Fantasy fallout from the biggest choke job in NHL history

So the unbelievable has happened ... the Boston Bruins blew a 3-0 lead in a best-of-7 series AND a 3-0 lead in Game 7 (on home ice, to boot).

Actually if you followed Boston closely, you should have anticipated the team's play trending down. For starters, season-ending injuries to two top-six forwards on the NHL's lowest-scoring team was bound to show up.

At the same time, let's not overestimate the value of David Krejci or Marco Sturm. Krejci had a good-but-not great 52-point regular season in his age-24 season while Sturm's paltry 22 goals led the B's in 76 games. Krejci was enjoying a solid playoff (4-4-8 in 9 games) while Sturm did not score, but no Krejci and Sturm meant more Trent Whitfield and Shawn Thornton. The effects of the subsequent line-juggling showed in a lackluster breakout and not enough time cycling in the opposing zone.

Staying with the forwards: don't be fooled by the postseasons of Mark Recchi or Miroslav Satan. Both are unrestricted free agents next season, with the 42-year-old Recchi possibly opting to retire. Recchi showed his veteran grittiness by showing up when it counted in the playoffs, but his limitations showed in the last three games of Flyers' series (one assist) when the Bruins didn't possess the puck long enough for him to do his best work in the low slot. Satan, no spring chicken himself at 35, seemed most affected by the loss of Krejci, his linemate and fellow Czechoslovakian; he was pointless in the final four games. Still, the right wing probably showed enough to be brought back on the cheap but keep in mind his regular-season numbers: 9-5-14 in 38 games.

OK, enough gloom ... let's look at some of the positives. Dennis Wideman put up a 1-11-12 in 13 playoff games. After a horrendous 2009, the 27-year-old defenseman turned it around in 2010, Wideman produced 3-12-15 in the final 29 regular-season games. While it might be much to expect Wideman to approach the 50-point mark as he reached in '09 (unless he's paired again with Zdeno Chara), an improvement over his 30 points last season is almost a certainty and a bounceback into the 40s should be reasonable.

Fellow blueliner Johnny Boychuk showed signs he can sustain his age-26 season into next season. Boychuk earned 26 minutes and 10 seconds of ice time while putting up a point every other game -- the standard for defenseman -- in 13 playoff games (2-4-6). The 6-2, 225-pounder, who scored 65 points in 78 AHL games the previous season with Providence, played sound hockey and showed signs of being a game-changer with some of his hits.

When the play got more physical from the Sabres' series to the Flyers one, Milan Lucic's game blossomed. The left wing went from going pointless against Buffalo to scoring 5 goals and adding 2 assists against Philly. Let's hope Looch, who turns 22 on June 7, can avoid the injuries that ruined his '09-10 regular season.

Patrice Bergeron stepped up his game, producing 4-7-11 in 10 games before being shut out in the last three games. Remember that Bergy, who turns 25 in July, is capable of scoring nearly a point per game; he did so in the '06 and '07 seasons before that infamous concussion. The centerman helped carry Boston in March, netting 13 points in 14 games, and finished with a 52-point regular season (in 73 games).

Zdeno Chara might draw some blame as captain of a team that lost in such epic proportions, but do many people think he underperformed? He logged 28 minutes of ice, scored a point every other playoff game (7 in 13) and, more importantly, was one of the better defenseman over an 80-game regular season (7-37-44, plus-19).

Let's look at some of the more dubious players.

Those who rely solely on the numbers might be OK with Matt Hunwick, but don't be deceived. The defenseman, who turns 25 on the 21st, put up 0-6-6 in 13 playoff games, but did not look confident getting the puck out of his own end, particularly from behind his goal line. Hunwick will have to show whether he's as good as his '09 season (27 points in 53 games) or as poor as his '10 (14 points in 76).

Blake Wheeler, unlike some teammates who helped erase a mediocre regular season, did not redeem himself in the postseason. On a team lacking in quality wings, Wheeler, who turns 24 in August, did not forcefully grab a spot in the top six, tallying 6 points in 13 games. Even worse, the 6-5, 205-pounder was not physical or gritty enough of a presence.

