That's It For Zetterberg

The fears of the Detroit Red Wings organization have come to fruition, as their captain, Henrik Zetterberg, has officially shut himself down permanently, due to a degenerative back injury, team management announced on Friday.

The 37-year old played in 15 NHL seasons, all with the Red Wings, playing in 1,082 regular season games, finishing with 337 goals and 960 points in his career.

In the last three seasons, Zetterberg was able to play in all 82 games, after suffering a back injury in the 2015 season, but he had been playing through the pain over the last few seasons.

There was thought that he would be able to continue at some point this season, with enough rehab, but that didn't pan out to be the case for him or the team and it was likely best to call it a career.  Now, you can strike him from your projection list and scratch him off the Hockey News' list as well, where they have him at 55 points this year.

This injury news will certainly work to expedite the rebuild process in Detroit, as they place him on the Long Term Injured Reserve this season and likely next season as well, the last two years of his current contract, which carries a cap hit just over $6 million.  He'll join Johan Franzen on the list of players that have had their career cut short, due to injury, with years left on their deal.  Both players will run that total up to around $10 million in cap relief.

Maybe most remarkably, in the 11 seasons of running the hockey pool on the website, Zetterberg has never appeared on a money-winning team.

Hossa Calling It Quits

On Saturday, reports were starting to surface that Chicago Blackhawks forward Marian Hossa was leaning towards retirement and in the evening, those reports were confirmed by the player himself, that his 19-year NHL career will indeed be coming to an end.

Hossa missed the entire 2018 season after a skin condition, due to an allergic reaction to his hockey equipment, was diagnosed and he was unable to just suit up for the club, more than anything else.  The team's management didn't have any better news at the end of the season, saying his condition was unchanged, but now the 39-year old has resigned himself to the fact that he won't be playing anymore.

The Slovak forward finishes with 525 goals and 1,134 points in 1,309 career regular season games and 52 goals and 149 points in 205 career playoff games.  He was a very productive player in the NHL, playing with the Senators, Thrashers, Penguins, Red Wings and finally, the Blackhawks.  He has three Stanley Cups on his resume and most importantly, he was a part of Allan's 2011 hockey pool winning team.

Hossa's retirement won't officially take place until after the 2021 season, as his contract doesn't expire until then, so his $5.275 million cap hit will be on the LTIR for the next three seasons, as he still gets paid out until it's all said and done.

Vrbata Calls It Quits

I had made the rule a couple of years ago, that I would only post a retirement spot on the blog, if a player finished at least once on a money team in the hockey pool and there have been surprising omissions over the years, but Radim Vrbata is not going to be one of those omissions.

Vrbata, a member of Kristy & Don's 2nd place team back in the 2011 season, made Saturday night's game against the Buffalo Sabres his last, concluding a 16-season career in the NHL, playing for Colorado, Carolina, Chicago, Phoenix (and Arizona), Tampa Bay, Vancouver and finally Florida.

284 goals and 623 points in 1,057 games played, a very serviceable career and one where he found himself on many hockey pool teams, especially on this website.

Sedins To Retire

On Monday afternoon, the Vancouver Canucks, Daniel Sedin and Henrik Sedin announced that after this season, the twins would conclude their NHL careers, finishing off with Saturday night's game in Edmonton. 

Their careers, 18 years, all with the Canucks, will be remembered as one of the great all-time brother combinations in the NHL, the only set of brothers to play the game, where each of them has over 1,000 points in the regular season.  The twins have been a staple in the hockey pools here for each of the last 11 seasons, where Henrik has appeared on three money winning teams (3rd in 2008, 3rd in 2010 and 1st in 2013), while Daniel has appeared on two money teams (3rd in 2008 and 2nd in 2011).  Both brothers each have an Art Ross Trophy between them, Henrik in 2010 and Daniel in 2011, and in those years, they were also hockey pool MVPs, more importantly.

All of their regular season accolades asides, the closest they came to the Stanley Cup was 2011, but they were a part of the playoff pool winning team that year, so that just adds to their hockey pool hall of fame (if there was one) careers.

