Out of Place

I know what you're thinking: What in the world is Max doing next to those two? There's no way Maxim Afinogenov is up there with Ilya Kovalchuck and Eric Staal in terms of star power, but there he is listed as one of the NHL's "offensive stars who need to start picking up the pace" on the hockey homepage of Yahoo Sports.

Now, it's true he needs to pick up the pace. One goal on the season is awful, and he's been a mess for most of the past two years. However, does he really have that big a reputation across the league, or is it just an decent angle for the story?

Looking at the video it seems like the decision was between Modin and Max, so maybe that's why Afinogenov got the top billing. Still, with a player that's obviously on the trade market you have to wonder what people outside of Buffalo think of him. The rumors we're heard say he's not that big a ticket, and I completely believe that. Perhaps it's making something out of nothing, but when you see a guy all the time and know how frustrating his game is you may value him a bit less than others. Perhaps outsiders see the potential he has and not the struggles, which makes him more enticing.

If that's the case then the Sabres are fortunate. Someone somewhere down the line may want to take a chance and we can open a roster spot for someone who will produce. I still say Max will go elsewhere and be and thrive, but his relationship with Lindy Ruff and the $3.5 million contract has killed almost all of his use here in Buffalo.

Again it may be nothing, but it's interesting to see him there with two of the league's best. Anyone else have some theories?

Reload

by Ryan

So I've been mulling around the interwebs waiting to hear what roster move the Sabres make before tonight's game. Still nothing, but as I refresh Yahoo's Sabres page over and over I noticed something.



Thomas Vanek has over half the stat categories taken care of, but Yahoo felt the need to give Adam Mair's mug shot a try. That's a nice little gesture, considering he's only the penalty minute leader. As it turns out, the picture that gets picked is just a random thing. Next time I got Vanek up where he should be.



Still, it would be nice if they used a picture of him taken sometime after high school.

So yeah, this is the type of thing I post about when Lindy can't make up his mind. Is Matt Ellis that valuable?

Lower Body Fantasy Thoughts

by Ryan

If you don't know about James Mirtle, we can't be friends. Thems the rules around these parts. What makes sites like Mirtle's and Kuklas Korner so useful is that they catch pretty much everything you will need to know about hockey. This is especially helpful when you miss a few days, like I did this weekend.

I'll admit I don't have many thoughts on the Sabres just yet, but I do have quite a few questions about this.

Clubs no longer are required to disclose the specific nature of player injuries. Clubs are, however, required to disclose that a player is expected to miss a game due to injury, or will not return to a game following an injury. Clubs are prohibited from providing untruthful information about the nature of a player injury or otherwise misrepresenting a player’s condition.

I guess that fits the current model, which is Lindy Ruff claiming someone has a "lower body injury" and "will miss some time" while Tim Connolly is wheeled off on a stretcher, clutching his eyeball and screaming in pain. This new rule makes it "playoff time" all the time, and probably will wind up being a better policy than the NFL has. Remember when Tom Brady made the injury report for three straight years? Yeah, I think the NHL is trying to avoid that.

However, here's my question: what impact will this have on fantasy hockey?

You may not be aware of this, but this year the NHL will see a significant shift in attention to the online market. NHL.com is relaunching with more video and online content, and individual teams have been encouraged to develop their site more in order to attract new fans. The Sabres have already stated they would be putting funds into their site and SabresTV, and it will be interesting to see just how committed they are to the product.

However, one of the most interesting moves the league has made is teaming up with Yahoo Sports to offer officially licensed fantasy hockey. This is a major move for a North American sports franchise, and unlike the MLB and MLBPA, which is fighting fantasy baseball at every turn; the league has encouraged fantasy sports as a means of growing fan interest.

How then, does this policy that allows secrecy in player injuries affect a player's status in hockey leagues? Remember last year when Richard Zednick was seriously injured and listed as day to day? There were plenty examples of this kind of absurdity, but that one stands out the most.

So what is going to happen when Shea Weber gets his inevitable injury? Will I have to keep him on my team for three months as he remains day-to-day? Should I drop any player that appears in the injury report? Should waiver wires be reconfigured to allow for "oopsie dropsies" when a player appears to be out long term and instead is dressed the next night?

There are some out there that are more capable of answering these questions than I. Perhaps Mr. Mirtle can shed some more light on it, and let us know how his draft went this past weekend. However, I have a feeling that I'm not overreacting by being concerned about this. There's no way of knowing how far coaches and GMs are going to take this, but if I know anything about this league; it's going to get worse before it gets better.

