Handing Out Camp Invites (Sep 11)

The Maple Leafs are not leaving too much to chance, as their invite to camp list is growing rather steadily. On Thursday, they added pool worthy free agent forward Brad Boyes to their camp, as he still sits and waits for a brand new deal.

Boyes had 14 goals and 38 points in 78 games for Florida last season, which has him in the bottom rung of the pool worthy forwards, but still a guy possibly worth taking.  He has been a contributor to the score sheet on a good number of occasions, but I think the knock on him is that he isn't quite the guy that leads the team through the tough times.

There'll be nothing but tough times in Toronto, as they go through their growing pains this year, so Boyes will get a chance to prove some people wrong.  With a decent list of projected forwards already thought to be starting the year in blue and white, then you add invites like Curtis Glencross, Devin Setoguchi and Rich Clune into the mix, you're going to get a very competitive situation.

Another team looking to improve their forward lines with a tryout invite is the Florida Panthers, who earlier in the week invited former Panther, David Booth to the mix, now they add another player familiar to the team management in Martin Havlat.

Havlat played with the lacklustre New Jersey Devils in the 2015 season, playing in only 40 games, scoring 5 goals and 14 points in that time, far from being pool worthy.  Still, if the Panthers could revitalize a career like Jaromir Jagr's, who's really to say it couldn't happen for Havlat either?

Since the Panthers are still waiting on the resolution for Jonathan Huberdeau's new contract, this team is preparing to fill some gaps, no matter how positive they report that the negotiations are going.  Those gaps do bode well for guys like Booth and Havlat, who will also have very little leverage in contract talks and will likely come in on the cheaper side of the ledger.

2015 Draft Class Signings (Sep 10)

The first of two Long Island 1st round picks, put pen to paper on Thursday, as Matthew Barzal inked his 3-year entry-level deal and is likely headed to the rookie camp, which should be opening this weekend.

Barzal is a bit of an undersized forward, by NHL standards, standing at 6' and 178 lbs., but he certainly plays like a much bigger player.  In junior, he was better than a point-per-game player and he took advantage of an invite to the World Junior Summer Camp, which he shone as an offensive force in games against Russia and the Czech Republic.

With the Islanders depth on their projected roster lacking a little bit, the door is open for players to come out of the woodwork and earn a spot.  There is no guarantee that the 16th overall pick from this past June's draft will be ready to make his mark at the NHL level, but he will certainly get a long look.

If Barzal doesn't make the jump, he'll go back to junior and there will be a good chance that he plays for Canada at the World Juniors this year as well.  One to definitely keep an eye on.

Fringe Signings (Sep 10)

The Calgary Flames made an early morning report official around midday, as restricted free agent forward Micheal Ferland signed a 2-year deal, worth $825,000 per season and works out to be a one-way deal, which will see him get paid, if he's with the big club or not over the next couple of seasons.

Ferland became a player of note near the end of the 2015 season, when he returned to the lineup at the end of February, finishing off the regular season with the big club and even making a number of playoff appearances.  In 26 regular season games, he posted 5 points, not quite making him into a pool worthy player, but the Hockey News has him projected at 15 points this year.  Depending on how deep the pool goes, he could work his way into being a fringe player.

Franson Chooses Buffalo

There were a few people scratching their heads, wondering why a guy like Cody Franson was still unsigned, as we neared training camp.  It sounded like that his camp was looking for some pretty top end money and teams were not having any of that.

Instead, the Buffalo Sabres were able to snag him to a 2-year deal, reportedly worth $6.65 million ($3.325 million per year), nearly half of what he was supposedly looking for in an annual cap hit.

Franson, 28, has bounced between Nashville and Toronto, over his six full seasons in the NHL, splitting time between both teams in the 2015 season, scoring 7 goals and 36 points in 78 games, which ranked him 37th among all defensemen in scoring.

This will be a good opportunity for Franson to get some substantial time on ice, as he was playing a depth position with his last stint in Nashville and his overall scoring suffered, because of it.  It will be an interesting development to see which pairing he ends up on and how much ice-time he earns, as I imagine it will be some good minutes in Buffalo.

The Sabres may have added enough depth to their defense, which makes them into a team that really can compete in the 2016 season.  Both Zach Bogosian and Franson have been defenders that have been victim to some depth chart issues with previous teams, so now that they are likely going to be running the show with the rebuilding Sabres, I could see their numbers jump up.

With Franson insulating Bogosian, and vice versa, I can see both these guys hitting the 40-point plateau and that could very well boost a couple of the forwards as well.

