The goal scoring climate this season is a little bit different after eleven weeks in the season. Last season, the top five goal scorers in the league were Alexander Ovechkin, Ilya Kovalchuk, Jarome Iginla, Evgeni Malkin and Brad Boyes. How many of the five are in the top five this season, after eleven weeks? One. After eleven weeks, the top scoring five are Thomas Vanek, Jeff Carter, Phil Kessel, Alexander Ovechkin and Patrick Sharp. I suppose after an 82-game season, you begin to wonder if the two top fives will look a little similar, because there are some that won't be able to stand the test of the grueling year.
Right now, Vanek is on pace to match Ovechkin's 65-goal season from a year ago, which would be mighty impressive. He's scoring at a pace of 0.8 goals-per-game, while only Carter and Kessel are on pace for 50+ goals themselves. Having three 50-goal scorers would match last season's output as well. If Alexander Semin didn't miss that stretch of games already this year, he would be on pace for 60 goals, but he'll be lucky to hit 50, as he's only on pace to score 48 with the remaining games on the schedule.
Where are the rest of the top five from last season? Kovalchuk is mired, tied for 41st with 11 goals, Iginla is tied for 12th with 14, Malkin has 12 and tied for 27th and Boyes is tied for 7th with 15. Both Boyes and Iginla are in striking distance at the moment, but the other two aren't too far off... a good goal scoring streak away, if you will.
Last season, there were a grand total of 10 players who hit the 40-goal mark or better and at this season's pace, we have 14 players ready to make that mark. There are plenty of players on the verge of the 40-goal pace, so we could be in an interesting race for 40. Let's hope these players can stay healthy to score that many. It would sure make for an entertaining year.
The top goal scorer not taken in the Draft, either in the original Draft or the Waiver Draft, is David Booth of the Panthers, who now has 12 goals this season. His fantasy value does diminish, because he only has 2 assists this season, which really only helps if there was the hypothetical Cy Young award for goal scorers (to assists, like the win-loss column for pitchers in baseball).
For the poll question this week, I thought I would try and get your thoughts on the Brendan Shanahan situation. As you know, he is still unsigned, more than likely thanks to Mats Sundin. Since I have already asked you where you thought Sundin would end up, I have asked you where you think Shanahan will end up. With only six votes to this poll, it's safe to say that no one really knows, thus not really giving their opinion. Those who actually voted, half said that Philadelphia was the likely location for Shanahan, which does seem somewhat plausible, but they would still likely have to deal to make cap room to fit the grizzled veteran.This week, I'll ask you who you think the best rookie has been. I don't think I would have even figured all five of these rookies to be on the list, but here we are. Even for myself, I would have only figured to see one of the five up there, but isn't necessarily who I'd vote for.
The Mover & Shaker race for Week Eleven was exceptionally tight, right down to the wire on Sunday night. For the most part, it was a two-horse race through Saturday, but one more horse came galloping along the home stretch to make it a three-horse race for the most points. In th end, with 39 points in the week, it was Clayton who came away with the M&S award, earning himself a Shawn Matthias rookie card from Victory. Next week's award will be a Sam Gagner rookie card, also from Victory, which would look pretty snazzy in any collection.It was a pretty good week for Clayton, as he moved into second place, only 6 points behind first place. All but three of his players registered points and it was good weeks for Mike Richards (6 points), Dustin Brown (5), Zach Parise (5), Jason Pominville (5), Eric Staal (4) and Steve Mason (4). At this point in the season, Clayton has the best points-per-game average among pool skaters at .749 and has the fourth best games played for skaters at 331. Not only is the team healthy, it's producing at a pretty good rate at the same time. Clayton also ranks second in scoring since the Waiver Draft players have been activated at 69 points, only 3 points behind first place, Derek.
On the Sheet this past week, it wasn't a great deal of monster weeks, points-wise, as the top of the table only hit 69 points. This week, it's a shout out to a team down near the bottom, making a climb out. Moving from 40th to 35th, it's Shaunna, who finished with 58 points and moved up those five positions. It's a pretty good feat to start moving up in the standings from down there, as you can start to salvage your season from down there. Having a good week for Shaunna in Week Eleven were Patrick Marleau (5 points), Alexander Ovechkin (5), Patrik Elias (5), Michael Ryder (5), Scott Hartnell (5) and Brent Johnson (4).
There was a tie for the least amount of points in the Draft this past week, both Grant and Ryan had 18 points. In finding a tie-breaker, it's either the all-or-nothing approach or the bits-and-pieces approach to getting the least amount of points and being named our Basement Dweller. For this week, I'm going to arbitrarily suggest the bits-and-pieces approach and name Ryan our Basement Dweller for Week Eleven. Also, Ryan dropped one spot in the Standings, where Grant couldn't go down any further... so that could also be suggested as the tie-breaker in the week. Ryan had points from all but four of his players last week and six of his players only managed to snag one point. Sure, Nikolai Zherdev had 5 points, but you need more players with 5 points in the week than just one to get yourself out of the basement. Congratulations Ryan... and may I say, look out behind you, as you are only separated from 12th (in your spot of 8th) by only 6 points and a couple of those teams are hot at the moment.Dropping four places in the standings on the Sheet was Peter, who finished with 45 points in the Week. Peter now sits in 28th place and has all seven of his trades still to use. With seven trades, he could certainly move himself back up to a reasonable position in the standings, but there are some rumblings that he isn't going to use any. On his current team, he had 12 players who failed to register a point, five of them due to injury. Some changes made could make a pretty big difference in being safely in the top half to dropping near the bottom half.
