I think he may be done in New Jersey....thanks for the memories John?

Have a great night everyone!

As we continue to get things slowly back to normal, even the picks come back on Monday Night. Are you ready to make some money again?  Currently after a forced hiatus, we are 25-6 for the month. There are three games tonight to choose from.  Thanks again to BetUS.com for helping us out as always and for Hockey Primetime being there the way they have been.

Now here are our betting lines from the site:

THE BETTING LINES

Show Periods

VER

So actually we were kidding, there are six games on the docket tonight.  Using our daring prognostication methods, it is time to make our picks and not check them twice.  After all that is where the mistakes are made and men become boys again.

OUR PICKS

• New Jersey
• Buffalo
• Philadelphia
• Pittsburgh
• St. Louis
• San Jose

Yes some of these may shock you but its that time of year.  We have to admit the highlighting was a nice tiuch.  Good luck with your picks and soon we will be spotlighting other hockey bettors out there in the blogosphere.

It just seems inevitable that you know someone who has a team with a boatload of injuries.  Yes it happens every year but this year seems even worse than most.  The numbers can be misleading because the numbers of the "wounded" are down slightly from last season.  It is the caliber of player that makes the issue more noticeable at the moment.

There is one place I check first other than headlines, twitter, etc.  That place would be the injury list of course.  When friends start lamentin they have three or four very skilled players on their IR which ties them up from making the moves they need and forces their hand, it is a bit unusual. Add in that no fewer than 11 players have had some form of the flu in the last week (the documented ones) and one has the recipe for a fantasy nightmare that makes GM's even more sick.

There is someone in your league that you know or maybe more than one person that literally has a crippled roster.  Okay what is a "crippled roster"?  By our definition, it is any roster that has 3 or more players out for an extended period of time, say enough time to be considered IR worthy.  

I just think to myself about all of these crazy injuries.  Even Vincent Lecavalier is out 4-5 weeks now after hand surgery.  It is pretty likely that Andrei Markov will miss 2-3 months with another knee injury which is good news for PK Subban owners who watched him gain 1 point in seven games with Markov back in the fold and nearly a point a game when not in the mix.  When teams are throwing guys out there hurt like the Devils, you know its getting pretty bad and we could be on the verge of another mini injury epidemic.

Currently there are 107 players that are hurt or ill in some way, shape, or form.  That is almost 15% of the league.  Last year there were 121 players hurt and two weeks ago only 72 players were out or possibly out of their lineups.  Some say that the rash of injuries is over but think of the flu and how it is spreading.  That could weaken immune systems which leads to distractions from the game.  Those "distractions" can lead to injury.

Think of the bizarre swine flu epidemic last year and the impact (albeit small) on the NHL.  David Krejci had it and several others as well.  While the swine flu is pretty much a thing of the past, players are getting sick this time of year as a higher than usual rate.  There were 12 players who have had flu like symptoms this week (up from 6 this time last year).  By the way, these numbers come from a variety of sites and a special stick tap to INJURYEXPERT on twitter.

So if your team is overrun by the injury bug, what can you do?  Hit the waiver wire NOW.  Do not wait or hesitate because likely there are GM's in the same boat as you or worse.  Be quick or be dead as they say.  Keep in mind if you do trade, the values will be much lower as other GM's will know your vulnerable state.  So trades can only be used if there are no other viable options.  This is a time where panic will set in even for the best.  Just do not make it worse than it has to be and all should get better eventually.

There are no quick fixes but at this crucial time of year, it is imperative to check those injury reports and yes even twitter or social media for updates,  Knowing who to follow can make a difference between fantasy life and death in your leagues,  Now what say you hockey public?  Have at it!  What is the most damaging injury to your fantasy team this year?

Simply this Monday started out like any other and then Scott Gordon got fired.  Since then twitter has been full of shock, disbelief, and then speculation (some with a broad sense of humor).  I may have joked last night that Scott Gordon should have been fired but did not really expect it to come this morning.  Yet it has come and now all is left are why it happened and where do the Isles go from here.

The Isles have been woeful in their last 10 going 0-9-1 but the 5-1 loss to Los Angeles had to be the final nail.  The players looked like they were done with Gordon.  Some will say this coach was out of his league but that clearly was not the case.  His message however became lost to his team.  Once you lose the team as a coach, it really is all but over.  Jack Capuano will be the interim head coach and it will be intriguing to see what transpires down the road.  Maybe a new voice will get the Islanders moving in the right direction.  Then again, who really knows.

The cold reality is this profession is a business and gut hunches happen all the time.  However when a team is doomed, almost from the beginning, does an owner look further up the hockey food chain?  Charles Wang may want to rethink that business model approach because his is not working for this hockey team.  It has been said many times and many ways that this construct was and still is an abject failure.

So at some point, does Garth Snow go next?  There is no answer or timetable for that.  But the day Neil Smith was fired as GM set a very slippery slope for the Isles that they have not even come close to recovering from.  As a matter of fact, they are still slipping according to many in the NHL.  

This story is the top dog of the day.  There are two questions to be asked.  One, what does this do for the Islanders going forward?  Two, what does this do for fantasy hockey owners?  Will there be a bump for some players like Tavares and company because of the change?  We will keep an eye on both obviously but what say you, hockey public?

There were happier times but now they are gone.

The routine is sort of back and today we will find a new moment to grace this page.  Today we spotlight the Isles maybe because they crave the press.  Seriously, it is a solid moment and it happened 27 years ago today.

The sad above then the happy below.....

November 15, 1983

New York's Mike Bossy scored his 27th career hat trick, and added two assists to lead the Islanders to a 6-4 win over the visiting Hartford Whalers.