This signing isn't a guarantee for immediate improvement, but it sure looks good on paper.

Unestablished Defenseman Swap

			2015		2016
To Colorado	POS	Age	G/W	P	Cap
Brandon Gormley	D	23	2	4	$850k
--------------
To Arizona	POS	Age	G/W	P	Cap
Stefan Elliott	D	24	0	0	RFA

An interesting swap on Wednesday nights, as the Arizona Coyotes and Colorado Avalanche part with a couple of former top end defensive prospects, still holding hope that either/or could step up and fill the role that they were once drafted for.

Gormley was on the verge of being an everyday defenseman for the Coyotes, before this deal, as he drew into 27 games last season and was looking at the depth chart, which only had about five players ahead of him, likely licking his chops for that everyday job.

Now Gormley finds himself in a pretty good logjam for jobs in Colorado, after the acquisition of Nikita Zadorov, not to mention a veteran presence in Brad Stuart.  This could be a tough road, but if he's coming into his own now, he could be in good shape.

Elliott was in that logjam and now is in the opposite position as Gormley.  Elliott, who had his share of troubles, trying to crack the Avs everyday roster, now has a chance to be the guy in Arizona, once he signs a new deal, of course.

As an AHL defenseman, Elliott has been decent, picking up 95 points in 199 AHL games, while it hasn't really translated into NHL time, playing in 63 games, picking up 18 points.

Gormley has some projections by his name this year, was likely going to be a depth defenseman, if he was going to be used in the pool at all.  I had him in at around 10 points for the year, but the logjam in Colorado has cut that in half.

Elliott wasn't going to work with any projections, heading into the draft, but once he signs, I would say that he would get a very modest 10 points here as well.  He should get a good chance to shine, as they will need someone to really step up behind Oliver Ekman-Larsson, in the offensive side of the blueline.

If Elliott was to make the team and get the power play time, I could see his numbers shoot up even futher.

Handing Out Camp Invites (Sep 9)

The early announcement of the day on Wednesday was that the Toronto Maple Leafs agreed to have unrestricted free agent forward, Curtis Glencross, join the team at training camp on an invite basis.

Last season, Glencross split time between the Flames and Capitals, playing in 71 games and picking up 35 points, making the move between at the trade deadline.  The veteran forward wasn't in the Flames' long-term future and the return was good enough to be moved, while they were on the playoff run, so off he went.

The Leafs have a few debatable spots to compete for, which gives Glencross a decent opportunity to find another job at the NHL level.  At 32 years old, you would assume that he has some legs left in his game and could provide a good spark to another rebuilding club, like Toronto.

If I was to offer a projection, if he decided to sign with the Leafs, I would be circling the neighbourhood of about 25 points.

The New York Islanders made an announcement of their own, later on in the afternoon, as they said that they have agreed to bring in forward Steve Bernier in as a camp invite.

Bernier, 30, split time between the NHL and the AHL in the New Jersey Devils, playing in 67 games with the big club, registering 32 points in the process.  Under new management, the Devils were looking to get younger and that pushed Bernier out of contention for a spot on the roster.

The Islanders are not short on competition for spots in their bottom six and Bernier will fit right into that mix as well.

How about one more invite? This is a busy day, by blog standards, in the first part of September.  The Florida Panthers invited a former employee back for training camp, as forward David Booth accepted their offer and don their colours again for a couple weeks, at least.

Booth played for the Panthers between 2007 and 2011, before moving on to Vancouver and Toronto, last playing for the Leafs last season, playing in 59 games and picking up 13 points.  He was quite a ways from being pool worthy, but maybe a return to where it all began will give him a boost.

By my count, the Panthers are rolling a bit slim into training camp and have lots of room for a guy like Booth, especially, if he comes in at a $1 million salary (or less).  Then they have tons of room and taking very little risk.

Recent Contract Extensions (Sep 8)

Possibly, one of the more sleepy defensive sleepers for the coming season, Columbus' David Savard, has already earned a fair bit of praise, culminating in a new 5-year contract extension, announced first thing Monday morning.

The 24-year old blueliner emerged on the scene in Columbus in the 2012 season, becoming a full-time player in 2014 and really started to make his mark last season, picking up 11 goals and 36 points in all 82 games for the club.

Savard was scheduled to become a restricted free agent next July, but this 5-year extension will take him through the 2021 season.  His cap hit for the 2016 season is only $1.3 million, but his new extension will give him a significant raise, bumping him up to $4.25 million, starting in the 2017 season.