Now they leave the team and the league on their own terms and with their health.  It will be a much different Canucks team moving forward and even their current production levels, 21 goals and 52 points for Daniel and 3 goals and 48 points for Henrik, will likely be missed next season.  They will, however, still be expected to play and collect their well-earned due from the fans, as they play out the week, including two games at home.

Morning Player Notes in the Draft (Nov 11)

It was a bit of a crazy last couple of days, which took a bit of the focus off the blog for a bit, but we're back now and hopefully, we get a good long run at it again. We'll go over the last couple days in one post and hopefully, we'll get to a goalie post as well. It looks like that is getting interesting into the weekend as well.

We'll start this post in Montreal, where Thursday night, the Canadiens were without both Jonathan Drouin and Shea Weber for their game at home to Minnesota.  Drouin is dealing with an upper-body injury and he was questionable for Thursday's game, which probably meant that he wasn't too far away.  Reports say he practiced on Friday and that his status for tonight's game with Buffalo in town is still up in the air.  Weber is said to be dealing with a lower-body injury and he too was on the ice for Friday's practice and will be a game-time decision tonight as well.

Sounds fairly promising that both will play tonight, which means that Derek B. and Neil will only miss out on one game each, due to these injuries.  It's not ideal, by any means, but it could be so much worse.  Both players, if they can't go, will still be listed as day-to-day for the time being.

The New Jersey Devils got off to a pretty good start to the season, but now that they have seen some of their results taper off, they are now trying to find a way to ramp their team back up or give cold players a new boost.  Pavel Zacha is one of those kids that needs a boost and on Thursday night, he got to watch the game against the Oilers from the press box.  That move didn't exactly help the team much of any, dropping the game 3-2 in overtime, but it may have lit a fire under the young forwards butt... or so the team hopes.

Dale C.'s team has jumped up into a tie for the lead, a 3-way tie at that, and he could really use some help breaking that tie from Zacha and the Devils.  The Devils play twice this weekend, so he could be the perfect candidate to boost his pool team up into the outright lead.

Vancouver Canucks defenseman Chris Tanev left the team on their current road trip, which ends on Tuesday, as he is dealing with an upper-body injury, believed to be a hand hand injury, possibly a broken bone.  Tanev was placed on the Injured Reserve in this trip and is expected to miss about three weeks worth of action, because of it.  On the flip side, Alexander Edler was able to come off the IR, as his knee injury had finally healed, and he was able to play on Thursday night, in the loss to Anaheim.  Edler missed 12 games with the injury, but was unable to provide that spark that the team needed against the Ducks.

Scott B. hasn't had the best of luck in the start of this season, as his team is mired in 25th and now down another body.  This week hasn't been great for him, only picking up 11 points, heading into Saturday's action.  He'll certainly miss Tanev for the time being.  As for Edler's return, that should help Tony's team, which is 25th in skater games played, to date.  His team has truly been decimated by injuries.

The saga of Vadim Shipachyov is now over in Vegas and between the team, the league and the Players Association, they have poured enough salt over this one, that it won't be growing into anything else for a long while.  Shipachyov signed his voluntary retirement papers, which means he won't be eligible to have any NHL free agency until he's 35, if he so chose to come back this way.  Any desire to play in the NHL over the next five years would have to go through the Golden Knights.  A damn shame that the numbers didn't work out in his favour, because there were a lot of people excited to see what he could do.

That now makes two retirements in the hockey pool this season, which has to be a first in the 10+ years this website has been going.  Stacey M. has a pretty easy decision to make, when the first Waiver Draft comes around, as her team will get a forward for sure, early on.  Her pick position might not be so good though, as her team has jumped up to the top five this week.

The Edmonton Oilers have finally recalled Jesse Puljujarvi from the AHL on Friday, as they had suffered an injury to Anton Slepyshev, putting him on the IR to make room for the young Finn. Puljujarvi has 5 points in 10 games in the AHL this season and he'll get boosted into the Oilers' top six, by the sound of things, getting to play with Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Milan Lucic, as soon as this afternoon against the Rangers.

