Neutral Zone Trap
October 05, 2006
By
James Meyerriecks
For the time being, this is a temporary preview of something we may be running on the front page at FIC three or four days a week throughout the NHL season. If you want your daily hockey fix now, I'll also be running this as an off-site blog for the time being. The following is just a taste of what you can find at Neutral Zone Trap!
Mixed Reviews on Openers For Three Former Number Ones In Net
The second night of the NHL season brought us three starts from top overall draft picks, including one who signed the most ridiculous contract in all of professional sports late this summer. Tonight's play offered the sleeper in Pittsburgh, the superstar on the road in Detroit, and the "savior" taking a trip to the desert. While one outplayed the hype and another lived up to it, a third played so poorly that he got pulled after two periods.
Everything about Pens' netminder Marc-Andre Fleury screams sleeper. After a mediocre 2003-04 campaign as a rookie, he was pushed into the starting role a year ahead of schedule after the lockout last season when Jocelyn Thibault was injured early on. All in all, he had a strong showing in his first effort as the full-time starter, and improved drastically on both his Goals Against Average and Save Percentage. Through one remarkable start, I've seen nothing to change my thoughts about tabbing him as one of the best sleeper goaltending options in the league.
Fleury looked absolutely brilliant in shutting down a high-octane Philadelphia offense on Thursday, at times looking possessed. The third-year netminder balked at the forty shots he faced, turning each of them aside in the Pens' 4-0 win. He killed two 5-on-3 Power Play opportunities for the Flyers, and ten Power Plays overall. If there's any kind of negative to find with Fleury's first game, it's that the defense in front of him didn't look much stronger than it was last season, and it certainly didn't look very disciplined. Pittsburgh finished the night with 27 Penalty Minutes.
While I'm snickering a bit at Rick DiPietro being the savior on Long Island, the people of Vancouver, British Columbia aren't being sarcastic about using that term to describe their new netminder. The funny part is this: DiPietro and Roberto Luongo will forever be linked, since Luongo was the man that the Islanders traded to Florida in order to acquire the pick to draft DiPietro.
As for Luongo's play Wednesday, it was just another night at the office. He looked spectacular as usual, turning away 27 of 28 shots by the Detroit Red Wings. It certainly wasn't an easy assignment for Luongo to draw to start the year, having to face the team that won the President's Trophy last year on the road to begin his Canucks' career, but he was more than up to the task. The usual suspects (Markus Naslund and the Sedin Twins) were involved in two of Vancouver's three goals, as they managed to give him enough support to start on a high note. For once, the scoring punch in front of a tremendous goalie will be the question mark in Vancouver.
If the season's first game is any indication, it's a good thing that Rick DiPietro never has to worry about playing to earn a contract extension again. The fifth year netminder seemed to be handing out goals on a platter in Phoenix Thursdsay night, and allowed six goals on just thirty-two shots before getting pulled to begin the third period. While he didn't look horrible to start the game, he was peppered with seventeen shots in the second, four of which got by him.
DiPietro, who signed a massive fifteen year, $67.5 million deal in September, has to deal with perhaps the greatest expectations in all of sports. There's no way that you sign a deal for that long and that much cash without feeling all the pressure in the world on your shoulders. He'll be backstopping what figures to be one of the worst teams in the East this year, and living up to the deal on a short-term basis is going to be nearly impossible. If nothing else, the commitment that the Islanders made to him this offseason means his job is more than secure, but I'm not so sure that's going to be a good thing for fantasy owners in 2006-07.
Some other notes:
- The Blackhawks were red hot in the preseason, and it sure carried over to opening night. While their defense often looked like it just wasn't there, the offense gave us an indication that they're going to be fun to watch (even without Tuomo Ruutu in the early-going). Martin Havlat scored twice and set up a couple more in Chicago's 8-6 win in Nashville. Rene Bourque added a shorthanded goal and two assists in the victory. The Bulin Wall looked like anything but, yet he picked up the win despite allowing six goals on forty shots.
Nashville's Tomas Vokoun didn't look sharp in his first meaningful action since suffering a blood clot that kept him out for the final month of last season. He may need a little time to shake off the rust, and you may be better off keeping him on the bench his next time out until you see that he's back in game shape. David Legwand certainly looked like he's healthy after offseason knee surgery, and finished with three points (two goals) in the loss. Legwand didn't garner nearly the preseason attention he deserved, and could be in for a huge season if he's healthy.
- A night after the Senators took it to Toronto on their home-ice, the Leafs went into Scotiabank Place and absolutely smacked the Sens around. Martin Gerber stopped just 19 of 24 shots, while Andrew Raycroft built on a solid first start in Toronto and turned away all 34 shots he would face in a 6-0 win. The Leafs, who were heavily dependent upon their Power Play last season, scored twice on just five attempts with the man advantage. Youngster Kyle Wellwood, who had 45 points as a rookie in 2005-06, led the way with four assists, while Chad Kilger and Darcy Tucker each scored twice in the victory.
- Dwayne Roloson showed no ill effects of the knee injury that knocked him out of the Stanley Cup Finals last season, and stopped 31 of 32 shots in the Oilers' 3-1 win over the Calgary Flames.
- Marc Denis stopped the puck when it mattered, keeping the Atlanta Thrashers from scoring on all three of their shootout attempts. However, despite the 3-2 shootout win, Denis stopped just 9 of 11 shots during regulation and overtime play. Grinder Ryan Craig scored both of Tampa's regulation goals.
- Brad Richardson netted a pair of goals, including a shorty, in Colorado's 3-2 defeat in Minnesota. He's certainly talented, but don't look for this to become a regular occurrence. Think of fifty points as a good year in terms of his development, which could make him valuable in really deep leagues.
- It wasn't Jonathan Cheechoo who was the beneficiary of Joe Thornton's first two assists of the year, but young power forward Milan Michalek. Michalek netted a pair of Power Play goals 46 seconds apart in the second period of San Jose's 5-4 overtime win against the St. Louis Blues. Cheechoo was certainly still a factor, adding an assist on one of Michalek's goals and setting Mark Bell up with a beautiful pass to give the Sharks a 4-3 lead late in the third. Rookie Matt Carle got the scoring started for the Sharks in the first, and saw the majority of the Power Play time along the blue line.
As for the Blues, I was fairly impressed despite the five goals allowed. Their checking line looked strong, particularly early on, and actually combined for a couple of goals in this one. After finishing with the worst record in the league last season, St. Louis showed a lot of heart tonight, answering back quickly after Michalek's two goals and burying a deflection with 5 seconds to play to send the game into the extra session. Simply put, they were outclassed in the overtime session, and San Jose controlled most of the play from the middle of the second period on. Manny Legace allowed five goals, but two were solid power play goals and nobody was stopping Mark Bell's go-ahead goal in the third.
James Meyerriecks has been actively involved at FIC since its inception in 2001, and has been writing The Hook throughout the MLB season since 2002. This season, he'll be tackling a weekly hockey column, The Blue Line, as well as a semi-weekly blog called Neutral Zone Trap. He's also represented FIC in a handful of Experts Leagues over the past three seasons and is a member of the Fantasy Sports Writers Association.
Feature Articles 
