Injuries Plaguing Your Team?

Injuries are a part of any sport and they can happen to anyone at anytime. And depending upon your ranking in your league, an injury could be the worst possible thing to happen to your team or it could be some of the best news you’ve heard in a while. Take for instance Tom Brady of the New England Patriots (and please excuse my football reference). Brady was the No. 1 overall fantasy draft pick for this year’s NFL season and when he tore his A.C.L. people flocked to the message boards asking for advice on what to do now.

One of the biggest , if not the biggest, injury news to hit the NHL has got to be Martin Brodeur’s torn bicep, which will keep him out at least until February. Aside from being a destroying blow to any fantasy owner, the upside to this (well at least to any Avalanche fan) is that Patrick Roy’s record for most-career-wins will stay intact for a few more months.

So what should a Brodeur owner do in a situation like this? An obvious move would be to pick up Scott Clemmenson, the New Jersey Devils backup goaltender. If you’re in a deeper or keeper league it might be beneficial to hold on to Brodeur as he’ll more than likely retain his starting position after he’s healthy.

In my league, it doesn’t seem like anyone is too nervous about either of these injuries. The two teams that own these goalies picked up other netminders and dropped some forward or defenseman that was dead weight and not producing.

My biggest injury concern right now with the Avs is captain Joe Sakic. He’s missed the last six games with the Avs due to a back injury and is currently day-to-day. What seems to be a little bit of good news with Sakic out is that the Avs hold a 4-2 record with a few games coming up that should treat the Avs to a few more wins.

Since my last column I’ve moved down in the standings to No. 9 overall. Laperriere is my only Avs player to have a plus/minus that isn’t negative and both my goalies have a save percentage below .900 and carry a goals against average above 3.00. I picked up New York Islanders goalie Joey MacDonald to hopefully balance this out and boost me in the ratings by a few points.

I’m not sure about the owners in this league and whether they know each other or just happened to join a random league like I did. Trades are rarely proposed and messages on the message board are non-existent. This is completely different in the league I’m in with friends of mine. Trash-talk is non-stop and there are trades every so often, which make it more entertaining and easier to watch that league. So for my next column I’ll attempt to get these guys to talk more and find out about their fantasy careers as well as a little about themselves.