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Anaheim Ducks

Hot: Teemu Selanne (2 G, 5 A in Last Five), Ryan Getzlaf (2 G, 4 A in Last Five), Chris Kunitz (3 G, 2 A in Last Five), Shane O’Brien (1 G, 3 A in Last Three), J.S. Giguere (3-0-1, 1.69 GAA, .928 Sv. % in Last Five Appearances)

Cold: Andy McDonald (Three Game Scoreless Streak), Samuel Pahlsson (1 Point in Last Seven), Ilya Bryzgalov (Continues to lose time to Giguere… Pulled from last start after allowing two goals on three shots)

Injuries: Chris Kunitz (Undisclosed – Hand)

Though they finally suffered their first (regulation) loss earlier this week against Calgary, the Ducks are continuing to roll for the most part. Despite Brygalov’s struggles in that game (he was pulled for the second time this season after the first period), both goaltenders have absolutely phenomenal numbers for the year, each boasting a sub-2.00 GAA and a save percentage that’s over .925.

The Ducks’ strengths come from the back up, so it’s not that surprising that we’ve seen some great goaltending for Anaheim. Nor is it surprising that Chris Pronger and Scott Niedermayer are tied for second on the team in scoring (15 points each). That said, the depth of young talent on the second line continues to look like a strength, as Ryan Getzlaf, Chris Kunitz, and Corey Perry are still tearing it up. The trio ranks behind only Selanne and the two former Norris Trophy winners on Anaheim in scoring.

Unfortunately, Andy McDonald hasn’t really been clicking on that top line lately, which may have something to do with the revolving door that seems to be lined up on his left. Perry, Travis Moen, and Dustin Penner have all seen some time with the McDonald-Selanne unit, which may be hindering their ability to develop a little more chemistry on the line. One player who would have figured to possibly be in the mix (Stanislav Chistov) in the preseason was shipped off to Boston for a third round pick Monday.

Further fueling the fantastic blue line in Anaheim is a third emerging fantasy defenseman in Shane O’Brien. More noted for his defensive prowess and his mean streak, O’Brien busted loose in the offensive zone in the Ducks’ 6-0 whitewashing of Vancouver last week. He’s off to a nice start (2 G, 5 A) offensively, but the reason you’re getting him in your lineup has to be his PIMS (68). Unfortunately, as the rook’s season has gone on, his discipline seems to be improving. He has just 4 PIMS in his last five games.

Next Five: vs. Philadelphia, vs. Chicago, vs. Phoenix, vs. San Jose, at Colorado

Get those Ducks lined up in a row! Four home games are coming up, including two against the teams tied for the worst record in the league (Flyers and Coyotes) and one against a team that would have a top five pick if the season ended today (Blackhawks). The San Jose game could give them a little trouble, but look for the Ducks to dominate on all fronts for the next couple of weeks.

San Jose Sharks

Hot: Patrick Marleau (5 G, 3 A in Last Four), Milan Michalek (1 G, 6 A in Last Five), Vesa Toskala (4-1-0, 1.92 GAA, .939 Sv. % in Last Five)

Cold: Mark Bell (1 G, 0 A in Last Eleven)

Injuries: Evgeni Nabokov (D2D – Neck), Rob Davison (Indefinite – Strained Groin)

The Sharks encountered a small hiccup in Monday’s 4-2 road loss to the Kings, but they’re still looking like one of the more dominant teams in the West. Considering that they still haven’t gotten their first line of Bell-Thornton-Cheechoo going full steam, that’s just scary. Joe Thornton has been OK to this point, racking up sixteen assists in his first nineteen games. However, the finishers (including himself, as he scored just his fourth of the year Monday) on his line are struggling to find the back of the net. Jonathan Cheechoo has just 7 goals after a 54-goal breakout season in 2005-06, while supposedly steady Mark Bell has been just plain awful.

Bell’s struggles, in particular, have brought about some shifting between lines early on, with both Steve Bernier and Milan Michalek getting to spend a little time alongside Thornton. Of course, this isn’t ideal. If you’re looking for chemistry on a potentially dominant scoring line, you don’t have to look much further than Bernier-Marleau-Michalek. The three have been lights out when on the ice together this season, and have combined for 53 points in 19 games.

