Net Effect -- Week 3

By, David Satriano

Let’s face it. It’s week three of the NHL season and all the starting goalies are taken and most of the backups are gone as well. Not to fear! David Satriano provides you with guys who are getting it done and are probably available in your league as well.

I’m in three leagues. One has five goalies (Michal Neuvirth, Mike Smith, Mikka Kiprusoff, Corey Crawford and Ryan Miller). Crawford is the only one in the group living up to expectations. Neuvirth and Kiprusoff only have one win each. Miller has been struggling, and Smith appears as if he may be turning it around.

In another league, I have Antti Niemi, Corey Schneider and Ryan Miller. Pretty solid, but Schenieder hardly even plays anymore. And in my last league I have Martin Brodeur, Jose Theodore and Brian Elliot, clearly the worst of the three since Theodore isn’t very good and Elliot hasn’t been starting much and Brodeur has been struggling. So I’m in the market for some replacements, and here’s five that I am looking at:

Tomas Vokoun, Penguins
He is owned in only 44% of Yahoo leagues, but expect that number to rise. Vokoun is 3-1 with a 2.09 goals against average and a .927 save percentage and has started in four of the Penguins’ nine games thus far- only one fewer than Marc-Andre Fleury. If you need goalie help, he is probably your best bet.

Johan Hedberg, Devils (owned in 10%)
There were questions as to how many starts Hedberg would get backing up Brodeur. He had 23 last year and already has two this season in eight games. Both starts have come in a four-game span and Hedberg has been spectacular. The first game, he stopped 27 shots in a 2-1 shootout loss to the Bruins, and in the other one, he pitched a 22-save shutout against the Islanders. With nine more sets of back-to-back games, Hedberg should see plenty of chances in the future.

Thomas Greiss, Sharks (owned in 6%)
In his two starts, he has a shutout and a 30-save effort in a 2-1 loss. Greiss has allowed two goals on 56 shots, therefore very impressive goals against average and save percentage numbers. If Niemi needs a rest, he’s shown he’s more than capable of a start.

Dan Ellis, Hurricanes (owned in 8%)
Ellis has been a starter before, but knew coming in he would be Cam Ward’s backup. Ward has played in 60 games or more in five of the past six seasons. Ellis has already started three games allowing one, none and five goals respectively. He also played 40 minutes in a game that Ward was pulled from. Right now, he has a .939 save percentage and a 1.99 goals against average. Those numbers will help anyone in need of goalie help.
 

Victor Fasth (owned in 11%)
His numbers are actually the best of any probable option out there. Three starts, three wins. Only four goals allowed on 74 shots. And it’s not like the wins were over bad teams- he’s beaten the Sharks, Wild and Predators, who all have pretty good offenses.

Deeper league finds: Matthieu Garon (owned in 6%)- could see more starts. Jonathan Bernier (owned in 6%)- if Quick struggles or gets hurt, his work load increases. Steve Mason (4%)- just 1-3 but has made four starts and the save percentage isn’t that bad.

With two weeks almost behind us, let’s start looking towards what Week 3 will bring.  It’s been a fast and furious start to the season, which is now almost 20% completed already, and with the condensed 2012-2013 schedule we’re not going to be seeing a slowdown anytime soon. Not mentioning the refs (who’ve been rather questionable), injuries are still the rule of the land this season and those managers who are constantly scouring the waiver wire for upgrades and replacements are the managers that are going to prevail in their leagues.  Last week I mentioned Scott Hartnell, Joffrey Lupul, and Scott Downie as major injuries and you can add Jason Spezza, Ray Whitney, Gabriel Landeskog, Scottie Upshall, Ryan Callahan, plus many others to the list of long term injuries thus far.
 

To help you best prepare for the coming week and how best to utilize your rosters, let’s take a look at what you should expect.

