LandShark's Lineups and Weekly NHL Breakdown

by landsharkhockey Last Updated 2010-12-21 11:18:58

Weekly NHL Preview

brian boucher

With no hockey being played this Friday, I’ll be bringing you this week’s hockey feed a little early.
The salaries for targeted players on Fantasy Sports Live haven’t changed much in the past few days on offense, other than to see a predictable drop in all things Washington following their recent slide. That just means it’s a good time to add Caps to your lineup ,as they’ll be undervalued for the next week.

There was some significant shake up in the goalie numbers, so I’ll focus on that position this week. Here are the biggest movers since last week:

Going Up

1. Brian Boucher (PHI) – up from $74 to $108. Boucher has been taking charge of the volatile situation in Philly as of late, but there’s no guarantee of who will start from night to night. Bottom line is Philly wins, so if they announce a starter, Boucher and Bobrovsky are both worth the price.

2. M.A. Fleury (PIT) – After Fleury’s big win streak, his salary climbed $11 up to $103 this week. Still worth that number.

3. Tim Thomas (BOS) – The highest pricetag just got higher. Thomas is way up to $169, compared to $160 last week. Too much to spend on one position.

Going Down

1. Curtis McElhinney (ANA) – The Ducks have turned back to Hiller after a few stinkers by their backup. His salary dropped a whopping $60 down to $63. In general, I’d pass on him most nights.

2. Cory Schneider (VAN) – Another backup seeing no time lately, Schneider dropped to $86 this week.

3. Brent Johnson (PIT) – Johnson dropped down to $119 with Fleury going the other way.

Keeping with the goalie theme, I’ll focus in this position to see who’s trending hot and cold. With as much emphasis as FSL places on wins, you’ve got to get that position down to a science in terms of predicting a winner.

Hot

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• Craig Anderson (COL – $86) – won 6 straight

• Anders Lindback (NAS – $130) – won 5 of last 6. Rinne’s due back soon, so he may go back to bench duty soon.

• Brian Boucher (PHI – $108) – riding a 4-game win streak, but still can’t secure the #1 job outright

• Roberto Luongo (VAN – $103) – also on a 4-game streak, and has won 8 of his last 9. Must start.

• Antero Niittymaki (SJ – $96) – won 3 straight, but still sharing the crease with Niemi.

• Andrew Raycroft (DAL – $110) – has filled in admirably during Lehtonen’s injury spells. He’s won 3 of his last 4.

Cold

• Jimmy Howard (DET – $131) – has just 6 losses on the season, but 4 have come in the past 2 weeks. Expect Osgood to see more time over the next couple weeks.

• Carey Price (MON – $136) – Price is seeing his first down spell of the season, having lost 3 of 4 games

• Brian Elliot (OTT – $105) – has won just 1 of his last 10. In other words, he’s not a good option. The $105 tag is a mystery.

• Jaroslav Halak (STL – $88) – continues to be up and down. He’s down now, with 3 straight losses.

Injuries

• Pekka Rinne (NAS – $90) – is expected to be back tomorrow, so downplay Lindback at that point and look to get Rinne back in the mix.

• Ilya Bryzgalov (PHO – $104) – has been out for several days with the flu. He should be back to health after Christmas and will return to being a top notch option.

• J.S. Giguere (TOR – $64) – is out indefinitely with a groin injury. Not that you would have started a Toronto goalie anyway.