Peckham has been a beast in every game I've watched. They need more guys like him. Not so much skilled, but he definitely brings it on a nightly basis and is one of the few guys I've actually seen stand up for his teammates this year. They need more guys like him who can get after it physically. I think he can be a fan favourite for a long time if they keep him around.

For Gilbert I wonder if slapping the "A" on him with Hemsky out was a factor. I pretty much agree with your assessment, one of his better games but still not a great showing. I just think he's way too soft and loses way too many battles in the corner, which on this team can be deadly.

How about Smid tonight? Looked completely lost. I wonder if he's still shaking out the cobwebs from that concussion.

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Last night's final 3 minutes vs the Avs was awesome. I jumped out of my seat and cheered when Hall got that goal from Jordan "You Shall Not Steal This Puck" Eberle.

For a team that has only won 6 games all year and was outplayed for most of the game as well, it was fun to at least see a glimpse of what the team could maybe? do down the road.

Ditto!

I was very pleased with Eberle last night. Puck possession has always been one of Eberle's strengths so it's good to see he's figuring out how to use his body to shield the puck until the lane opened up. That play at the end wasn't the only time I'd seen him employing those skills last night.

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Nice to hear some positives about the Oilers finally. Call it a hunch but I think that Hall goal might be like a psychological dam breaking - strongly considering grabbing him in my one year league, just on that speculation.

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Yahoo weekly starts 12 team league, keep 17 plus farm

GS, W, L, SV, GAA, SV%, SO G, A, P, +/-, PIM, SOG, GWG, PPP, SHP, HITS, FOW

3C: H. Sedin,Stepan, Stastny, R. Johansen, Hanzal, Anisimov,
3LW: Burrows, Vanek, Ott, Lupul, Dubinsky
3RW: Doan, Pavelski, Brown, Okposo,
6D: Franson, Doughty, Voynov, Subban, Markov, Gonchar, Karlsson
1Util:
2G: Price, Emery


Farm: (< 100 games): S. Elliott, J. Bernier, Galchenyuk, Etem, Eakin, Atkinson

I hope that this is the dam breaking but I'm not so sure. One thing I've really noticed about him thus far is that he's struggled being able to get shots off and get them on goal consistently. He's getting a lot of pucks knocked off his stick before he can shoot or he's having shots blocked or just plain missing the net. This is especially true on the rush where he is still holding onto the puck way too long forcing the issue rather than passing or dumping it in. He's making improvements in all these facets though. So as he and really Eberle for that matter start to really figure out how to be more effective out there then you'll see their scoring chances mounting and his SOG will go up, which innevitably will lead to more goals.

Right now Hall is shooting 10%, which is respectable but he's only getting off 2.38 shots per game, which for a goal scorer like him strikes me as low.

I like to use Stamkos as a comparable because I like to aim high. Stamkos really struggled in the first half of his rookie campaign. Not until late mid to late February did things really start to click for him. For Stamkos, if there was a moment that rookie season where the dam broke it was probably the night of his first career hattrick on February 17th. Stamkos only fired 181 shots on goal that season and managed only 23 goals and 46 points but from the game he scored that hattrick onward you can note a marked improvement in the rate with which he both got shots on net and with which he recorded points.

Now could that big winner be the moment where things really start to click for Hall? I sure hope so, but what's really going to get it done is for Hall to more consistently get pucks on net. It's a simple concept but one that cannot be ignored. I've already noticed Hall improving in this area and it's showing in the numbers. I fully acknowledge the small sample size being used but Hall has improved SOG numbers in this his second month vs. the first month of the season. I wouldn't normally throw this in since I'm sure the results wouldn't be significantly different but it does back up what I've noticed from watching the games so I feel compelled to throw it out there.

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Looking forward to the game Wednesday and counting on your for a game report. I'll be reporting on the Habs side.

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UHL Calgary Flames
24-team H2H (roto G, A, GWG, SHP, PPP, PIM, +/, SOG, Hits, Blks, FOW, W, SV, SV%, GAA, SO)

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Yeah thats a matchup I always look forward to.

