This is the bi-weekly installment of Fantasy Hockey Scouts Alpha League I am participating in, which can be viewed by the public here. It's a 12 team, head-to-head, weekly roster (not daily) league. It's been challenging but I am glad I invested in my bench like I did or I would be in some deep doodoo. Now that it's been a couple of weeks since my last update, I can safely say that things are starting to look better and better. But I am jumping ahead of myself now. First thing is first...
Stats and Standings
Last time, we were looking at the league, I was in about 5th place but since I've had two productive weeks, I am now at a healthy 3rd place with a 33-25-2 record. However, as we'll see, I still need some improvement. Last week, I was doing alright in offensive stats and dragging in defensive stats (hits, blocks, PIM's). Since then, I've been doing still alright in offensive stats but my +/- is getting stinky in 10th place at -11. What is more troubling is that I am 11th in Power Play Points. I hope my key players are beginning to turn things around so I can build on that. Defensive stats are getting better. You're kinda wondering how I was able to do well the past two weeks. Thankfully my bread and butter came through which would be the great tandem of Tomas Vokoun and Kari Lehtonen. Unfortunately, Michal Neuvirth has been nipping at Vokoun's heels for playing time and thanks to an injury I'll explain later, I felt good benching Vokoun for now.
Transactions and moves after the jump...
Since we last looked at my team, here's what I've done in transactions:
Add Josh Harding, Wild - After Ryan Whitney was placed on the IR, I felt it would be best to pickup Harding after he had been playing so well. Now at this point, I have 4 goaltenders on my team: Lehtonen, Vokoun, Harding and Ondrej Pavelec.
Add Mike Smith, Coyotes and Drop Ondrej Pavelec, Jets - With this being a weekly league, I was getting concerned for Pavelec's inconsistent play so I thought I'd give Smith a shot as a G3. Couldn't hurt since he's not competing for playing time and seems to have stabilized himself with his new home in the desert.
Add Jhonas Enroth, Sabres and Drop Brad Boyes, Sabres - There was a two fold reason for the switch: Boyes was not worth owning since he wasn't doing as well as I thought he would have and I figured that Enroth was spelling Ryan Miller enough that he was worth owning to get to the Miller owner. The day after I picked him up, was the big news of Miller's concussion and gave guaranteed playing time to Enroth for the forseeable future. And yes, I now own 5 goalies on my team. Craziness.
Moves:
Started Eric Staal, Hurricanes - With the C2 slot vacated by Boyes getting dumped, I decided to start Staal this week. Thankfully, he's starting to find the scoring sheet and he looks like he's making a turn away from his horrid start to the season. Very, very thankful because no one else was cutting it at C2.
Started Jhonas Enroth, Sabres and Benched Tomas Vokoun, Capitals - With Neuvirth spelling Vokoun, I couldn't rely on him as much. Thankfully again, Enroth getting the full time gig made the decision easier, especially paired up with Lehtonen.
Here's hoping with all the moves and players turning corners on their performance that this might be a good time for my team to flex it's muscles and see if it can make a statement to the league. What do you think so far? Let us know on Twitter at @FakeTeams or on my personal profile at @MattPTurner. Also, be sure to give a follow to our newest fantasy hockey writer here at FakeTeams: @StephenKaczmar!