WEEKLY BREAKDOWN
Here is the weekly breakdown for this upcoming week, January 4 – Feb 10:

4 GAMES:  ANA, BUF, DET, EDM, NAS, NJD, PIT, TBL, TOR
3 GAMES:  BOS, CAR, CBJ, CGY, CHI, DAL, FLA, LAK, MIN, MON, NYI, NYR, OTT, PHI, PHX, SJS, STL, VAN, WAS, WPG
2 GAMES:  COL
 

Not quite as many games as last week however there’s only one odd-team-out with only two games this week and that’s the Avalanche. Still almost a third of the league is playing four games during Week 3 so there’s going to be plenty of action out there.  Let’s see how the games are broken down per day:  

• MON – 5 games
• TUES – 10 games
• WED – 3 games
• THU – 12 games
• FRI – 1 game
• SAT – 12 games
• SUN – 6 games

The big days this week are again Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday while the fewest games fall on Wednesday and Friday for Week 3. Be aware that there is only one game on Friday, ANA@DAL, so be prepared for the extra busy days bookending that day.  For those of you in Head-to-Head leagues, Sundays are always big days and the teams battling it out on Sunday during Week 2 are BOS@BUF, CHI@NAS, EDM@CBJ, LAK@DET, NJD@PIT, and TBL@NYR so keep that in mind if your matchup is close and you can afford to hit up the waiver-wire for a quick replacement.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN
These teams are playing all of their games on the road so be aware that fatigue may play a factor in their play:

CAR, CGY, FLA, LAK, TBL
 

TBL is the only team of the bunch that is playing four games in addition to having all of their games on the road.  ANA and TOR are honorable mentions in this category as they are playing four games with three of them away from home, including traveling back-to-backs for both.

HOME COOKING
These teams are playing all of their games at home this week so they should be rested and practicing:

CBJ, COL, OTT, PHI, STL

Honorable mention for this category would go to WPG, PHX, NYR, MIN, as they all are only doing one-way travel during Week 3 with the rest of their games in their own buildings.


B2B: BACKUPS TO SEE ACTION?
All of these teams are scheduled to play in back-to-back games this upcoming week, so there are good chances that these teams’ respective backup goaltenders could see some action:

ANA, BOS, BUF, DET, EDM, MON, NAS, NJD, PIT, SJS, TBL, TOR
 

A lot less B2Bs is Week 3 as there were in Week 2, however there are still quite a bit.  Keep tabs on your goalies and their backups as these teams #2 net minders could definitely see some action.

GOING STREAKING
Teams that have the best win streaks currently in the NHL as of Sunday Afternoon:

• SJS – 7-0-0 to start the season
• TBL – 5 of 6 (lost to Rangers Sat. Night
• CHI – 6-0-2 to start the season

San Jose has still been perfect on the season on the backs of the top line of Patrick Marleau (9g-5a-14pts in 7 games), Joe Thornton (3g-11a-14pts), and Joe Pavelski (4g-8a-12pts) while goalie Antti Niemi (6 wins, 1.95 GAA, .933 SV%) has been rock solid. Tampa Bay players keep rewarding fantasy owners by producing the most goals in the league while rookie Cory Conacher has been the real deal with 5g-7a-12 pts in his first 8 games, with multiple point games in five of those and at least one point in all but two of those.  Chicago keeps doing their thing on the heels of the usual suspects Patrick Kane (3g-8a-11pts in 8 games), Marian Hossa (5g-4a-9pts), Jonathon Toews (4g-3a-7pts), and Patrick Sharp (2g-5a-7pts) despite dropping their last two games in overtime or SO.

SPIRALING
Teams that have the longest current streaks in the NHL without collecting a point as of Sunday afternoon:

• DAL – 1-4-1 last 6 games
• PHI – 3 losses (did beat Carolina)
• WPG – 3 losses (won on Saturday night, though)

Dallas can’t seem to get anything going this season and it hasn’t helped that Derek Roy has been out and matters got worse with the news that the Stars current leading scorer Ray Whitney (2g-4a-6pts) will be out for 4-6 weeks with a broken foot.  Meanwhile, Philadelphia can’t seem to find their scoring rhythm so far this season as they only have 16 goals in 8 games so far this season. Despite them losing six of their first eight, Ilya Bryzgalov has been respectable with his numbers producing a 2.40 GAA and .920 SV%.  Meanwhile, the Jets started off the season decently but have now fallen behind in their last three, although Tobias Enstrom has been a monster from the blue line producing 2g-9a-11pts in 8 games this season while despite having a -7 +/- rating Blake Wheeler (3g-5a-8pts) is on a point per game pace to start the season.

