BRENT BURNS FOR YOU
I will freely acknowledge my skepticism when Brent Burns made his return to the San Jose Sharks lineup as a forward (and promptly scored a goal). Really, I still am a little reluctant to believe that he’ll stay there for a significant amount of time.
With those concerns aside, it’s pretty tough not to recommend him as at least a short-term fix.
Beyond his impressive two-game production (two goals, one assist) and tantalizing talent, the draw with Burns is his talented linemates. So far, it looks like San Jose is throwing him out there with Joe Thornton and Logan Couture. That’s a pretty fantastic scenario for Burns; really, if he stays at forward and can stick with at least one of those two talented centers, he’ll be worth keeping an eye on. Burns might just help the Sharks differentiate their offense enough to stop taking on water, too.
BLUES NOTES
Thursday turned out to be a pretty promising day for another talented (but up-and-down) team: the St. Louis Blues. It goes beyond beating the Phoenix Coyotes 3-0, too, although that win bleeds into this discussion.
For one thing, Jake Allen ended up grabbing the 28-save shutout, the first donut of his NHL career. Much like Burns, I have some misgivings about Allen; even with Brian Elliott’s profound struggles, I have some trouble trusting a guy like Allen will stick around in a three-goalie scenario. Still, after that shutout and considering his nice production (plus a solid pedigree), I think he also shares Burns’ distinction of being a nice addition ... even if it’s just for the next week or two.
Alexander Steen came back to the lineup from the IR and made an immediate impact with a goal and two assists. He’s absolutely worth a look despite being a little fragile. His partner in crime Chris Stewart continues to have a resoundingly redemptive contract year, with two goals and one assist last night.
MULLING CULLEN
As Ryan Suter continues his strong play (three assists), I must admit it could be time to reassess a guy I summarily dismissed earlier this season: Matt Cullen.
While I’ve admired his respectable mix of talent and versatility in the past, he’s rarely put that together to be particularly interesting in fantasy terms. He's regularly clocked in around the 35-45 point mark with little in the way of peripherals.
This season, he has 17 points in 26 games. I have to admit I furrowed my brow trying to figure out why ... until I noticed that his $3.5 million cap hit expires after this season. How convenient.
Because of the contract year factor, he's far more interesting. I'd say you could probably do better (but could also do worse) than Cullen this season.
INJURY NOTES (full list) and QUICK HITS
On the bright injury side, Tuomo Ruutu and Tobias Enstrom returned to their respective teams’ practices on Thursday. Patrick Sharp pondered the possibility of skating for the first time since separating his shoulder, as well … Adam McQuaid is day-to-day with an undisclosed injury … Derek MacKenzie is day-to-day with an upper-body issue … Add Dmitry Kulikov (hand) to the eternally expanding list of Florida Panthers ailments … Al Montoya is day-to-day with a lower-body problem … Flu-like symptoms continue to float around nearly every team, so just make sure to monitor Rotoworld for late scratches and so on … After years of just being OK considering their situations, Pascal Dupuis and especially Chris Kunitz are really riding the Sidney Crosby gravy train in 2013.
Once the NHLPA signed off on the uneven but fairly logical (and time zone-friendly) realignment plan for the 2013-14 season - and a bit beyond - it was basically inevitable that the NHL’s Board of Governors would vote in favor of giving it the go-ahead.
This probably affects fantasy in the least more profound and most subtle ways. That’s especially true because it’s unlikely that this impacts anyone’s plans beyond absolutely the most obsessive keeper league guys who legitimately gave certain players tie breakers because they played in weaker divisions.
(Really, though, those guys’ attention to detail probably goes deep enough to open up the possibility of a realignment contingency plan.)
Click here for deeper details about the new plan, but here are the nitty gritty bits about who will be where:
Western Conference
Division "A"
Anaheim, Calgary, Edmonton, Los Angeles, Phoenix, San Jose and Vancouver
Division "B"
Chicago, Colorado, Dallas, Minnesota, Nashville, St. Louis and Winnipeg
Eastern Conference
Division "C"
Boston, Buffalo, Detroit, Florida, Montreal, Ottawa, Tampa Bay, Toronto
Division "D"
Carolina, Columbus, New Jersey, NY Islanders, NY Rangers, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh Washington
Again, this makes the smallest impact in fantasy of all the realms of the NHL, but let’s throw out a few thoughts anyway (while importantly acknowledging that it’s dangerous to judge realignment too much based on how teams are playing now since things can change rapidly in the salary cap era). Note: these will mostly be big picture, rather than particularly fantasy focused.
- Let’s pour out a 40 for the easier, simpler days when you could pencil in the Canucks for a Northwest Division title during prediction time. It was a good run.
