Tropic Thunder would say “Get Some”. The outdoor hockey game is always a fun one to watch, but it brings on a sense of exhibition, rather than a competitive in-season type of feeling. Regardless, Wrigley Field is a great venue to have it and we have two teams that are, at this particular moment—tearing up the league, with a combined record of 44 -17. Chicago looks to take down the Champs in their backyard, but look for the Swede driven Wings to come out sticks a blazing.

Fantasy outlook: Don’t look for a high scoring affair here. The very idea that they are playing outside is enough to garner a little bit of hesitation. With the weather set to be hovering at freezing the entire match, fantasy owners in daily leagues must take this into account. Start the stars (Hossa, Zetterberg, Datysuk, Kane, Toews, Rafalski), but be very cautious with the others. You really can’t justify sitting the aforementioned. Rusty and slow is my prediction in this winter classic. Bringeth the Fury!

A game after Joe Thornton’s 7 game point scoring streak was snapped, he broke out with 4 points 1 G 3 A, all coming before the drop of the puck in the third period. This scoring outburst puts Thornton at the 30 point plateau as San Jose continues to make opponents look silly. Thornton has been somewhat of a question mark until recently and in his last 9 games he has accumulated 18 points. Now I’m no John Nash, but that is equivalent to 2 points per game, which is where fantasy owners would like Thornton to stay. Big Joe goes through scoring outburst like this from time-to-time and he can caring fantasy hockey teams. Those who own him need him to keep this pace if they are going to contend this season, seeming how he was a projected 5-7 pick overall. 

Thornton’s season line is starting to shape up good with 7 goals, 23 assist, plus 10, 10 powerplay points and 26 PIM’s. Outstanding numbers all around that are worthy of nothing less than top center billing. As long as San Jose keeps peppering goalies and scoring at the clip they are now, Joe will lead the league in scoring. You heard it here first. Crosby, Malkin and Ovechkin will have a hard time beating Joe from here on out.

As anticipated, once we bash Sidney Crosby he shows up and scores back-to-back tallies against Ryan Miller. We gave a fantasy hockey warning tonight on Miller, which was to NOT start him in daily leagues, so if you did then you’re feeling the wrath of Sid the Kid.  Think of the Sidney bashing as a subtle form of reverse psychology to jump start fantasy hockey owners who are somewhat disappointed in his performance thus far. You are welcome. 

Other high performers include, daily man-crush Ryan Getzlaf who tallied his 9th goal, which was a game winner and Anaheim backup Jonas Hiller, who recorded a shutout. Watch Hiller closely, Giggy wasn’t on the bench this afternoon. Not to stroke our egos here at puckblogging.com, but George Parros did find Matt Walker in a pretty decent scrap. Yes. We called this shot as well. Cue Marty McFly and his Delorean…Here’s a link to the fight video: Parros vs. Walker. 

Lastly, early season favorite and cancer survivor Phil Kessel recored his 11th goal of the year and added an assist as well. We are on record in saying Kessel will have his first 30 goal campaign and we firmly stand by that statement (barring injury of course). Kessel is an inspiration and we are routing for him regardless of his stats. Fantasy wise, Kessel has been a late rounds gem. He’s a plus 7 with 11 goals and 19 points in 23 games. Although we do not believe he will be a point per game player, we do believe 30 goals is a lock and his shots on goal will hover in the 250’s. He’s only 7 goals behind his last year goal total and if he continues to play with Marc Savard and Milan Lucic, he’s a must play in all fantasy hockey formats. He’s finally living up to the 5th overall potential. Keep it up Phil, you’re an inspiration. 

Out West, Dan Boyle has scored twice in the first two periods and the Sharks are spanking yet another team. Boyle is now second in goals by a defensemen with 8. Are we surprised? The only thing that will prevent Dan Boyle from scoring 20 this year is a falling skate. San Jose’s defense has had somewhat of a resurgence this year and Rob Blake, who was recently thought of as a vote off on Survivor, has scored 19 points in 23 games. He hasn’t looked this good since his glory days with the Kings. Not last year—90’s Kings. I haven’t even finished writing and Blake has scored yet another goal 5-1 San Jose over Dallas in the 2nd period. 

Let the in-game blogging begin tonight. There are a couple matchups that have serious fantasy impact tonight. Penguins v. Buffalo is always a good matchup, because they are both young and exciting teams to watch. Be cautious if you are a Ryan Miller owner tonight. Malkin might simply be the best hockey player in the world. We are thoroughly convinced that he is better than Crosby and will be a better fantasy hockey player for years to come. Did Alexander Semin have something when he called out Crosby? Well, he might just be, that is unless, Alexander Ovechkin has anything to say about it.

