Rotisserie by the Numbers

Ozolinsh should regain fantasy value back in Western conference

By Craig Rondinone, SportsTicker

Mr. Sandis Ozolinsh, the best mercenary in the NHL, your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to go to Anaheim and help the Mighty Ducks put a little more quack into their power play.

While you are at The Pond, you also must try to play a modicum of defense, just enough so you will not be a minus like you have been the past three seasons. You must also defeat your archenemy, the neutral zone trap, by breaking it with crisp passes and excellent skating.

And that it is not all, "Big O." You also must make fantasy hockey owners happy, and not just the ones who have you on their roster. It is your job to make the players around you better, most notably Paul Kariya, therefore elevating their fantasy values as well as your own.

Ozolinsh has become the David Cone of hockey, a hired gun that gets traded to teams looking to add some spark to their blue line so they can make a playoff push.

He comes in, provides a quick fix, scores some points, then gets traded a season or two later when he wears out his welcome -- and when another team requires his services. And now after acquiring Ozolinsh from Florida, that team is the Anaheim Mighty Ducks.

Ozolinsh has many strengths. He's great with the puck, a fluid skater, can run the power play like a well-oiled machine and is such a good offensive defenseman that it is like having four forwards on the ice when he is out there. He has a special knack for jumping into the play and also for giving the puck to teammates when they are in the best situations to score.

The problem is Ozolinsh still has not mastered the art of playing defense, which would not be a big deal if his position was not defenseman. He is a minus-48 over the past three seasons. His defensive play was questionable when he entered the league a decade ago and has not gotten an ounce better. This is why teams tire of him, especially when he is slumping offensively.

Ozolinsh -- and his fantasy owners -- should enjoy a quick spurt of points. He still has outstanding offensive skills and will quarterback a power play that features Kariya, Petr Sykora and Adam Oates. That means there will be four creative playmakers passing around the puck, so if the Ducks added a power forward to stand in front of the net and screen the goalie, they could have the most potent power-play unit in the league, even better than Pittsburgh's.

Ozolinsh also will benefit from a return visit to the Western Conference, where he has played the best hockey of his career. His seasons in San Jose and Colorado were better statistically than his seasons in Carolina and Florida. There is more room for running and gunning out west, which is made for Ozzy's game.

Look for Ozolinsh to average a little more than a point every other game the rest of the way. If I have said it once, I have said it a billion times -- players usually see their fantasy value go up after they get traded, and Ozolinsh's numbers went up immediately two of the three previous times he was dealt. Odds are it will happen again.

Here are some other players who were either involved in the Ozolinsh trade or affected by it and how their fantasy fortunes look for the remainder of the regular season:

Matt Cullen, Panthers: This erratic center's play has been more up and down than the stock market during his career. With Oates, Steve Rucchin and Andy McDonald up the middle, Cullen was not getting enough ice time to be effective in Anaheim.

Cullen will play much more for Florida, although Viktor Kozlov and Olli Jokinen still should center the top two lines. Knowing Kozlov's injury history, it will not take long for Cullen to become the No. 2 man. Cullen's point totals should go up, although playing with the Panthers will not help his plus-minus.

Lance Ward, Ducks: With 254 penalty minutes in 134 career games, Ward is a halfway decent goon. Do not expect him to be Brett Hull when it comes to shooting the puck, though. He has just four goals to his credit.

Pavel Trnka, Panthers: Trnka is a defensive defenseman. In other words, he is worthless in fantasy hockey, and that will not change just by putting on a different uniform.

Niclas Havelid, Ducks: This might be the saddest story coming out of this trade. Havelid has emerged as a solid offensive defenseman, totaling 25 points in 51 games this season, and he has logged a ton of ice time. But with Ozolinsh on board, Havelid may lose his spot on the first power-play unit.

Petr Sykora usually mans the other point, and considering he has a terrifying slap shot responsible for 11 power-play goals, chances are Havelid will be the one being left out in the cold, which is really not fair.

Penalty Shots

The Mario Lemieux Award for excellence at getting injured goes to Carolina's Erik Cole. Cole is going to be sidelined for two to three months after breaking a bone in his leg, which comes on the heels of teammate Rod Brind'Amour being finished for the season after tearing a tendon in his wrist. Sounds like the unlucky Hurricanes are the Eastern Conference version of the Los Angeles Kings.

 

Related information

Stories

Rotisserie by the Numbers: Hackett wins big in McLaren trade

Multimedia

Visit Video Plus for the latest audio and video

© 2003 SportsTicker Enterprises, LP