His off-season projections have him anywhere in the 31-to-40 point range, so he could be a prized possession this year.

Off-Season Surgeries (Sep 8)

I'm not 100% certain that anyone was really going to go after a kid like Brett Ritchie at the draft, but he was getting some decent projections out of a couple of publications, expecting him to finally make the jump with Dallas this season.  However, with an off-season training injury to his wrist, the 22-year old forward has to undergo surgery to repair some tendons, which will now keep him out of the lineup for upwards of four months.

Last season, Ritchie was good enough for 9 points in 31 games for the Stars and he saw some projections of upwards of 27 points, which could have him as a fringe player, but sadly, not a rookie, having outplayed his eligibility for the title.

Stay away from Ritchie, come draft day.  Maybe check back at the Waiver Draft, if you're desperate for a forward to help solidify your roster.

Handing Out Camp Invites (Sep 8)

The Tampa Bay Lightning crease has been under the microscope a little, when Andrei Vasilevskiy underwent vascular surgery to repair a blood clot and rumblings about Ben Bishop's groin muscle not being quite ready, that the Bolts would be looking at some veteran options on the free agent market.

Indeed, that is the case, as they have invited veteran netminder Ray Emery to camp, as he is one of the few unrestricted free agent goalies with a reasonable amount of experience this time around.

Last season, Emery appeared in 31 games for the Flyers, in behind Steve Mason, winning 10 games for 20 points in the hockey pool rankings.  At 32 years old, he should still have plenty of life left in his legs, but the Flyers obviously opted to go in a different direction behind Mason, hence his free agency availability.

If Bishop is indeed healthy, by the time training camp, the preseason or the regular season comes around, this might not be the biggest news, but Emery could at least show his stuff and help himself out, getting back to the bigs.

Handing Out Camp Invites (Sep 7)

On Sunday, the Columbus Blue Jackets announced the invitations for a couple of forwards, 27-year old James Sheppard and 30-year old Antti Pihlstrom, both expected to be in Columbus in the next couple weeks to compete for spots for the upcoming season.

Sheppard is the biggest draw of the two, having ranked 434th in overall scoring last season with 18 points in 71 games with New York, he currently ranks as the 2nd-highest scorer invited to a camp at this point of the Summer.

The Jackets appear to have a fairly solid top nine in their forward ranks, but there are still some wild cards in Gregory Campbell, Rene Bourque and/or Jared Boll, who could fall out of the 4th line duties, with a poor training camp.

When we're talking about 4th line players, we're not exactly chatting about the hockey pool types, so this might not be the most interesting or relevant post on here to date.

The Projected All Rookie Pool Team

Since the announcement that the extra statistic in this year's pool will be penalty minutes, I did up a post yesterday about the best pool worthy in penalty minutes and it looked like a very decent team. Sure, they'll sit in the penalty box a whole lot, but they are out there to get some points as well.

If you've been a regular around the blog over the past few weeks, I've been briefly reviewing some of the pool magazines out there, trying to give an idea about who's doing what and what magazine might be the better to take to the draft in a few weeks time.

Combining the two elements of mini-games and guide reviews, I thought I would make up an all-rookie team, which combines the four magazines, plus my own numbers, to give an idea of what we might expect in the rookie race this year.  Hell, there is another $60 on the line with this race, so you may want to get yourself in it with one of the better potential rookies and these could be the guys you want to look at.

Forward	NHL	Avg Proj. Points
Connor McDavid	EDM	81
Jack Eichel	BUF	59
Nikolaj Ehlers	WPG	49.5
Sam Bennett	CAL	45.5
Max Domi	ARI	44.5
Sam Reinhart	BUF	42.5
Artemi Panarin	CHI	39.3
Anthony Duclair	ARI	35.7
Defense
Mike Reilly	MIN	26
Ivan Provorov	PHI	25
Shea Theodore	ANA	20.5
Noah Hanifin	CAR	18.3
Goalies
Andrei Vasilevskiy +	TAM	34.5
Calvin Pickard	COL	17

Lots of familiar names from the magazines on this list and I think we're going to see a good chunk of these players get taken at one point or another in the draft.

Are you used to seeing this yet? Well, get used to it, if you're not.

Yes, the odds on favourite for the rookie of the year, Edmonton forward Connor McDavid comes in heads and shoulders above the rest of the list, up at an average of 81 points between the five sources.  There wasn't a magazine that didn't think he was going to run away with it and that will put him into some rarified air this season.

