Goalie Announcements (Nov 3)

Well, the workload has picked up at the office, hence the lack of blog posts over the last couple of days, so we'll play a little bit of catch-up with the goalie survivor pool, just ahead of another busy night in the NHL schedule.

Seven teams have already qualified for Week Five in the survivor pool, with Wilton, Grant, Dale C., Mike, Troy, Jeremy and Stacey M. all qualifying either on Tuesday or Wednesday night.

Marcie, Cam, John, Stuart, Brenda & Seward and Ryan are all still in need of a W and I would imagine that most will get their shot tonight with 12 more games on the docket.

The Edmonton Oilers are taking their fast-paced show to the Big Apple, taking on the New York Rangers tonight. Marcie will get a start from Cam Talbot to try and qualify for next week and it will be a good test against Henrik Lundqvist, who helped qualify Grant already.  Talbot is the top player in the pool rankings still today, already posting 18 points to start the year, so the Rangers will be in tough as well.

Cam and Stuart will go head-to-head for a win tonight in the Sunshine State, as Roberto Luongo and the Florida Panthers will welcome Cory Schneider and the New Jersey Devils.  The ex-Canucks teammates will meet again this season, the first time going the way of the teacher in the swamp.  The first game was a 2-1 overtime win, so really, it's anyone's game when they play against each other.

Ryan will indeed get a shot at a win tonight, with one of his two supporting keepers, as Andrei Vasilevskiy will get the call for the Tampa Bay Lightning.  The Boston Bruins are the visiting team on the night and they will go with their number one, Tuukka Rask, giving Troy a second start on the night, as his team continues to try and work itself out of the dregs of the standings.

In the shark tank tonight, the Calgary Flames will throw Chad Johnson in to see if he can swim with the Sharks, giving John are rare start from the Flames back-up.  He'll get a tough test from Wes' Martin Jones at the other end, who is still playing exceptionally well to start the season.  There's nothing easy here for the Flames, as they travel through the divisional minefield that is California.

A second start for Cam on the evening, as he sees Marc-Andre Fleury go for the Pittsburgh Penguins, taking on the Los Angeles Kings, who will continue to ride Peter Budaj until he cannot play no more.  Fleury finally relinquished the net to Matt Murray last night, so now he has to step up his game even more to make sure he can keep that number one job, although we still have the feeling that Murray will have to lose the job.

It will be Robin Lehner and the Buffalo Sabres playing host to Frederik Andersen and the Toronto Maple Leafs at the First Niagara Center tonight, Jeremy's goalie against Brian's goalie in the pool match-up.  The injury-burdened Sabres will certainly have their hands full with this young Leafs lineup, that's for sure.

The Winnipeg Jets are in Washington tonight to take on the Capitals and it is an all-qualified goalie match-up there tonight, as Michael Hutchinson will meet Braden Holtby, giving extra starts to Grant and Jeremy tonight.  This will mean that Grant has both of his goalies going tonight, giving him a good shot to move up into the money tonight.

The Philadelphia Flyers are playing on back-to-back nights tonight in Brooklyn, so they will send the goalie that won last night, Tony's Michal Neuvirth.  Jaroslav Halak might be on the trade block, but the Islanders are not going to sit him while they look for a deal, likely to help showcase his talents, which is also good news for Troy, who could still use the starts and the potential points.

The Vancouver Canucks are on back-to-back nights, so they will send their second goalie out tonight, giving Clayton a start with Jacob Markstrom, while the Senators will have the newly-acquired, non-pool goalie, Mike Condon in net.  One would hope that the pool goalie would be the favourite, but...

Two eliminated teams, Marcin and Kristy & Don, will have their number one keepers going for points in Chicago tonight, with Corey Crawford playing host to Semyon Varlamov.  Both pool teams had high expectations on these two, but they were not able to keep them in the survivor pool.

Two teams still in the survivor pool, but not in need of wins, will see their goalies go in Dallas tonight, as Mike's Jake Allen will line up against Wilton's Antti Niemi and this one should be a decent divisional match-up game.  Niemi is trying to string a couple wins together and keep the number one job for a little while.

The Nashville Predators are really trying to get Pekka Rinne going, not losing faith in him, despite some shaky starts, which is good for Stacey M.. She gets another start from her qualified goalie, while Wes is finally starting to see the odd point or two from Louis Domingue, who goes again for the Coyotes at home tonight.

Knee Injury Sidelines Bogosian

The Buffalo Sabres are now expecting to be without Zach Bogosian for an extended period of time, after the veteran defender suffered an MCL injury.  The initial word from the team is that he will be out for "weeks" with the injury, but there wasn't anything more exact available on Thursday morning.

