***Official Fantasy Hockey Pre-Draft thread***

[rusty JEDI]

What I would like to see here is good info we can use.

Datsyuk unsigned and may end up in Russia after signing contract
Kovalchuk may go back to Russia
Brendan Morrisson had one of the best years in Europe
David Aebischer had a terrible year in Europe
Scott Stevens retired

There is lots more of this stuff, its just a matter of getting it all together. So if you have some good info post it up. I am going hunting today.

I would really love to see a break down of who played last year in Europe or some other league, and who took the year off.

rJ

[rusty JEDI]

Just some small background if you wonder why I value some players more than maybe they should. Yahoo customized roto league g,a,pim,+/-, ppp, shp, fw, GWG...W,GAA,sv%,SO
We have 20 teams and ive been in it 3 years coming 1,4,1. We play 2C,2LW, 2RW, 2D, 1Util, 1G, and 2 bench spots. The setup of the league is not my choice, and i would change it but am not in charge of things.

-Zetterberg signed ***change from first post

-Scott Young is now a Blue (probably no change in value)
-Bondra signed with thrashers.
-Forsberg already injured and will miss first two weeks of camp (I will avoid him and hope someone makes a mistake and drafts him early)
-Oli Jokinen signed (62 points last NHL season)
-Damphousse retired
-Dunham in Atlanta but likely a backup unless Lehtonen the rookie crashes hard. I would avoid him

Having trouble finding a good list of unsigned players.

rJ

[rusty JEDI]

NHL Players in Europe

Earlier i said Aebischer had a terrible year in Europe. My original source was obviously off because he went 13-2-1 with a 2.41 gaa.

<font color="red"> The Winners:
</font>
# Joe Thornton, Niklas Hagman and Rick Nash were unstoppable in Switzerland, guiding HC Davos to the championship.
Thornton had four goals and 20 assists in the playoffs; Hagman and Nash combined for 19 goals.
# Pavol Demitra walked away with the Slovak scoring title. But Miroslav Satan was the playoff MVP, leading Slovan Bratislava to the league championship.
# A great homecoming for Jochen Hecht, one of the NHL's few German-born players. After scoring 50 points in 48 games for the Mannheim Eagles, he led the playoffs with 17 points in 11 games.
# Daniel Alfredsson and P.J. Axelsson carried Frolunda Indians to the Swedish championship. Alfredsson was the top playoff scorer with 18 points; Axelsson had 10 assists. Frolunda's NHL contingent also included Sami Salo, Sami Pahlsson, and Christian Backman.
# Playing for Timra IK, Henrik Zetterberg won the Swedish scoring title with 50 points in 50 games.
# Ales Hemsky scored 14 points in 16 playoff games as Pardubice won the Czech title. Martin Erat had an excellent year for Zlin.
# Dynamo Moscow won its the Russian championship with an NHL assist from Maxim Afinogenov, Artem Chubarov, Pavel Datsyuk, Andrei Markov and Sergei Samsonov.

<font color="red">The Losers</font>

# Ak Bars Kazan pulled a page from the New York Rangers' book, with similar results. Based in Kazan, a small city in the eastern republic of Tatarstan, the Snow Leopards spent a reported $65 million US on a roster that included Nikolai Khabibulin, Vincent Lecavalier, Ilya Kovalchuk, Alexei Kovalev, Dany Heatley and Darius Kasparaitis. But the big names failed to produce and Kazan lost in the first playoff round. The Russian champions, Dynamo Moscow, had a budget reported at $20 million US.
# Peter Forsberg returned to Modo, the Swedish team where he began his career and where his father is head coach. He was joined by Markus Naslund, Adrian Aucoin, Daniel Sedin and Henrik Sedin. But the homecoming never met expectations, as Forsberg sustained several injuries and Modo was eliminated in the opening playoff round.
# Mike Knuble, Brendan Morrison and Kristian Huselius had it made in Linkoping, where they formed Sweden's best forward line. Huselius was the league's top scorer until February, when he was named in a police investigation of sexual exploitation. Huselius was released and Linkoping never got its groove back.
# The Czech league was victimized by bidding wars. Jaromir Jagr, Martin Havlat and Patrik Elias were among those who began with Czech teams before bailing out for better offers in Finland or Russia.
# Czech defenseman Pavel Kubina was having a solid year for Vitkovice until he accused a referee of taking bribes. That cost him a 15-game suspension.

