Archive for October, 2006

Puck Periodic - Thursday

My time over the next two weeks is limited, but I got an email today from a person promoting hockey-recap.com.

Be sure to stop by and tell them that they need to update their server to allow their domain to resolve without the www subdomain.

Puck Periodic - Thursday

• CBC reported yesterday that the Senators will reunite the Heatley Spezza Alfredsson line tonight at home vs CGY.
• Mark Smith is expected to skate with the Thornton line tonight, now that Mark Bell is on IR.
From last night…

BOS at ATL
• Boston had over 14 minutes of PP time and was short handed for just under 7.
• Their 1st PP unit comprised 4 forwards - Savard, Bergeron, Sturm, and Murray - and defenseman Chara.
• Bergeron led all forwards in ice time with 24:06 - he averaged almost a minute per shift. This season, Patrice is averaging 21:05 minutes per game and 8:31 on the PP per game. Last season, Bergeron averaged 20:35 per game, leading all Bruins forwards.
• Marc Savard was a dismal 2 for 10 in faceoffs, and the Bruins as a team were just 23 for 54 (43%).
• The Thrashers are still trying to find that 5th guy for their top PP line, and in this game it was Scott Mellanby who got the most time (3:39). The other 4 are still McCarthy, Kovalchuk, Hossa, and Kozlov.
• Young Jim Slater is still being bough along slowly. He had just 9:24 on ice last night, the least amount of all Trashers. On the season, he’s got 1 assist and 10 PIM, averaging 9:57 per game.
• Hossa’s 4th goal of the season and Atlanta’s 4th goal of this game is worth a look.
MON at PHI
• The Flyers were playing their second of back to back games and gave up an goal on their first shift.
• Nittymaki made several highlight worthy saves to keep this game close. He was screened badly on the game’s second goal and the Habs’ third of the night was an empty netter.
• Montreal didn’t get a lot of shots off. They had 23 on goal, missed the net on another 5, and had 10 blocked. The Flyers, meanwhile, registered 28 on net, 23 missed, and had 16 more blocked (68 total).
CAR at FLA
• The Canes played D Andrew Hutchinson in his first game of the year and used him primarily on the power play. He skated 10:54 - 7:42PP - 0SH.
• Carolina tallied just 9 hits and 2 takeaways.
• Olli Jokinen continued his strong start. He set up both of Roberts’ goals by creating turnovers with his aggressiveness and then making a good pass to the veteran goal scorer.
• Roberts is skating about 15 minutes a game this season, and seems to have good chemistry with Jokinen.
• Jokinen missed another 5 shots in this game. He’s got to lead the lead in that category, if there was one.
NYI at ANA
• Mike Dunham made some real nice saves in the Islanders’ win at Anaheim. His first goal was a soft one, but from then on out he was terrific for New York - in a tough game against one of the NHL’s best teams.
• Credit also Yashin for coming through with a big goal late in the third after NYI blew their 3-1 lead. His wrist shot is still on of the league’s best.
• Brendan Witt racked up just over 200 PIM last season and he’s already got 18 this season. Ted Nolan coached teams are never shy, and Witt is earning over 20 minutes a night so far this season. He doesn’t play the PP, but he’s clearly a top 4 guy this season and should be considered on fantasy teams in need of PIMs.
• It was thought that Pronger’s arrival in Anaheim would result in less ice time for Francois Beauchemin, but the Ducks seem to be rotating their top 3 defensemen a lot. Last night, Niedermeyer had 31:30, Pronger had 27:36, and Beauchemin had 26:12. Those numbers are consistent with their season averages as well.

