Friday's Daily Dosage - Heatley, Sulzer, O'Reilly...

HEADS UP:  Our Fantasy Prospects DB was released on Sunday... you have a prospect draft coming up? then this thing was made for you (literally)... get the details and grab a copy here.

Great stuff from Kent Wilson regarding What's the Matter with Dany Heatley?... he finds a steady decline in Heatley's ES numbers over the past few years that is partially masked by some top-end PP production.  While I agree that there's legitimate concern about Heatley, I think this guy is an elite sniper and I'm expecting a bounceback season assuming he shoots the puck more than last year's 2.7 spg (vs 3.2 career avg) and he catches some breaks (12.0% sh% last year vs 15.3% career sh%). 

I like what Vancouver has done in the offseason with their depth signings as they've added a number of guys (ie Mark Mancari & Andrew Ebbett) who have shown a lot of upside in the AHL but just maybe haven't been given much of a chance in the NHL yet.  They made two more adds along those lines yesterday as they signed goalie Matt Climie (assuming two-way) and dmen Alexander Sulzer (two-way).  Climie has been solid in the AHL the past two years in the Dallas & Phoenix systems and will likely slide in at #4 on the depth chart but he could take on a bigger role if there are injuries/trades.  Sulzer is a dman I've always liked as he's been very productive in the AHL but Nashville never gave him much of a look before they dumped him off to Florida late last season.  He's definitely a longshot to help you out at all but I'll be keeping my eye on him.

The Preds cleared up most of the issue with the late qualifying offers by re-signing Matt Halischuk (yawn), Nick Spaling (who cares?) and Cal O`Reilly... but still nothing on Sergei Kostitsyn.  The O`Reilly signing is noteworthy as he's a player who has a lot of potential as a setup man and had a strong start to last season with 4+9=13 in his first 17 games but then broke his leg in January and missed the rest of the season.  There's not a ton of talent to play with in Nashville but O`Reilly should land on one of the Preds scoring lines and see his share of PP time.

RFA Wayne Simmonds signed with Philly... I like him as I think he has the potential to chip in some points and PIMs/Hits but he's really only going to have value if he lands on a top line, not by being a 3rd line energy player... so if you have a good feeling that he'll land on a line with Giroux or Briere then, by all means, give him a shot. 

Tampa signed UFA Ryan Shannon... I used to think he had a lot of potential and maybe it was suppressed in Ottawa over the past three seasons but I wouldn't be expecting much even playing with a much better team in T-Bay.

Winnipeg signed a local boy, 22-year-old Jason Gregoire, who was a 3rd round pick of the Islanders back in 2007 but wasn't signed by them after leaving North Dakota following his Junior season.  He could have some upside as he put up 25+18=43 in 35 games this year and I have no idea why the Islanders would let him walk.  We'll see what he can do in the AHL next season.