The wingers are all that’s left of the rankings but today I’m gonna do an NHL news hit. There’s nothing funny about what happened in Russia yesterday (for those of you living under a rock here you go). All I’ll say is that it’s a damn shame and on a personal note I probably watched Ruslan Salei play live 100 times at the Pond during the 1st ten years of his career with the Ducks – An excellent defensive Defenseman….
In (non important) fantasy news, Sidney Crosby had his long awaited (if you consider 2 days a long time) press conference yesterday. Many paranoid Penguin fans, columnists and bloggers were speculating it could actually be his retirement speech. But all we really got was more uncertainty about where to draft him. Both Sid and his doc are “optimistic” he will play this year. Gee thanks Doc! (No not that Doc, I mean Crosby’s medical doctor). So reading between the lines, I’d guess Sid will miss at least a couple-three weeks to start the season and possibly (probably?) alot more than that. If I were drafting tomorrow, I’d just avoid him altogether. But luckily most of us don’t have to draft for a while so we could still get some good news between now and a month from now – Stay tuned.. And for you keeper leaguers, I’d be real worried if I have Sid. My advice? Pray he comes back and lights it up for a couple weeks, then try to trade him for 80 Cents on the dollar – he’s gonna be dealing with this for the rest of his career… Now some other NHLer’s making news:
Marc Savard – C (Bos): Savard is having much the same problems as Sidney Crosby, but it’s Marc Savard. Nobody cares.. Nah that’s harsh. I’ve actually owned Savard a couple times in the past and when healthy he does produce, but it really sounds like his career might be over. He’s not worth drafting, but would be a worthy Waiver Wire pickup if he somehow makes it back this season.
Alex Ovechkin – RW (Wsh): I always thought the nickname Ovie was because of his last name, but the truth is it’s just short for overweight.
James van Riemsdyk – LW (Phi): Signed a shiny new 6 year contract worth over $25MM. Not bad for a 22 year old. When I was 22 I was in my 4th year of college, with another 3 to go (and no I’m not a Doctor). It’s going to be interesting to watch the Philly youth movement this year and JVR will be a big part of it. I’m not a huge fan of his, but he’s only 22 and I’m not exactly an expert on evaluating and projecting young players (3 years ago I thought Bobby Ryan was going to be a bust).
Fedor Tyutin – D (CBJ): Fedor used to be arguably the best heavyweight MMA fighter in the world, but now he’s lost his last 3 fights and looks finished… Wait, wrong Fedor. This Fedor is the NHL player who just signed a 6 year deal of his own. As far as fantasy implications there really are none – Tyutin is one of those defensive Defenseman whose value doesn’t translate to fantasy. But still, if your a Blue Jacket fan this is a good deal.
Cory Stillman – Retired: Cory Stillman decided to hang up the blades for a cushy office job with the Panthers. If he did play this year, he wouldn’t have cracked the top 500, let alone my rankings. But at one point in his career the moonshine-man was a borderline #2 LW on a fantasy team (nearly a point-per-game over 3 seasons from ’02-’06.) And oh yeah, good luck keeping the Panthers in Florida…
Dustin Byfuglien – D (Wpg): Was arrested for driving (navigating? captaining?) a boat while intoxicated. Just thinking back to my younger days, I can think of more than a few people who deserve some serious jail time. And it makes me wonder, is blogging while intoxicated against the law? I sure hope not… I don’t think this has any ramifications on Byfuglien’s fantasy value unless Gary Bettman goes all Roger Goodell and decides to suspend him for a bunch of games.
