Friday's Daily Dosage - Yahoo! Position Eligibility, Ott, Niemi...

I take issue with this... some years Yahoo! doesn't update position eligibility for anyone, other years they change a few guys in the preseason and that's it... and then there is this season, someone at Yahoo! went hogwild in the last few days and while trying to fix some guys that were listed at the wrong position, they ended up just giving a bunch of guys eligibility at multiple positions.  Dustin Byfuglien, now eligible at RW???  Jordan Staal, now a LW in addition to C?  Pavel Datsyuk, was a LW and now a C as well (fine).  Where this bugs me the most is for FOW cause now it becomes a game of finding players that have W eligibility and take a lot of FOs instead of predicting who will do well at them.  Per Jeff Angus @ DobberHockey:

The dual eligibilty additions are HUGE. Fantasy ramifications galore. Malkin as a RW/C gives him immensely more value, especially in FOW leagues. Having a few wingers who play primarily center essentially gives you the FOW category each week. Having a gimme category goes a long way in helping your team ride out the ups and downs of a full season.

That sentiment, while accurate, is why I'm not a fan of FOW as a category.  As Jeff says, it has nothing to do with how good your centers are, it has to do with whoever has the guys that are incorrectly listed as wingers but are really Cmen.  I've been pretty loyal to Yahoo! over the years but maybe it's time to start looking around for a better provider.

There are too many to list but here are some of the key guys who now have both C & W eligibility:  Jordan Staal, Bryan Little, Andy McDonald, T.J. Oshie, Patrick Sharp, Alexander Steen, Pavel Datsyuk, Henrik Zetterberg, Tyler Ennis, Patrick Marleau, Joe Pavelski and Evgeni Malkin.

Head-to-head last night, Alexander Salak stopped all eight shots he faced whereas Ray Emery gave up four goals on 19 shots for the Hawks.  It's only one game but not a good start for those who like Emery to make the team.  Jordan Staal with two of the goals for the Penguins. 

James van Riemsdyk with 1+2=3 for the Flyers last night... we all have a feeling this will be a big season.

Matt Hackett & Niklas Backstrom teamed up on a shutout as the Wild beat the Blues 1-nil.

Steve Ott is getting a look on the Stars top line with Benn & Eriksson and he had the fantasy line of the night with 1+2=3, plus-2, 2 PIMs & 3 shots.  Colton Sceviour with two goals for the Stars as well.

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins with an assist last night on a nice goal by Jordan Eberle but the kids were beaten by a strong game from Canucks try-out Owen Nolan, who scored and create some chances.  Nolan could actually make this team or at the least he could probably find work with another team.

Vancouver signed 2011 1st rounder Nicklas Jensen to an ELC but expect him to be heading back to Jr. soon.

Some notable cuts from the past 24 hours:  Simon Despres (PIT), Stanislav Galiev (WSH), Jordan Weal (LA), Ryan Howse (CGY), Mark Visentin (PHX) & Igor Bobkov (ANA).  Not real surprises, more just how short their stay was.

Bob McKenzie with his initial 2012 Draft Rankings list... beyond obviously liking Nail Yakupov & Mathew Dumba, I've been impressed with what I've seen out of the #9 guy on the list, Derrick Pouliot, a smooth-skating dman from Portland.

Some injury concerns here:

Antero Niittymaki had the groin surgery that was speculated the other day and will be out for three months.  Good news for Thomas Greiss fans.

Still with Sharks goalies... Antti Niemi had a mystery cyst removed and there is some doubt whether he'll be ready for the start of the season... yesterday was a good day for Greiss fans!

Nashville's Blake Geoffrion is out for two weeks due to a wrist injury.  He seemed like a pretty good bet to make the team so hopefully this doesn't hurt his chances.

Matthew Lombardi is making progress in his recovery from a concussion but still isn't at the point of taking contact in practice. [via Mirtle]