Also, the Ducks v. Blackhawks looks to be another fun matinee to watch on this Black Friday. Patick Kane is going really will right now with 26 points in 20 games, but Marty Havlat has tailed off a bit. Look for Havlat to break his mediocre spell and rack up a point or two against the Ducks. Look for a possible Matt Walker vs. George Parros fight. These two have found eachother multiple times in their young careers.

On again off again New Jersey Devils forward Patrik Elias is on a fantasy hockey role of late, compiling 4 goals and 2 assists in the last three games, with only one point coming on the powerplay, giving him a + 3 in these three games. While Elias will never put up 40 goals in a season again, he is a valuable 3-4 forward in 10 team leagues and a solid number two forward in 12+ leagues. Count on him to be around 30 goals 35 assists and look for him to be over the minus in +/-.  Elias is a guy with all the talent in the world, but CAN go unnoticed for what seems to be many games. New Jersey fans have become accustomed to his lack of showing up over the last few years, but when he does show up he’s a highly skilled and talented hockey player who will produce most of the points in the defense first scheme in Jersey.

We at puckblogging.com would like to send out our sincere wishes to the fire victims of Southern California. Owners of this site were directly effected by these fires and over the last few days have taken time off from the blogging process to get their lives in order. Please be patient with us regarding NHL hockey news and fantasy hockey commentary. Look for the puck blogging to begin tomorrow. 

Thanks for your patience,

Puck Blogging Team

The title was too easy. Fantasy hockey owners who took a gamble on Alexander Semin this year after an enormous sophomore slump last season are paying huge dividends thus far this year. His stellar play has over-shadowed fellow Russian super-talent Alexander Ovechkin by a huge discrepancy this year. Tonight Semin has had a hand in every point on the board for Washington. He’s scored 2G and 3A, while maintaining a +3 with 4 penalty minutes. On the season Semin has 26 points in 15 games and is a +16—a far cry from his -18 from last year.

Will Semin keep up the pace and out-duel Ovechkin. Probably not on both fronts, but he has not stepped off the gas since day one this year and fantasy hockey owners might have a good SELL HIGH player in Semin. Try to pull off a deal while he’s hot. Don’t get us wrong here, he is a great young NHL talent. The former 13th overall pick scored 38 in his rookie campaign and scored over 70 points, while racking up 90+PIM’s. He is a solid 2-3 forward from here on out in forward leagues and a solid 1 forward in leagues with a left wing position. The Washington Capitals have a promising future with Semin and Ovechkin and are looking like a worthy adversary to the Penguins Crosby and Malkin.

The heat is on in Atlanta. Don’t look now but Atlanta Thrasher Ilya Kovalchuk is on a pretty good run of late. Yesterday he scored a goal and tallied an assist for his third multi-point game in his last 4 games. A span that has given him 3 goals and five assists. Ilya is one of only a select few in the NHL that can be called a perennial 50 goal scorer. Never-mind that he plays on a bad team, with little offensive prowess. It amazes me that he can get 50 in Atlanta with the lack of support he is given. Put him on Detroit, like his ex-counterpart Hossa and he’s a 60 goal scorer. Better yet, what would it be like to have Joe Thornton or Crosby center him?  We can play “what ifs” all day long and the fact remains is that Ilya is a stud with or without the help. It’s sad to see this talent wasting away on a team with no promise…that’s all for now from this hockey blog. We have a great free agent article in the works stay tuned!

Anaheim Ducks goalie Jean Sebastien Giguere was pulled tonight, marking the second time in the last four games the Anaheim net-minder was yanked. He gave up 4 goals on 13 shots and was replaced by Jonas Hiller. Fantasy hockey owners of Giguere take a note on Hiller. He has become a worthwhile handicap for Giguere and should anything happen to Giggy, look for Hiller to step in and produce admirably. It is worth noting that the Ducks did not help out Giguere tonight. On a play you will more than likely never see again, Scott Niedermayer stepped on the puck, resulting in him tripping over backwards and Mark Parrish stealing the puck and scoring a hat trick on a breakaway. Not a good night for the Ducks. Sean Avery is up to his wiener self again, yapping at just about everything but Elisha Cuthbert’s rear. Avery might be the highest paid 15 goal scorer in the history of the NHL. We’ll have to verify that one… 

Dallas Stars defenseman Sergei Zubov will make his season debut tonight against the Anaheim Ducks. This marks the first time Zubov has seen ice since he underwent hip surgery more than a month ago. Zubov is a top ten defenseman and does it all. His draft value slipped a bit this year because his injury was known prior to most drafts and if you were one of the lucky ones who drafted him and stashed him on your bench, you can now start him and be confident he’ll produce top ten numbers barring in unforeseen setbacks with his hip. Look for Zubov to hover around the 40 point mark with 8-10 goals and 20 powerplay points. He will also pay immediate dividends in the +/- category and has only had 4 minus seasons (two in first three years) in his 16 year career. The Return of Zubov is upon us, start him, he’s mucho talented.