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Welcome to my new
column. Over the course of the season I'll be publishing miscellaneous
musings, thoughts on the NHL, opinions on trades, and ideas on
injuries...ok, that sounded stupid didn't it. Just check back here for my
meanderings all season long. They can't be any more off base than
Don Cherry's fashion sense....
The New York Rangers season got off to an inauspicious start as the club
announced Wednesday that right winger
Pavel Bure will undergo arthroscopic knee surgery. Bure suffered the
injury during New York's exhibition game against New Jersey on Tuesday.
Tests revealed that Bure did not receive ligament damage, but the team does
not know how long he will be out of action. Early indications are only a few
weeks, but this is the knee he has had surgery on twice before....
Bure's injury could mean more minutes for
Radek Dvorak,
Matthew Barnaby, and
Sandy McCarthy. Dvorak, also coming off recent knee surgery, could move
to the first line and see some time on the power play; and although Barnaby
and McCarthy are not the second coming of
Rod Gilbert and
Jean Ratelle, they did combine to score 18 goals last year, a figure
which could improve if both players see more ice time. Bottom line though -
neither of these guys should make your fantasy roster - unless you count
PIMs.
Speaking of penalty minutes - with this new crackdown on obstruction
(let's call it Crackdown Smackdown III), some of your slower, older d-men are
going to find themselves A) Spending more time in the sin-bin; B) Watching
their plus/minus plummet; C) Retiring earlier. Let's face it - it hasn't
just been expansion and conditioning that has prolonged some careers. Put me
on skates - even I can hold a guy up for a while. But ask me to skate with a
faster, younger forward? Might as well ask me to run the Kentucky Derby.
Better odds actually.
The Chicago Black Hawks announced on Tuesday that forward
Eric Daze will undergo surgery to repair a herniated disk in his
back. Daze, who led the Black Hawks in scoring with 78 points last year,
will miss at least the first 12 games of the season. However, youngsters
Kyle Calder and
Mark Bell should be able to pick up the slack.
Both players showed signs of promise last year. Calder scored 53 points last
year, and with more ice time at the start of the season, Bell should be able
to improve upon his rookie tally of 28 points. But boy, you have to feel for
Hawk's fans (no one feels for Hawk's ownership!). First Amonte and now Daze.
They better hope
Theo Fleury finds his "A" game PDQ or it
will be a nasty return to earth for last season's surprising success story.
The NHL is dropping six stat
categories this season, nominally because they were very subjective and
difficult to keep, but in reality, because they meant nothing to most
fantasy hockey GMs. Those stats no longer available are blocked shots, hits,
giveaways, takeaways, missed shots and zone time (missed shots and
zone time were only released to the press). What does this mean to poolies
for the upcoming season? Well there is absolutely no chance on earth that
Murray Baron's name will come up at your draft....
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