Witty Title!

by Ryan

When important things happen, it's always fun to see what pun the big networks decide on using for their headlines. The usual suspects...



The obligatory Swedish response. I expected better from the Canadian WWL.



Uh-oh. Looks like we have a winner.



Pretty sad when the Four Letter ends up being the unique one.

More on this tomorrow.

At least Yahoo!'s optimistic

Day-to-day? That's a little generous, no?

In all seriousness, though, it's great to see that Richard Zednik is going to be okay. What happened on the ice Sunday night is one of, if not the, scariest thing that can happen during a hockey game. It's easy to forget that players are basically wearing knives on their feet and one little slip up could be fatal. Puts everything in perspective.

And in a historical perspective, it appears that Zednik's injury was actually worse than the one Clint Malarchuk infamously sustained in 1989.

From The Buffalo News' website:

The Clint Malarchuk comparisons can stop. Richard Zednik's injury was much more life- threatening.

"Clint actually cut his external jugular vein, which is quite different from your common carotid artery," Dr. Leslie J. Bisson said. "Your common carotid artery, when that's lacerated, it can very quickly become a fatal injury."

The four doctors who treated Zednik used words today such as "profusely," "devastating," "hanging by a thread" and "lucky" to describe the sliced carotid artery injury suffered by Zednik on Sunday.

The physicians who treated the Florida Panthers hockey player met with the media this afternoon. They described a scene that likely would have been fatal if not for a sequence of fortunate events.

Zednik, struck in the throat by the skate of teammate Olli Jokinen, was fortunate the blade cut only the carotid artery, barely missing the internal jugular vein and a web of nerves in the neck.

Still, the blow could have been deadly if:

*Zednik hadn't skated immediately to the bench, a 100-foot journey that left a wide trail of blood. That allowed trainers and doctors to reach him quicker.

*Bisson, the Sabres team doctor, hadn't been positioned next to the bench. He was able to hop out of the stands and meet Zednik near his bench. Bisson immediately put pressure on the gushing artery, slowing the bleeding.

*The artery had been completely severed. It wasn't, allowing Drs. Sonya Noor and Richard Curl to quickly find the injury and reattach it cleanly. If the artery had torn fully, it would have retracted and moved out of place.

"We all were very lucky last night, not just Richard," Noor said in Buffalo General Hospital.

The Roost's thoughts and prayers continue to stay with Zednik and his family throughout the recovery process.

Madden got it wrong

By Chris

After watching the Colts-Saints game tonight, I've really got to question John Madden's credibility. There is no way Peyton Manning was Indy's best player on the field. Sure it looked like it he was playing Madden 08 out there, but there's no way his face should have been slapped on Madden's bus. I present to you,
And the honor belongs to this guy: Saints cornerback Jason David. David got burned for three of the Colts' scores, putting him under a cloud Tim Donaghy-esque suspicion. Actually that's a little extreme. But the fact remains that he was really the best player for the Colts tonight, earning him the Roost's Real Horse Trailer Player of the Game award for Week One.






















Congrats, #42. Your Yahoo! Picture Gallery really is one for the ages.

BIlls Fans Are Applauding Slowly, Drafting Accordingly

By Ryan

There are some that say Fantasy Football is slowly becoming more important than the games themselves. To some die-hards, the final score on the computer screen takes precedent over the one inside the stadium. Well, at least Yahoo Sports would like to make you think so. To them, even the most mundane of football news is important in your quest for Imaginary Pigskin Glory.

Take some recent Chris Chambers news, for example. The segment after the story ends clearly tells you to use your new found knowledge of the NFL to beat everyone else you know at Fantasy Football, sponsored by Chad Johnson.

Of course it's obviously a form letter, so every article related to football has that statement attached. Even so, it can make for some interesting assumptions, especially with the way the NFL has been going recently.

I'm sure an article about a "KKK devil who hates all colored people" will help me decide if I should take a chance on Maurice Jones-Drew and his O-line. Yep, just as much as "Bucko" Kilroy's Passing will make me think twice about Kool Aid Maroney at running back.

Thank God for Yahoo Fantasy Sports, otherwise I may have drafted Kenneth McAfee. Or Bill Maas.

Hey, at least I know there is some corrolation between Tony Dungy's memoir and crushing my opponents' souls come fall. In fact, "Quiet Strength" would make an excellent Christian Fundamentalist team name. My first pick, Kurt Warner.

Use what you learned in this article to dominate at Yahoo! Sports Fantasy Football '07