Goalie Announcements (Mar 3)

Cam's handle on the Mover & Shaker nod wavered ever so slightly, just enough for Tony's team to jump up on it, taking the lead and going into Saturday's action already at the 30-point mark and with 10 projected games left to play. Cam's team is only 1 point back, while both Kristy & Don and Brian are 2 points back and Dale B.'s team dropped to 3 points back. This would be your top five teams looking at the Mover & Shaker and if we really wanted to tighten things up, Stuart and Eric are only 4 points back... maybe we should include them in our look at the starting goalies today too.

Looking at the schedule today, the Stadium Series game is really playing havoc with the times today, as there are five afternoon games and only one late game tonight, not to mention the late start for Hockey Night in Canada for the outdoor game.  It will also leave seven games to play on Sunday as well, so there is that.

Nevertheless, let's see what goalies will impose their will on the Mover & Shaker today, shall we?  Of course, we have to remember, with the early starts comes a wee bit of guessing, so bear with me.

Mike Condon (N/A) versus Antti Raanta (Ryan)
This would have been Tony's only start... if Craig Anderson didn't already get the win in Vegas last night. No, this will be a Mike Condon start for the Senators (or so we'll assume), leaving a non-pool goalie to contest against Ryan's keeper, Antti Raanta in the desert on Saturday evening.  Ryan's team is only 2 points clear of the Basement Dweller and should get a good game out of his goalie, given that it will be a tired Senators team tonight.

Jake Allen (Cam) versus Ben Bishop (Kristy & Don)
It's an all-Mover & Shaker match-up this afternoon in Dallas, as Cam's team looks to take back the reins, while Kristy & Don have a couple points to make up to catch Tony's team.  Jake Allen hasn't quite been confirmed at the time of the post, but the Blues really need him to get on track, if they are going to make a run for the playoffs, while Ben Bishop has been confirmed and he'll be in charge of keeping the Blues out of the playoff race for another day.

This is both team's only possible start today.

Alexandar Georgiev (N/A) versus Cam Talbot (Wes)
This would be Brian's only possible crease appearance on Saturday and his goalie also saw action last night, as Henrik Lundqvist beat the Flames.  This leaves their young Russian backup goalie to take on Wes' goalie (in theory) tonight, as the Rangers take on the Oilers.  There's no reason why this won't be Cam Talbot tonight, but anything can happen there, I guess.

No starts for Dale B. or Stuart tonight, so that only leaves Eric's team for a possible start.

Antti Niemi (N/A) versus Tuukka Rask (Clayton)
It doesn't look like Eric's start is to be, although this entire game is unconfirmed.  The Bruins could go either way tonight, but as the Bruins try to chase down the Lightning for top spot in the Atlantic, it seems more reasonable that they go with their number one tonight.  Tuukka Rask is the expected keeper, especially with no game again until Tuesday night.

Frederik Andersen (Mike) versus Braden Holtby (Grant)
And some bonus coverage for tonight's outdoor game, as neither goalie will play for one of the Mover & Shaker candidates heading into tonight's action.  Both Mike and Grant's pool teams are tied at 17th place in the weekly scoring with 16 points each, 14 points back of the top spot in the week.  They could both use the points for whatever gains they still want to make this season.  It's a battle of number ones, assuming this game even goes.  The concerns due to the wind are still there, but the NHL still plans to go ahead at the moment.

Morning Player Notes in the Draft (Mar 3)

Before their match-up against the Columbus Blue Jackets, the Anaheim Ducks announced that forward Ryan Getzlaf was going to be a late scratch, due to being under the weather.  Getzlaf is currently listed as out day-to-day and will likely be questionable to probable, when the Ducks start thinking about Sunday afternoon's game with the Blackhawks in town.

Eric's team started the night in the Mover & Shaker mix for the week and when the dust settled on Friday night, his team only sits 4 points out of the top spot in weekly scoring.  Eric's team has moved up into the top 20 with this good week, so here's hoping he can keep it going, despite Getzlaf's illness.

We're awaiting news on the extent of the injury that Buffalo Sabres defenseman Marco Scandella suffered on Friday night against the Florida Panthers.  Reports came out in the middle of the game, that the 28-year old wouldn't return to the game due to injury, but that was the best amount of detail that we saw.  The Sabres have been trying to go through the motions without much harm to their lineup, as their playoff hopes are long gone and now they play for their own pride.  We'll consider Scandella out day-to-day, until otherwise noted by the team.