Marc Savard, despite triggering the too-many-men-on-the-ice penalty, should get a free pass. It was great just to have the centerman come back from injury, even if he was only able to put 3 points in 7 games. He's a proven point-per-game player when healthy.

In goal, the playoff numbers for Tuukka Rask look mediocre: 2.61 goals-against average and .912 save percentage. Fifteen goals in 4 straight losses will do that. The 23-year-old looked more unnerved at any other point in the season. He usually looks so composed and efficient in his movement, but Rask looked more like Tim Thomas than himself scrambling in his crease against Philadelphia. While he showed he can help carry a series as he did against Buffalo, it's clear Boston will need to carry a quality No. 2 next season to spell him. The 169-pounder played 45 games in the regular season, but handling all 829 minutes of the Bruins' postseason and, as well as the accumulated effect of the offensive deficiencies, accounted for his decline in numbers.

Bruins fans can at least look forward to the NHL Entry Draft on June 25. when the team selects second overall. Let's hope the Oilers let winger Taylor Hall fall instead of center Tyler Seguin. Boston is deeper at center, but ultimately the team will be glad if Seguin turns out to be productive. Whichever stud is selected will undoubtedly have the pressure of making an immediate impact after such an epic failure, but let's hope expectations can be tempered.

Fantasy hockey: Better luck next year

Week 22 of the fantasy hockey season is upon us, and I'm sitting on the proverbial sidelines in both my leagues. It's the first time I've missed the playoffs, so it's an odd feeling. In a way, it's just as well since I've devoted most of my free time researching for my ongoing offline baseball draft.

Now I can sit back and root for my Bruins and Rangers, without much fantasy implication at all. Sure, one of my leagues is a keeper but there's plenty of time to look back at what I'll miss over the last dozen or so regular-season games. And I don't pay much mind to playoff stats; they usually don't indicate enough significance on next season.

Fantasy hockey: Trade impact

Since the NHL trading deadline last week didn't produce any big moves, this is a good time to evaluate the spate of blockbuster trades that nearly two months ago. Oddly enough most of the players involved had connections to my two teams. And now that I've given them time to play nearly a dozen games, this is a good time to check in on their fantasy values:

• Dion Phaneuf (Flames to Maple Leafs): Thumbs down. He went from one of the best teams in the Western Conference to one of the worst in the Eastern. Even though he'll be logging more minutes, particularly on the power play, Phaneuf will be surrounded by a lesser cast of players. Two assists and a minus-1 in 11 games doesn't leave me hopeful for someone whom I extended to a three-year contract in the offseason.
  
• Matt Stajan (Maple Leafs to Flames): The principal player to Calgary in the above deal, Stajan nearly got added to both my keeper and non-keeper teams due to possible first-line time with Jarome Iginla. Instead the centerman has continued to produce at his recent levels, with his 8 points in 12 Flames games right in line with his pace with the Leafs the last season and a half. The same is true for Jason Blake, whom Toronto flipped to Anaheim.
  
• Olli Jokinen (Flames to Rangers): I don't own the centerman, but his acquisition casted a pall on the value of Brandon Dubinsky, whom I had just traded for in my dynasty league. The fear was that Jokinen would center the first line, bumping Dubs to the second. Instead coach John Tortorella kept Dubs next to star winger Marian Gaborik and tried to have Jokinen form a legitimate second line that the Rangers have been lacking. Jokinen has responded with a 2-7-9 pace in 11 games that is the best in three seasons.
• Ilya Kovalchuk (Thrashers to Devils): As one of the owners of the left wing, I hoped the Russian would have landed in a more offensive environment. He's produced 8 points in 10 games, but that's still below his point-per-game pace over his career. The Devils are still shuffling their lines, with Patrik Elias and Jamie Langenbrunner as the current solutions.
• Niclas Bergfors (Devils to Thrashers): I was very high on the 22-year-old in 2009, but the new year was not kind to the Swede as his minutes and production diminished. It turned out getting out of Jacques Lemaire's doghouse was the trick, as Bergfors has produced a 6-2-8 in 11 games. An unexpected beneficiary has been Thrashers wing Bryan Little, who clicked with Bergfors and could be line for more minutes.

