Armchair Pools Blog

Check out the latest article from Dobber at dobberhockey.com

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The Reporters’ shouldn’t join a fantasy league any time soon.

It’s no secret that more often than not, when a player with any semblance of offensive ability gets traded he makes a quick impact on the scoresheet. Usually, this impact fizzles out within a matter of a few games, although in many cases the numbers that he continues to produce is still an improvement on what he was doing in his former city.

We are seeing that now more than any time I can remember, with Alexei Ponikarovsky, Denis Grebeshkov, Teddy Purcell, Peter Mueller, Wojtek Wolski, Scott Walker, Lee Stempniak and Luca Caputi all posting points in their first games with their new team. But two of those cases in particular have caught my attention as they have :
a) a ton of potential and
b) are likely available in most rotisserie leagues and even some keeper leagues.

Armchair Pools is excited to be hosting an Olympic Pool at dobberhockey.com. You can signup and make your picks here. Rumor has it that there will be some good prizes, so make sure you enter.

Once you've joined the pool, it will show up on your Armchair Pools account and you will be able to edit your picks and check out the pool details. There is also this public standings page. You don't need a password to view this page so feel free to send the link to family and friends so they can all track how well you are doing.

Damon, make sure you tell them to scroll down when they get to the page so they can find your team ...

From Dobber at dobberhockey.com ..

After poring over second-half statistics for the 2008-09 season, as well as this season so far, not to mention polling the members of DobberHockey’s forum, I have whittled the list down to 15 events of the past year that had the greatest impact on fantasy hockey in 2009.

15. Steve Ott’s big run
The Stars’…er, stars… were dropping like flies, but they found a new source for offense – Ott. He tallied 37 points in his last 40 games to give him 46 on the campaign. That 75-point full-season pace, when coupled with his 150-PIM potential, made him a potential fantasy juggernaut. Alas, with the likes of Brad Richards et al in the lineup, Ott has been pushed back to the third line and is on pace for a mere 22 points.

14. Andrew Ebbett breaking through…then breaking down
When Teemu Selanne went down in the Spring, Ebbett took full advantage of the added ice time. He went on a run of 28 points in 39 games, teasing us with 70-point potential. With Selanne back, his production dropped off and when the Ducks acquired Saku Koivu and Joffrey Lupul in the summer, there was just no room for Ebbett in the top six. Ironically, he was waived and picked up by Chicago (and later, Minnesota) prior to Selanne (again) and Lupul getting hurt, so we were never able to see if he was for real or not.

13. Peter Mueller’s concussion
When Mueller suffered a concussion January 27, he had 84 points in 128 games. His numbers since returning from the injury – 15 points in 55 games. And that would look much worse if he didn’t pick up five points in his last seven (so perhaps he’s turning things around – one can hope).

For those of you in pools that allow trades midseason, don't miss the release of Dobber's midseason guide.

With the Olympics coming, it might also be a good guide to help you figure out who you should take in your Olympic Pool.

From dobberhockey.com

A player has cropped up over the past week who has grabbed my attention. He has a decent shot of panning out – and continuing to pan out – for the long term. The player is almost certain to be a great short-term asset. A big part of our love for fantasy hockey is the hope that under-the-radar players bring. We’re dying for the respect and admiration of the other owners in our league for being the first to dig up the latest gem.

From DobberHockey.com

I wonder about things. These thoughts often inch towards the borders of insanity. Thankfully, they’re confined to the realm of fantasy hockey, so I don’t need to check myself in anywhere. But I’ll look at what a player has done in one game or in one league or in one month and a crazy thought will appear in my head – often too nutty to even ramble about in my daily blog.

Most of the time – and by “most” I mean 99.9 percent – nothing comes of it. Rarely, something will seep through, such as my wondering if Rich Peverley could become a second-line producer in Atlanta back when he was waived by Nashville. Occasionally, I’ll come close to actually seeing the crazy thought come to pass, but then it will fall short – such as when Nashville waived Simon Gamache and St. Louis picked him up. He scored five goals in seven games before tapering off and getting waived again and then disappearing into Lonny Bohonos-land. But for the most part, these ridiculous thoughts that force their way into my brain, however briefly, do not come to pass at all and are too far-fetched to share.

Until now.

Why not throw all the darts at once? Maybe one will hit the bull’s-eye. More likely they’ll all fall beneath the dartboard and put holes in the wall, but as long as I forewarn you then I figure it’s fair to share them just this once. So here goes…

If you're stinking up your pool this year and are already thinking about the 2010/2011 season, check out Dobberhockey's list of of future prospects