Goalie Starters 01/05/2010

Here are your expected starting goalies for January 5, 2010:

• Jonas “The Monster” Gustavsson starts for the Leafs according to Jonas Siegel of Toronto’s AM 960.
• The Ottawa Senators Official Twitter writes Brian Elliot gets the nod in goal.
• Michal Neuvirth gets another try says Tarik El-Bashir of The Washington Post.
• Dave Stubbs with Habs Inside/Out confirms Carey Price as the Montreal tender.
• Marty Turco in nets writes Mike Heika of The Dallas Morning News. His opponent will be Martin Brodeur according to Tom Gulitti of Fire & Ice.
• Seth Rorabaugh’s Empty Netters reports Brent Johnson facing Ondrej Pavelec in Pittsburgh tonight.  Will confirm on the Atlanta side of things.

UPDATED @ 11:51 AM

• Tim Thomas expected back in nets writes Fluto Shinzawa of The Boston Globe. Makes sense considering his counterpart, Tuukka Rask, started last night at Madison Square Garden.

Goalie Starters 01/02/2010

Please remember to keep refreshing this page or follow me on Twitter for the fastest updates. Here are your expected starting goalies for tonight:

• Andrew Gross of The Record writes Matt Zaba will back up Henrik Lundqvist for the Rangers.  Bob Harwood Waeghe of Canes Country writes Cam Ward should be in net.
• Mike Heika of The Dallas Morning News predicts Marty Turco facing Roberto Luongo.

UPDATED @ 12:02 PM

• Mike Smith and Marc Andre Fleury expected in nets according to Seth Rorabaugh’s Empty Netters.

UPDATED @ 12:16 PM

• Pekka Rinne starts for the Preds, says their official Twitter.

UPDATED @ 1:03 PM

• Michael Russo of The Star Tribune puts Martin Brodeur and Niklas Backstrom in nets for their teams, respectively.

NHLHS Endorsed Pickups

Any player written about is under 50 percent owned in Yahoo! leagues.

This week we will go over several streaking players in the NHL leading us to another extended version of NHLHS Endorsed Pickups.

Here are today’s picks:

C: Alexander Steen, St. Louis Blues -  Despite his position in most fantasy leagues, Steen plays left wing on the second line for the Blues.  Although this team deals with lack of production at times, this second generation forward continues to score at an alarming rate.  With nine points in his last five games the chemistry with current line-mates TJ Oshie and David Backes seems electric

Prognosis:  Hopefully Steen will gain LW eligibility.  Regardless, his production rivals many top fantasy superstars so ride him while he is hot!

C:  Tim Connolly, Buffalo Sabres -  With Derek Roy day-to-day, Connolly should get extended ice time.  This news comes on the heels of a four-game point streak in which this 28-year-old center produced six points.  Since the lockout, the Syracuse, New York, native averages nearly a point-per-game making him a safe bet in all formats.

Prognosis:  Another grab him while he is hot comment would fit here.  When healthy, Connolly makes a solid number two center in all formats.  If your league excludes PIMs, even better.

Goalie Starters 12/29/2009

Please remember to keep refreshing this page or follow me on Twitter for the fastest updates. Here are your expected starting goalies for tonight:

• Chris Botta of Islanders Point Blank reports Dwayne Roloson gets the nod tonight.
• Ryan Miller expected by Seth Rorabaugh’s Empty Netters.  No word yet on the starter in Pittsburgh.

UPDATED @ 1:17 PM

• Marty Turco in nets for the Stars says Mike Heika of The Dallas Morning News.

UPDATED @ 1:27 PM

• Cristobal Huet in nets for the Hawks according to Chris Kuc of The Chicago Tribune.

UPDATED @ 1:37 PM

• Chris Mason faces Pekka Rinne tonight according to The Official Twitter Page of The Nashville Predators.

Columbus Finally Making a Move?

Tom Reed of The Columbus Dispatch recently reported that Blue Jackets GM Scott Howson will shake things up soon in an attempt to send a message to his team.  Considered a strong team with room for improvement following their first playoff berth, the young team struggled and currently sit in 14th in the Western Conference, just one point above cellar dweller the Edmonton Oilers.

The difference between the Oilers and Blue Jackets however are injuries.  The Oilers lost their number one goalie and arguably their number one scorer, if not for the breakout year of Dustin Penner and admirable job by Jeff Deslauriers thinks could be even worse in the province of Alberta.

