NHL Fantasy: Early Injuries

Penguins:  With the season starting in under a month, the Penguins are really just looking to keep injuries to a minimum.  Reports say that both Crosby and Malkin will be taking precautionary measures this pre-season to prevent any long term injuries.  From what I have heard, they have been training together at a very extreme pace for most of the summer.  Coming into pre-season, the team has decided to give them both a break to ensure that they are ready for the regular season.  As of right now, there's nothing to worry about with these guys.  I would not consider them any less valuable on a fantasy league team.  This however, does not apply to youngster Olli Maata.  He is coming off of shoulder surgery in late July and has just started to practice with light contact.  To edge on the side of caution, the team will likely have him sidelined to start the season.  If you have other options, try to avoid this guy in your draft.



Goalies:  J-Quick is coming off of wrist surgery, but is expected to be ready for the regular season.  If the recovery is prolonged, I may take a look into skipping him for Rask or another top goalie.  Honestly though, I would not worry too much unless something drastic delays his recovery.  If he misses any time, it will only be a few games.

                 Josh Harding of the Minesota Wild finds himself stuck on the injury boat to start the season.  He broke his foot apparently kicking a wall.  I have not read into this matter much, but it seems as if he will miss a good chunk of time to start the year.  In my books, he is pretty much done as far as fantasy goalies are concerned.  His value just plummeted, and don't expect him to return to top form any time this year.


            Ben Bishop is coming off of a seemingly minor surgery on his elbow/forearm.  Various reports have been released, and the general consensus is that he will likely not be completely recovered for the start of the season.  This is a guy I would keep an eye on.  If healthy, I would give him serious considerations for a top goalie.  He easily makes the top ten list for my fantasy goaltenders.


Daniel Alfredsson:  Alfie looks like he may be retiring earlier than we expected.  He strained his back just two days ago, and he has not released any information to the media quite yet.  Reports say that he was not attending many activities during this seasons training camp.  From what I can tell, he will likely be hanging up the skates soon.  I would avoid him this season and possibly go with a young gun if you really want a good Red Wing forward.  Thomas Tatar and Gustav Nyquist might be good players to draft late if given the chance.  Tatar will likely be rounding out line 2, and Nyquist is basically just a wild card at this point.  Regardless, both have talent to put up 40+ points if given enough playing time.

Salary Cap Strategies of the NHL : Colorado Avalanche

I have been doing a lot of research on Western Conference teams lately.  Simply because teams like Minnesota and Colorado have become very talented in such a short time.  Today, I want to assess the Avalanche roster as they have certain salary cap traits which have not been attempted since the Red Wings in the early 2000's.

Essentially, the entire concept is to take your best player and sign him to a long term deal.  When doing so, the GM makes that particular amount of money the most any individual can make on the team.  When the Red Wings did it back in the early 2000s, they had phenomenal success as all the players took moderate pay cuts in an effort to strengthen the team.  In turn, they had a dominant lineup for years, and had ample amounts of money to spend on their depth players.  

Currently, the Avalanche have Matt Duchene signed until the end of the 2019-20 season at six million dollars annually.  I know it seems like a lot of money for a twenty three year old kid.  However, he already has an Olympic gold, a World Junior Gold, and produces roughly a point per game.  Consider the fact that Patrick Kane and Johnathan Toews are now making over 10 million dollars a season in Chicago.  These are two players who have been in the league a few years more than Duchene, but followed a nearly identical path and put up very similar offensive numbers.  By the end of this season, Duchene could theoretically be worth 8 or 9 million dollars.

With that considered, it makes it very difficult for any other player on the Avalanche to demand anything more than six million dollars.  Imagine in a few years, when Nathan Mackinnon is entering his prime.  If things go as planned, the Avalanche will have Duchene, Mackinnon and Landeskog signed long term for just under 18 million dollars a season.  In free agency, most of these guys would pull in contracts from other teams worth 7-8 million dollars.  This is where I find the only flaw in the system.  It is my strong belief that Mackinnon will be a better player than Duchene will ever be, and that is not to take anything away from Duchene.  It is only a matter of time, but I believe that two years from now, we may see the Avalanche struggle to sign Mackinnon for 6 million as his value is going to be through the roof.  Nonetheless, it is a bold strategy and it has paid off thus far.  Signing Mackinnon will be crucial to the long term success of the team.  If they pull it off, expect the Avalanche to be dominant once again.      

Back in the mid 2000s, the Red Wings perfected this strategy.  A shocking number of long term Red Wings bought into the team concept and pulled off two Stanley Cup Wins in both 2002 and 2008.  Some key players during this time were guys like Brendan Shannahan, Steve Yzerman, Pavel Datsyuk, Thoman Holmstrom and Henrik Zetterberg.  All of these players have been with the team basically their entire career, and it proves that the strategy has legitimacy.  Despite the legendary status of many of these players, we sometimes forget that Nicklas Lidstrom was the invisible guideline which set the standard for Red Wing contracts.  

I guess now we are left with the question; Can it work for the Avalanche in the modern day NHL?

Thoughts...