Wes' team is starting to really pull away in the PIM department and fortunately, Scandella hasn't exactly been a huge contributor in that statistical category, having only 22 minutes in penalties this season. 

Another injury we're awaiting more details on at the moment... Alexander Wennberg of the Columbus Blue Jackets was held out of action on Friday night, when the Jackets played the Ducks, due to an upper-body injury.  It popped up out of nowhere last night, but there he was as a scratch in the evening.  He's currently listed as out day-to-day with the injury, but that's all we have these days.  The Jackets are right in the thick of the playoff race, so injury news is going to be even more difficult to get out of teams these days.

The pack of teams that are vying for 4th place is five teams deep, all separated by 4 points and Brenda & Seward see their team in the midst of that pack.  Missing out on a Wennberg game didn't help them leap frog any teams, as they are one of the teams 4 points back of Grant's team, being in 7th currently.

A lower-body injury against the Islanders forced Canadiens forward Max Pacioretty from Friday night's game, after having Chris Wagner fall on him early in the 3rd period.  Pacioretty didn't return to the game and the team didn't have any updates on him right away after the game.  Montreal has a quick turnaround, playing tonight in Boston, assuming they can make it, due to weather, so we'll know before too long, as to whether or not Pacioretty can play or not.

Mike's team finished the night in 14th place in the standings, tied with Brian in points, but losing the first tie-breaker in goals at the moment.  Mike's best finishing position in the hockey pool was his first season participating, finishing 10th in the 2014 season and his team is currently 24 points out of the top 10 and I bet he wishes that Pacioretty was traded at the deadline for a chance at that mark.

The Nashville Predators are so confident in their current run of play, that they are now affording themselves the luxury of resting players on back-to-back nights, like Friday night in Vancouver.  The Predators opted to rest a number of players, including pool players Craig Smith and Roman Josi, listing them as healthy scratches for the purpose of some rest.  It didn't seem to hurt the Predators at all, as they came out 4-3 overtime winners on the night.

Of course, Nashville doesn't care who they're hurting in the hockey pool and on the night, it was Dale C. and Kristy & Don missing out skater games.  Neither of them are really in the money hunt, but that's not the point.  How can we have fun watching our players when they are not playing?

On Friday night, the New York Islanders played the Montreal Canadiens and they did so without forward Jordan Eberle, who was held out of the contest with an undisclosed injury. There are reports out there that Eberle wasn't able to finish up practice on Thursday, but there is no more, in terms of details out there, but he's currently listed as out day-to-day for now.

Clayton's team dropped down to 5th place, after a poor showing on Friday night, but still remains in the hunt for 4th place, as Grant's team is only 2 points ahead after last night's play.  If the Eberle injury is significant, that could be bad news for Clayton's 4th place hopes.

2018 Stadium Series Preview

There's one more outdoor game left to be played this season and it goes tomorrow night at the Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis, MD and the Washington Capitals will play host to the Toronto Maple Leafs.

It's a little bit of a later start, 6pm MT on Saturday, but it will still occupy the Hockey Night in Canada slot on CBC, so this one will get plenty of coverage tomorrow night.

There's no question that the match-up in the standings is a pretty good one, as the Maple Leafs are 3rd in the Atlantic Division, while the Capitals top the Metropolitan Division, but the Leafs have a better record, with 6 more points in the overall standings.  There won't be anything holding these two teams back, especially since this could work out to be an Eastern Conference Finals match-up.

	Toronto	Washington
Benson	Auston Matthews	Alex Ovechkin
Clayton		Dmitry Orlov
Dale B.		Mitch Marner
Derek B.	Tyler Bozak
	Connor Brown
Eric	William Nylander
Grant	Nazem Kadri	Braden Holtby
	Jake Gardiner	Philipp Grubauer
Jeremy		Evgeny Kuznetsov
Mike	Frederik Andersen
Scott		Nicklas Backstrom
Stacey C.	Nikita Zaitsev	Lars Eller
	Morgan Rielly	Matt Niskanen
Steve	Zach Hyman	T.J. Oshie
Tony	Ron Hainsey	John Carlson
Troy	Patrick Marleau
	James Van Riemsdyk

There's a pretty good gathering of hockey pool players in this game, with Grant and Stacey C. leading all teams with four players, but Grant will have one of his Washington goalies to start on the bench tomorrow and we already know that Braden Holtby has been given the nod for the start.

Benson would have had the better representations, if Auston Matthews wasn't dealing with a shoulder injury.  He's not expected to play tomorrow night, while Alex Ovechkin will still be good to go.

