, but assuming the Canucks are taking offers from everywhere, there are a number of other options. Many are talking about Patrick Marleau going to the east, but a swap of Ohlund for Marleau would certainly help the Sharks ease the sting of losing Scott Hannan. The only thing for Vancouver would be to secure Marleau with a long term deal. There has also been talk of Milan Hejduk being on the move...and while an inter-division trade is not the norm, the opportunity for both teams to address needs may result in the setting aside of traditional rivalries. Either way, the Canucks can offer probably the most enticing d-man out there - great at both ends of the ice, affordable and signed through the 2008-2009 season. Any one of Elias, Marleau, or Hejduk would do wonders for the Canucks sometime aenemic offence, but don't expect any of them to produce much beyond their career norms if a trade does go down.

Phoenix: There has been talk of Ed Jovanovski being on the the block in the desert. And while this would make sense, his contract could make a deal less likely than one involving Ohlund. At $6.5 million per year most contenders would need to do some juggling and given that the Coyotes would not want to be saddled with long term contracts, this could prove to be a difficult proposition for teams like the Rangers, who allegedly head the list of interested parties. Now if the Panthers were to step up (they seemed to be interested a couple of weeks back) and offer a package that included Alex Auld, Stephen Weiss and/or Anthony Stewart, they could get something done. And it would be a deal that would make sense for all parties. Wherever Jovo goes look for the numbers to pop...

Anaheim: Let's imagine for a moment that Scott Niedermayer calls up Brian Burke tomorrow and says "I'm coming back next season." Of course Burke's first reaction will be joy at the prospect of having his leader return. But then he will have to face the daunting reality of 3 massive contracts at the back end with an unfilled forward spot that was once occupied by Teemu Selanne. At that point he'll likely need to look at moving Francois Beauchemin. And, like Ohlund teams will be lining up to take a shot. The team that loses the Ohlund sweepstakes will likely step up with an offer. As well, it's possible that Florida could look at a swap...wouldn't Auld and Stewart make sense (especially if Burke is looking to trade Bryzgalov)? Beauchemin as a PP quarterback on another team could have a career year, while any newly acquired forward would probably be paired up with Andy McDonald.

Next time we'll take a look at some eastern teams who could be looking to move d-men including Philly (Denis Gauthier), Toronto (Pavel Kubina), and the Rangers (Paul Mara).

Souray Comes Home

2007-07-12T13:57:00.000-07:00

Edmonton - GM Kevin Lowe, made a huge splash today when he announced that the team has reached an agreement with UFA Sheldon Souray. Souray is an Elk Point, AB native. Terms were not immediately available, but as a poolie, you care not about such things, and much more about what that means for the Oilers PP and Souray's fantasy pool impact. Last year, Souray was a PP phenom, with 19 of his 26 goals coming on the PP. He finished with 66 points. This coming year, Souray will be more offensively challenged. The Oilers forwards are not as talented as the Habs, and that's not a very good thing from the perspective of a high-scoring defenceman. Souray and Pitkanen will arm the Oilers PP, and there are no two better PP QBs in the league, but without the help up front, Souray won't hit 60+ points again. Remember that when drafting him this season, and pencil him in for 50+. Questions abound about Souray's chemistry in the dressing room, but that's not your concern until it effects his play...further, with the Oilers, there are reports that the Oilers are interested in trading for 2008 UFA Patrick Marleau of the San Jose Sharks. Coming back to the Sharks would be Cogliano, Matt Greene and a 1st rounder in 2008. Marleau is exactly the player that the Oilers could use, and he'd log as many minutes as he could take. The likelihood of this deal transpiring seems remote, but for Oilers fans - they can dream.

Canucks Build From the Rear

2007-07-11T17:14:00.000-07:00

With the signing of Aaron Miller and the re-signing of Kevin Bieksa, 'Nucks GM Dave Nonis served notice that the era of defensive hockey in Vancouver is firmly entrenched. The Canucks are now in the enviable position of boasting a solid 6 man starting d-corps, with the prospect of rookie Luc Bourdon and possibly UFA Brent Sopel platooning in the seventh spot (assuming Bourdon doesn't end up in Manitoba for the season). Notwithstanding the rumours that either Ohlund or Salo are on the trading block, what Nonis has done - relatively cheaply - is to ensure that his team has the best opportunity possible of wininng close games. And while the offensively challenged Canucks may not light the lamp at the other end too often, they can rest assured that they shouldn't have any trouble keeping the puck out of their own net. The fantasy impact is clear -Loungo is even more valuable now than ever. If this group stays together, look for his GAA to drop even lower, and his number of shutouts to increase. The only stat that might hurt is his Sv% as he may see less rubber! Team plus/minus should also benefit, though obviously, scoring a few more goals will help on this front too.

