MISC.
Braden Holtby again asserts his place as Washington’s No.1. He had a 35-save shutout this weekend … Tomas Vokoun might be the biggest disappointment among the most fantasy-relevant backups going into this season … Ray Emery owners won’t get to dance a jig at Corey Crawford’s expense, as the Blackhawks’ No. 1 showed few signs of ill health in an excellent win against the Detroit Red Wings on Sunday (extending the team’s point streak to 22 games) … I still get the feeling Jonas Hiller is going to push Viktor Fasth for starts. Nothing wrong with floating a sell-high offer here and there, although I’ll freely admit that his ceiling could be high if the Ducks keep this up … Ben Bishop and Robin Lehner are making Craig Anderson look a little less special, except the Ottawa Senators aren’t scoring enough to get them many wins lately … Kudos to Devan Dubnyk for Sunday’s performance. The Wild outshot the Oilers 18-0(!) in the second period, yet he didn’t allow a goal in the middle frame. He still lost thanks to getting little support from his teammates, but big DD seems like he might be a genuine NHL goalie.
NEIL AND WORSHIP
Look, I try to keep my own team(s) out of this because a) no one really cares about anyone else’s team and b) I devote WAY more time to researching the Dose than I do being a good “general manager.” (It’s a cruel irony of the gig, really.)
Still, I must single out a player I never thought I’d praise: Chris Neil. Normally, he’d be a fringe guy because of PIMs and half-decent scoring ability, but in a hits league, he’s a hidden gem.
Really, his six points are gravy because of his 68 PIM, 87 hits and even solid 46 SOG (just one less than Corey Perry.) One of these days I need to concoct the fantasy hockey version of baseball’s 30-30 club, and it will be inspired by multi-purpose goofs like Neil.
Also, he’s funny looking and something of a villain, which really puts him over the top.
INJURY NOTES (full list) and QUICK HITS
Joni Pitkanen (lower-body), Scottie Upshall (lower-body) and Dmitry Kulikov (hand) also suffered injuries in the Carolina-Florida home-and-home games … Evgeni Malkin is making progress in practice but needs at least a few more to be ready to try to return from a concussion. Hopefully he doesn’t rush back … Taylor Hall either tweaked his leg or didn’t want to face retribution for that Cal Clutterbuck cheap shot on Sunday … Thomas Vanek has an upper-body issue that forced him to miss two weekend games. It doesn’t sound like he’s far off, but you never know … Harry Zolnierczyk was suspended for four-games for a pretty filthy hit. He's eligible to return on March 13, but he's only relevant to fans of typo-friendly last names, not really fantasy owners ... Tye McGinn opted for surgery, so he'll miss an extra month. His absence makes Simon Gagne a better add, if nothing else … I must say, Artem Anisimov seems really driven upon a rapid return from a scary injury. Not only does he have a two-game goal streak, he fired nine SOG in two contests. Before that, he only had 33 in his first 15. Interesting … Kyle Palmieri got banged up on Saturday, so Andrew Cogliano was the latest winner of the Random Duck Hat Trick Sweepstakes … Kevin Bieksa’s groin injury flared up ... Brian Elliott hasn’t just come back to Earth from last season. I think he just discovered some oil … Looks like Erik Cole is settling in Dallas, he had his first goal. I’d venture that means Derek Roy’s a solid depth center in deeper leagues (one goal, two assists on Sunday) … Ryan O’Reilly’s season debut was pretty awful, but he’ll rebound. I don’t see him as a must-have fantasy asset anyway, though, so proceed with caution there … Martin Havlat is out with an undisclosed injury, so let’s just call it “being Martin Havlat.”
Last Tuesday, I argued that you should treat your goaltending rotation as an ever-changing collection. At the minimum, I espoused the virtues of keeping tabs on a group of “break glass in case of emergency” netminders.
(Another fun analogy is to consider yourself a director dealing with a bunch of volatile actors; you should always have Tobey Maguire on call in case Shia LaBeouf loses his mind and starts plagiarizing editorials about manliness. My biggest question is: which NHL goalie would be the best LaBeouf match?*)
This weekend might just be the biggest bullet point in the “Always keep your eye on alternate goalie options” Powerpoint presentation. Let’s take a look at the most interesting and important scenarios.
MEDICAL WARD
This weekend's duo of Carolina Hurricanes-Florida Panthers games were costly for both teams, even though the Canes won both games in regulation.
If you look at sheer star power (and ignore one of the most questionable Hart Trophy victories I can recall**), Carolina suffered the biggest loss. It’s too early to ID the exact damage, but it looks like Cam Ward hurt his ankle/groin/some spot on his lower-body after Justin Faulk went sprawling into him. I’d be a little more worried about an ankle because high-ankle sprains are the devil, but we’ll just have to see.
Let’s say Ward is out for quite a while. That leaves the Hurricanes with Dan Ellis, a younger system goalie or a trade option. For the sake of simplicity, I’ll just gander at Ellis.
Aside from being subjected to a solid Twitter meme, Ellis has been in the Josh Harding category of backups who seemed to periodically get on the cusp of being a No. 1 goalie. After receiving 44 starts and then 30+ for three more seasons, he settled into a more marginalized role with the Ducks for two seasons before ending up in Carolina.
Those small sample sizes have allowed him to put up the best numbers of his career since he dazzled as a rookie with the Nashville Predators in 2007-08 (23-10-3, six shutouts, .924 save percentage and 2.34 GAA). He’s only appeared in seven games this season, and while his record is mediocre (3-2-0), he’s put up great numbers with a .923 save percentage and 2.53 GAA.
