Feature Articles

And Then There Were Two....... By James Meyerriecks

Heading into play Tuesday night, it was certainly a statistical oddity that there were still three teams that were perfect to this point. In Tuesday night's action, two of them put their unblemished record on the line, with one finally falling from the ranks while another absolutely steamrolled what figures to be a pretty decent team. Let's have a look at how the Stars and Sabres fared.

While many teams changed their style a touch after the lockout, the Dallas Stars remained pretty stagnant last season, continuing to win predominantly because of a stingy defense and solid goaltending. The 218 goals they allowed last season was the sixth best total in the NHL, while they relied heavily on their top two lines to carry the scoring load. Simply put, it wasn't broken, and they didn't try to fix it. Though they didn't have the speed or front-line talent of a San Jose or Anaheim, they still won the division going away because of their system.

Through five games this season, things were looking even better for Dallas. Marty Turco was looking better than ever, as he stopped 147 of 155 shots in posting a 1.60 GAA and .948 Save Percentage while going 5-0. The madness stopped (or did it) in San Jose last night, though, as the Sharks got to Turco with a Power Play goal late in the first. Though the defense continued to look suffocating, and Turco allowed just one more goal in the game, the offense was shut down by a talented Sharks defense and a red hot Evgeni Nabokov as Dallas fell to 5-1-0 with a 2-0 loss in San Jose.

Across the continent in Philadelphia, the Sabres, coming off of a phenomenal playoff showing that made them one of the clear favorites in the East this season, are doing things a little differently. Are they talented defensively? Sure, though they're not in the same league as Dallas in this department. However, while Dallas lacks more than two or three potentially dominant forwards, the Sabres have the deepest offense in hockey.

Buffalo, which you could argue has assembled the fastest team ever, has a good young core of defensemen, a fantastic young goaltender in Ryan Miller, and can run three amazing scoring lines at you. Simply put, while I'll boast about the depth of talent in Nashville, there is another team in the NHL that can match them. The Sabres used that depth and that incredible speed to skate around a Flyers' squad that, like the Stars, is stuck in the ice age and bury them 9-1.

Just looking at that score makes you cringe a bit. Even in the golden age of hockey, you didn't have many teams threatening to post double digit scoring totals. Now, after having watched nearly a decade of clutching, grabbing, and attempting to keep the games in the 2-1 and 3-2 range, it just boggles the mind. After tonight's drubbing of Philadelphia, the Sabres 31 goals on the year are six more than any other team in hockey. What makes it even more sick, however, is that nine players on the Sabres have four or more points (equal to a 55 point pace) through six games.

Chris Drury has been the breakout star to this point, notching ten points (seven goals) already. While Drury has always been a nice player to have as a third center, though, he's never had a monster fantasy season. In seven full seasons, we've never seen Mr. Clutch finish with more than 67 points once. Daniel Briere is certainly building upon his breakout season in 2005-06 (58 points in 48 games) and has nine points to this point. Maxim Afinogenov and Thomas Vanek each had monster nights on Tuesday, combining for nine points between them (1-4 for Maxim and 2-2 for Vanek), and both are poised to become legitimate stars this season. What's even more ridiculous is that I've yet to mention Jason Pominville (30 points in half a season as a rookie last year), Derek Roy (46 in 70 games in his second season), or Ales Kotalik (62 points in his second season) and Tim Connolly (55 points in 63 games last season) has yet to play this season.

If you have to score to win in the new NHL, the Sabres certainly have it. While it will be fun to see if the Bears and Colts can go undefeated in the NFL (please don't take this as an implication that a team going undefeated is even possible in the NHL), it should be even more fun to see just how dominant this Sabres team can be in the East. Nobody can score with them when they're on, and even if the top two lines aren't on, that third line is incredible.

One of my readers at FIC kind of gave me a hint that I might not be giving the league's other unbeaten team enough love. I can assure you that I'm not neglecting the Wild, but that they just keep happening to play on nights when I haven't had time to watch them or write. The strange part about the Wild being in this mix is that while Dallas wins primarily because of defense and Buffalo can just plain outscore you, the Wild meet somewhere in the middle.

