Fantasy Hockey Scouts: Daily Dosage - Dec 14th, 2009

Dosage Express
Introducing Crease Conflicts... Bourque is sneaky-awesome... check out Ryan Wilson in deeper leagues... one Finn up & one down... Kane's mug(shot) altered... innovation-nation  

Daily Diarrhea   

HEADS UP:  We recently added a new feature here at FHS, we call it Crease Conflicts... basically we think its helpful to stay on top of whats happening with all the goalie situations around the league so you can be the first GM to pounce when a situation is on the verge of flipping... we hope it comes in handy.

Rene Bourque's breakout season last year was interrupted by one of those pesky injuries that he's prone to pick up.  But he's come back this year and proven that it was no fluke as he's on a similar breakout pace this season (on pace for 72 points).  This guy is very quietly one of the more valuable players in the league as he's also on pace for 100+ PIMs & 200+ shots.  Might be worth a call to the GM in your league who owns this guy to see if you can get him before his appreciation catches up to his production... just beware of the injuries.

Two more points for the Avs Chris Stewart last night and he's 6+9=15 with 36 shots in his last 12 games.  His ice-time and line assignment have both been solid over the stretch as he's playing on the top line and #1 PP unit.

We're becoming big believers in Wojtek Wolski this year as he's been consistently productive and has really ramped it up lately with 4+9=13 with 35 shots in his last 10 games.

Here's one for you GMs in deep leagues... check out Avs rookie dman Ryan Wilson as he has four assists in his last seven games and has become a regular in the Avs lineup.  He's wasn't seeing any PP time but did jump onto the #2 unit last night.  He was undrafted out of the OHL but racked up a lot of points and PIMs and only needed a season in the AHL before getting a shot with the Avs this year.

This scout is a pretty big fan (and owner) of Cam Barker but he's getting to the point where you need to think about dropping him as he only has one measly assist to show for his last 10 games and doesn't play enough, shoot enough or take enough penalties to justify a spot on anyone's roster.  One thing to keep in mind is that he could get moved because of the Hawks cap debacle and would probably flourish with a new team.

The Hawks' Antti Niemi recorded another shutout last night by stopping 18 Lightning shots.  This was Antti's third shutout in only his seventh start this year... bizonkers.  If you're the gambling type then you might want to drop a bet that Niemi will eventually unseat Huet and become the #1... stranger things have happened, hell it happened to Huet in Montreal when Carey Price came up.

Another Finnish tender wasn't so lucky last night as Antero Niitymaki was beaten for four goals and took the loss.  This was back-to-back starts for Niitty as the struggling Lightning are looking for any kind of a spark but he's been just mediocre lately with a 2.80 & .903 in five straight losses...  Mike Smith hasn't been any better as he's only won once in his last five games.

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

Patrick Kane took a little spill into the boards last night and came up with a cut on his face and looking a little groggy... he left the game and did not return, hopefully its just a facial injury and not a concussion... please note that his next mugshot will probably look a little different.

Marek Svatos missed last night's game with a groin injury... dude doesn't have a point in his last nine games and only nine on the season, so he shouldn't be on anyone's roster anyway.

Braydon Coburn picked up a sprained ankle recently and he'll be re-evaluated today.

The Islanders' Jack Hillen left their game on Saturday with a foot injury and he's listed as day-to-day.

Daily Distraction 

What's distracting us today?  We're all about innovation here at FHS, so to celebrate our new Crease Conflicts feature (which, rather surprisingly, we don't think you'll find on any other sites)... we give you the Top 10 Innovative Plays, although some seem like more dumb luck than innovative & Dan Boyle's attempt at defense on play #7 was certainly 'innovative'...