It is blatantly obvious who the player of Week 1 is and he did it all in the last two games. Often the key in fantasy hockey is timing. Congratulations to John Tavares who got 5 goals and 3 assists in the last two games of the week (4 pts against Tampa and 4 against the NYR). That is what we call getting it done here on Fantasy Hockey ONE. David Legwand and his 8 points were nice but put to rest after the breakout that was Tavares. Even Johan Hedberg gave up 2 goals in a victory last night with upped his GAA from a league leading 1.14 to 1.41.
We almost forgot Phil Kessel and his one hat trick with 8 points in the 11 days that was Week 1. The real surprise in all of this may be PA Parenteau who almost always gets disrespected, yet has 7 points and may just be legit. Who am I kidding? Parenteau is a very fine player but the only question will be with the New York Islanders is always the same…health.
That is the prevalent question after Week 1. You see all these crazy numbers put up but what will stand up and what will fall like a ton of bricks? Well that is a very good question. Now we did not discount the goaltenders here. Some goalies even have shutouts too. However, there were some big surprises.
If you have Kari Lehtonen in Week 1, he rode you to a league high 4 wins (1.48 GAA, .955 save percentage). Better yet, Johan Hedberg posted 3 wins, a 1.41 GAA and .945 save percentage in place of Martin Brodeur (tweaked shoulder). Al Montoya for the New York Islanders has also started out very well. Ilya Bryzgalov has looked good for Philadelphia as well with a 1.99 GAA and .927 save percentage plus three wins.
Now of course for the good there just has to be the bad. The bad often can get ugly and just ask Craig Anderson of the Ottawa Senators. His 5.07 GAA, 1-2 record, and .853 save percentage is just as bad as Ottawa has played defensively. Truly they can score but they cannot stop anyone. Even last night, Ottawa could have easily given up 4 or more goals against Washington. Winnipeg is not much better team defense wise as Ondrej Pavelec has a 4.58 GAA and .833 save percentage with NO wins. Dwayne Roloson of the Tampa Bay Lightning has looked 41 plus with a not so steady 4.34 GAA and .883 save percentage (1-1-1 record).
Amongst the offensive awfulness and carnage is the entire Anaheim Ducks first line. Maxime Macenaur, who was basically a nobody, leads the Ducks in scoring with two points. Jonas Hiller has had little or no support at all with even Teemu Selanne held pointless. Alex Ovechkin only has 2 points in 4 games yet Dennis Wideman has 4 points. Like we have said it is Week 1. These crazy numbers arer bound to occur. For our departing shot, we present Joe Thornton who not only had no points in Week 1 but had a ton of glorious scoring chances with has to be somewhat alarming as he did look a step slow.
So what on Earth can you expect from Week 2? Well honestly more of the unexpected as curious schedule making will wreak havoc on fantasy hockey GM’s everywhere. Injuries have also done some pretty good damage to rosters already and you can expect more of that. We will set things up tonight on the show but first, there is one game to go over for everyone.
SCHEDULE TIME:
Sunday, October 16, 2011 |
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| Teams | Notes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| St. Louis | at | Anaheim | 8:00 PM | Gameday | ||
Now this may be a key for some fantasy owners tonight but one game just seems paltry, doesn’t it? This is a weird ending for Week 1 but somehow poetic. Who do we have an eye on? Well here we go.
KEEP AN EYE ON…..
1. Anaheim’s first line — Again we could not say it enough. They have no panoints and neither does Teemu Selanne. The reality is this team is struggling offensively and has to get it in gear. What better way to do so than to play against Jaroslav Halak apparently. Halak has not been all that good and honestly Montreal made the right choice with Carey Price.
2. Life without Andy McDonald — St. Louis had a pretty dangerous Power Play with him but without him, it could suffer a good bit. Tonight will be a good test as Anaheim’s PK is not all that good. The first few man advantage situations will be very interesting to see. That could be the key to a ST. Louis win or loss.
We will see you tonight on THE PROGRAM at 8pm ET tonight. Get ready and get primed to recap Week 1 and look ahead at Week 2.