STRONG SCHEDULES
Now let’s take a look at a couple of the most favorable matchups of the week:

Pittsburgh Penguins – Opponents:@NYI, WAS, @NJD+NJD – The Penguins seem to have gotten back on track after a slow start to the season and they will be looking to continue that trend over the next week.   They lost their first game against the Islanders, whom the play on Tuesday, however they have won of their last two games since last playing them on Jan. 29.  They then play WAS on Thursday and then play a home and home series against NJD on Saturday and Sunday and they dominated them 5-1 in their first meeting of the season. Chris Kunitz (2g-5a-7pts in last 8 games) and Sidney Crosby (4g-6a-10pts in 8 games) have been gelling together recently while Pascal Dupuis (2g-4a-6pts) has been seeing the score sheet lately with points in each of his last three games.  Get your Pens out there.

Tampa Bay Lightning – Opponents: @PHI, @NJD, @BOS+@NYR – The Lightning are facing some rather stingy teams next week, however they have constantly been rewarding their fantasy owners so far this season as Steven Stamkos (7g-9a-16pts in 8 games), Vinny Lecavalier (4g-7a-11pts), Martin St. Louis (3g-11a-14pts), Cory Conacher (5g-7a-12pts), and Teddy Purcell (2g-7a-9pts) have been flying.  Little owned defenseman Sami Salo (0g-5a-5pts, +11) has been a good play so far this season as well.  They play their opponents on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday respectively.  Although most of these are on the busy nights, it’s hard to recommend benching any of your top Lightning players so make sure to keep rolling them out there.
 

San Jose Sharks – Opponents: @ANA+CHI, PHX – I’ve of course got to recommend the undefeated Sharks. Although they will be playing some tough opponents, all three of these teams have the capacity for goals against as Corey Crawford (playing better than his record suggests), Jonas Hiller (3.43 GAA, .868 SV% while being lit up Saturday night), and Mike Smith (4.00 GAA, .847 SV% but a SO on Saturday night versus the lowly Stars) have allowed their fair share of goals and the Sharks have been lighting up the lamp in practically all of their games so far this season.  Do what you should always do and make sure to get your Sharks in your lineup.  
 

WEAK SCHEDULES
...And the least favorable matchups of the week:

Calgary Flames – Opponents: @DET, @CBJ, @VAN – The Flames have yet to find any kind of form this season as they are last in the league, however they have only played five games so far this season although you would think that having the most time off of any team at the beginning of the season would provide a benefit as they were afforded more practice time than anyone else.  Week 3 will see them play all of their games on the road versus some teams heating up so their woes are likely to continue for at least a bit longer.  For them to find some success, Captain Jarome Iginla (0g-3a-3pts in 5 games) is going to have to find his form.  Not helping anything for fantasy owners is that all of their games in Week 3 are on the three busiest nights of the week so I’d look elsewhere for help on your fantasy rosters.

Colorado Avalanche – Opponents: DAL, ANA – Have to put the team playing the fewest amount of games on the weak schedule list, at least for weekly lineup leagues. They are only playing DAL on Monday and then ANA, who has been scoring a lot of goals so far this season, on Wednesday while they have the rest of the week off.  Those in weekly lineup leagues probably want to get their Avs out there, however I’d definitely look for players with more games being played on your roster in those weekly lineup leagues.
Good luck out there, everyone.  Post any comments or questions below hit me up on Twitter @G_Rees.

David Satriano is a writer for a NY Post who is quite the fantasy expert, especially when it comes to goalies. Here is this week's Net Effect.

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After 11 days of the hockey season, there’s still some issues to figure out with certain teams and who will get the most starts. Here’s an early breakdown:

Eight teams have started one goalie for every game (Calgary, Colorado, Detroit, Edmonton, Los Angeles, Montreal, New York Rangers and New Jersey).

One team has started three goalies (Phoenix)

That leaves 21 teams who have started two goalies. But a further breakdown shows that 16 of those teams have started goalies at a 4:1 or 4:2 ratio. (Anaheim, Boston, Buffalo, Carolina, Chicago, Columbus, Dallas, Florida, Nashville, New York Islanders, Ottawa, Philadelphia, Tampa Bay, San Jose, Vancouver, Winnipeg).