Great news for Eric's team, which took a chance on the top end draft pick from two summers ago, as it is now 24th in the standings and possibly getting a bit of a boost here.  Eric's team hasn't had a ton of luck early on in this season, but getting a potential scorer in the lineup now will only leave some real gaps in his goaltending, which the Waiver Draft will hopefully help.

Streit Ends Up Retiring

Well, this post is relevant for two reasons... Mark Streit still belongs to Benson's hockey pool team for another month or so and he is also been on two money winning hockey pool teams in the past and that's a measure of success here on the blog site.

Yes, on Monday, it was made official that the long time Swiss defenseman filed his retirement papers, opting not to play one more season back in Europe and rather, hang them up for good.

Streit, a 12-year NHL veteran, started his career with the Canadiens and ended up signing with Montreal before this season started, but it was a relationship that didn't make it out of the first month of the season, when the Canadiens opted to go with a younger blueline in the end.

Streit was a good NHL defenseman in his career, especially for us poolies, as he finished with 434 points in 786 games played between Montreal, Long Island, Philadelphia and a short stint in Pittsburgh.  He was a part of two 2nd place hockey pool teams, Stuart's team in 2012 and Scott G.'s team in 2014.

Doan Officially Retires

I was trying to save a lot of the retirement posts for players that helped hockey pool teams win money, but over the past seasons on opiatedsherpa.com, Shane Doan had not figured on a money winning team.  Nevertheless, even though Doan couldn't figure into one of the 248 forward slots that would have been taken up at the end of the regular season for a money team, he still had himself quite the career.

Between the original iteration of the Winnipeg Jets and thusly, the Phoenix/Arizona Coyotes, Doan played in 1,540 games for the franchise and has all the franchise records in scoring, picking up 402 goals and 570 assists for 972 points.

The last of the original Winnipeg Jets played in 21 seasons in the NHL, winning a couple of individual awards over his career, playing in a couple of All-Star Games as well.  Doan has been known to be the consummate professional throughout his career and your prototypical leader, it's a real shame that he is one of those players never to win the Stanley Cup.

Elias Retires

A two-time hockey pool money-winning player, long-time New Jersey Devils forward Patrik Elias has announced that he is calling it a career.  Elias was on Clayton's 2nd place team in 2008 and Peter's 3rd place team in 2009, which is the new way to earn a retirement post on the blog or else I would be doing a lot more posts, I'm sure.

Elias had a 20-year NHL career, all with the Devils, tallying 408 career goals and 1,025 points in total, picking up a lot of franchise-best numbers for his long service with the club.  And let's not forget about the two Stanley Cup rings he has with the team, also leading the team in playoff scoring numbers as well.

The 40-year old was unable to play this season, due to two major knee surgeries after the 2016 season, which he did return to skating, but never got himself back into game shape and never got himself back to the point where he could sign a new contract and go.

Elias has certainly been a pool favourite over the years and as a contributor to two money teams, he has done quite well in them as well.  Congrats to a great career!

Lecavalier Officially Files His Paperwork

Vincent Lecavalier, a member of Stuart's 2008 1st place team in the hockey pool, has officially called it quits, as per his agreement, when the Kings offered to trade for his services from the Flyers this season.

Lecavalier, the 1st overall pick in 1998's entry draft, enjoyed a very productive NHL career, which spanned 1,212 regular season games and 75 playoff games between Tampa Bay, Philadelphia and Los Angeles, where he scored 421 regular season goals and 949 points, 26 playoff goals and 56 points, a Stanley Cup and a Rocket Richard Trophy in his case.

Unfortunately, his overall value in the hockey pools has dropped over the years, which coincides with his perceived value by NHL teams, which showed a decline in ice-time and a decline in scoring.  Those sort of elements will greatly reduce your usefulness in the pool.

Lecavalier did make an appearance in the 2016 regular season hockey pool, after his arrival in Los Angeles, he did have a quick resurgence in the scoring department, picking up 10 goals and 17 points in 42 games, leading up to the playoffs, but his playoff run was ended in five games.

Datsyuk Takes His Puck and Heads Home

On Saturday, Detroit Red Wings forward Pavel Datsyuk finally confirmed that he will forego his last year on his current contract, in order to go back to Russia to play at home and be closer to his family.  The move has been hanging above the heads of both the player and the team for quite some time, but now the move is official and the repercussions can now unfold.

