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 Posted - 10/02/2006 : 08:45:05
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By Darryl Dobbs
After three seasons in the NHL, the undrafted Andy McDonald had a career high of 30 points for the Ducks. In his fourth season, he tallied 85 points. So how does one post a nearly 300 percent increase?
The new rules were part of the reason. At 5-10, 185 pounds McDonald thrived in a league where the clutching and grabbing went away, and power plays in general increased. He tallied 38 of his 85 points on the power play.
After stumbling a little in the playoffs back in May (just nine points in 16 games), fantasy owners were starting to question whether the productive Andy McDonald is the real Andy McDonald. The answer is, in a word, yes. The 29-year-old is all set to line up once again with Teemu Selanne, and early indications are that Chris Kunitz will be on the left side. We saw what he could do with those linemates for the final 40 games last season, in which McDonald notched 54 points.
His eight points in four preseason games, heading into Saturday night’s action, has made things quite clear that the hand injury that had been bothering him for several months was bothering him no more. Expect a minimum of 70 points from McDonald, with an upside of 90…
Meanwhile…
Montreal’s Tomas Plekanec was inserted into Mike Ribeiro’s spot on a line with Sergei Samsonov and Alex Kovalev on Saturday night. Ribeiro was traded to the Stars earlier in the day, and Plekanec wound up playing the role with better results than his predecessor, garnering two assists…
Atlanta continues to keep Jonathon Sim on a line with Ilya Kovalchuk. That has been pretty consistent throughout the preseason…
Stanislav Chistov has a had a poor camp in Anaheim, and his job is on the line with prospects Tim Brent and Ryan Shannon performing very well. Shannon was never drafted, but has put up strong offensive numbers in the NCAA, as well as the AHL. He is a smallish forward who is offensively skilled and defensively responsible - and probably just right for the new NHL…
It is looking more and more like prospect Nigel Dawes will make the New York Rangers. He picked up a pair of goals Saturday while playing on a line with Matt Cullen and Jason Ward. He later saw some time with Petr Prucha and Jarkko Immonen. In a few years, Dawes has the upside to be a 70-point player…
Phoenix will go with the tandem of Curtis Joseph and Mike Morrison between the pipes. Their goalie of the future, David LeNeveu, was cut Sunday morning, along with Peter Mueller and Bill Thomas…
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