Sorry for the lack of updates lately i'm in the final week of whats been the craziest work schedule of my life(12hour night-shifts for 4months) so things have been hectic.

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10 Team Roto Keeper League; 20 Keepers; Start 3C,3LW,3RW,1U,5D,2G
Stats: G,A,Pts,ppg,ppa,pims,+/- ; W,sv%,svs
C: Sedin, Kopitar, Krejci, J.Stall, Stastny, Galchenyuk
LW: Sedin, Hall, Vanek, Prust, Dubinsky
RW: Seguin, Pacioretty, Clarkson, Kassian
D: Subban, Doughty, Kronwall, J.Johnson, Faulk
G: Price, Quick, Varlamov, Vokoun

Nov 29 vs Sens recap

Big win tonight to start the road trip. Martin Gerber wins his 2nd straight start and looked damn good doing it. Very calm in net and made key saves. The breakaway save on Alfredsson's shorthanded breakaway may have been a game saver.

Good news for MPS owners, whenever Hemsky returns MPS may get another shot on his wing, not as a reward for his play but the trio of Cogliano-Brule-Penner has been very good and will not be split up anytime soon. The effort level of Cogs and Brule really forces Penner to step it up and it's paid off on the score-sheet.

Hall-Horcoff-Eberle had a decent game, nothing too exciting but they cycled the puck well at times and didn't look out of place matched up against the Sens top players. Nice to see them get rewarded with an empty net goal after a perfectly executed breakout(something I havent seen much of from Edm this year)

The powerplay continues to struggle without Hemsky, but thats to be expected. No update on Hemskys injury, theres been rumors it could be more serious then the Oilers are suggesting, but there's no evidence to support that. Hemsky said himself it's just a groin pull, and surprisingly it's his first groin pull in his career so he's taking it slow.

I would like to formally apologize to every person that I told in the last few weeks to dump Tom Gilbert. He now has 5pts in 5gms and seems to be playing with confidence. He's still prone to defensive lapses, but his offensive decision making has been much better. I wont go as far as to suggest everyone should go grab him off the FA list, but keep an eye on him.

next up; Carey Price and some other guys in Red and Blue.

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10 Team Roto Keeper League; 20 Keepers; Start 3C,3LW,3RW,1U,5D,2G
Stats: G,A,Pts,ppg,ppa,pims,+/- ; W,sv%,svs
C: Sedin, Kopitar, Krejci, J.Stall, Stastny, Galchenyuk
LW: Sedin, Hall, Vanek, Prust, Dubinsky
RW: Seguin, Pacioretty, Clarkson, Kassian
D: Subban, Doughty, Kronwall, J.Johnson, Faulk
G: Price, Quick, Varlamov, Vokoun

Hah hah I was thinking the same thing about Gilbert. I wish they could dump him though...

Oh God, me too. Don't like his salary or his play in his own end. That being said it isn't like there are really any better options coming up the pipeline.

Also with Gilbert in terms of fantasy value, I'm people realized how to apply your recommendation for a drop. It's all about understanding the dynamic of your league. If you play in a really deep league where a 30 point defenseman is valuable then you probably shouldn't have been jumping ship on Gilbert. All it takes is a few hot streaks like this with a point or two sprinkled in between and he gets you to 30 points. On the other hand if you play in a league where 40 point defensemen are borderline worth owning, which is a lot of mine, then Gilbert is a guy that you should be cycling through your lineup depending on whether he is hot or not and the number of moves you are allowed to make. Guys like Gilbert, Timonen, Zidlicky all fall into this category. When they are hot or have a favourable schedule you pick them up and then drop them when they cool off. Finally there are leagues where only 45+ point defensemen are valuable and in this case only the cream of the crop should be owned. In both of the latter cases Gilbert should have been dropped long before you made any recommendations so it's just poor timing that he wound up putting this little streak together right after you said something.

What I'm hoping is that people recognize how guys like Gilbert don't produce consistently and rather that it comes in bursts so figure out which of the three leagues you consider yourself in and react accordingly.

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