This article is part of our Friday's Face-Off series.
It's Friday, so it's time to send you off to a weekend of fun and games with a review of some of the most important stories from the frozen pond.
YOU GOTSTA KNOW
Oh boy.
Here's the deal.
Kings receive: Jeff Carter
Blue Jackets receive: Jack Johnson, 1st round pick in 2012 or 2013
The Kings, 30th in the NHL in goal scoring, get a potential offensive star in the deal in Carter. Sure he will be making $33.75 million the next six years, a huge expense in the salary cap era, but he will be headed to a club that desperately needed an offensive infusion. Carter has dealt with injuries this season which have limited him to 39 games on the ice, but he's still managed to score 15 goals which obviously is a 30-goal pace, a total that he has reached each of the previous three seasons with the Flyers. Speaking of the Flyers, the deal will reunite Carter with former teammate Mike Richards and could lead to the offensive fireworks that the Kings so desperately need if they have real playoff aspirations. A shot producing machine, Carter has taken at least 319 shots on net each of the past three years while averaging 11 power-play goals a season. He's a potential fantasy ace if he can just stay healthy.
Johnson is a former 3rd overall selection in the 2005 draft who has never quite lived up to expectations. He's been a solid point producer with 36
It's Friday, so it's time to send you off to a weekend of fun and games with a review of some of the most important stories from the frozen pond.
YOU GOTSTA KNOW
Oh boy.
Here's the deal.
Kings receive: Jeff Carter
Blue Jackets receive: Jack Johnson, 1st round pick in 2012 or 2013
The Kings, 30th in the NHL in goal scoring, get a potential offensive star in the deal in Carter. Sure he will be making $33.75 million the next six years, a huge expense in the salary cap era, but he will be headed to a club that desperately needed an offensive infusion. Carter has dealt with injuries this season which have limited him to 39 games on the ice, but he's still managed to score 15 goals which obviously is a 30-goal pace, a total that he has reached each of the previous three seasons with the Flyers. Speaking of the Flyers, the deal will reunite Carter with former teammate Mike Richards and could lead to the offensive fireworks that the Kings so desperately need if they have real playoff aspirations. A shot producing machine, Carter has taken at least 319 shots on net each of the past three years while averaging 11 power-play goals a season. He's a potential fantasy ace if he can just stay healthy.
Johnson is a former 3rd overall selection in the 2005 draft who has never quite lived up to expectations. He's been a solid point producer with 36 and 42 points the last two years (he's produced 24 in 61 games this season), but he has often been downgraded in the fantasy game because of his lack of impressive two-way play. Just look at those ugly plus/minus marks: minus-19, minus-18, minus-15, minus-21 and minus-12 this season. Things don't figure to improve much now that he'll be skating for the Blue Jackets. As a player who doesn't contribute in the penalty minute category an average of 46 PIMs the past three years (just 24 this season), and as a guy who doesn't really hit anyone (just 72 hits), Johnson will remain more of a depth play on the blue line unless he somehow channels his inner Mike Green.
THE NUMBERS GAME
0: The number of goals that Stephen Weiss has scored in his last 10 games. It's actually even worse than that. Over his last 30 games the Panthers' forward has scored only two times. After scoring 28 and 21 times the past two years his slump has left him in a position where he might fail to reach the 20-goal total this year (13 in 57 games).
1.00: The point-per-game mark of Bobby Butler in the month of February. Enjoying his time on the first line in Ottawa, Butler has six points and is a plus-six skater. He's only taken seven shots on goal for the month but he still has one marker to go along with six points and guess what – it was a game-winner. He's had one game-winner each of the past four months for a total of four --- and he's only scored six times on the year.
1.08: The average point-per-game mark of Dany Heatley in his last 13 games as he has recorded 14 points. Obviously that's solid news for all Heatley owners, but with 44 points in 60 games he's going to have to keep up that pace if he wanted to match his total of 64 points from last season which just so happens to be his lowest point total ever in a season of more than 70 games played.
1.85: The goals against average of Ryan Miller over his last 12 games, a big time departure from his season long mark of 2.75. Miller, who is also the current holder of a .908 save percentage for the season (that would be a four-year low), has pushed his save percentage up to .929 in the month of February.
7: The number of games that the Bruins second year star Tyler Seguin has gone without scoring a goal. During that time he has handed out three helpers, and he's still recorded 47 points in 57 games, more than double his point total (22) from his rookie season, but the slump is concerning. An impressive plus-30 on the year, Seguin has been a minus-four skater in his last 11 games.
7: The number of goals that Corey Perry has scored in his last seven games. Perry has no shot at recording 50 goals again, but with just three more goals he will post the second best total of his career and it's clear that a run to 40 goals cannot be ruled out.
8: The number of games in the month of February that Eric Staal has been a "plus" skater (he's appeared in nine games). For a guy who was long saddled with one of the worst plus/minus marks in the game that's great news. For the record, Staal is an uber-impressive plus-12 while recording 13 points in just nine games.
9: The number of consecutive starts that Mike Smith has earned a "W." During those nine victories Smith has allowed zero or one goal six times and for the month his GAA is 1.52. He's also used a .948 save percentage on the month to up his season long mark to .926. On the year he's posted four months with a save percentage of at least .919.
11: The number of points that Steve Stamkos has recorded over his last four games (6g, 5a). You would be hard pressed to find a more locked in performer of late than Stamkos who has 21 points in his last 12 games including a total of 11 goals. Up to 43 goals on the year, Stamkos has hit that total in each of his last three seasons.
11: The number of assists that Blake Wheeler has dished out over his last five games (he's had at least on helper in each game). Wheeler has produced four of those helpers on the power play, and his run of points production – 13 points in seven games – has pushed his total up to 48 points in 61 games for the Jets.
57.1: The percent of his season long goals that Marcus Kruger of the Blackhawks has produced in his last eight games (four of seven goals). Kruger is also a plus-six skater in his last six games.
87: The number of saves that Niklas Backstrom has made the last two games (he faced 89 shots). Backstrom's season has been one of ups and downs, there's no way to sugar coat that, but look at the numbers he's posted which include a 2.30 GAA and .926 save percentage. Those are are elite numbers that are slightly better than his already impressive career numbers (2.41 and .918).
Ray Flowers can be heard daily on Sirius/XM Radio on The Fantasy Drive on Sirius 210 and XM 87, and Saturday's from 3-4 PM he hosts the SiriusXM Fantasy Hockey Show. Ray's baseball analysis can be found at BaseballGuys' Twitter account.To email Ray a question for next week's piece, drop him a line at fantasyfandom@yahoo.com.