As for the March 3 trades, there weren't many eventful ones. As the Bruins' move of acquiring Dennis Seidenberg, it's a case of a better trade in real life than in fantasy. The former Panther scored at a 0.4 per game pace the last season and a half, and doesn't seem poised to exceed that with 1 point in 4 games so far.

Fantasy hockey: Back to the grind

After an unprecedented two-week midseason break, I'm ready for some NHL games again. Yes, the Olympics produced some great action, but alas there are no fantasy points to be had.

Brian Rafalski owners will hope the Red Wings defenseman will show the same goal-scoring touch as he did in Vancouver. Normally a reliable double-digit goal-scorer, the 36-year-old has only 4 goals in 57 games -- the same number he had in 6 Olympic games for the United States.

Owners of Wings and Avalanche players who played in the Olympics will be at a disadvantage tonight, as the two teams square off in the first post-break game. There's no reliable evidence to suggest that Olympians suffer from having to play up to 6 intense games in a 14-day period, so you shouldn't consider benching your top players who might have participated. If you've got to choose between an Olympian and a non-Olympian, you might want to consider the player who had a two-week rest -- particularly those who might have been snubbed (Martin St. Louis and his ilk) and might have a little more fire to get back on the ice.

For most leagues, there are only two weeks left in most regular seasons, with the last 4 weeks devoted to the fantasy playoffs. The next big date to mark on your calendar Wednesday's trade deadline at 3 p.m.; may any of your swapped players land in better situations.

Next we might take a look at some of the principals in the flurry of blockbuster trades, now that they've had 5 or so games with the new teams.

Fantasy hockey: Don't stop checking

I might be in rebuilding mode when it comes to my dynasty league and concentrating on picking up youngsters, but never can a fantasy owner pass up a bargain.

In this case, that'd be Sami Salo. The Canucks defenseman was on the waiver wire when he came back from a groin injury that had sidelined him for a week. He averaged nearly 25 minutes in three games, including over 3 minutes of power play time. The 35-year-old has flown a little under the fantasy radars for years, mostly because he's had the potential tag on him for so long due to his big booming shot and not produced as desired. But he was 2-5-7 in 8 January games with a plus-6 for the No. 3 team in the Western Conference.

I was able to add another player, one whom I had teased about two posts ago: Tyler Bozak. The 23-year-old was a prized free agent after starring at the University of Denver for two years. The Maple Leafs won the race for his signature and gave him an extended look in January, where he was a 1-4-5 in 10 games that month. The thing that was encouraging about Bozak was that he was given a lot of power-play time. Now he's centering Phil Kessel after the trade of Matt Stajan to the Flames, and he's promptly responded with a line of 1-3-4 in 3 February games, including back-to-back ones against the stingy Devils. He's also been averaging a healthy 19 minutes of ice time.

I've got one more player I'd like to stash before his value might heat up in the offseason, but I've got to find another player on my roster that I can afford to buy out.

Fantasy hockey: Young talent

The transformation of my dynasty league team over the weekend was mostly a success. I added three players, missing out on my top choice. These guys should probably be on a watch list for non-keeper leagues:

• Patric Hornqvist, F, Predators: He's skating on a scoring line and getting time on the first power-play unit. He didn't show much in his rookie season last year, but the 22-year-old showed he could score as a junior in his native Sweden, breaking Peter Forsberg's record for 19-year-olds. I got outbid on him in our weekly Monday morning auction.
  
• Martin Hanzal, F, Coyotes: This 22-year-old has thrived skating on an all-former Czechoslovakia line, with Petr Prucha and Radim Vrbata. He's a 6-5, 210-pound center who was a former first-round pick in 2005, which speaks to his upside. It's encouraging that Hanzal has shown good defensive awareness; he's plus-4 with 5 assists in his last 6 games.
  
• Josh Bailey, F, Islanders: This 19-year-old was the 9th overall pick in 2008 and is skating with two other outstanding youngsters: John Tavares and Kyle Okposo. He does however play on a poor Islanders team, so struggles are to be expected. Bailey can play on the left, though right now he's centering.
• Cody Franson, D, Predators: Nashville has a terrific track record of drafting and developing blue liners, and it appears this 22-year-old is destined to be a top-four defenseman. He's a 6-4, 205-pounder who gets power-play time despite skating on the third pairing. Franson scored 88 points in 152 AHL games, which indicates he could be a respectable NHL D-man.