His 2015 Entry Draft competition, Buffalo's Jack Eichel, didn't prove to be much competition in the end, just falling below the 60-point barrier with the averages, but he'll likely get some primo ice-time with the Sabres, so he'll still be fun to watch.

After the top two, it's a bit of a mixed bag, all of which is pretty close to one another.  Assuming that one of the top two fall off the map for one reason or another, there are some likely candidates to take the Calder Trophy, as Nikolaj Ehlers in Winnipeg, Sam Bennett in Calgary, Max Domi or Anthony Duclair in Arizona or Sam Reinhart in Buffalo have all been hyped one way or another.

The wild card on this list, Artemi Panarin, who is coming over from the KHL to the Chicago Blackhawks and is getting some pretty positive projections from some of the publications.  I can't say much about him , but if he has a top-nine job in Chicago, he should get points, right?

Young defensemen have been very rare to break out in their late teens or early 20's, but when the University of Minnesota product, Mike Reilly, signed with the Wild as a college free agent, there were a lot of people taking notice.  Reilly will open the season as a 22-year old, assuming he makes the squad out of camp, and his head start in his development should be a real positive.

Of course, right behind Reilly, is one of those defensive prospects that has been considered the closest one to making the jump from junior to the pro level, right after the draft: Russian prospect, Ivan Provorov.  The Flyers took this silky defender in the 1st round of June's draft and if they move a veteran blueliner out for cap reasons, there will be a spot opened up for him.

A couple more defenders make the list, closer to the 20-point range, as Anaheim's Shea Theodore and Carolina's Noah Hanifin have a pretty good shot at earning a spot on their team's respective roster and doing so, should mean that they are going to be good for some points.  A 20-point defenseman would be pretty good, if you're looking to get one in the latter rounds.

There have been some louder concerns for the number of goalies we'll be taking in the pool this year and if you're not going to be on top of filling your crease in the early rounds of the draft, you might be stuck looking for rookie help in the crease.

Before undergoing vascular surgery, which will cost Andrei Vasilevskiy the first couple months of the season, he was thought to be a pretty good bet to help carry the load in Tampa Bay and help to give Ben Bishop a boost in the net.  If Bishop is taking the number one job, like he should, this injury shouldn't hurt Vasilevskiy's projected numbers too badly, but for me, they have already been adjusted for the injury and it didn't really have an effect on his projection average.

There are a number of teams that may be looking to fill their back-up role with a young rookie and the Colorado Avalanche could be one of those teams.  With only 16 games to his name, Calvin Pickard still has his rookie status into the 2016 season and he has a real chance of beating out Reto Berra for the regular back-up in Colorado and that could translate into pool points.  Playing behind a pretty good minute hog in Semyon Varlamov could deter some pool teams from picking him too early, but he could be decent, if the unforeseen was to happen.

I don't advise taking a team full of rookies at the draft, because the best you're going to do is get your money back... unless that's all you want to do.  I'm sure a bigger prize, like $500 (or more) and your name on the trophy is much more appealing than taking a group of freshmen on your team.

The Pool Worthy Goon Squad

Yesterday, the announcement was made that penalty minutes would be one of the mini-games, if you were looking to try and get your money back in the pool, assuming you've tanked in the scoring race.  Hell, maybe you're in it for the penalty minutes, just to be ironical, this season and you want the biggest and baddest goon squad and virtually play for nothing.

Well, what if you had the best of both worlds?  A pool-worthy team, which racked up their minutes in the box.  What would that look like?

Yes, we're a month away from the draft and I'm really struggling to keep this blog interesting.

So, in order to be pool-worthy, I am working with last season's parameters, a 23-team league, which means you'd have to be in the top 184 forwards, top 92 defensemen and top 46 goalies, in order to be included.  We'll take the top penalty minutes from those ranked players to form our team and see how many points & minutes they've racked up.

Forward	NHL	Points	PIM
David Backes	STL	58	104
Scott Hartnell	CBJ	60	100
Brad Marchand	BOS	42	95
Chris Kreider	NYR	46	88
Shane Doan	ARI	36	88
Pat Maroon	ANA	34	82
Milan Lucic	LOS	44	81
Gabriel Landeskog	COL	59	79
Defense
Dustin Byfuglien	WPG	45	124
Dion Phaneuf	TOR	29	108
Simon Despres	ANA	23	86
Travis Hamonic	NYI	33	85
Goalies
Jonathan Quick	LOS	85	18
Mike Smith	ARI	29	10
		623	1,148

By comparison, this team is actually pretty darn good.  The PIM column would blow just about everyone out of the water, because the rest of the pool worthy players wouldn't match up, but the scoring wasn't too bad either.  The 623 points would have had this team in the top 10 in scoring, which is pretty decent.