Sure... they have plenty of scoring depth, and they have a potentially dominant first line. While you have to hate giving up a kid like Patrick O'Sullivan in order to get him, Pavol Demitra should transform Marian Gaborik from a kid with ungodly talent into a Rocket Richard winner. With Gabby and Demitra, it doesn't really matter who you put out there on the opposite wing, does it? Regardless, the scoring prowess doesn't stop there. Pierre-Marc Bouchard showed as a rookie that he's more than capable of setting his linemates up. He just needs to show more of a scoring touch himself this season to become an elite winger. Brian Rolston's 79 points last year may prove to be a career year, but his 7 in 5 games this year are saying that he won't fall too far short of repeating the feat. Mikko Koivu and Branko Radivojevic are two very talented kids who have simply never gotten a chance to play on a big scoring line. Given that chance, they should continue to produce.

The wildcard has to be Mark Parrish, who could well stick on the first line with Gabby and Demitra if given the opportunity. Parrish has fantastic finishing skills, and while he depends on his linemates to create his shots, he'd have a terrific playmaking center in Demitra and an even better sniper on the opposite wing in Gaborik who can also create. Ideally, you'd end up with more of a power guy who could protect your two stars, but having someone with that deadly a slapshot playing with Demitra and Gabby could make for a monster year for all three of them!

Defensively, they're still coming of age a bit, but there simply couldn't be a better system in the NHL to do it in. Jacques Lemaire has always taken great pride in his defensive genius, and all of the forwards are capable of helping a young blue line corps out. Kim Johnsson gives them a potentially elite offensive defenseman, while Kurtis Foster has the size (in his own zone) and vision (in the offensive zone) to develop into one of the best two-way defensemen in the league. Keith Carney gives them a nice, veteran stay-at-home guy, while Martin Skoula gives them a solid veteran two-way defenseman.

With all of that said, however, you can't discuss the Wild without mentioning Manny Fernandez. Fernandez, who was originally brought to the franchise to start over Dwayne Roloson, didn't really earn his way into a regular starting job until Roloson cooled off for the first half of last season. Since then, he hasn't looked back. Fernandez was an absolute monster last season (30-18-7, 2.29, .919), and has looked even better early on this season (5-0, 1.77, .935). He almost always positions himself perfectly, doesn't give up a lot of big rebounds, and handles the puck as well as anyone not named Martin Brodeur in the league. Expect an even bigger year from Fernandez as he's the number one all season!

Goalie Platoons Getting Murky?

Two of the three most blatant platoon situations saw their teams in action Tuesday, with one goaltending situation (Philadelphia) seeming to become a little clearer, and the other (San Jose) getting even more confusing.

- Robert Esche allowed all nine goals in the Flyers' 9-1 loss to the Sabres in his first start since opening night. While Antero Niittymaki clearly earned his playing time during that span, he won't have to earn it for a little while. Esche is simply in a bad place right now, and he and Ken Hitchcock don't seem to see eye to eye. It's a travesty that he was left in for the entire rout.

- Evgeni Nabokov improved to 2-1-0 with his second shutout in three games this season in a 2-0 win over the Dallas Stars. Nabby, who has been alternating games with Vesa Toskala, will need Toskala (3-0, 2.97, .901) to drop off a bit if he's to start regularly, but he's making it awfully difficult for coach Ron Wilson to leave Nabby on the bench when he's playing this well.

- With the backups playing Tuesday, the Oilers and Canucks played to their second 2-1 contest in two nights. This time, the Oilers were the victors behind Jussi Markkanen. Both Markkanen and Canucks' backup Dany Sabourin looked strong. Behind Dwayne Roloson and Roberto Luongo, respectively, don't expect either to threaten to take over the starting job. Markkanen should see about 25 starts, while Sabourin should see no more than 10 or 15.

- San Jose's Milan Michalak continues to look like one of the breakout stars of the early-going. He scored his fifth of the year (the eventual game-winner) late in the first period on a deflection from rookie Matt Carle. Michalak now has seven points in six games with the Sharks this season. Carle added another assist later, and is on a point a game pace early from the blue line.

- Curtis Joseph made 25 saves, while Owen Nolan scored his first NHL goal since 2004 as the Phoenix Coyotes beat the St. Louis Blues 5-2. Mike Comrie and Shane Doan each had a goal and an assist while Ladislav Nagy added two helpers against his old team in the victory.

- Sheldon Souray and Radek Bonk each scored twice as the Habs defended their home ice and beat the Calgary Flames 5-4. Neither Miikka Kiprusoff nor Cristobal Huet looked particularly sharp in a game that figured to be dominated by two of the better goaltenders in the league, but the game was incredibly up-tempo (and televised in French for those of you who have Center Ice!). Matthew Lombardi lit the lamp twice for the Flames, while Dion Phaneuf had a goal and two assists in the loss.

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! If you would like to see NZT on the front-page at FIC all year, please vote here!

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.

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