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by Rafal Ladysz… What makes a good hockey fight? A knockout is always nice to see as a fan. Blood will get the adrenaline pumping for others. When all is said and done though, there has to be a mutual respect between the combatants.
Just over a week ago, Shawn Thornton displayed great class and respect during a fight. I’m hoping most NHL fans are just as pleased to see it as I am. In a matchup between the Boston Bruins and Montreal at the Bell Centre, Georges Laraque was making his debut for the Canadiens.
I don’t know if all of the fans were even in their seats, but Laraque and Thornton squared up less than three minutes in. Following a couple of swings, the big Laraque lost his balance and fell to the ice.
Where many would have either swung while he was down, or just pinned him to the ice, Thornton allowed Laraque back on his feet. Keep in mind, Laraque is one of the most feared fighters in the NHL.
“I’m not that guy to finish somebody off when they’re down,” Thornton said.
“I think there’s a lot of respect among us with our jobs. It’s a couple things — bad karma and too much respect for the job he does to throw punches while he’s on the ground. He threw a punch, lost his footing, and went over the top. His momentum took him down. I don’t think it’s fair to hit somebody when he’s on the ground. What goes around comes around. I wouldn’t want to be on the bottom with him throwing punches either.”
The actions of players like Ryan Hollweg and Chris Simon (in the past), are what give people the idea that hockey is a dirty, cheap, and trashy sport. Who can blame them?
You shouldn’t judge a sport by one game, however, many will. What if, the first game you watched was the Toronto Maple Leafs hosting the St. Louis Blues this year? You’d see Ryan Hollweg hitting rookie Alex Pietrangelo into the boards from behind.
This is an 18 year-old kid, and he’s getting cheap shotted by a fellow with a few year’s of NHL experience. It’s easy to think, ‘if this is how they treat their rookies, then I don’t even want to see what the veterans do to one another’.
It’s plays like this that give the game of hockey a bad reputation. Someone will eventually clean Hollweg’s clock and put him in his place. Of course, that’s if he actually has the nerve to fight someone.
In the meantime, Shawn Thornton’s code of ethics shown in the scrap with Laraque should be praised by fans and players. Hockey will continue to get a good name for itself through actions like this.
by Rafal Ladysz… What a week of hockey. Unfortunately, I lost the head-to-head in my fantasy league this week.
Nonetheless, there was some great action with a few milestones. Marian Hossa’s first goal as a Red Wing was the 300th in his career.
Add the fact that it was also the overtime winner, and Hossa is a happy guy.
Fabian Brunnstrom notched a hat-trick in his first NHL game with the Dallas Stars. Also, Lindy Ruff picked up his 400th career win behind the bench of the Buffalo Sabres on Wednesday.
Congratulations goes out to each individual.
HOT
Even at the age of 34, Paul Kariya can make plays with the best of them. After picking up a goal and an assist in Toronto on Thanksgiving Day (in Canada), he followed it up with two assists against Dallas, and one against the Chicago Blackhawks.
The TV is working, to say the least. Thomas Vanek will likely be chosen as the first star of the week on nhl.com. The Austrian totalled six goals and two assists in four matches. Three of his strikes were on the power play, and two were shorthanded. He was one of the main reasons I lost my head-to-head this week.
Sheldon who? Andrei Markov is the name you now hear when the Montreal Canadiens’ defense is brought up. How about that slap pass to Saku Koivu for an easy goal on Saturday against the Phoenix Coyotes? That was just one of the six assists he handed out in three games.
Philadelphia may be searching for the first victory of the season, but Simon Gagne is doing his part. With four goals already on the board, Gagne looks poised to crack at least 40 once again.
This Alexander Semin kid has one of the most wicked wrist shots I have ever seen. He continues to light the lamp for the Washington Capitals. Marc-Andre Fleury had the unfortunate experience of being frozen when Semin fired a wrister to the top corner after a quick faceoff win by the Capitals.
Nicklas Lidstrom and Brian Rafalski are making it look easy on the back-end for the Detroit Red Wings. The opening-night loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs was ugly, but Detroit appears to be back in form. Both Lidstrom and Rafalski, contributed four points in the last three matches.
