Fantasy Hockey Analysis

Fantasy Hockey Scouts: The Fantasy Five - Week #21

#1 Give 'em a Look

This might seem like an odd choice after he was shelled for four goals and pulled on Wednesday night but we think Mike Leighton is worth a look. Ray Emery is done for the season and the Flyers, rather surprisingly, decided not to add a goalie at the trade deadline, so Leighton looks to be their guy. He's been very solid for the Flyers since they picked him up on waivers (13-3-1, 2.33 & .923) and before Wednesday night he had started seven in a row and hadn't allowed more than two goals in any of them. We also like him cause he's playing behind a pretty stingy Flyers defense that only allows 28.6 shots per game (5th lowest in the league).

Others worth a look: Johan Franzen (Det – W), Alexei Ponikarovsky (Pit - W), David Booth (Fla – W) and Joe Corvo (Was – D)

Marty Biron's been awful this year with only four wins and some weak averages (3.24 & .899) but a lot of GMs were probably holding onto him all year with the hope (along with the Islanders) that he and his cheap contract would be dealt to a contender at the trade deadline... well, he didn't get dealt so your left holding onto the #3 goalie on the Islanders.

Others worth a boot: Slava Kozlov (Atl – W), Drew Stafford (Buf – W), JM Liles (Col – D) and Ray Emery (Phi – G)

At this point in his career Marian Gaborik's groin muscle is about as durable as wet toilet paper and so it's ironic that he goes through three-quarters of the regular season healthy and then manages to hurt himself at the Olympics... and then proceeds to play a few more games, likely making it worse. There hasn't been much information given but he missed the first Rangers game since the break ended and if his history of rehabilitation is any indication, Gaborik owners should be worried.

This one just won't go away... the Blackhawks essentially admitted that they lost faith in Cristobal Huet and were handing over the #1 job to Antti Niemi as they let him start five games in a row. Well Niemi didn't look too sharp (3.28 & .884) and was pulled in his last start after getting lit up by the Islanders. So rumours were flying that the Hawks were in the market for a goalie at the trade deadline but their cap situation wouldn't allow it, so they went back to Huet last night and he picked up the win but allowed two goals on only 14 shots. This looks like a win-and-you're-in scenario for the next little while.

Nothing ground-breaking here but James Mirtle over at the Globe on Hockey Blog had a team-by-team comparison of goal scoring between this year and last... could come in handy when thinking about your playoff pool picks. It's amazing to see how much the Capitals have improved on last year's big numbers and how far Detroit & Boston have fallen.