Wings Sign Bertuzzi

Well, it was made official quicker than expected. The Red Wings officially signed free agent forward, Todd Bertuzzi, to a new 1-year deal, although the actual financial term was not disclosed in the release.

The deal rumoured to be happening this morning, came to fruition quickly this afternoon, as there was many indications that the deal wouldn't be finalized until the end of the week.

Bertuzzi played in 66 games last season for the Flames, while battling a back injury in January and a knee injury in March. He managed to score 15 goals and add 29 assists, which wasn't a bad total, one of his better years in the past three seasons.

Now, if the rumoured salary amount is to be true ($1.5 million), that would put the Red Wings over the salary cap ceiling as of right now. They would have 22 players signed on at a rate of $56.95 million, just over the $56.8 million ceiling. Now, there is a lot of concern as to whether or not Andreas Lilja will be able to open the season on the roster, which would cut a good portion of cap space out of the initial math, making room for Bertuzzi, so there is no dire need to panic just yet in Detroit.

Veteran acquisitions in Jason Williams and Todd Bertuzzi could go a long ways to help out the team, which lost out on some of it's more high-priced talent, thanks to those long-term deals given to their superstars. It could be safe to say that Bertuzzi should fit into the second line heading into camp or at least compete with Williams for that coveted spot. With a lot of their talent, they could likely spread out their firepower over three lines, giving the team plenty of options for scoring.

The summer has made the Red Wings an intriguing team to watch this season.

2009 Hockey Pool Draft Date Announced

Well, last year, I made the announcement really early, but this year I left it a little while longer. Nevertheless, I've given it more than enough time to get everyone prepared for the draft. This year, the NHL season gets underway on October 1st (see schedule), so we'll actually get the draft done and over with before then, so you'll know who you have as soon as the puck drops this year.

September 29, 2009
Jameson's Pub in NE Calgary
We'll be drafting on the Tuesday before the season starts, giving us plenty of time to see what every team will have on their roster for opening night. I will be able to provide an up-to-date list of players, which team they are on and how many points they had last year and if you need it sorted in any sort of fashion, I would be happy to do that for you for a custom list.

The rules remain the same this season. We'll be picking 14 players again (8 forwards, 4 defense & 2 goalies) and will also have two waiver drafts, where we'll be able to drop crappy players and pick up some new players to help even out the teams. For goals & assists, 1 point will be awarded and there will be 2 points awarded for each win & shutout for goalies. Of course, their assists will also count.

I would suggest picking up one of the hockey pool drafting guides, as they are usually a pretty big help for good picking ideas. The Hockey News copy is out now and I've got a short review of it already posted on the blog.

If you're on Facebook, join my Hockey Pool Group for more information and if you would like to confirm your participation, there is also event linked to it that is open to everyone.

Rangers Sign Prospal

The Rangers were fairly quick to snap up free agent forward, Vaclav Prospal, after he was bought out of the final three seasons of his deal that he had with the Lightning. The deal that Prospal signed with the Rangers is for one year, worth approximately $1.1 million.

This deal now adds a bit more scoring to the Rangers' line-up, as Prospal, 34, will bring his 19 goals and 26 assists from 2009 to the team, where his old coach, John Tortorella, now resides.

The Hockey News pool guide believes that Prospal still has a lot of juice left and should be a very productive player in the 2010 season. They are calling for a 63-point season, including 25 goals. I'm not sure if they have factored being another team in that, but he could very well be good for it.

The Rangers aren't in big salary cap trouble, by any means, at the moment, but they soon should be. The team, with Prospal in tow, now has 16 players under contract for $49.8 million, leaving $7 million for 7 active players on a 23-man roster. It doesn't leave a lot of room for Brandon Dubinsky, who is their biggest remaining RFA. Dubinsky is slowly waiting his way out of the Rangers' system, as the team is filling the roster without him.

The Rangers are now more of a wild card team with some of the new faces that have joined them in the off-season. It's hard to get a read on whether or not the players that they have signed or dealt for will have much in the way of chemistry, which could either increase a player's production or make it suffer. The Rangers are known for their decision to sign any player, despite looking at team chemistry or anything like that. Team chemistry is very important for winning and the Rangers have had a hard time doing that since they won the Cup in 1994.

Ducks & Bolts Deal

			2008-2009 Statistics		2010
To Anaheim	Pos	Age	GP/MIN	Points	Cap Hit
Evgeni Artyukhin	F	26	73	16	1 year/$950,000
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			2008-2009 Statistics		2010
To Tampa Bay	Pos	Age	GP/MIN	Points	Cap Hit
Drew Miller	F	25	27	10	1 year/$525,000
2010 3rd Round Pick

The Anaheim Ducks got a little bigger and a little meaner after they dealt for Evgeni Artyukhin from the Tampa Bay Lightning. The 6'5", 254 lbs. winger will head West to California from the Sunshine State for Drew Miller, who isn't too small, himself, and a 3rd round pick.

This doesn't look like much of a cap deal, as neither team really need to tinker with players, specifically for cap reasons. Both teams seem to be rather set for the upcoming season and this move was strictly a personnel one.

Artyukhin is one of the biggest players in the league and he does rack up the penalty minutes, which is an admirable trait with the staff in Anaheim. The Ducks are still a middle-of-the-pack team when it comes to total size, but they are sure feisty.

Miller, on the other hand, was not getting the ice-time he (and likely others) thought he might have been getting by now, so this move should open up some space and opportunity for him to shine. He could even find himself on the second line in Tampa, which would mean ample opportunity for points. He could be one to watch.

The Hockey News Pool Guide... in 2009

It's that time again, everyone. The fantasy guides are starting to filter their way onto magazine racks all around, as there are some people just itching to start doing their homework for the 2009-'10 season.

The first one that I have found on the shelves is the publication from the Hockey News, which seems to me to be a little thicker than last year. It does seem a touch more comprehensive as well, but still has the team-by-team breakdowns, which do give you some idea of what to look for with every NHL team.

The Hockey News are calling for a repeat winner for the Art Ross trophy in Evgeni Malkin, as they prognosticate a 115-point season for the Russian centre. It will be a 40-goal season for him as well. It should come as no surprise to see Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby up at the top of the list as well, calling for 110-point seasons for each of them. If the Hockey News has their way, it could be a high scoring year.

There is one surprise, I think, in the top 10 of their scoring list, seeing newly-signed Ranger, Marian Gaborik, is scheduled to have a 94-point season in the Big Apple. I suppose if he does play in the 74 games that he is forecasted for, he could come close to that total, but I think it's a bold prediction, nevertheless.

In goal, Evgeni Nabokov is forecasted to be the top keeper, according to my points system, as he should finish up with 108 points, ranking him 4th among all players. Both Miikka Kiprusoff and Roberto Luongo end up in the top three again, finishing with 100 points each, which is good for all those Northwest Division fans out there.

Semyon Varlamov and Ray Emery emerge in the top 10 goalies, which might come as a small surprise as individuals, but since they are on Washington and Philadelphia, respectively, they should be able to pull in quite a few points, assuming that they keep their number one jobs.

No big surprises on the blueline, as Mike Green should re-take the crown for top-scoring defender. THN has Green scoring 33 goals and adding 45 assists for a pretty impressive 78 points. That could put him in really good shape as a second or third round pick, depending on how deep your draft is. Andrei Markov and Scott Niedermayer round out the top three with 64 & 63 points, respectively.

The next big question I have is always about the rookie race. Last year, no one really saw Steve Mason, Bobby Ryan or Kris Versteeg really coming... instead the eyes were all focussed on Steven Stamkos. This year, THN focuses on John Tavares, Nikita Filatov, Cody Hodgson and Evander Kane, who are all expected to top 50 points in the coming year. There are also some high expectations for rookie defensemen, Matt Gilroy in the Big Apple and Victor Hedman in Tampa. Both of these players would be in Calder contention with 40+ point seasons under their belts, without a doubt. I think this year's rookie class is something to be excited about.

Also, keep a close eye on Jonas Gustavsson, the free agent signing for the Leafs. THN suggests that he could walk away with 23 wins and 3 shutouts, which puts him in pretty good shape for being a second goalie. The number seems really ambitious, especially since they have Vesa Toskala winning 28 games as well. That's a pretty good playoff spot if it does happen.

There are some numbers in this book that seem a tad lofty, but it does seem to point you in the right direction again. I'm not sure I would follow it to the letter, but I would base some assumptions on it.

Weeding Out the Injured... in 2009

Yes, this is another spot that I did about the same time last season, so I thought I would do it again. It helps me a little and it only helps you if you've stayed long enough to read this.

I truly believe that health risks and indentifying them is key to winning a hockey pool. Sure, you can always say that there is an element of luck when it comes to the health of some players, but there isn't stereotypes about ironmen and injury-prone players for no reason. If you know who to avoid in your drafting or selecting process, you just give yourself a little more opportunity for those chosen players to score for your team.

Last year, I covered the number of players that played 80 or more games in 2008. That number was 141 out of 941 players (including goalies), where 89 players played 82 games (or more, Jeff Halpern). In 2009, there were 155 out of 972 players (including goalies) that played 80 or more games and there were 86 who played 82 games (or more, Jordan Leopold). These players who can play and be durable enough for 80 or more games are your bread and butter and should be valued as such, in my opinion.

I would also like to do a review, no matter how wrong I will be about players I talked about last year. Todd Bertuzzi missed 16 games due to injury last season and only scored 15 goals. His sore back hampered his play in Calgary and probably is one of the reasons why he is still a free agent. Ales Hemsky has yet to play an 82-game season in his career, missing 10 games and wasn't quite as effective in Edmonton as he possibly could have been. Ray Whitney did come out and surprise me, for the better of course. He played in all 82 games and finished in the top 50 in scoring, which is awesome for him. Pavol Demitra was also hampered by injury, missing 13 games with the Canucks, but still scored 20 goals, so it wasn't a terrible season for him. Erik Cole was another that played 80 games in 2009, but that actually didn't help his play, while he was in Edmonton. When he was traded to Carolina, it was a bit of a different story, but playing the better part of the year with the Oilers did hurt him greatly. I was glad to see Ed Jovanovski finally shake off that injury bug and play 82 games last season. I might remove him from my injury-plagued list after a year like that. Yeah, I think he's finally going to come off my list. Way to go, Ed! Mike Comrie isn't coming off the list. He only managed to play 63 games for the Islanders & Senators last season, also having one of his worst production seasons in recent history with only 27 points. David Legwand played in 72 games last season, which certainly isn't terrible, but his production slipped again, dropping down even more spots in the scoring ranks. He might just be one to avoid, because he can't score, let alone play 80+ games. Of course, you can't measure goalies on the number of games they play and compare it against the 82-game schedule, but an A-level goalie is going to play 3,500 minutes or more (mostly more) in a season and Kari Lehtonen only finished with 2,624 minutes played. Finally, Stephen Weiss was the last player featured last year, not having played 77 games since his first full season in the league. Well, Weiss obviously must have heard me and came to the party 78 times, just to show me up. It was also his best scoring year in the league, finally ranking him in the top 100 in pool scoring. He's not off the list just yet though.

Now, I'll add another ten players to my injury-prone list. These are going to be players that I will avoid like the plague at my fantasy draft this year and for good reason.

For the most part, Daniel Briere did keep himself in pretty good shape in his NHL career, but he does have a spotty record in the overall scope of things. Last season's on-again, off-again situation with his abdominal and groin injuries has really left a bad taste in my mouth. He quickly became a player I didn't want to trust with my fantasy money invested. If you're playing in a salary cap system as well, he does take up a lot of space with his injured ways and really isn't cost-efficient. Sure, his scoring rate was pretty good at the beginning part of the year, but it's a gamble not worth taking. At best, he is a mid-round gamble, but I would be very hesitant, if I was going to include him on my list.