Minnesota Wild fans may have found their dangerous duo. Antti Miettinen and Mikko Koivu have just pummelled their Eastern Conference opponents the last few days. Miettinen totalled six points (four goals, two assists), while Koivu notched one goal along with six assists. Mind you, five of those points came from one game in Florida.
They’re back. Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin combined for 13 points. Toronto fans had the discomfort of witnessing each rack up four points on Saturday.
With the Calgary jersey on, Todd Bertuzzi’s play is certainly reflecting the Flames’ logo. Big Bert struck four times, with three coming while on the man advantage. The question on everyone’s mind has to be: Can he keep it up?
Joe Sakic, Paul Stastny, or Ryan Smyth—If you have any of these fellas on your fantasy roster, chances are it was a good week. The Colorado Avalanche are scoring plenty of goals. If it continues, so will the great numbers for these three.
He’s two for two. Marc Savard is in the hot section for the second consecutive week. Along with assists, Boston’s center is also putting up goals. In just two matches, Savard scored twice and added three assists. If his scoring stays like this—look out, NHL!
As I mentioned earlier, Fabian Brunnstrom scored three goals in his NHL debut, making him only the third player in history to accomplish this. Luckily, I managed to pick him up in my fantasy league. He struck again on Saturday with a power-play goal against Colorado.
With Marek Zidlicky off to Minnesota, Shea Weber appears ready to run the show for the Nashville defense. He scored 17 goals two years ago, and with six points in four matches, he could set new career highs in a few categories.
Seven points apiece for Patrick Kane and Patrick Sharp in four contests. These guys were great last year on a line with Jonathan Toews. You can call Toews the missing link thus far.
NOT
Never mind the record. The Philadelphia Flyers aren’t performing to the extent they are capable of, given their great group of youngsters. Most recently, their 5-4 overtime loss in San Jose saw them total only 17 shots with Antero Niittymaki standing on his head for the Flyers.
Who will get their magical first victory sooner—Philadelphia, or the Tampa Bay Lightning? Tampa’s goaltender has been absolutely peppered with shots in every game the Lightning have played. What’s worse is the fact that Vincent Lecavalier and Marty St. Louis aren’t producing like they normally do on a poor Lightning team. Uh oh.
Marty Turco looks like anything but a star in the early season. He’s allowed a combined 14 goals in the last three contests, with a save percentage under .800 in each. Fortunately for him, Brunnstrom recorded a hat-trick in the one game he did win.
He didn’t post quite as ugly numbers as Turco did, but Ilya Bryzgalov was hammered this week as well. He too, allowed 14 goals in three starts, which all resulted in losses for the Phoenix Coyotes.
Stanley Cup Champions two years ago. First-round exiters last season. Will the Anaheim Ducks see any postseason action this time around? A 1-5 record is hard to look at. At least none of their players are out of the lineup thinking about retiring.
Henrik was fine, but Daniel Sedin was nowhere to be found this week. Zeros all across the board on his statsheets in the last three games.
Victory against the Red Wings is the only things Toronto Maple Leafs fans can brag about right now. They’ve gone winless since the upset against Detroit. To their credit, they have played well. However, there’s nobody that has put the puck away consistently.
Hot or Not’s shocker of the year thus far: Alexander Ovechkin went scoreless in three games, tallying just one assist. His two goals on the season came against the Blackhawks.
Following a great opening week, David Booth went pointless for the Florida Panthers. He’s still young and in the learning process. Don’t give up on this talented winger.
A lot of goaltenders in the not section this time around. Miikka Kiprusoff hasn’t had a save percentage above .900 in any game this year. Calgary has always relied on his goaltending for the outcomes. If these numbers don’t improve, it may be time to start depending on the offense.
With a low-scoring New York Islanders team, Mark Streit could very well lead the team in points at the end of the year. Minus-three was the only number that stuck out on his statsheet.
by Rafal Ladysz… Another day of World Cup 2010 qualifying, and the action will continue Wednesday, October 15th. I hope everyone’s country faired well in their group match. Now, we’ll do a thumbs up, thumbs down for those that impressed, and those that didn’t.
