Fantasy Hockey Scouts: Daily Dosage - Oct 3rd, 2009

We just updated the FSR & 2009/10 Projected Statson October 1st... if you've got a late draft then don't you want the freshest produce available? Or maybe you're the type of GM who's happy with his glossy magazine that was written in early July?  Check out the FSR page for details.

Daily Diarrhea    

Patrick Kane would not be short-changed in his regular season debut (we know, bad joke... get used to it) as he was dominant in Finland with 1+1=2 and eight sog.  Although he only ended up with one goal, he literally could have had five as he looked like a dangerous mofo all day long.  We already called him one of our top Superstar Breakout candidates for this year and if he keeps up this play, 80 points will be a walk in the park.  If you already own him, rejoice... if you don't, good luck ever getting your hands on him... you'd have to be a certifiable fool (or Mike Milbury) to trade this guy.

Kaner was dominant but Ville Koistinen was the hero for the Panthers with a goal in regulation and then the clincher in the shootout.  We liked him as a good under-the-radar pick this year but we wouldn't get too excited by this as he was used as a 7th dman or spare forward for most the game and played less than 10 minutes... that's not good for business.

In our FSR we told you that the Sharks like to promote rookies to play with Joe Thornton and Dany Heatley.  They did it last year with Devin Setoguchi and now it looks like Benn Ferriero will get a shot on the top unit.  Ferriero has no pro experience so he's no guarantee to stick on the top line (or even in the NHL) but he's worthy of a flyer pick in deep leagues if he's on the #1 line.  Don't lose faith in Setoguchi yet... if Ferriero doesn't develop some chemistry The Gooch could be back with Joe and Dany quickly. [more]

Another change in SJ was the demotion of Jamie McGinn to the AHL (and the promotion of bruizer Frazer McLaren).  We thought McGinn would have been given a chance on the 1st line but it's not happening yet.  Judging from the Sharks actions there is only room for one of McGinn and Ferriero on the Sharks as they have similar skill sets. 

This scout has been slow with the love for David Booth but dude looked great yesterday, picking up the tying goal late in the 3rd.  DB can skate, has a heavy shot, he's not afraid to put puck on net (246 shots last year) and he's steadily improved during his first three NHL seasons, going from 10 to 40 to 60 points.

We were pretty huge on Alex Goligoski in the Breakout Bible this year, in fact it doesn't get any more huge, as we named him our biggest dman breakout candidate and tabbed him for 42 points.  Well so far, so good for the Goz as he started the year on the #1 PP unit and picked up two assists last night.  He might still be available in your league so give him a look, just don't expect a lot in peripheral categories (other than PPP).

Meanwhile, at the other end of the ice John Tortorella has really "Activated the Defense" as Pierre McGuire so annoyingly puts it... as he's given all his dmen the green light to jump into the rush and they looked dangerous (& even a little careless) versus the Penguins. Now we're not big fans of Tortorella's coaching record (see our Coach Rankings), but one thing that he has had some success with is getting the D to chip in with offense.  Guys like Boyle, Kubina, Kuba and even Paul Ranger were pretty successful under his watch in T-Bay.  So this should bode well for Rangers offensive dmen like Michael Del Zotto, Matt Gilroy and maybe even Wade Redden???

The Thrashers claimed Christoph Schubert off waivers from the Senators yesterday...  have no idea where or if he'll even play with Atlanta, but thought we should mention it cause he may have some value in deep leagues if he ends up playing some forward while retaining eligibility on D in some leagues.  But its a wait-and-see situation, no need to run to the waiver wire to grab him. 

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

The Red Wings Jonathan Ericsson left yesterday's game with an ankle injury and did not return... not sure of the extent yet.  Ericsson had scored earlier in the game with a big assist to referee Bill McCreary who must have a lot of Wings in his hockey pool cause he literally tackles Roman Polak, allowing the Wings to score.  This looks like its turning into McCreary's go-to move as he pulled it off to perfection a few years back to allow Rick Nash to score.

Daily Distraction 

What's distracting us today?  The NHL is pulling out all the marketing stops for this coming season:

(Thanks to On Frozen Blog for the link.)

This is actually the 2nd time the league has jumped on the 'Price is Right' bandwagon (here and here are some evidence of the first) so this could end up being a yearly tradition.  Take that KHL!

Alright, we're contractually obligated to link to Happy Gilmore any time 'Price is Right' and hockey are mentioned in the same sentence.