So we’re left with five teams that have played five games and started one goalie three times and another one twice. Let’s look at those teams:

Minnesota: Through five games, the Wild have alternated Nicklas Backstrom and Josh Harding each game. Neither has looked all that good, as Harding had a shutout, but then followed that up by allowing five goals his next game. Backstrom actually has regressed each game, allowing two goals, then three then five.  You’d think they’d be the beneficiaries of offense on most nights, but right now, neither one is better than the other, which means they could continue to split starts in a 1:1 ratio until one has consecutive good starts.

Pittsburgh: Marc-Andre Fleury has started over 60 games each of the past four seasons, but so far in the shortened season, his workload has already been reduced.  Fleury has had two good starts (allowed one goal in each) with one bad start (five goals allowed), but finally has a proven backup in Tomas Vokoun. Vokoun has allowed three goals in each of his starts (one win, one loss) and has been a primary starter for most of his career, so this is a new role for him as well. This will never be a 50-50 time share, but Vokoun is a good backup to own, because is something happens to Fleury, he is more than capable of taking the reigns in between the pipes.

St. Louis: Jaroslav Halak and Brian Elliot formed the most formidable duo in the NHL last season. So far this season, they’ve split the starts, but Halak has been the more productive goalie, already with two shutouts in four starts. However he did get pulled in one of his other starts. But he is 3-0 and Elliot is 1-1. Elliot has allowed seven goals in his two starts, and Halak will prob get majority of the starts…for now.

Toronto: Roberto Luongo can’t come soon enough for the Leafs. Ben Scrivens is just 1-2, allowing one goal, then two then five (to the Islanders, no less). James Reimer has looked better, allowing seven goals in three games- four coming in the third period against the Rangers when his defense didn’t exactly help him out.

Washington: Braden Holtby started the first two games of the season for the Capitals, and allowed ten goals. Both losses, that prompted coach Adam Oates- who said he would use both guys plenty- to make the switch to Michal Neuvirth. He’s started the Capitals last three games (in four days), and looked good in two of the three of those games.  Ride Neuvirth for now.

Two other teams to look closely into are the Flyers and Coyotes. Ilya Bryzgalov is probably putting up better numbers than you realize (2.22 GAA, .923 SV%) for Philly. But when given a night off, Michael Leighton allowed five goals in a loss to the Lightning- not exactly gaining confidence from the coaching staff. Remember, Brian Boucher is lurking in the AHL.

And now, on to the Coyotes. They are the most intriguing team because Mike Smith is injured and wasn’t playing well when healthy. His backup, Jason LaBarbera, allowed four goals in each of his two starts in Smith’s absence.  On Monday night, Chad Johnson got the start and pitched a 21-save shutout against the Predators. Interesting times lie ahead in Phoenix. As an update, Mike Smith is on the IR and Johnson could potentially get a few starts going forward. Smith’s status will now have to be really examined more closely as this was a bit of a surprise. Stay tuned.

Here comes the Garrett Rees column "Looking Ahead". This is pretty comprehensive. It is a read that will be well worth it for fantasy hockey owners.

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We’re back ladies in gents!  Good to be with you all again, I thought that lock out would never end.  With 48 games falling into only a 99 day period, this could be a very interesting season.  Lots of travel, lots of back-to-backs, and that could spell lots of injuries as Scott Hartnell (out 4-8 weeks), Joffrey Lupul (out 6 weeks), Steve Downie (out for season), and plenty of others can already tell you.  Like I said, this could be interesting.  So, with the first official week of this shortened 48 game season already over, let’s get right into the action for Week 2.

WEEKLY BREAKDOWN

Here is the weekly breakdown for this upcoming week, January 28 – Feb 3:

4 GAMES:  BOS, BUF, CBJ, COL, DAL, EDM, NJD, OTT, PHX, PIT, WAS,
3 GAMES:  ANA, CAR, CHI, DET, FLA, LAK, MIN, MON, NAS, NYI, NYR, PHI, SJS, TBL, TOR, VAN, WPG
2 GAMES:  CGY, STL
 

With the compacted schedule, I was a bit surprised to see that there are going to be two teams that are playing only two games during Week 2, but alas that’s how it is for CGY and STL.  CGY has a four day break before a game versus COL on Thursday while both of STL’s games happen in back-to-back fashion.  Here’s how the games breakdown for each day of the week.