Puck Periodic - Wednesday

PHI at NYR
• Another heavy night for Joni Pitkanen - 28:22 - 7:20PP - 3:19SH - but not much else. He picked up an assist on Sanderson’s goal, but didn’t have a shot on net of his own - missing 2 and blocking 3.
• The Flyers are spreading around the ice team between all of their forwards. Peter Forsberg skated just 17:48 last night and is averaging just 18:02 per game this season. Gagne was on for just 17:56 and is averaging 19:20 this season. I suspect his line’s time will increase that extra shift or two more a game as Forsberg returns to full health. Last year, Forsberg averaged 18:47 and Gagne averaged 20:46 per game.
• Michal Rozsival is running the point on the power play for the Rangers. He’s the team’s overall minutes leader so far this season and is sharing top power play time with four forwards - Jagr, Shanahan, Nylander, and Straka. Rozsival skated 29:01 - 8:03PP - 3:55SH in this game.
NYI at LA
• It’s hard not to think that in another month or two, this Islanders team will be playing some decent hockey in front of Ted Nolan. But they have a few names on their roster that make me scratch my head. Namely, Tom Poti and Alexei Yashin. But both had solid lines last night. Yashin skated 17:22 - 5:44PP - 1:32SH with 8 shots on goal, 1 blocked shot, 1 missed shot, 7 of 13 faceoffs won, and 3 minors for 6 minutes. Without having seen the game, that’s just about as involved in one night as a forward can get.
• Pot’s numbers were also very strong. 23:37 - 5:14PP - 11:04SH, 3 shots on goal, 2 hits, 4 blocked shots, 1 missed shot and a minor penalty. No word on whether he had his shiny stick flashing.
• Young sniper Patrick O’Sullivan skated just 9:19 - 3:25PP - 0SH. Yet he had 5 shots on goal and missed 3 more.
• The Kings first power play unit for the night got plenty of time. Blake, Visnovsky, Kopitar, Frolov, and Cammalleri. Close to 10 minutes for all.

2006 | Week 5 - Arizona Cardinals

20-23 vs KC

Matt Leinart’s debut went pretty much as expected. He showed great poise in the pocket, felt the pass rush very well - good compared even to most of the veteran quarterbacks around. The Cardinals didn’t ask him throw down field as much as it seemed he was ready to. They called a lot of WR screens and Leinart checked down to the RB frequently. Still, he took care of the football pretty well and showed plenty his trademark accuracy. The one INT he threw, however, was certainly a pass he should not have made. The Cards’ downfall in this game was not his play, but their inability to hold a lead on defense and with their ground game.

Arizona had essentially held KC to 3 points through the first three quarters (KC scored their first TD off a blocked punt that they took over at the ARZ 10). As the fourth quarter began, the Cards couldn’t pick up 1 yard for a first down on two consecutive plays and had to punt. The Chiefs took the ball over from there and marched downfield and scored to make it 20-17 and soon after tied the game.

This was certainly another game the Arizona gave away. Rackers had a chance to tie it up with seconds remaining, but his 51 yard FG attempt was wide right. Nonetheless, the Cards are better equiped with Leinart behind center. His ability to read the defense and deliver the football will be a necessary skill with the offensive line they have this season.

Bryan Johnson has a chance to step up now that Larry Fitzgerald is out for the next few weeks. Johnson had a strong preseason and has made plays this season when given chances. He filled in well on Sunday against the Chiefs, but dropped a long touchdown pass in the end zone that could have made the score 27-10 late in the third quarter.

If Johnson was having to step into Boldin’s role, I’d be more concerned. But he should be able to put up solid numbers playing in Fitzgerald’s position. With Troy Walters moving in to the slot, and their solid depth at tight end, the Cards’ skill position players are still better than most.

Targets:
Free resource at Football Die Hards.
They have many helpers.

Puck Periodic - Tuesday

• NHL.com’s John Kreiser has written about early trends and included Martin St. Louis as one of his five players who have struggled early:

  Martin St. Louis: The 2003-04 Art Ross Trophy winner went pointless as Tampa Bay split its first two contests. With the Bolts having invested heavily in their three star forwards (St. Louis, Brad Richards and Vincent Lecavalier), they need production from their big guns to win.

  Marty has had good chances to score and I think he’s skating better than he did last season. I wouldn’t jump ship on him yet.
PHX at CLM
• Keith Ballard injured one of his hands last night and may be out for a little while. It looks like Dennis Seidenberg picked up a bulk of the minutes in his absense. Zbynek Michalek also earned extra time, particularly on the power play.
• Special teams dominated this game, 33:56 minutes. NIck Boynton skated 10:10 shorthanded.
• The line of Zherdev, Vyborny and Nash skated over 11 minutes on the power play. In total, they accounted for 10 of Columbus’ 29 shots on goal.
FLA at TOR
• After such a brilliant start to the season, Joe Nieuwendyk’s playing time has fallen off. I can’t find any injury news on him, but he skated just 7:27 last night, fewer than anyone other Panther except Rostislav Olesz. Stephen Weiss seems to be getting time as the 2nd line center now.
• Olli Jokinen took 8 shots on goal and missed another 4.
• Kaberle and McCabe skated almost half the game, including 10 minutes on the power play.
ATL at TB
• The Lightning took 34 shots on goal and missed another 19 while limiting Atlanta to just 19 and 9.
• With the Trashers only earning 4 minutes of PP time, Steve McCarthy saw his ice time fall to just 13:39 last night. He did skate 3:37 on the PP.
• TB’s minutes distribution is still very top heavy. They had 8 skaters go over 20 minutes last night and 4 skaters fall well under 10.
SJ at CGY
• Young Matt Carle is still getting top D minutes and is producing. 20:24 - 4:50PP - 0:12SH last night with 2 shots on goal, 2 missed shots, and a +1.
• The Sharks roll 4 lines for forwards as good as any team in the league. No forward had more than 18 minutes last night.
• With Calgary on the power play for 15 minutes, Phaneuf and Hamrlik were the top two defensemen in ice time - each with over 7 minutes of power play time and around 25 minutes of total ice time.

Puck Periodic - Monday

Inside the SuperStats of some of Saturday’s games:

MTL at TOR
• Tomas Plekanec, a Habs’ 3rd round pick from 2001, is officially Montreal’s 2nd line center. He won 9 of 15 faceoffs, played in almost half of the team’s PP time, and registered 3 shots on goal. His scouting report makes him read a lot like Saku Koivu.
• Sheldon Souray and Andre Markov are the top 2 defensemen and run the points of the Habs’ PP.
• Michael Peca won just 6 of 20 faceoffs
BUF at OTT
• Jason Pominville looks like he could be a responsible 30+ goal scorer. The right winger took 4 shots on goal in the third period of this big comeback win, and ended the game with 5 on goal, 2 more missed shots, and he even blocked 4 shots. Pominville was on the ice 19:19 - 4:29PP - 6:55SH.
• Tom Preissing returned to action and skated 21:39 - 7:26PP - 0:46SH.
• Dany Heatley hasn’t scored a goal yet this season, but in the 2nd period when Ottawa dominated shots 18-5, Heatley had 6 and ended the game with 8.
CAR at WAS
• Tim Gleason is still getting the top offensive minutes among the Canes’ defensemen.
• The Caps had 35 shots on goal in this game, and Ovechkin had 15 of them. 2 in the first, 7 in the second, and 6 in the third. Alexander Semin had another 6 on his own, as those two Russians made up for 60% of the Caps shots on goal.
• Semin only skated 13:35 on his way to his hat trick.
• Ovechkin also chipped in with 6 hits.
FLA at ATL
• Steve McCarthy continues to get all kinds of minutes from the point on the power play. With all the weapons he’s on the ice with, he’s going pick up a lot of PP points.
• Steve Rucchin and Bobby Holik each skated just over 15 minutes. But neither is getting the full time with the top PP unit.
NAS at MIN
• Kurtis Foster is getting top minutes with Kim Johnsson on defense. But Foster plays the point on the PP while Johnsson gives way to Rolston.

2006 | Week 4 - Detroit Lions

34-41 at STL

For as many passes as Mike Furrey has received and caught so far this season, he’s still more of a 3rd option / possession receiver and will probably see his opportunities fall off as the Lions try to work Mike Williams or others into the offense.

He’s a high effort, good hands, undersized guy who probably has already had the best game of his season. He was a former Rams safety and looked pretty fired to score twice against his former team. Not a bad player, but if you’re picking him up now i worry that the boat has already left the port.

Targets:
Free resource at Football Die Hards.
They have many helpers.

2006 | Week 4 - St. Louis Rams

41-34 vs DET

Of course, the week after I wrote that these Rams were for real, they laid an giant egg in week 2. But they’ve bounced back, are 3-1 a quarter into the season, and are looking at the opportunity to take the NFC West.

One comment I overheard during the week 4 broadcast is that Scott Linehan worked with his offense a bit to change some of his terminology back to what the Rams’ players were used to under Mike Martz. The offense now looks like its back on track.

Steven Jackson continues to impress. He’s a great runner up the middle, but struggles when asked to run off tackle. He usually breaks his run too far outside. I think that may be a reason why the Rams brought in Stephen Davis. He’s a more patient and experience behind blockers.

Targets:
Free resource at Football Die Hards.
They have many helpers.

Puck Periodic - Friday

Last night’s SuperStats notes:

CGY at EDM
• In case you’ve never seen him play and aren’t sure if Dion Phanuef is for real since he seemingly came out of nowhere last season, he is. 29:20 - 11:12PP - 5:13SH and 6 shots on goal last night.
• Daymond Langkow (20:56 - 7:17PP - 2:34SH) centered Iginla and Tanguay for most of the night.
• I wrote this past week about how Petr Sykora was an excellent sleeper pick and last night was an excellent start. He skated 15:53, but 7:03 was on the PP. Most importantly, he seems to have a natural chemistry with Ales Hemsky and the two are going to be a huge combination this season. Hemsky, a fellow czech, seems to have a little bit of a boy crush on Sykora or something. Hemsky kept looking to pass to Sykora all night and he also was playing with as much aggression as he ever has. It seems not only will this be a good season for Sykora, but Hemsky should improve on his 77 point season last year.
• Dwayne Rolosson was a strong for the Oilers as he’s been in his short Edmonton career. The knee looked healthy, and he again made huge saves early in the game to keep the game even before the Oilers put in their 3 goals.
STL at SJ
• Bill Guerin carried over his strong preseason into this game and skated 19:21 - 3:06PP - 0SH (the Blues only had 4:14 of PP time all night). He totaled 7 shots on goal, including 4 in the third, and missed the net another 3 times.
• In the little PP time the Blues had, Dennis Wideman ran the point.
• Lots of power play time distrubted around the Sharks lineup, but Matt Carle led the way with 8:50 PP minutes. He chipped in 5 shots on goal in total.
• Steve Bernier skated 20:10 - 5:42 - 0SH, registering 3 shots, 6 hits, and 2 assists. I really like that kid.
• Linemate Milan Michalek had a huge game, with 2 goals on 7 shots. 6:13 of his 19:35 were on the PP.
COL at MIN
• Brett Clark and JM Liles still the top defense pair. Clark was a -2 in 23:47 - 5:14PP - 2:57SH with 2 shots on goal and 2 more missed shots.
• Some defenseman named Petteri Nummelin skated 24:26 - 3:21PP - 3:51SH but did not register a shot on goal. Nummelin hasn’t played in the NHL since 2000-01 and has been in the Swedish Elite League ever since. Kim Johnsson led all skaters with 25:05 but also did not register a shot.
PHI at PIT
• Joni Pitkanen, has looked like he’s going to be one of the next big name NHL defenseman, skated 26:43 - 11:44PP - 2:18SH. He’s got to do more with his minutes, though. Only 1 shot on goal.
• Geoff Sanderson is still in the league, and he skated 9:21 on the power play for PHI.
• An underrated defenseman from late last season was Freddie Meyer, and he picked up 6:17 of PP time in this game for PHI. 2 shots on goal plus another that missed the net.
• Nils Ekman took 5 shots on goal in just 13:39 of playing time.
• Sidney Crosby’s role in the faceoff circle may increase in his second season. Crosby won 9 of 19 last night.
WAS at NYR
• Alexander Semin - 16:32 - 6:37PP - 0SH.
• Mike Green, Brian Pothier, and Jamie Heward all saw significant time playing the points on the PP. Even Ben Clymer got in some minutes there.
• The Rangers blocked 30 shots in this game, 20 were from defensemen.
• Michal Rozsival and Fedor Tyutin look to be the top defense pair, each skating over 20 minutes with some time on the PP.
• On the whole, the Rangers skated everyone pretty evenly and played mostly forwards on the PP.
TB at ATL
• Ryan Craig skated 19:04 - 7:10PP - 3:20SH to go with his 2 goals.
• The Lightning are not a very deep team and their minutes are very top heavy. Richards: 26:45, St Louis: 26:30, Boyle: 31:08.
• Paul Ranger is playing, even though I thought he was out for a while. 22:56 last night, but not much on the PP.
• Ilya Kovalchuk averaged an amazing 1:05 per shift.
• Steve McCarthy spent by far the most amount of time of any defensemen on the power play, at 6:01.
CHI at NAS
• The Hawks were short handed for 16:07 and on the PP for just 2:15.
• Duncan Keith ran the point on the PP and registered 2 shots on goal for the entire game.
• The Preds are another top heavy minutes team, Erat, Kariya, Arnott, and Sullivan pulled in a ton of time - mostly because they were on the power play for such a large portion of this game.
• Marek Zidlicky was 24:15 - 10:06PP - 0SH while Kimmo Timmonen was 21:00 - 6:50PP - 1:40SH

Puck Periodic - Thursday

Last night’s SuperStats Notes:

BUF at CAR
• Chris Drury was all over the ice, leading forwards with 22:55 - 6:33PP - 4:36SH. He registered 7 shots on goal, 3 hits, 1 takeaway and won 11 of 27 faceoffs.
• Jaroslav Spacek enjoyed his first game with the Sabres by leading all skaters in ice time: 22:58. He also led all Sabres with PP time at 7:28.
• The Sabres blocked 28 shots on goal, compared to Carolina’s 17.
• Tim Gleason was a workhorse on Carolina’s defense. He led the team in ice time with 26:51, registered 7 shots on goal, and blocked 5 more shots on his own. Gleason came to Carolina as part of the Jack Johnson trade on Sept 29. He’s a former first round, 23rd overall pick by Ottawa in 2001. Tsn writes: “Has outstanding offensive potential from the back end. Plays with a mean streak. Possesses all-around ability.” Looks like a huge fantasy sleeper pick.
• Ray Whitney spent 9:23 of his 20:04 ice time on the PP.
OTT at TOR
• Tom Preissing only skated 7:19.
• Chris Neil skated 9:46 and looked very strong.
• Mike Fisher will probably be one of the most underrated players this season. In his first game, he skated 18:10 - 4:04PP - 4:14SH, took 4 shots, missed the net on another, blocked 4 shots and won 10 of 21 faceoffs.
• Kaberle and McCabe played almost half the game, 28:12 and 27:21 respectively.
• The Leafs dominated faceoffs - 46-26 (64%).
• Kyle Wellwood skated with Sundin, as expected. 18:59 - 5:26PP - 0:05SH. 4 shots.
DAL at COL
• Zubov and Modry ran the point on the power play, about 5 minutes of PP time for each.
• Stars outshot the Avs 18-3 in the third, led by Morrow’s 4.
• Morrow also led the team in takeaways (4) and missed shots (4).
• Brett Clark and JM Liles ran the point on the Avs power play, 8:17 for Clark and 9:23 for Liles.

2006 | Week 4 - Miami Dolphins

15-17 at HOU

Something interesting about the way things are going for Miami…. when Daunte Culpepper struggled in Minnesota after Randy Moss left, he did it in a different way than he’s struggling now. Back then, he’d try to do too much on every play - running when he didn’t need to, throwing passes he shouldn’t. Now, he’s a literal statue in the pocket; almost dazed at the lack of execution in front of him.

I’ve had fun watching the Texans’ defense this season (1, 2), so when it was Miami’s turn to right their wrongs against this practice squad, a lot of people in South Florida and Vegas probably thought that it would happen. It didn’t. Unlike the Redskins the week before, this Dolphins team is showing no signs of life at all and they could even be getting worse on offense.