In my non-keeper league, I was able to add Franson and Brandon Yip. A 24-year-old who played for Boston University last year, the right wing has filled in well for the injured Milan Hejduk. Yip has 11 points in 15 games. Since I'm out of playoff contention, I wanted to add interesting players -- and Yip qualifies since he's three-quarters Chinese (I'm 100 percent).

Faced with a salary cap, I might not be able to sign more players before season's end, since adding means buying out some veterans. Once I'm done adding, I'll disclose my full watch list.

Next year is now

In the third year of my dynasty hockey league, I found out what it felt like to really look ahead to next year. In the last two years, I've been trying to strengthen my roster for the postseason. I made the final twice, only to lose.

This year, my team ranked 4th out of 6 in my conference when the top 3 make the playoffs. At 7-8 and one game behind the third-place team, I had to try to forecast how the remainder of the season would turn out. Given that the top two point-scoring teams are in my conference, the chances of representing the Campbell in the final looked remote.

Fortunately for me, I had three players on the last year of their two-year contracts who would be attractive to teams trying to make a push. The players in question -- Mikko Koivu, Christian Ehrhoff and Kyle Quincey -- were at below-market prices, but would be costly to re-sign, even with a hometown discount in free agency.

My goal was to acquire good, young talent and position myself for a playoff run next year. I was able to land both my targets: Brandon Dubinsky (the subject of my first very post here) and David Backes. I took on a bloated contract in Slava Kozlov, whom I will buy out, in order to make the Dubinsky deal work, but I got two youngsters at very reasonable salaries for next year.

Now the next task is to buy out more bad contracts and add more young players. Our weekly waivers run Monday, so I'll report on players whom I hopefully added and others on my radar screen.

Playing out the string

For the first time since the Bare Naked Hockey League (the one with my high school buddies from Dracut) went to a head-to-head/playoff format, I'll miss the postseason. With six weeks left to our regular season, I'm left playing spoiler. Even though I'm last out of 12 teams, I thought I had a chance at the 7th and last playoff position, but then I remembered that's based on points scored and not record (which is the basis of the top six spots).

As far as looking to next year, we're allowed to keep up to two players for the following season and there's not much suspense there. I'll likely keep Patrick Kane and Anze Kopitar, who are the #5 and #9 forwards in our scoring system.

Also in contention are Shea Weber, Daniel Sedin and Pavel Datsyuk. Weber warrants serious consideration since he is my top defenseman. He checks in as the No. 10, and his 246 points is 4 ahead of Datsyuk, my disappointing first-round pick, and 24 behind Sedin, my #4 skater.

My Achilles' heel this season was definitely my goaltending. Steve Mason sunk me as the #33 goalie this season as my fifth-round pick, while Tim Thomas, my third-round draft pick, has underperformed as the #17 goalie. Jon Quick, my reserve-round goalie, ranks 10th at the position, but hasn't proven himself to the point where he'd be in keeper territory (a la Brodeur or a Luongo).

I'll have an update on my dynasty league, including the breakdown of a trade.

Fantasy pets

The term 'fantasy pet' is used to describe fantasy owners' favorite players who always seem to end up on their rosters.

For me in hockey, that player has always been Alexei Kovalev. As a Rangers fan, I fell in love with his high-end talent. Even as he frustratingly showed only flashes of brilliance, I stuck with his potential. I likened my affection for him with my friend Adam's stubborn faith in Oliver Perez, an underachieving pitcher: we stick with these players because we see a little bit of ourselves in them. Their ability raises people's expectations, yet it's difficult to reach that high level of consistency.

I was rewarded with some fantastic seasons from Kovalev's time with the Penguins and later the Canadiens. For the record, Kovy has scored just over a point per game in nearly 1,200 NHL games in a 16-year career.

In my non-keeper league this year, however, I finally cut bait on Kovalev. At 4-10 and in last place of a 12-team league, I had to give up potential for production. It appears unlikely that Kovalev will be able to turn up his production (29 points in 44 games), considering the Senators' injuries to the likes of Daniel Alfredsson, Jason Spezza and Milan Michalek.