This team would have a reasonable 1st round pick in Jonathan Quick, who led all goalies in having their teammates spend time in the box for them.  They'd also have another starting goalie on their side, even though he played on a pretty poor Arizona team in Mike Smith.

The 2nd round pick from this team could be either Scott Hartnell from Columbus or, if one was so inclined to jump on the blueline train early on, Dustin Byfuglien of the Jets.  Both got decent points at their position, both hitting triple-digits in the penalty minute column.

There is some more decent talent up front, as Gabriel Landeskog could be thought of in the 4th round area, David Backes not too far away from that either.  Those two are both relied upon for some gritty play at both ends of the ice and their leadership skills.

A couple more captains were taken on this team, somewhat of an interesting trend on this goon squad, as Shane Doan in Arizona and Dion Phaneuf in Toronto would play prominent roles in their positions as well.

It would be a very interesting team in the 2016 season, if you were to piece this one together.

Just for argument's sake, if there was another team, which was drafted along side the pool worthy squad, based on what was left for PIM, you would get something like this.

Forwards	NHL	Points	PIM
Steve Downie	ARI	28	238
Cody McLeod	COL	12	191
Derek Dorsett	VAN	25	175
Tom Wilson	WAS	17	172
Antoine Roussel	DAL	25	148
Brandon Prust	VAN	18	134
Ryan Reaves	STL	12	116
Matt Martin	NYI	14	114
Defense
Mark Borowiecki	OTT	11	107
Eric Gryba	EDM	12	97
Robert Bortuzzo	STL	8	93
Adam McQuaid	BOS	7	85
Goalies
Corey Crawford	CHI	69	8
Tuukka Rask	BOS	74	8
		332	1,686

Handing Out Camp Invites (Sep 5)

The Boston Bruins are potentially going to go with some youth as Tuukka Rask's back-up this season, but they will be challenged in training camp by the Monster, as the Bruins have invited Jonas Gustavsson to their training camp, which opens in a couple weeks.

Last season, Gustavsson spent the better part of the 2015 season on the Injured Reserve, as he battled through a separated shoulder in the first part of the season and then a concussion in the second half of the season, limiting him to seven NHL games and two AHL games, picking up 3 wins and 1 shutout with the Red Wings for 8 points.

Gustavsson will be going into challenge Malcolm Subban and Zane McIntyre for the number two spot with the big club and I wouldn't necessarily count him out, as the B's might be looking to develop their kids with more starts in the AHL.  I would say that if Gustavsson does earn a job and sign with the Bruins, he'll take the projected points from both kids, heading into the draft.

Mini-Games to Earn Your Money Back

We are now four weeks away from the hockey pool draft and the plan for the mini-games have been planned out and I think we're in for one hell of a season!

Here is what we know already... the hockey pool entry fee is going up this year to $60, in order to accommodate the new mini-games and with enough players in the pool, this will mean each game will earn you your money back.

We know that the first mini-game will be the rookie scoring pool, where the rookies that are taken for your hockey pool team will count in a separate contest.  The rookies will still count in the grand scheme of things, once they are on your team, they'll count to the overall total, but their points will be separated in a different contest and counted again... most points from the rookies wins their money back, $60.

Now, the second game has been decided as a final as well and that will be the overall penalty minutes from your team.  A stat that is completely irrelevant to the overall scoring of the pool, you're not going to get anything towards the big prize at the end of the year with this one, but you could definitely make a push in the category, come the Waiver Draft, if you felt so compelled.  Players like Dustin Byfuglien, Dion Phaneuf, David Backes and/or Scott Hartnell would be good double dose players, as they are all pool worthy for points and they were all 100+ PIM players.

The PIM contest will also be good for those teams that feel that they are too far out of the running for the points and it gives reason for players like Steve Downie, Cody McLeod, Derek Dorsett and/or Tom Wilson to be taken instead.  Just in case you were wondering, these four were the PIM leaders from last season, who have no business being in a pool for points.

The third game is kind of in the air and it depends on how many teams we feature in the pool this year.  The desired game to play will be the Goalie Survivor Pool.  Each team will have two goalies on their team and in order to stay in the game, from week to week (Monday to Sunday, 27 weeks), is to have your goalies register at least 1 win.  Win to stay in.  If in the week, Monday to Sunday, neither of your goalies pick up a statistical win, your team is out.  It's pretty simple and it was a fun game to watch last season, as it unfolded in the Newsletter, every Monday morning.