MON – 5 games
TUES – 10 games
WED – 4 games
THU – 9 games
FRI – 7 game
SAT – 11 games
SUN – 4 games
 

The big days this week are Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday while the fewest games fall on Monday, Wednesday, and Sunday. For those of you in Head-to-Head leagues, Sundays are always big days and the teams battling it out on Sunday during Week 2 are FLA@BUF, OTT@MON, NJD@NYI, and PIT@WAS so keep that in mind if your matchup is close and you can afford to hit up the waiver-wire for a quick replacement.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN
These teams are playing all of their games on the road so be aware that fatigue may play a factor in their play:
CHI, NAS, STL, WPG

HOME COOKING
These teams are playing all of their games at home this week so they should be rested and practicing:
CGY, SJS, TBL
 

As expected with the compact schedule, there is going to be a lot of travel so those teams that are sleeping in their own beds and practicing in their own facilities might have that little extra boost in play this season.

B2B: BACKUPS TO SEE ACTION?
 

All of these teams are scheduled to play in back-to-back games this upcoming week, so there are good chances that these teams’ respective backup goaltenders could see some action:
ANA, BOS, BUF, CAR, CBJ, CHI, COL, DALx2, DET, EDM, MIN, MONx2, NJD, OTT, PHI, PHX, PIT, STL, TBL, WAS, WPG
 

This is what I would expect to see from the compressed schedule as more than 2/3rds of the league have B2Bs scheduled in Week 2.  Dallas and Montreal both play all of their games in the midst of B2Bs so there could definitely be some goalie shuffling there.  Backups could see a lot of action this week so make sure to keep tabs on your goalies.

GOING STREAKING
Teams that have the best win streaks currently in the NHL as of Sunday Afternoon:

CHI – 5 wins (now 6-0-0)
SJS – 4 wins (now 5-0-0)
NJD and BOS – 3-0-1 to start the season
TBL – 3 wins
MON – 3 wins
 

CHI and SJS have started off the season extremely hot as both are undefeated to start the season.  As of writing this, the Sharks are winning their game right now as well.  Patrick Marleau is having an NHL record start to the season as he recorded two goals in each of his first four games to go along with three assists, giving him 11 points in those first four games and now has 13 points in five games.  NJD is proving that they don’t need Zach Parise while BOS is proving that they don’t need Tim Thomas as each team has earned a point in all of their games as well so far this season.  TBL has been rolling as well and their players have been treating fantasy owners nicely as Martin St. Louis (3g-8a-11pts) now has 11 points thanks for a four assist night versus the PHI and Cory Conacher (2g-5a-7pts) has looked like an early Calder Trophy candidate with points in four of his first five NHL games.

SPIRALING
 

Teams that have the longest current streaks in the NHL without collecting a point as of Sunday afternoon:
 

FLA – 4 losses
BUF – 3 losses
CBJ – 3 losses
PHX – 1-4-0 first 5 games
 

FLA won their first game of the season, but ever since then they haven’t been able to find the win column while letting in a lot of goals (8 GF, 19 GA) earning the worst goals differential in the league so far.  Similar story for BUF as they won both of their first two games but have gone winless since. PHX meanwhile is sitting at the bottom of the Western Conference on the lackluster play of usually reliable goalie Mike Smith (0 win, 4.62 GAA, .836 SV%), who left the last PHX win with a lower-body injury.  Jason LaBarbera (1 win, 3.26 GAA, .897 SV%) hasn’t fared well in his two starts since either.  CBJ needs to be giving more starts to Sergei Bobrovsky (1-1-1, 2.85 GAA, .913 SV%) despite not looking so hot in his last game versus COL as Steve Mason (0 win, 4.06 GAA, .897 SV%) did not look good in his two starts so far this season.
 

