While the Boston Bruins seem to be slowing down, a few other teams are almost as hot as the defending champions were.
I’ve covered the best options for the shockingly effective Florida Panthers already, but just in case you didn’t catch it, Jose Theodore, Tomas Fleischmann and Dmitry Kulikov are guys who might still be available as free agents despite their great work through the first quarter-plus of the season. The ship has almost certainly sailed on Kris Versteeg, Brian Campbell and Stephen Weiss, though.
Moving on, then, two Central Division teams come to mind for today’s Daily Dose.
First, let’s consider the Hitchcock-fueled St. Louis Blues. T.J. Oshie and Alexander Steen are two Blues forwards who are on a roll lately, although it’s important to note that they’re still quite far from a point-per-game with 19 in 28 contests.
Choosing between the two might be a bit of a challenge, though. Steen fires more shots on net while Oshie seemingly has a higher ceiling (although that might have as much to do with our imaginations as anything else since we’ve seen more of Steen). My gut reaction is to lean toward Oshie, even though Steen might be more reliable. Both are ultimately solid but unspectacular options.
Next up, we have the streaking Detroit Red Wings. It’s pretty tough to slip under the radar on one of the most famous hockey teams in the world, but if there’s one guy who is doing just that, it’s Valtteri Filppula. Corey Abbott already brought him to your attention on Dec. 4, but a leg laceration seemed like it might sideline him for a bit. Surprisingly, he only missed one game on Dec. 6 before scoring a goal and two assists against the Phoenix Coyotes on Thursday. Filppula has seven points in his last five, with 23 points in 26 games overall, but seems to be available in a solid amount of leagues (at least right now).
Now, I doubt that he’ll continue to connect on 20.5 percent of his shots for the rest of the season. Still, if he continues to get a ton of time alongside Henrik Zetterberg and Danny Cleary/Jiri Hudler, he’ll destroy his career-high of 40 points. It’s hard to tell exactly what his ceiling is, but if you’re hurting for a depth center, then look to a rare Red Wings center who is being neglected in fantasy hockey leagues right now. (I'd take him over the two Blues forwards for now, for what it's worth.)
SCARY INJURY FOR ST. LOUIS
Martin St. Louis took a puck to the face during practice and it sounds bad. He’s dealing with facial and nasal fractures, so he might be out for a significant amount of time. Then again, I must also throw out the “he’s a hockey player” caveat, so he might be back sooner than he really should. Stay tuned for updates because concrete information is currently scarce.
After the jump: suspension updates, goalie talk and injury bits.
While the Boston Bruins seem to be slowing down, a few other teams are almost as hot as the defending champions were.
I’ve covered the best options for the shockingly effective Florida Panthers already, but just in case you didn’t catch it, Jose Theodore, Tomas Fleischmann and Dmitry Kulikov are guys who might still be available as free agents despite their great work through the first quarter-plus of the season. The ship has almost certainly sailed on Kris Versteeg, Brian Campbell and Stephen Weiss, though.
Moving on, then, two Central Division teams come to mind for today’s Daily Dose.
First, let’s consider the Hitchcock-fueled St. Louis Blues. T.J. Oshie and Alexander Steen are two Blues forwards who are on a roll lately, although it’s important to note that they’re still quite far from a point-per-game with 19 in 28 contests.
Choosing between the two might be a bit of a challenge, though. Steen fires more shots on net while Oshie seemingly has a higher ceiling (although that might have as much to do with our imaginations as anything else since we’ve seen more of Steen). My gut reaction is to lean toward Oshie, even though Steen might be more reliable. Both are ultimately solid but unspectacular options.
Next up, we have the streaking Detroit Red Wings. It’s pretty tough to slip under the radar on one of the most famous hockey teams in the world, but if there’s one guy who is doing just that, it’s Valtteri Filppula. Corey Abbott already brought him to your attention on Dec. 4, but a leg laceration seemed like it might sideline him for a bit. Surprisingly, he only missed one game on Dec. 6 before scoring a goal and two assists against the Phoenix Coyotes on Thursday. Filppula has seven points in his last five, with 23 points in 26 games overall, but seems to be available in a solid amount of leagues (at least right now).