Week Eleven's best player is on somewhat of a tear at the moment. Boston's Phil Kessel is on a 15-game points streak, which I believe is the league-high, so far this season, and in the four games he played this past week, he managed 8 points. Kessel, a Draft pick of Benson's, has now moved himself up to 15th in league scoring and 20th in pool scoring this season, with 31 points in 30 games for Boston. It's no wonder that Boston is doing so well in the Standings, since they have this much scoring out of the rest of their players.
In the four games during Week Eleven, Kessel picked up 3 goals and 5 assists, including a 3 point effort in Atlanta on Friday night. That would have been the night to put him over the top. Kessel, as of Monday morning, was alone in third for the league lead in goals scored with 19 and is a +12 so far this year. He's hitting his stride as the fifth overall pick in 2006, in only his third season in the NHL.
Mired in a losing streak, the Minnesota Wild are not getting a lot of support for their goaltenders. Niklas Backstrom, namely, didn't register a point in his last three games and has only one won in his last five. Backstrom, a Draft pick of Larry's, is 4th in the league in wins with 14 and is tied for 2nd in shutouts with 3, but he hasn't been able to string together good results for a little while, which has led to the Wild's decline in the Northwest Division standings.Other News and Notes
It was a poor way to return for Box 29 defenseman, Aaron Ward, as he returned to the line-up from injury on Friday night and then left the game in the second period to a new injury. Ward didn't end up dressing for the Bruins game on Saturday night against the Thrashers, but there wasn't an exact length of time determined for his injury.
Now that the comeback seems to be complete for Patrice Bergeron, you don't have to fault him if he wants to take a game off because of a little flu bug. Bergeron sat out on Saturday because of the flu and will likely be back before too long. He has been enjoying a good season, thus far, having 17 points in the first 29 games for Boston.
After Saturday's game against Nashville, suspended forward Sean Avery is eligible to return to the Stars' line-up. On Sunday, the team announced that he won't be returning right away, looking to seek more counseling for his personal issues. Once he has achieved full rehabilitation, it will then be decided where Avery will play his next game.
With the oldest player in the league taking to the ice for the first time for the Red Wings, one of the team's blueliners had to sit out. Last night it was Box 14 defender, Brett Lebda, who fit the bill for most likely to sit in the press box, as Chris Chelios skated for the first time since breaking his leg in the pre-season. Unless there is an injury to the blueline, it looks like Lebda will be the one to sit when Chelios gets the nod this year.
The Sens learned on Friday that Anton Volchenkov wouldn't be a part of the line-up on Saturday afternoon after he blocked a shot in the abdomen. The Senators called up Brian Lee and Ilya Zubov to fill some gaps on Saturday. Volchenkov will remain on the sidelines on a day-to-day basis.
The Coyotes have been regularly scratching Daniel Winnik, a forgotten Box 6 forward, this season. Winnik has only played in 21 games for the Coyotes and has only registered 1 assist. With only 1 point, you can see why he hasn't seen as much ice-time as he would have liked, as the rest of the youth movement has been producing well offensively.
On Saturday, the Penguins were without Box 24 forward, Maxime Talbot due to an undisclosed injury. This is Talbot's second time on the shelf for the Penguins due to injury, which has kept him to only 28 games this season. In those 28 games, Talbot has only registered 7 points (4G, 3A), which doesn't make him a good fantasy player this year.
On Saturday night, it was reported that Sharks forward, Joe Pavelski left their game against St. Louis with a lower body injury. There was no new news available on Pavelski on what his condition is for Monday night's game in Los Angeles, but it should be updated before game time. Pavelski, a Box 5 forward and a Waiver Draft pick of Dennis', has had a pretty good start to the season, scoring 23 points in 29 games for the Sheet and 3 points in 5 games for Dennis.
The Blues didn't dress Box 11 defenseman, Eric Brewer, on Saturday game due to an upper body injury. Brewer is only listed as out day-to-day and the details are rather sketchy about the injury in general. Brewer only has 6 points in 28 games for the Blues and hasn't been a fantasy gem this year, so his injury will likely give him time to reflect on his season and hopefully get him going when he returns.
After waiving Mike Lundin on Friday, he cleared waivers by Saturday afternoon and it was decided that he will join Chris Gratton in the minors. Lundin, a Box 28 defenseman, has only 2 assists in 25 games for the Lightning and really hasn't been much help to the Lightning, as they are continuing having problems winning games.
After being a healthy scratch on Friday night, Anton Stralman has been assigned to the Marlies in the AHL, as it seems he isn't meshing well enough for the coaching staff. Stralman has 7 points in 21 games for the Leafs, which isn't terrible, but it looks like the team will be giving recent call-up Jamie Sifers a longer look with the big club.Click here to see an updated injury page.
As it so happens, there was a small deal done, as the Stars were looking to fill a gap or two up front, so they dealt for Brian Sutherby from Anaheim for the rights to a collegiate player and a conditional pick.
| 2008-2009 Stats | 2009 | |||
| To Dallas | Age | GP | Points | Cap Hit |
| Brian Sutherby, F | 26 | 17 | 6 | $700,00 |
| --- | ||||
| To Anaheim | Age | GP | Points | Cap Hit |
| David McIntyre, F | 21 | 0 | 0 | N/A |
| Conditional Draft Pick | ||||
It's another 12 game Saturday schedule for this coming weekend and the Maple Leafs return from a Saturday off to play again on Hockey Night In Canada. The Week Twelve edition of HNIC will see the Leafs travel down to Pittsburgh to take on Sidney Crosby and the Penguins. In the late game, the Canucks continue their home stand with a visit from Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane and the Chicago Blackhawks. The Canucks remain hopeful that they can get Roberto Luongo back in the crease, sooner rather than later, but it may not be until Week Thirteen before he's back.
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