Our Michael Hurcomb takes time out to review some intriguing storylines from the season's first few months that should be of interest to Fantasy owners.
What should Fantasy owners do with Steve Mason?
Coming into the season I was tempted to put Mason on my busts list since I figured there was no way he was going to live up to last season's numbers. However, I refrained because I defined the term "bust" as a player that wouldn't live up to his draft status. I still felt Mason would be a No. 1 Fantasy goalie.
Man, do I wish I could get a do-over because I would look like a genius.
Before Monday's shutout against the Red Wings, Mason was 10-13-5 with a 3.40 goals-against-average, .887 save percentage and one shutout. He had also been pulled from net five times, including twice in December.
Talk about your sophomore slump for the reigning Calder Trophy winner (top rookie).
What has been the issue in Columbus? It's been a little of the Blue Jackets undercutting expectations and Mason just slipping up in net.
The biggest issue plaguing Mason this season has been his propensity to allow soft goals. Last season, he was making big save after big save and standing on his head. We are not sure what has changed, but Mason looks more like a backup goalie than All-Star netminder. He is putting in the extra work during practice, but nothing is paying off for Mason.
On the other hand, the support in front of him hasn't been there either. The Blue Jackets' seven-most used defensemen -- Anton Stralman, Jan Hejda, Kris Russell, Fedor Tyutin, Marc Methot, Rostislav Klesla and Mike Commodore -- are all minus-5 or worse. In fact, the Blue Jackets have only four skaters above even.
Coach Ken Hitchcock had no choice but to remove Mason from being Columbus' No. 1 goalie. He will now share time in net with Mathieu Garon. The philosophy is simple -- you win, you are in. Hitchcock hopes this is the motivation Mason needs. Columbus did trade away Pascal Leclaire last season because they wanted to put all its resources behind Mason.
As for Fantasy purposes, Mason probably has settled into a role as a No. 2 Fantasy goalie. If he makes your goalie situation unstable, then you might have to trade some of your forward depth to shore up your goalie situation.
I had one Fantasy owner write into me and said he traded Joe Thornton and Mike Cammalleri for Roberto Luongo and Daniel Alfredsson because he was an unfortunate Mason owner.
Desperate times call for desperate measures.
Is Mathieu Schneider done as a high-end Fantasy defenseman?
When Vancouver signed Schneider in the offseason it seemed like a match-made in heaven.
The Canucks were shoring up a weakness with a veteran presence, and Schneider found a home with a contender. If there is one thing we have learned about Schneider through the years is that he did his best work playing for a top Stanley Cup challenger.
Take the 2008-09 season for example. Schneider landed on his feet in Atlanta after Anaheim had to cut some salary from their blue line. Atlanta wanted Schneider to mentor 2008 first-round pick Zach Bogosian, but the veteran blueliner didn't want to play babysitter. His play suffered before being dealt to Montreal. Once with the Canadiens, Schneider returned to being an effective offensive blueliner and back to being a regular Fantasy contributor.
Vancouver added Schneider, who was coming off shoulder surgery, pretty much for his presence on the power play. As Fantasy owners we had to salivate at the opportunity for Schneider to feed passes to the likes of Daniel Sedin, Henrik Sedin, Ryan Kesler, Kevin Bieksa and Mikael Samuelsson among others.
Unfortunately, it has been a sour investment for the Canucks and Fantasy owners, who drafted Schneider in 74 percent of leagues despite his lingering shoulder issue. Schneider, who made his season debut on Oct. 25, has only two goals and five points in 17 games. He has been a healthy scratch numerous times and is now on an indefinite personal leave while rumors float about a potential retirement.
It would probably make the most sense for Schneider to make his way out of town, but why would Vancouver want to trade him to a team fighting for the same reason -- to win the Stanley Cup. Unless the other team has something Vancouver really covets, Schneider might have to retire or stick it out with the Canucks.
There is considerable risk for Fantasy owners to hold onto Schneider since a resolution could still be weeks away. He clearly is a step behind after missing training camp, and at 40 years old, his conditioning is not what it used to be.
How does the Jason Chimera for Milan Jurcina and Chris Clark trade impact Fantasy?
Try barely.
When the trade moved on the news wire on Monday, you would have thought the Capitals traded Alex Ovechkin. There must have been 100 different stories from a plethora of sources and even the AP edition had a few rewrites.
But no matter how much crazy media coverage this one trade received, it's just not that crucial for Fantasy purposes. It was more a telling sign of the trading season beginning as the March 3 deadline approaches.
The most shocking piece of this deal is Washington trading their captain, Clark. Washington did cut $2 million from their payroll and this was clearly a cap-clearing move in case something comes on the market Washington desperately needs.
