Howard Chen AKA Mr. Fantasy's Blog

Meet Montreal's Carey Price.

He's 20 years old.  He's a goalie in the city with the richest hockey tradition.

And right now, he's the man.

Pick him up.  Cristobal Huet, fantasy darling from 2 years back, got shipped out, leaving it very obvious that the Canadiens will be relying mainly on Price.  For most of the year, they had been sharing goaltending duties, with Price outplaying Huet for the most part, yet Price was still shipped down to the AHL for more regular playing time.  When Huet obviously couldn't carry Montreal by himself, back came Price, and the rookie showed he could do what Huet could not.  Therefore, there's no more use for Huet.

On another note, I'm surprised that Andrew Ladd was traded this early in his career for Tuomo Ruutu.  Ladd seemed to be picking up his production in recent weeks, so we'll see if the former Calgary Hitman flourishes in Chicago.

Brian Campbell should be even better in San Jose than he was in Buffalo, where he was already spectacular.  Waiting to see what impact this will have on the offensive stats for the other defensemen, such as Craig Rivet, how this'll affect their power play time.

Also waiting to see exactly how much Brad Richards will add to the Dallas offense.  Mike Modano, Brendan Morrow, Mike Ribeiro, and Jere Lehtinen have been the primary scorers in the Lone Star State.  The big question, is if Richards will help them improve their stats all that much.

My tip here... take a look at the first few games after the trade, then make your judgments.  Same goes for all sports really.  I don't pick up a hot young stud pitcher just because of the hype (see Homer Bailey) because until they produce, those young pitchers are huge risks.  Of course, Richards and Campbell aren't huge risks.  They're on hockey rosters in all serious leagues... but it remains to be seen how their additions could subtract from other players, fantasy-wise, on the team.