Week Seven Newsletter

Just a heads up, everyone... I am away in Ontario for Week Eight, so pool updates and blog posts may be few and far between.  I will be trying my best to get everything updated, but if you don't see anything for a day or two... that's why.  This will also mean that the Newsletter this week may seem a tad rushed as well.

It wasn't really a barn-burning week on the individual side of things in the pool in Week Seven, as a couple players topped the week with only 6 points and by virtue of one player being a forward and the other being a goalie, the tie-breaking made it really easy in the end. Dallas' Jamie Benn topped Montreal's Carey Price for the weekly honour and keeping the Canadiens goaltender from earning the nod in back-to-back weeks.

Benn finished the week with 3 goals and 3 assists in three games played for the Stars and the team finished 2-1-0 with the scoring output.  Benn had a goal and an assist against the Hurricanes in a loss on Tuesday, an assist against the Coyotes on Thursday and then 2 goals and an assist against the Kings on Saturday night.

This brings Benn's season totals up to 8 goals and 11 assists in 21 games played through seven weeks of the season, which has him ranked 39th overall in pool scoring.

Unfortunately, Scott isn't quite getting the best results out of the last pick in the 1st round of the draft, as he took Benn with the 23rd overall pick, but at least he isn't too far away from being in the 1st round of rankings and is still has a 2nd round value to him.  Scott's team couldn't quite compliment the week that Benn had, as the whole only finished with 21 points and finished the week in 13th.

Week Seven finished with a tie atop the weekly scoring standings, as Troy and Stacey C. each finished the week with 31 points to their names, but the tie-breakers were employed and it was the newly-minted 5th place team, belonging to Troy, who took the nod with an 11-goal week to Stacey's 8.

With the nod, it now keeps the Mover & Shaker among those teams in the top five in the standings this season, as Troy's team really did make some moves, climbing up from 9th place the week before.  This is the second time that Troy's team finished the week in 5th place, his peak position in the year, also finishing Week Five there.

Troy had good weeks from both Eric Staal in Carolina and Sami Vatanen in Anaheim, each picking up 5 points a piece.  Long Island's Ryan Strome and Toronto's Jonathan Bernier also picked up 4 points, while Philadelphia's Claude Giroux had 3 points.

There were a few zeroes on Troy's team, two of which were by active players, while one was sent back to junior earlier in the season, so there will be some good use of Waiver Draft moves done on his team, which could potentially bump his team up into the money before too long.

Back-to-back weeks in the basement for Dale B. has now dropped his side down to 16th place in the standings.  Talk about being in need of a Waiver Draft move or two.

Dale's team finished the week with only 13 points, 8 points coming from his goaltending duo of Jimmy Howard and Tuukka Rask, which doesn't say much about his skaters in Week Seven.

Only three skaters picked up points for his team, which means that nine didn't pick up points and that's too many players to try and replace at the Waiver Draft.

At the end of Week Three, Dale's team was in 5th place, his peak position on the year, but now has dropped down to 16th, as mentioned above, and his team now stands 25 points back from his previous peak position and 34 points back of the money.

TROPHY TALK

At the top of the table, Grant S.'s lead was extended to 5 points over Kristy & Don, while we have a new team in the money, as Clayton's team jumped over Dale C.'s for 3rd place, still 22 points back of 2nd at the end of the week.  Dale is only 1 point back, while Troy, our Mover & Shaker, is 9 points back.

The bottom of the table saw Benson adding another point to his buffer for the Olli bobblehead, now 7 points clear of earning that trophy.

Benson's team was also tied for the pool-worst in skater games played in the week with only 25 to his name and his side is the only one to not have 200+ games to his name through Week Seven.  His team now has 195 skater games played, while the next worst, Dale C., has 209.

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING

It's a new low in pool scoring this week, as the 23-team pool failed to eclipse the 11-point barrier in the average number of points collected in each NHL game.  In 45 NHL games on the schedule, down a game, thanks to the Buffalo snow, the pool only collected 489 points (10.9 per game).  Pool participation was up among the skaters, while goalies saw a bit less time in the crease, but overall, it did seem to be a very quiet week on the scoresheet.

WINNING EVERY WEEK

12 teams in the hockey pool went into Week Seven with at least one goalie win in the first six weeks of the season.  At the end of the week, those same 12 teams managed to pick up a win to continue this streak of notching W's.  Four teams were held winless in the week, while a couple of teams each saw 4 wins from their keepers and they would be our two pool leaders at the moment.  The top three teams in wins in the pool are the top three teams in the standings, in order, so that says a lot about the importance of goaltending in the pool.

NEWS AND NOTES

The injury prone nature of Washington's Mike Green has caught up to him yet again, as he left Saturday night's game against Buffalo with an upper-body injury. There was no update on his status on Sunday, but the Capitals do not play again until Wednesday, so it still might be a day or so before we get an official update there.

Tough break for our Mover & Shaker this week, as Troy is waiting to hear the extent of the injury going forward.  The leap into the money will likely need his Washington blueliner, so he's hoping for a quick recovery.

The mysterious ailment that has kept Boston forward Brad Marchand off the ice has now landed him onto the Injured Reserve, retroactive to the beginning of the week, so he would be eligible to come off in the next day or so. There is no word on the severity of the injury, which has to be concerning. The Bruins play tonight, home to the Penguins, a game they would likely want to have their pesky winger, but we just don't know if he will go or not.

The pool's first duo, the 2nd place team of Kristy & Don, are now missing out on some games from their 8th round pick, but they just don't know if he will be able to contribute any time soon.

The ironman streak is over for Jay Bouwmeester, who was unable to play against the Jets on Sunday, due to a lower-body injury.  The incredible streak stopped in the 730+ game mark, but it doesn't sound like the injury is too serious, it was just enough to keep the defender off the ice for a game, possibly one more in the end.  He is listed as out day-to-day for the Blues.

Leo was counting on the regular defenseman to give him games this year, but after almost 10 years worth of constantly suiting up, the odds were working against him, I suppose.  Leo's team sits in 14th after Week Seven.

Finally, the Vancouver Canucks are reportedly seeking a second opinion on the lower-body injury that Dan Hamhuis suffered in Week Seven, but have now placed the veteran defenseman on the Injured Reserve, fully expecting him to miss a significant amount of time.  There is no confirmation on how much time he will miss, but it is likely going to be weeks, possibly months, before it is all said and done.

There is no question that Hamhuis will likely work his way into the Waiver Draft as a drop for Brian, who possibly would have wanted to use it on an underachieving forward.  Brian sits in 17th, not too far out of 20th, which would improve his pick in the Waiver Draft, which has its order decided after this coming week.

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