Again, I won’t go into all of the matches like Denmark hosting Malta. Victory for Denmark was expected there.
Thumbs Up
Anything short of victory would have crushed Switzerland supporters after losing to Luxembourg last month. A 1-1 tie with Latvia and it looked like as if another disappointing result was in the makings. However, Blaise N’kufo headed in a free-kick a minute after Latvia had tied the game to grab three much needed points.
I finally get to cheer about my team’s performance in qualifying. Poland defeated the Czech Republic 2-1 at home, in a battle between two teams expected to lead Group Three. Jakub Blaszczykowski maneuvered past three Czech players to set up the first goal, and then fired home the winner with a smooth chip shot over Petr Cech.
Just because a team is expected to top the group doesn’t mean it will happen. Slovenia scored two goals in the span of a minute to crush Northern Ireland’s hopes late in the match. With two wins, and a tie, they currently sit atop Group Three alongside Poland.
Injuries aside, Russia put up a strong performance in Germany. They gave the Germans all they could handle, but fell short in the end, losing 2-1. Had the likes of Roman Pavlyuchenko and Dimitri Torbinsky been on the pitch for the Russians, it might have been a different outcome.
You can never count these fellas out of any match. Turkey erased a 1-0 deficit and struck twice in the second half from set pieces, defeating a spirited Bosnia-Herzegovina side.
No defeats in 26 matches for Spain. The Spaniards kept their 100 percent record intact with a 3-0 win in Estonia. Juanito, David Villa, and Carlos Puyol did the honours in this one. Four goals in three matches for David Villa as he continues to show his class.
After suggesting that countries should have points deducted for rascist fans, Rio Ferdinand opened the scoring in Wembley against Kazakhstan. He got on to the end of a Frank Lampard corner-kick and headed it home at the far post.
What a strike that was by Yoann Gourcuff. His bullet of a shot rattled off the crossbar before going in and earned France a 2-2 tie in Romania. Is Raymond Domenech safe for a few more days?
Serbia made sure that Lithuania wouldn’t win a third straight shocker. Following wins against Romania, and Austria, the Lithuanians had little to offer against the Serbs. Nikola Zigic missed a spot-kick in the second half, but made amends with an 82nd minute header to give Serbia three goals and three points.
It was a touch of class indeed, when Klaas-Jan Huntelaar struck a hard low shot from the left to give Holland a 2-0 lead against Iceland. With Ruud Van Nistelrooy’s international retirement, Huntelaar may be the next big thing up front for the Dutch.
Thumbs Down
Three matches, three scoreless sheets for David Healy. He came out of nowhere in Euro 2008 qualifying with 13 goals to lead all players. Now that he’s no longer Northern Ireland’s secret weapon, defenders are keeping a better eye on him.
When Ashley Cole sent a lob pass right to the path of Zhambyl Kukeyev for an easy finish, he didn’t hear the end of it from the English fans. The goal cut England’s lead to 2-1, but they would restore cheers with three more goals in the late stages of the match.
Romania looked ready to destroy France scoring two goals less than twenty minutes in. To the credit of Les Bleus, they came back to secure a point. All that remains for the Romanians is what could have been.
One has to wonder if Austria’s opening match win against France was a fluke. Since that first match, they have lost to Lithuania, and tied the Faroe Islands yesterday. It was the first competitive point earned by the Faroes in three years.
Despite the easy group, Italy were held to a 0-0 draw in Bulgaria. Yes, the Bulgarians do have Martin Petrov and Dimitar Berbatov, but the Italians have how many quality players?
Are you kidding me? How on earth did Chris Iwelumo miss the open net from about three yards out? I think it’s safe to say any one of Bleacher Report’s writers could have put that ball into the back of the net.
Missed opportunities were the big story for Sweden in their match with Portugal. Johan Elmander missed not one, not two, but three great chances in the first half that could have given the Swede’s an even better victory than Denmark’s last month.
The wheels may be falling off for Croatia. Among the troubles are the 4-1 loss to England the previous match, Luka Modric struggling in the EPL, and now a scoreless draw in Ukraine. The Croatians sit in third place in Group Six.
by Rafal Ladysz… It’s that time again.
