Clan-Members » were small for basketball players, but its expected to be sm

You followed all the offseason movements, watched the NHL draft, adapted your own customized projections, monitored training camp assignments and then invested in your later-round wingers ... aaaand theyre gone.Uh... what?Theyre gone. Theyre all gone. All your predictions, they didnt do well. Theyre gone.Maybe you really liked the idea of Troy Brouwer coming on board with the Calgary Flames to be the big forechecking body on the top line. After five games, however, Brouwer has only played there sparingly at even strength. In his first game starting on the top line, he was replaced by rookie Matthew Tkachuk in a mid-game switch. Is it good news that Brouwer is with Sean Monahan and Johnny Gaudreau on the power play? No, because he wont be there much longer. The Flames are 30th in the NHL at this point, with one power-play goal in 22 chances (4.5 percent).How about the reunion between Adam Henrique and Taylor Hall on the New Jersey Devils top line? The former Windsor Spitfires linemates and Memorial Cup champions would surely be able to draft off the hundreds of goals theyve already scored together to find some chemistry. They skated together all preseason, only to spend one game together before being split up in the regular season. At least for now, this duo isnt even sharing ice time on the power play.P.A. Parenteau is playing top-line minutes, but not for the New York Islanders. We were projecting a return to glory for the winger finding chemistry with John Tavares again, but he didnt even make the Islanders opening night roster. The Devils picked him up after the Isles waived him, and he is currently flanking the aforementioned Hall. Where does that leaves the Islanders? With Josh Bailey back on the top line following a season of exile to the bottom six. Remember, Bailey had some pretty impressive stretches of fantasy relevance on the top line with Tavares as recently as 2014-15.With some talented fresh blood in the Nashville Predators system, we were looking to the end of fantasy relevance for players such as Mike Ribeiro, Mike Fisher and Craig Smith. Those thoughts were especially premature for Fisher, who has secured a role on the Predators first power-play unit and already has three points -- all of them on the man advantage -- in three games.How about the Vancouver Canucks, who were largely expected to be a fantasy wasteland outside of the top line? Well, the team has four wins in four games and is being led by the most unlikely of heroes offensively. Brandon Sutter leads the Canucks with four points and 15 shots on goal. Aside from his second-line role at even strength, hes playing on the power play with the Sedin twins and Loui Eriksson.Unlike many of the projections before the season, your hopes for fantasy success are not gone. You just need to be adaptable and aware of the many fluctuations early in the season. Are Brouwer and Henrique doomed for no value this season? Will Bailey, Fisher and Sutter all be season-long fantasy contributors? The answer to both questions is, quite possibly. Dont continue to lean on all your preseason prognostications, regardless of how much work went into them. But dont abandon them, either.As players settle into their roles on their respective teams, they is a natural warming or cooling period. This part of the season is all about finding the right balance between not giving up on a player too soon and not waiting too long to buy into another. The balance is between trusting the process and adapting to coaching decisions. We know the roles that will facilitate fantasy value, but we cant make the NHL coaches put certain players into them. Follow the roles!Fantasy Forecaster: Oct. 24-30We already have a confirmed sighting of the five-game week schedule and we are only into the second scoring period of the NHL season. The condensed NHL schedule due to the World Cup of Hockey and implementation of bye weeks in January and February appears to, at least in the early going, make checking the weekly schedule even more important. As youll see, we have a situation for this coming week where Matt Read might be a better fantasy hockey asset than Nathan MacKinnon.Access the downloadable forecaster chart PDF hereTeam notesPhiladelphia Flyers: This week is about all Flyers, all the time. The team has the ever-elusive golden fantasy week of five games. They play Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday next week, giving anyone in your weekly lineup almost two extra games above the league average. Travis Konecny and Sean Couturier should be locked into lineups, even though both are available in more than 70 percent of ESPN leagues. But you can go further than that in the depth chart, as Matt Read has a hot start with four goals, and Ivan Provorov is still playing enough minutes to earn a look in your lineup (despite his minus-5 rating).Dallas Stars: Though they have been short two top-six forwards of late with Patrick Sharp and Jiri Hudler out of the lineup, the Stars still look to have a favorable schedule next week, with a home-and-home against the Winnipeg Jets. The Jets have allowed more goals per game