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| Roberto Luongo started the Canucks final regular season game but was pulled after allowing three goals on just nine shots. Luongo's wife has been dealing with a difficult pregnancy and it obviously wore on him as he allowed three or more goals in five of his last seven games. Overall he finishes the year with a 35-29-9 record and will be sitting home with the rest of his mates for the playoffs. |
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| Dion Phaneuf was a +3 with three shots on goal in the Flames final regular season tilt. Dion finishes the year with some mind boggling numbers including 17 goals, 60 points, 33 PP points and 182 PIM. There is no finer all-around fantasy performer from the blueline in the NHL, period. |
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| Jarome Iginla scored a goal and added two assists as the Flames defeated the Canucks 7-1 on Saturday night. Thanks to the goal Iginla finishes the year with 50, the second time in his career that he has hit that prodigious total. The three points left him two short of 100 but the 98 points were still good enough to eclipse his previous career best of 96. Look for him to do some serious damage in the playoffs for however long it is that the Flames stick around. |
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| Darcy Tucker, RW, Colorado Avalanche | Saturday 4/5, 11:34 PM CT |
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| Darcy Tucker picked up a fighting major in his last game but he failed to record a goal leaving him with a total of 18 on the year, the first time in four seasons he has failed to score at least 20 times. There were rumors that he would be traded all year but he hung around and produced 18 goals an 100 PIM for the Leafs. |
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| Mark Streit, D, New York Islanders | Saturday 4/5, 11:32 PM CT |
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| Mark Streit scored a goal and added an assist to cap the best season of his three year career. You may not have noticed lately, but this kid is one hell of an offensive defensemen. On the year he scored 13 times and piled up 62 points to form a deadly duo with Andrei Markov on the blueline (58 points). |
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| Carey Price, G, Montreal Canadiens | Saturday 4/5, 11:30 PM CT |
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| Carey Price stopped all but one of the 27 shots he faced on Saturday night to finish his rookie season at 24-12-3 for the Canadiens. And now the real test comes with the playoffs. If Price fails there the rabid media in Montreal will likely forget just how good he was in his first year in the NHL. |
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| Christopher Higgins netted two goals on Saturday night to give him a career best total of 27 on the season. This was the third straight time in his career that he has scored at least 22 goals and the first time that he recorded at least 50 points (52). He certainly isn't a top option on the port side, but you could do a lot worse when filling out a lineup. |
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| Tim Thomas, G, Boston Bruins | Saturday 4/5, 11:26 PM CT |
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| Tim Thomas lost his last start of the season for the Bruins though he allowed only two goals to the Sabres. Thomas ends the year with a 28-19-6 record falling two games short of his second straight 30 win season. The good news is that he dropped his GAA by more than half a goal a game, from 3.13 to 2.43, and his strong play on most nights would seem to give the Bruins a shot to make some noise in the playoffs. |
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| Jocelyn Thibault, playing in just hist 12th game of the season, turned aside all 17 shots that were thrown his way to pick up his second shutout of the season. With Ryan Miller in town whomever serves as the backup goaltender likely won't see more than 20 games of action unless Miller were to pick up an injury. |
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| Thomas Vanek capped of an amazingly strong run to the finish line with a hat-trick on Saturday night against the Bruins. Vanek's numbers, 36 goals and 64 points, are a far cry from what he did last year (43 goals, 84 points), but he really turned his season around after the all-star break scoring an almost unbelievable total of 23 goals in 34 games for the Sabres. |
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| Fittingly, Olli Jokinen failed to score a point in the Panthers final game of the year to wrap up his campaign with 34 goals and 71 points. This was Jokinen's worst season since 2003-04 and though he scored 34 goals for the third straight season, he was never the same after the all-star break with 10 goals and 22 points in 30 games. |
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| Cristobal Huet allowed only one of the 26 shots thrown his way to reach the back of the net on Saturday night for the Caps. Huet was simply brilliant after being acquired at the trade deadline going 11-2-0 for the Caps with a phenomenal 1.63 GAA. It's hard to suggest ranking Huet very high in a fantasy pool as the Caps don't look like a good bet to advance very far, but then again, how many goalies are hotter than him right now? |
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| Alexander Ovechkin didn't score on Saturday night but the Washington Caps still managed to defeat the Panthers 3-1 to earn the 8th and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. Sergei Fedorov and Alexander Semin both had a goal and an assist on the night. Ovechkin finishes the year with one of the best seasons by a left winger in league history with 65 goals, 112 points, 22 PP goals, 11 game winners and a +28. There is no disputing who the fantasy MVP of 2007-08 is. |