It is a pretty worst-case scenario for the Red Wings, as he signed a 3-year contract extension in 2013, which would take him through the 2017 season, but it was also considered to be a 35+ contract, which by CBA bylaws, will count against Detroit's salary cap, regardless of whether he plays, terminates or retires.  Therefore, the Red Wings will have to deal the contract, if they want to be players in the free agency market, trying to replace the veteran who is out the door.  After a deal is done, then the contract will be terminated and that team will be stuck with the cap hit for the season.  On the plus side, once the contract is terminated, there are no actual dollars to be paid out on the contract.

Back to the celebration of the player, as the 37-year old played in 14 NHL seasons, all with the Red Wings, playing in 953 games, scoring 314 goals and 918 points.  His career-highs in points came both in the 2008 and 2009 seasons, where he picked up 97 points in both years, scoring a career-high 32 goals in the 2009 season.

In the Opiated Sherpa draft pools, the two-way centre appeared on three money-winning teams, a 1st place finish in 2008, part of a 3rd place finish in 2012 and a 2nd place team in 2013.  It has been a few years since he was on a money-winning team, but he has a legacy in the pool, which will be missed.

Instead of playing in the NHL, he will play his remaining hockey years back home in Russia, as he wished to be playing still, but closer to his family.

Clowe Recommended to Stay Away

It sounds like it is the end of the line for New Jersey Devils forward Ryane Clowe, as the team's management came out and reported that the injury prone power forward has been told by doctors that he won't be playing hockey now or in the future.

With three seasons still left on his current deal, Clowe will not officially retire until the contract expires, allowing him to collect the remainder of his deal, while the Devils will have him on the Injured Reserve or the Long Term Injured Reserve, if cap space is needed down the road.  Clowe currently carries a $4.85 million cap hit, which is a fair chunk of change these days.  The Devils will be closer to the floor than the ceiling this year, so his numbers wouldn't be much of a concern anyways.

Clowe's most effective seasons came while he was in San Jose, topping out as a 24-goal scorer in 2011, where he also posted his career-high in points (62).

Injuries were a huge factor in the later years and then into his eventual stepping away from the game, concussions being the main contributor.

If you're looking to Clowe for a left field sleeper pick this year, I would suggest moving on from here.

Briere Exits Stage Left

Drafted in 1996, Daniel Briere was one of the elder statesman in the NHL last season, employed to help the Colorado Avalanche's young players in their development at the pro level.  His impact may not have been felt at the most noticeable levels, but he was certainly an inspiration to those he played with and many of those who played at a smaller stature.

On Monday morning, word came out that the 37-year old has announced his retirement after playing in 18 NHL seasons, suiting up for Phoenix, Buffalo, Philadelphia, Montreal and Colorado.

His career spanned 973 NHL games, where he scored 307 goals and 696 points.

Remarkably, Briere never was a fixture among the money-winning teams in the hockey pools, dating back to the 2009 season.

Retirement Beckons Salo

A wrist injury has forced veteran defenseman Sami Salo to call it quits after 15 NHL seasons.

Salo's injury kept him out of the 2015 season completely, so his last string of games came in the 2014 season, where he ranked 110th among all defensemen with 17 points in 71 games.

Throughout his career, if he wasn't injured (a member of the 2010 class of the Injury Prone List), he was a force from the point, unleashing a booming point shot.  If he had healthy seasons, he would be in the top 75 defensemen in pool scoring, generally, and even if he did get hurt in the year, he would still hover around the top 100.

Remarkably, for how good he was when he was healthy, Salo never featured on a money-winning team in the hockey pools, dating back to the 2008 season.

St. Louis Retires

It doesn't appear that there was very much incentive for Martin St. Louis to keep going, as free agency is less than two days old.  The 40-year old winger, instead of opting for retirement and heading off into the sunset.

St. Louis leaves the game with one Cup ring, an armload of NHL trophies, an Olympic gold medal and a number of other All-Star honours.  In total, he played in 1,134 regular season games with Calgary, Tampa Bay and New York, scoring 391 goals and 1,033 points, winning the Art Ross Trophy twice.

