Just hours before the game with Phoenix Pekka Rinne hit the jackpot and signed a 7 year, $49MM contract to stay in the hockey hot-bed of Nashville, Tennessee. He then proceeded to make management look good by pitching a Shutout against the offensively challenged Coyotes. I’m a big fan of Rinne and as you know, player salaries mean nothing in fantasy hockey so I really shouldn’t care. But making him the highest paid Goalie in the NHL? You are the Nashville Predators! You should never even consider having the highest paid anything. You breed Goalies like Heidi Fleiss breeds prostitutes. I would have squeezed every ounce out of Pekka this year and then told him to not let the zamboni hit his ass on the way out. You’ve already got a replacement in Anders Lindback! He’s even got multiple nicknames lined up and ready to be marketed (Anders the Giant, Lean-back)… Oh well what do I know? Who am I to tell an NHL franchise that when your best forwards are David Legwand, Patrick Hornqvist and Sergei Kostitsyn you have no shot at winning a Stanley Cup?? Okay okay enough real hockey talk, let’s move onto the fake stuff:
Ondrej Pavelec – G (Wpg): Okay so maaaybe I stole the “Anders the Giant” nickname from this guy (Ondrej is pronounced Andre) but Pavelec is only 6’3” shouldn’t the nickname go to the taller Goalie? I digress… Pavs pitched a Shutout last night and seems to have righted the ship after the debacle in Philly on October 27 (7 Goals allowed). Since then he’s had 3 starts and been awesome: 2W/.965SV%/1.33GAA /1SO. If he’s floating out there on Waiver Wire island and you have the roster spot pick him up. He makes a solid #3 play-the-matchups Goalie.
Evander Kane – LW (Wpg): Finally someone notches the Gordie Howe Hat Trick! It doesn’t get much better than this line in fantasy hockey: 1G/1A/+3/5PIM/3SOG. Before I tell you how much I like Kane I must first tell you that I completely dropped the ball on him. Not once did I mention Kane in the preseason despite his pedigree (former 4th overall pick), his opportunity (penciled into the Top 6) and his solid season last year at age 19 (19G/24A/68PIM/234SOG). Oh yeah, I like him this year.
Jonas Hiller – G (Ana): Didn’t get the W but only allowed 1 Goal in regulation and looked much better than he has recently. Still, and I’ve mentioned this before, the Rangers are offensively challenged so I’m not suddenly optimistic Hiller is back to what he was before the Vertigo…
Ryan Callahan – RW (NYR): If you take out the Halloween game against San Jose (2G/1A) Callahan has just 3 Goals and no Assists in 10 games. Thats bad. What’s not bad though is his 6 Shots last night and 47 on the season. As long as he keeps getting pucks on net they will eventually start finding their way to the back of it. Just don’t go crazy. He’s still nothing more than a borderline RW3 in a 12 team league…
Claude Giroux – RW (Phi): Notched his 8th Goal of the season last night (to go along with 9 Assists) and just keeps on keepin’ on. Like I predicted in the preseason, you’re witnessing the birth of a fantasy stud…
Zach Parise – LW (NJ): Continues to muddle his way through the season. I’m worried. Maybe the 2008-2010 Parise was just an outlier to what he really is (a good but not great fantasy forward). At this point if you can get the ’07 – ’08 version of Parise: 32G/33A/23PPP/266SOG you’d take that right now and twice on Tuesday…
Clarke MacArthur – LW (Tor): Scored Goals number 5 & 6 last night and they’ve all come in the last 5 games. It doesn’t get much hotter than that. Clarkey is turning himself into quite the asset for the (surprisingly good) Toronto Maple Leafs. Burkey is excellent at finding these undervalued guys and it looks like he’s done it again. Fantasy wise he’s worth rostering when he’s hot like this.
Phil Kessel – RW (Tor): You are just determined to make me look bad aren’t you!?!?
Joffrey Lupul – RW/LW (Tor): Et tu, Joffrey???
Dmitry Kulikov – D (Fla): Yes I probably mention him every game Florida plays and that’s because he’s an under-owned Defenseman who just keeps producing. DK is better than your current #4 Defenseman so go get him if he’s still on the Waiver Wire.
Jonathan Toews – C (Chi): Here’s another guy I pimped in the preseason who isn’t living up to the hype. Despite Goal #5 last night his season has been underwhelming and it wouldn’t be a bad idea to try and trade him. Not for a bag of peanuts obviously, but there’s no doubt his name is bigger than his actual fantasy value right now. Aim high.
Jarome Iginla – RW (Cal): I mentioned last week how horrible Iginla started in 2010-2011 and that he was repeating that feat so far in 2011-2012. Well after 2 Goals and an Assist last night against the (suddenly) hapless Detroit Red Wings we could be seeing the start of yet another turn around.
Detroit Red Wings – Speaking of these guys, what the heck is going on? These are not my slightly older brother’s Red Wings of years past… HOWEVA, I refuse to believe they all got old at the same time and will now suck going forward. Buy low on the elite guys – Datsyuk, Zetterberg and Lidstrom – I still believe.
Ilya Kovalchuk – LW (NJ): The dreaded Lower Body Injury leaves his status for Saturday’s game up in the air. Funny, that’s the same place his ability seems to have gone…
Matt Cullen – C (Min): A great game for (arguably) the top Waiver Wire All Star in fantasy hockey today. 2 Goals and an Assist after just 1 point in the previous 5 games… Aaaahhh such is the life of a Waiver Wire All Star.
Josh Harding – G (Min): Could be slowly taking the #1 spot in Minnesota away from Niklas Backstrom. Not that Backstrom has played poorly, but Harding has been out of his mind good: 3W/.964SV%/1.22GAA and Minnesota is as desperate as any team in hockey to make the playoffs this year. (Which means they will start the guy who is winning). Great speculative add right now.
Nikolai Khabibulin – G (Edm): I’ve been reluctant to mention how awesome the Bulin Wall has been this year because, well, lets just say he and Joseph Stalin were good buddies back in the day.. HOWEVA, despite his advanced age, he’s become impossible to ignore. Another Shutout last night and this Edmonton defense is legit so you Khabi owners need to just cross your fingers that he stays healthy. If he does go down, Dubnyk is a must-add.
Corey Potter – D (Edm): I’ve had a lot of questions about whether or not to pick this guy up and despite the production I still can’t recommend him. He’s 27 and last night was his 19th game in his NHL career. His season high in points at ANY level is 37. And that was last year in the AHL at the age of 26. Unless his middle name is “Harry” and he discovered the magic wand I wouldn’t pick him up with your team…
Evgeni Malkin – C (Pit): 2 Goals & an Assist and now with 10 Points in 7 Games Geno is proving that if it weren’t for health concerns, he would have no concerns at all.
That’s it and sorry for the late post ya’ll, had family stuff going on last night.. Anyway as always send me your Q’s and I’ll shoot you some A’s! Enjoy the weekend and Seacrest OUT!
