#threads; brent/ilyas

[bookgeekgrrl]

My media this week (4-10 Feb 2024)

top 5 personal HO fave - he was he was super thrilled to be there, had a great time, lost his mind a little & flexed (literally). Incredible.

📚 STUFF I READ 📚

😊 Throuple Honey (Brent Archer) - short, sweet & simple with lots of domestic details

🥰 "Why Don't We Just Kill the Kid In the Omelas Hole" (Isabel J. Kim) - love a skillful response to the classic original story. I just kept saying 'wow. wow.'

😍😍😍 Reread the entirety of Rachel Reid's Game Changers series. I just love them all SO MUCH!!!! 😍😍😍

Game Changer (Game Changers #1) [Scott & Kip]

Merry Christmas Scott & Kip (Game Changers #1.5)

Heated Rivalry (Game Changers #2) [Shane & Ilya] {here's a really great review of this book, which is THEEEE GREATEST rivals-to-lovers story ever!}

My Dinner with Hayden: A Heated Rivalry Short Story (Game Changers #2.5)

Tough Guy (Game Changers #3) [Ryan & Fabian]

Common Goal (Game Changers #4) [Eric & Kyle]

Role Model (Game Changers #5) [Troy & Harris]

The Long Game (Game Changers #6) [Shane & Ilya, Part 2]

🥰 The Supersoldier's Amnesiac Groom (casspeach) - 48K, very canon divergent arranged marriage AU - reread for Stucky Book Club

📺 STUFF I WATCHED 📺

A Word on Words | NPT: Starter Villain - John Scalzi

Hot Ones - Tony Hawk

Hot Ones - Sterling K. Brown

Hot Ones - Mark Ruffalo

Hot Ones - John Oliver

Hot Ones - Barry Keoghan

Hazbin Hotel - s1, e2

D20: Fantasy High: Junior Year - "Mall Madness" (s21, e5)

D20: Adventuring Party - "Can I Offer You a Nice Shrimp in This Trying Time?" (s16, e5)

🎧 PODCASTS 🎧

Desert Island Discs - Graham Nash, musician

⭐ Up First - The Sunday Story: Tiny Desk, Big Stage

⭐ What Next: TBD - Streaming Is Cable Now

The Atlas Obscura Podcast - Taquile Island

Short Wave - Wolves Are Thriving In The Radioactive Chernobyl Exclusion Zone

The Sporkful - Undercover Dining With NY Times Restaurant Critic Pete Wells

Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang - The Top 10 Places We Would Love To Visit

Pop Culture Happy Hour - 2024 Grammys Recap

Vibe Check - Hey, Sis: featuring Audie Cornish

The Atlas Obscura Podcast - Moynaq

Shedunnit - The Green Penguin

Vibe Check - Hell Has Flooded

⭐ It's Been a Minute - Sam Reich on revamping the game show - and Dropout's success as a small streamer

Ologies with Alie Ward - Theoretical & Creative Ecology (SCIENCE & ECOPOETRY) with Madhur Anand

The Atlas Obscura Podcast - Welcome Home

Short Wave - After 20 Years, This Scientist Uncovered The Physics Behind The Spiral Pass

99% Invisible #569 - Between the Blocks

Switched on Pop - Brittany Howard's Chaos Theory (with Brittany Howard)

⭐ Song Exploder - Green Day "Basket Case"

The Assignment with Audie Cornish - Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce: Cultural Supernova

⭐ Throughline - The Scent of History

⭐ The Atlas Obscura Podcast - Kam Wah Chung & Co. Museum

Alt.Latino - The greatest Boleros of all-time

The Sporkful - Deep Dish With Sohla And Ham: Tacos Al Pastor

Today, Explained - When one (airplane) door opens …

Dear Prudence - Is My Work Husband Keeping Me A Secret From His Wife? Help!

