Ramblings: Crosby Breaks Goalless Slump, Johansen Doesn’t (Nov 15)

Ian Gooding

2017-11-15

Crosby Breaks Goalless Slump, Johansen Doesn’t, plus more…

Despair no more, Sidney Crosby owners. Sid the Kid scored his first goal in 12 games and added an assist with five shots on goal in 23 minutes of icetime. There was an interesting discussion on the most recent Keeping Karlsson podcast about Crosby being a potential buy-low candidate. I can certainly vouch for that. But here’s something to ponder during your down time: Is there any player on your fantasy roster that you would not trade if you were offered Crosby in a 1-for-1 deal? The list has to be very short, but worthy of debate. McDavid? Kucherov? Anyone else?

Crosby plus/minus watch: He was an even rating (0) in this game, so his plus/minus remains at minus-14.

Justin Schultz splitting power-play time with Kris Letang has been a topic of discussion lately. But things were back to normal (so to speak) on Tuesday. Letang totaled 5:19 on the man advantage, whereas Schultz totaled just 2:23. In my keeper league I targeted Schultz at least in part because I also own Letang, which means that I’m leery that the next injury is just around the corner. Each blueliner earned an assist in this game.

Conor Sheary scored two goals on Tuesday, including the overtime winner against Buffalo. He is not only the Penguins’ co-leader in goals, but also an early leader for a Cy Young (8-2).

If you missed out on Sam Reinhart’s three-point performance in a losing cause, you can’t be blamed. Reinhart had not recorded a point in his previous four games and had not scored a goal in his previous ten games.

*


Or to put it another way, this is yet another example of why you should not panic when your fantasy goalie struggles during the first month of the season. From October 5 to November 8, Dubnyk posted a goals-against average above 3.00, a save percentage barely above .900, and just four wins in 11 tries. Since then, he’s posted three consecutive shutouts, including a 30-save performance against the Flyers on Tuesday (back-to-backs against Philly).

And yes, yet another goal for Jason Zucker, who now has seven goals in his past four games. Zucker scored all six of the Wild’s goals in their three previous games. The losses of both Zach Parise and Charlie Coyle (forgot to mention Coyle the last time I mentioned Zucker in the Ramblings) have hurt the Wild’s offense but created increased opportunity for Zucker. His icetime is up a full two minutes per game over the previous few seasons, all of which is increased power-play time.

*

If you own a Blue Jackets’ player, there’s a good chance that he hasn’t provided much for your fantasy team this past week. The Jackets have scored just five goals over the last four games. There was finally a Cam Atkinson sighting on Tuesday, as he recorded an assist on the game-winning goal. If you factor in time out of the lineup because of injury, Atkinson had not recorded a point since October 27. The assist was his first in five games.

So if Jonathan Huberdeau scored two first-period power-play goals to pump up the crowd, yet there wasn’t much of a crowd to watch it, did it really happen? I hope so for the sake of my fantasy team. With 21 points in just 17 games, Huberdeau is well on his way to cracking that 60-point barrier that has eluded him throughout his career. The one that we at Dobber Hockey know is going to happen.
 


Those hearty souls that made it out to the game also witnessed a two-goal performance from Jamie Benn, who also fired seven shots. As expected, Benn skated on a line with Alexander Radulov and… what now?

19.11%  EV           BENN,JAMIE – JANMARK,MATTIAS – RADULOV,ALEXANDER

16.67%  EV           DICKINSON,JASON – SEGUIN,TYLER – SHORE,DEVIN

12.2%    EV           ELIE,REMI – HANZAL,MARTIN – SPEZZA,JASON

8.13%    EV           FAKSA,RADEK – PITLICK,TYLER – ROUSSEL,ANTOINE

Mattias Janmark earned a helper on one of Benn’s goals while skating nearly 20 minutes. He’s quietly putting together an effective season (10 points in 18 games), so he might be worth keeping an eye on while the Dallas lines are in a state of flux.

*

Lots of players scored for Nashville on Tuesday. Six different players, in fact. But sadly, Ryan Johansen wasn’t one of them. So that’s 17 games and zero goals. I didn’t include Johansen in my list of “most shots, fewest goals” from my last Ramblings because, well, he’s taken just 23 shots. That’s not even a shot and a half per game. Wasn’t it Wayne Gretzky who said you miss 100 percent of the shots you don’t take? So by my math, 0-for-23 on the shots that Johansen has taken + 0-for-0 on the shots that Johansen hasn’t taken = 0. I knew being good at math in elementary school would pay off for me someday.

