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Fantasy Friday

Dec 16

Posted by Chris in Fantasy | No Comments

The Hotlist:

Wayne Simmonds (forward): Three goals and one assist over the last seven days. With injuries to Claude Giroux and Brayden Schenn, Simmonds will see more ice time and be counted on for increased production. Owned in a meager 17 percent of Yahoo fantasy leagues.

Bryan Little (forward): Three goals over the last seven days on 12 shots on goal. Little has 20 points in 31 games for the Jets, including four goals in his past five games.

Todd Bertuzzi (forward): Bertuzzi has one goal and three assists in the past seven days. More importantly, he plays on the top line with the red-hot Pavel Datsyuk. He has been a consistent 40-point scorer with Detroit, but he may pay short-term dividends if you grab him while he’s hot.

Matt Carle (defense): One goal, five assists and a plus-four over the last seven days. It was just announced that Chris Pronger will be out for the season thanks to concussion symptoms. Expect Carle to help fill the void on the blue line.

Michael Del Zotto (defense): Owned in only 40 percent of Yahoo fantasy leagues, Del Zotto posted four points over the past seven days and was plus-five while rifling off 11 shots and blocking 10. Del Zotto has nine points total over the last 10 games.

Between the Pipes:

It appears as if Luongo has reclaimed the number one spot in Vancouver, but Cory Schneider remains a viable threat for wins, goals against and save percentage when he plays. The Canucks are winners of seven of their last 10 games.

However, another goalie controversy appears to be brewing in Chicago. Ray Emery is winner of three straight games and will get his fourth consecutive start against the Ducks tonight. Remember, this guy backstopped Ottawa to the Stanley Cup Finals several years ago and won seven games in 10 starts for Anaheim last season. Keep an eye on this developing situation.

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Winnipeg Jets off to Slow Start

Oct 18

Posted by EB in News, Soap Box | No Comments

Netminder Ondrej Pavelec needs to start stopping more shots to give the Winnipeg Jets a fighting chance.

The Winnipeg Jets are off to a rough start, going 1-3-0 in their first 4 games. The emotional homecoming to Winnipeg, the hype, has outweighed the product on the ice. Could this be a mere funk or could it be much more?

The Jets, once Atlanta Thrashers, has a lot of players under-producing. The list is as follows:

Bryan Little, a fifth year NHLer has 0 points in the first 4 games. Last year Little put up 48 points, a 14 point increase from the year before that. Although it is not expected of Little to make another 14 point jump this season, it is however expected that Little at least meet is last years point total.

Evander Kane is young with the speed and the talent to put up numbers. Currently 0 points thus far, Kane needs to start meshing with his line-mates. In his second NHL season last year, Kane contributed 19 goals and 24 assists. The 40 point mark should be obtainable, especially if he continues to skate second line minutes. Perhaps his day-to-day injury is the cause of his lack of production. Time will tell.

The fan favorite Dustin Byfuglien is perhaps the most surprising of all the players with his lack of production. Able to play both forward or wing, also getting a lot of time on the powerplay, Byfuglien has 0 points and a -4 rating in his 4 games. Averaging 3.75 shots a game, fans can only hope the dam breaks soon.

Two-time Stanley Cup Winner Andrew Ladd knows what it takes to be a winner, or at least be on a winning team. In both his Cup wins Ladd was a contributor but no the go to guy. After being traded to the Jets in the off-season after the 2009-2010 season, Ladd became that guy you could depend on. He put up a career high of 29 goals and 30 assists for a total of 59 points. Could that of been an abnormal season, sure, but with only 1 goal so far, the Jets still need more out of him.

It is said that transitioning and growing into a top-level NHL player is harder for defense. Tobias Enstrom is in his fifth season and is coming off of back-to-back 50 point seasons. Mainly a set-up man on the powerplay, Enstrom does not have a powerplay point as of yet.

A combined .880 save percentage between both Ondrej Pavelec and Chris Mason could be the real problem for the Jets. Letting in a combined 14 goals in 4 games, the two net-minders do not seem like either one of them wants the starting position.

It still could be just a rough start and they could make playoffs. It could also be the team is still not quite playoff caliber. Last year the Jets/Thrashers missed the playoffs and finished in 12th place. Either way, all the hype surrounding the homecoming is coming down to earth as fans see that no matter how much you want your home team to win, it just may not happen. Hopefully the players can start putting some more “W’s” on the board and give their faithful fans a ticket worth purchasing.