York signs on in the Desert

2007-07-11T05:12:00.000-07:00

Phoenix - Mike York's signing with Phoenix is a low-risk, high reward deal for both sides. York still has 50+ point skills in him, he just needs lots of icetime to make it happen and he'll get plenty in Phoenix. He's worth a late round flyer in drafts but nothing more....in Vancouver, the Canucks re-upped with Kevin Bieksa, and rewarded his under-rated play last year with a 3 year contract extension. Now I am a big Bieksa fan, but I think this might be a bit early for him. Granted he's a bit older, having gotten to the NHL via US college, but Bieksa's had just one full-season in the NHL. Yes, other UFAs are signing for big coin, but Bieksa needs to maintain his consistency in order for the Canucks to justify the signing. Someone will take him about 3 rounds higher than he should go - just ensure that it's not you. Also, the Canucks singed Aaron Miller. This is fantasy news in that it likely means that Vancouver will move either Sami Salo or Matthias Ohlund, or both. Rumor has the Canucks still shopping for a top 6 scoring forward and dangling both those guys is sure to get some attention. Watch for Brent Sopel to also sign with the Canucks, particularly if one or both Salo or Ohlund gets dealt....in Pittsburgh, Sydney Crosby re-upped with the Penguins and signed a contract extension. He's the best player in the league, likely to get even better, and that's awesome news for Crosby owners and scary news for those of us who don't have the guy.

2007-07-10T15:34:00.000-07:00

There have been more signings over the past week or so, so let's get to it shall we? Lots of activity in New York where the Islanders stopped the bleeding somewhat and landed Bill Guerin and Mike Comrie. Across the Sound, the Rangers brought back Brendan Shanahan. In New Jersey, the Devils reached for Dainius Zubris to fill the void left by the departed Scott Gomez. Vitaly Vishnevski and Karel Rachunek also recently signed and will try to fill the hole left by Brian Rafalski. And finally in the Swamp, Kevin Weeks signed to play maybe 6 games for the Devils behind Martin Brodeur.

Signing Guerin was a stop-gap move for the Islanders to be sure, and then naming him the captain of the team...? Might be some depth issues on the island! The Islanders over-achieved last season, as did Guerin, and his stint with the Islanders will not make them a playoff team... and his stats will suffer. It's hard to remember that Mike Comrie is only 28, but he is. It seems that he has been under-achieving so much longer than that. He played better when with the Senators, and even moved to the wing for more playing time. Expect him back down the middle with the departure of Yashin, where he should be valuable on the PP. 60 points is not out of the questions, but his +/- will not be very good. With the Rangers, Brendan Shanahan likely can't wait to lace 'em up with either Gomez or Drury. Gomez is the much better play-maker and if the Rangers are smart they'll make sure that sure-handed sniper Shanahan lands on the wing with him. Always a quick starter, Shanny might have 20 goals before Christmas and then fade a little as the season wears on. Right now, we'd buy low if you can. With the Devils, prepare yourself for some pretty brutal and boring hockey. Losing Rafalski and Gomez and replacing them with Zubruis and Vishnevski is going to mean many "defense first" games for the Devils who will hope that Elias and Gionta can score when they are on the PP. Brodeur will see lots of rubber again this season, but the Devils will ensure those shots are from well out, save for the PP. It will be effective, but it won't be pretty...at all. If Zubruis scores 50 points, I'll be amazed. I'd try and move Elias as well. Last year when Gomez was gone, the Devils' offense disappeared too. Expect more of the same...but all season. Rachunek is a serviceable offensive defenceman, with 25+ point potential. Vishnevski is even less. Just be warned. Now the Devils are rumored to be interested in Alexi Yashin, but it would have to be at the right price and loaded with incentives. Yashin might at least soften the sting of Gomez leaving but it hard to envision him signing there without the Devils naming a coach first....Weekes owners should unload him for whatever they can get - team bus, bag of pucks...heck even a 10th round DP. Unless Marty goes down with a serious injury, Kevin won't see more than a week of playing time this year.