Players get a week off from their respective clubs and put on their country’s colours in hopes of making their fans proud.
Here are some of the World Cup 2010 qualifying matches you should keep an eye on this weekend.
Sweden vs Portugal
Cristiano Ronaldo is back for Portugal, which looks to bounce back from a home defeat to Denmark last month. Zlatan Ibrahimovic and company will look to match the success of their Scandinavian neighbours in Stockholm. Deco and Maniche will sit out due to injuries, as will Henrik Larsson for the Swedes.
Luxembourg vs Israel
It may seem dull on paper, but this is a match that could turn up some surprises. Israel has yet to lose, while Luxembourg are coming off a shocking victory in Switzerland. If it’s available on your television, give it a shot.
Switzerland vs Latvia
If you’re a Swiss fan, then you realize this is a make or break game for your squad. After tying Israel in the first match of qualifying, Switzerland was defeated at home by Luxembourg. A win, and only a win, will bring hope back to this country.
Poland vs Czech Republic
FIFA has reached an agreement with Poland to allow them to still host Euro 2012 and play their next qualifying matches. No nightmares off the pitch, but there could very well be one on it. The Poles have played poorly thus far in qualifying and the Czech’s will look to show that they are numero uno in Group Three.
Germany vs Russia
A superb opportunity for the Russians to pass Germany after they were held to a 3-3 tie in Finland last month. However, with Roman Pavlyuchenko, Denis Kolodin, and Dmitry Torbinsky on the shelf, the Germans should prevail.
Estonia vs Spain
Once again, this match is only worth watching to see the Spaniards play the game so beautifully. Estonia doesn’t have a shot—no offence—and David Villa should add to his goal total for Spain. Sergio Ramos, Fernando Torres, and Xavi Hernandez will all most likely get in on the action too.
Ukraine vs Croatia
Ukraine’s first real test in qualifying is to keep their unbeaten record. Croatia coach, Slaven Bilic, may change the formation from 4-4-2 to a 4-2-3-1 after they were hammered by England in the last match.
Romania vs France
A loss for France could mean the end of Raymond Domenech’s reign as head coach. Both squads were shocked in their opening matches, with France going down 3-1 to Austria, and Romania getting shutout 3-0 by Lithuania. In Euro 2008, the two tied 0-0 in their group match, and the same result could appear tomorrow.
Serbia vs Lithuania
In my opinion, the story of qualifying so far has been Lithuania. After defeating Romania 3-0, and Austria 2-0, the Lithuanians will look for a third straight upset in Serbia. Nikola Zigic will lead the way up front for the Serbians, who are in desperate need of a win.
These matches should all receive considerable attention at the least.
Tomorrow, I will return with my thumbs up and thumbs down for the World Cup 2010 qualifying matches.
Rafal Ladysz… I’m so eager for the season to start in North America that I’m literally counting the hours. The action in Europe was great, but the weekend is coming, and every team will get going.
Whether it’s for your team, or fantasy hockey, there’s still plenty of questions waiting to be answered for the upcoming season. I will go through every team in alphabetical order and pose a question for each about all sorts of different elements.
If you’d like to answer any, feel free to do so by commenting.
Anaheim Ducks
Is Chris Pronger going to get suspended this year?
All fantasy owners of Pronger have to be going through this in their heads. He’s made some dumb decisions in the past—to say the least—which have cost him a few games. Who can forget the old love tap with the foot on Ryan Kesler? His point production wasn’t too great last year either.
Atlanta Thrashers
Who is the No. 2 guy, offensively, on this squad?
Ilya Kovalchuk is going to carry the load once again. There’s a few options for who will possibly trail Kovy in point totals. Slava Kozlov can bounce back from last year and easily put up 70-plus points. Jason Williams put up nearly a point per game with Chicago last season, and packs a heavy shot too.
Let’s not forget Mathieu Schneider on the back end. He’ll be the go-to guy once again, and should put up solid numbers.
Boston Bruins
Is Patrice Bergeron ready to get back to work?