In terms of the hockey pool, St. Louis finished in the top 10 in pool scoring five times since 2004 and was a main stay in every draft.  He even took the top honour in the 2013 shortened season, with 60 points.

This past season, St. Louis still was a useful players, scoring 21 goals and 52 points in 74 games, ranking 105th overall in pool scoring, 74th among all forwards.  He leaves on a solid note, that's for sure.

Timonen Set to Call It Quits

Just before Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Finals, Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Kimmo Timonen alluded to how many more days of his NHL career he had left, saying that he was down to his last five, which would bring him to Game 7 of the Cup Finals, if we were to go that far.

Timonen, now 40, was a 10th round draft pick back in 1993 and featured with the Nashville Predators and Philadelphia Flyers, before becoming a trade deadline acquisition of the Blackhawks, in an injury-shortened season for the veteran defender.

His shot with the Blackhawks right now is his last chance at winning a Stanley Cup, something he hasn't done in his career.

In 1,108 regular season games between the three teams, Timonen has 117 goals and 571 career points, finishing above 30 points in 11 of his 16-year career.  He was definitely a hockey pool regular, up until this season, where blood clots were diagnosed and it cost him the better part of the 2015 regular season.

There is nothing like a good return story, especially when it works out to be a last hurrah and possibly a championship to end one's career.

In the eight seasons of the draft hockey pool on opiatedsherpa.com, Timonen never featured on a winning team, despite his career numbers.  He was on a 2nd place team, back in the 2010 season and had another 2nd place appearance in the 2012 season.

Nabokov Retires a Shark

This week, the San Jose Sharks acquired goaltender Evgeni Nabokov for future considerations from the Tampa Bay Lightning, in order to have the seasoned veteran retire where his NHL career began and flourished the most.

Nabokov had a very good career, which started back in the 2000 season with the Sharks, this after being a 9th round selection in the 1994 draft, taken 219th overall.  He amassed a record of 353-227-29-71 with 59 shutouts.

In terms of the hockey pools, he had an up-and-down career, having some blinding years in the pool scoring ranks, finishing in the top 10 six times, and he was also a part of one money-winning team in the last seven years of the hockey pool website, on a 3rd place team in the 2010 season, belonging to Dale B..

Between the Sharks, Islanders and Lightning, not to mention a season over in the KHL in 2011, Nabokov has had a pretty good career and has been a valuable member of a number of hockey pool teams over the years.  But as days go by, the changing of the guard happens and it won't be long before some of the current greats go out the same way.

Nabokov was taken this season by Grant K., taking him in the 7th round, 141st overall, while still being projected to be a backup behind Ben Bishop.  The retirement news that was pending couldn't have come at a better time for Grant, as he was able to drop the Kazakh keeper in the Week Eighteen Waiver Draft, opting for Blackhawks back-up, Antti Raanta, instead.

An updated list of injuries can be found here.

Brodeur Retires As A Legend

It was a fine last kick at the can, Martin Brodeur did show that he could still win, even at 42 years old, going 3-3-0 with 1 shutout with the St. Louis Blues this season, acting as an injury replacement for Brian Elliott, but it sounds like other teams are looking to stay with the younger generation, not electing to give the future Hall of Famer one last opportunity to take in some hockey games and make a difference to a team, hopefully making a playoff run.

There's no question that Brodeur goes out as a legend in the position of goaltending, winning Stanley Cups, Olympic Gold Medals and other assorted honours and trophies, but he also goes down as one of the best players in my hockey pools as well, which is the main theme of this blog, as it were.

My own hockey pool database goes back to the 2002 season, where Brodeur finished in 3rd place overall in pool scoring, where he followed it up with back-to-back seasons in the number one spot.

The last season he finished atop the pool scoring table was the 2007 season, the first season of the selection sheet pool on the website, where he finished with 48 wins, 12 shutouts and an assist for 121 points.

After the 2007 season, he did have some struggles in the points and health department, having one more big hurrah in the 2010 season, finishing as the top goalie and 2nd overall in pool scoring, with 45 wins, 9 shutouts and 3 assists for a 111-point year, finishing behind Henrik Sedin of the Canucks that year.