Pop Culture Happy Hour - Lisa Frankenstein And What's Making Us Happy

Endless Thread - Recess Therapy's Julian Shapiro-Barnum is skeptical of kids becoming social media stars

⭐ Strong Songs - "In Your Eyes" by Peter Gabriel

Today, Explained - Why Taylor left TikTok

Short Wave - Clownfish Might Be Counting Their Potential Enemies' Stripes

You're Dead to Me - Simón Bolívar

Consider This from NPR - What Makes A Football Movie Great?

It's Been a Minute - A Super Bowl in 'new Vegas'; plus, the inverted purity of the Stanley Cup

Wait Wait… Don't Tell Me! - Lena Waithe

Under the Influence with Terry O'Reilly - Putting the Awe in Audio

🎶 MUSIC 🎶

The Very Best Of Buddy Holly And The Crickets

My Mix #5 [Simon & Garfunkel, Carpenters, John Denver]

Presenting KISS

Presenting Black Sabbath

[iincantatorum]

behindicyblueeyes

“Hm-mm.”

The response might have lead to believe there wasn’t actually a whole lot of interest from Ilyas’ part to have this conversation and in a way, that was true. It wasn’t so much because he wasn’t interested in talking about magic and its possibilities. He did love those kind of things and it was a topic even worth conversing with a stranger about. However, this particular topic – the dead and them living on somehow – just happened to be way painful.

That wasn’t a thing he would admit. Hell, Ilyas would not even admit this to himself, let alone to someone he didn’t know. He hadn’t come to this bar for such thing. He’d come to drink. It was the only thing he ever did and it surely was a lot more fruitful than admitting things to yourself.

Short term, at least.

He shrugged, staring down at his empty glass. “Some people don’t have a legacy yet.” Maybe it was the alcohol that caused him to say just a little more than he had intended to. “Men die,” he just repeated then, as if to make it permanent. 

“Never too late to start a legacy when you’re still living,” he was quick to reply, now glancing over and looking at him carefully. One can assume that there was a certain concern in Brent’s eyes for the man.

“Are you still in mourning?”

Brent won’t force a conversation if the other did not wish to have it. As unapologetic as he can be, he can read social cues and will not spend his energy at places where it won’t be appreciated or yet, tolerated. Not everyone had the gall or capacity to talk about the topic, so he remained silent for a few seconds. 

That led to a rather awkward silence, or yet he thought that it was.

“Life is everything. If you’re alive, then you can still conquer anything you set your mind to. That is what I believe.”

@behindicyblueeyes

[thrashermaxey]

Forum Buzz: Has Laine Peaked?

  Welcome to the first edition of “Forum Buzz,” a column where I dissect some of the most popular recent threads from the DobberHockey Forums. Pretty much everything within the forums might be covered here, with the exception of trades (since those get their own separate write-ups on the site and are usually also covered in the next day’s Ramblings) and signings (since those tend to be covered in Alex McClean’s weekly Capped column). With that out of the way, let’s dive right in!

  Topic #1 – What to do about William Karlsson?

When Karlsson came out of nowhere to post top tier fantasy numbers last season, most poolies figured he’d have a hard time equaling that success for 2018-19. But by the same token, they likely believed his output wouldn’t drop as much as it has. In the forum thread, the discussion centered on the players for whom Karlsson could be traded; but before turning to that question, we need to be able to determine if the “real” William Karlsson is what we’re seeing this season so far, what we saw last season, something in between, or perhaps something better than the 2017-18 version or worse than the 2018-19 version.

  Unfortunately, unlike with most players, we can’t really focus on Karlsson’s outputs from seasons before his breakout 2017-18 campaign, since his role was so different. The exception is IPP or the percentage of points he received on goals scored while he was on the ice since if a player is talented he should have a high IPP regardless of his point total. In Karlsson’s case, his previous full season IPPs were 60.6% and 58.5%, which are not very good for a forward and pale in comparison to his 70.6% from last season. That being said, his IPP this season is still a relatively healthy 67.9%, which at least is one positive sign. But a high percentage of points scored means a lot less if one’s presence on the ice doesn’t lead to goals, and sure enough Karlsson’s 5×5 team shooting percentage last season was a high 10.62%, yet this season it’s a somewhat low 7.37%. Based on this data, I’d probably say the “real” Karlsson might lie closer to what we’re seeing from him for 2018-19.

