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Does anyone else remember when this used to be a
tough division, and a road trip out East was test of a team's mettle? Not
any more. Injuries, impotent offence, and missing defense have made the
teams in this division a welcome relief for slumping road warriors.
New York Islanders: Reports have
Roman Hamrlik sidelined with a shoulder injury (approx. about a month).
If such is the case, expect even more ice-time for
Adrian Aucoin,
Kenny Jonsson and riding-the-pressbox defenceman,
Radek Martinek. Expect some changes on the Isles power-play as well.
Peca looks to be finally rounding into form after coming back from knee
reconstruction surgery.
New York Rangers: Ok…does Bure have an ACL injury or doesn’t he? Only
the Rangers doctors know for sure – we guess. Without Bure, be it for a few
months or the rest of the season, expect lots more ice-time for the likes of
Petr Nedved,
Rem Murray and recently off the DL,
Bobby Holik – particularly on special teams. The Rangers have got to
find some alternate scoring. With Bure out, they may make a deal or call up
Jamie Lundmark. The real issue for the Rangers though, is will they get
some help for the overworked 19 year old
Dan Blackburn. Blackburn has started 17 games straight, and looks tired.
Rumors have the Rangers poking around the Habs about
Jeff Hackett. But his price tag and salary might be too much. Better
sense may be with the Blues and
Fred Brathwaite now that
Brent Johnson is back up with the big club. When
Tom Barrasso is back off the DL, this deal may happen quickly – to the
benefit of the Rangers.
New Jersey: Speaking of offense, the Devils are in desperate need of
some. But with that, the NY Post is reporting that the Avs and Devils are
talking swap:
Patrik Elias, for
Alex Tanguay and
Martin Skoula. Tanguay looks absolutely lost, and has seen his stock
fall faster than Nortel’s. He has skill, but his confidence is non-existent
and isn’t getting any better playing with
Jeff Shantz. Skoula is still very young, but looks to be a bit of as
bust, as the Avs need him to be more physical, and that’s just not in
Skoula’s repetoire. Elias looks lost in Burns’s 1-2-2 system. He has been
unable to get on track, and playing with
Scott Gomez is not the same as
Petr Sykora. The price for a 40-goal guy seems kind of low, but stock
piling young defencemen would make the Devils even stronger on the
blue-line.
Philadelphia: With the news that
John LeClair is gone for months, the increase in ice time has maybe
sparked the under-achieving
Simon Gagne. GM Bob Clarke’s move of the more offensive minded
Dan McGillis to San Jose for former Philly
Kjell Samuelsson clone,
Marcus Ragnarsson, shows signs that the Flyers are prepared to win games
1-0, or 2-1 if they cannot generate more offence.
Mark Recchi started like a house on fire, but has done very little in
the past 10 games.
Michal Handzus continues to be a pleasant surprise and a good pick-up
for SHGs.
Pittsburgh: The Penguins have been ravaged by the injury bug. The
latest victim is
Alexei Morozov out until mid-late January with a broken wrist. While
Morozov stands to lose the most from the injury (it’s quite possible
Mario Lemieux will find a new linemate he’s happy with) it’s too bad for
fantasy owners who were rewarded for this mid-late round pick. Add his
injury woes to the losses of blueliners
Dick Tarnstrom,
Josef Melichar, and
Michal Rozsival as well as the fragility of
Martin Straka, and the Pens’ lineup is thin to say the least. If not for
the health of Mario they would have fallen a lot further in the standings. |
