Fantasy Hockey Scouts: Daily Dosage - Oct 22nd, 2009

Dosage Express
Kaptain Koivu to the rescue... Down go da Brooons... Moulson hot but not hot... Could Kulikov be heading back to Junior?... Myers is a keeper... Concussions all-round... JoePa P.I.

Daily Diarrhea  

Mikko Koivu seemed to enjoy his new jersey with the C on his chest last night as the Wildmen's new captain had 1+1=2 with 5 shots and added the game winner in the shootout to boot.  Koivu's probably the one solid start on M'sota this year as he's improved his points-per-game average in each of his four seasons and should do it again on his way to 70+ points this year.

Back-to-back games with goals for Steve Bernier and he's got 3+3=6 in his last seven games.  He's been bounced around on different lines so far but he is seeing some time on the #1 PP unit.  He tends to disappear for stretches so beware if you pick him up but he came into camp in a lot better shape this year so maybe that offseason work is paying off.

First NHL goal last night for Colin Wilson as he tapped in a puck that was already headed in off a Patric Hornqvist shot, but they all count, right?  Good for the kid but we haven't been overly impressed by his play so far and he's not playing much and only on the 3rd line so his breakout chances aren't looking good right now.

Man, its like night and day for the Bruins since last year as they were 2nd in the league in goals scored (3.29/game) and 4th in PP% (23.6%) but you know those numbers have to drop dramatically when you take Savard, Kessel, Lucic, Kobasew out of the lineup for various reasons.  So far this year they're 19th in goals (2.75/game) and 23rd in PP% (14.7%)... so what we're trying to say is lower your expectation for da Brooons this year, maybe see if you can sell high while their value is still good. 

Another goal last night for Matt Moulson and this guy just doesn't know when to stop, that's four games in a row with goals and he's up to 5+3=8 in seven games so far.  It's a good sign that he's sticking with Tavares even though the coach is tweaking his lines but you gotta realize that his ain't gonna last.  Pick up Moulson if you need short-term help but have a Plan B for when he comes back to earth.  He's also one of the weirder looking blokes in the league, wouldn't you say?  I mean, he's no Jason Blake but, I'll be honest, he does kinda wigg me out a little bit.

Interesting words from Kings coach Terry Murray regarding his goaltenders... sounds like Jonathan Quick will be starting for a while and the coach has no faith in Erik Ersberg.

Yesterday we told you to keep an eye on Scott Clemmensen last night, well lets hope you didn't blink cause you would have missed his appearance... he lasted less than two minutes and got the hook after giving up two goals on his first three shots.... ummm, yikes.

Dmitry Kulikov played 24 minutes last night for the Panthers but don't be fooled as this game was over in the first 10 minutes as so they had nothing to lose by throwing him out there for a ton of ice-time in a meaningless game.  He does have three assists in his seven games so far but is a minus-6 on the season and it wouldn't shock us if he heads back to junior before he plays his 10th game.

We really liked everything we saw out of Tyler Myers during his junior career, especially last year where he dominated in all aspects of the game, but we had no idea he'd be this good in the NHL as a 19-year old.  Another goal and plus-2 last night brings him to 2+3=5 with a plus-7 through seven games and the scary thing is that the Sabres are just easing him in, the kid's got a lot more to give.

Conflicting reports on what's up with Sergei Kostitsyn right now... he's gone AWOL and was suspended by the Habs but then some say he's already in Russia while others are saying that he's on his way back to Hamilton... so who the fuck knows?... all we know is that he's not helping anyone's fantasy team by pulling this prima donna shit.

The Capitals wish that Michael Nylander would go AWOL but the dude just won't go away, so they're sending him to Grand Rapids to show off his stuff so that a KHL team might take him off their hands. 

Injury Updates (see our Injury Updates page for a consolidated list of injuries):

The Hawks Jonathan Toews & Brent Seabrook and the Stars Matt Niskanen all left their games last night with head injuries.  Toews was erased by a clean Willie Mitchell hit [video] and obviously has a concussion.  Seabrook got kicked in the head but his doesn't sound serious, so he's just day-to-day.  Niskanen got ran from behind and sounds like he was concussed.  All will be re-evaluated today but the diagnosis on head injuries is usually, "he'll return when he feels better"... so now we play the waiting game.

Returning to action from the injured list last night: James Wisniewski, Dennis Wideman, Thomas Vanek, Steve Ott, Marty Havlat and Frans Nielsen. 

Daily Distraction 

What's distracting us today?  We're loving the site Greatest Hockey Legends more and more each time we visit it... recently they offered up the top ten Don Cherry quotes.  Love him or hate him he's still entertaining as most of these quotes will prove.  Go have a look as Cherry isn't looking as sharp as he used to now that he's getting up there so we may not see any more gems like these:

2. On Ron MacLean's puns:
"A million comedians starving to death and you're trying to be one."

3. On being pulled over by a motorcycle policeman:
"He was wearing a visor. I thought he was Russian."

What would a Daily Distraction be without a useless video?  Check out Joe Pavelski as a lousy detective in this commercial:      (thanks to KK for the link)