And you know, if you have been watching all season long, you'd know that I'm still counting points from the outdoor games, as if there was a mini-game going on.  There isn't, but what if there was?!?

Tony goes into the Stadium Series game with 5 points from Craig Anderson of the Senators in the NHL100 Classic and then a goal from Sam Reinhart of the Sabres in the Winter Classic, leading the way in the mini-game.  Tony has one player from each team in tomorrow night's game, Ron Hainsey from the Leafs and John Carlson of the Capitals, so he'll be looking to defend tonight.

His nearest challenger at the start of play is Wes and Wes is shut out of any more points in this game.  Next up on the list... Brian?  Nope.  Stacey M.?  Nope.  Benson has 2 points!  That would take a big game from Ovechkin to challenge, I guess.

Nevertheless, it should be a pretty fun game, I'm thinking.  Hopefully, the ice stands up to the speed.

Goalie Announcements (Mar 2)

It's been a pretty busy week, which has been the cause for the lack of posts this week and after the trade deadline, who really wanted to post less exciting posts about injuries? Like, really.

The NHL schedule is pretty busy for a Friday night, giving us nine games to choose from, but we'll keep our end-of-the-week focus on the Mover & Shaker race, which will be about 5 points of top spot, just outside of a shutout away from at least tying for top spot.  That's what all of those skaters are for, right?

Cam leads the way with 24 points and his team currently holds a 3-point lead on Dale B. at 21 points.  Brenda & Seward, Kristy & Don and Eric are all sitting with 20 points and then Stuart's top team has 19 points.  It's a pretty good week, so far, and we're likely in for a few good nights worth of action.

Sergei Bobrovsky (Derek B.) versus John Gibson (Tony)
The injury to John Gibson had certainly helped Cam get a little more action from the crease, but that comes to an end tonight, as Gibson will get the start tonight, returning from a lower-body injury.  This will take the only possible start away from Cam's team tonight, leaving him with no help from the crease. The Jackets went with their backup last night in Los Angeles, so Sergei Bobrovsky is expected to get the nod again tonight.

Juuse Saros (Eric) versus Jacob Markstrom (Wes)
With the Predators playing Pekka Rinne last night in Edmonton, that means that Juuse Saros should be getting the nod tonight, shifting Dale B.'s only chance of a start over to Eric's contending team tonight and they get the floundering Canucks tonight, who haven't been able to pick up much in the win column lately.  This works out to be Eric's only start of the night, but he might only need one, given the opponent.

The Canucks will likely go with Jacob Markstrom tonight, since he has been a bit better of late than Anders Nilsson, which is good news for Wes, in case the Canucks want to win.  Wes' team is in the running for the Basement Dweller and could really use the 2 points.

Devan Dubnyk (Brenda & Seward) versus Semyon Varlamov (Stacey C.)
The first completely confirmed games for both goalies comes from Denver, where Brenda & Seward will get their only start tonight from the visiting Devan Dubnyk and the Wild.  The duo are in the race for 4th place in the standings today and this is going to be a great Central Division match-up against the Avalanche, who will go with Semyon Varlamov at the other end.

Stacey C.'s team is 4 points clear of the Basement Dweller at the start of play on Friday and has exactly 50% of what the current Mover & Shaker candidate has in the standings.  It would be a long way up, but 4 points from Varlamov would be a huge help.

Robin Lehner (Kristy & Don) versus James Reimer (Troy)
The pool's other duo, Kristy & Don, also right in the mix for both the Mover & Shaker and 4th place in the standings, get their only start of the night in Florida, where Robin Lehner and the Sabres will play tonight, taking on Troy's goalie, James Reimer and the Panthers.  The duo start the night 4 points out of the Mover & Shaker and then 10 points out of 4th and counting on the Sabres is a bit of a stretch, but not out of the question.

Troy's team, on the other hand, is also trying to stay out of the Basement Dweller nod, starting the night only 2 points clear and three teams in between.  Reimer and the Panthers have been playing a bit better of late and are not exactly counting themselves out of the playoff race either.

Keith Kinkaid (Stuart) versus Cam Ward (Stacey M.)
Well, if it wasn't enough that Stuart's team is leading the pool, he's also in the mix for the Mover & Shaker this week, furthering his attempt to lock it down for the last five weeks of the season.  He gets a start in Carolina tonight, where Keith Kinkaid and the Devils are expected to take on Scott Darling and the Hurricanes.  The Devils are working hard to make the playoffs, currently holding down a playoff spot and they'll revert to their number two goalie on back-to-back nights, while the Hurricanes are on back-to-back nights as well, they're NOT going with their number two

This is the first time this season that Cam Ward will get back-to-back nights and that's alright by Stacey's team.  Stacey's team opens the night in 11th place, halfway up the weekly standings and after a big win in Philadelphia... why the hell not get another start?