On the other hand, I've rostered Milan Lucic on my keeper league. The tough guy's offensive upside is limited (he'll probably put up 50-something points in a career year), but I simply love watching him play. I decided that I needed him on my team because if I was going to root for him in real life, I might as well try to get something out of him, fantasy-wise.

Conversely, there's such a thing as fantasy hate. For years I tried to avoid rostering Canadiens -- with Kovalev being the exception. As a Red Sox fan, I've tried to avoid Yankees, but sometimes it's unavoidable. Especially in a shallow player pool like my AL-only auction league, over the years I couldn't pass up bargain prices on Mariano Rivera, Derek Jeter and Bernie Williams, among the most notable.

But one of the great things about fantasy sports that it helps break down barriers. It's easy for the non-fantasy fan to hate, but fantasy is about performance. And if a Canadien or a Yankee can help me win a title or finish in the money, welcome!

Make your list (sort of) and check it twice

One thing that makes it easier while playing in a league with daily transactions is setting your lineup ahead of time. I usually set my hockey lineup for the entire week on Monday. Only last week, I didn't check my lineup after making a move after that.

Last week I put the Bruins' Dennis Wideman on the injured list. The problem was that change reset my lineup before my initial changes (thanks, CBS Sports) and left out a 24-point game from Niklas Backstrom (one goal allowed in a win), a 22-point game from Brad Boyes (three assists) and a 13-point game from Kyle Quincey. The loss of those 59 points would have made the difference in a 6.5-point loss.

That defeat, my third in a row, leaves me in 4th place out of 6 in my conference. At 5-6, I'm one game out of third place, which earns the last playoff spot. As this is a keeper league, a few more losses and I'll have to consider trading for the future instead of for the playoffs.

As for my other hockey league, I've won twice a row. I'm still 3-8 and still in last place, but am out of the last playoff spot by 170 points. The top six teams by record make the playoffs, with the seventh spot going to the remaining team with the most points (the top seed earns a first-round bye).

Goaltending is still a problem and my defensemen seemingly can't get hot at the same time, but my forwards are starting to come around. Daniel Sedin has been brilliant since coming back from injury, and guys like Patrick Kane, David Backes and old favorite Alexei Kovalev have been very good the last two weeks.

It's a full slate of games tonight, but the NHL is off on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Make sure to check those lineups for the rest of the week ... have a merry one.

Goalie pickups of the week

If you have to play two goalies per week, you might want to keep an eye on Brian Boucher. Another Brian (Elliott) could be a decent short-term pickup.

The Rhode Island native has the potential to take over as the Flyers' No. 1 goalie. He was signed in the offseason to serve as insurance if Ray Emery flamed out in his return to the NHL. Not only has Emery disappointed, but so hasn't virtually the entire Philly team, which was considered to be a Stanley Cup contender. Now a new coach (Peter Laviolette) is in town, and that could kick-start a talent-laden team that sits 12th of 15 teams in the Eastern Conference.

Reports that Emery has been trying to play through an injury -- and poorly, I might add -- opens the door for Boucher to take over. Boucher sports a 2.52 GAA and .912 save percentage, albeit in only 7 out of the Flyers' 26 games. He's given up 3 goals in each of his last two games, but prior to that he had yielded only 5 goals in 4 games.

He's not an option in my keeper league, as the 32-year-old doesn't figure to be a full-time starter past this season -- even if he can capture the job in Philadelphia. But in my other 12-team league, he's starting for me this week, given the continued struggles of Tim Thomas and Steve Mason.

The Flyers have a favorable schedule, with the Canadiens, Islanders, Senators and Devils on top (the middle two games are at home). Those teams' rank in goals per game this year: 29th, 23rd, 14th and 20th. Boucher is slated to get that start tonight at Montreal; it'll be a good sign if Laviolette goes back to him the following night against the Isle.

As for Elliott, he should still draw the majority of the starts for the Senators with Pascal Leclaire still out.

Ottawa's schedule is a favorable one over the next two weeks. This week, the Sens face Montreal, Philadelphia (10th in goals per game) and Carolina (last).