  While past results don’t automatically apply to present circumstances, let’s also look at other forwards who, like Karlsson and since 2000-01, had 43+ goals and 78+ points in a season by age 25. A total of 15 other forwards met these criteria, with none having failed to again score 66+ points in another season, but four (Jonathan Cheechoo, Simon Gagne, Thomas Vanek, Jeff Carter) failing to post 78+ points in another. So this is good news for Karlsson owners, yes? Maybe not, as everyone else who was on the list had at least 229 SOG in the season where they met the criteria, versus Karlsson’s 181 last season.

  The lowest SOG total from any of the 15 players was Thomas Vanek, whom I think might be the closest comparable to Karlsson, as Vanek was a top-six fixture yet still had a somewhat up and down career and never had 250+ SOG in a season. Some might try to compare Karlsson to Cheechoo, who quickly flamed out; however, that was a case of someone doing well by virtue of playing wing on a line with – and thus riding the coattails of – arguably the top NHL player at the time in Joe Thornton. Karlsson doesn’t fit that bill and seems cut more from the Vanek cloth. The only wrinkle with the comparison is Vanek received more ice time – especially on the PP – than what Karlsson will get, at least as long as Karlsson is playing in a Gerald Gallant system; so whereas Vanek went on to produce 60-70 points most seasons, Karlson might land closer to 60.

  Long story short, I’d use 55-65 points per season as a likely output from Karlsson in future campaigns, with a better chance at going above 65 than below 55. Chances are you can buy him for a lower price than that, while if you’re trying to sell good luck since you’ll likely run into doubting Thomases.

  Topic #2 – Is it reasonable to question whether we’ve already seen the best from Patrick Laine?

Part of what makes the forums so much fun is that “hot takes” can turn into serious discussions. In this thread, for example, names like Nail Yakupov, Alexander Daigle, and Nikita Filatov – each of whom made a splash but quickly faded – were mentioned as possible comparables to Laine. Before dismissing this as ludicrous, consider how ludicrous it must’ve been to think that those three players (especially Yakupov and Daigle) would see their careers not pan out long term after starting off so strong. Could Laine be at risk of being a fantasy fire that is extinguished after burning so bright to start? Let’s see what the data tells us.

  First off, Laine scored 36 goals as an 18-year-old, with Sidney Crosby being the only other player to do so since 1990-91. Moreover, even if Laine doesn’t score another goal this season, he’ll already have more than 100 by age 20. To stress how remarkable that is, since 1990-91 two other players accomplished that same feat – Ilya Kovalchuk (106 goals) and Steven Stamkos (119 goals). Not only that, but both of them did so while playing over 4500 total minutes, whereas Laine will be lucky to break the 4000-minute mark given his deployment.

  So that means he’s golden, right? Maybe; or maybe not. If we go back a couple of seasons further than 1990-91, we see the case of Jimmy Carson, who had 186 points (92 goals) as a teen then 100 more points (49 goals) at age 20…………….before never again scoring 74+ points and being out of the NHL by age 27. Can we liken Laine to Carson? It’s hard to say; but Carson’s fate certainly makes for a negative comparison, which is just as relevant as the positive comparisons to the accomplishments of the likes of Kovalchuk, Stamkos and Crosby.

  As for Laine’s metrics, both his 5×5 team shooting percentage and IPP dropped last season as compared to his rookie campaign and are on pace to drop again this season. While to some degree that means bad luck could be hurting his output, it also does concerningly call into question his effort level. On a positive note, his SOG rate is higher than in any past season, which cuts against him not trying as hard. And despite recently being removed from PP1 perhaps to send him a message, his share of PP minutes is still at 69.2%, so clearly the team values him with the man advantage.