Morning Player Notes in the Draft (Mar 2)

How typical.  Once a player finally jumps into the hockey pool, as an up-and-coming player in the league, he goes cold.  That would be the case for Boston's Danton Heinen, who hasn't done all that much in the last few weeks, picking up 4 points in his last 11 games, which apparently has been enough to make him into a healthy scratch on Thursday night.  The Bruins won a barn burner against the Penguins without him, which has to be an even bigger disappointment, but those are the breaks.

Stacey C. was definitely hoping that Heinen would help lift his pool team up into some more favourable rankings in the standings, but since the Week Eighteen swap, that has been far from the case.  Although, since the activation of all the players, Stacey's team has moved up one spot to 22nd.

On Thursday afternoon, the Chicago Blackhawks announced that defenseman Jan Rutta would be out for that night's game against the San Jose Sharks, due to a lower-body injury and that he would be listed as out day-to-day.  There hasn't been much more in the way of details, since the announcement, so we have to take it for what it's worth.

Rutta has been somewhat of a disappointment for Grant's team, after picking him up in the 1st round of the Week Nine Waiver Draft, as the Czech defender has only played in 16 games since being activated, but picked up 7 points in those games.  Grant's team is in a battle for 4th place in the standings and could really use all hands on deck.

Finally, the Columbus Blue Jackets announced that forward Josh Anderson suffered a knee sprain on Monday night and the team now expects him to miss the next four weeks of the season, allowing him to shake off whatever rust he accumulates ahead of the playoffs.  Anderson has been decent this season and the Jackets have acquired some more talent to bridge the gap towards the playoffs, so we'll see how they pull this out.

Clayton's pool team is the team that Grant's side is competing with for 4th place and it has now lost a forward, where Grant's team has lost a defenseman, likely for a shorter period.  The chase is certainly made more difficult for the first spot outside of the money.

Afternoon Player Notes in the Draft (Mar 1)

Well, as the trade deadline passed, the Penguins were moving more pieces from within the organization, rather than picking up pieces. With the return to the health of Patric Hornqvist over the weekend, that meant that the Penguins didn't require the services of Dominik Simon going forward, so he was returned to the minors on Monday.  If the Penguins need his services again, it will likely to fill another injury role that pops up and there have been many for this team this season.

Kristy & Don noticed the rookie was getting some top line time with Sidney Crosby during the draft, so they snapped him a few weeks ago, but in the nine games since being activated, he only had 2 assists.  That's where his numbers will stop, for now.

On Tuesday, the Boston Bruins announced that they are going to reevaluate forward Patrice Bergeron in a couple of weeks, as he is dealing with a fractured bone in his boot, which he suffered on the weekend. There's no guarantee that Bergeron will be able to return after that 2-week period, but he'll certainly be closer.  The Bruins are in the thick of the playoff mix and now's the time to get their number one centre healed up and ready for playoff time.  No matter how long he'll be out through this part of the regular season.

Brenda & Seward are off to a good start without Bergeron this week, posting 15 points through Wednesday night's action, only a point off the pace for the Mover & Shaker this week.  They open play on Thursday only 4 points back of 5th, but 44 points back of the money.

I don't think there is any more wondering why the Pittsburgh Penguins didn't trade Marc-Andre Fleury away at last year's trade deadline, but I'm sure they wish they still had him this year, as Matt Murray can't seem to catch a break this year. Murray is now under concussion protocol yet again this week and that now leaves the net to Casey DeSmith and Tristan Jarry, as they are going to be leaned upon to keep a relatively comfortable playoff position for the time being.

Stacey M.'s team has been in the mix for a top 10 finish for the better part of the season, but her team is now staring the Basement Dweller nod in the face, heading into Thursday night's action.  No Murray means no number one goalie, which will hurt and only having 4 points so far this week, means that her team really needs to pick up the pace to save itself from the shameful weekly finish.

The St. Louis Blues management and coaching staff are really scratching their heads, wondering what they can do any differently to ensure that their team gets back on the rails and back in a playoff spot. The coaching staff took a drastic step on Wednesday night, scratching Patrik Berglund from the game against the Detroit Red Wings.  The move may have sparked the team, as they were able to pull out a 2-1 win on the night, but it probably isn't the ideal move going forward.