Of course, with the push that has been going on for a larger membership this year, there is a chance that we may exceed the fairness of this game.  The game would certainly benefit the teams that pick their goalies early and the quality of keepers diminishes rapidly after the starters go, so not only would a team that managed to snag a couple of starters be in line for a big payday in a 30-team pool, they would also be the favourite for the goalie survivor pool and that's not what these mini-games are about.

The draft has topped out at 24 teams, back in the 2014 season, and Doug K., who finished in 24th, he drafted Jaroslav Halak and Jason LaBarbera at the draft itself, which suggests that goalies weren't in terrible shape for the last place team in the pool.  Doug was far more unlucky, when it came to injuries.  In that year, Wyllie drafted poorly with his goalies, but to be fair, he took Viktor Fasth in the 5th round, long after everyone was done with the keepers... so who's fault is that?

Nevertheless, I will likely set the bar at about 28 teams, where if we hit or exceed 28 teams, we'll move to a different contest for the third mini-game, the collective points from the All-Star Game in Nashville.  Last year's All-Star Game was off the charts, in terms of scoring, and it was a non-money team, which came out ahead in the scoring.

The All-Star Game contest will be aided by the Week Nine Waiver Draft this year, as the Week Eighteen Waiver Draft will likely be shortly after the game, which will likely have a focus on the rookies and the goons, leaving some of the better players for the actual money race.

The first priority will be the Goalie Survivor Pool, but if we're matching or exceeding 28 teams, we'll go to the All-Star Game, where the contest should be spread out well over every team... in theory.

So, there you have it.  Plan your projections and your strategy accordingly.  Go for the trophy, but if you leave yourself a trail of bread crumbs for the rookies and/or the goons, so won't have so far to go, if your team fails miserably or becomes horribly unlucky.

2015 Draft Class Signings (Sep 4)

Thursday saw the signing of another 1st round pick from June's Entry Draft, as the Arizona Coyotes came to terms with forward Nick Merkley.

Merkley, the 30th overall pick, signed his 3-year entry-level deal, but the actual salary and cap hit numbers are yet to be disclosed.

The 18-year old forward, who played with the Kelowna Rockets in the WHL last season, will join the Coyotes' rookie camp, which gets started in the next week or so and he'll join a very good group of young players, trying to find a spot on a roster that has some room for some young talent.

With the team already projected with nine veteran forwards, that means they have three or four spots remaining for their youth.  Max Domi and Anthony Duclair lead the way for a couple spots, while another 2015 pick, Dylan Strome, will get a long look, but you can't count out Merkley.

Coyotes camp is going to be amongst the most exciting one's to watch this month.

Off-Season Surgeries (Sep 4)

On Friday morning, the Tampa Bay Lightning announced that their projected back-up goalie, Andrei Vasilevskiy, has undergone vascular surgery on Thursday, removing a blood clot from his collarbone.  The recovery time is now being set at 2-to-3 months and the Tampa management team is suggesting that it will be much closer to the 12-week mark, than it would be the 8-week mark.

Three months will have the 21-year old keeper on the shelf into December, which could make him into a solid candidate for a pick in the first Waiver Draft, which begins at the end of November.

There is some concern in Tampa Bay about the goaltending situation, as Ben Bishop, the team's number one, has been recovering from a groin tear in the off-season and who will step up to fill the spot for the first couple months of the year.  Kristers Gudlevskis has to be the favourite before camp, but the team is going to look into inviting some veteran talent to camp, so stay tuned.

Vasilevskiy has been a popular player in the projections, garnering a lot of attention from some publications, topping out at 54 points (The Sports Forecaster) and challenging Bishop for the number one job in Tampa this season.  You're now going to have to temper a lot of those projections, adjusting them for missing upwards of eight of 27 weeks this season.

An update from a post, back in May, as Nicklas Backstrom underwent hip surgery and the prognosis was positive 3+ months ago, but now it isn't looking quite so rosy.

With the opening of training camp only a couple weeks away, Backstrom has been on the ice skating, but he isn't quite 100%, which may have him out of the lineup on opening night, which goes October 10th for Washington.

I think by opening night, he should be day-to-day, but it is a significant problem and he has been quoted as to say that he won't be playing at 90% and that he's going to be patient with his injury.  Of course, we'll likely know more before the draft on October 3rd, so keep your ear to the ground.