📢 advertisement:

How about some subtraction next? Johansen's ownership on Yahoo has dipped to 73 percent. That for a player picked within the top 100 in many Yahoo leagues.

*

Two streaks end for the Jets, one good and one bad. Bryan Little’s goalless drought ended at 11 games, but Patrik Laine’s goal-scoring streak ended at five games. So of course it would make perfect sense that they play on the same line.

*

So how dreadful have the Coyotes been over the first quarter of the season?
 


Anyone want to take Antti Raanta off my hands? Anyone? Anyone? No one? Oh well, nowhere to go but up, I suppose.

*

So what do you do when your fourth-string goalie allows seven goals and the game’s not over? Why you put in your fifth-string goalie. So out went Maxime Lagace and in went 19-year-old Dylan Ferguson, complete with his Kamloops Blazers mask. Ferguson allowed another goal and stopped another shot. Barely a ripple from a fantasy perspective, but this had to be a thrill for the kid.
 


So I hear the Oilers are having trouble scoring? Yes, we know the Vegas goalie situation, and we know the Golden Knights are much less powerful on the road than at home. But this should be an important confidence booster for the Oilers, who are on the outside looking in at the Western Conference playoff picture as we approach American Thanksgiving.

Connor McDavid scored two goals and added an assist, as we might expect. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored two goals of his own, breaking a stretch of five games without a goal.

How far has Ryan Strome fallen down the Oilers’ depth chart? He’s now on a line with Iiro Pakarinen and Jujhar Khaira. But it’s kind of worked out for Strome, who with an assist now has points in back-to-back games. Khaira recorded two assists to give him three points over his past two games.

The Oilers made a trade on Tuesday, sending Jussi Jokinen to LA for Mike Cammalleri. Steve has the Fantasy Take.

Steve had a busy day, as he also told us about the fantasy impact of Louis Domingue moving to Tampa Bay.

*

For a team with a 28th-ranked power play (entering Tuesday’s action), the Canucks sure have a ton of “power-play specialists.” They signed Sam Gagner and Thomas Vanek during the offseason. The Sedins are basically power-play specialists at this point in their career (yes, I said it). Then you have to give Bo Horvat and Brock Boeser and Sven Baertschi time with the man advantage. And I also forgot about $30 million man Loui Eriksson. Hasn’t Derek Dorsett earned some power-play time as well? Lots of mouths to feed. At least they have Brandon Sutter in a more defensive role, which he’s much better suited for.

But said power play surprised even the most optimistic Canucks’ fan, going 2-for-3 on Tuesday against the Kings. Henrik Sedin scored a goal and added an assist. And Derrick Pouliot made an appearance with two assists and second-unit power-play time. I’m wondering if Pouliot is bumped out of the lineup once both Chris Tanev and Troy Stecher return, though.

*

For more fantasy hockey information, follow me on Twitter @Ian_Gooding.

6 Comments

  1. Pat Fraser 2017-11-15 at 09:25

    I would say about Pouliot and Stecher … Pouliot has been a blue chip for many years (in dobber’s prospects reports) and a first choice. Stecher has never been drafted and was signed 2 years ago by VAN in hope to bring some offense from the back end. Potential for Stecher is 25-35 max and potential for Pouliot is way above that (but Pouliot has to be better with his defensive tools) … winner is Pouliot …

    • Striker 2017-11-15 at 13:21

      I grant you Pouliot had a better pedigree but it is significantly tarnished. Stetcher has played a fairly reliable 2 way game since arriving in Vcr. Far to early to try & determine what Stetcher will be when full developed at the NHL level in 3 to 4 years & another 300 games.

      I do like the fact Green & I guess Dave Newell who returned to run the PP have finally seen enough of Del Zotto on the PP, he shouldn’t be seeing any PP time never mind leading the team in PP TOI/GP until the completion of last nights game. I’m hoping Pouliot can steel the 1st unit spot from Edler & potential bump Stetcher back to the AHL until Gubranson gets moved. Personal bias for 1 of my pools as opposed to real world issues. Ha-ha!

