Road Warriors!
Roto-hockey owners take note! Your weekly review of next week’s transactions/reserves/activations should include more than the amount of games upcoming in the next week, or a perusal of the ‘who’s hot and who’s not’ list.
How about which guys are on the road and for how long? What about which guys are entering a three or four game home stand? Something to consider: a player like Marc Savard is nearly two points per game at home, and not even a point per game on the road. Or Jaromir Jagr has 39 points in 22 games on the road, but 30 points in 23 games at home.
Here’s something interesting – linemates Alexander Frolov and Craig Conroy are a combined 35 points in 42 home games, but their numbers really do a jump when they are playing outside of the Staples Center: 57 points in 51 road games. It almost goes without saying that the top scoring defensemen on the road is a teammate of those two, Lubomir Visnovsky.
Peter Schaefer of Ottawa has just nine points in 21 games at the Corel Center. Playing on the road he has 19 points in 22 games. Do you see the impact of this extra data? Granted, the majority of players perform at close to the same level whether they are at home or on the road, but a handful really step up their game when the color of their jersey gets darker (or lighter…for that matter).
Other road warriors to keep an eye on: Steve Sullivan of Nashville, Pierre Turgeon of Colorado, Michal Handzus of Philadelphia, Daymond Langkow of Calgary, and Patrice Bergeron of Boston.
For more pool tips from Darryl Dobbs, check out www.dobberhockey.com