The Flogging of Kevin Lowe

2007-07-07T15:51:00.001-07:00

Let me preface what I'm about to say by being completely upfront...I'm a Sabres fan and have been for a long time. And being a Sabres fan comes with a bit of a persecution complex - probably the proximity to Toronto. For many of us it seemed to hit a high point in the 1999 Stanley Cup Finals...and YES, Brett Hull's foot was in the crease! But it seems that the Hull incident has taken a backseat to what Sabres ownership and management see as an all out financial assault against their their team.

In the mind of GM Darcy Regier and Owner Larry Quinn, Buffalo has been unduly picked on in the free agent market. To make matters worse, a fellow small-market team (the Edmonton Oilers) actually had the gall to attempt to sign one of their restricted free agents (Tomas Vanek) to an offer sheet. Now the fact that the Oilers did this, or the exorbitant size of the contract or even the fact that this comes on the heals of the team losing Daniel Briere, Chris Drury and Zubrus of unrestricted free agency, has nothing to do with my problem with the situation.

What truly bothers me was the reaction of the Sabres and how it reflects on the NHL "fraternity". Darcy Regier admitted that Kevin Lowe phoned him to say he was submitting an offer sheet. And Regier's response? "It was always going to be a match situation, and they were well aware of it (Thursday night) that we were going to match...I explained exactly what was going to happen. Why he shouldn't do it. Why it was pointless to do it." Quinn even went as far as to contact the President of the Oilers! He said that "he had gotten wind of this and we're going to match."

Does anyone else out there see what's happening? Sabres management is attempting to collude with another team to keep Tomas Vanek from receiving an offer sheet. No-one knows what the Sabres had been offering up to this point. Why should Kevin Lowe or any other GM stop trying to better their team simply because another GM says "don't bother".

If I were the NHLPA or the agents I'd be taking a video tape of this to my lawyers to see whether there is an Anti-Trust case here. In fact, if Gary Bettman does not come down harshly on the Sabres for their comments he will appear complicit and could find himself dragged in front of a Congressional Hearing in the US (if members of Congress even know what hockey is).

So what're the fantasy implications of this? Not a lot really, but it's a perspective that I think that most people have glossed over in their analysis of this situation. Most Sabres fans have focused on the "everyone's picking on us" scenario. While everyone else is wondering about how many other RFAs will be getting offers. But from my perspective, the thought of the "C word" being brought up should be a scary proposition...just ask Major League Baseball. ESPN published a very interesting 35 year history of baseball's contentious labour history (http://espn.go.com/mlb/columns/bp/1427632.html). Have a look and see if you see the striking similarities. One piece that really jumped out at me was this:

Negotiations for a new deal in 1990 took place against a
backdrop of three years of owner collusion. Unable to limit free agency at the
bargaining table, from 1985 through 1987 the owners simply agreed among
themselves not to sign one another's free agents, in violation of a no-collusion
clause in the CBA. After losing three separate arbitrations on the issue, the
owners ultimately agreed to pay the players $280 million for wages lost as a
result of collusion.

Could the same thing happen in hockey? If people like Darcy Regier and Larry Quinn keep up their crazy talk, I'd almost guarantee it.

Keeper League Madness

2007-07-05T23:35:00.000-07:00

So it's the dog days of summer. How can you possibly be thinking about your hockey pool? Well, if you're in a keeper league this could be the best time of year to set yourself up for a successful run.

Many poolies were probably already burning up the phone and email lines in advance of the July 1 UFA signing period starting, as they were trying to secure some players that were going to be on the move. In some cases (like if you traded for Scott Gomez) you could be doing quite well. And if you secured the services of Michael Nylander (soon to be Alex Ovechkin's set-up man) you're probably very pleased with yourself.