Bogosian hasn't exactly been productive to start this season, failing to register a point in his first nine games.  He has been able to register six minutes in penalties, so he hasn't been completely useless for the hockey pool this year.

John S. is off to a bit of a slow start to the week, having only 4 points from two nights worth of action, but this team is right where it should want to be, nice and close to the money conversation.  His team sits in 7th place with 76 points, only 3 points out of 2nd and 3rd, and that was all done without any production from his 12th round pick.  There's a good chance that Bogosian will be one of his first casualties in the Waiver Draft in a few weeks.

Noon Player Notes in the Draft (Nov 3)

Still collecting more notes, as I've fallen a bit behind in my updates... the Anaheim Ducks were without their captain on Wednesday night with the Penguins in town for a visit, as Ryan Getzlaf was out with an upper-body injury, missing out on the 5-1 loss.  He is currently listed as out day-to-day and it was seemingly obvious that the team missed him, so they'll be hoping that one of their key players won't be on the shelf for very long.

For Marcin, his team has been hanging in there to start the season, sitting 11th after Wednesday night and only 5 points out of 2nd place, so there's lots of room to wiggle with a good night.  Getzlaf has been a point-per-game player already this season, 9 points in his first nine games.

On top of their goaltending situation going down the crapper, the Ottawa Senators will also be without forward Mark Stone for tonight's game with the Vancouver Canucks in town. Stone is dealing with a neck issue, but the team doesn't believe that the injury is serious and he is currently listed as out day-to-day.

Stone has been underwhelming early on in the season with only 5 points in his first nine games this year, ranking 207th in pool scoring on Thursday morning.  For Derek B., his 5th round pick, 118th overall, hasn't exactly been giving good value, but isn't too far off the pace.  A quick return could get him back on track much sooner.

Jonathan Drouin suffered an upper-body injury after taking a head shot from the Islanders' Calvin de Haan on Tuesday night and he will not be in the lineup tonight, when the Lightning take on the Bruins. The team has not announced the nature of the injury, but he has returned home for more testing and a concussion does sound very likely.

Drouin was a 6th round pick for Wes after he really made his mark upon his return from a holdout late last season and his play in the playoffs cemented his spot on the team for the 2017 season and expectations were getting to be quite high.  Wes has only seen 5 points from the young winger and an injury-plagued team has left him down in 21st spot after Wednesday night.

Morning Player Notes in the Draft (Nov 3)

Nashville Predators forward Kevin Fiala was a healthy scratch on Tuesday night against the Avalanche, a game that the Predators were able to win handily, 5-1, which may not allow for the rookie winger to jump back into the lineup right away.  In eight games played this season, Fiala has a pair of goals, which unofficially has him ranked 382nd in scoring after Wednesday night.

For Stacey M., the Swiss forward was her last pick, swinging for a home run late, but she hasn't quite seen those bargain returns quite yet.  Stacey's team finished Wednesday night in 16th place, now 13 points out of 2nd place.

On Thursday morning, the Ottawa Senators announced that Craig Anderson has again left his team to attend to his personal family matter and that the timetable for his return is still unknown.  The Senators acquired Mike Condon from the Pittsburgh Penguins on Wednesday and he will likely be taking over the starter's duties for the time being, with Andrew Hammond still on the shelf with a groin injury.

This isn't good news for Wilton's team, as his best player has now been removed from active duty for the time being.  Anderson has already posted 16 points this season, the 3rd best player in the pool ranks to this point in the season.  Wilton's team will open up Thursday night in 13th in the standings, 8 points out of 2nd place, but it'll be hard to make up that gap without his best player.

Goalie Announcements (Nov 1)

The new week gets started a little later than usual, compacting the 49-game week a little bit and we'll start off with a busy Tuesday night, with 12 games on the docket.  This should really get the goalie survivor pool off to a good start and with 13 teams left, we'll have lots of action for it, I'm sure.

Head-to-head survivor goalie action starts off the list, with Jake Allen of Mike's team will take on Henrik Lundqvist of Grant's team in the Big Apple tonight, offering safety to at least one team in the pool from this game, which is all kinds of interesting.  Mike and Grant are also nice and close in the standings and a win either way will play a role in their race for a better spot in the standings.

Mike will get a second chance at a win tonight, as Sergei Bobrovsky is expected to back in the Columbus net tonight with the Dallas Stars in town.  Wilton's goalie, Antti Niemi, is expected to be in the other net, making this another head-to-head game in the survivor pool tonight.  Wilton only trails Mike's team by 3 points in the standings, so there are some implications in the big money pool as well.

