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Nashville Predators

Hot: Tomas Vokoun (5-0-1, 1.80 GAA, .944 Sv. %), Martin Erat (5 game point-streak, 4 G, 7 A), Shea Weber (1 G, 6 A, +3)

Cold: Dan Hamhuis (0 Points), Jordin Tootoo (0 Points)

Injuries: Josef Vasicek (1-2 Weeks, Hip Flexor), Steve Sullivan (D2D, Back Spasms)

While the defense in front of Tomas Vokoun has been a bit of an issue throughout the first ten games, the Preds can at least be thankful that Vokoun has found his groove after missing the end of last season. He started horribly, allowing thirteen goals in consecutive losses, but he’s looked fantastic ever since, stopping 184 of 195 shots in going 5-0-1 in his past six.

With Vokoun playing well between the pipes, the Predators have been able to focus a little more on the offensive end of the ice. Though Martin Erat’s eleven points to lead the team aren’t a massive figure, the Preds have shown off their balance, and have eleven players with five or more points through their first ten games. Offseason additions Jason Arnott (9 points) and J.P. Dumont (6 points) are already making a splash, and should continue to fit right in on a deep, talented team.

The defense has been an issue, though. Part of the reason would have to be that they lack an elite stay-at-home type. When you think of the Preds’ defensemen, you think about Kimmo Timonen (puck-mover) and Marek Zidlicky (PP Specialist) first. Sure… Dan Hamhuis (who has yet to get on the board) should be in line for a great future as a two-way defenseman, and Ryan Suter should fall into the same boat (to a lesser degree). As of now, their most physically imposing defenseman (Shea Weber) is being asked to carry a lot of the load offensively to make up for Hamhuis’ struggles. They’d certainly be better served to have Weber staying back rather than pinching to put some doubt in the opposing skaters’ minds. Vokoun has faced 27 shots or more in each of his first eight starts (including 46 in his OT Loss to Vancouver), and that’s a bit of a problem for a team that once prided itself on a strong defensive system.

Hamhuis is the key, and he’s still certainly worth a look if he’s available in your FA pool. In his first two seasons, Hamhuis earned his way into Power Play time despite the presence of two terrific (and more established) offensive defensemen. The fact that he’s scoreless through ten games on one of the league’s top five scoring teams is absolutely shocking. If he heats up, he’s capable of getting on the scoresheet in bunches, and it should allow for the other youngsters (Weber and Ryan Suter) to sit back in the defensive zone a bit more.

For those in keeper leagues, young gun Alexander Radulov is now up with the club, and he certainly has no business being available in the FA pool.

Next Five: at Vancover, at Edmonton, at Minnesota, at Detroit, vs. Colorado

Definitely a tough road stretch coming up for Nashville. The scoring may be down from the offense against Vancouver (see: Luongo, Roberto) and Minnesota. It’s still awfully difficult to bench any of your regulars on the top lines, but if you have a better option, consider using it. It shouldn’t be an easy stretch for Vokoun between the pipes either, as he’ll face one of the best lines in hockey in the first game and then a handful of dynamic (and deep) offenses for the rest of the trip. Even when they return home to face the Avs, he’ll face a team that’s been lighting it up early.

Detroit Red Wings

Hot: Johan Franzen (1 G, 5 A), Tomas Holmstrom (2 G, 2 A last 2 games), Pavel Datsyuk (2 G, 4 A points in last 4 games)

Cold: Henrik Zetterberg (Eight Game Scoreless Streak)

Injuries: Brad Norton (1-2 Weeks, Shoulder)

The Wings are getting the expected contributions from all-world defensemen Nicklas Lidstrom (10 points, +10) and Mathieu Schneider (9 points, +5), and they’re proving that they should certainly have the defense and goaltending to stay in the hunt all year. However, the fact that Henrik Zetterberg has just three points through eleven games and has been a ghost for the past two weeks has to be unsettling. Zetterberg is coming off of a monster 85 point breakout season last year, and was expected to be the co-star up front with Pavel Datsyuk.