    • Ian Gooding 2017-11-15 at 15:10

      I agree that Pouliot has the higher offensive upside. But that means little to a typical NHL coach, who is more interested in preventing goals that scoring them. Stecher was named the Canucks’ top defenseman by the team last season. Pouliot was 9000th on the Penguins’ depth chart during their Stanley Cup run. Pouliot may have had two assists last night, but I still saw him struggle at times covering the Kings’ forwards. As a Canucks’ fan, I would love to see Pouliot turn into that d-man that Pittsburgh thought they had drafted. But he is no guarantee to stay in the lineup once Stecher and Tanev return. Tanev is the Canucks’ best defenseman IMO, even though he provides little offense.

  2. Ommmzzz 2017-11-15 at 11:47

    While the Oilers/VGK game last night was a bit of a coming out party vs. a 4th string goalie, this was Legace’s 8th game and it was the first Western Conference team to beat the Knights.

  3. Striker 2017-11-15 at 13:13

    In my 2 fanatsy leagues it is all offense with a bonus point for DG’s, PPG’s, OTG’s & 2 for SHG’s. We dress 14 man rosters 3 skaters at each forward position, 4 D & a G. 16 & 20 team leagues. We use CBS who is brutal for positioning wingers at C making C by far the easiest position to fill. There are at least 20 players you would select ahead of Crosby, 3 D, Karlsson, Burns & Hedman, a ton of LW & RW’s, to many to even list. At this stage Crosby just makes my top 5 at C as we protect any 9 in the 16 team league & 12; 2 skaters at each position, a G & 3 wildcards, in the 20 team league. Crosby’s age & injury issues are starting to factor into his long term value. I would select McDavid, Matthews & Scheifele ahead of Crosby at C & be just as happy to get anyone of Seguin, Tavares or Kuznetsov as Crosby at C but would select them after him. Trochek & Barkov are coming fast as well.

    I just add dropped Pouliot in my 20 team league this Saturday, had been monitoring his icetime for several weeks. Yes when Stetcher & Tanev return, Pouliot will become the extra Dman but 1 thing we know for sure is Edler & Tanev will be injured again soon & 2 Gubranson is on the clock & gone no later than the trade deadline. His salary expectations are out to lunch the reason Flo traded him & Vcr couldn’t get him signed for more than 1 season making him a UFA. Pouliot has surprised me & apparently he will in fact be an NHL Dman. I was very close to writing him off but not with out at least 2 more NHL stops before he left Pit.

    Minnesota sustained numerous injuries out of the gate as they have gotten healthy they have been improving. When Coyle returns they should start to become the dominant force I expected them to be. I had them winning the central. I had StL 2nd, I didn’t see them playing quite this well & to think they still don’t have Bou back yet! Schenn has fit in perfectly. Why Phi never gave Schenn better quality ES ice time is odd.

  4. whattheheck 2017-11-15 at 23:25

    One of the best articles about fantasy hockey out there. Everything you need to win with great insight and the fluidity that is fantasy sports. Just wanted to say thanks for doing this web site.

Leave A Comment

UPCOMING GAMES

Mar 18 - 20:03 CGY vs WSH
Mar 18 - 22:03 SEA vs BUF

Starting Goalies

Top Skater Views

  Players Team
DANIIL MIROMANOV CGY
ALEXANDER NYLANDER CBJ
EVGENY KUZNETSOV CAR
ANTHONY DUCLAIR T.B
FABIAN ZETTERLUND S.J

Top Goalie Profile Views

  Players Team
DEVIN COOLEY S.J
JAKE ALLEN N.J
LOGAN THOMPSON VGK
CHARLIE LINDGREN WSH
DUSTIN WOLF CGY

LINE COMBOS

  Frequency MIN Players
17.5 KIRILL KAPRIZOV RYAN HARTMAN MATT BOLDY
16.7 MATS ZUCCARELLO MARCO ROSSI MARCUS JOHANSSON
11.1 MARAT KHUSNUTDINOV FREDERICK GAUDREAU MARCUS FOLIGNO

DobberHockey Podcasts

FIND US ON FACEBOOK

📢 advertisement: