After getting off to a strong start out of the gate during the first week of the fantasy hockey season, my team ended up tanking and dropping in the standings from 1st all the way down to 6th (out of 12 teams) in the weeks thereafter. But, very few points in each category separated us in the rankings, and over the last week or so, my team has been able to claw its way back up to 3rd.
And I feel pretty good about my chances overall. My offense has been firing on all cylinders, and my defense has been playing well too. So, I'm about 7 points out of first as I write this. But my goalies have been holding me back. Granted, it's not like Luongo and Mike Smith have played poorly to start the season, but they've been a little more average than I was hoping for. They simply aren't turning shots aside like they should be, even though they've still been winning games (I've already won 13 in total, between the two of them). But Luongo has posted a mediocre 2.50 GAA, coupled with a .908 SPct, which is a little better than Smith's lackluster 3.17/.903 line. Luckily for me, it's still early in the season, and they have plenty of time to turn it around, but the #1 ranked team in my league has a goalie combination of Marc-Andre Fleury and Josh Harding, which is looking like a pretty strong one-two punch.
In any case, this is what my team looks like at the moment:
C - John Tavares, NYI
C - Jason Spezza, OTT
C - David Krejci, BOS
W - Corey Perry, ANA
W - Marian Hossa, CHI
W - Kyle Okposo, NYI
D - Dion Phaneuf, TOR
D - Andrei Markov, MON
D - James Wisniewski, CLS
D - Andrej Sekera, CAR
G - Roberto Luongo, VAN
G - Mike Smith, PHO
Bench - Rick Nash, NYR
Bench - TJ Oshie, STL
Bench - Jonas Brodin, MIN
Bench - Carter Hutton, NSH
Needless to say, I've been pretty happy with the production I've been getting from Okposo and Sekera (who are both filling in for Rick Nash and Jonas Brodin, respectively). Okposo, in particular, has been a beast, and is finally looking like he might be living up to his enormous potential, so he might manage to stick in my lineup even after Nash returns, if he can keep up the point+ per game pace. Sekera is a little more worrisome, given the team he plays for and the threat of an abysmal +/-, but he was recently promoted to the top defensive pairing, alongside Justin Faulk, and has been making the most of it, posting 3 points in his last 3 games since the move up. Granted, he'll probably go back to the free agent pool once Brodin returns (which, rumor has it, will be on Friday), so hopefully he won't do too much damage to my +/- during this week's scoring period.
Carter Hutton is another intriguing addition. Since filling in for the injured Pekka Rinne, who is suffering from a hip infection and could be out for the next month or two, he has posted a 2-1 record, with a 2.42/.927 stat line, which is pretty good. And that's even after St. Louis torched him for 5 goals on the 26th (only one of which his coach blames on him). So even though he is a bit of a shaky play, I'm hoping he'll at least make for suitable backup I can turn to if necessary.
My Recent Transactions:
-Added Kyle Okposo (W - NYI); dropped Jiri Tlusty (W - CAR)
-Added TJ Oshie (W - STL); dropped Brandon Saad (W - CHI)
-Added James Wisniewski (D - CLS); dropped Christian Ehrhoff (D - BUF)
-Added Jonas Brodin (D - MIN); dropped Seth Jones (D - NSH)
-Added Carter Hutton (G - NSH); dropped James Reimer (D - TOR)
-Added Andrej Sekera (D - CAR); dropped Paul Martin (D - PIT)
League Transactions (excluding my own):
Added*
1. Dougie Hamilton, D - BOS
2. Mark Giordano, D - CGY
3. Matt Niskanen, D - PIT
4. Lars Eller, C - MON
5. Niklas Hjalmarsson, D - CHI
6. Tomas Hertl, C - SJ
7. Josh Harding, G - MIN
8. Brendan Gallagher, W - MON
9. Steve Downie, W - COL
10. Alex Galchenyuk, C - MON
11. Marc-Edouard Vlasic, D - SJ
12. Joey MacDonald, G - CGY
13. Alexander Steen, C - STL
14. Derek Morris, D - PHO
15. Jiri Hudler, W - CGY
16. Sami Salo, D - TB
17. Christian Ehrhoff, D - BUF
18. Sean Monahan, C - CGY
19. Seth Jones, D - NSH
20. Jason Demers, D - SJ
21. Victor Hedman, D - TB
22. Frans Nielsen, C - NYI
23. Jean-Sebastien Giguere, G - COL
24. Matt Carle, D - TB
25. Derek Stepan, C - NYR
26. Jay Bouwmeester, D - STL
27. James Reimer, G - TOR
28. Matt Irwin, D - SJ
29. Radko Gudas, D - TB
30. Dave Bolland, C - TOR
31. Michal Neuvirth, G - WSH
32. Brandon Dubinsky, C - CLS
33. Ryan Callahan, W - NYR
34. Nail Yakupov, W - EDM
*Does not include undrafted players who were added then subsequently dropped
Dropped
1. Brooks Orpik, D - PIT
2. Teemu Selanne, W - ANA
3. Viktor Stalberg, W - NSH
4. Stefan Elliott, D - COL
5. Kyle Palmieri, W - ANA
6. Marcus Johansson, C - WSH
7. Tyler Ennis, C - BUF
8. Michael Grabner, W - NYI
9. Mikko Koivu, C - MIN
10. Fedor Tyutin, D - CLS
11. Adam Larsson, D - NJ
12. Patric Hornqvist, W - NSH
13. Dany Heatley, W - MIN
14. Viktor Fasth, G - ANA
15. Mark Fraser, D - TOR
16. Nick Leddy, D - CHI
17. Alex Goligoski, D - DAL
18. Milan Michalek, W - OTT
19. Radim Vrbata, W - PHO
20. Jacob Trouba, D - WPG
21. Michael Del Zotto, D - NYR
22. Tomas Fleischmann, W - FLA
23. Jake Muzzin, D - LA
24. Jakob Silfverberg, W - ANA
25. Matt Donovan, D - NYI
26. Robin Lehner, G - OTT
27. Zach Bogosian, D - WPG
28. Sheldon Souray, D - ANA
29. Damien Brunner, W - NJ
30. Anton Khudobin, G - CAR
31. Francois Beauchemin, D - ANA
32. Steve Ott, C - BUF
33. Alex Chiasson, W - DAL
34. Brian Campbell, D - FLA
35. Hampus Lindholm, D - ANA
36. Patrick Wiercioch, D - OTT
37. Dan Hamhuis, D - VAN
38. Ryan O'Reilly, C - COL
39. Brian Elliott, G - STL
40. Jussi Jokinen, W - PIT
41. Jay Harrison, D - CAR
42. Cam Fowler, D - ANA
43. Jack Johnson, D - CLS
44. Valtteri Flippula, C - TB
45. Kimmo Timonen, D - PHI
46. Ray Emery, G - PHI
47. Matt Irwin, D - SJ
48. Lee Stempniak, W - CGY
49. Sam Gagner, C - EDM
50. Sergei Gonchar, D - DAL
51. Derek Dorsett, W - NYR
52. Justin Braun, D - SJ
53. Frederik Andersen, G - ANA
54. Dustin Brown, W - LA
55. Loui Eriksson, W - BOS
56. Matt Pelech, D - SJ
57. Jacob Markstrom, G - FLA
My Watch List (listed in no particular order):
C
-Tommy Wingels, SJ
-Tyler Bozak, TOR
-Bryan Little, WPG
-Paul Stastny, COL
-Mikhail Grabovski, WSH
-Kyle Turris, OTT
-Ryan O'Reilly, COL
-Michael Bournival, MON
-Mikko Koivu, MIN
-Valtteri Flippula, TB
-Steve Ott, BUF
-Brandon Pirri, CHI
-Martin Hanzal, PHO
-Cody Hodgson, BUF
-Aleksandr Barkov, FLA
-Mika Zibanejad, OTT
-Derek Roy, STL
-Mikael Granlund, MIN
-Adam Henrique, NJ
-Brayden Schenn, PHI
-Jordan Staal, CAR
-Marcus Johansson, WSH
-Tyler Ennis, BUF
-Stephen Weiss, DET
-Sam Gagner, EDM
W
-Alex Tanguay, COL
-Rob Klinkhammer, PHO
-Jakob Silfverberg, ANA
-Teddy Purcell, TB
-Mark Arcobello, EDM
-Lee Stempniak, CGY
-Dustin Brown, LA
-Cory Conacher, OTT
-Jaden Schwartz, STL
-Brandon Saad, CHI
-Shane Doan, PHO
-Nino Niederreiter, MIN
-Chris Higgins, VAN
-Mason Raymond, TOR
-Michael Grabner, NYI
-David Perron, EDM
-Loui Eriksson, BOS
-Mikkel Boedker, PHO
-Nathan Gerbe, CAR
-Troy Brouwer, WSH
-Chris Neil, OTT
-Jussi Jokinen, PIT
-Radim Vrbata, PHO
-Sven Baertschi, CGY
-Tanner Glass, PIT
-Tomas Fleischmann, FLA
-Kyle Palmieri, ANA
-Ray Whitney, DAL
-Milan Michalek, OTT
-Carl Hagelin, NYR
D
-Justin Braun, SJ
-Hampus Lindholm, ANA
-Dennis Seidenberg, BOS
-Erik Johnson, COL
-Francois Beauchemin, ANA
-Nick Leddy, CHI
-Zach Bogosian, WPG
-Jonathan Ericsson, DET
-Brian Campbell, FLA
-Cam Fowler, ANA
-Chris Tanev, VAN
-Johnny Oduya, CHI
-Andre Benoit, COL
-Brooks Orpik, PIT
-Patrick Wiercioch, OTT
-Jake Gardiner, TOR
-Olli Maatta, PIT
-Marek Zidlicky, NJ
-Kimmo Timonen, PHI
-Paul Martin, PIT
-Fedor Tyutin, CLS
-Dan Hamhuis, VAN
-Alex Goligoski, DAL
-Jared Spurgeon, MIN
-Jack Johnson, CLS
-Dmitry Kulikov, FLA
-Jakub Kindl, DET
-Jake Muzzin, LA
-Roman Josi, NSH
-Marc Staal, NYR
-Sergei Gonchar, DAL
-Simon Despres, PIT
-Anton Stralman, NYR
-Sheldon Souray, ANA
G
-Jonas Gustavsson, DET
-Jacob Markstrom, FLA
-Frederik Andersen, ANA
-Anton Khudobin, CAR
-Cam Talbot, NYR
-Viktor Fasth, ANA
-Al Montoya, WPG
-Anders Lindback, TB
-Robin Lehner, OTT
-Magnus Hellberg, NSH
-Jhonas Enroth, BUF
-Brian Elliott, STL
-Kevin Poulin, NYI
-Justin Peters, CAR
-Ray Emery, PHI
-Ben Scrivens, LA
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