You know, I think I caught onto this after I published my list last year... I forgot to include Marian Gaborik. The newly-signed Ranger has had more than his fair share of injuries over the past few seasons, including a terrible year in 2009. Gaborik only managed to play in 17 games for the Wild, but was scoring at a torrid pace when he was in the line up, scoring 13 goal and 10 assists. There is no question that the Slovak has skills, but he hasn't played 80+ games since the 2002-'03 season. Sure, he did play in 77 in the 2008 season, but he's now had hip and groin problems and multiple surgeries, so I ask you, do you want a player with worn joints and skating muscles on your team?

It's all gone a little bit downhill for Fernando Pisani of the Oilers, as he's playing less and less games as his career has gone on. Now, granted that Pisani is a third or fourth line checking winger, he does have 0.40 ppg average in his NHL career, which isn't too bad. If he can play 80 games in a season, he could net you 32 points, which could be good enough for a late round pick in a deeper draft. Unfortunately, since an 80-game season in 2006, he has seen his games played go down due to injury. 77 games in 2007, 56 games in 2008 and finally, 38 games in 2009. You may want to wait for him to buck this trend before jumping on his bandwagon again.

I wouldn't go so far as to say that Paul Kariya is necessarily "injury-prone," but with a serious hip injury and surgeries under his belt (quite literally, but pardon the pun), there is some concern for a player that used to play an 82-game season quite regularly in his career. Kariya was off to one of his better starts to a season before coming down with his hip injury, already notching 15 points (2G, 13A) in only 11 games for the Blues. If there is any consoloation to having Kariya on this list, it does allow me to point out that the last time Kariya missed a significant amount of time in a season (22 games played in 1997-'98), he did come back to play a full 82-game schedule. Personally, I am a bit concerned about it being a hip injury, a major joint for skating, which may make me steer clear of him, despite his scoring record in such a short period last year.

Another name that I had forgotten last year when compiling my first list, which I'm not going to forget this year is Tim Connolly of the Sabres. Connolly could definitely be considered one of the more injury-prone players of this generation, as in the past three seasons, he's only played in 98 games and it just doesn't seem to be getting any better for him. Like Kariya above him, if you keep any hope that he'll play a full year, you'll be rewarded with some good scoring talent, as he picked up 47 points (18G, 29A) in 48 games last season. Connolly was sidelined twice in the 2009 season, once with a back injury and the other with a broken rib, but did manage to play from January 24th to the end of the year without incident, so there is hope. I'm still going to wait for a clean bill of health.

The future of the Colorado Avalanche is swirling around Paul Stastny, but only if he can keep himself off of the shelf. Stastny missed 37 games in 2009 and 16 games in 2008, which might grow some concern going forward. He's got so much potential, but he has to play a full-season after realizing to have a major impact on the league. Without a doubt, Stastny should be an 80 to 90 point player in the NHL, but his luck is really catching up to his numbers. In his first two seasons, he was in the top 50 in pool scoring, but the 2009 season left him in 221st and now with the loss of Joe Sakic to retirement, he will also now be mentor-less and will have to assume a lot of responsibility. Be sure to keep this in mind.

I think it will be great to start the season with the prospect of Steve Sullivan being healthy for game one for the first time since 2006. Sullivan was out for well over an entire season, missing the entirety of the 2007-'08 campaign, plus the first 40 games of this past season, but has now come back and seems to be in some pretty good shape. He finished last season with 11 goals and 21 assists in 41 games with the Predators, slowly getting his league legs back. I am really interested to know how he'll return to the line-up after a full off-season of working out. From a fantasy standpoint here, however, I would not be in a huge rush to put him back in your line-up, for fears that back problems are also quite serious. Make this 2010 season one to evaluate his progress and if possible, make him a mid-season acquisition.