That’s not many games to judge him on, but considering his contract year status, halfway decent track record and weak divisional opponents, he’s an appealing consideration if you want a third netminder.
THEODORE TORN
One game before Ward suffered what might be a troubling injury, Jose Theodore almost certainly had one that could end his season - and with that, probably his time as a Florida Panthers’ goalie. He’s contemplating surgery on a torn groin muscle, which the Panthers would be silly not to encourage considering their situation.
Like with Ward and Ellis, the Panthers are at a fork in the road.
They can opt to embrace the Roberto Luongo trade rumors and bring the former Panther back. Still, I don’t know if I’d do that if I were GM Dale Tallon; the Panthers aren’t really ready to compete (which would be the main reason to nab Bobby Lou) and Jacob Markstrom could very well be Cory Schneider 2.0.
At the very least, the Panthers would be wiser to see how far along Markstrom is in his development. Few believe that career backup Scott Clemmensen can win you games, yet Markstrom has held the title of Best Goalie Not in the NHL for some time now.
(Although, honestly, Viktor Fasth seemingly deserved the championship belt.)
For at least the moment, I consider Markstrom highly intriguing. While his numbers aren’t dazzling, this is his latest chance to end his time at the kids’ goaltending table in the AHL and really grab the job.
I see nothing wrong with grabbing the big Swede in deep leagues, even if it’s just to sample his wares.
Jump for a few other goalie considerations and other notes from around the league.
* - My gut says Ilya Bryzgalov. Both have received as much mockery as they have received acclaim. They might make similar amounts of money relative to their peers. Oh, and the weird intergalactic “Transformers” would totally make sense to Bryzgalov.
** - Jarome Iginla lost out on the Hart in a most unsettling way in 2001-02.
MISC.
Braden Holtby again asserts his place as Washington’s No.1. He had a 35-save shutout this weekend … Tomas Vokoun might be the biggest disappointment among the most fantasy-relevant backups going into this season … Ray Emery owners won’t get to dance a jig at Corey Crawford’s expense, as the Blackhawks’ No. 1 showed few signs of ill health in an excellent win against the Detroit Red Wings on Sunday (extending the team’s point streak to 22 games) … I still get the feeling Jonas Hiller is going to push Viktor Fasth for starts. Nothing wrong with floating a sell-high offer here and there, although I’ll freely admit that his ceiling could be high if the Ducks keep this up … Ben Bishop and Robin Lehner are making Craig Anderson look a little less special, except the Ottawa Senators aren’t scoring enough to get them many wins lately … Kudos to Devan Dubnyk for Sunday’s performance. The Wild outshot the Oilers 18-0(!) in the second period, yet he didn’t allow a goal in the middle frame. He still lost thanks to getting little support from his teammates, but big DD seems like he might be a genuine NHL goalie.
NEIL AND WORSHIP
Look, I try to keep my own team(s) out of this because a) no one really cares about anyone else’s team and b) I devote WAY more time to researching the Dose than I do being a good “general manager.” (It’s a cruel irony of the gig, really.)
Still, I must single out a player I never thought I’d praise: Chris Neil. Normally, he’d be a fringe guy because of PIMs and half-decent scoring ability, but in a hits league, he’s a hidden gem.
Really, his six points are gravy because of his 68 PIM, 87 hits and even solid 46 SOG (just one less than Corey Perry.) One of these days I need to concoct the fantasy hockey version of baseball’s 30-30 club, and it will be inspired by multi-purpose goofs like Neil.
Also, he’s funny looking and something of a villain, which really puts him over the top.
INJURY NOTES (full list) and QUICK HITS
Joni Pitkanen (lower-body), Scottie Upshall (lower-body) and Dmitry Kulikov (hand) also suffered injuries in the Carolina-Florida home-and-home games … Evgeni Malkin is making progress in practice but needs at least a few more to be ready to try to return from a concussion. Hopefully he doesn’t rush back … Taylor Hall either tweaked his leg or didn’t want to face retribution for that Cal Clutterbuck cheap shot on Sunday … Thomas Vanek has an upper-body issue that forced him to miss two weekend games. It doesn’t sound like he’s far off, but you never know … Harry Zolnierczyk was suspended for four-games for a pretty filthy hit. He's eligible to return on March 13, but he's only relevant to fans of typo-friendly last names, not really fantasy owners ... Tye McGinn opted for surgery, so he'll miss an extra month. His absence makes Simon Gagne a better add, if nothing else … I must say, Artem Anisimov seems really driven upon a rapid return from a scary injury. Not only does he have a two-game goal streak, he fired nine SOG in two contests. Before that, he only had 33 in his first 15. Interesting … Kyle Palmieri got banged up on Saturday, so Andrew Cogliano was the latest winner of the Random Duck Hat Trick Sweepstakes … Kevin Bieksa’s groin injury flared up ... Brian Elliott hasn’t just come back to Earth from last season. I think he just discovered some oil … Looks like Erik Cole is settling in Dallas, he had his first goal. I’d venture that means Derek Roy’s a solid depth center in deeper leagues (one goal, two assists on Sunday) … Ryan O’Reilly’s season debut was pretty awful, but he’ll rebound. I don’t see him as a must-have fantasy asset anyway, though, so proceed with caution there … Martin Havlat is out with an undisclosed injury, so let’s just call it “being Martin Havlat.”