Fantasy Hockey Scouts

Wednesday's Injury Updates - Datsyuk, Toews, Lecavalier...

2012-02-22T16:10:18Z

Pavel Datsyuk had minor knee surgery yesterday and is expected to miss the next two weeks.

Jonathan Toews missed last night's game and is day-to-day with a UBI.

Vincent Lecavalier is out indefinitely with the mysterious UBI but it's kinda hard to hide a cast on your wrist, so the secret is out.

No idea how you're going to replace Jamie Langenbrunner's four goals as he has a broken foot and is out for at least a month.

Not sure what happened to Dominic Moore but he left last night's game injured... we should know moore today.

Chris Butler left last night's game after getting cut with a goalie skate... ouch.

Tomas Plekanec wasn't feeling so hot last night... actually maybe he was feeling a little too hot, so he sat out.

Returning to action from the injured list last night: Jimmy Howard, Nikita Nikitin, Carl Gunnarsson, Jarret Stoll, Danny Cleary, Corey Potter & Martin Hanzal.

Wednesday's Daily Dosage - Carter, Niemi, Downie...

2012-02-22T14:57:50Z

Is Jeff Carter finally coming around or is he just motivated to get a ticket out of Ohio?... a hat-trick on six shots last night and he has 5+3=8 & 35 shots over his last nine games.

Giving up three goals on 11 shots (against the CBJs) and getting pulled in the 1st period may be rock bottom for Antti Niemi but he's been on a downward slope for a while going 5-7-2, 2.93 & .898 over his last 15 games.

2A last night for Derek Roy to extend his point streak to four games (2+5=7). Lining up with Jason Pominville lately has been the catalyst for him, much better than playing with stiffs like Stafford & Leino, as Pommer has 6+8=14 & 31 shots over his last nine games.

Interesting 3-way trade yesterday as the Avs added Steve Downie while Kyle Quincey ended up with Detroit (via Tampa). Not sure I like this trade from a fantasy perspective for the parties involved. Whoever Downie plays with in Colorado, it's a downgrade from lining up with Stamkos. Sure he may see more ice-time (15:30/gm this year) and quality PP opps but I think he'll be in tough to find a better situation than he had in Tampa. I think this move downright blows for Quincey as he goes from playing 22 minutes a night & on the PP to the 3rd pairing for Detroit. Maybe next year, if Brad Stuart moves on, he'll be thankful for the move but I think this really hurts his fantasy value for this season. As for residual impact, hopefully this means more quality ice-time for Brett Connolly in Tampa so we can see what he can do and Stefan Elliott has been recalled by the Avs and should see decent PP minutes going forward.

Dustin Byfuglien has been a monster lately with multi-point efforts in five of the last seven games (3+8=11 & 26 shots).

Things had been quiet for a few games but you knew Sam Gagner had a few aftershocks in him... 1+2=3, plus-3 & six shots last night. He has value as long as he sticks with Hall & Eberle.

Bobby Ryan may be slowly thawing out as he has 2+4=6 over his last six games. I took him late in the 1st round of a league this year, so this guy owes me.

A goal and seven PIMs last night for David Clarkson and the kid has busted through his ceiling with 23 goals so far on the back of 7+4=11 & 41 shots over his last 11 games.

Radim Vrbata has done less streaking this year or maybe it's just that his hot streaks are longer as had 2+1=3 last night and has 8+6=14, plus-8 & 36 shots with points in 10 of his last 11.

Five assists in a game last week but it seems that Claude Giroux was getting bored of playing setup man as he put 10 shots on goal last night and finished with 1+1=2. G, Stammer & Geno are starting to pull away from the field so it looks like we'll have a three horse race for the Art Ross.

Wayne Simmonds has at least a goal in seven of his last 10 games (9+3=12).

My boy Logan Couture has points in 12 of his last 14 for a hefty 9+10=19 during the span. He is running away with the team lead in goals and might end up leading them in points as well.

Jonas Gustavsson was just horrid last night, ECHL-level goaltending, as he was beaten four times on 32 shots. He is 0-2-2, 3.68 & .881 over his last six outings.

Pierre McGuire thinks Jimmy Hayes could become unstoppable. He did play well last night (1+1=2, plus-2 & three shots in 12 minutes) but methinks Pierre is jumping the gun once again. Let's see him do it consistently over an extended stretch before wetting our pants over this guy.

Trio of points for Teddy Purcell and he has one or more in seven of his last eight games (2+9=11).

Ryan Ellis was a scratch last night for Nashville... he has Hal Gill to blame.

