NHL Blog Roll

November 14, 2009 7:13am CST

DoubleEdgedSabres.com: Fantasy Focus: 11/8 - 11/14

Marty Vince, our Buffalo Sabres correspondent, offers some fantasy advice for Buffalo's games this weekend.

"Sat., Nov. 14 @ Philadelphia Flyers (9-4-1) 7:00 PM - We will see Ryan Miller play all three games this week. I'm almost 100% sure. He has to be absolutely devastated by his play, namely, the Darroll Powe and James van Riemsdyk goals from last Friday night. Historically, the Sabres never fare well during back to backs (0-3 this year), but last season when Miller played both ends, it was a different story. This should be a revenge game for the Sabres, while the Flyers will be coming off a Thursday home meeting with Ottawa. Any an all inclinations should lead you to believe this will be a train wreck of a performance by the boys in Blue and Gold, so play at your own risk (especially with 11 other games on the docket)."

Impact: Facing what should be a physical matchup against the Flyers this weekend, we are still waiting for Thomas Vanek and Derek Roy to find their full fantasy stride. Roy has 12 points through 15 games, which is a respectable mark, but his total of just three goals falls well below what owners hoped he could do after averaging 30 goals in each of the past two seasons. Vanek has had struggles of his own this season with eight points through 13 games. He missed some time after suffering an early upper-body injury and has yet to recapture the scoring pace he had last season when he lit the lamp 40 times. It's only a matter of time before these two start producing at a higher rate, but it might be tough to find a lot of offense against a tough Philadelphia squad.


SevenMinuteAvs.com: Colorado-Chicago Rivalry?

Adam Bieda, from our Colorado Avalanche blog, examines a potential rivalry in the making between Chicago and Colorado.

"Colorado and Chicago not only have great players but they have similar styles of play. They both play with speed and discipline. In fact, they are two of the fastest teams in the NHL. They also are two of the youngest teams in the NHL - Chicago is the second youngest team at 26.3 years. Colorado is the third youngest team at 26.6 years. What makes this comparison even better is Chicago's coach, Joel Quenneville, use to coach the Avs.

Colorado and Chicago are mirror images of each other, or at least that's what Avalanche fans are hoping… they are both young teams with a lot of upside. They are both entertaining to watch and they have the make-up to be great teams for years to come."

Impact: The young talent in Colorado has already made an impact at the NHL level with Matt Duchene and Ryan O'Reilly standing out. Duchene has contributed seven points while O'Reilly has been amongst the team leaders in scoring all year with four goals and 10 assists in his rookie season. An important fact to note is that the Avs leader in scoring thus far, Paul Stastny with 18 points, is still only 23-years-old. He made a huge impact on the league when he lit up box scores with 78 points in his rookie season, but skating in his fourth NHL season we could still see the young center take his game to another level. Keep an eye on the youngsters in Colorado as they could be a fantasy goldmine for many seasons to come.


FrozenRoyalty.com: Quick-tending!

Our Los Angeles Kings correspondent, Luke Banks, discusses the need for a reliable backup goaltender behind starter Jon Quick.

"Something has to give here in L.A. Quick is a good goalie, but he can not handle a heavy load the way Kipper or Brodeur do. Quick would be a much better goalie if he only played between 50 and 60 games. In my opinion Erik Ersberg isn't going to get 20 games and definitely not 30. If L.A. truly wants to make it to the playoffs they need to fix their backup goalie situation.

I would start by giving Steve Bernier a shot. He has played great in Manchester and is still considered the future in goal for the Kings. Bring him up and see how he fairs and if after five or six starts. Also I would make a move to acquire Marty Biron or Antero Niittymaki. If by the time the Kings make a decision and choose not to go with Bernier than maybe Kari Lehtonen is ready to return and help out. I had said earlier that acquiring Josh Harding, Jaroslav Halak, and or Cory Schneider was a waste of time, and to a point I am sticking to it, but perhaps picking up Halak, or Harding wouldn't be the end of the world either. They both can play more than the average backup so maybe they could help out so that if nothing else Quick could have a break every once and a while.

