October 28, 2007
What in the world is going on in Philadelphia? For the third time in six weeks the Flyers are in the news for a hit that would have made 'The Broad Street Bullies" proud, but the hockey world is horrified. Randy Jones slammed a vulnerable Patrice Bergeron of the Boston Bruins into the end boards on Saturday, and it appeared originally that Bergeron had suffered a catastrophic spinal injury. The training staff and doctors spent 15 minutes stabilizing Bergeron and he was carted off on a stretcher. Thank goodness the injuries weren't as severe as thought, but Bergeron still suffered a broken nose and a concussion. This injury, on the heels of the Flyers Steve Downie's hit to the head of Dean McAmmond, and Jesse Boulerice crosschecking Vancouver's Ryan Kesler in the jaw, deserves to be punished severely and the NHL must hit the Flyers with financial penalties as well.
Downie received 20 games as a punishment and Boulerice got 25 games. While both of these players play the game, let's say like goons for a lack of a better term, this is not the style of Randy Jones. Nevertheless, three times in six weeks by the same team, leaves the NHL little choice in that they must punish the organization. Give Jones 10-15 games and fine the organization $1 million, and tell the Flyers that a repeat episode this season by any member of their team will result in doubling the fine.
The NHL should also not allow a team to replace a player suspended by the league. If this were the case, once Jones was suspended, the Flyers would be down to 20 players (teams are allowed to carry 23) and any injuries would result in the Flyers playing with a shorter bench.
It's time the NHL took back control of the game. It's not the 1970's where the Flyers ran roughshod over everyone. It is the 21st Century.
October 26, 2007
I don't get it. What has happened to the Rangers' offense? I know the party line; Gomez hasn't developed any chemistry with Jaromir Jagr. Blah Blah Blah. The Rangers have Chris Drury, Brendan Shanahan, Jagr, Gomez, Petr Prucha and until last game, Martin Straka, and Nigel Dawes is the only one who has scored in the last century? Unless you are a Rangers' fan or own Henrik Lundqvist in your pool, it doesn't matter that the team is playing sound defensive hockey. Poolies draft Jagr et al because of their offense. And at the moment there is none. Plenty of cash was spent to bring Drury and Gomez to the Big Apple. If things don't start turning around soon, there will be more than a few fantasy pool enthusiasts upset. Note to Tom Renney: get the boys going or you may find your head on the block!
October 23, 2007
The Toronto Maple Leafs are a fantasy dream. Well, that’s if you have Leafs on your team or your fantasy players are the opponents. If you have their goaltending, they are a nightmare. The Leafs have played ten games thus far and there have been 78 goals scored in total by both teams. By comparison, the top team in the league the Minnesota Wild, have had 31 goals scored by both teams in their eight contests.
Bryan McCabe is getting blasted in the Toronto press for his lack of defensive prowess. I was talking about this with my brother Larry and we decided that McCabe possesses a great shot, is a very good skater and little else. He is a fantasy dream as he garners a lot of points and penalty minutes, but as far as defensemen go, he leaves a lot to be desired. McCabe is poor defensively and can’t lead the rush as he is not a good passer. So the Leafs have to find a defensive defenseman who can make the first pass out. There is no one like that available, so the Leafs have to give up on the defensive part of the game when they partner McCabe with Ian White, who at least is able to make the all-important first pass to start the Leafs on the offensive.
I can’t understand how Leaf management decides who to go after as a free agent. Instead of giving McCabe, Pavel Kubina and Todd Gill all the money (over $12 million this season) they would have been much better off going after Zdeno Chara last season or Wade Redden. Not that either would have necessarily signed with the Leafs, but if they had, the Leafs would be far superior this season and would have made the playoffs last year. I know Redden was injured for most of last season, but the team would have been able to spend more money elsewhere and who says that Redden would have suffered the injuries had he been in a Toronto uniform.
Another objection I have is how the team rates NHL goaltenders. To give up a goaltender like Tuuku Rask for Andrew Raycroft is mind boggling. Rask has a chance to be a great NHL goaltender while Raycroft has a chance to be a backup goaltender next season in the NHL. I can’t blame them for trading for Vesa Toskala as he should be a good enough starting goaltender for Toronto, until Justin Pogge is ready, but the people in the front office who evaluate the talent are not the best in the NHL.
The Leafs are the top money-making team in the NHL. Since there is a salary cap, the only place that they can spend extra money is in their scouting and upper management. It would be a good idea if they used some of their strong Canadian dollar to do so.
October 21, 2007
It is unfortunate that many people who are in fantasy pools make decisions based entirely on players' recent scoring numbers. If a player has not registered a point in a few games he is often discarded. This is not always the best course of action.
Let's look at two young defensemen to illustrate this point. Altanta's Tobias Enstrom has registered only two assists so far this season. Yet he plays on every power play and actually has averaged almost two more minutes of ice time when the Thrashers have the man advantage than Alexei Zhitnik. Similarly, Columbus' Kris Russell has not yet found his scoring groove. He, too, is his team's primary power-play quarterback (he averages half a minute more of power-play ice time than Ron Hainsey) but he has only registered two assists.
If you were to judge these two talented rearguards exclusively on their scoring totals to date, they would likely no longer be on your roster. Look behind the numbers and be patient. Especially with young developing players.
