The All Star Game?

It sucked.

Next time, please, at least, be able to time the races and allow some skills events to be ties.

There Must Be Consequences for Ruutu's Hit on Kovalchuk

Even during the Olympics, I nicknamed this guy "the dirty Finn" because there was only one Finnish player playing like this. Now he eliminated one of the young stars with a dirty hit. Colin Campbell has been practically begging for more dirty play, and the result is more hits like this.

In the past, he's certainly condoned it during the playoffs (see Hartnell on Cheechoo, Tucker on Hecht).

The league claims to be investing in players like Malkin, Crosby, Staal, and Savard; but it actually wants more of Downie, Hartnell, Avery, and the dirty side of Ovechkin.

The league will eventually be sued by an injured player, and the tool that will condemn the head office is called Digital Discovery. His own words, in his own e-mails, will condemn him.

Preparing for the end of the season in head to head NHL fantasy leagues

Assuming you make the final playoff round, the last week of the season is extremely important.

Here's how the last six days end (April 1 2 3 4 5 6)

ANH 5 @LA 6 PHO

ATL 1 FLA 5 TAM

BOS 2 @NJ 4 @OTT 5 BUF (yikes!)

BUF 1 @TOR 3 @MON 5 @ BOS (BUF has a favorable FEB MAR APR schedule)

CAL 1 @EDM 3 @MIN 5 @ VAN

CAR 1 @ WAS 2 TAM 4 FLA == very favorable, and if I understand the rules correctly, you could drop CAR players and pick up ANH players but could not trade.

CHI 2 DET 4 NSH 6 @DET (yikes!)

COL 1 @VAN 6 MIN

CLB 3 @DET 5 @STL 6 STL (I don't understand this team)

DAL 3 @PHO 4 PHO 6 SJ (depends on how tough PHO is)

DET 2 @CHI 3 COL 6 CHI (very favorable and note that CHI plays on 4 while DET plays on 3)

EDM 1 CAL 3 @VAN -- season ends early, as it will.

FLA 1 @ATL 4 @CAR 5 @WAS == not easy to be predict -- advantage could go either way.

LA 1 @SJ 3 SJ 5 ANH (yikes!)

MIN 3 CAL 6 @ COL (only two games, neither good -- COL and CAL are the two toughest stadiums, IMO)

MON 1 @OTT 3 BUF 5 TOR == not bad

NAS 1 @STL 3 STL 4 @CHI == ends early

NJ 1 @NYI 2 BOS 4 @PHI 6 NYR -- 4 games! Generally favorable. Good to not have PIT in the final week.

NYI 1 NJ 3 NYR 4 @ NYR == NYI owns these teams -- season ends early

NYR 3 @NYI 4 NYI 6 @NJ == in previous years, this would have been fine, but this year, they'll be lucky to score against these teams, let alone win a game.

OTT 1 MON 3 @ TOR 4 BOS == the NHL gave this team such a favorable schedule because they want to give the Senators a head start on the path to the cup == BEST

PHI 2 @ PIT 4 NJ 6 PIT == favorable games to win, but this team will lose at least one player in the final week (and so will PIT or NJ)

PIT 2 PHI 6 @ PHI == only two games, but the final one should be ADV PIT because of the rest (but rests can also slow down a team -- they'll need to survive the first five minutes and then they'll be ok)

SJ 1 LA 3 @LA 6 @ DAL == two LA games!!!! great!

STL 1 NAS 3 @NAS 5 CLB 6 @CLB -- too many games in too short a time with too intense rivalries. STL and CLB and NAS had better not be fighting for the 8 spot, or there will be blood

TAM 2 @CAR 3 @WAS 5 @ATL == this team had better learn how to win away games

TOR 1 BUF 3 OTT 5 @ MON == this team won't win any in the last week

VAN 1 COL 3 EDM 5 CAL nice home stand, esp. good for Luongo owners, but the last game will not be easy

WAS 1 CAR 3 TAM 5 FLA == nice home stand but every game in this division is up for grabs -- I think the first game, vs. CAR, will be the most important

Boxscore notes, Jan 24

The night before the long All Star weekend.

Radulov is playing on the Dumont-Arnott line in Nashville (replacing whom?). And doing well.

Vrbata continues to do well.

Boyle is back! 2 goals in the 8-4 loss to the Sens, during a night that may be Alfredsson's best ever: a double hat trick consisting of 3 goals and 3 assists.

Brodeur was crushed by the Canadiens. Did someone complain to the Devils about their boycott of the All Star game? I think it was a good idea for Brodeur and Sutter to skip it.