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2011-12 NHL Season Preview: Winnipeg Jets

Sep 12

Posted by Eddie in Season Previews | 1 Comment

Offseason Losses: Anthony Stewart, Rick Rypien, Radek Devorak

Offseason Additions: Derek Meech, Eric Fehr, Tanner Glass, Randy Jones

Last Season Ranking: 12 in the East

Offense: The team formerly known as the Atlanta Thrashers moved north for greener pastures and is now the Winnipeg Jets. The team will play in the Eastern conference and the Southeast division this season before transferring to the West for 2012-13. In the mean time, the franshise underwent a complete overhaul. The only remaining pieces seem to be are the players on the ice. Just about everything off the ice is new, from ownership to general manager to the coach.

On offense, they don’t have the personnel of an expansion team. However, they do have one of players that haven’t seen playoff action in a very long time. They have decent numbers on offense, their problem is that the second and third leading scorers in regards to points are defensemen. They have to get more production from the offense. Andrew Ladd, Blake Wheeler, and Bryan Little are expected once again to be the top forwards. They lost young prospect Anthony Stewart to Carolina, but Evander Kane and Alexander Burmistrov have star potential in them. Look for them to spend time with the top live should anyone above them on the depth chart struggle.

Defense: For what the Jets lack on offense, they make up for it on defense. They have the league leader in goals among defensemen in Dustin Byfuglien. Since he made the change from forward to defense when he came over from Chicago last season, his offense has blossomed into one of the more deadlier players in the league. Along with Tobias Enstrom, the two All-Stars will anchor a unit that has the potential to light the lamp on  nights when the forwards aren’t doing so.

The Jets also have experienced defensemen in Johnny Oduya, Ron Hainsey and Mark Stuart who is expected to bring toughness and physicality to the team. The X-Factor is Zach Bogosian. He currently doesn’t have a contract for this season but is a restricted free agent. He has Norris Trophy potential, but he hasn’t shown that type of consistency shown by some of the best in the league.

Goaltending: Their defense and goaltending was among the worse in the league. Only Colorado averaged more goals allowed per contest, as the team allowed an average of 3.2 goals per game. One stat you probably can’t fins anywhere else is they allowed a league-leading 15 empty net goals. They return Ondrej Pavelec and Chris Mason in goal and should see an improvement over last season. Pavelec is 24 years old and has given the new franchise a goalie that can be with the team for many years should they be able to re-sign him. Both Pavelec ad Mason are free agents at the end of this season (Pavelec restricted and Mason unrestricted), and it will be interesting to see how they play considering they don’t have a contract for 2012.

HWB Playoff Prediction: Not playoff bound. They will be exciting to watch in the first season in Winnipeg, but there are simply too many good teams ahead of them in the conference. When they move to the West next year, they could be a playoff contender should they continue to get better.

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Hockey World Blog Season Previews 2010: Atlanta Thrashers

Sep 12

Posted by Eddie in Season Previews | No Comments

Key Offseason Losses: Johan Hedberg, Colby Armstong, Maxim Afinogenov, Pavel Kubina, Slava Kozlov

Key Offseason Additions:Ben Eager, Andrew Ladd, Chris Mason, Fredrik Modin, Dustin Byfuglien

Last Season Ranking: 10th place, East

Offense: This is a franchise that had superstars Ilya Kovakchuk and Dany Heatley, and they still couldn’t produce more than successful season. Bryan Little is the only player to score over 30 goals for the Thrashers. He scored 31 in 2009 and 13 last year. Which Bryan Little will show up this season? The top line is expected to be anchored by Nik Antropov and newcomer Dustin Byfuglien with Niclas Bergfors on the left wing. Antropov and Byfuglien will be counted on to have strong seasons like they did last season. It will be more difficult for Byfuglien because in Chicago he was surrounded by star players and could fly under the radar. In Atlanta, he will be one of the star players mostly due to his performance in the playoffs for Chicago. Look for fellow former Blackhawks Andrew Ladd and Ben Eager to make contributions to the Atlanta offense.

In his second year, Evander Kane will be one of the players to watch for Atlanta. Last season he played in 66 games, scored 14 goals and recorded 12 assists.

In his second year, Evander Kane will be one of the players to watch for Atlanta. Last season he played in 66 games, scored 14 goals and recorded 12 assists.

