News and Notes + Site News

A couple of quick news items of fantasy interest:

-Petr Sykora made his return last night and was skating on a line with Evgeni Malkin and Jordan Staal. Though the line was 0's in the box score Sykora added a jump and depth to that line that was lacking previously. He also played on the first powerplay unit.

-Also from the Pittsburgh game the Sidney Crosby line continued to evolve. Satan played Sidney's right wing and Tyler Kennedy and Pascal Dupuis split time on the left side. It will be interesting to see how this all plays out.

-Final note on Pittsburgh. Though he hasn't scored since his first game Alex Gologoski is really starting to settle in in his role as pointman on the first powerplay unit. The unit has been quiet but not for a lack of trying, and really appeared to be gelling in the third period last night.

-The Sharks could very well be the most complete team in hockey this year. They appear to have finally found a balance between first and second line scoring and have the ability to move the puck on defense better then at any time in the history of the franchise. If Rob Blake, Devin Setoguchi or Jonathan Cheechoo are available in your league, now may be the time to grab them.

-Kristian Huselius is selfish and lazy. Nash had 9 shots last night but it wasn't because Huselius was a good linemate. At every turn Huselius wold shoot when he should pass, skate in on the off wing and make lazy undirected passes. RJ Umberger also looks lost on this line at the moment.

-Kipprusoff's performance thus far (15 goals in 3 games) is not unprecedented as he looked like this for stretches of last season as well. I'm worried about Calgary's chances this year.

-I'm less worried about Anaheim. Though they and Giguere have been lit up so far this season I expect them to bounce back once their defense gets rolling. Which brings me to...

Site news:

-Tomorrow I will be debuting a new weekly feature to BTT: Breaking the Slump. Each week I'll analyze a player or player who is slumping and give you my advice on whether to bench, drop or keep them rolling. The subject of our first Breaking the Slump J.S. Giguere.

-Also, coming later today the second Two Minute Minor, the new weekly from our contributor Nick Giammona. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.