As the stereotypical goon is phased out of the new NHL, poolies need to look for the PIM’s elsewhere. As I wrote in a preseason article in The Score Hockey Forecaster, poolies need to look to hard-hitting defensemen, power forwards, and speedy agitators for their penalty minutes. If you picked a goon for your hockey pool, you better hope that he somehow squeezed himself into one of the above three categories or you will have realized by now that your guy is sitting in the press box all too often.
This year’s biggest surprise in terms of penalty minutes is rearguard Shane O’Brien. The Anaheim rookie has a whopping 73 penalty minutes – and eight points to go along with them! Once he made the team, his numbers should not come as a surprise – he compiled over 600 AHL penalty minutes over the last two seasons, along with 66 points. The 23-year-old will be a perennial 30-35 point player and you can certainly expect 200-plus PIM’s a season going forward.
Another big surprise is another rearguard – Nick Boynton of the Coyotes. His 68 penalty minutes puts him on pace for 320. That is simply not going to happen. He has a career high of 107, and while he may top that career high this year, it won’t be by much. Keep in mind that he had 27 of those penalty minutes in a game against Los Angeles on October 19. Expect no more than 140 in the end. It may be a good time to trade him.
Philadelphia’s Ben Eager may have only played 14 games, and garners just under 10 minutes of ice time per game, but that has not stopped him from being fifth in the league in penalty minutes. The big powerful has played too many NHL games to be officially called a ‘rookie’, but his status as a regular on this team is still not certain. That being said, he has not missed a game since being recalled on October 18th, and has five major penalties and two misconducts this season in just 14 games. He is under everyone’s radar in your pool, but be assured – he will play 60 games this season and take a run at 200 PIMs.
Don’t be fooled by the penalty numbers of Edmonton rearguard Steve Staios. His 50 minutes in penalties have come pretty much in just three different games. He had games of 19, 15, and 12 PIM’s. All other games, he has just two minutes in penalties. If you are lucky enough to own him in a pool that emphasizes this statistic, now would be the time to try to sucker a fellow owner…
Meanwhile… The best line in New Jersey is…not…the EGG line (Patrick Elias, Brian Gionta, Scott Gomez). Yes, the line is still getting top power-play ice time, and yes opponents are still focusing on them, however in fantasy circles the new big line is the ‘LPZ’ line…or the ‘PLZ’ line…or…does this line have a fancy nickname yet? They need one. Zach Parise-Jamie Langenbrunner-Travis Zajac have been the heart of the Devils’ offense lately, combining for 15 points in their last four games, and 30 in their last 10. You know what to expect from Langenbrunner, who should be like clockwork producing in the mid-fifties. A strong sophomore season from Parise will see him in the mid-sixties, while Zajac will be one of the better rookies in the NHL this season with 55 points…
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bablaboushka
Posted - 11/20/2006 : 14:53:50 Going along the 'PLZ' theme, I dub them the "Please line".
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