Defense: An area where the Thrashers needed to improve upon because they allowed 250 goals last season. That placed them 24th in the NHL, as their problem was letting opponents get quality looks at the net and being out-shot very frequently.  New coach Craig Ramsay will be implementing a 5-man defensive system. A former Selke award winner, Ramsay will depend on his forwards to backcheck on defense just as hard as they rush down the ice with the puck. They are lacking depth beyond the first pairing of Tobias Enstrom and Zach Bogosian due to Pavel Kubina signing with Tampa Bay. One upgrade they received was trading with the Blackhawks for shot blocker Brent Sopel.

Goaltending: They say that the goalie is only as good as the team in front of him. So when the Thrashers allowed 250 goals last season, Johan Hedberg bolted to New Jersey where he can backup Martin Brodeur and backup Ondrej Pavelec was put into the slot as No. 1. But the team management figured that Pavelec wasn’t ready to handle top goalie duties full-time, so they brought in 34-year-old Chris Mason from St. Louis to split time with Pavelec. Mason went 30-22-8 with the Blues, while Pavelec was 14-18-7. The big difference is Mason’s GAA was 2.53 while Pavelec’s GAA was 3.29. Not bad for someone who competed their first full season in the NHL. If the defense can play better, the goalies will play better. In return, the team could win more games instead of playing from behind so often.

Season Outlook: The best news to come out of the ATL was that GM Don Waddell was moving up to Team President while promoting his assistant Rick Dudley to GM. What Dudley did was hire Ramsay and take advantage of Chicago’s salary cap problems to get quality players Chicago wasn’t able to hold on to. They have the pieces there to make the playoffs, which they have done only once in team history. This might not be the season Atlanta makes the playoffs, but expect them to be a force on the Atlanta sports scene and the Southeast division in a couple of seasons.

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Fantasy Hockey Draft Preparation 2010 – Centers

Aug 26

Posted by Chris in Fantasy | No Comments

With NHL training camps set to begin about four weeks from now, it’s time for fantasy hockey managers to start reengaging their brains and begin planning for their upcoming Fantasy Hockey Draft. Most drafts will take place in the latter-half of September, but it’s never too early to start looking for that gem of a late-round pick, the underrated talent who is set for a breakout season or the veteran presence who is due for a rebound year.

Today’s position: Center

The bad news is that not everyone can have Sidney Crosby on their team, but the good news is that Center is probably the deepest position in Fantasy Hockey, which means that there are plenty of other very talented Centers available to pick that will help your team thrive. While there is such a deep pool of talent at Center, here are a few names to consider when you’re making your draft preparations.

If You Have a Top 3 Pick – Take Crosby. While he may have dropped 20 or so assists from his previous season, he added those points back in goals. Crosby also tallied 78 penalty minutes and a plus-15, which makes him a very versatile player.

If You Can’t Take Crosby – Consider Joe Thornton. Twenty or more goals and 60 or more assists in each of his past five seasons. Thornton has also playearticle_29887_2d in all 82 games in three of his past four seasons. Just call him Mr. Consistent and take him without hesitation is he’s available.

The Secret Is Out On – Nicklas Backstrom (pictured). Thirty-three goals and 68 assists are impressive, but a plus-37 makes him a huge threat. Look to take Backstrom early, probably in the first round, because he won’t fall very far after his breakout campaign last season.

Still Under the Radar Is – Mikko Koivu. Koivu has steadily been increasing his production year after year and has become the new face of the Minnesota Wild. With 22 goals and 49 assists last season, Koivu still flies under the radar behind some bigger, meaner talent.

Look for a Rebound Season From – Jason Spezza. Okay, so 57 points in 60 games isn’t much of a drop off as much as it is bad luck with injuries, but Spezza is capable of 90+ points in a full injury-free season. With a puck-moving defenseman like Sergei Gonchar now on the point for Ottawa’s power play, expect Spezza to shine again.

Look for a Breakout Season From – Bryan Little. After a successful 50+ point campaign two years ago, Little suffered a bit from the dreaded sophomore slump. Expect Little to be a big part of Atlanta’s young offensive core this season as the team looks to stay competitive in a post-Ilya Kovalchuk era.

Keep An Eye On – Tyler Bozak. Bozak spent a lot of his time centering Phil Kessel on the top line last season and tallied eight goals and 19 assists in 37 games. Definitely put Bozak on your watch list and keep an eye out for good things to happen if he gets to play alongside Kessel for a full season.

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