Studs

Young Sharp Sabres

In the recent days the Buffalo Sabres have recalled T.J. Brennan, Zack Kassian, Brayden McNabb and Corey Tropp from the Rochester Americans (AHL). Kassian and McNabb add some grit and size as well as offensive pop into Buffalo's lineup. On the heels of Luke Adam's resurgent two goal preformance last night aginast the Washington Capitals, Kassian netted his first and McNabb looked quite solid as the Sabres downed the Caps 5-1.

In Keeper Leagues, I hope you got one of these four call-ups because especially Kassian and McNabb look like dandies. In one-year leagues just keep an eye on them.


Veteran Renaissance

Petr Sykora and Erik Cole have come to my attention in recent games. In the last 10 games, Sykora has six points which may not sound like alot but he has been playing well with Elias and Zubrus (both considered to be having fine seasons). Sykora was a steal for the Devils as a training camp tryout signing and could be as an injury call-up or as a signing in deep leagues. Sykora's half a point per game pace is what you should expect with occasional multi-point nights. He was held off the scoresheet against the Islanders most recently.

Cole has more appeal in leagues that have shots on goal but the hyped off-season signing by the Habs has been picking up the pace lately. The Canadiens overtime loss to the Penguins is no exception, Cole has nine points in nine games after a slow start. Jump on him for a boost for this season while you can since he might still be under-valued.

Changing of the Guard

Last night the trend continued with Canuck goalie Roberto Luongo watching Cory Schneider win four straight in strong fashion and Jhonas Enroth sealing another win in place of injured starter Ryan Miller in Buffalo.

Probably the most shocking is upstart Enroth's staking his claim to a NHL crease and looking like a young legitimate NHL starter most nights. Despite his lack of size that most up-and-coming netminders have Enroth has the structure and knowledge of how to utilize his talents to provide solid goaltending. As long as Miller is out with a concussion, expect Enroth to play well most nights. Even once Miller comes back, don't drop Enroth because the two may split time as they were before Miller got hurt and was still struggling. Enroth has a shown he likely has a future as a starter somewhere in the NHL. His performance against the Capitals last night was just more confirmation of that future for Enroth.

Cory Schneider has been a constant source of goaltending controversy in Vancouver the last few years with many views varying between that he should be given the starting role to a flight out of town as trade bait for the Canucks. The way that Luongo has played this year with sputters and starts has gone on even longer than it usually does. Schneider has looked very focused and provided consistency in the crease, which the Canucks have been lacking in their play as a whole. Schneider was superb last night against the Blackhawks and expect him to have a starting role soon if he has not already got one. If he has usurped Luongo's throne than the question becomes what do they do with Roberto's huge contact or do they risk their next few seasons with a shaky goaltender as their starter.

Honorable mention- welcome back to the NHL Paul Szczechura, who had two assists last night for the Sabres.

Mike Smith had another shutout and looks to be not as risky as many had thought since Tippett's defensive system is still in place.

Say what you want about the Canadiens and Penguins game but, another game and another point for James Neal. Neal hasn't got enough credit this year for his great production with and without Malkin and Crosby. He is at a whole other level from his time in Dallas it seems.

Duds

Ovechkin

Last night it was painfully obvious that perhaps Nicklas Backstrom's creativity is responsible more than we thought for much of Ovechkin's success. Suddenly he can hardly create anything off of the rush and defenders stay strong on him with gap control. Most of Ovechkin's points come off of the cycle and are usually courtesy of a nice dish from his teammates. Ovechkin is undoubtedly talented but it seems teams are taking advantage of the lack vision and patience in his game.

Someone, if not the Great Eight himself, needs to think about how to make Ovechkin less predictable and more dynamic offensively. Maybe his first few years were the byproducts of teams not having seen a player with Ovechkin's size, speed and individual skill. Now most NHL teams have adjusted and if Ovechkin is going to ever be near 100 points again, something has to give in Washington.

Kari Lehtonen's Injury aka the Dallas Stars

Kari Lehtonen has been the main reason for the Stars early successes and unfortunately last night he left the ice hobbling against the Phoenix Coyotes. Stars backup, Andrew Raycroft came in with the game scoreless and afterward remained winless this season. If Lehtonen's LBI is serious, the Stars may be in a dire situation with no goalies in their system that can play near the caliber of Lehtonen any time soon.

Mental Lapses Costing Games

This is not a one night occurrence by any means in the NHL that poor decision making has cost teams games. However for the Winnipeg Jets it has unfortunately been a staple of their game all season long. Oduya has made some well-recorded blunders in his own end a few times this year and last night Evander Kane shot the puck into Brad Marchand as he tried to keep the puck from leaving the zone with the Pavelec pulled for the extra attacker. Standing two feet away at the time of Kane's decision, Marchand took a few strides and potted the empty netter. The Jets have a lot of fight in them but keep taking themselves out of games or making them fight more than they should by momentary lapses that cost them. The Jets had led 2-0 in the first period before eventually falling 3-2 to Boston.

Kids in Edmonton

Much like Ovechkin, Taylor Hall has to balance recklessness and constant attack with being unpredictable especially on the rush. The Oilers have been great on the cycle most of this year but they've had too many games were they come out with nothing like last night's 5-2 loss to the Colorado Avalanche. Expect Hall to get some good coaching to remedy this issue.

Dishonorable mention

Florida's big line of Fleischmann-Weiss-Versteeg were shutout last night in the Panthers 5-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning. The trio was a combined -6 on the night.

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Dobber Hockey Columbus Blue Jackets Forum Writer

Co-Commish of DTDL and UNFHL

Member of UHL, UDHL and LOFHL

http://twitter.com/#!/GGuthe

Nice work, guthey.

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League: Yahoo 20 Team Dynasty, H2H (4C, 8W, 6D, 1G)
Cats: +/-, FOW, A, G, GWG, PPP, SHP, SOG, S, SPct, W, GAA

C: Benn,Kopitar,J.Staal,Strome
W: Atkinson,Bennett,Brunner,Conacher
Huberdeau,Kessel,Seguin,Selanne
D: Beaulieu,DeKeyser,Despres,D.Hamilton,Leopold,Salo
G: J.Howard
Bench: Braun,B.Flynn,B.Gordon - J.Bernier,O.Pavelec,V.Stalberg
Prospects: Andrighetto,V.Arvidsson,Filatov,G.Carey,K.Flanagan,Kabanov,Lehtera,Omark,Ritchie,
R.Schwartz,Shalunov,Stransky,
Clendening,Deslauriers,Gauthier-Leduc,J.Morrow,R.Murphy,Petrovic,Reilly, -- M.Hackett

Solid work

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Follow me on twitter: @pharling
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Thanks for the feedback. I appreciate it. Hope you all could gain new insights from it. Hopefully more will follow.

__________________
Dobber Hockey Columbus Blue Jackets Forum Writer

Co-Commish of DTDL and UNFHL

Member of UHL, UDHL and LOFHL

http://twitter.com/#!/GGuthe