this season than all but two other franchises, which should open up the door for a good week for Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin. Keep an eye on who is skating with them through the weekend, as Patrick Eaves left Thursdays game with an injury. The door is wide open for someone to steal some unexpected value for a week.Toronto Maple Leafs: Dont get sucked into going crazy with the Leafs four-game schedule next week, as they will be running into some pretty staunch defenses, headlined by the Florida Panthers and Montreal Canadiens. Sample sizes are small, but all four of the Leafs opponents next week are top 10 in penalty killing, including the still-perfect Panthers and 94.7 percent effective Canadiens.Goalie notesAs hinted in this space last week, Peter Budaj is starting to look like a pretty good backup plan for both fantasy owners and the Los Angeles Kings. If you missed out on Jeff Zatkoff on waivers last week, it could be a blessing in disguise. Zatkoff was porous in his two chances to succeed Jonathan Quick (until January), allowing Budaj to swoop in and take the reins -- at least for now. Not to continue to belabor the point, but the Kings crease is conducive to solid goaltending statistics. Just be aware the back end of next week gets ugly with the Predators, St. Louis Blues and Chicago Blackhawks on the docket.Both Steve Mason and Michal Neuvirth will start two games this week thanks to the Flyers five-game schedule with two back-to-back sets during the week.Al Montoya, he of the .962 save percentage in three starts, should get a mid-week nod in a back-to-back set for the Canadiens. If you need a slight boost and can stash him until then, itll likely be worth it.The Coyotes have lost Mike Smith officially on a day-to-day basis, but it sounds worse than that as he has a lower-body injury evaluated. Louis Domingue found exactly none of the magic he had last season while filling in for Smith. In parts of two games, Domingue has managed a pee wee-esque .727 save percentage. Justin Peters looked infinitely better in relieving Domingue on Thursday. Domingue is starting again Friday, but this could be Peters crease by next week if Domingue doesnt shine.Player notesYour sixth and final member of the Boston Bruins top two lines: Danton Heinen. Yes, the correct response is Who? With Patrice Bergeron back in action on Thursday, Ryan Spooner was a surprise healthy scratch. David Backes shifted back to the wing on the second line with David Krejci and Heinen. Out of the University of Denver, Heinen played his way onto the Bruins this preseason, and has the offensive skills to stick on the second line, if the Bruins give him an extended look there.It will be more notable if it continues after Rickard Rakell is back on the ice with the Anaheim Ducks, but its still worth looking at the fact that coach Randy Carlyle has Ryan Kesler back on the top power-play unit with Corey Perry and Ryan Getzlaf. Thats not a role Bruce Boudreau used him in last season, and it would add another element to Keslers potential value this season.Short a bevy of injured forwards, the Buffalo Sabres have been using Matt Moulson as the fourth forward on the top power-play unit. Its probably meaningless in fantasy leagues for now, but Evander Kane and Jack Eichel are out for a while, so Moulson has a chance to bring up his stock.Chris Stewart is currently playing on the second line for the Minnesota Wild with Mikko Koivu and Michael Granlund. And hes doing exactly what made him a one-season fantasy superstar back in 2012-13: Scoring points and collecting PIM. Stewart has three points in four games, including one on the power play, to go with 19 penalty minutes. He should be on rosters as long as he holds down a top-six role.At first glance it might appear as though Tyler Motte replaced Marian Hossa as Jonathan Toews winger partway through Tuesdays rout of the Flyers. Not true. Hossa was actually playing in the bottom six to begin the contest, as coach Joel Quenneville continues to tinker with his lines. An injury to Hossa, however, has bought Motte some additional time to try and find some chemistry with Toews.With Kris Letang on the sidelines, the Pittsburgh Penguins turned to Justin Schultz to man the top power-play unit. Given Letangs sordid injury history, this is information to keep ready if we ever learn that Letang will be out for an extended period. If youll recall, the Penguins power play can be pretty dangerous.The top two lines for the Blues remain in flux. Jaden Schwartz has returned, but Jori Lehtera has hit the injured reserve with an upper-body injury. Nail Yakupov got a one-game chance against the Canucks to play on a scoring line, but was back in the bottom six on Thursday when Schwartz returned. David Perron managed to hang on to a top-six role, shifting to the second line with Paul Stastny and Robby Fabbri.Its interesting note that from the opening period of the season, Joe Colborne has been on the Colorado Avalanches top power-play unit and is fourth on the team in power-play ice time per game. If he continues to skate on the man advantage with Nathan MacKinnon and Gabriel Landeskog, his opening night hat trick