  If I’m a Laine owner, I’m worried. As much as the Stamkos, Kovalchuk and Crosby comparisons are a relief, the Carson comparison is off-putting. Winnipeg is winning despite Laine’s struggles, so the team doesn’t need to bend over backwards to appease him, especially with another young talent like Nicolaj Ehlers, Kyle Connor and Jack Roslovic putting forth the effort – and stats – expected of them. My advice would be if you own Laine you should hold and hope, but I wouldn’t trade for him if his owner expects to get elite value in return – the risk is too great.

  Topic #3 – In a trade, what’s a fair return for Erik Karlsson now?

When you have a player who’s a UFA to be, it’s never easy to place a present value on him since in most cases he could see his value rise or fall depending on where he signs. With Karlsson, however, I think we’ve seen from this season he can be counted on for elite production no matter where he lands, as after a bit of a shaky first couple of months in San Jose he’s turned his season around and played at his usual elite level. In fact, he’s done so well that the question becomes whether that’s occurring now because he’s on a team with another top fantasy d-man in Brent Burns, or whether he’d likely do better going back to being a team’s true #1 rearguard. Let’s look at the numbers.

  For 2018-19, Karlsson’s share of PP minutes is right around the average of what it was the last two seasons in Ottawa, but his overall ice time is down by roughly two minutes from his average over the previous five seasons despite seeing the second highest percentage of minutes on the PK of his career. Despite this, his SOG rate is on pace to be the second highest of his career and his PPPt rate the highest. The result of all this is Karlsson sitting at his usual 70+ point production rate, which I think is the big key to focus upon – to wit, Karlsson is a player who finds a way to produce at his customary rate no matter how he’s used. And at age 28, he’s poised to still stay at an elite level for years to come.

  Given this, what do I think a fair return for Karlsson would be? The forum thread focused on draft picks in a 16 team dynasty league, and I tend to agree with respondents from the thread that getting picks for Karlsson is a bad idea. He’s simply too good and too far above what is considered very, very good for a fantasy d-man for any package of picks to be worthwhile. In fact, short of receiving a top-five netminder or a guaranteed 90+ point younger forward in return, plus perhaps another pick or player as a kicker, Karlsson likely should never be packaged as part of a trade.

  Topic #4 – Is Juuse Saros worth trading for Martin Jones, to try and win now?

In keeper leagues, there are always factors in evaluating trades beyond just how skilled players are. Of these, perhaps the most important is whether you’re in win-now mode or rebuilding, plus how the player's involved figure to factor into their teams’ plans in the near to not so near future. With these things in mind, many Saros owners have been waiting patiently for him to become the #1 goalie on a Nashville team seemingly poised to succeed for many years to come. Prior to this summer, Saros inked a deal for $1.5M per season through 2020-21, while Pekka Rinne, coming off one of his best seasons in 2017-18, was extended – also through the 2020-21 campaign – at $5M per season.

  Going purely by the numbers, this shows Nashville expects Saros to be the back-up. That being said, Rinne will be 37 years old next season, and no age 37+ netminder has played 40+ games since 2013-14. Moreover, since 2010-11, there are a mere two instances of age 37+ goalies who won 30+ games. As such, despite his fatter contract, Rinne might end up ceding the net to Saros prior to 2020-21.

  As for Jones, he just turned 29 and is signed to a contract, which, in terms of amount ($5.75M per season) and duration (through 2023-24) demonstrate the team considers him their top guy, yet also not so high as to exert significant pressure on those who own him in cap keeper leagues. Moreover, in view of his contract, stats, and the lack of near term elite goalie prospects for the Sharks, Jones’ starting job is likely among the most secure in all of the NHL, which in today’s fantasy hockey landscape is far, far less common than it used to be. In terms of how the Sharks compare versus Nashville, on paper they’re an older team which could have trouble playing at the same level in another season or two.