All that being said, if you haven't made any moves yet, all is not lost. There are two things that you can do. First, if one of your players recently signed you can take advantage of the hype and try and move him for someone who could be a little more productive who is flying under the radar. For example, Todd Bertuzzi signing with Anaheim could increase interest in the mercurial power forward...take advantage of that and see if you can get a guy like Patrik Elias (selling your potential suitor on the fact that Elias lost his center in Scott Gomez). You will almost certainly have to sweeten the pot, but the point is that Bertuzzi has more value now than he did a month ago.

The second thing you can do is speculate on the second tier free agents. Some of these folks could really make an impact depending on the circumstance and they could be had at bargain basement prices. Here are the top 5 UFAs who could be had cheap:

Alexei Yashin - depending on where he goes, he could be a steal. His buyout from the Islanders could leave a sour taste in some mouths. Take advantage of this.
Brendan Shanahan - the signing of Drury with the Rangers could muddy the waters when it comes to where he'll play next season. Use this as your negotiating tactic.
Sheldon Souray - the fact that teams have bypassed Souray and picked up Timonen, Rafalski, Schneider and Poti could worry some owners. No matter where he signs he'll be on the top PP unit, remember that and go get him.
Teemu Selanne - call us crazy, but you could do worse than speculating on Teemu. You could probably get him for a song and what happens if he does come back?
Peter Forsberg - this is a stickier situation, because there's some chance that he may never come back. But there is even a worse case scenario...he comes back in December or January. Still if you can pick him up cheap, he could be a deep sleeper.

Flames Heating Up

2007-07-05T06:40:00.000-07:00

Despite the fact that they went out and hired Mike Keenan the Flames have been making some noise and the developments are promising. Jarome Iginla and Robyn Regher recently extended their contracts with the team and that is great news. Add them to recent additions of Corey Sarich, Adrian Aucoin and Owen Nolan and things are definitely looking up. Expect Aucoin to log some serious minutes this season as he's dedicated himself this off-season to a serious fitness program. Nolan provides a nice steadying veteran presence and Sarich is definitely under-rated. A little more pop up front would be welcome for poolies, but the Flames look to be poised to make some noise...in Montreal, the Habs seemed to have bid adieu to Sheldon Souray. His booming shot from the point on the PP will be missed, but his -20 plus/minus will not. GM Gainey extended a pricey offer to Roman Hamrlik to replace Souray and Hamrlik will fit in nicely; he'll have less points but his +/- will be better than Souray's. Also, Bryan Smolinski has signed on with the Habs and he might be worth a late round fantasy pick. He's better than the departed Radek Bonk and his skill in the face-off circle will be welcomed...in Edmonton, they're still licking their wounds from the Nylander debacle, GM Kevin Lowe has set his sights on Eric Lindros as his next free-agent signing. He hasn't played more than 47 games in one season in any of the past 4 years, but when healthy Lindros still has the skills that allow him to contribute. The tipping point for Lindros to the Oil is the Edmonton's desire to use the Big E down the middle...Atlanta re-upped Slava Kozlov to a 3 year deal and this is good news for Kozlov owners. The Thrashers play an up-tempo style of play and Kozlov thrives in the type of system that doesn't focus on defensive hockey. Look for another strong season from Kozlov again this coming year...

More UFA signings

2007-07-04T07:20:00.000-07:00

Anaheim appears to be ready to take a flyer with the signing of Todd Bertuzzi. There is going to be someone that is going to hope that Bertuzzi can resume his 30+ goal clip, but my advice is to leave him for surer things in your draft. He's clearly not the same player he once was, and it shows. Glimpses of greatness is all you will see with big Bert, but frustration will quickly follow...in LA, the Kings continue to make moves and add Brad Stuart for the next year. Stuart has peaked and/or plateaued in terms of development, and will never become the bonafide #1 defenceman that pundits thought he might when he was drafted. He's not terrible, but someone is going to overpay for his services, even though he'll probably play at least 2nd unit PP. He'll be solid, just not amazing for the Kings...the Leafs signed recent acquisition Vesa Toskala to a two year deal worth $4M per season, and are now seeking to move Andrew Raycroft. The problem is to who? Toskala is marginally better than Raycroft in my eyes, but now GM Ferguson is going to get about 50 cents on the dollar by moving Raycroft in a goalie-glut market. Raycroft owners can't be happy. Jason Blake's signing is better news for the Leafs as the speedster is under-rated in the NHL, and takes tons of shots. He'll be a top-6 forward for the Leafs, but under the pressure of performing in Hogtown, likely won't score 40+. More on the Habs signings to come...

The Art of Finding Depth

2007-07-03T18:08:00.000-07:00

The Vancouver Canucks showed the flip side of the UFA frenzy over the past few days. The Canucks are locking up depth players at phenomenally good prices (Isbister at $525k, Ritchie at $600k, Sanford at $600k, Jeff Cowan $700k). As it stands now they have 18 guys under contract and have only committed about $44 million. What this means is that even if GM Dave Nonis keeps his promise to maintain a $2 million reserve, they will have about $4 million for the final three spots. If you pencil in one of Ryan Shannon or Trevor Linden and a depth d-man at about $600k a piece, that leaves $2.8 million for a very decent top six forward, allowing them to sign a player in the financial neighbourhood of the contract Dainius Zubrus signed with New Jersey...which would not at all be a bad thing at all. There are rumblings about Alexei Yashin, but our bet would be they'll want a very skilled playmaker who can feed Naslund the puck. Don't be surprised if they make a run at Jason Allison. If that's the case then you could probably pencil in a 15-20 point increase for Nazzy next year.

More UFA singings and a trade

2007-07-03T12:21:00.000-07:00

The LA Kings have done a nice job of upgrading their team with the addition of some tier II UFAs: Ladislav Nagy, Michal Handzus, Tom Preissing and Kyle Calder. Nagy has seen his stock slide alot, and much depends on how healthy he is. If he is close to 100%, he might be the signing of the off-season. He can contribute at both ends of the ice and likely will be an 80 point guy, again if he is healthy. Handzus brings more veteran two-way playing ability. After rehabbing a nasty leg injury last year, Handzus comes in to a team that is perfectly situated for him to assist. Not a #1 center, but the Kings will definitely want him to be the #2 guy and with that put up some solid number. Calder adds some much needed grit and abrasiveness to the roster. He's also got 30 goal potential, he just comes by his points very honestly - not naturally. Preissing gives the Kings an under-rated puck moving defenceman to compliment the Kings other top 3. He should play a bigger role than what he did in Ottawa...in Edmonton, the remaking of this team continues but at what cost. Last year Joffrey Lupul was a big disappointment. And with no Pronger on the back-end, expectations for the Edmonton native were high - and he missed. A change of scenery along with uber-grit rear-guard Jason Smith is just what the doctor ordered for the Flyers. They are giving up Joni Pitkanen, who by all measures regressed last year, and spare part Geoff Sanderson. The Flyers did very well in this deal. Smith is more mobile than most analysts think and he'll draw lots of shut-down minutes versus Crosby, Ovechkin and Jagr. Lupul's lack of confidence should be addressed as the Flyers place him on the 2nd line and tell him to "let 'er go". Pitkanen is a very good offensive defenceman, but the Oilers now have no one that can score; which won't help Pitkanen in the long run. Expect more changes in Edmonton.

Big Bucks vs. The Right Fit

2007-07-03T11:50:00.000-07:00

It's very possible that in the flurry of $$$ flying around that many teams forgot about chemistry and instead focused on the big fish of the day. Look at the following comparison between two teams:

New York Rangers - They had Michael Nylander and Brendan Shanahan. They signed Chris Drury and Scott Gomez. In many respects Gomez and Nylander are a wash, but the contract to Gomez averages out at about $2 million per year more than Nylander. When you also take into account the incredible chemstry between Jagr and Nylander, it's a bit of a head-scratcher. The Drury situation is equally as puzzling. Yes, he has proven himself to be a great leader, but he has never had more than 70 points in a season. It all comes down to how much you pay for leadership and at this stage I'd probably have leaned towards re-upping Shanny at $2 or $3 million and letting someone else plunk down over $7 million per season for the former Sabres co-captain. Sorry Ranger fans but this signing harkens back to another "big signing" by your squad in the 90s. Anyone remember Bobby Holik? One thing to remember...it is possible that the Rangers could still re-sign Shanahan. And if they do, it will just re-emphasize the fact that they overpaid for Drury. From a fantasy perspective, Gomez should do well, but don't expect anything more than Nylander-like numbers. As for Drury...who knows? It seems unlikely that a move to the Big Apple with more pressure will all of a sudden push him over the 70 point mark.