Now, I doubt that he’ll continue to connect on 20.5 percent of his shots for the rest of the season. Still, if he continues to get a ton of time alongside Henrik Zetterberg and Danny Cleary/Jiri Hudler, he’ll destroy his career-high of 40 points. It’s hard to tell exactly what his ceiling is, but if you’re hurting for a depth center, then look to a rare Red Wings center who is being neglected in fantasy hockey leagues right now. (I'd take him over the two Blues forwards for now, for what it's worth.)
SCARY INJURY FOR ST. LOUIS
Martin St. Louis took a puck to the face during practice and it sounds bad. He’s dealing with facial and nasal fractures, so he might be out for a significant amount of time. Then again, I must also throw out the “he’s a hockey player” caveat, so he might be back sooner than he really should. Stay tuned for updates because concrete information is currently scarce.
After the jump: suspension updates, goalie talk and injury bits.
SUSPENSION QUESTIONS ANSWERED
To little surprise, Alex Ovechkin didn’t get a suspension for “spearing” Chris Neil. It’s a bit more surprising that he didn’t even face a fine, but the NHL still works in somewhat mysterious ways with these decisions. (It’ll be interesting to see if Artem Anisimov will be as lucky for his “rifle” gesture from Thursday. The league seems to come down harder for gestures than hits and other actions, which can be troubling in certain instances. I mean, as ridiculous as Sean Avery's antics can be, it's pretty tough to believe that what he did was worse than what Kevin Porter was guilty of this week.)
SUTTON INDEFINITE
Here’s what we know right now: Andy Sutton is suspended. The thing is, the NHL currently labels his suspension as “indefinite.” My guess is that Brendan Shanahan realizes that Sutton is the rare multiple-offender who delivered an over-the-line hit for two consecutive months. This could be a “precedent setting” suspension, then, because it will show how harshly such frequent rule violators will be treated in the future. In that way, this situation is more important than losing Sutton, who isn’t particularly relevant from a fantasy perspective.
ONE GAME FOR VILLE
Ville Leino elbowed Matt Read in a fairly ugly incident, but perhaps the low-impact nature of the hit justifies it only being a one-game suspension. It’s not crazy to wonder if this suspension could benefit Leino in the long run. He’ll get a chance to sit back, assess the situation and maybe get a little motivation to live up to the bloated contract he signed last summer.
FOUR GAMES FOR PORTER
Barring even more discipline for Sutton, Kevin Porter received the toughest punishment on Thursday. It might have something to do with David Booth being sidelined for 4-6 weeks, but either way, the Colorado Avalanche winger will have a long time to think about his actions. It didn’t seem like an excessively brutal move, but knee-to-knee hits can often be of the “sneaky” variety.
GOALIE-CENTRIC QUICK HITS
Well, hopefully you were careful about adding Andrew Raycroft. He really struggled in the last two games, but he still should get some starts over the rest of the month. If Raycroft plays against the Kings on Saturday, he might be able to put up some respectable numbers. Then again, if the low-octane Kings thrash him, then it might be a clear sign that he’s not worth your time … Mathieu Garon started six of the last eight Lightning games. Things haven’t been going great in Tampa Bay, but he has a lot to gain if he can be in net when/if the situation improves … Niklas Backstrom didn’t return to the Wild net, which allowed Matt Hackett to improve to 2-0 in his NHL career. I’m still not certain he’ll be worth the trouble fantasy-wise, but you’d be silly not to monitor his progress just in case … Jose Theodore shut out the Boston Bruins last night. Let that sink in for a moment … Ilya Bryzgalov received back-to-back starts for Philly. This indicates that Sergei Bobrovsky’s value is rapidly declining … Roberto Luongo must be OK because he registered a win on Dec. 8.
INJURY SNIPES
Sidney Crosby apparently had a “headache” on Wednesday. Great … Brenden Morrow and Alex Goligoski are expected to return soon for the Dallas Stars … Travis Zajac might do the same for the New Jersey Devils, although he might take a little longer … Filip Kuba could be out about a month with a shoulder injury … From the Dept. of Irrelevant Backups: Henrik Karlsson will be out almost a month, too, so Leland Irving will be the guy watching Miikka Kiprusoff. (Click here for the full injury list.)
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