Fantasy Hockey Notes 11/03/2009

- Don't look now, but the Flyers suddenly have even more good young talent.   James van Riemsdyk and David Laliberte are playing on the top line with Jeff Carter and looking very impressive.  While Laliberte has only played in two games, he has three points (2 goals) while highly touted winger van Riemsdyk has 2 goals and 11 assists in 10 games.  Its too early to tell if these two will continue this hot streak throughout the season, but odds are they're both on the waiver wire right now and both will get considerable playing time while Simon Gagne is out. Gagne is expected to remain out of the lineup till January.

(Photo by AP)

- First Evgeni Malkin, now Alexander Ovechkin.  The best hockey player in the world is not day to day, but week to week due to an upper body injury.  The Caps are being pretty secretive about this injury, which is never good.

- Predators defenseman Shea Weber will be out of the lineup for the next week or two with a foot injury.  Weber is currently leading the Preds in goals and this comes as a big hit for a team struggling to find offense.

- As the saying goes, when it rains, it pours.  Jonathan Ericsson, Niklas Kronwall and Brian Rafalski all sat out practice on Monday due to the flu.  The next two Wings games are at the Joe, but against Boston and then the Sharks on Thursday.

- Mike Modano returned to practice and is expected to play on Wednesday.  Jere Lehtinen also returned and is expected to play on the Stars top line tomorrow.

- Senators center Jason Spezza is doubtful to play against the Lightning on Thursday.  The first line center has been dealing with an upper body injury and has missed two games already because of it.  If you're looking for a suitable replacement, you won't have to look far as Mike Fisher has been filling in admirably.  Fisher has 3 goals and 4 assists in his last 6 games.

- The Kings top line of Anze Kopitar, Ryan Smyth and Justin Williams continued to roll last night in Phoenix.  They factored in on 4 of the 5 goals in their 5-3 win.

- The Lightning has shaken up their lines a bit moving Vincent Lecavalier to the second line with Drew Miller and Stephane Veilleux, while Martin St Louis and Steven Stamkos have been reunited.  Alex Tanguay has also been moved back down to the third line.  Call me crazy, but putting your franchise center on a line by himself and moving Tanguay to the third line isn't a good way to get them going.

- Blues forward Andy McDonald crashed hard into the boards this weekend going head first.  It looked pretty serious but McDonald is saying he's okay.  No word on how much time, if any, he'll miss.


Posted Nov 03 2009, 09:12 AM by Nick Fruscello

Comments

HockeyBurgh wrote re: Fantasy Hockey Notes 11/03/2009
on Sat, Nov 7 2009 3:41 AM

The best player in the world has an upper body injury? Crosby looked fine the last time I saw him play. You better check the injury wire again.

Nick Fruscello wrote re: Fantasy Hockey Notes 11/03/2009
on Sat, Nov 7 2009 1:49 PM

Ha!  Funny.  The best player hockey = Alexander Ovechkin.  No doubt about it.

Buc Fever wrote re: Fantasy Hockey Notes 11/03/2009
on Mon, Nov 9 2009 7:21 PM

The best FANTASY hockey player...;) No doubt about that...but overall, Crosby gets the nod.

Nick, what's the deal with Slava Kozlov? I drafted him in a standard yahoo roto league and he's been a major disappointment. I'm thinking about dropping him...but every time I go to pick someone else up, I look at the 2008-2009 stats and just can't fathom giving up on 70+ points, 40+PPP this early! My LW add options are: James Van Riemsdyk, Rene Bourque, or Wojtek Wolski. I'm tempted to go with JVR, but again...Slava's huge numbers from last year have me worried. Thoughts?

Nick Fruscello wrote re: Fantasy Hockey Notes 11/03/2009
on Tue, Nov 10 2009 7:54 AM

Sorry Buc Fever, I'm going to have to disagree.  Ovechkin is a better all around player.  Teams key on him every game and he still produces 50-60 goal seasons.  Crosby hasn't recorded a single point since Malkin went down with an injury, making him the focal point of the offense.

I would add JVR in a second.  He's getting some solid minutes on the Flyers top lines.  I've never been a big Kozlov fan.  I've always felt he's overrated.  Yeah, he put up a 70+ point season last year, but the year before that he had a 41 point season.  Just my personal preference, but I would drop him for JVR.