Fantasy Hockey Mondays: Week Four

When it comes to fantasy hockey drafts, it's dangerous to let your emotions get too involved. We all have attachments to certain players and teams; if you allow that to sway your decision-making, you might end up with a team that looks like this, rather than a team that might be expected to experience a modicum of success.

That said, I admit to certain emotional attachments that I just can't shake. Every year I rank Ed Jovanovski just a little bit higher than I probably should, just because I have fond memories of his time in Vancouver. What can I say, I like the guy.

And it's paying off: with his hattrick this week, Jovo currently leads the Coyotes in scoring with 9 points in 11 games, coincidentally the same number of points in the same number of games as Mike Green. Let's just say that Mike Green tends to get drafted a bit higher than Ed Jovanovski. He's also a +4 on the season, which is a nice switch from his typically terrible +/-. With Shane Doan out of the lineup indefinitely, Jovo will be relied on heavily to provide offense. I'm not naive enough to think that this run will continue, but if he can improve on his numbers from the last couple seasons, I will be thrilled.

Pool One - Office Pool

Team: Aldergrove Awesome

Week Four Result: 8-4-1 Win

A big victory for the Awesome over one of the top teams in the league. More importantly, his office is only a few steps away from mine, putting me in prime gloating territory. Surprisingly, the big wins for me this week came in my goaltending stats, which is a nice switch from the last couple weeks. Ilya Bryzgalov, Jonas Hiller, and Chris Mason managed to get me 4 wins and 0 losses and while their GAA and SV% weren't fantastic, Pekka Rinne torpedoed my opponent's statistics enough that it didn't make a difference.

Offensively, I won both goals and assists thanks to solid performances from Ed Jovanovski, Mason Raymond, Sergei Gonchar, and Steven Stamkos. Really, almost everyone chipped in with a goal or an assist except for Mike Comrie, David Clarkson, and Josh Bailey. I'll be keeping David Clarkson both because he's one of my few sources for penalty minutes and because I'm confident he will break out of his slump, but it's time to say goodbye to Mike Comrie and/or Josh Bailey. And, considering that Matt Cullen is still available in free agency, it's farewell Mike Comrie.

Pool Two - Nucks Misconduct

Team: I Miss Kyle Wellwood

Week Four Result: 4-5-2 Loss

A disappointing loss this week, considering the solid performance from my goaltenders. I got a nice 2 wins, 2,34 GAA, and .935 SV%, with Chris Mason and Jonathan Bernier doing the heavy lifting. It was all moot, as my opponent only got 2 starts from his goalies and forfeited all the goaltending categories anyways. I lost or tied every other category, despite 4 points from Ryan Kesler, 3 points from Stamkos and Wojtek Wolski, and solid powerplay production throughout my lineup. Just not enough consistency, as Burrows, J.P. Dumont, Marek Zidlicky, Matt Taormina, and Tomas Plekanec were all held pointless this week.

Since there are 20 teams in this league, there are very few players available in free agency that are any good whatsoever. Imagine my surprise, then, when Matt Moulson was still on the list. He scored 30 goals last season and, with 2 goals in his last 2 games, he's on pace for 35 goals this season. 30-goal scorers don't grow on trees: only 24 players last season scored 30 or more goals. Getting a potential 30-goal scorer 4 weeks into the fantasy season in a 20-team league is almost absurd. I switched him in for Blake Comeau, who, after a solid start and 8 points in his first 7 games, has only 1 assist in his last 5.

Pool Three - Friends Pool

Team: Emily Carr Echidnas

Week Four Result: 1-8-1 Loss

I don't even want to talk about it. I got soundly whooped by Dustin's Team Awesom (sic). My goalies, including supposed fantasy studs Ilya Bryzgalov and Miikka Kiprusoff, were awful, while he got 3 wins from Jonas Hiller. I got 12 goals, which would have been enough to win or tie any of the other match-ups, but he also got 12 goals. Joe Thornton decided it wasn't wabbit or duck season, it was head season, and got 17 penalty minutes to lead his team to victory in that category. The only category I managed to win was shots-on-goal. Huzzah.