The Roy-Stafford-Vanek line is FINALLY clicking. Needed to get rid of Afinogenov. Trade him now!

In the absence of Stastny and Crosby, Svatos and Malkin are awesome, but can their teams win?

I cannot figure out Edmonton. Horcoff's been carrying the team and tonight Stoll shows up, gets 2 goals -- and then Horcoff scores the GWG in the shootout.

Ducks, Canes Rising

Hurricanes and Ducks should rise. Both teams feel a mission to do better than they are doing.

Red Wings continue to dominate.

Senators are showing interesting cracks.

Southeast is wide open, and Atlantic is close.

Sabres need to sign some players.

Paul Kariya is the odd man out in St. Louis. Could the Ducks get him back?

Senators should offer Randy R to Sabres for Campbell.

Sometimes I Make a Trade Too Many

Dropped Kariya == that was a good move.

Then I dropped Pominville for Langkow, dropped Langkow for Kariya, dropped Kariya for Dumont -- Dumont is good.

Hearing that Cullen and Hedican were back for the Canes I decided to take a big gamble and dropped Elias for Cullen and Kronwall for Stillman. Then Brind'Amour did well and I dropped Cullen for Brind'Amour. Then Stillman did poorly and I dropped him for Pominville.

This sort of circular trading is just too much.

And I had considered Langkow -- he had a hat trick tonight. Please, somebody, please take Langkow.

More Changes

Dropped Kariya and Kane. Kane scored 2 goals and had an assist today! Aaargh. I see Cullen might return soon. It's tempting to pick up him and Stillman.

I have Jason Williams on IR, so I still have one CHI player.

Picked up Elias and Dumont. We'll see how Elias does. Dumont is quietly amassing a powerhouse season.

Red Army got Hartnell and tonight he had a goal and 12 PIMs!!! Wow.

Injured Reserve

What's the definition of Injured Reserve? Why are players like Heatley (and, recently, Zubov and Holmstrom and others) injured but not on IR?

The Wikipedia definition of the term suggests that teams are unwilling to put players on IR because they must stay there for a minimum of 7 days. I strongly believe teams in fantasy leagues should be able to put Day to Day players on Fantasy IR.

Blood on the ice

Did we need the scrums? Malkin and Crosby (and Jagr too) played beautiful hockey.

Sabres need to trade

1) Trade Afinogenov to San Jose for Mike Grier

2) Trade Vanek to the Avalanche for John Michael Liles

Duncan Keith

of CHI played 34 MINUTES TONIGHT!!!!



BTW, I hate it when the stats come out of the arena wrong. The listed +/- for the LA -NASH game is all messed up.

Notes for Jan. 8, 2008

1) Flyers suck and the NHL wants them to make the playoffs to insure that there's blood on the ice.

2) Andy McDonald!!! Doing well in St. Louis. But I'm glad I dropped Kariya.

3) Arnott and Dumont are available in my league. Should I sign either?

4) All star lineups in the West show that besides the CA teams, the two best are DET and CAL. DET has many heroes. CAL has two.

5) Dropped Pominville (yes, he scored tonight). But Roszival had 2 PPP.

6) My team now:

C: Crosby, Stastny, Langkow

C,W: Horton

W: Alfredsson, Holmstrom, Kane, Kovalev, (Selanne)

D: Zubov, Gonchar (picked up off waivers!!), Roszival, Spacek

G: Brodeur, Nabokov

IR: Bieksa, Jason Williams

Now, When J Williams comes off IR, what should I do? Drop Langkow? I'm not sure what to do.

Dallas Needs Rob Blake

They keep acquiring great D (i.e. Norstrom) but the moment Zubov tweaks a pinkie, the team collapses. Trade Turco to LA for Blake.

A few trades I'd like to see

Using The Hockey News salary reference

http://www.thehockeynews.com/salaries/team_listing.html

1) Buffalo trades Afinogenov and Vanek ($10M) to Atlanta for Zhitnik and Holik and re-signs Campbell.

2) Anaheim trades Doug Weight to St. Louis for a conditional draft pick and signs Selanne

3) LA trades Rob Blake to Detroit for Hasek, trades Hasek to Tampa Bay for Richards and a goalie.

4) The Devils miraculously acquire Krog, Erik Johnson, Randy Robitaille, and Bobby Holik in exchange for Elias, Matvichuk, and White.

5) Chicago signs Belfour as a number 3 goalie.

6) Dallas. . . well, I like Lehtinen, but few other players on the team.

7) Buffalo miraculously re-acquires Grier and Peca.

