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It only took a week of NHL action to see some patterns that will have an effect on fantasy hockey for the remainder of the regular season.
Now not everything
that transpired during the first week of play will carry on throughout the entire
schedule. Trent Klatt will not lead the NHL with 120 goals at the end of the
season - which he is on pace for. Jeff Hackett will eventually be scored upon.
And Mario Lemieux will not play on back-to-back nights all the time like he
did in Pittsburgh's first two games.
But there were some interesting developments during the opening week that deserve
your attention because of the fantasy ramifications. And they are:
THE COLORADO AVALANCHE POWER PLAY: Colorado's power play was downright ridiculous last season. It was like watching five guys playing against four invisible men. Your head would spin with the way the 'Lanche fellows would move the puck, and the talent they put out on the ice for their man-advantages was greater than the talent on the stage at a Rolling Stones concert. NFL Tickets
So what did Colorado do in the offseason? They acquired more talent. Think of it as the producers of "Friends" signing Jim Carrey and Madonna to be full-time members of the cast.
Colorado picked up Paul Kariya and Teemu Selanne for a bargain basement price, and now the Avalanche have more offensive talent than entire divisions do.
The problem is that only five guys can play on the power play at a time, and right now the No. 1 unit in Colorado is Kariya, Joe Sakic, Peter Forsberg, Milan Hejduk and Rob Blake, with Kariya or Sakic playing the point with Blake. Yes, those players' fantasy values are fine with this arrangement, but it leaves Selanne, Alex Tanguay and Derek Morris out in the cold.
Tanguay and Morris had superb 2002-03 seasons partially because they received tons of power-play time with the most powerful PP unit in the sport. Now they have to settle for second-unit time, the last 35 seconds of the power play, where you have to rush just to get a decent shot off before the penalty expires.
Will Selanne, Morris and Tanguay stumble onto the top power-play unit from time to time? Sure. Will someone in the top fivesome get injured during the course of the season to create a spot? Of course. But as of now and until further notice, Selanne, Morris and Tanguay's fantasy values take a hit. NFL Tickets
GOALIES GETTING REST: We are one week into the season. How tired can goalies be? Well, coaches are not taking any chances. Backups are starting a lot early on, especially if a team has contests on back-to-back nights.
All Jean-Sebastien Giguere did during the postseason was almost singlehandedly lead Anaheim to the Stanley Cup Finals, but talented understudy Martin Gerber started the Mighty Ducks' second game of this season. Rangers' netminder Mike Dunham virtually played every game down the stretch for the Blueshirts last season during their futile attempt to make the playoffs, but Jussi Markkanen started game No. 2 for New York.
Johan Hedberg started Vancouver's second game instead of Dan Cloutier, and Jocelyn Thibault stepped aside in favor of unproven Michael Leighton for Chicago's second matchup. Cloutier and Thibault are guys who usually play every game as long as they are not injured.
Looks like some coaches are going to keep their backstops as fresh as they can so they will be better equipped to carry the load at the end of the season when they games are of the utmost importance. Of course, one team never has subscribed to that theory, the New Jersey Devils. Martin Brodeur started both of their games the first week. NFL Tickets
A TALE OF TWO LINES: There is always the age-old question in hockey - do you stack up all of your talent on one line, or do you try to spread your scoring talent out over a couple lines?
Anaheim sounded like it was going to try the latter theory. While Petr Sykora and Vaclav Prospal played together on one line in the Ducks' first game, $40 million-man Sergei Fedorov played on a different line. Well, that lasted all of one game and a Fedorov minus-3 performance. Now the trio is skating together, like they should be, which helps each of their fantasy values.
Word out of the Detroit this season was that the successful Brett Hull-Pavel Datsyuk-Henrik Zetteberg line was going to be broken up. That was about as untrue as an Al Morganti trade rumor. The future Hall of Famer is still playing with the two wunderkinds, and the line has looked just as good as it did last year.
STEVIE Y LOOKING SPRY: I had ranked Steve Yzerman No. 50 out of all centers in fantasy hockey entering the season, basically because the health of his knee was such a gigantic question mark.
So far, so good for Yzerman. He has been running around with partner-in-crime Brendan Shanahan like the two spent the offseason swimming in a fountain of youth. Yzerman has scored a goal in each of Detroit's two games. If he can stay healthy, a humungous "if" because of his age, knee and lack of luck, he could toss a 60-point season on the board.
One week down, another 20-something to go.
PENALTY SHOTS: Both New Jersey and St. Louis gave up on defenseman Mike Van Ryn, but Florida and Mike Keenan are giving him a long look. He has been getting a majority of power-play time on the Panthers' point and has looked good moving the puck and setting up plays. He could be a sleeper.
The Jason Allison Injury of the Week Award goes to Philly power forward John LeClair. LeClair, who has contended with back problems for the past two years, is out for two-to-four weeks with a broken foot - but that is not what has fantasy owners madder than Barry Melrose if he were forced to get his head shaved.
LeClair was not declared out until after most fantasy leagues' lineups were due, so many fantasy owners had LeClair in last week, only to find out that he was hurt and going to be putting up a big fat zero for them. You have to love that - if you do not own LeClair.