  My take on the situation is I’m parting with Saros to get Jones. For one, even if Rinne fades, he’s still signed for two more years and likely will factor into the picture enough for Saros to put up worse overall stats than Jones for those two years. We also can’t be sure that Saros will be a great goalie once he’s “the guy”, as for all the netminders (like Jones) who were back-ups and then seized the reins once they were given a chance to be a starter, there are far more who faltered. With Jones, you know what you’re getting, which is a solid tier 2 netminder with a stranglehold on his starting gig; and that’s worth moving Saros for not just to win now but also to reap the benefits of Jones for years to come.

  ********

Questions needed for Mailbag column

As a reminder, I’m always seeking questions for my monthly mailbag column, where I answer your fantasy hockey questions. Please continue to send me your questions either by private messaging them to me (rizzeedizzee) via the DobberHockey Forums or by sending an email to admin@dobbersports.com with “Roos Mailbag” as the subject line. My inaugural mailbag column will run two weeks from today, after next week’s tournament/poll.

  from All About Sports https://dobberhockey.com/hockey-home/fantasy-hockey-rick-roos/forum-buzz-has-laine-peaked/

[goarticletec-blog]

NHL coaches dropping like flies as struggling teams search for answers

New Post has been published on https://www.articletec.com/nhl-coaches-dropping-like-flies-as-struggling-teams-search-for-answers/

NHL coaches dropping like flies as struggling teams search for answers

Following a rare season without any coach firings, NHL teams have been quick to drop the axe in 2018-19.

The decision by the Edmonton Oilers to sack head coach Todd McLellan on Tuesday marked the fourth change behind the bench of the young campaign as struggling clubs look to shake things up.

McLellan joins John Stevens (Los Angeles Kings), Joel Quenneville (Chicago Blackhawks) and Mike Yeo (St. Louis Blues) as coaches handed their walking papers this month.

The dismissals of Yeo and McLellan came less than 12 hours apart, with both of their former clubs finding it difficult to gain traction.

The four moves come in stark contrast to the 2017-18 campaign when no coaches were fired in-season for the first time in more than 50 years.

Edmonton general manager Peter Chiarelli said after hiring Ken Hitchcock to replace the deposed McLellan that parity across the NHL — one or two points can be the difference between making or missing the playoffs — is part of the reason for so much movement a quarter of the way into the schedule.

‘I just felt it was time’

“You win a couple games and you’re back in it,” Chiarelli said. “I just felt it was time.”

“Unfortunate as it is, that’s the way it’s trending,” he continued later. “All of us like parity in the league … the margins are thin and you look for edges.”

St. Louis GM Doug Armstrong echoed those sentiments in explaining his decision to replace Yeo with associate coach Craig Berube on an interim basis a few days before U.S. Thanksgiving.

The holiday south of the border is often viewed as an unofficial measuring stick for teams in the playoff chase.

“Ultimately, it comes back to our record,” Armstrong said. “When [Yeo] came in, he was able to jell the team and we went on a nice run. We won a playoff round. We had a good feeling about ourselves.

“That carried over to the next 25 games of [last] season. Then we hit a rut in December and quite honestly we haven’t gotten out of it.”

Big expectations and GMs starting to feel some heat of their own are common threads in the four coach firings.

Edmonton is led by superstar captain Connor McDavid, but had lost six of seven in regulation heading into Tuesday’s game in San Jose against the Sharks.

Failing to give McDavid support

While the Oilers missed the playoffs in two of McLellan’s three seasons in charge, he was far from the only one responsible for the franchise’s issues.

For his part, Chiarelli has made a number of questionable personnel decisions — dealing away Taylor Hall and Jordan Eberle, and signing Milan Lucic among them — that have failed to give McDavid the support he needs.

Armstrong remade the Blues’ forward group this summer by dealing for Ryan O’Reilly and signing Tyler Bozak, Pat Maroon and David Perron in free agency after watching his team miss the playoffs by a point last season.