The Sports Forecaster 2015-16 NHL Preview & Fantasy Guide

Sure, Sportsnet's pool guide didn't have very many players, something that the Sports Forecaster (TSF) magazine takes care of.  TSF actually covers a lot of ground in their guide, even listing players in their team breakdowns without any projections.  I'm not quite sure what that's about, but if you don't think a player should be picked on a team, maybe you can give them a very poor number?  Heck, you gave Reto Berra 1 win (2 points) in your forecasting!

The depth for each team is fairly substantial from TSF, which makes this some really good reading.  Come draft day (October 3rd for us), they also provide a good pull-out for a 500-skater list, plus a top-50 goalie list, which may or may not be enough for our draft, but at least it will be close.  Their pull-out does a good job highlighting the rookies, injury prone and players on contract years, if you're looking for an Alexander Mogilny-type player.

As for the reading, they do a pretty good job outlining who to watch out for in every position and they toss out some pretty interesting theories, especially in net.  They expect to see Eddie Lack, Antti Niemi and Petr Mrazek to take over some starting jobs through the season, which is pretty interesting and not at all far-fetched, by the end of the year.  TSF is also pretty high on Max Domi in Arizona, which could have a big impact on the rookie race this year and I like the sound of that race being interesting.

This is the fourth pool guide reviewed this year (it's been a very slow Summer), and TSF is the second guide to rule Sidney Crosby as the top player available at the draft, once I calculated all the goalie points.  Crosby leads all players in their projections with 108, leading both John Tavares and Carey Price, who both came in at 100 points as well.  All three players have had votes as the top player among all the pool guides, so that's something they can all really agree upon.

TSF also has another nine players in the 90+ range as well, which suggests that there will be some very good top end talent for us to choose from this year.  Patrick Kane, Evgeni Malkin, Tyler Seguin, Alex Ovechkin, Phil Kessel, Steven Stamkos, Henrik Lundqvist, Pekka Rinne and Braden Holtby all round out that list.  These guys have all been staples among all the mags this year, in varying degrees.

Out of those top 12 players mentioned, eight of them are forwards, as they are pushing for an offensive flurry of action this year and I wonder if that has more to do with the 3-on-3 overtime situations this year, which I hope boost scoring numbers as well, but I'm not holding my breath.  Rounding out the top 10 forwards on their list is a tie with 89 points, between Vladimir Tarasenko and Claude Giroux, both could very well be 1st round picks this year.

A consensus has happened among all the guides, if you're looking to corner the market on the top defenseman, you have to go with Erik Karlsson in Ottawa, but he only just clips P.K. Subban in Montreal by a couple points, 71-69.  If teams down at the bottom of the 1st round don't capitalize on a good starting goalie, I could see a team or two trying to capitalize on a top end defender, relying on the gap between the elite and the good players.

Brent Burns, Shea Weber, Victor Hedman, Kevin Shattenkirk, Tyson Barrie, Roman Josi, John Carlson and Mark Giordano are the rest of the top 10 defenders, ranging from 55 points to 61 points, keeping it pretty tight among the prognostications.

With Price, Lundqvist, Rinne and Holtby leading the way for the keepers, the top 10 rounds out with Semyon Varlamov, Jaroslav Halak, Sergei Bobrovsky, Marc-Andre Fleury, Jonathan Quick and Roberto Luongo, throwing some interesting names into the mix.  Goalies are going to be a hot commodity this year, especially with the potential of a mini-game with their names on it.

Speaking of mini-games, how about the rookie potential?  Another consensus pick in Connor McDavid leading the way, right smack-dab in the middle of most of the other projections, TSF giving him 80 points to work with, 25th in projections overall.  Max Domi is the 2nd-best rookie on their list, 3 points ahead of Jack Eichel, 68-65.  Sam Bennett of the Flames is in the mix, looking at 57 points, while Blackhawks newcomer, Artemi Panarin is in at 55 points.  An interesting top five for the freshmen.

Out of the four, the TSF guide is definitely one of the easier to understand and they do a bit better at justifying why some players are where they are, instead of bogging you down with advanced stat theories or fancy graphics.  Having that pull-out is also a huge plus for any poolie, especially when a draft moves swiftly through the rounds.

Handing Out Camp Invites (Sep 1)

Scottie Upshall is only a year removed from being relevant in the hockey pool world, as he picked up 37 points in the 2014 season with the Panthers, but he couldn't follow that up in the 2015 season, only scoring 15 points in 63 games played, falling out of favour with the poolies and Panthers alike.

Enter the St. Louis Blues, who already added a number of players to their training camp roster, including Scott Gomez, so they're trying to find that cheap source of depth for the coming season, hence asking Upshall to join.