Next Ottawa faces Toronto, Buffalo, New Jersey and Minnesota; those four teams neatly rank 18th, 19th, 20th and 21st in goals per game. Coach Cory Clouston would be wise to start Elliott against the Sabres and Wild; Elliott is 4-0 with a 2.18 GAA at home.

Is it time to sell low?

As the owner of Tim Thomas and Steve Mason, I'm one frustrated fantasy hockey owner. When your second- and fifth-round draft picks are flops after the first two months, it can explain a lot of your struggles.

Recently I had to evaluate how low I was on that duo when a fellow owner was looking for a goalie. I was trying to peddle Brian Elliott, who will be the Senators' starter after a freak injury to Pascal Leclaire. While I didn't expect Doug (who also owns Leclaire) to bite on trading John-Michael Liles, who just came back from an injury, straight up for Elliott, I didn't expect that he'd inquire about Thomas or S.Mason.

Our 12-team league scoring system has evolved over the last 15 years to the point where goalie losses are not penalized; at least we haven't eliminated goalies entirely (it was actually discussed, albeit briefly) or gone to starting only one. Not surprisingly goalies have been among league's leading scorers the last several years, and thus my draft strategy involving Thomas and S.Mason.

Understand that my team is mired in last place, both in record (1-7) and points scored. If I have any chance of getting into the playoffs (there is, after all, two-thirds of the season left), I'll need strong goaltending. So I decided to keep the upside of my goalies over improving my defense corps; Doug, to his credit, was willing to discuss Liles and Sergei Gonchar. Maybe if he could have included a decent goalie in the deal (Jon Quick is the other goalie on my roster), I would have considered the proposal further.

In general it's hard to sell low, with getting proper value being the most difficult thing to gauge. As I've posted previously, try to stick with your studs and give them a chance to come through. Here's hoping I'm right in this case.

Hockey's quarter pole

Sample size is always an issue when trying to determine whether a free agent is worthy of being added, especially in leagues when there's a cap on the number of transactions. Granted, lines and pairings can still be changed, but after 20 games, fantasy hockey owners should have reasonable data to make a good decision.

I'm in two 12-team leagues but since one is a dynasty format (contracts, minors) and the other a limited keeper (3 per year), it's rare when I'm picking up the same type of players. Lo and behold, I was able to add the same three players over the last week:

• Tomas Fleischmann, LW, Capitals: Some might have shied away from this German because of Alexander Ovechkin's impending return, but this 25-year-old has high-end talent (2nd round pick, 2004). Conversly some might have been suckered by the 'news' that Ovie was going to be out 4-5 weeks; it turns out he was pulling the leg on a Yahoo! Sports reporter. Even with an impending return to the second line shouldn't dent his value; he should continue getting power-play time (maybe even with Ovie) and the Caps have a decent second-line center in Brendan Morrison.
• Nicklas Bergfors, RW, Devils: Here's a Swede who's coming off a solid season in the American Hockey League and finally got a chance to skate on the first line. There's a big difference in a 22-year-old like Bergfors putting up 51 points in 66 AHL games and an over-the-hill, end-of-the-bench type. Bergfors, who was taken 23rd overall in the '04 draft, has produced while skating with Zach Parise and Travis Zajac, as well as on a makeshift third line last Saturday against Fleischmann's Caps.
• Mason Raymond, LW, Canucks: This 23-year-old was thought to be a flash-in-the-pan because he drew first-line duty due to Daniel Sedin's injury. But even if Sedin returns late this week, Raymond should be a solid producer, thanks to the continuing emergence of Ryan Kesler at second-line center and an underrated Alexandre Burrows at right wing.
  

I'm hoping this trio can keep my good fortune going in hockey. I finally won for the first time in my non-dynasty league and, like in my win in my keeper league, ranked among the top half of teams in terms of points scored.

It was almost a perfect fantasy weekend, but my football team was victim of some tough matchups. There's nothing you can do it when your studs are facing stiff defenses and on the road, too (Ced Benson at Pittsburgh, though he left due to injury; Rashard Mendenhall vs. Bengals; Marion Barber at Green Bay, though his injured thumb hampered his play). All that added up to the fewest points scored this week.