Another one of those, "why didn't I have him on the list before" players is Rick DiPietro of the Islanders. Even his own team, who signed him to the massive 15-year deal, doesn't have a great deal of faith in their franchise goalie, as they went out and signed both Martin Biron and Dwayne Roloson in the off-season, which seems to be a blatant slap in the face of DiPietro. Knee and groin injuries have been DiPietro's downfall over the past few seasons, but in 2009, it was it's worst. He only appeared in five games for the Islanders, winning only one, and there hasn't been any positive news to come out of Long Island regarding his status for the upcoming year. Stay away!

You likely don't have Brent Sopel on your list, as there is a chance that you forgot about him altogether. Did you know he was actually a member of the Blackhawks last season? Well, probably not from the 23 games that he played last year. He didn't play a game beyond December 20th and even before then, he was either a healthy scratch or was suffering from an undisclosed injury. In July, Sopel did say that his elbow is going to be as healthy as it's going to get, which isn't 100%, but it looks like he'll still give it a go this season. That's not exactly re-assuring, nor is it safe from the fantasy standpoint. Give him a miss.

Things are not looking up for Eric Brewer of the Blues. Brewer missed 54 games last season with a back injury and has undergone a couple of surgeries, which haven't been healing as quickly as he or the team would have hoped. Brewer is somewhat of a 'feast or famine' player when it comes to games played, as he does have a good record of seasons where he's played more than 75 games, but he has also had a few seasons where he's played in less than half of the games. He's an alright gamble, if he can play a whole season, but he is definitely a gamble.

Smid Re-Signs in Edmonton

The Oilers announced a trio of free agent signings on Wednesday, with one of them helping out their immediate roster, heading into training camp. Ladislav Smid signed a 2-year deal with the team (no financial terms disclosed) as a restricted free agent, while Gilbert Brule and Ryan Stone each signed a 1-year, two-way deal.

Smid, a new regular blueliner in the Oilers organization, played in 60 games last season, registering 11 helpers. He should be a regular fixture for the Oilers going forward.

Both Brule and Stone spent most of the 2009 season in the AHL, but both did see some limited action with in the NHL. Neither player is carrying much for expectations into the 2010 season.

The Oilers are battling some salary cap issues this summer, having 21 players signed on to their roster before Smid, at a salary cap hit of $54.4 million. That leaves only $2.4 million remaining for Smid and one more player to fill out their 23-man roster. Smid would likely be in the $1.5 million range for his new deal, which leaves a rookie or minor-league player enough room to jump in. Either Brule or Stone could be that player to fill in, as they both will likely be in the $600,000 range.

Smid is ranked pretty low on the defenseman totem poll for pool rankings. His 11 points only put him 156th among all defenders last season, but with a full season under his belt in 2010, he should be able to increase that sort of production. Still, I would wait for him to actually do something with his season before picking him up. He could be a very valuable mid-season pick-up.

Zherdev Gone to Russia

The reports are now surfacing that newly-unrestricted free agent, Nikolai Zherdev, has found a new home in Russia, instead of finding a new home in the NHL. Zherdev has reportedly signed with Yulaev Salavat Ufa in the KHL, thus putting his NHL career on hiatus for the time being.

This shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone, as Zherdev has been fairly poor at delivering in the clutch for both Columbus and New York in his five seasons in the league. His arbitration award was awfully high for a player for a career-best 27 goals and 3 game-winners player at $3.9 million. Zherdev has also been a distraction once or twice in his career, raising some questions about how good of a teammate he really is.

Maple Leafs Sign MacDonald

The Maple Leafs added a little bit of insurance in their crease on Monday, as they signed free agent goalie, Joey MacDonald, to a new 1-year deal. MacDonald will give the Leafs another goalie to think about, if Jonas Gustavsson does not pan out as a goalie to consider in training camp.

MacDonald has appeared in four NHL seasons with the Red Wings, Bruins and Islanders in his career. Last season with Long Island, MacDonald appeared in 49 games, winning 14 and registering 1 shutout. That would give him 30 points in my pools, making him the 39th best goaltender in the league.