The Blues will at least keep their training camp competitive, which can only push some of those fringe players to be better and that could certainly improve their depth in the long run.  It will be interesting to see if any of these invites make the cut and earn a deal.

Sportsnet NHL Pool Guide 2015-2016

Sportsnet... home to everything that is hockey in Canada. They can be a bit wordy on television sometimes and they were accurately able to replicate that effort into their pool guide. When the Hockey News and the Pooler's Guide is worried about the numbers that the players should accomplish, Sportsnet has long diatribes about how they got to some of their numbers and it goes on and on and on.

Their pool guide, which you would think would be full of player projections, only has 230 players in it and there is no real definitive projection, rather they have a ceiling and a floor for each player, saving themselves from the comparison treatment.  I will say, that rounding off their ceiling and floor projections to the nearest five is a very familiar way to do things, which is good, but it isn't enough to really make me like it anymore.

So, with ceiling and floor projections, you're still going to have to use a lot of your own judgement with this guide, maybe more so than the other ones.  You can argue that Nazem Kadri has the skill to hit the 65-point ceiling that Sportsnet suggests for him, but we all know that the Maple Leafs are not going to be a great team and he shouldn't have that much help to reach that plateau.

The goalies are another interesting bunch of players in this magazine, as the magazine only projects their wins and nothing else, so it doesn't give you an accurate look at what they could do for your pool team, especially when shutouts are an extra 2 points.  Will Robin Lehner win 35 games in Buffalo this year?  Somehow I doubt it, no matter how much talent he brings to the table.

No shutouts projected means that this guide leads the way with forwards, which could be problematic for my draft and likely others, as the defensive game still reigns supreme in the league these days.  Nevertheless, Sidney Crosby still leads the way, as his ceiling is set at 110 points, while Patrick Kane, if he plays, is set up at 105 points.  John Tavares, Jamie Benn, Alex Ovechkin, Tyler Seguin and Vladimir Tarasenko are all potential 100-point players and while I won't argue that they can't get to 100 points, it seems rather unlikely that they all will and even one or two would even be a stretch.

Sure, we're going to see some 3-on-3 overtime, but will that really translate into more points for the superstars?

The 90-point bracket, thanks to 45-win ceilings, is where we'll find our first goalies and it's Carey Price, Henrik Lundqvist and Pekka Rinne, who all share the honour of being in top spot.  No arguments here.  All three of those goalies have the potential to be the best keeper in the pool and they also have the potential to be the best player in the pool as well.  They are quickly followed by Ben Bishop, Jonathan Quick, Sergei Bobrovsky and Devan Dubnyk, who are all in with 43 wins and 86 points.  If you're going to get an elite starting goalie, you're going to have to be quick, I'd say.

Erik Karlsson leads all defensemen again in this magazine, just like the rest of them, coming in at a 75-point ceiling, tied for 43rd among all players projected in the guide.  That's a good 2nd round pick by this pool's standards.  If you're able to snag an elite goalie and a top end defenseman, you could be rolling in it by the end of the year.

The possibilities for the elite defenders is quite high, as Sportsnet suggests that P.K. Subban, Kristopher Letang, Victor Hedman and Brent Burns are good enough for 70 points this year, but some come with a lower floor projection than others, like Letang, suggesting what we all know, that he has injury prone problems and he could just as easily lose out on points to an extended time on the shelf.

Where you're really going to suffer at my draft, if you take this magazine, is with the rookies.  I've been stressing them this year, because there is money on it.  If you're name is not Connor McDavid or Jack Eichel, you need not apply for this magazine.  Sportsnet touches on a few more names, but they don't offer any ceilings or floors for guys other than the top two picks from this Summer's draft, where McDavid could be a 95-point player and Eichel would only top out at 70 points.  Those are substantial numbers and if you're fortunate to snag one, your placement in the rookie race will be secure.

Now, if you want to sit through long articles on how the new wave of advanced stats are going to possibly help your hockey pool team, then this is the magazine for you.  Yes, there were guys who had some excellent puck possession numbers, but you would have to know that if there are teams that are keying in on those kind of players, thanks to the hiring of advanced statistic analysts, then coaches are going to be on top of it and those numbers could change with the climate of the game.  What players do one year, only gives you an idea about what they did last year... it only gives you reason to pick some players this year, it doesn't guarantee that these players will put up the same numbers again.

In all seriousness, if you're going to bring this magazine to the draft, you better have a supplementary list of players, because this won't be enough.