We're not sure if Dale C. is going to lose out on another skater game, when the Blues play next, Saturday afternoon in Dallas.  Dale's team is another in the mix for a top 10 spot, sitting 11th today, currently 6 points out.  Berglund has 12 points in 37 games since the start of Week Ten, which hasn't quite been good enough, but also some lost production, if he continues to sit.

One of the best players in the league/pool, Tampa Bay's Nikita Kucherov, is dealing with an upper-body injury after getting hurt against the Maple Leafs on Monday night.  Kucherov was held out of Wednesday night's game against the Sabres and is currently thought to be doubtful for tonight's game in Dallas.  Kucherov's injury is considered minor and he has been skating, doing some drills, but holding him out could be more precautionary, more than anything else.  He's day-to-day right now and the team will likely provide more of an update later on.  If the injury is more serious, then we'll make a note of that here on the blog.

I'm not sure there's much left for Neil's team left to play for, even if he has a healthy Kucherov in his lineup.  His 18th placed team is suffering without the Hart Trophy candidate and even if he was to return right away, there's not a lot to be cheering for.

Vancouver Canucks forward Loui Eriksson has now missed a couple of games this week, Monday and Wednesday nights, and on Thursday afternoon, the team's coaching staff have confirmed that the veteran will be shut down for the remainder of the regular season, as he deals with a broken rib.  With only 5+ weeks left in the regular season and a push to have more youth for evaluation in the lineup, the team is not going to push the veteran to health or a return, so there will be less complications going forward.  Eriksson finishes the year with 10 goals and 23 points in 50 games.

Tony's chances of finishing in the top 10 aren't hampered too badly by this injury news, but his 8th place team is far from safe, 20 points up on 11th and still 5+ weeks to play.  His luck with injuries this season hasn't been great and it isn't improving with this news.

Bolts Add McDonagh & Miller

			2018 Season				July 1st, 2018
To Tampa Bay	POS	Age	GP	Goals	Points	Cap	Years	Cap
Ryan McDonagh	D	28	49	2	26	$4.7 mil	1	$4.7 mil
J.T. Miller	F	24	63	13	40	$2.75 mil	0	RFA
----
To New York	POS	Age	GP	Goals	Points	Cap	Years	Cap
Vladislav Namestnikov	F	25	62	20	44	$1.94 mil	0	RFA
Libor Hajek	D	20	0	0	0	$864k	2	$864k
Brett Howden	F	19	0	0	0	$894k	2	$894k
2018 1st Round Draft Pick
2019 Conditional 2nd Round Draft Pick

The biggest and most exciting deal of the day was one of the last ones to drop, as the Tampa Bay Lightning were certainly shopping around for the best deal around and it looks like they came away with a doozy, when they stopped by the New York Rangers' fire sale.

The Lightning walked out of the deal with two new roster players to compliment their style of play, giving up one of their own and a handful of futures and not terrible ones either.  Granted, their acquisition of Ryan McDonagh is quite impressive and quite possibly worth all the prospects and picks.  Yes, McDonagh and J.T. Miller head to Tampa for their playoff run and in return came Vladislav Namestnikov, top end prospects Libor Hajek and Brett Howden, as well as two top picks in 2018 and 2019.

The Lightning have been in the rumour mill floating around for a while, connected to a couple of big name defensemen, but they had to wait for a price that seemed a little more reasonable and it looks like they got a good player to join the ranks that already boasts Victor Hedman and Mikhail Sergachev, among others.

The Rangers don't come away empty-handed at all here.  Namestnikov will be inserted into the lineup immediately and is expected to do okay, while the prospects they acquired are both in junior still and both have some excellent upside.  The 2018 1st rounder is a sure thing and the 2nd rounder in 2019 can be a 1st rounder, if the Lightning win the Cup in either of the next two seasons.  Actually, I think the Rangers come away like bandits in this deal.

Hockey pool-wise, three pool players were exchanged... Dale C. has McDonagh, Stacey M. has Miller and Ryan has Namestnikov and I would have to think that the two players moving to Tampa are going to get the better end of the shake, since there is going to be some more excitement in that city, rather than the boat that is racing to shore before it takes on too much water.  Dale and Stacey are 11th and 12th in the standings, both outside of the top 10 by at least 15 points, so this deal likely isn't going to be enough to get them up and over the hump and into the top 10, but it could help... you know, once McDonagh is back to full health.