STRONG SCHEDULES
Now let’s take a look at a couple of the most favorable matchups of the week:

New Jersey Devils – Opponents: @BOS, NYI, @PIT+@NYI – The Devils have started out the 2013 season on a roll and they’ve got a good opportunity to continue that success in Week 2.  They will have two difficult matchups in BOS on Tuesday and PIT on Saturday, but they also get to face NYI twice on Thursday and Sunday and have already won their first meeting against them this year.  Ilya Kovalchuk (2g-3a-5pts) has been doing his thing with at least a point in all four games so far and both of David Clarkson (3g-3a-6pts) and Patrik Elias (2g-4a-6pts) have also been hot, and that’s not even mentioning Martin Brodeur’s (3 wins, 0.98 GAA, .958 SV%, 1 SO in 3 starts) fantastic start, although he did let in four goals in 32 shots on Sunday night versus Montreal.  Go ahead and send these guys out there as usual.  
 

Ottawa Senators – Opponents: WAS+MON, @CAR, @MON – As it was last season, Ottawa is playing surprisingly well to start the truncated 2013 season earning 8 points in their first 5 games.  Craig Anderson (3 wins, 0.74 GAA, .975 SV% in 4 starts) has been an absolute rock so far and Kyle Turris (4g-1a-5pts), Erik Karlsson (3g-2a-5pts, +5), Jason Spezza (2g-3a-5pts, +3), and Milan Michalek (1g-4a-5pts, +4) have all been playing well to start the season.  First up for the Sens is WAS, who just got their first win, on Tuesday and then face MON the next night, both at home.  They then head to CAR on Friday and then play MON again on Sunday.  With three games on light nights and a hot start to the season, I’d send your Senators out there in Week 2.
 

Chicago Blackhawks – Opponents: @MIN, @VAN+@CGY – Gotta put these guys on here as they haven’t lost a game yet.  Not much I need to say about these guys, just make sure to get them out there.  Check out the little owned Nick Leddy (1g-4a-5pts) while you’re at it.
 

San Jose Sharks – Opponents: ANA, EDM, NAS – If I put CHI on here then I’ve got to put the Sharks on here, too.  Doesn’t hurt that they play all of their games at home during Week 2 as well.  I shouldn’t have to say it but make sure you get your Sharks out there.  Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau, Joe Pavelski, Logan Couture, etc., etc.  Could this be the year that Martin Havlat (2g-2a-4pts in 5 games) returns to fantasy relevance?
 

Dear Fantasy Hockey fans:

Greetings once again from the edge of the fantasy hockey universe. The Fantasy KHL is rolling along into Week 8. After seven weeks, it does look like there is a bit of separation between the top two spots. Also, some teams are starting to show resiliency with their non-NHL rosters. First off, let's take a look at those standings. Roll out the beautiful data footage....or not.

Standings Thru Week 7:

1. Team Wassel -- 153 pts
2. Team Parkinson -- 129 pts
3. Ak Bars Kent -- 99 pts
4. Team CSKA Slappy -- 92 pts
5. Team WB (Boca) -- 82 pts
6. Team Magerko -- 75 pts
7. Team Russ -- 73 pts
8. Team Joe (Vrbata) -- 71 pts
9. Sputniks-Colin -- 69 pts
10. Team Garrett -- 66 pts
11. Team Brett -- 65 pts
12. Team Speck -- 64 pts
13. CSKA Ed -- 62 pts
14. Team Criminal -- 61 pts
15. Team CSKA Scotty -- 47 pts

The biggest thing that has been noticed is that the middle of the pack teams are starting to get some 12-18 point weeks which is big as far as competitive balance. Sometimes in points leagues, a small roster can be very detrimental especially if there are key players slumping. Tough adjustments were prevalent when the NHL players went back to North America yet some teams are really thriving without them. It is funny how that actually works but that is just what is occurring.

Alex Frolov had 10 points alone this week while Alex Radulov had 11 to lead individual players. There were some very unexpected performances by goaltenders including two 50+ save performances which are pretty rare in the KHL. As the season gets tighter in the race for top seedings, expect the numbers to squeeze closer that much more. There is about a quarter of a season to go. Just think the NHL is barely underway and their crunch time is still over two months away. 

As the final weeks count down, I expect many more changes in the standings. There will also be a spotlight that shines even brighter on what is going on with the KHL. Good luck everyone and our goal as always is to enjoy the ride