<font color="red">The Roundup:</font>

Sweden was the most popular destination, with 84 NHLPA members. Their influence showed in the scoring race: besides Zetterberg, the top ten included Huselius, Mattias Weinhandl, Shawn Horcoff, Morrison, Knuble, and Marcus Nilson.

Russia hosted 70 NHLPA visitors, with a couple of teams said to be among the richest in Europe. Jagr led the playoffs with 13 points. But the top regular-season scorer was Maxim Sushinski, who played 30 games for Minnesota a few years ago. The highest-ranking NHL player in the scoring race was Aleksey Morozov of Kazan, who finished fourth.

The Czech Republic was home to 51 NHL players by season's end. League champions Pardubice also swept the top three spots in league scoring. Czech veteran Michal Mikeska was first, followed by NHL refugees Milan Hejduk and Jan Bulis.

43 NHLPA members opted for Switzerland. Besides Thornton, Hagman and Nash, the light schedule and Swiss amenities attracted Martin St. Louis, David Aebischer (a Swiss native), Jose Theodore and Alex Tanguay.

The best forward line in Slovakia might have been Michal Handzus, Richard Zednik and Vladimir Orszagh, playing for Zvolen. But they were shut down in the final series against Bratislava.

Teams in Finland hired stars like Teemu Selanne, Sami Kapanen, Miikka Kiprusoff and Saku Koivu. But the dominant team was Kärpät Oulu, winning 40 of 56 regular season games and the league title. Janne Niinimaa was the only NHL veteran with Kärpät.

The best team in Germany did not rely on NHL imports. Erik Cole and Nathan Dempsey were the only NHL regulars on Eisbaren Berlin. Mike York of Iserlohn Roosters placed second in a scoring race otherwise dominated by German League veterans. Doug Weight, a late arrival, was among the top playoff scorers with 12 points.

Other European destinations: Italy (Steve Rucchin, Stephane Quintal), France (Steve Reinprecht), Great Britain (Eric Cairns, Nick Boynton), Hungary (Rob Niedermayer), Denmark (Todd Simpson) and Norway (Scott Hartnell, Mark Bell).

[rusty JEDI]

Raycroft and Boynton unsigned in Boston

Goalies that miss training camp can become a big disappointment.

rJ

[UncleRemus]

Just wanna say that this is appreciated. I was never quite as good with fantasy Hockey as I am with Football and Baseball, and have been pretty discouraged with Hockey for the last 4 or 5 years, but I love the rule changes, and I'll be following it religiously once again. I'm hoping to improve my fantasy game as well.

Bottom line, after being "out of the loop", there's not much I can contribute at the moment, but I hope to after doing some research.

Thanks for sharing all this,
Remus

[Wes ManTooth]

Excellent info.

Also Patrick Elias though he signed with the Devils will most likely miss the preseason and the start of the season due to illness with hepatitis "A".

Al MacInnis retired

also here is an interesting link about possible trades and player updates

[rusty JEDI]

Found a list of Unrestricted and Restricted free agents still unsigned. I would avoid them for now, but maybe they will slip into a later round where you can get a good deal.
The list is actually from the start of the year so it has everyone and anyone signed has a note beside them on where they have signed. Looking into it further its not totally complete. Some signings like Theodore are not updated, and Raycroft isnt listed.

Now All I really need is a list of currently injured players.

Unrestricted
http://scoreboards.canoe.ca/default....ree-agents.htm

Restricted
http://scoreboards.canoe.ca/default....ee-agents2.htm

[rusty JEDI]

Owen Nolan - Out for a significant amount of time, but not sure exactly
Eric Lindros - Will play but for how long and what intensity
Jason Allison - Recovered?....I wont draft him until very late if at all
Patrick Elias - Wes stated above he's out for a little early on
Adam Deadmarsh - Anybody find anything?
Derian Hatcher - Missing training camp with knee injury
Peter Forsberg - miss some camp but should be ready opening night
Vladimir Orszagh - Only a pickup in very deep pools, but had a good year in Europe and 37 points last NHL campaign. Rehabbing a knee until the end of Sept. and unsigned until they know more

rJ

[Wes ManTooth]

To my understanding Heatley suffered an eye injury and missed most of his season in europe. He should he starting this year but with two years in a row in which he missed alot of games due to injury this my limit his potencial.

[rusty JEDI]

Heatley is claiming the knee and eye are back to 100% for what thats worth.

He is now on a better team, and this could help because his line cant be isolated by a checking line as easily, or it could hurt because he gets less ice time or split PP time.

I think he is still a very high pick though and will not avoid him.

rJ