First off, their stadium is falling apart. They’re giving up sacks like they’re the Oakland Raiders, and their game philosophy is ridiculously bad. Ronnie Brown had 12 carries against Houston? There are a lot of people on the street who can call a better game than that.

Before the game:

“We are definitely going to have our opportunities,” Chambers said. “We need to get them early.”

But Culpepper perhaps thought differently.

“It’s kind of misleading when you’re playing a team who’s the last-ranked defense. It doesn’t really matter because these guys are pros.”

What I think he meant there, is that the guys in front of him aren’t any better than the guys who are on the other side ranked as one of the worst defenses in the league.

So how do they get better?
At some point, they’ll have to realize that the defense is still the strength of the team and stop trying run a wide open offensive attack. They have injuries on the offensive line, sure, but they’re not helping things with the formations they’re sending out there. Line up and run the ball. Shorten the length of the game and wait for Culpepper’s knee to heal so that he can begin to lose games on his own again.

Targets:
Free resource at Football Die Hards.
They have many helpers.

2006-07 NHL Opening Night - Picks Link

It’s so good to have the game back and to have an idea of what to expect when the puck drops tonight.

Some of the NHL related sites I frequent…


---

• Off Wing talks about and links to changes the NHL has made for this season to the time in between periods (now 17 minutes) and during commerical breaks.
  
  I’ve always thought the time in between periods was a huge obstacle for fans learning the game. It’s one thing to make them sit through a lengthy break in the action once, but to do it twice just feels like you’re losing a lot of their attention. Why not make the first intermission shorter than the second?

---

• James Mirtle has his season preview up here

---

• Sharks Page has talk about the new TV network, Versus, a review of the Malakhov trade, and a photo of Joe Thornton with his hardware.

---

• Hockey Rants has awards predictions here and team predictions here.

---

• Hockey Analysis has sleeper fantasy picks, predictions, and a complaint about the NHL’s schedule.

---

Looking forward to tonight.
Beach hockey picks will continue here this season.

2006 | Week 4 - Atlanta Falcons

32-10 vs ARZ

This was certainly not as impressive as the score indicated. Atlanta’s defense was in control, but that was in part due to Kurt Warner’s day in hell. He really struggles against defenses that are fast - and this Falcons’ team is as fast as any.

Atlanta’s offense could not move 1 of their drives into the end zone. They settled for FGs 6 times, threw a INT on the 1 yard line, and punted 2 other times. Only Jerious Norwood’s 78 yard TD run produced the Falcons offensive touchdown. But that was more due to Norwood’s sprinter speed and terrible tackling angles by the Cardinals than anything else.

Ashlie Lelie again showed he’s one of the best deep threats in the game. He just has this natural talent to pick up the path of a deep ball before almost anyone else does. And he’s tall, with great control of his body. It really makes him a weapon.

Michael Boley had his second strong game in a row. Boley was a force rushing the QB from the edge, and also dropped back in coverage well - including the play he made to break up Warner’s pass that ended up falling to DeAngelo Hall for the TD that broke this game open.

Targets:
Free resource at Football Die Hards.
They have many helpers.

2006 | Week 4 - Arizona Cardinals

10-32 at ATL

Kurt Warner was terrible. He tripped over himself more than once, threw into coverage more than once, and practically held on to the football too long for the entire game. And now Matt Leinart is starting.

Larry Fitzgerald beat DeAngelo Hall one on one in the first quarter for a 46 yard reception that would have gone for 56 yards and a TD had Warner not underthrown him. It was nice to see Fitzgerald show the moves off the line, the long speed, and the ball judgement and jumping ability in all one play against one of the best corners in the game.

Out of 20 carries, Edgerrin James was held to zero or negative yards 7 times.

Matt Leinart will be able come in and spark this offense, I think. The biggest thing right now is that the offensive line is a little better, but not great. Leinart coming in and getting the ball out of his hands on time will be a big improvement.

Targets:
Free resource at Football Die Hards.
They have many helpers.