If preseason is any indication, he sure looks 100 percent. Bergeron has got so much talent and value to add to this team. If he’s healthy, your’e looking at Boston’s leading scorer throughout the season. Assists for Marc Savard, goals for Bergeron.
Buffalo Sabres
Can they make the jump back to the playoffs?
Last year was an experiment after losing Daniel Briere and Chris Drury. Buffalo nearly made the postseason, and their nerves should be settled for this year.
Calgary Flames
Is the second round of the postseason a possibility?
Calgary has been eliminated in the first round of the playoffs in each of the last three seasons. Anahem, Detroit, and San Jose have done the honours in those years. Kristian Huselius and Alex Tanguay gone. Mike Cammalleri and Todd Bertuzzi in. Better or worse?
Carolina Hurricanes
Is Sergei Samsonov going to keep up the good work in Carolina?
Justin William and Rod Brind’Amour are both going to miss a significant amount of time. Eric Staal, Ray Whitney, and Matt Cullen should be the leaders offensively. Samsonov found new life in Carolina after joining them in the middle of last season. With these injuries, he’s got to keep producing for the Canes. If he doesn’t, it could be all she wrote.
Chicago Blackhawks
Is this team for real?
It all looks good on paper. Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews, Patrick Sharp, Brian Campbell, Cristobal Huet, Duncan Keith, and Martin Havlat. The talent is certainly there—but can they make it happen?
Colorado Avalanche
Does Joe Sakic still have it in him?
There’s no denying Sakic has the ability to continue playing in the NHL. Can he still put up 80 points or more though? Injuries reduced his season last year and he still managed to put nearly a point per game. He isn’t your average Joe Schmoe, that’s for sure.
Columbus Blue Jackets
Can R.J Umberger shine in his new home?
In Philadelphia, Umberger was overshadowed by a number of players. In Columbus, he’ll get the chance to be one of the main men, along with Rick Nash and Kristian Huselius. With a terrific postseason behind him, Umberger could be ready for a career year.
Dallas Stars
Will Marty Turco avoid the Detroit curse?
Turco hasn’t faired well against Detroit throughout his career. However, taking the Red Wings to Game Six in last year’s Western Conference Final has got to boost his confidence. Perhaps Turco and the Stars will take the next step this year if the two teams meet again in the playoffs.
Detroit Red Wings
How many awards will they win this year?
What can you ask about the Detroit Red Wings? Rock solid every year. Always a threat to win the President’s Trophy and Stanley Cup. Plenty of players winning individual awards. The sky is the limit, and Marian Hossa will have something to say as well.
Edmonton Oilers
Mathieu Garon or Dwayne Roloson?
Garon seemed to have won the battle for No. 1 goaltender last season. It’s anyone’s ball game this year though, and Roloson has the ability to go on good or bad streaks. It’ll be interesting to see for the Oilers.
Florida Panthers
Can Bryan McCabe get the world off of his back?
A fresh start for McCabe awaits with the Florida Panthers. He can either bring back the offense from the blue line that made him a fan favourite, or feed the other team the puck and get plenty of boos. Maybe he’ll think they’re cheering Boooooth, for David Booth.
Los Angeles Kings
Is 29th place a pipe dream?
Once again, Los Angeles is coming off a last-place finish in the NHL. Anze Kopitar, Alexander Frolov, and Dustin Brown are the names that’ll appear on scoresheets most often. Patrick O’Sullivan just signed a three-year extension today—which is great news, considering he’s turning into quite the overall player.
Minnesota Wild
Can Marian Gaborik stay healthy for two consecutive seasons?
A full season of Gaborik means plenty of danger for the opposition. Gaborik played nearly all of last season, and put up career numbers across the board. Who can forget the five-goal game against the New York Rangers? If he’s healthy, Minnesota is deadly.
Montreal Canadiens
Has Carey Price learned his lesson?
Yes, he’s got great mental fortitude and doesn’t let goals get to his head. However, last year R.J Umberger in particular made Price’s postseason a living nightmare in the second round. Price let in some soft goals, but the experience should serve him well.
Nashville Predators
Is Dan Ellis ready to take over in Tennessee?
Ellis took the starting job from Chris Mason last year, and posted some tremendous numbers along the way. His play in the first round of the playoffs against the Red Wings was especially unreal.
New Jersey Devils
Martin Brodeur, Zach Parise, and..?
When Martin Brodeur retires, this team is in serious trouble. He did pretty much all of the work again last season, and Zach Parise was the only real scoring threat up front. Guys like Patrik Elias and Brian Gionta need to regain their 30-goal form.
New York Islanders
The Rocket Richard trophy goes to..?
Well, it most likely won’t go to anyone from the Islanders team. Mike Comrie is their only real decent scoring threat, and Bill Guerin fell right off last season. However, Kyle Okposo and Frans Nielsen have a chance to prove themselves. Mark Streit will be the new powerplay quarterback for the Isles.
New York Rangers
Can Markus Naslund come back in full force?
Naslund tallied two points in the two matches in Europe, and looked like his former self for the first time in quite a while. Only two games in, things are certainly looking up for the Swede.
Ottawa Senators
Is Alex Auld finally a starter?
Martin Gerber looked shaky, and Alex Auld looked great in Stockholm. It’s a shame he couldn’t get the shutout, but I think he’s still a safe bet for starting the next Senators game.
Philadelphia Flyers
Will the C on Mike Richards stand for captain or choke?
A lot of money and responsibility is coming towards Mike Richards. After signing a long-term contract, and being named captain of Philadelphia, he’s got to answer the call and show that last year was no fluke. Players have performed badly in the past after signing big contracts.
I know Alan Bass is looking closely at this. Personally, I like Richards. He’s a hard worker. He plays on the power-play and penalty kill. Scores goals. Throws hits. Gets in your face. He’s basically the total package, and I’m looking forward to seeing him beat last year’s great totals.
Phoenix Coyotes
Is this the season that nobody scores a highlight-reel goal in their arena?
I don’t mean to disrespect the Coyotes, but I just have to mention this. In 2005-06, Ovechkin scored on his back in Phoenix. In 2006-07, Crosby scored on his rear end. Last year, Rick Nash went through two defensemen and the goalie.
The Coyotes have been posterized by some individual in each of the last three seasons. More humiliating is the fact that each goal took place in their arena.
Pittsburgh Penguins
Who will be Sergei Gonchar and Ryan Whitney’s replacements?
Kris Letang was probably the answer that came to most people’s minds. I’ve got another name for you, though—Alex Goligoski. I’m not sure why he wasn’t in the lineup for the season opener, but he was included in the roster for the second game in Sweden.
Goligoski scored Pittsburgh’s lone goal. It was meaningless, but the kid showed his great offensive instincts and promises to be a rookie sensation.
San Jose Sharks
Who will rebound?
Jonathan Cheecho, Milan Michalek, and Patrick Marleau all struggled last season. Will any of them rebound this year? Whoever has Joe Thornton for a linemate will have the best hope of achieving that.
St. Louis Blues
Can Brad Boyes repeat the feat?
Boyes tallied 43 goals last season and became a huge surprise for plenty of fantasy-league owners. The line of Boyes, Paul Kariya, and Andy McDonald looks great on paper, and the three should be even better this season.
Tampa Bay Lightning
Was anything solved in the summer?
Vincent Lecavalier, Martin St. Louis, Vaclav Prospal, Steven Stamkos, Radim Vrbata, Ryan Malone. The roster looks great—but this team would’ve been embarrassed in Europe had it not been for their goaltending.
Lecavalier, St. Louis, and Prospal will all lead the way again. Will anyone join them, though?
Toronto Maple Leafs
Besides Nik Antropov, who will score 20 goals?
Mats Sundin is gone, and the Leafs need all the offense they can get. Nik Antropov should crack the 20-goal mark again and even possibly hit 30. Jason Blake, Alex Steen, and Matt Stajan all have to step it up in the absence of Sundin.
Vancouver Canucks
Will there be more offense this season?
Vancouver struggled to score last year, and brought in the likes of Pavol Demitra, Steve Bernier, and Kyle Wellwood in hopes of solving that issue. Ryan Kesler was on a line with less than tremendous players and still hit 20 goals last year. I wonder which lucky player gets to play with the Sedins.