PHX has recalled David Rundblad, he has 6+4=10 in 15 AHL games so far but is an ugly minus-10.

The Hurricanes have sent Mike Murphy back down, so they're confident that Cam Ward is ready to go.

Thursday Night Live - Get Your Picks In!

2012-02-21T19:47:26Z

Over the last couple of weeks we've been having some fun with a live blog / ~~low~~ no-stakes over/under/pick 'em competition here on FHS. You can check out the last one here

This Thursday, we'll do it all again. Nine games on tap, including some really compelling match-ups. The Sharks visit old pal Ron Wilson in Toronto. The Canucks visit the Red Wings in a battle of the best. And the late game has the Flyers visiting the Oilers in their only match of the year. The Future will be on hand: Eberle. Hall. Giroux. Schenn. JVR. Simmonds. Excellent.

I'll be live blogging throughout Thursday's games with fantasy highlights and random commentary from around the hockey world. In the past couple of live blogs, the best content has been coming from the comments section, so thanks to those who have joined in there, and more are always welcome.

Last week we had twenty friends and readers submit their winner/over/under/GWG picks for Thursday's games and Tzuu took home the big prize. After the jump, the full slate and details on how to begin your quest for Thursday glory.

Thursday's slate:

SJS@TOR
ANA@CAR
MIN@FLA
VAN@DET
STL@NSH
TAM@WPG
DAL@CHI
PHO@CGY
PHI@EDM

Here's the criteria:

1. Submit your pick for the winning team for each game.
2. Based on an over/under of 5.5 goals, submit your pick for over or under for each game.
3. Submit your pick for the game winning goal scorer in each game. Shootout winners count as a GWG.

The scoring system is easy: for every winning team you pick correctly, you get 1 point. For every over/under you get right, you get 1 point. For every GWG scorer picked correctly, you get 1 point. So a max of three points per game if you hit the rarefied trifecta of winner, over/under and GWG scorer.

Please post your picks in the comments for this post, and to keep things simple, just copy and paste the above slate and add your choice of winning team ((H = home win, V = visitor win), over or under based on 5.5 goals ((O = over, U = under), and the last name of your pick for GWG scorer, like this:

ANA@CAR VO Selanne
MIN@FLA HU Versteeg
etc. etc.

Finish on top and you'll be featured in Monday's Fantasy Stars of the Week feature! As always, glory, riches and unbridled fame will follow, and you'll finally be able to quit your job and say you made something of your life. See you Thursday!

Tuesday's Injury Updates - Lecavalier, Ward, Ovechkin...

2012-02-21T15:48:17Z

Secrecy is shrouding Vincent Lecavalier's UBI... he left practice early yesterday for further testing but the team isn't saying much other than day-to-day.

Cam Ward sat out last night's game due to his LBI. They say it's just a day-to-day thing but it's already been bugging him for a week.

Alex Ovechkin was seen limping after last night's game & Brooks Laich left early with a LBI as well.

I thought Martin Havlat was supposed to be out 6-8 weeks, well apparently it's going to be more like 10-12 as he is not expected back until mid-March.

Jamie Benn (leg) is likely out for Tuesday's game but Thursday would be nice.

Nikolai Khabibulin is expected to be out 7-10 days with a sore groin... I'll take the over.

This is some kinda flu that Evgeni Nabokov picked up as he has missed three games and will miss tonight's as well. I wonder if this is the type of flu that will keep him on the shelf until either he signs or gets traded?

Tuesday. Jimmy Howard. Book it. (maybe)

Nikita Nikitin (knee) is looking good to return on Tuesday after missing the last 12 games.

Carl Gunnarsson (ankle) should be able to go on Tuesday as well.

Tuesday's Daily Dosage - Spezza, Karlsson, Tlusty...

2012-02-21T14:17:10Z

Five straight multi-point games(!) for Jason Spezza after a pair of goals yesterday, so that's 7+7=14 in his last five. Dick Vitale wouldn't be happy with the schedule though as the Sens last five have been against NYI, FLA, TB, EDM & NSH... cupcake-city, baby!

The light sked has been kind to Craig Anderson as well as he has won three straight and two of those were shutouts.

Full credit for a sparkling game, even though it was against the Islanders, to Erik Karlsson for his 2+2=4, plus-4 & five shots. He has 17 more points then the 2nd highest scoring dman. I've said it before, it's like being able to start an extra forward in your lineup if you own him.

I grabbed Jiri Tlusty the other day after I realized that he had a single point in seven straight games and he doubled my pleasure with 2A last night... true story.

Justin Peters stopped all 17 shots he faced for his first career shutout last night. This might buy him an extra start and more time for Cam Ward to recover but don't be fooled, I wouldn't expect Peters to be in there long.