The Blue Jackets’ problems prove not as simple.  A sophomore slump from Derick Brassard and Steve Mason severely hurt their chances, as well as the deportation of Nikita Filatov.  Couple those problems with the injury to top defenseman Rostislav Klesla and the Jackets lost key components to last year’s playoff team.

Nevertheless, Howson stayed the course admitting he would not make any panic moves.  At this point a move seems too late.  Recent rumblings around Twitter point to Karl Alzner moving to Columbus.

Goalie Starters 12/28/2009

Please remember to keep refreshing this page or follow me on Twitter for the fastest updates. Here are your expected starting goalies for tonight:

• Steve Mason starts for the Blue Jackets according to Tom Reed of The Columbus Dispatch.  Jimmy Howard starts again for the Wings says Ansar Khan of Mlive.com.
• Corey Masisak of The Washington Times announces Jose Theodore as the Caps starter.
• Jaroslav Halak makes his fifth straight start according to Dave Stubbs of Habs Inside/Out.  His counterpart will be Pascal Leclaire as confirmed by Cory Clouston, via Twitter.
• Dan Kamal, radio voice of the Thrashers, announces Johan Hedberg against Martin Brodeur expected for tonight’s game.
• Tim Thomas expected in nets by John Bishop of Bruins.com.

Goalie Starters 12/19/2009

Please remember to keep refreshing this page or follow me on Twitter for the fastest updates. Here are your expected starting goalies for tonight:

• The Flyers will not risk playing anyone but Brian Boucher at the moment while John Tortorella will not change his lineup, meaning Henrik Lundqvist starts.
• Jimmy Howard will start in goal reports Ansar Khan of Mlive.com.  Marty Turco should be his opponent.
• Dave Vest of Coyotes.com reports Ilya Bryzgalov will start against the Ducks.
• Martin Biron starts for the Islanders according to Chris Botta of Islanders Point Blank.
• Ondrej Pavelec expected to make the start tonight according to Ben Wright of The Blueland Blog.
• The Bruins starter should be announced around 5 PM, says John Bishop on the Bruins Twitter.

Goalie Starters 12/15/2009

Please remember to keep refreshing this page or follow me on Twitter for the fastest updates. Here are your expected starting goalies for tonight:

• Marc Andre Fleury expected to start writes Seth Rorabaugh of Empty Netters.  Brian Boucher is a lock to face him.
• Niklas Backstrom confirmed by Rachel Blount of The Star Tribune.
• Antero Niittymaki confirmed by Erik Erlendsson of The Tampa Tribune.
• Adrian Dater of The Denver Post writes Craig Anderson gets the start.
• Jon Quick starts back-to-back nights says LA Kings Insider with Rich Hammond. Jeff Deslauriers confirmed as his opponent by Jim Matheson of Oilers Country.

Daily Fantasy 3 Stars 12/14/2009

In this section, I break down the top three fantasy hockey performers every night and cite why I chose them in particular. In addition, I will track the amount of times the players have received this honor and tally them at the end of the season. For the sake of clarity, I will be using Yahoo! standard categories (Forwards – G,A,+/-, PP, PIM, SOG; Goalies – W, GAA, SV%, SHO) and thus exclude player’s salaries.

Last night certainly was one for the offense.  Out of the 16 teams in action 10 scored three goals or more.  Most owners were able to smile at the end of the night, unless you own Steve Mason or Dwayne Roloson. Here are our standout fantasy stars for the evening:

THIRD STAR: Steve Sullivan, Nashville Predators (0-0-1) –  Sully came through in a big way last night scoring a hat trick on the aforementioned Mason.  In addition, the veteran winger posted a perfect plus three while taking a healthy four shots on goal and sitting two minutes in the box for high sticking. At the ripe age of 35, Sullivan shows no signs of slowing down following multiple back surgeries.

Goalie Starters 12/14/2009

Please remember to keep refreshing this page or follow me on Twitter for the fastest updates. Here are your expected starting goalies for tonight:

• Tim Thomas the first goalie off the ice according to John Bishop of Bruins.com
• Dan Kamal, the radio voice of the Thrashers, announced Johan Hedberg as the Thrashers starter.  Fellow Swede Henrik Lundqvist is his opponent says Andrew Gross of The Record.
• Brian Elliot starts says The Official Twitter Page of The Ottawa Senators.  His opponent will be Vesa Toskala writes James Mirtle of From the Rink.
• Steve Goldstein, Panthers play-by-play announcer, writes Dwayne Roloson will face Tomas Vokoun tonight.