Ken Hitchcock, who is coming out of retirement to coach the Oilers, is third all-time in victories (823) behind Scotty Bowman (1,244) and Joel Quenneville (890), and fourth in regular-season games coached (1,536). (Ron Jenkins/Associated Press/File)

But St. Louis — which has lost four of five, including consecutive shutout defeats that sealed Yeo’s fate — sits 30th in the overall standings, two points up on last-place Los Angeles.

Edmonton, meanwhile, entered Tuesday in 26th.

“I’m not absolving myself of any responsibility with regards to the team and its current performance or the current slump we’re in,” Chiarelli said. “The same goes for players — they shouldn’t be absolving themselves either.”

One difference in Chicago and Los Angeles is at least those teams have enjoyed recent success.

Not enough recent success

Quenneville won three Stanley Cups in his 10-plus seasons with the Blackhawks, while the Kings won titles in 2012 and 2014, albeit before the promotion of Stevens to head coach.

Salary cap constraints have forced Chicago to repeatedly remake itself around Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, Brent Seabrook and Duncan Keith.

“We need to maximize each and every opportunity with our playoff goals in mind and create continued growth and development throughout our roster at the same time,” Blackhawks GM Stan Bowman said in a statement after firing Quenneville.

Los Angeles also still consists of top-end talent with Hart Trophy finalist Anze Kopitar, Norris Trophy-winning defenceman Drew Doughty, as well as forwards Jeff Carter and Ilya Kovalchuk.

But like the Oilers, the Kings haven’t got enough from their supporting cast.

“You look at training camp and you look at the regular season to where we are now,” Los Angeles GM Rob Blake said when Stevens was shown the door. “The expectations have not been met.”

With four coaches already down and a razor-thin margin for error standings, there could be more than a few sleepless nights for some of the other 27 men behind NHL benches in the coming weeks and months.

Source link

[thrashermaxey]

Ramblings: Injury Updates for Stastny and Patrick; Jan Kovar; Game Recaps; Forum Questions – October 11

  We had a wild game in Canada’s capital Wednesday night that featured a lot of goals and an equal amount of nastiness.

The first note was that not only did Brady Tkachuk score his first career NHL goal, he managed a pair of them. Truth be told, his power play unit looked much better than the first one and they even started earning some extra ice time. It was a nice game all around for the rookie.

It was the Philly top line that really showed up in this one, though. One night after getting embarrassed at home, Jakub Voracek had a pair of goals and five points, Claude Giroux had one and one, Sean Couturier added another tally en route to a 7-4 win.

The Flyers blue line did a lot of work on the scoresheet as Shayne Gostisbehere had two assists, Radko Gudas had three, while Robert Hagg scored his second goal of the season. Hagg only had three all of last year.

Maxime Lajoie continued his torrid start for Ottawa adding another two goals and assist to his stellar performance so far this season. He also earned over 20 minutes for the second time in four games, playing at least 18:30 in all four contests to date. Of all the early-season goings on, the rookie blue liner having five points in four games has to be near the top of the list.

*

Nolan Patrick seemed to be injured after a hit in the first period and only played a few minutes in Wednesday night’s game. He left the game, did not return, and the team is calling it an upper-body injury. We may know more on Thursday.

*

Ryan Kesler made a surprise return for the Ducks as he had not been cleared medically as of Wednesday afternoon but was in the lineup Wednesday night. If you drafted him, now is the time to activate him. With Getzlaf still injured, he should see a lot of ice time.

Patrick Eaves’s progress continues. He’s not ready for game action yet but he’s not having any setbacks, which is a good sign. Anaheim needs all the help they can get, and as soon as possible.

Staying with Anaheim, Ryan Getzlaf won’t be returning just yet for the Ducks. GM Bob Murray said he could be back next week. Fantasy owners will need to exercise some patience here.

Updates on the Arizona-Anaheim game in the morning.

*

We had a rematch of the Stanley Cup Final with Vegas going into Washington. The Caps would prevail 5-2 largely thanks to their power play.