Rookie Matt Carle and veteran Christian Ehrhoff continue to be solid Power Play QBs for the Sharks, though neither has been particularly great of late. San Jose did, however, keep another key young blue-liner in camp in eighteen-year-old Marc-Edouard Vlasic, rather than sending him down to his junior team.

Next Five: at Colorado, vs. Philadelphia, at Anaheim, vs. Los Angeles, vs. New Jersey

For now, you have to keep any of the top six forwards (save Bell) in your lineup on a daily basis. The second line is firing on all cylinders, and we’ve seen how Thornton and Cheechoo can light the world on fire in the past. The only real question marks from an offensive standpoint here are the Ducks and Devils anyway, as Philadelphia, Colorado, and the Kings are all mediocre defensively. Though Toskala lost Monday, he’s still red hot, and stopped 30 of 33 shots he faced in the loss. With Nabby on the shelf, you have to get as many starts out of Toskala as possible before it goes back to the platoon we were seeing earlier in the year.

Dallas Stars

Hot: Marty Turco (3-1-0, 1.25 GAA, .938 Sv. % in Last Four)

Cold: Offense (Three Goals in Last Three Games), Jere Lehtinen (0 Points in Last Four)

Injuries: Steve Ott (Two Months – Fractured Ankle)

The Stars still haven’t gotten the memo that the NHL is now a more up-tempo, higher scoring game. Good for them. With Marty Turco returning to the form that made him a perennial Vezina candidate earlier prior to the lockout, they’re still getting by, and would be the fifth seed out west if the playoffs started today. You have to wonder if they’re going to be able to get by like this all year long, though.

The Stars scored just six goals on their four-game road trip, with three of them coming to kick it all off (3-2 win at Edmonton). They’ve scored just one goal in each of their last three games (at Calgary, at Vancouver, at Phoenix), though they were able to steal the last of the three due to their usual fantastic play in their own end. If the Stars are to make any kind of run beyond the first couple of rounds of the playoffs, they’re going to have to pick up some scoring along the way. Brenden Morrow simply doesn’t cut it as your primary (only?) source of scoring.

Eric Lindros actually continues to look like a fine addition to this team, and is currently tied with Morrow and Mike Modano for the team lead with twelve points. However, he’s going to have to continue to prove that he can avoid the dreaded concussion (we all know it’s coming!) and try and give this team something resembling scoring depth on the second line. Mike Ribeiro has cooled off on the second line after his red hot start, while Jussi Jokinen is creative enough to score if his linemates can create some space for him.

Though the defense (particularly Sergei Zubov) hasn’t gotten into the scoring act as much as they have in the recent past, they’re continuing to look unbelievable in their own zone. They’ve held the shots against to a minimum for the most part this season, and Turco has reaped the benefits.

Next Five: vs. NY Islanders, at Atlanta, at Carolina, vs. Colorado, vs. Nashville

Unlike most of their Pacific brethren, the trip to the southeast isn’t really going to affect the Stars much. It’s still a relatively short trip, so they shouldn’t have to deal with a whole lot of jetlag. Honestly, it should be interesting to see how their two-game road swing unfolds. The Stars have the best GAA in the league (by a fairly significant margin), and they’ll square off against the third and seventh best offenses in the NHL. Colorado and Nashville both pack a lot of scoring punch as well. Turco’s a must start either way. On the positive side, the game against the Islanders could help get that offense going (though you would expect that their trip to Phoenix might have done that!).

Los Angeles Kings

Hot: Mike Cammalleri (1 G, 7 A in Last Five), Alexander Frolov (4 G, 4 A in Last Five), Lubomir Visnovsky (2 G, 3 A in Last Five), Sean Avery (3 G, 2 A in Last Five)

Cold: None

Injuries: Brent Sopel (1-2 Months – Broken Ankle), Derek Armstrong (Indefinite – Clavicular Contusion), Jeff Cowan (Indefinite – Chest), Alyn McCauley (indefinite – Knee Surgery)

The future certainly looks brighter than advertised in Los Angeles, as the youngsters on the first line have been fantastic lately. Mike Cammalleri is looking like a great first line pivot, while Alexander Frolov has suddenly found that scorer’s touch that he was struggling to get going in the first month of the season. Anze Kopitar keeps plugging away on that first line as well, meaning that the Kings have a trio of fantastic scorers working at the top of their game that are all 24 or younger.

