September 24, 2013

Dobber Sports

2013-09-24

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A couple of quick updates from today.


Phil Kessel has been suspended for the rest of the preseason for his role in that brawl with the Buffalo Sabres. Fortunately for the Leafs and fantasy owners he won’t miss any regular season action.


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Damien Brunner officially signed a two-year $5M deal with Devils Monday. Brunner was on a PTO during camp.


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So that ridiculous brawl between Toronto and Buffalo did a whole lot of nothing except hurt the Leafs in the early part of the season, and quite a few fantasy owners as well. David Clarkson has already received a 10-game ban for leaving the bench and it wouldn't be shocking for Phil Kessel to get a suspension as well for his Happy Gilmore-esque stick swinging fest.

 

Nazem Kadri was apparently planning to hop over the boards as well, but Joffrey Lupul stopped him using a lost art in hockey, common sense.

 

Not only that, but you had Jonathan Bernier and Ryan Miller throwing bombs for good measure. Wouldn't that have been a nice start to Bernier's career in Toronto, when arguably your biggest offseason acquisition, who is a goalie, has to miss the first two months of the campaign because of a separated shoulder he suffered in a fight during a preseason game. Thankfully for Toronto that didn't happen.

 

I understand John Scott was completely out of line for starting the shenanigans, but ultimately it's going to be Toronto that suffers. There was no reason for Clarkson to leave the bench. They are likely going to be without two key contributors for nearly the first month of the season, and it could have been worse. Fantasy owners who drafted or are planning to draft either Clarkson or Kessel are going to get a raw deal as well.

 

Once again, there are way too many preseason games.

 

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Staying with the Leafs, they signed Mason Raymond to an official contract for the season on Monday. Raymond had a strong preseason and brings good speed as well as penalty killing ability to the Leafs forward group. He should slide into the third line, and that unit, along with Nikolai Kulemin and Dave Bolland, should have the makings of a formidable checking group. Raymond may even be able to help ignite Kulemin's offense a bit as well.

 

The bad news with the Raymond signing comes at the expense of Joe Colborne and Carter Ashton. Colborne still has a shot to make the squad, but his minutes will be limited with Raymond around. Ashton will be in tough to find a roster spot at this point.

 

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Raffi Torres could miss extended time with an ACL injury, according to a report. Torres played well after being picked up late last season by the Sharks. In just 11 games with San Jose he picked up 38 hits and with the talent that forward group has, there was some potential for offensive upside in 2013-14. This could open the door for players like Tyler Kennedy and Tommy Wingels to receive increased minutes, at least in the early part of the season.

 

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Zack Kassian joined in the preseason stupidity and was suspended five games for hitting Sam Gagner in the face with his stick. Gagner will be out indefinitely with a broken jaw.

 

There are a couple of things to keep an eye on as it relates to this situation. The first would be with Kassian's absence early in the season, look for the speedy Jannik Hansen to get some significant time with the second group and maybe even some power play opportunities.

 

As far as the Oilers are concerned, Taylor Hall could shift to center in place of Gagner, especially, especially if Ryan Nugent-Hopkins' shoulder injury delays the start of his season in any way. This would then potentially allowfor a winger like Nail Yakupov or David Perron to slide up and get some top line minutes.

 

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Danny DeKeyser has a shot to make a decent impact for the Red Wings in 2013-14. Outside of Niklas Kronwall and Jonathan Ericsson, Detroit's blueline is thin and experienced. There is no reason why DeKeyser can't make his way to the second pairing and get some power play time as well. He had a brief stint with the team last year and didn't look out of place. If he plans to make that happen though, he will have to out-duel Brendan Smith and Jakub Kindl.

 

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I like Dobber's point yesterday about the New Jersey forward situation. Damien Brunner and Jacob Josefson have a chance to do some big things in 2013-14 if the chips fall their way. Obviously with Ilya Kovalchuk and David Clarkson departing, there are opportunities for others to step up, but the fact that Jaromir Jagr and Ryan Clowe are already banged up means it is likely that the veterans will miss some time with injuries this season. Someone like Josefson has a chance to take advantage of these chances and earn more playing time.

 

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Here is a pretty gruesome photo of Gagner's jaw.

 

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The Dallas Stars assigned Jack Campbell to the AHL, which means Dan Ellis will be the backup this season. However, that doesn't necessarily mean he will stay there for the entire campaign. If there is an injury out there, Kari Lehtonen is sure to find it, and that might mean more starts for Ellis. If that's the case Campbell could get a callup and a look at some point this year.

 

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Here's a look at some of Campbell's work. Sorry about the music.

 

 

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Mike Halford writes that Minnesota's Mikko Koivu will be under some pressure in 2013-14. 

 

On the surface, Koivu had a solid 2013 campaign. He finished second on the team with 37 points and captained the Wild to their first postseason appearance in four years.

But dig a little deeper, and cracks start to show.

Koivu scored 33 of his 37 points in the first three months of the season, followed by a tough April-May stretch that saw his production dry up and Minnesota struggle.

 

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Dustin Brown skated for the first time Monday since injuring his hamstring early in training camp. Head coach Darryl Sutter thinks it's "highly unlikely" Brown will be ready for the season opener.

 

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The Chicago Blackhawks have reportedly put Kyle Beach on waivers. Beach was a former first-round pick in 2008 and posted 16 goals and 204 PIM last year in Rockford, but Chicago's forward group is tough to crack with all the depth at their disposal.

 

Michael Amato is an Associate Editor for DobberHockey and a News Editor for theScore. You can follow him on Twitter at @amato_mike

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