Fellow Dobberites, please allow me to take this opportunity to introduce myself. My name is Sami and I will be your source for all things Carolina.

I have played semi-professional and varsity soccer, varsity football, and varsity rugby. Sadly, I only started skating later in life so my hockey has been limited to house leagues. Still, the good ol' hockey game is by far my favourite sport to watch, especially come spring. Two years ago I set a goal for myself: to see a game in each of the NHL's thirty cities. So far I have been to Ottawa, Toronto, Buffalo, Vancouver, San Jose, Los Angeles, Anaheim and Florida.

Fantasy sports became a part of my life about six years ago. Oddly, I only started playing one-year pools after I was about three years into my first keeper. I am now the commissioner of my own pool (in sig) as well as playing in six others, including the DTDL where I compete against such Dobber legends as Praba and GMGates.

Well that will be all for now. I hope to have my first hockey-related post up for you within the next couple of days. I am not yet decided on the structure for this section but I suspect that it will be primarily game recaps, line combos, and fantasy observations. I hope to intersperse the foregoing with news tidbits and prospect reports as well. If you thirst for knowledge regarding a specific aspect of Canes' hockey, or if you feel that this section could be improved by a different approach, please PM me and I will do my best to follow up within a reasonable time frame.

Welcome to the team Sami!

Glad to have you

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Gates Imbeau
Assistant Manager - DobberSports.com
Writer - Fantrax.com
Regular Guest - The York Report via NextSportStar.com
Email: gates@dobbersports.com
Twitter: @GM_Gates

My best advice for a structure for this thread: don't have one. Do what your heart tells you do to and speak your mind in whatever way you want. Over time you'll develop your own style and structure.

Best of luck!

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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)

Capped article archive

Montreal Canadiens coverage

Twitter:@DH_EricDaoust.

Welcome Aboard KK. Looks like you have a lot to offer and the Canes' organization is one of the most interesting ones in the NHL. Their prospect cupboard is stocked full of talented kids and it should be interesting to see who comes out on tough.

Good luck

Welcome aboard Sami

Now with that said, tell me what the hell I should do with Drayson Bowman, I feel I have owned him forever...

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I like Jussi Jokenin, dissect everything about his game for me and tell me he's a 60+ player for years to come

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Gates Imbeau
Assistant Manager - DobberSports.com
Writer - Fantrax.com
Regular Guest - The York Report via NextSportStar.com
Email: gates@dobbersports.com
Twitter: @GM_Gates

Welcome aboard. Will be great to get some Carolina perspectives
would love to hear about eric staal. Seems like we see awesomeness every other or every 3 games. I say this for fantasy aspect

Also what happened to dwyer?

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12 team H2H Keeper League
g/a/+-/PIM/PPP/SHP/SOG/W/GAA/SV%/SHO
play 4c/4lw/4rw/6d/2g (2min start)
Center: Datsyuk, Getzlaf, Marleau, Ribiero, Brian Boyle
RW: Hossa, Horton, Downie, Franzen, vrbata, Cole
LW: Kovalchuk, D.Sedin, Semin, Fleischmann,
Defense : Enstrom, E.Johnson, Goligoski, Wisniewski, Hamilton
Goalies: Lundqvist, Brodeur, S.Mason, Garon

Farm noteables: Niederreiter, Avtsyn, Greiss, Frazee, Kinkaid

Hopping on quickly and figured I'd reply to your messages! I'll be posting a couple of game recaps tonight so if you're interested in the Canes, do check back later tonight or tomorrow.

Thanks for the advice, Eric. Much appreciated.

Bang on Deaner. That's precisely what got me following the Canes in the first place. While they lack high-end talent in terms of forward prospects (Skinner excepted), they have some very intriguing options on the blue line and a decent crop of goalies in the system. And that's not to knock their forwards. I could see quite a few of the boys down in Charlotte making the transition to the NHL, though in what capacity remains to be seen. Given the make-up of this team (from the major roster there are only three forwards, three D-men, and two goalies under contract for next year), I plan to spend a considerable amount of time digging up information on the Hurricanes' youth.

haha I too feel that way. My advice to you would depend a lot on your league format. Check back here periodically as I plan to give an update on Bowman in the next couple of weeks. Two quick comments for now though: he's been playing well but has generally been unlucky this year, and his numbers have taken a serious hit since he hurt his knee in early December.

I would love to tell you that Jokinen is a 60+ player for years to come. Do I think that he has the talent to do it? Yes. Do I think that he will? That's tough to say... who knows if he'll even be in Carolina next year? He's certainly due for a significant raise from his current 1.7M. Not only is he scoring at a seventy-point pace, he's capable of lining up at centre or on the wing, plays PP and PK, AND he's been defensively dependable as evidenced by him recently playing on the third line with Sutter and Dwyer (before Dwyer got hurt). I can't imagine that there are many players with that versatility hitting the FA market this summer...

Well I'm not sure why the beef with Staal? He's had points in fifteen of his last twenty, with eleven goals, nine assists and twenty-six penalty minutes over that span. Aside from the -5, what's not to like?

As for Dwyer, I can't find much info on him. All that's being disclosed right now is that the injury happened against Pittsburgh and it is a "lower body" injury. He has previously torn his MCL so hopefully it's not his knee. I'll continue to scour though and post if/when I find something. I'll also try to re-watch the Pittsburgh game tonight to see if I can spot where it happens.

Glad to see someone cover the Canes. Not one of my favorite teams or anything, but I really do enjoy watching some of their players (Ward, Staal, Skinner, McBain) and they've got a great looking future.

Canes are one of my favourite random teams to watch. This is probably due to the fact that I've been absolutely smitten with Eric Staal ever since he helped rip the Cup away from my Oilers. I also like that while they are never dominant but always seem to play a good brand of offensive hockey. They also have some big time clutch performers when they do make the playoffs.

Anyways, I've got a question here somewhere... Ahhh, yes... Jeff Skinner, better on the wing or at center? I know he's played both but I'm curious if you, Sami, noted where he performed the best.

I'm also curious what happened to the 4 forward PP unit they used for a while with Staal playing the right point and Skinner on the right half boards. That unit was dominant in the couple games I watched with Staal and Skinner showing particularly good chemistry. Where'd it go?

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