Week Two Newsletter

It was our first full week in the regular season and it really didn't disappoint, did it?  Well, I suppose that depends on who you are in the pool and where you landed in the standings.  Nevertheless, it was a 44-game week and there was 548 points collected in the pool, one of the bigger hauls, thanks to more teams, but overall, it was an exciting week.

I should be receiving the jersey prizes during Week Three, so I will have a full prize post done up when they arrive and breakdown how they will be handed out.  I believe there are four jerseys coming, so it won't just be about the segments, we might have a 4th place prize, which would be pretty sweet.

Anyway... we have ourselves a new leader in the pool after Week Two, which isn't surprising.  The curse of the Week One Mover & Shaker still exists, as Brenda dropped down to 3rd place, but her team is in the thick of it, so the curse could still be broken.  She just won't be going wire-to-wire this year.

Let's hop to it, as Week Three gets underway as I write up this post.  The Boston Bruins are hosting another one of their Columbus Day afternoon games against the Red Wings and it would be good to get everything done before that game finishes.

It shouldn't come as a great surprise, that the 1st overall pick in the draft would eventually get a Player of the Week nod, as he should be the best player in the pool, right?  Indeed, he was, thanks to the first tie-breakers (goals scored).  Sidney Crosby finished Week Two with 7 points and took the honours, but he was the only player to really do anything for Benson in the week, as he keeps his head above water.

Crosby and the Penguins played three games in Week Two and Crosby continued quite the hot streak to start the season.  On Tuesday, Crosby picked up a pair of assists in a 5-2 win over the Hurricanes; picked up an assist in a loss to the Panthers on Friday and then on Saturday, picked up a hat trick and an assist to cap off the week.  3 goals and 4 assists in three games for Crosby and the Penguins.

Crosby is now riding a 5-game point streak to start the season and he'll have another three games to keep that streak alive this week.

With Crosby's help, Benson lifted up from last place (24th) to 20th place in Week Two, as he has started his long climb up the standings.

Crosby's nod as Player of the Week now makes for the two of the top superstars to get the honour to start the season, which likely means we're in for another superstar to take the honour next week.  I have this also as Crosby's 4th nod on the newsletter overall, two other times as one of Benson's picks.  He sure likes Crosby.

Since it is still the early part of the season, it should come as no surprise when the Mover & Shaker ends up atop of the standings and they did again this week.

It was a monster week for Grant S., who finished on top of the weekly and overall standings after a 38-point week.  He moved up from 2nd place to 1st place and then opened up a 7-point lead, recovering from a 3-point deficit the week before.  His week was 13 points better than Brenda's, who dropped down to 3rd place after the electric start.

Grant is one of the first few teams in the pool to get points from every player now and in Week Two, his team was led by Alex Steen of the Blues, who finished with 5 points.  Joey MacDonald, Ben Scrivens and Derek Stepan each finished with 4 points a piece, while Daniel Sedin, Eric Staal, Duncan Keith and Dennis Wideman each had 3 points.

Grant's team currently leads the pool in skater games played with 65 on record, they're 2nd in points per skater game at 0.785, and 4th in points per 60 minutes played for goalies at 1.91.  Those are some very solid numbers, which makes him more than worthy of top spot in the standings this week.

In the basement this week is John S., who had one hell of a rough week.  With all the points that were handed out in Week Two, John was only able to snag 11 of them, which dropped him down from 17th in Week One to 24th after Week Two.

John's team is one of five to not have any goalie points through two weeks and between Martin Brodeur and Kari Ramo, that does seem to be somewhat surprising.  Nine of his 14 players failed to pick up a point in Week Two, including all of his defensemen and his team suffered an injury, with Vincent Lecavalier hitting the shelf for about a week or so.

John will start Week Three only 3 points out of 23rd and 36 points back of 1st place, more than double the total number of points he has picked up thus far.  It's still early in the season, but he needs to see some dramatic improvement or else it is going to be a long season for him.

NEWS AND NOTES

Tough break for Anton Khudobin, who has been the Carolina Hurricanes' best goalie to start the season, as he left yesterday's game against the Coyotes with a lower-body injury. Khudobin was helped off the ice and the early reports are saying that it isn't a knee or ankle injury, but it is lower-body and that's about as far as the team will go. Khudobin will hit the Injured Reserve, which means he will be out for at least a week and Justin Peters will be called up to take his place.

Khudobin belongs to Ryan V. this year, who finished the week in 8th place, 17 points out of 1st place.

The lower-body injury that has sidelined Dallas Stars goalie Kari Lehtonen has also landed him on the Injured Reserve, retroactive to October 11th.  This means that Lehtonen is not eligible to come off until the 18th and that will mean that Dan Ellis and Jack Campbell will take the reins in his place.

Lehtonen was drafted by Dale B. for the 2014 season and Dale finished Week Two in 13th place, 20 points out of 1st place.

Finally, Grant Clitsome was a healthy scratch for the Winnipeg Jets, as they took on the New Jersey Devils on Sunday evening.  Clitsome has not been producing from the back end, like the team would have hoped, having no points in his first three games this season.  Unless Clitsome can get some traction on the scoresheet, he may be the victim of some more bad press box food.

Stacey C., who sits in 22nd place after Week Two, has Clitsome on his team and now may be considering him for one of his Waiver Draft moves in six weeks time.

Link to the Injury/News Page

HOCKEY NIGHT IN CANADA

It's a road trip version of Hockey Night In Canada for Week Three, as we'll have a couple of Canadian teams down South in the US, taking on some key rival teams.  Toronto will be in Chicago for an old Norris Division match-up, while new Pacific Division rivals, the Flames and Sharks, will go head-to-head in San Jose.

In the early game, the number two player in pool scoring, Jonathan Bernier, will have his hands full against the Blackhawks, who haven't been scoring at quite the clip that most would think, thus far.  Patrick Kane leads the team with 5 points after two weeks, ranking 54th in pool scoring.  In this game, there will be lots of players active in the pool, as I figure there will be upwards of 26 players, minus a backup goalie.  17 teams in the pool have interest in this game, so there will be a fair amount of focus here on Saturday night.

The late game will feature the pool leader in scoring, Antti Niemi (11 points), who is just rolling with the Sharks to start the season.  The Flames aren't a team of slouches to start the year, as Jiri Hudler leads the team with 7 points, ranking 18th after the first couple of weeks.  20 players were taken between these two teams and 12 of 24 pool teams have interest in this one.  Should be a really good game, if recent trends continue.