Since the start of the website in the 2007 season, Brodeur had picked up the Player of the Week nod five times, but remarkably never hit double-digits for points in those mentions in the blog.

In the drafts, since 2008, it was also quite remarkable that Brodeur was never a part of a 1st place overall draft team neither.  In those years, he never belonged to a top three team in the draft either, which seems kind of strange, given the time he was around.  Sure, I have data that dates back to 2002, but I don't think I have all my pool data from back then, which would be pretty interesting to look at.

Nevertheless, there is no denying that Brodeur was a difference maker and a great player in his 24-year career, but even with trying to take another shot at playing, I don't think he will be ever remembered as a goalie that faded out into obscurity, rather a great player that lasted over decades.

An updated list of injuries can be found here.

Saku Koivu Calls It A Day

It's the end of another era in the NHL, as Saku Koivu announced on Wednesday that he was retiring after 18 NHL seasons.  Koivu spent his entire career between Montreal and Anaheim, where he played in over 1,100 games and amassed a shade over 830 points in his career, not to mention his triumphant return from a battle with cancer, which lifted his status beyond compare to a lot of NHL players.

In hockey pool terms, Koivu was never an upper-echelon kind of player, never really considered to be a top end pick, his peak position in pool scoring came in the 2003 season, where he finished 42nd overall, thanks to a 71-point campaign in 82 games with the Canadiens.

He spent most of his time hovering in the top 200 in pool scoring and then in the 2014 season, he finished with only 11 goals and 29 points in 65 games for the Ducks, dropping him to 290th overall and that would then be his last season in the NHL.

Koivu was a big contributor to his teams and teammates, both on and off the ice, according to many reports, which led him to the captaincy in Montreal, which is a storied position to hold in North American pro sports.

Strike him from your list, he won't do you much good in the 2015 season.

Giguere Calls It a Career

As expected, the Colorado Avalanche announced that long-time NHL goalie J-S Giguere has signed his retirement papers and he has concluded his career after 17 seasons.

The 37-year old keeper spent time with Hartford, Calgary, Anaheim, Toronto and Colorado in those years, amassing 262 career wins and 38 shutouts in the regular season and 33 wins and 6 shutouts in the playoffs, including one Stanley Cup ring in 2007 with the Ducks.

Giguere has been a regular in the hockey pools, long before I was even posting them on my website, but never featured as a goalie on one of the winning teams on the website since 2008.

Last season, he was picked in the draft, in the final round, 319th overall, but was later dropped in the year, due to a lack of playing time.  Giguere did finish the 2014 season with 11 wins and 26 points and was 335th overall in pool scoring.

The back-up role has now moved to Reto Berra, who was acquired by the Avalanche from the Flames at the deadline and he has some pretty large shoes to fill this season.

Kiprusoff Officially Calls It Quits

The worst-kept secret in Calgary has come to fruition, as Mikka Kiprusoff, the Flames all-time leader in all the important goaltending categories, has officially retired, leaving a huge gap in the depth chart for the team.

Kiprusoff has been one of the most consistent pool goaltenders in recent memory, thanks to some incredible durability throughout his career and his athleticism, which certainly outplayed the team in front of him most nights.  In the last nine seasons, Kiprusoff finished in the top 10 of pool scoring four times and finished in the top 30 four more times.  It was only last season, where he found an injury and dropped his pool ranking significantly, due to a lack of time in the net.

In 2009, Kiprusoff finished as the pool MVP, winning the scoring title with 45 wins and 4 shutouts.

The Flames, looking to replace Kiprusoff, will have a few options in the wings.  Career back-up, Joey MacDonald, will be in the fold, no matter what the situation, but it does seem unlikely that he would be their first choice for the starter.  Karri Ramo appears to be the leading candidate, by word of mouth, but he will be challenged by both Reto Berra and Joni Ortio at camp.  Ortio shone brightly at the YoungStars tournament in Penticton recently, which may help his cause.  Projections for the Flames goaltending will be reserved until some decisions are made in camp, but I can't imagine they will be too good, given the amount of experience that will be playing in front of them.