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With nine games lined up tonight in the NHL, the plot is starting to thicken. Some teams are starting to show signs of weakness, where others are starting to find there game. Same goes for the players as some of the younger guns came into the season with guns a blazing!
Taking a look at the teams who have been scoring the most goals at this point in the season I’ve noticed a few things:
Tampa: 60 goals for Pittsburgh: 55 goals for Toronto & Vancouver: 53 goals for
Now on the other hand of things, taking a look at who has the most goals scored against:
Buffalo: 60 goals against Colorado: 56 goals against Columbus: 55 goals against
Who would have thought Colorado and Columbus both would have gotten off to such a horrible start?! Columbus I can cut a bit of slack to…they have a ton of injuries. But Colorado….that just blows my mind. Patrick Roy better get his boys back to the basics or its going to be a long season for the Avalanche and their fans.
Buffalo holds the league’s worst (+-) with a whopping -39. Nobody is even close to them, as the Blue Jackets are next in line with a -17.
Seems like most teams that would be in a playoff spot are going to be in the positive side of the plus-minus category. Only the Montreal Canadiens have a negative plus-minus rating and are still in a playoff spot...they are second in the East. Fair to say at this point that Montreal has relied heavily on their goaltending. If they want to stay at the top of the Eastern Conference, I would imagine they better start scoring more goals. They only have two more than Columbus; the ‘Price’ is right, what can I say.
How about the New York Islanders? With a 10-5 record they sit tied for fourth in the East with Toronto and Boston. Looks like all those off season moves paid off for the Isles; they have been exciting to watch.
In the Western Conference there are a couple nice surprises as well...the most obvious to me is the Calgary Flames improvement. They also have 20 points and sit tied with Los Angeles in the fifth spot just behind St. Louis and Nashville. Which brings me to Nashville...acquiring both Neal and Ribeiro in the off season and Rinne getting back into Vezina form...the Predators are the real deal this year. Captain Weber will lead this team to the playoffs; I have no doubt about it.
A slow start for James Neal has started to heat up...I hope you read my blogs and thought twice about trading Neal or god forbid dropping him. He and Ribeiro have had success now that they knocked off the summer rust (and beers). So, if you have Ribeiro available as a free agent, id certainly consider picking him up. I drafted him, dropped him, and repacked him back up...always excitement when working the waiver wire.
November I find can be a tricky month for Fantasy...lots of the young guns start to slow down and lots of the vets start to find their game. There is also the panic that sets in for teams who are off to slow starts...DONT PANIC. That’s the best advice I can give at this point; hold your main cards. Don’t trade away your first couple picks unless you are getting back a big return, one that you can assure will put you back into the mix. That doesn’t mean don’t make any trades and don’t be shy to use the waiver wire or free agency to scoop up players who are hot. Just be cautious of who you drop/trade...keep those high ranked guys, even if they are really awful right now.
Landeskog-Mackinnon-OReilly-Duchene-Tanguay-Iginla
To me, thats the top 6 players in Colorado. They have NOT been good, at all...Trade? Maybe..drop? Don’t even think about dropping one of these guys unless you are in a very small pool with few players. Think about it this way...15-17 games have been played. There are tons of games left and plenty of time to turn it around...look at the Flyers last year. They were awful...worst start I’ve ever seen them have that I can remember. By the end of the season they were in a playoff spot and anyone who traded a top tier flyer regretted it. This happens, every year...now I’m not saying it’s certain that it will happen with Colorado. But, Roy is a gamer, he hates to lose...don’t we all. But, I have faith he straightens these guys up. After the lashing they took last game, I expect a hard grinded effort tonight.
Starting Goalies:
(COL) Varlamov VS (NYR) Lundqvist (WPG) Hutchinson VS (CAR) Ward (BOS) Rask VS (MTL) Price (SJ) Niemi VS (TBL) Bishop (NSH) Rinne VS (STL) Allen (BUF) Enroth VS (MIN) Kuemper (ARI) Smith VS (CLG) Hiller (OTT) Anderson VS (EDM) Scrivens (DAL) Lehtonen VS (LA) Jones
Best of luck in your fantasy!!
Be sure to check out tomorrow’s blog!
Thanks for reading.