This was the Evgeny Kuznetsov show all game long. He made a couple of very nice plays to set up Alex Ovechkin for a pair of goals. His best was probably this one, using his edges and exercising patience, waiting for the lane to open:

  Alex Ovechkin one-times home Evgeny Kuznetsov's pass to score his 610th career goal and tie Bobby Hull for 17th place on the NHL's all-time scoring list! #ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/jKx947K5tZ

— NHL Daily 365 (@NHLDaily365) October 11, 2018

  Kuznetsov figured in all four goals, having one tally and three assists. Two of the team’s four goals came with the man advantage.

One important note from this game on the Vegas side of things: about mid-way through the third period, needing a goal, the Golden Knights stacked their top PP unit with the top line, Max Pacioretty, and Shea Theodore. They have always used to separate PP units with nearly equal ice time. It could have just been for this game needing a goal, but it’s something to monitor in the coming games.

*

Paul Stastny will miss a few games with a lower-body injury. It doesn’t seem too serious for now but fantasy owners will have to make do in the short-term with a bench option.

For what it’s worth (probably a lot), Bob McKenzie said last night it could me more of a week-to-week thing. We shall see.

*

Niklas Kronwall should be back Thursday while Dennis Cholowski, Trevor Daley, and Jonathan Ericsson will be out. This is quite the start to the season for the Detroit blue line, injury-wise.

*

Well, that didn’t take long:

  #Isles place Jan Kovar on unconditional waivers.

— Andrew Gross (@AGrossNewsday) October 10, 2018

  Too bad it didn’t work out. The Islanders need all the help they can get.

*

We’re a week into the season. We have a couple dozen weeks left. What is true today will not necessarily be true tomorrow, or a week from now, or a month from now.

That doesn’t mean there aren’t some early surprises. Sometimes these surprises lead to good things – Jake DeBrusk looking great early in 2017-18 bode well for his season – and sometimes they’re meaningless.

Here are a few things early in the season that are surprising, at least to me. This is as of Wednesday afternoon, so we’re not counting Wednesday night’s games.

  Patrick Kane leads the league in shot attempts

Not only does the dynamic Chicago winger lead the league in shot attempts (34), he’s done so playing just three games whereas names like Evander Kane (32), Mitch Marner (25), and John Tavares (25) have all played four games.

It’s not necessarily a surprise that Kane is among the league leaders in this regard; he did finish top-10 last year. But that top-10 finish had him 260 attempts behind first place (Brent Burns). That margin of 260 was roughly half of Kane’s final total (515). So, yeah, he normally shoots a lot, but he doesn’t shoot this much.

The thing is, Kane is averaging a lot of ice so far as well, clocking in just shy of 22:30 a game. He won’t keep up over six shots per game, but if he maintains anywhere near that level of ice time, don’t be surprised to see a career-best shot total come from his campaign.

  Los Angeles looks awful.

It has been kind of a tough schedule to open, with games against Winnipeg and San Jose bookending a game with Detroit. But the Kings have been outshot a total of 110-63 in those three games. If they fancy themselves as contenders, this is not the impression to make out of the gate.

Their showing so far is a bit surprising, at least to me. Adding Ilya Kovalchuk and having a healthy Jeff Carter was supposed to make a difference. They’re older players, sure, but still very good. Team depth is an issue but the top half of the roster up front and on the blue line still looks solid. And they were throttled by Detroit, only being bailed out by their goaltending. Not a recipe for long-term success.

  Alex Edler is second among defencemen in PP points

Given that we knew Morgan Rielly would be running the new-look Leafs PP, his leading the league’s defencemen in PP points isn’t a surprise. Edler having three PPs himself, however, is.

Vancouver has looked probably as expected to most: the top line is snakebit early but looks fine, Elias Pettersson looks fantastic, and the rest of the team looks pretty bad. But that top line, with Elias Pettersson, is all Edler needs to have fantasy value.