Tomas Vokoun only made it through the first five minutes before being pulled for giving up two goals on the first seven shots. Kevin Poulin would have killed to last that long as he got the hook at the 1:35 mark after giving up two on five.

Eric Staal with another strong outing during his 2nd half surge as he had 2+1=3, SHG, plus-3, six shots & 14 FOWs. He has a six game streak going with 6+5=11 & plus-9.

No scores from P.A. Parenteau yesterday but he was in a dark place and went off for 24 PIMs... he is now on pace for 100+ this season.

Ty Conklin is on waivers and likely headed to the AHL as he has lost his job to Joey MacDonald... that happens when you're a .878 and your competition is a .934.

Ben Bishop heads back to the AHL but he rest of these guys are going the other way: Mike Murphy, Kyle Cumiskey, Yann Danis, Carter Camper & Eric Tangradi.

Monday's Injury Updates - Khabibulin, Foster, Hanzal...

2012-02-20T16:21:47Z

Nikolai Khabibulin left last night's game after the 1st period due to a groin injury... he was likely going to get shelled anyway so this just spared him the embarrassment.

A stiff back kept Kurtis Foster out of yesterday's game... doesn't sounds too serious but Foster isn't a model of durability so we'll see. If he is out for a while then this could increase the Devils urgency to add a PP guy like Zidlicky.

Missed this yesterday... Martin Hanzal left Saturday's game against Dallas early due to a LBI. He is questionable for the Coyotes next game but Coach Tippett says there is "a good chance" that he could play.

Mike Fisher missed yesterday's game as he was under the weather... I've never really understood the meaning of the term "under the weather" but hopefully you get the point.

Louis Leblanc was also sick or est malade en francais and missed yesterday's game.

Returning to action from the injured list yesterday: Matt Duchene & Jason Demers.

Fantasy Stars of the Week - Week #18

2012-02-20T15:10:57Z

The biggest and brightest from the past week in Fantasy Land, as voted by FHS writers.

Three Stars of the Week:

3rd Star, from the Winnipeg Jets, numero 33, Dustin Byfuglien... raise your glass and set sail for Buff's awesome bottom line this week: four games, five points (all assists), plus-3, four PIM, 15 shots and two PPP. After three years of relative promise, his ship really came in last season, and you'd have to be drunk not to call him a top three fantasy defenseman now. The big guy missed some time this year, but over 82 games, his stats prorate to 15+45=60, 101 PIM, 278 SOG and 21 PPP. I'll drink to that, even if his minus-22 pace does rock the boat a little. FHS Votes: 2 thirds.

2nd Star, from the Anaheim Ducks, numero 1, Jonas Hiller... four games played, three wins, one shutout, .961 SV%, with a bedazzling 0.98 GAA, and Hiller's recent turnaround has been so drastic, it's enough to give a fantasy GM vertigo (here we go again...). Since January 1, dude has lost only three times in regulation, versus 14 wins, with shit-your-pants peripherals of 1.79 and .932. If you were patient, welcome to what you've been waiting for. If Hiller is indeed over his health issues, he should still have a nice long shelf life as a player - he may be 30 years old, but he's played only 230 career games thus far. FHS Votes: 1 first, 1 second, 1 third.

1st Star, from the Ottawa Senators, numero 19, Jason Spezza... over the course of two consecutive nights this week, Spezza leapfrogged over six players in the points standings - players with names like Datsyuk, Sedin, Stamkos and Giroux - to claim second overall in this year's scoring race (temporarily). And no, it's not December, it's mid-February with only 22 games to go for the Senators. But on behalf of me and every other Spezza owner out there, let me apply the reverse reverse double reverse jinx now for even mentioning his apparent durability this year. It's some dark magic I'm messing with there. So what did Spezza do this week? Oh, nothing, just 3+4=7, plus-5, 2 PPP, 2 PIM, and if you had him benched because the Sens only played twice...well, you probably won't do that again. FHS Votes: 2 firsts, 1 second.

Honourable Mention: Evander Kane (4 GP, 3+3=6, plus-5, 6 PIM, 16 SOG), Blake Wheeler (4 GP, 1+7=8, plus-4, 2 PIM, 13 SOG), Alex Pietrangelo (4 GP, 0+5=5, 2 PIM, 11 SOG, 3 PPP), and Martin Brodeur, Corey Crawford, Roberto Luongo and Joey MacDonald, all of whom went 3-0 with four goals allowed for a GAA of either 1.30 or 1.33, and a SV% between .947 and .956. True story.