I am a little bit intrigued by Clark landing in Columbus. It was just a few seasons ago he scored 30 goals in 2006-07 for the Capitals. But he endured two injury-plagued seasons in 2007-08 and 2008-09 and that allowed other players to step up in his absence. Clark has only four goals and 15 points in 38 games this season.
As we talked about before with Mason, Columbus needs to stop the bleeding somehow. Bringing in a veteran like Clark can help do that. But his veteran presence stands out above the rest of his game. The Blue Jackets scorers are Rick Nash, Kristian Huselius, Antoine Vermette and R.J. Umberger. They are also desperate to get Jakub Voracek and Derick Brassard on track. Clark could probably infuse some offense, but we would be shocked if becomes an elite scorer again.
As for Jurcina, he is a great addition to Columbus' blue line. However, his presence is strictly defensive. Washington had a glut of defensemen and could afford to dump a one-dimensional player like Jurcina. He won't be seeing regular power-play minutes with Columbus, so his Fantasy appeal remains bleak.
Shifting to the Capitals' end of the deal, they wanted a physical forward and they got one in Chimera. Coach Bruce Boudreau called him a "really good energy guy." Notice, he didn't call him a MVP candidate.
Chimera has never managed more than 36 points in a season and has made his bones playing off the lower lines. He has had some good offensive spurts in the past, but he goes cold as fast as he gets hot. Maybe playing in Boudreau's system Chimera will get a few extra scoring chances, but he also isn't going to be the reason you win a Fantasy championship.
How quick do you pull the plug on a struggling rookie?
We all got caught up in the rookie hysteria in October. After players like John Tavares, Michael Del Zotto, James van Riemsdyk and Evander Kane came storming out of the gate, we thought we had another 2005-06 rookie class on our hands. That year, players like Alex Ovechkin, Sidney Crosby, Dion Phaneuf and Brad Boyes all became household Fantasy names in their first NHL season.
Too bad most of the early-season breakout rookies have hit a wall.
Tavares has one goal and two points in his last nine games and needed a sit down with his head coach Scott Gordon to get refocused.
Van Riemsdyk is even in a bigger hole with one goal and three points in his last 20 games and is facing a demotion to the minors.
Kane has only three goals and one assist in his last 20 games and buckled under the pressure when he was moved to the top line after Ilya Kovalchuk went down with an injury.
Del Zotto might be the most disappointing of the bunch since elite defensemen are tough to find in Fantasy. He has one goal, eight points and a minus-17 rating in his last 24 games after opening his career with four goals and 12 points in 14 October contests. New York already demoted rookie blueliner Matt Gilroy to the minors, and coach John Tortorella showed us earlier in December he isn't afraid to send his players, even the veteran ones, a wake-up call.
There are even more examples like Colorado's Ryan O'Reilly and San Jose's Jason Demers.
It's become quite clear that no matter how much the landscape of the NHL has changed in the past decade, game-changing players like Ovechkin and Crosby don't grow on trees. It is a learning process for most first-year skaters.
Rookie skaters should probably be grouped in with your back-end Fantasy forwards and defensemen. They aren't players that need to stay in your lineup through thick and thin. If it looks like they are struggling, bench them or even cut some of the lower-end players. They still don't have established track records, so it's tough to gauge whether their hot starts are a mirage or a preview of what's to come.
Give us a player skating in the World Junior Championships that is a promising long-term keeper?
When you look at the Nashville organization, you just have to be amazed with the way they churn out defensemen. They draft well and then develop well. Players like Shea Weber, Ryan Suter, Cody Franson, Kevin Klein and Dan Hamhuis are all homegrown talents. They know how to evaluate defensive potential and then work with it.
Jonathan Blum is another name in the system right now that has appears to have a bright future in the NHL, but he is not the player I want to talk about. It's Ryan Ellis, who is currently playing with the Canadian junior squad.
Ellis was taken 11th in the 2009 draft, and he might have been a top five selection had he not been 5-10 and a few inches taller. But you still can't overlook his offensive skills.
Ellis is a future quarterback on the power play and has a heavy shot for someone small in stature. He had a career-high 22 goals and 89 points in 57 games for Windsor (OHL) last season. He already has 21 assists and 25 points in 22 games for Windsor in 2009-10.
Unless Ellis really develops on the defensive end this season, we are unlikely to see him in the NHL in 2010-11. Nashville takes a patient approach with their defensemen prospects and that's why Blum is in the AHL and it took Franson so many years to finally break into the NHL.
But with Ellis' promising offensive skills, you would be foolish not to hold onto him in long-term keeper formats.
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