Also, in the Selection Sheet pool, Chris has dramatically lost his lead as it now stands at only 1 point heading into Week Nine. Mike C. has done the business with a huge week, which I will explain a little bit better as a M&S.
Well, I hope I didn't use too big of a word in the poll this past week. You do know that emphatic means enthusiastic, right? I mean, there really should have only been one guy to vote for that option and that would be Chris. I mean, c'mon... that was sort of a trash talk poll. You just can't concede that sort of thing to him. His ego doesn't need that sort of rubbing... I mean, c'mon!It was a 57% decision that Chris would definitely win both pools on the basis of his standing during the week. Only 28% wanted to give him a ribbing, while the remaining 14% said that he'll probably fall off the lead of one of the pools. Sigh.
This week's poll question will surround next week's Waiver Draft again. What combination of players are you going to drop and pick up? Will both of your choices be forwards? Defense? Maybe you want to change both goaltenders? Or... maybe it'll be a combination of the three.
We almost saw a record week, for this season, in the Draft this past week. Benson had himself a huge 42-point effort, one short of the 43-point record posted in Week Three. The 42 points did jump Benson from 9th to 6th in the standings, which is a great effort and he'll need those sort of efforts to continue climbing up the ladder. The reasons for this giant jump are quite easy to find on his team page. Zach Parise had a big week with 6 points, while Sidney Crosby and Nicklas Lidstrom each potted 5 points each. Mike Richards, Michael Ryder, Bryan McCabe and Vesa Toskala all had 4 points as well. That's some serious production. He did have three zeros on his team, but two of those might find themselves out the door in the Waiver Draft, so he won't have to worry about them for too much longer.Well, talk about a hot streak! Mike C. has had himself back-to-back weeks of 69 or better. Okay, it was a 69 points in Week Seven and now 70 in Week Eight. He moved from 9th place to 2nd in a matter of a couple weeks. The week before that, he was down in 15th place... talk about some serious Moving and Shaking. This past week, he had big points from Roberto Luongo (6), Martin St. Louis (6), Henrik Lundqvist (6), Joe Thornton (5), Nicklas Lidstrom (5), Sidney Crosby (5), Scott Gomez (5) and four others (4).
For some teams, the Waiver Draft can't come soon enough and for others the prospect of only getting to change two players just isn't enough. Both of which are very common afflictions of being a Basement Dweller. Dennis is this week's dweller as he had a week-low 14 points. Seven players were shorting Dennis of points as they all had zero for the week, granted two of them are injured and another is an off-and-on scratch. On the bright side, one of his injuries could be back in Week Nine, so it won't look too bad. I don't know if there is any excuse for Joe Sakic and Ryan Smyth to have zero points each though. Those are two players you need to get the job done on a consistent basis.Falling out of the Top Ten in the Sheet pool is enough to earn the Basement Dweller for Week Eight. Trevor B. was sitting in 7th at the beginning of the week, but now sits in 11th after a 45-point week. It wasn't the lowest week, but it was a share of the biggest drop in the pool, so the award is now handed out. It was his second consecutive week below 50 points and he could blame it on the fact that 8 players didn't produce a single point for his team, which isn't helpful at all.
It wasn't as though there were players trying to knock off the favourite this weekend, but despite a loss on Saturday night, the favourite has stuck at the top of the heap, but didn't set any records in the process.
Well, the league's leader in Minutes Played, Evgeni Nabokov (Wes) has tried his best to make the Sharks the team everyone expects, but sometimes even great goaltending isn't enough to win games. Nabokov went 3-0-1 in the week, recording two shutouts against Phoenix. Nabokov is now ranked as the second best goaltender in the pool standings, which he should be with all the games he has been playing. His back-up has only 29 minutes of play to his name and we're already eight weeks into the season.
It looks as though the time of Dominik Hasek (John B.) is beginning to wane. Detroit had lost to Chicago on Saturday, mostly due to a shaky Hasek. If Hasek continues to struggle, it will be more than obvious that Chris Osgood (Box 12), who has a marvelous record, will take the reins of the team and get the bulk of the starts. Osgood is available for pick-up in the Waiver Draft.Other News and Notes
Mathieu Schneider (John B.) has begun to sit out again for the Ducks because of a hip injury. Schneider missed the last two games in the week, but he claims that he'll be ready for Wednesday's game for Anaheim.
The Pittsburgh Penguins have not been pleased with the effort of Darryl Sydor (Wes) of late and have made him a healthy scratch in the last two contests. Sydor was brought in for some more veteran leadership, but only has 1 point this season... a big disappointment.
The Wild have suffered some injury problems this weekend. Both players, in the Selection Sheet pool and available for the Waiver Draft, left the game against Vancouver with injuries. Mark Parrish (Box 8) left with a strained back muscle, while Mikko Koivu (Box 9) left the game late in the third after he was slashed in the leg. The Wild haven't been the biggest scoring team, but there wouldn't be any reason that you wouldn't look at Koivu in the Draft. Koivu has 16 points so far this season, but will now miss a week with a cracked bone in his leg.
With the news that Koivu is out, a suspension for Mattias Ohlund (Dale B.) was handed down by the NHL. Ohlund will miss the next 4 games for the Canucks, which is some pretty bad news, since the Canucks are already without Kevin Bieksa (Peter) and Sami Salo (John B.).
I haven't done the list, so I don't know how many times any player has been taken, but Jason Williams (Box 7) wasn't too popular, I don't think. Anyways, he's now out with a groin injury, which isn't too serious... so if you're looking to move into Chicago with your Box 7 pick, you may want to wait a little bit before doing so.
Well, if you're looking for defensive help in the Waiver Draft, you've been looking at Cory Murphy in Florida. But he's on the news page for an injury he's sustained to his shoulder, which has kept him out of the line-up for the past couple games. Murphy should still be taken by someone who doesn't possibly read the news page or the newsletter, but if everyone does, he would more than likely drop in the draft quite a ways.
Adding some more names to the list, I found that Eric Belanger has had himself some pretty good weeks of late and is now up to 15 points on the season so far. He's one to keep your eye on.Selection Sheet Trades
It wasn't a big week for some trades, but some were made. Another team used up the rest of his trades and by the sounds of it, one team is already rueing the fact that he used all his up. The biggest move at the moment has been seeing Martin Brodeur being dropped twice this week for Henrik Lundqvist. Brodeur had a tough time reaching his 500th career win, not to mention having trouble just winning in general.
The Edmonton Oilers and their young team will host Jonathan Toews (Chris), Patrick Kane (Marcus) and the Chicago Blackhawks on the last Saturday before the Waiver Draft. The Oilers have their fair share of kids who are available for the Waiver Draft, so do your best to do some scouting for your pool team. Are you a fan of Andrew Cogliano or Sam Gagner? Well, they're both available for you. This should be a fairly entertaining game on Hockey Night in Canada, so do look forward to this match-up.Technorati Tags
NHL, Hockey, Hockey Pool
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