Washington Capitals
Is Jose Theodore ready to take Washington back to the promised land?
The Capitals made the postseason last year behind some stellar goaltending from Cristobal Huet. Why did they let him go? I have no idea. Jose Theodore is the new starter now and we’ll see if he can outdo Huet’s performances.
by Rafal Ladysz… Some may feel that the NHL season doesn’t really start until October 9.
Truthfully, I feel it will be more exciting when games in North America begin—but the season is underway after two days in Europe.
The Tampa Bay Lightning squared off against the New York Rangers in back-to-back matches in Prague, Czech Republic. Meanwhile, the Ottawa Senators got two early cracks at Sidney Crosby, along with the rest of the Pittsburgh Penguins team that eliminated them in last year’s playoffs.
Stockholm hosted their two encounters—and who makes an appearance? Mats Sundin. Of course, he has to remind us that he still hasn’t made up his mind. Starting now, I will do my best to write a weekly hot-or-not piece as the season progresses.
Fantasy hockey leagues allow me to follow every team and just about every player. The issue, if there is one, will be the time I have. My first edition won’t have much, with only four teams in action this week.
Here are some of the quick starters, and lousy finishers in the young season:
HOT
With Jaromir Jagr gone, Scott Gomez looks ready to lead the Broadway show. After picking up an assist in Saturday’s game, Gomez potted the game winner along with a helper in Sunday’s meeting with Tampa Bay.
Two games, two points. Not bad for Markus Naslund—considering many have given up on him. He displayed some great stick-handling in both matches, and his down-low feed to Wade Redden for a powerplay goal was superb.
Tampa Bay’s goaltending was the only impressive part of their performances in Prague. Mike Smith and Olaf Kolzig were outshot 80-40 overall in the two games, and both only conceded a goal each to keep the Lightning with any hopes of victory.
Henrik Lundqvist bagged two early wins to get the Rangers a strong start. He was particularly sharp in the first period of Game One, making a number of point blank saves. Not many shots came his way, but the King did his job.
The chances of Dany Heatley hitting another 50-goal, 50-assist campaign are greater than 50-50 for certain. Three power-play goals—two of which were typically precise.
Look out, folks—Jason Spezza is getting time on the penalty kill now, which means opposing teams have to keep an eye on him more. He netted a shorthanded goal in the first match, with a nice shot upstairs over Marc-Andre Fleury. Along with that, he set up Heatley for two of his three tallies on the weekend.
Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby put up two points against Ottawa. Malkin netted his first ever shorthanded goal, and Crosby had two helpers. Nothing special, I know. However, even in a slow start, they managed a point per game.
I was extremely upset when Alex Goligoski wasn’t in the Pittsburgh lineup for Saturday’s game, because I own him in a cash fantasy league. Today he got his shot, though, and didn’t fail to impress. The youngster showed great offensive instincts, and netted a power-play goal in the dying seconds of the game.
NOT
A whole new team, but the same old problems for the Tampa Bay Lightning. New York outplayed them thoroughly in both matches, and none of the big guys like Martin St. Louis, Vincent Lecavalier, or Vaclav Prospal stepped it up. In the final minute of Game Two, Lecavalier was in all alone on Lunqvist and missed the net. How often does that happen?
When Tyler Kennedy beat Martin Gerber with a routine shot 40 seconds into the game, you could see it wasn’t going to be Ottawa’s night. Even though they salvaged a point, Alex Auld got the start today and looked very solid. Goligoski’s last-gasp goal broke his shutout unfortunately.
He went from a terrible year to a great year—but is it back to bad for Nikolai Zherdev this season? He finished last season with a career high in points. Pointless in the first two outings, I’m hoping Zherdev doesn’t drop back to the gutters in his new home.
Ranger fans will have to learn the hard way that Dmitri Kalinin isn’t a defensive solution for them. He was a combined minus-two in Europe. Also, when St. Louis went right around the defender and scored, that was Kalinin standing there.
Like I mentioned, not much action to report on this week. Next week will be more in-depth and I’ll look forward to bringing another hot or not article.
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