Hockeyhead

Joe Sakic will be out for a minimum 6-weeks with a back injury.  Sakic came out of the gate firing this season, but has only appeared in 15 of the Colorado Avalanche’s 24 games.  The Philadelphia Flyers also suffered a major loss today by having to put Daniel Briere on the shelf for at least a month with a groin strain.  Briere had only played in 2 of his team’s last 16 games while battling a series of injuries.

Both players offer center eligibility in fantasy pools, and it’s time to find a viable substitute for your fantasy roster if it featured either of these superstars.  Here is a look at some possible replacements that are currently available in popular leagues and the value they may add:

• David Krejci C, Boston Bruins - Krejci is breaking out in a big way on a deep Bruins team.  Boston is especially deep at the center position, having both Marc Savard and Patrice Bergeron ahead of Krejci on the depth chart.  He’s probably a short-term fix at best, but has the skill to be a strong second line center on most teams.  Krejci has 19 points in 24 games this season and holds an impressive +/- rating of +12.  Give him serious consideration if your league counts +/-, Krejci also has 2 game winning goals this season.
• Joe Pavelski C, San Jose Sharks - At the end of the fantasy season, every winning roster is likely to hold at least on Shark.  Pavelski is no joke, he is playing just over 19:00 minutes a game and now has 11 goals and 11 assists putting him on pace to crush his career high 40 points from last season.  He is seeing time on both the power play and penalty killing, but doesn’t offer much in the way of toughness with only 2 PIM on the year.  He should be activated in almost any format.
• Shawn Horcoff C, Edmonton Oilers - After a horrendous start to the season Horcoff now has 10 points in his last 10 games.  He is firmly entrenched on the top line with Ales Hemsky and Dustin Penner, and if this trio can keep it together then Horcoff should start stockpiling assists.  Despite his recent inconsistency, Horcoff is still a higher end option for fantasy rosters.  If he is available you may want to snatch him up before his all-star calibre of play from last year returns full-circle.
• Justin Williams RW, Carolina Hurricanes - He doesn’t offer any center eligibility, but he is a must own as he is returning from a devastating achilles injury.  Williams had morphed into a perennial 70 point performer over the last 3 years before injuring his knee early last season.  He is coming back at a key time for the Hurricanes as they canned head coach Peter Laviolette for the man he replaced five seasons ago; Paul Maurice.  Williams will be extended every opportunity to produce on the top two lines.

SL

The Philadelphia Flyers were once notorious for building teams loaded with big, slow bruisers; that building process was banished with the exodus of former GM Bob Clarke.  For some reason completely void of post-lockout common sense, the Tampa Bay Lightning spent their off-season signing every player they could get their hands on who was either over 38 years old, or moved at a ride-on lawn mower’s pace.  Throw in Barry Melrose and that is one bitter bottle of Lightning.  Not even Rick Tocchet can right this wrong.

Philadelphia had two goals each from Jeff Carter (now 18 on the season) and captain Mike Richards.  Martin Biron made 35 saves in the 4-3 win, sending the Lightning to their fifth straight loss.  Ugly, butt-ugly.

Vesa Toskala returned to form last night in San Jose versus the Sharks, he is intent on keeping his save percentage well under .900 and that goals against average in the high threes.  Once again, he allowed a goal on the first shot of the game, if you want to call it that; Devin Setoguchi casually flipped the puck at the net and it eluded Toskala.  Joe Thornton had a 4 point night with a goal and three assists.  San Jose is scary; Vesa Toskala is a bag-of-holes.  5-2 Sharks.

Marty Turco, starting his 13th straight game, stood on his head and spit nickels out his mouth stopping 36 shots for a 3-1 win over Calgary.  Dallas needed a big win like this, and Turco led the way.  Both Turco and centerman Brad Richards expressed their discontent with Avery following the win.  There was a time when Avery’s antics were entertaining and somewhat light-hearted; his latest misogynistic episode puts him in the “shit-bag” books.

Fight of the Night:

Radek Smolenak vs Arron Asham

Photo courtesy of Yahoo! Sports

Thanks to hockeyfights.com for the scrap.

SL