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| Martin St. Louis was held to a goose egg on Saturday night but don't despair, he was still able to post a (-1) on the night. With 83 points on the season St. Louis was better than a point-per-game performer though he somehow managed to turn that level of offense into a (-23). Look for that number to turn around next season. |
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| Colby Armstrong scored the game-winning goal on Saturday night for the Thrashers. He also added an assist. Armstrong finished the year with four goals and 11 points in 18 games as a Thrasher and will be one of the youngsters they build around moving forward. |
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| Kari Lehtonen ended the 2007-08 season on a high note by stopping 30 of the 31 shots that were fired his direction by the Lightning on Saturday night. Lehtonen finishes the year 17-22-5, and while his GAA approached three, his save percentage of .915 is a better representation of his talent level. If the team can just play some defense in front of him Lehtonen could possibly sneak his way into the top-12 of goaltenders next season. |
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| Pascal Leclaire, playing just his second game since returning from a concussion, allowed three goals on 25 shots to pick up his 17th regulation loss of the season for the Blue Jackets. This game marks the fourth straight contest in which Leclaire has allowed three goals as he limps toward the finish of what has otherwise been a spectacular season. |
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| Keith Tkachuk scored two goals on Saturday, the second of which leaves him with a total of 499 in his career. Tkachuk is no longer the dominating all-around force he once was, but he still managed to score 26 goals with 12 coming on the power-play this season. It might sound strange to some, but Tkachuk is one of the 10 best American born players in NHL history. |
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| Manny Legace recorded his fifth shutout of the season, and 27th of his career, in leading the Blues to a 3-0 victory over the Blue Jackets. Legace's numbers have really fallen since the all-star break including a 2.67 GAA in 28 games before today, but a five shutout, 27 win season from your goaltender certainly are numbers you can live with. |
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| Dustin Brown scored his 33rd goal on the season on Saturday for the hapless Kings, which is quite a breakout performance for Brown who managed a total of just 31 goals over 160 games the previous two seasons. Brown could be overlooked next season because he lacks name recognition playing in California, but smart fantasy player will realize his value and pounce on him in the early middle rounds. |
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| Ryan Getzlaf had a goal and an assist on Saturday in the Ducks victory over the Kings. Getzlaf is now up to 24 goals and 81 points with one game left in the Ducks season. Those pundits who predicted a breakout for Getzlaf after his 58 point season a year ago were correct, though it would have been nice to see him produce a few more goals considering that he notched 25 of them last year. |
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| Teemu Selanne scored two goals on Saturday including the game-winner in the Ducks 4-3 victory over the Kings. Selanne has managed to score 12 goals and 22 points over 25 games since he came out his fake "retirement", and given the strength of the Ducks he has to be considered one of the better right wing options in playoff pools. |
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| Dustin Byfuglien will be shutdown and end his season with 19 goals and 36 points because of a bulging disc in his back, this according to the Chicago Sun Times. Byfuglien ended up spending a large portion of the year at forward, but with defensive eligibility, he bares keeping and eye on heading into the 2008-09 season. |
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| Saku Koivu, C, Montreal Canadiens | Saturday 4/5, 3:38 PM CT |
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| Saku Koivu may not be able to be in the lineup at the start of the playoffs due to a fractured left foot, this according to NHL.com. "What's going to happen in the future, for the first game, we'll see next week," Koivu said. "Every day it feels better, but there's not much we can tell. We'll know a lot more in the next couple of days." Though not the team's most explosive offensive player, few would question that Koivu is the heart of the team. If Koivu were to miss the entire first round, the Canadiens would find themselves struggling to replace his production. |
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| Martin Biron, G, Philadelphia Flyers | Saturday 4/5, 3:23 PM CT |
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| Martin Biron picked up his fourth shutout of the season on Friday night as the Flyers beat the Devils to complete the worst to first turnabout this season, this according to the The Morning Call. ''I don't think I've ever seen a team play a better game that was so crucial,'' said chairman Ed Snider, who founded the Flyers. ''They weren't afraid, they weren't nervous. They just took it to New Jersey.'' Biron and the Flyers aren't considered true Cup contenders, but in the playoffs anything is possible. Biron is up to 29-20-9 and the year, and his .917 SV% certainly is a strong number.