To me the fact is a solid backup goalie will likely be the biggest hurdle L.A. faces in getting back in to the playoffs. Having good goaltending game in game out is what this Kings need. Their defense is solid and as we saw Randy Jones seem to do just fine in his first game of the season scoring the game winning goal on the power-play (and adding an assist to go along with it). They also have Harrold, Martinez, Voinov, and Hickey ready to step in so they have lots of depth there. The offence is going to be fine as well. The key is really whether or not the goaltending can hold up."

Impact: Jon Quick came into the 2009-10 season with only 43 career starts under his belt. While he is extremely talented between the pipes, expecting him to take on more starts than he did last year (41) could lead to fatigue and cause a slide in his numbers. As Luke correctly states, Quick is probably better served as a 50-60 start goaltender which means Los Angeles needs to figure out the backup situation so they can rest their young netminder before he breaks down.


PuckRangers.com: Another Game and Yet Another Loss

Howie Sussman, our New York Rangers correspondent, looks into some of the injuries currently plaguing the New York squad.

"On the injury front, nothing new about Brandon Dubinsky and his hand, which is broken, and Chris Drury who is still suffering from post-concussion syndrome with no timetable for his return. Speaking of concussions, there seems to be a growing problem related to head shots. The league is forming a committee to look at this problem... The key I believe is to just make some adjustments to the elbow pads and shoulder pads which have been made into weapons to hurt instead of protection for the players who are wearing them.

One more note. It will be interesting to see how the goalies play next year with equipment which is more geared to their body instead of the oversized stuff they play with now. It will truly separate the great goalies who can perform without it from the average ones who needed the huge stuff in order to perform decently."

Impact: Injuries have ruled the day throughout the league and New York is no exception. After jumping out with eight points in the first eight games of the year, some owners took a flier on Brandon Dubinsky. Since the middle of October, the center's production has slowed before screeching to a halt thanks to a broken hand that will keep him off the ice for six weeks. Meanwhile, owners that drafted Chris Drury have been disappointed with his performance as he has only scored twice and assisted on four goals in 18 games this season. Drury has also missed time recently due to a concussion he suffered following a Curtis Glencross check. Owners should be aware that though these two are missing time, their woes started well before they landed on the IR. Dubinsky cooled off quickly following his hot start and Drury has yet to get going this season. Keep your expectations in check when these two eventually make it back in the lineup.


:FrozenNotes.com: Blues 6, Canucks 1 - Blues Finally Arrive from Sweden

Our St. Louis Blues correspondent, yours truly, breaks down the Blues' offensive explosion against the Vancouver Canucks earlier this week.

"Welcome to the 2009-10 season Brad Boyes. Held mostly in check the majority of the team's first 15 games, Boyes erupted along with the Blues last night, scoring a goal and adding three assists for four points on the night. Boyes needed to get his season going and last night might be just what he needs to start lighting the lamp on a regular basis.

Despite Boyes' four point night, the star of the game was David Perron, who scored three goals for the Blues' first hat-trick of the season. Perron's seven goals lead the team on the season, and his 11 total points tie him with Andy McDonald and Erik Johnson for the team lead. Speaking of Johnson, he recorded his first goal of the season, as well as an assist, to give him 10 helpers on the young season.

The contest was a physical one, as multiple fights broke out during this one. Cam Janssen was involved in two scraps, and put on quite a show for his hometown fans helping the club to 44 total penalty minutes for the St. Louis side while Vancouver earned a whopping 68 minutes in the box."

Impact: You can now exhale Brad Boyes owners. Scoring just two goals the first 15 games of the season, Boyes has found his scoring touch, recording one in the route of Vancouver and another in Thursday's loss to Nashville. He has notched five total points in the team's last two games, which is a positive sign for owners that took the Blues' right winger in hopes he could put up 72 points as he did a season ago. The Blues have skated in 17 contests and have a defender (Erik Johnson) tied for the team lead in scoring with Andy McDonald. Johnson owners should be loving the return they are seeing, but what this means is that the Blues' forwards have yet to really take off this season. Boyes' big night against the Canucks and tally against the Predators could mean he is set to go on a big point streak which means his buy low window is quickly closing.


David Rogers is an Associate Editor for Fanball.com Owner's Edge and Rototimes.com. You can follow also follow the happenings of the game of hockey on our Twitter Page: FanballNHL.