There was no salary or cap number to speak of in this announcement on Monday night, but it shouldn't be a big concern as the Leafs have done well to re-adjust their line-up to be a lot more cap-friendly. Without MacDonald or Gustavsson on the books, the Leafs have 20 players signed on at $48 million, leaving plenty of room to add some of their young talent and whichever goalie they want to go forward with.

With so much hype set around Gustavsson, I have a hard time believing that MacDonald is going to see a great deal of action, unless the Leafs are going to go ahead and shop Vesa Toskala through the year, moving the Swede into the top billed spot and MacDonald backing him up. Right now, I would say that the rotation would look a little more like Toskala, Gustavsson, then MacDonald, meaning that MacDonald's fantasy value is going to be diminished. Of course, that's just an August prediction. It would be more reasonable to take another look at this during training camp.

Sabres Sign Grier

The Buffalo Sabres announced that they have re-acquired Mike Grier by signing him to a new 1-year deal on Monday, seeing him return to the club after a three year absence in San Jose. Grier, a gritty checking winger, doesn't bring a lot of offensive prowess, but he should be bringing some more defensive ability to the Sabres line-up again.

In San Jose, Grier played in 62 games, scoring 10 goals and adding 13 assists. That ranked him 369th among all players in the league, in pool points.

There was no salary cap number disclosed with the announcement of the signing, but the Sabres, but I would imagine that the deal would be in the $1.5 million neighbourhood, which would be a little less than what he was making over the past couple of seasons. The Sabres are now nudging themselves up to the cap ceiling, having 18 players signed onto a deal, previous to Grier's signing, at a approximate cap value of $51.2 million. This deal should bring the Sabres just a little bit closer to that ceiling now.

Grier would have to be a pretty deep pool pick, if he was going to be any sort of fantasy player this season. The Sabres will have to work really hard defensively to be competitive in the Eastern Conference and adding Grier is a good start.

Preds Re-Sign Ryan Jones

The Predators moved a step closer to a full line-up on Monday, as they re-signed forward Ryan Jones to a new 2-year deal after he had himself a wonderful debut season with the club.

Jones, 25, played in 46 games with the Predators, scoring 7 goals and adding 10 assists. He should be expected to be in the opening night line-up for Nashville, as his work ethic and play was quite noticeable last year.

The salary cap number for the two seasons in total is reportedly $975,000, meaning it's a cap number of about $488,000 per season. The deal is likely to be a two-way deal, meaning as much as he might have a spot on the roster, it's likely only written in pencil, so he'll have to work for it in camp. This deal almost brings the Predators up to the salary cap floor, now sitting with 17 regulars signed onto the roster at an approximate value of $$39.3 million.

With the two-way deal in place, he will have to work really hard to stay up, but with a limited roster already signed, you can assume he's on the roster as of right now. His fantasy value is still rather low, but depending on the type of linemates he gets, he might figure into some discussions at some point through the season.

Pogge Dealt to Anaheim

			2008-2009 Statistics		2010
To Anaheim	Pos	Age	GP/MIN	Points	Cap Hit
Justin Pogge	G	23	371	2	1 year/$605,000
------------------------------------------------------------------
			2008-2009 Statistics		2010
To Toronto	Pos	Age	GP/MIN	Points	Cap Hit
2011 Conditional Draft Pick

The Maple Leafs have decided to deal Justin Pogge away to the Anaheim Ducks for a conditional draft pick on Monday. Pogge was falling out of favour with the Leafs coaching staff last season, as he couldn't pick up the ball that was dropped by Vesa Toskala or Curtis Joseph.

This deal doesn't play to the effects of the salary cap much. Pogge's small entry-level contract won't play into the Ducks cap hit too much, unless he's actually called up for a game or two, but even then that's a minimal cap hit as it is.

With Jonas Hiller and J-S Giguere already on the books for the Ducks, Pogge will be playing third fiddle again. Giguere still has two more seasons on his current deal and Hiller has one more season, so surprisingly, if Pogge was to re-sign with the Ducks next summer, he'll have to try and take Hiller's job away, instead of the aging Giguere's.