may not have been a one-hit wonder. Discount Air Jordan .ca! Kerry, Two nights after the Scott-Eriksson incident in Buffalo, the Bruins returned home to play San Jose. In that game, Zdeno Chara put a check on Tommy Wingels that clearly targeted his head. Clearance Air Jordan . "It doesnt get any better than that," Giambi said. "Im speechless." The Indians are roaring toward October. Giambi belted a two-run, pinch-hit homer with two outs in the ninth inning to give Cleveland a shocking 5-4 win over the Chicago White Sox on Tuesday night, keeping the Indians up with the lead pack in the AL wild-card race. https://www.fakejordanwholesale.com/ . And follow TSN.ca right through Deadline Day for all the updates. From Pierre LeBrun While Anaheim GM Bob Murray said earlier this season he was not going to trade Jonas Hiller despite the fact hes an unrestricted free agent on July 1, some sources have told TSN Hockey Insider Pierre LeBrun that Murray might be willing to move another goalie. Fake Jordan . Scott won the Australian PGA last week in his first event in Australia since winning the U.S. Masters in April. American Matt Kuchar, ahead by two strokes with four to play and even with Scott with one to go, double-bogeyed the 18th after taking two shots to get out of a bunker. Air Jordan Black Friday . 8 Kansas to a 64-63 win over Texas Tech on Tuesday night. The freshman from Vaughan, Ont. RIO DE JANEIRO -- There were so many questions about their cushy accommodations it seemed the Americans were on vacation.Yes, the U.S. mens basketball team is staying on a cruise ship, with gorgeous views of Brazils beautiful beaches.But the Americans didnt come to Rio de Janeiro for fun and sun.We know whats our task at hand, veteran Carmelo Anthony said. This is business for us. Were going out there to take care of business.The U.S. team had its international introduction Thursday with its Olympic news conference, answering plenty of questions about where theyre staying (the luxury yacht) and whos not playing (LeBron James and Stephen Curry).It was the usual spectacle for a team that always draws a crowd at the Olympics, no matter who is on the roster. This one features 10 players with no Olympic experience, with only Anthony and Kevin Durant back from the team that won the Americans second straight gold medal in 2012.Theyre still considered the team to beat even with their inexperience, which is why Paul George had such trouble with his first attempt at Portuguese.A local journalist tried to teach him the word for underdog, then asked if there was any chance the U.S. could fill that role.Of us being underdog? he said. No, I dont think were the underdog.Try heavy, heavy favorite.The Americans open on Saturday against China, a team they beat by 49 and 50 points in exhibition play. So that game shouldnt be close, and it might be a while before they get one -- if they get one -- that is. But the U.S. players say they arent thinking that way.You have to worry about everybody, forward Draymond Green said. Every team is here for a reason. They qualified somehow. ... We cant come out here and say, `Oh, were the United States and were supposed to win, or `We have this person and that person and were supposed to win. We have to be locked in every game. If you dont, youll get beat.The Americans arrived in Rio on Wednesday from Housston, where they completed their exhibition tour.dddddddddddd. They held their first practice at the arena Thursday as they get their sea legs under them.Anthony stayed on a cruise ship in his first Olympics, when they finished third in 2004 in Athens. Theyre on a ship again, along with the U.S. womens team, in part because of a shortage of hotel space compared to recent hosts Beijing and London, and Anthony doesnt see why its such a big deal.Its no different than us staying in the hotel, he said. Its not like were cruising around. Were docked. We have the same amenities as if we were staying in the hotel.He joked that the beds were small for basketball players, but its expected to be smooth sailing for this group. The Americans may have seemed vulnerable when James, Curry and a number of other superstars declined to play, but the players who did accept invites have had a few weeks to work on getting better on the court and getting along off it.Were a group of guys that range from age of 24 to, I dont know how old Carmelo is, 40? center DeAndre Jordan said. So we have so much fun together and everybodys so competitive and we all want to win, and when you got guys like that, it makes it that much more fun.Anthony is actually 32, and his first Olympic experience 12 years ago was a mostly miserable one. He plans to leave better than he came in.I know what it felt like when kind of the rest of the world was supposedly catching up with the USA as far as from a basketball standpoint. So I know what it felt like to be at the bottom and I know what it feels like to be at the top of the game as well, Anthony said.My goal is to help this team and lead this time to a gold medal.---AP Sports Writer Tom Withers contributed to this report.---Follow Brian Mahoney on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/Briancmahoney ' ' '