Rookie Star of the Week: Adam Henrique (NJD) with 1+3=4, plus-3 in three games and we're getting tired of writing his name down for this award. Henrique is averaging 18:19 TOI/G this year, and 47.88% (thanks Dobber's Frozen Pool) of that time has been spent with Ilya Kovalchuk and Zach Parise. Break out the cliches, because that is nice work if you can get it.

HM: Ryan Ellis (3 GP, 1+1=2, plus-2, 2 PIM)

Breakout Star of the Week: David Desharnais (MTL) with 1+4=5 and three PPP in three games. Dude has come out of nowhere to score 44 points in 60 games, and in doing so has usurped the 1C spot from Tomas Plekanec, who before that took it from Scott Gomez after Gomez retired a couple of years ago.

HM: Joey MacDonald (see above and below)

Breakdown of the Week: As an owner of Anze Kopitar, Justin Williams, Dustin Brown and Mike Richards, I really enjoyed Michael Benedicks' entry this week, so here it is. "Can we nominate a team? If so, I nominate every player (outside of Jonathan Quick) on the LA Kings. They got shutout in both of their games this week and at this point I think Steve Mason and Ilya Bryzgalov could shut them out without breaking a sweat. Disgusting". Could not agree more.

HM: Zdeno Chara (4 GP, 0+1=1, minus-7), John-Michael Liles (3 GP, 0+1=1, minus-6)

Free Agent Star of the Week (less than 50% owned in Yahoo! leagues): Joey MacDonald (24% owned) with three wins in three games, .947 SV% and 1.33 GAA. If only Jimmy Howard was actually out the original 4-6 weeks, J-Mac would be the hottest goalie to own in fantasy land.

HM: David Perron (32% owned, 4 GP, 1+2=3, plus-2)

FHS: Thursday Night Live! Star of the Week: Congratulations to tzuu for coming out on top in this week's FHS: Thursday Night Live! over/under/pick ‘em competition. Tzuu could do no wrong, or at least could always do some right. He wasn't skunked once, getting the winner and over/under right on an impressive four of seven games, and getting at least the winner OR the over/under right on the remaining three games, for a total of 11 points. Worth noting that the real difference maker here was his selection of Vrbata for the GWG bonus point. Way to go Tzuu! Watch for tomorrow's post asking for your picks for this week's TNL blog.

HM: Timbits56 finished a close second at a delicious but fattening 10 points.

Check out our past Fantasy Stars of the Week here.

Monday's Daily Dosage - Roy, McDonald, Pacioretty...

2012-02-20T15:01:01Z

Happy Presidents' Day to our readers below deck and happy Family Day to some of us up here... just two games today but beware that it's an early start (1ET), so get your lineups in!

Could this be the fantasy line of the night from Derek Roy of all people?... 2+1=3, SHG, plus-4, two PIMs & four shots. Roy now has points in three straight (2+3=5) and has found his way off my bench for the upcoming week for the first time in many months.

Evander Kane did a little of everything last night with 1+1=2, plus-2, four PIMs, five shots, three hits & two blocks... he has 3+3=6 over his last three games.

Andy McDonald scored on six shots yesterday and has goals in three straight games... and it's even more impressive that he's been doing it on a line with Berglund & Langenbrunner.

Max Pacioretty extended his point streak to six games (6+2=8) with a PPG yesterday. His liney, David Desharnais, has a streak just as long (1+7=8) and only has five shots during the streak so I think you understand who the setup man is and who pulls the trigger.

Alexandre Burrows with 2A last night and he's been hot lately with 3+2=5 during a three game point streak.

Niklas Backstrom had gone five games without a win, so last night's 48 save shutout was even sweeter than normal. His record on the season is pretty vanilla (15-15-6) but his averages taste good (2.31 & .924).

A goal on nine shots to go along with five hits last night for the statsheet-stuffing machine that is called Gabriel Landeskog... he has 4+2=6 over his last six games.

A golden sombrero of helpers for Blake Wheeler yesterday and he has 1+9=10 over his last five games.

Back-to-back 2G & GWG efforts for Bryan Little but I'm still not really feeling his 41 point pace, just doesn't do much for me.

I had seen Jiri Tlusty's name show up in the boxscore a few times lately but wasn't aware that he now has points in seven straight games (4+3=7 & plus-7). Tlusty has been manning a spot on the top line with Staal lately.

James Neal & Kyle Brodziak have both been given some job security with big money extensions (Neal's a little bigger).

The Flames have recalled Henrik Karlsson after a conditioning stint in the AHL and exchanged him for Leland Irving.