Unfortunately, that’s about as deep as they get. Craig Conroy, coming off of his best season where he wasn’t centering Jarome Iginla, has been brutal this season, and just scored his first of the year last week. Sean Avery is capable of putting some pucks in the back of the net, but he’s at his best when he’s just being an agitator, and would likely drop to the third line if the Kings had a little more talent up front. LW Dustin Brown is off to a promising start, as he scored his third of the year (to go along with six assists) in the Kings’ 4-2 win over the Sharks Monday, but he still looks like he’s going to take some time to become a front-line talent.

Top it all off with the news that their best puck-moving defenseman (Sopel) will be out for close to two months after breaking his ankle November 4, and it’s highly unlikely that the Kings will make much of a push up the standings. However, all three of their top forwards warrant a spot in a standard league.

Next Five: vs. Philadelphia, vs. Phoenix, at San Jose, at Dallas, vs. Calgary

Looking at the upcoming schedule, it’s entirely possible that the Kings are riding a three-game win streak when they head to San Jose next Wednesday. Philly and Phoenix are both near the bottom of the league both offensively and defensively, and the Kings should find a way to win both of those games. The last three games of the stretch, however, should be a different story. After they handled the Sharks Monday, you should feel safe playing your top three (particularly Frolov, who solved Toskala with a goal and added an empty-netter) King forwards. Benching everyone against Dallas (Turco) and Calgary (a suddenly rejuvenated Miikka Kiprusoff) might not be a bad idea if you have a better option, though.

Phoenix Coyotes

Hot: Oleg Saprykin (1 A in Three of Last Four Games)

Cold: Offense (1 goal in Last Two Games), Jeremy Roenick (0 G, 1 A in Last Five), Derek Morris (Assist on Saturday was his first point in Last Twelve Games)

Injuries: Dave Scatchard (D2D – Leg), Shane Doan (2-3 Weeks – Back), Mike Comrie (1 Month – Foot Surgery), Steve Reinprecht (5-6 Weeks – Fractured Clavicle)

The ‘Yotes offense can be summed up in one short statement: Despite the fact that neither Mike Comrie nor Shane Doan have played in the past ten days, they still rank first and third on the team in scoring respectively. I’d throw some blame in the direction of the injury bug, however. Phoenix probably still has their best offensive skill player (Ladislav Nagy) in the lineup, but I’d definitely rate Comrie, Doan, and Reinprecht two, three, and four in some order. When you’re talking about a team that was likely to struggle to score goals with their best players in the lineup, situations like this are going to get ugly real fast.

The pleasant surprise is that Cujo, who really ought to be in a geriatric home at this point, has looked fantastic the last two games, allowing only three goals. Of course, the ‘Yotes have given him all of one goal of support in those two games, so it added up to an 0-2 record. If you’re in a keeper league, consider grabbing David Leneveu (by all means, don’t start him very often!). Otherwise, avoid the goaltending in Phoenix at all costs. While Cujo had a couple of good starts, he still has a 3.86 GAA and .873 Save Percentage. You can do better with a backup on a contender.

All that the ‘Yotes can do right now is build for the future. Expect them to try to pawn off Roenick, Doan, and Owen Nolan off to contenders that are searching for some veteran help. Should they get dealt, they may (well… Doan is, at least) be worth a look. As long as they’re in Phoenix, let someone else take the chance.

Next Five: vs. Minnesota, vs. Chicago, at Los Angeles, at Anaheim, vs. New Jersey

On the positive side, at least Chicago and Los Angeles only seem to be one notch up on the competitive scale, so they may do a little damage there (though the Chicago [shut out three straight times last month] game could be a 1-0 shootout snoozer). The rest should get ugly in a hurry. The Wild, Ducks, and Devils rank fourth, fifth, and eighth respectively defensively this season, and that’s never a good thing for the 28^th best offense in the league to be facing.