Power play points are going to be crucial for Edler moving forward and despite the early success, the team is struggling for shot generation. This is something to keep an eye on over the next couple weeks. If Edler can manage a few more PPs in the next five or six games, and shot generation for the Canucks doesn’t improve, that would be the time for fantasy owners to trade him. That injury history is always lurking in the shadows anyway.

  Speaking of Vancouver, don’t be fooled by Loui Eriksson’s start

Three points in three games for the veteran winger is a nice way to begin the campaign. He also has one (1!) shot on goal in those three games and has been given fewer than 12 minutes per game in that span. I’m sure a lot of people will point to the HE PLAYS WITH PETTERSSON sign, but those minutes cannot sustain fantasy value for anyone playing anywhere.

If you have Eriksson on your roster, chances are he was a throwaway pick very late in a deep draft. Maybe you can trade him for something useful now because if his role doesn’t improve, he’ll have no value in a month.

  *

It’s still early so there isn’t really a lot to discuss, especially on slow three-game nights like Wednesday night. I thought I would dig through the Dobber forums and answer some questions posed there.

  Question 1: Buchnevich or Labanc, points-only?

Question taken from here.

To me, this isn’t close. In my preseason projections, I had Buchnevich at 55.0 points even and Labanc at 45.6 points. There has been nothing so far this season that makes me think Labanc can increase his scoring by 25 percent to become the better option.

Yes, Labanc is off to a great start with five points in four game. He’s also still playing roughly as many minutes as he did last year and unless San Jose sustains four or five more key injuries, he won’t come anywhere close to the top PP unit.

Buchnevich, on the other hand, is earning about a minute more per game so far this season compared to 2017-18 and will be on the top PP unit. There is a disparity in the quality of the teams but that top line for the Rangers is still very good and as long as Buchnevich remains in his current role, he’s the superior points-only option.

  Question 2: Brendan Gallagher or Elias Lindholm? Scoring: Goals (4), Assists (3), Hits (0.25), SHG (2), SOG (0.5), PPP (1)

Question taken from here.

My preseason projections had Gallagher ahead of Lindholm in goals (27.6 to 17.1) but the disparity in assists brought their point totals fairly close with Gallagher still having a small edge (53.6 to 51.3). The projection for Lindholm was done with the assumption that he’d play 50 percent of the season on the top line and 50 percent of the season in the middle-6 while bouncing between the two PP units.

This is clearly all about Lindholm’s role. He’s skating with Johnny Gaudreau and Sean Monahan both at five-on-five and on the PP. If that sustains itself for the vast majority of the season, rather than just half the season, that will more than make up for the disparity in shots on goal in this scoring format. If he’s off the top line and top PP unit by American Thanksgiving, though, Gallagher has the clear edge.

As noted by FHG in that particular forum thread, Lindholm likely has the coach’s trust given his early usage and their prior relationship. This gives the edge to Lindholm for however long he maintains his role.

  Question 3: A lot of people are bailing on Kevin Shattenkirk

There were multiple questions about him.

I understand the desire to get ahead of this before it snowballs out of control, seeing as he played under 10 minutes in the team’s last game and looks to be a healthy scratch on Thursday.

Here’s the thing: this is a new coach sending a message to a young team. Expectations aren’t high for the Rangers but an NHL coach doesn’t think in terms of losing. They have to mix winning with developing younger players. This is a message to the younger players that says ‘Even if you’re a 10-year veteran all star, if you don’t pull your weight, we’ll find someone else that will.’ Shattenkirk cracked 20 minutes in each of the first two games before that insane 8-5 game in Carolina.

Don’t bail on Shattenkirk. He’ll be back after the Thursday scratch and back in his usual role. If other people in your league are looking to bail on him, now is the time to buy him for cheap.

from All About Sports https://dobberhockey.com/hockey-rambling/ramblings-injury-updates-for-stastny-and-patrick-jan-kovar-game-recaps-forum-questions-october-11/