October 17, 2007
Be patient!!!! There are a lot of hockey fantasy players e-mailing me and they are in a panic because their top players aren’t performing as well as they think they should be. IT’S ONLY TWO WEEKS!!!! If you can find someone in your pool that is panicking, then take advantage and grab the best player that you can for someone who is hot now, but you know can’t last. Below is the first round of the Experts Draft and their stats as of the morning of Wednesday October 17th.
G A PIMS +/- GAA WINS SAVE %
Roberto Luongo 3.17 3 .897
Sidney Crosby 2 2 4 -3
Miikka Kiprusoff 3.40 2 .877
Dany Heatley 6 4 2 +2
Joe Thornton 3 4 4 +1
Alex Ovechkin 3 2 2 +1
Jarome Iginla 4 4 14 +6
Martin Brodeur 3.26 1 .879
Jaromir Jagr 1 5 2 +1
Evgeni Malkin 1 4 4 EVEN
Marian Hossa 1 0 0 -3
Vincent Lecavalier3 3 0 +4
Evgeni Nabokov 2.40 3 .896
Henrik Lundqvist 2.02 2 .934
Marc-Andre Fleury 3.82 2 .876
Some forwards are off to really good starts in Heatley, Iginla and Lecavalier and Lundqvist is the only goaltender doing well in all categories. I agree that Thornton, Jagr, Malkin and Nabokov are off to okay starts. So eight of the top 15 selections are off to really good or okay starts. That’s not a good percentage for the first round. If this happened in the middle of the season, no one would say anything as the stats would be blended in, but rest assured that Luongo, Kiprusoff and Brodeur will be over .912 in save percentage by the end of the season with very good goals against averages. There is no way that Crosby will average only a point a game and be a terrible minus player and Hossa only has one goal and you know he’ll be near the top of scoring.
I’ll state the point once more. BE PATIENT!!! It is still only two weeks. Nik Antropov is leading the NHL in plus/minus with nine. Enough said.
October 15, 2007
My pet peeve this week is coaches who have zero patience with their line combinations and defensemen pairings. I know that NHL bench bosses are under enormous pressure to win, but give it a little time, fellas, before you scrap all the plans you made over the summer and during the pre-season.
I had someone write in last week complaining that Josef Vasicek was listed on our depth charts as the Islanders’ 4th line center. He played one game on the second line and was on the third line the next night. Poor Josef doesn’t even know what line he plays on.
Jacques Lemaire is one of the worst offenders in this regard. Minnesota’s first-line center is basically a five-headed monster; Lemaire not only changes who plays between Marian Gaborik and Pavol Demitra by the game, but often by the minute.
Don’t get me wrong. Mike, I and the rest of the Rotoworld hockey stuff love what we do. But in many cases it is extremely difficult to discern what teams’ line combinations and defensemen pairings are at any given moment, due to the penchant of coaches to shuffle them so freely.
That said, I think we do a pretty good job of sorting this out at Rotoworld. However, it’s kind of like playing cards with your little brother. Most of the time you win, but every once in a while he beats you.
October 12, 2007
For those of you who truly believe that Martin Gerber will finish the season as the Senators' starting goaltender, I have one thing to say to you: fat chance !
Gerber is 33 years old and earns $3.7 million per season. Emery is 25 years old and will earn just slightly over $3 million for each of the next three years. Over the summer, Ottawa GM Bryan Murray was dying to trade Gerber but found no takers. Gerber's quick start has put Murray in a much better position to move the Swiss netminder. Spending almost $7 million on goaltending is not something the Sens can afford. Look for Murray to deal Gerber to Los Angeles, Phoenix or some other goalie-deficient city as soon as Emery proves he is healthy. With the extra cap room Murray can acquire another scoring forward or rugged defenseman.
Emery versus Gerber: No contest. It's Emery by a landslide.
October 11, 2007
Jesse Boulerice gave hockey a bad name yet again on Wednesday night with his crosscheck to the face of Vancouver Canuck forward Ryan Kesler. This is the second time in less than a month that a member of the Philadelphia Flyers has been in trouble for injuring a player and this incident was far worse than Steve Downie hitting Dean McAmmond, for which he was suspended 20 games.
Not to condone what Downie, because we certainly can’t do that, but at least he was attempting a legal hit on McAmmond, with his shoulder. What Boulerice did to Kesler was just a very cheap shot, using his stick as a weapon. I suggest that the NHL has to get serious with this type of incident and they should suspend Boulerice for 30 games. In addition, Boulerice should not be allowed to play against the Canucks for the next five years, or against Kesler, should he be traded, for a similar length of time.
Whenever a player gets suspended, the team that has been victimized never gets a break. As a matter of fact, the victimized team loses out, as they have usually lost the injured player for a period of time and the opposing teams don’t meet that often. That’s why the suspended player, Boulerice in this case, should be barred from playing the victimized team for the five years.
That would certainly make a lot of players think.
October 03, 2007
In the Crease, Rotoworld's Fantasy Hockey Blog, is coming soon! Please check back here later this week to read insights from Rotoworld's hockey experts, Brian Rosenbaum and Michael Finewax!
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