More later this week about factoring matchups when it comes to adding free agents in football, especially after the end of the bye-week period.

Do you believe in karma?

I'm feeling pretty chipper this Monday, especially after taking 3 Ls seven days ago.

I finally won for the first time this season in my keeper hockey league, but it's the tie in my other league that has me pumped. I trailed the entire week and entered Sunday, down 191.3 to 210.6. I knew the second-to-last game of the night, between the Blue Jackets and Kings, was going to decide the matchup. When I started watching early in the second period, things looked dire. My supposedly stud goalie, Steve Mason, had already given up two goals. The only consolation was that I had three Kings.

I was tempted to switch to the ALCS or Sunday night football, or even the Canucks/Oilers game that started one hour later, but I held out hope. Sure enough, my two LA forwards, Anze Kopitar and Alex Frolov, started to score -- albeit against Mason -- and at even strength, meaning at least they were getting plus points instead of zero or minus, along with D-man Jack Johnson.

I wound up watching the rest of the late game, but did not want to add up the fantasy points prematurely since scoring decisions can be changed. Now I know I had absolutely nothing to do with those Kings players doing what they did, but still it's fun to root, to hope and to believe, right? If I had turned away from that game in disgust and woke up this morning to find out that I had pulled out a tie, I wouldn't have felt as good about myself as I do now.

The tie puts me at 0-2-1. I'm still second-to-last in points, so I've got a lot of work cut out. But this tie at least provides a good story to tell -- especially the next time I see my opponent (and friend), Brian.

My win in fantasy football was nothing to brag about; my friend Paul had both his starting QBs on bye and there were no replacements available on the waiver wire (it's a 12-team league in which we start 2). Barring anything outrageous in tonight's Redskins/Eagles game, I'll be 4-3 and in a four-way tie for first place in my division (the top four teams go to the playoffs).

Later this week: I'll use an example from my fantasy soccer league that might aid you in fantasy football.

NHL: Not too early to add

The 2009-10 NHL season is not even a month old, yet there are some players who might be on your waiver wire who are worth adding.

Let's take a look at the New York Rangers, who are one of my two favorite teams despite growing up a Bruins fan (that's a story for another time).

Hobey Baker Award winner Matt Gilroy received a lot of preseason buzz for his end-to-end play as an offensive defensemen, while 19-year-old Michael Del Zotto, the team's first-round draft pick in 2008, had a very solid but not as impressive preseason.

I bit on Gilroy, rostering him in both my 12-team leagues. In the season opener against the Penguins, Gilroy was good, while Del Zotto looked a little nervous in his end. But who was on the first power-play unit? Del Zotto.

Through 7 games, Del Zotto has been the Ranger skater (never mind defenseman) who has garnered the most power-play time (4:18). Gilroy, who ranks second in PP time among D-men (2:17), has played 5:10 more at even strength and 1:10 more shorthanded for a total of 19:14 to Del's 14:55, yet Del Zotto is the guy you want now.

For the remainder of the season, however, Gilroy should shape up as the better bet. Del Zotto has accumulated a 2-5-7 line through 7 games, mostly by getting his shot/pass from the point to the net. The likelihood of that success rate continuing is less than Gilroy, who has only 1 assist, finally being rewarded on the scoresheet with his constant forays in joining the rush.

Among forwards, Brandon Dubinsky was not even mentioned much as a sleeper. Here was someone who scored a modest 41 points in 82 games last season. Yet an expected jump in ice time should have portended his 2-4-6 start in 7 games.

Last year the 23-year-old played 2:16 on the PP and 16:38 in all situations. Given John Tortorella's history of giving his top forwards 20-plus minutes on board in Tampa, it should not have been a surprise that Doobs was going to have a career year. He's playing only 25 seconds more on the man-advantage, but he's playing nearly 5 more minutes more overall (21:27).

Dubinsky's absence from training camp during a contract dispute further dampened expectations, but once signed, observers should have figured that he'd center the first line. There was talk of Vinny Prospal taking that spot next to Marian Gaborik, but Prospal did his best work in Tampa as a left wing. The winner: Dubinsky, of course.