Johan Franzen and Jason Williams have added a little scoring punch to their games, and should continue to help Datsyuk out up front, but neither is nearly as dynamic a player as Zetterberg. While the defense is amazing (particularly 5-on-5…. Only Kirk Maltby is a minus player so far), they’re simply not going to be able to carry this team all year long without a little more help from the forwards. Ideally, they’ll get Zetterberg going and manage to piece together a solid scoring line around him (keeping Zetterberg and Datsyuk separated) so that they have two legitimate scoring lines. Both he and Datsyuk are capable of making everyone around them better.

At first look, Dominik Hasek is off to a good start. However, it’s not vintage Hasek. His Goals Against Average is right around where it should be (2.24), but his Save Percentage (.892) has been horrible so far this season. It could have something to do with the fact that so few pucks get through to him. Hasek thrives on getting a lot of work, but has faced twenty shots or less in half of his eight starts, and only faced thirty once. On the positive side, he’s yet to injure his groin, which means the apocalypse is almost upon us.

Next Five: vs. Calgary, at Chicago, vs. Columbus, vs. Edmonton, vs. Nashville

I wouldn’t be shocked to see an old fashioned 1-0/2-1 type of score against Calgary to start the stretch. All in all, though, the Wings have a favorable schedule coming up. The Flames haven’t really gotten going either offensively (23 goals in 9 games) and Kipper hasn’t looked like himself so far. Their only road game is against the Blackhawks, who they were 7-0-1 against last season. On paper, Columbus shouldn’t be a gimme, but they’ve looked like one so far this season. While they close out the stretch with a pair of tough games, they’ll host them at the Joe. Start all of your Red Wings with confidence. Hopefully this stretch will get their big guns blazing.

Chicago Blackhawks

Hot: Radim Vrbata (3 G, 8 A, +6), Laase Kukkonen (2 G, 4 A)

Cold: Whole Offense (Shutout Last Two Games), Brent Seabrook (0 G, 3 A), Brian Boucher (0-4, 4.29 GAA, .852 Sv. %)

Injuries: Michal Handzus (Out for Season – Torn ACL), Nikolai Khabibulin (1-2 Weeks, Broken Finger), Martin Havlat (2-3 Weeks, Sprained Ankle)

The Hawks teased us early, scoring seven in the opener against Nashville and generally looking like a strong offensive team until Havlat sprained his ankle. Havlat has been brilliant when in the lineup, scoring seven goals and adding six assists in just seven games. However, his problem last season wasn’t his inability to score…. It was his inability to stay in the lineup. Let’s hope he can stay healthy when he gets back.

Losing Handzus, who was off to a fantastic start himself, really hurts this club. He’s a perennial Selke candidate who is amazing in his own zone and was finding the scoresheet often working with Havlat. Without him, keeping the shots away from their own net is going to be a lot more difficult, and that’s an issue when your two goaltenders are combining for an .877 Save Percentage.

While the Brian Boucher experiment clearly leaves Chicago salivating over Khabibulin’s return within the next week or two, the Wall hasn’t been so hot himself, and has stopped just 162 of 182 shots he’s faced while allowing 3.36 goals a game. Simply put, the Blackhawks don’t have a ton of experience along the blueline in front of their goaltenders, and most of the shots their goalies are facing are quality scoring chances. They should resume being an offensive force when Havlat returns, but I’m not so sure how much that’s going to matter with a young defense and a couple of mediocre goaltenders.

Next Five: at Philadelphia, at NY Islanders, vs. Detroit, at New Jersey, vs. St. Louis

Though they haven’t scored in almost a week and they’ll be far from home in three of their upcoming games, the upcoming schedule is still favorable. The Flyers have been absolutely horrible this season, and I could certainly see Chicago’s offense exploding against them. The Isles are scrappy, but they’re far from spectacular, and don’t look like a playoff-caliber club. While they’ll close out with three tough ones (the Blues aren’t really that tough, but they are a rival), any five game stretch where the ‘Hawks could win three of five has to look good for them. Expect a lot of scoring against the Flyers and Isles, but avoid the goaltending situation at all costs.