Roberto Luongo will get the call for the Florida Panthers, giving the pool's best goalie combo another start tonight.  Cam gets his first shot at Week Five tonight, while his counterpart in the survivor pool, Troy, is hanging in there as well and he'll get a start from Tuukka Rask with the Bruins.  The head-to-heads are excellent and that now makes three of them on the night in a compressed week.

How about a fourth head-to-head match-up? The Buffalo Sabres are in Minnesota to take on the Wild and Jeremy's Robin Lehner will get a shot at the reigning Player of the Week, John's Devan Dubnyk.  Dubnyk is the epitome of the hot hand at the moment, currently riding a 3-game shutout streak and has been proven to be exceptionally hard to beat early on this year.  This will be one of two kicks at the can for Jeremy tonight, just in case he doesn't have much faith in the Sabres cracking the wall that the Wild have put up.

The Tampa Bay Lightning are in Brooklyn tonight to take on the Islanders and Dale C. will be getting a survivor pool start in this one, as he will have Ben Bishop in the Tampa Bay net tonight, taking on Thomas Greiss, who should now be considered the number one on the island, going for Dale B..  It's the Dale Derby in the crease for this game, but only one has weight in the survivor pool.  Dale B. has the leg up in the standings though, starting the week in 4th place, 2 points out of 2nd.

This game would have been much better if it was a head-to-head survivor match-up, but it isn't. Jeremy will be the only team trying to survive tonight, as Braden Holtby will take on Tony's Connor Hellebuyck, with the Capitals in Winnipeg to take on the Jets.  Jeremy's team had to wait until Sunday before they qualified for this week, so they're certainly hoping that they get the job done before it gets too hairy in the week.

Only one team looking to continue on in Colorado, while the other could play potential early-week spoiler.  Stacey M. should have Pekka Rinne back in the net for the struggling Predators trying for that Week Five qualification, while Semyon Varlamov will just try for those 2 points for the pool's top duo, Kristy & Don.  Stacey trails the duo in the standings by 5 points, so a shutout could really tighten that race up a bit too.

Coming off an emotional shutout on Sunday night, Craig Anderson will get the call again for the Senators and for Wilton, giving him two chances for Week Five tonight.  At the other end of the ice tonight will be the Carolina Hurricanes, who are expected to go with Cam Ward, one of Brian's goalies this season.  Brian opens the night in 14th, 11 points out of 2nd and 3rd place.  The Hurricanes haven't been slouches in this early season, so it could be a really good game here tonight.

Another big headline game in Toronto tonight, with the Maple Leafs entertaining the Oilers, but of course, we don't care about those Matthews or McDavids that are playing in this game, as the headline here is Frederik Andersen hosting Cam Talbot.  Talbot is the goalie of note in this post, as he has been riding a hot hand for Marcie's pool team, keeping her in the mix in the overall, the survivor pool and he also has 2 minutes in penalties for here chances at the PIM pool as well.

We're expecting Brian Elliott against Corey Crawford in the net, when the Flames visit the Blackhawks tonight in Chicago.  Both Derek B. and Marcin are looking for some key points in the standings tonight, as they open the week, 16th & 13th, respectively.

It is expected to be an all-Wes match-up in San Jose tonight, as Louis Domingue is expected to go for the visiting Coyotes and Martin Jones should be in the home net for the Sharks and 2 points should be coming to Wes, one way or another, if all goes well.  Wes' team opens up in 21st, but could have a quiet week with only 36 projected games in total.

The Western games don't seem to carry much value in the survivor pool, as the other late game on the schedule won't carry any weight either, with John Gibson going for the Ducks, as they visit Peter Budaj and the Kings tonight. Dale B. gets the only start in the overall pool with Gibson, while I'm sure teams are scouting Budaj for the Waiver Draft.

Morning Player Notes in the Draft (Nov 1)

The Anaheim Ducks are bouncing defenseman Shea Theodore up and down between the big club and the AHL a lot in these first few weeks of the season and on Monday night, they have put in another recall for Tuesday's action, which leads us to believe that Hampus Lindholm isn't quite ready to go or it is just a cautionary move, in case their new signing isn't ready. One or the other. I can't see Theodore staying up for too long, since the Ducks are fairly tight to the cap ceiling.

The more starts that Tony can squeeze out of Theodore, especially since he has been a yo-yo for the team, with stops in the minors.  It has to feel like every appearance is a bonus now.  Theodore has 1 assist in four games this year, so far, and will likely be replaced at the first Waiver Draft.