- Seems like a solid break for the California teams: they get rid of the pesky Stars (who are starting to improve), kept with their state mates and got some (current) cupcakes in Edmonton and Calgary
- Life gets a touch easier for the Central Division teams, although losing the Detroit Red Wings’ attendance boost smarts.
- Winnipeg isn’t hilariously out of place anymore.
- The Stars get to stay in the Central time zone.
- The Red Wings and Blue Jackets are big winners for moving to a more travel (and time zone)-friendly situation in the East. In Columbus’ case, they get an improved chance of making the playoffs, even though the Blue Jackets will need to master that whole “actually being good” thing despite the changes. (They’ve shown some signs of doing so lately, at least.)
- Traveling wise, the Panthers and Lightning are in an awkward situation with Northeast Division teams plus Detroit. At least they’ll benefit at the box office, though.
- The days when Carolina and/or Washington lapped up the rewards of the terrible Southeast are coming to an end. Like their former Southeast mates, there are attendance perks and competitive drawbacks to these plans.
So there’s a smattering of observations about realignment. Surely you can tuck into other quarters of the Internet to delve even deeper than that, though.
Let’s move on to the worst news from Thursday.
BIG BLOWS
Teams suffered some tough injury blows yesterday.
Knee injuries ended both Alexander Sulzer and Kris Versteeg’s seasons. Versteeg’s just had putrid luck in 2013, which is a shame because he asserted himself nicely as a go-to guy with the Florida Panthers last season.
While it might not be of the season-ending variety, it’s still frustrating to see Vincent Lecavalier placed on the IR and out indefinitely with a lower-body issue of his own. He just started to somewhat justify all the excessive praise and pay he’s received the last several years this season, but the aging star’s health is becoming a more persistent problem as time goes on.
Read about a variety of fantasy hockey issues and observations after the jump.
BRENT BURNS FOR YOU
I will freely acknowledge my skepticism when Brent Burns made his return to the San Jose Sharks lineup as a forward (and promptly scored a goal). Really, I still am a little reluctant to believe that he’ll stay there for a significant amount of time.
With those concerns aside, it’s pretty tough not to recommend him as at least a short-term fix.
Beyond his impressive two-game production (two goals, one assist) and tantalizing talent, the draw with Burns is his talented linemates. So far, it looks like San Jose is throwing him out there with Joe Thornton and Logan Couture. That’s a pretty fantastic scenario for Burns; really, if he stays at forward and can stick with at least one of those two talented centers, he’ll be worth keeping an eye on. Burns might just help the Sharks differentiate their offense enough to stop taking on water, too.
BLUES NOTES
Thursday turned out to be a pretty promising day for another talented (but up-and-down) team: the St. Louis Blues. It goes beyond beating the Phoenix Coyotes 3-0, too, although that win bleeds into this discussion.
For one thing, Jake Allen ended up grabbing the 28-save shutout, the first donut of his NHL career. Much like Burns, I have some misgivings about Allen; even with Brian Elliott’s profound struggles, I have some trouble trusting a guy like Allen will stick around in a three-goalie scenario. Still, after that shutout and considering his nice production (plus a solid pedigree), I think he also shares Burns’ distinction of being a nice addition ... even if it’s just for the next week or two.
Alexander Steen came back to the lineup from the IR and made an immediate impact with a goal and two assists. He’s absolutely worth a look despite being a little fragile. His partner in crime Chris Stewart continues to have a resoundingly redemptive contract year, with two goals and one assist last night.
MULLING CULLEN
As Ryan Suter continues his strong play (three assists), I must admit it could be time to reassess a guy I summarily dismissed earlier this season: Matt Cullen.
While I’ve admired his respectable mix of talent and versatility in the past, he’s rarely put that together to be particularly interesting in fantasy terms. He's regularly clocked in around the 35-45 point mark with little in the way of peripherals.
This season, he has 17 points in 26 games. I have to admit I furrowed my brow trying to figure out why ... until I noticed that his $3.5 million cap hit expires after this season. How convenient.
Because of the contract year factor, he's far more interesting. I'd say you could probably do better (but could also do worse) than Cullen this season.
INJURY NOTES (full list) and QUICK HITS
On the bright injury side, Tuomo Ruutu and Tobias Enstrom returned to their respective teams’ practices on Thursday. Patrick Sharp pondered the possibility of skating for the first time since separating his shoulder, as well … Adam McQuaid is day-to-day with an undisclosed injury … Derek MacKenzie is day-to-day with an upper-body issue … Add Dmitry Kulikov (hand) to the eternally expanding list of Florida Panthers ailments … Al Montoya is day-to-day with a lower-body problem … Flu-like symptoms continue to float around nearly every team, so just make sure to monitor Rotoworld for late scratches and so on … After years of just being OK considering their situations, Pascal Dupuis and especially Chris Kunitz are really riding the Sidney Crosby gravy train in 2013.