Washington Capitals - On the flipside there are teams that needed free agency to fill gaping holes. This is exactly what the Caps did over the weekend. After witnessing what Michael Nylander did on the first line in New York, how could they not sign him at a veritable bargain basement price of less than $5 million per year in order to give Alex Ovechkin the bona fide center that he needs. Fantasy-wise, I don't see his numbers dipping. And if they truly connect, he could push 90 points. As for Ovechkin, the sky is the limit. Assuming he stays healthy he could challenge for the Art Ross trophy. The money they didn't spend going after Drury, Briere or Gomez meant they could also sign Viktor Kozlov to increase their overall depth at forward. A brilliant move. This could also do wonders for Alex Semin who will have a quality forward to play with giving the Caps a decent 2nd line. Toss in the signing of Tom Poti and the Caps addressed three major needs for less than $12 million per season. A great deal.

Two teams, two different philosophies.

UFA Flurry

2007-07-02T08:56:00.000-07:00

Wow...one day and there are a ton of signings, so let's get to them. Briere to Philly - from a Fantasy perspective this is awesome. Briere is a PP machine and 5 on 5 he's pretty deadly as well. With the young guys the Flyers have amassed there, this team stands to be a marked improvement over last years'.... Scott Gomez and Chris Drury to the Rangers are two very good signings for the Rangers as well. Both Gomez and Drury are very responsible defensively, which should be a marked improvement for the Rangers down the middle. Gomez is even a better play-maker than Nylander, so expect Jagr to really enjoy the soft passes. Drury's signing likely means that Brendan Shanahan will will have to take less to stay - but I think he does to get a chance to play with either of those two guys at center. Still no defence help, which is a concern....With Drury and Gomez in New York, reports had Michael Nylander originally signing with the Oilers. But that appears to be premature as he has now confirmed signing with the Washington Capitals. Poolies can only dream about the results from a Ovechkin-Nylander combo. If they can come close to the Jagr-Nylander combo that would be most impressive. An opportunity to play with Ales Hemsky is tantalizing, but the Oilers still need a sniper to play with those two guys and right now, there's not one on the team....Ryan Smyth to the Avalanche is a solid signing for the Avs. Captain Canada will get the chance to play with either Joe Sakic of super-sophomore Paul Stastny, which will mean a solid return to 30+ goals for Smyth....Mathieu Schneider's signing in Anaheim is further evidence that the Ducks expect that Scott Niedermayer will announce his retirement before the beginning of next season. As is, the Ducks may have one of the best top 4 defence corp ever assembled with Pronger, Schneider, Beauchemein and potentially Niedermayer. Schneider won't replace Niedermayer if he does retire, but he's a nice substitute nonetheless....with Schneider in Anaheim, the Red Wings wasted little time in landing Deerborn, MI native Brian Rafalski for a long-term deal. Rafalski gives the Red Wings an excellent tandem of Lidstrom and Rafalski to man the PP points. Poolies should see a rise in his point totals from playing with the offensively challnged Devils....the Blues signed Keith Tkachuk, just prior to UFA opening, and then landed Paul Kariya. Kariya's becoming less of an offensive impact, but perhaps this move to the Blues and the chance to play potentially with Doug Weight may rekindle more offense. Kariya was deadly on the PP last year, and the Blues will welcome that. Just don't over-pay for his services though....

Welcome...and where is Briere going?

2007-06-30T08:25:00.000-07:00

...one and all to the Puckjunkie.com Blog. In this blog we'll discuss anything and everything related to fantasy hockey (and perhaps sports in general). Pretty much nothing is off limits, save for ensuring a certain level of decorum is maintained in the posts. First up this hockey off-season is the impending UFA signings beginning July 1st...here's the latest:

Daniel Briere - is being courted by a number of teams. Edmonton, Philly, Montreal and Phoenix are rumored to be prime to begin discussions with the talented center. Buffalo can't keep both Briere and Drury and it looks as though they are lowering their sight on Drury, and keeping their core young guys together (Pominville, Vanek, Campbell, Connolly). Briere's a great young talent. He had just an ok playoffs and that's likely the main reason why the Sabres are likely to choose Drury over Briere.