Posted by John Pereira, special to ESPN.com
Predators rookie goalie Dan Ellis said goodbye to 2007 in style. He picked up his third shutout of the season as he stopped all 22 shots he faced in a 1-0 win over Dallas. The native of Orangeville, Ontario, could be a key pickup for an owner looking for some help in the goaltending categories. He is currently backing up Chris Mason, and we all know what kind of season Mason has been having. Ellis is currently owned in only 12 percent of ESPN leagues, but that number should be much higher. Stash him on your bench and wait for management in Nashville to get sick of Mason's impression of a sieve.
Meanwhile, Marty Turco was narrowly outdone. He was able to stop 29 of the 30 shots he faced, taking home first star honors. Turco has a 1.71 goals-against average in his past seven games and has come back nicely after struggling for a better portion early on this season. He's made backup Mike Smith all but expendable at this point.
Dennis Wideman scored a milestone goal for the franchise, but more importantly for the Boston Bruins, they grabbed a 5-2 win over the Atlanta Thrashers, who narrowly trail them in the standings. Wideman's goal was the 18,000th for the Bruins, making them the second franchise to reach that plateau (Montreal was the first). With 15 points this season, Wideman has proved to be a nice addition to the Bruins' blue line. It's too bad he'll be compared to Brad Boyes, the man they traded for him. It's safe to say we all know how Boyes has done so far in his first season in St. Louis.
Speaking of Boyes, he assisted on the game-winning goal scored by rookie Erik Johnson as the Blues beat the Detroit Red Wings on New Year's Eve. It was just the third career goal for Johnson, who has failed to reach the high expectations set out for him before the season. His offense has been too inconsistent to count on and has not been able to have a profound impact on the penalty minute category. Considering his disappointing season, it's amazing to see his ESPN fantasy ownership in the 97 percent range. Funny what the hype of being a former No. 1 overall draft pick can do for you.
Blues goalie Manny Legace continues to fly under the radar with an impressive year to date. Overall he has a 2.20 GAA and .918 save percentage, but of late those numbers have been even better. If you take away the stats from one poor outing against Detroit, he has a 1.72 GAA in December. Granted, he has been losing some starts to Hannu Toivonen, but with games like these (a 31-save shutout) he's not in danger of losing his job.
A player like Rick Nash can only be held down for so long, and he finally broke out of his scoring slump on Monday night. Nash ended an eight-game drought as he scored three times against the Edmonton Oilers to lead the Blue Jackets to a 4-2 win. Nash is now up to 21 goals this season and is on pace to score 46, which would set a new career high. The bonus for his fantasy owners this season is that he's passing the puck as well. Considering he also could break the 100-penalty-minute plateau, he has assured his standing as a top option at left winger.
Jonathan Cheechoo's fifth goal of the season was an important one for the San Jose Sharks. He scored on a lucky bounce and the Sharks won their 10th consecutive game on the road, this time 3-2 over the Minnesota Wild. Realistically, though, it was Joe Thornton who lead the way on offense for the Sharks, as he has all season, picking up two more assists. Thornton isn't on pace to surpass the 100-point plateau as he has in years past, but it still is impressive enough that he's on pace for 94 with little to no help from the rest of the offense.
Colorado netminder Peter Budaj would probably like another go at the shootout. Both of the shooters the Coyotes sent out scored on Budaj, and Phoenix won the game 4-3 over the Avalanche. Overall, it's not the type of performance you would like to see from Budaj if you're his owner. He's been playing well over the past month but has yet to grab the job away from Jose Theodore outright. I'd be putting my money on Budaj, though, if I had the choice.
Marc-Andre Bergeron spent the last night of 2007 pretending it was 2005. After struggling for the better part of this season, the Islanders defenseman led the way in a 4-1 win over the Carolina Hurricanes. Bergeron scored twice and added an assist to bump his season total up to 14 points. He's available in about 70 percent of ESPN leagues and might be a nice add if you play in a league with 14 teams or more. He has seven points in eight games in December. He's been a healthy scratch several times this season, but when he does play, he spends more time on the power play than any other Islander. If he can impress coach Ted Nolan, I have a feeling he'll be seeing the ice far more often.
Daniel Sedin scored on the Vancouver Canucks' first shot of the game, but the offense dried up after that and Miikka Kiprusoff took over from there as the Calgary Flames won their final game of 2007 by a score of 2-1. It was a nice performance to see from Kiprusoff, who has been disappointing this season, to say the least. He has the 29th-best GAA in the NHL. Two years ago, he led the league in that category. But keep in mind, in 2005-06, Kiprusoff had an inconsistent start to the season and settled down in January to become one of the best goalies in the league.
John Pereira is a fantasy hockey analyst for ESPN.com.