If you own Toews

Here's some advice I gave to a colleague:


Toews is about to go on IR for a few weeks

http://www.thehockeynews.com/articles/12380-Blackhawks-get-good-news-as-rookie-Toews-avoids-knee-surgery.html

so when he's IR-eligible, use that status and pick up any of the following:

Ty Conklin (goalie)

Pierre-Marc Bouchard (who stands out because he's c,w)

Any available Red Wing of your choice (but I like Filppula (C), pundits seem to like Cleary (W) and Kronwall (D))

I don't understand why nobody picked up Langkow. He works with Iginla.

The Yahoo! computer seems to like Shane Doan, but I don't know why.

The league's best power play is Montreal (again, I don't know why) and Saku Koivu is available but listed as DTD.

There are plenty of NSH players available but for good reason but Arnott and Dumont are good.

Zherdev is viable any time Nash is on a hot streak.

Dustin Brown is the top goal scorer among available players but he's with LA which had a good power play but terrible +/-, which is why I dropped Visnovsky, who is very good.

Byfuglien (D, Chicago) is still available and doing well and I dropped Erik Cole who is okay. Other Canes available: Cullen and Brind'Amour. Canes have lost 5 of the last 7 but should do well again at some point.

I dropped Paul Kariya because he takes lots of shots and doesn't score but he leads the Blues and the day I dropped him he had a hat trick.

The players I would recommend based on recent hot streaks are:

Recchi, Vrbata, and Nagy, but all play for teams that are not likely to make the playoffs. Atlanta's tough to figure out.

Jan 4 liveblogging comments

Hooray for Horton! 2 G and 1 A in a 3-2 game so far!

Gaborik is on fire again.

What's wrong with Dallas? Do they rely on Zubov that much? Turco is being shelled. Perhaps it's the rumors that they're going to trade him to Tampa for Lecavalier?

Salei is nasty! It may not be showing up in PIMs, but he hits after the whistle.

Mark Eaton, Jinxed

Eaton's season ends again due to injury. And Gary Roberts falls during an awards ceremony and then during the game, breaking his leg.

Penguins get nothing from Lady Luck but still beat the Sabres. Looking forward to Jan. 1! Hope the weather report is right and that it's cold because with global warming, we could have seen a hockey game on sod!

Watch those highlights

Two veterans, Modano and Kariya, put on a show last night in Dallas.

Meanwhile Ovechkin was performing in Ottawa as Senator veteran and captain Alfredsson and rising star Mike Fisher did great work. Caps won, tho.

The Blended HTH Rotisserie Format

Next year, I'd like a blended Head to Head and Rotisserie format. Here's how it works: Each week, each player gets Rotisserie style points for their performance in each stat. They come out of the week with x points, and then everybody starts from zero again the following week. So the format is like HTH, but the scoring is Rotisserie.

Player with the most points at the end of the year wins.

Phew I'm Back

Moved house but I'm back on the blog. Just a few miscellaneous notes:

1) GABORIK. With his return, all of the other players have improved. Most notable is Pierre-Marc Bouchard.

2) Byfuglien. Still worth taking until he returns to D. Also of note, Dandenault is a D sometimes playing forward (but not doing well enough this year to make a real impact).

3) Zherdev continues to impress, but is Nash injured?

4) How does Havlat's return alter the Chicago lines? Will Kane get to play with him?

5) Mike Smith is doing well. Budaj is recovering his form (but could lose it again).

6) Hooray for Brodeur. A bad in Vancouver is followed by a very good one in EDM. I hope he gets the night off on the visit to Calgary.

7) I dropped Visnovsky for Ohlund. V was a negative every week and his shooting percentage is terrible, but if your league rewards shots instead of SH%, he's a keeper.

8) I traded Osgood for Alfredsson. Good trade or bad? Time will tell.

9) I'm gambling on Selanne. But I'm tempted to drop him for Pierre-Marc Bouchard. It's been tempting to drop Kovalev but I don't get enough goals.

10) Detroit dominates! Other dominant teams are in the Northwest (MIN, COL, VAN, CAL), plus SJ and OTT. Hooray for the return of Buffalo.

11) What's wrong with PIT? I think Ryan Whitney was promoted too far too fast. Eaton deserves ice time. Sydor was supposed to stabilize the blue line. PIT should try to acquire Beauchemin or someone like him.

12) Rumors of a Sundin trade. I'd like to see him go to Buffalo, which needs a captain right now.

13) Randy Robitaille is the most unexpected overperformer of the moment, in my mind. I knew he was very good, but OTT has depth, especially at Center.