St. Louis Blues

Hot: Lee Stempniak (5 G, 3 A), Bill Guerin (4 G, 4 A), Curtis Sanford (1-1-1, 2.60 GAA, .920 Sv. %)

Cold: Manny Legace (2-3-1, 3.47 GAA, .870 Sv. %), Eric Brewer (0 G, 1 A, -5), Dallas Drake (0 G, 1 A, -4), Doug Weight (0 G, 3 A)

Injuries: Barrett Jackman (1-2 Weeks, Knee), Jay McKee (4-6 Weeks, Broken Hand)

Stempniak is taking full advantage of an opportunity to play alongside Keith Tkachuk and Petr Cajanek, which could make him a pretty dangerous fantasy option the rest of the year. He’s coming off a strong rookie showing on a horrible team, and was a definite bright spot with 27 points in 57 games last year. Guerin, signed away from Dallas in the offseason, is off to a much better start after the worst season of his career in 2005-06.

The Sanford-Legace battle has officially become just that. Legace did what was expected, and won the job outright after training camp, but he’s gotten off to a horrendous start. In the meantime, Sanford finally got his second start of the year last week, and didn’t waste the effort. He eventually lost in overtime to the Canucks, but made 36 saves and was less than a minute away from victory. The Blue rewarded him by giving him the start the next night against Chicago, where he got off the schnyde with a 4-3 victory.

Neither Brewer nor Drake are real fantasy options, but they’re guys who the Blues need to be leaders on the ice. Neither is doing that right now. Weight isn’t really much of a scorer, so the zero goals are far from a surprise. However, he’s one of the better playmakers in the league, and seeing just three assists through nine games out of a guy who isn’t lighting the lamp himself simply isn’t going to get it done.

Next Five: vs. Anaheim, at Dallas, vs. Colorado, vs. Calgary, vs. Columbus

I’ll be at the Anaheim game (wearing my Niedermayer jersey!), though I’m certainly expecting to hear a lot more boos when Chris Pronger touches the puck than horns for the Blues’ scoring. With the Ducks, Stars, and Flames, this figures to be a brutal stretch for any Blues’ skaters that you may have on your roster. Sanford and Legace will likely work themselves into a platoon situation for the next couple of weeks until one claims the job outright, so picking a goalie to start won’t be easy. If you want to go that route and try and vulture some wins out of the Blues’ goalies, pick one of them up for the start against Columbus. The GAA and Save Percentages shouldn’t kill you against Anaheim, Dallas, or Calgary either.

Columbus Blue Jackets

Hot: Pascal Leclaire (4 GA, 87 Saves, 1 SHO in last three games)

Cold: Sergei Fedorov (0 Points Since Returning to Lineup), Rostislav Klesla (0 Points), Gilbert Brule (1 G, 0 A, -5), Anson Carter (1 G, 1 A)

Injuries: Bryan Berard (Back Surgery, 2-3 Months)

In a season that figured to be filled with promise because of the offense, the Jackets’ question mark entering the season has actually been their strength. Leclaire has looked like a legit number one goalie to start the year, and is 3-4-1 with a 2.66 GAA and .912 Save Percentage. However, when your team is giving you just 2.11 goals of support per game, it makes it awfully difficult to win.

There are a handful of reasons that the Jackets struggled for the first week or so, as Nikolai Zherdev took a little longer getting into the lineup than expected and Sergei Fedorov started the season on the IR. However, those excuses are gone at this point, and the Jackets have scored just two goals in their past three games.

Young star Rick Nash has to bear the brunt of the blame right now, as he hasn’t scored a goal in six games, tallying just one assist in that stretch. Front-line prospect Gilbert Brule has also been extremely disappointing in the offensive zone, and has just one point in eight games to this point. Anson Carter also needs to get going, lest he admit that his career year (33 goals) last season was completely because of the fact that he played with the Sedin twins in Vancouver.

There’s a lot of offensive firepower in Columbus, but it simply isn’t clicking here right now. If you think you can get Zherdev or Nash cheap, now might be the best time to go after them.

Next Five: vs. Colorado, vs. Calgary, at Detroit, at St. Louis, vs. Edmonton

There’s not a gimme in the bunch, though their games against the Avs and Blues are certainly winnable. Though Jose Theodore’s coming off a 3-1 win over the Wild Sunday night, he’s yet to prove that he can stop pucks on a consistent basis in the early-going, so get your Jackets’ skaters in the lineup against him. While Kipper’s struggled for Calgary, you have to think about sitting some guys against Calgary. Leclaire is going to see a ton of work this season without a proven backup, and the three games in the middle of the stretch all look like games where he could hold the scoring down. He’s a safe start against the Flames and Blues at the very least.