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| Jonathan Cheechoo is hopeful that he will be able to suit up for the Sharks final game of the regular season, this according to the San Jose Mercury News. Cheechoo has been out since March 21st after receiving an elbow to the head and the news has been very quiet as to his prognosis. If Cheechoo doesn't play on Sunday it would be wise to drop him considerably in your playoff pools as head/neck injuries can obviously linger. |
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| Dave Legwand, C, Nashville Predators | Saturday 4/5, 3:17 PM CT |
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| Dave Legwand has resumed skating but the team isn't counting on him to be active for the first round of the playoffs, this according to the Tennessean. "It was nothing strenuous,'' Legwand said of skate as he attempts to return from deep bone bruise on his foot. "... there was no pain, no setback. We're just trying to move forward.'' The Preds need all the help they can get if they hope to move on past the first round, so drop Legwand to the bottom of your fantasy pool rankings as he may not suit up for any playoff games this year. |
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| Forward Vincent Lecavalier will undergo surgery to repain his right shoulder, injured Thursday after taking an open-ice hit from Matt Cooke to the shoulder against the Washington Capitals, a shot that thoroughly upset coach John Tortorella (who called the hit a "cheap shot") and appears to have ended the veteran's season, according to the Sports Network. Medical testing revealed Lecavalier suffered damage to the Glenoid Labrum of the right shoulder, and recovery will require 12 to 15 weeks. The procedure has not been officially schedule at this time. |
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| Martin Brodeur may be the best tender in the league, but the inability to keep shots off goal has pushed the future Hall of Famer to struggles. Brodeur allowed three goals in a shutout loss to the Philadelphia Flyers last night, pushing 33 of 36 total shots on goal aside. Brodeur has allowed a surprising 10 goals over his last four games, two ending in shootout wins for New Jersey. More importantly, the Devils are suddenly allowing a high number of shots to come at their goalie, including 31 SOG by the Rangers, 32 SOG by Philly late last week, 27 SOG by Boston, and last night's troublesome 36 SOG by the Flyers. If the Devils want to emerge in the playoffs, they need to get their defense in order. |
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| Eric Staal, C, Carolina Hurricanes | Saturday 4/5, 11:06 AM CT |
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| Eric Staal unleashed 10 shots on goal and skated away with his 38th goal of the season in Carolina's 3-4 loss to the Florida Panthers. Staal has six total points in his last five games, including three goals and three assists. |
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| Wade Dubielewicz continues to work late-season magic for the New York Islanders, kicking 48 of 51 shots on goal to the side in leading his team to a hard-fought, OT victory, 4-3, over the New York Rangers. Dubie comes off three consecutive losses following a hot start, having joined the team in January as an AHL call-up. His save percentage his dropped to 91.9%, but outings like this show the tender has potential to do better. |
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| Updating an earlier report, Detroit forward Tomas Kopecky is expected to miss 4-6 months following reconstructive knee surgery that will be performed in two weeks, according to CBSSports.com. Kopecky suffered a torn ligament Thursday night in a win over the Columbus Blue Jackets. |
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| Nathan Horton was on the prowl for the Florida Panthers again last night, posting one goal and one assist in the Panthers' 4-3 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes. Horton's 27th goal and 35 assist of the season brings him to 62 points on the season, second only to veteran Olli Jokinen for the team lead. |
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