WALES WATCHING

 Wales Conference Fantasy All Stars

With the NHL All-Star game slated for this weekend, it is time to take a look at the Fantasy All Stars for the Wales Conference.

Center: Our selection for Wales Conference Fantasy All Star center goes to Tampa Bay’s Vinny Lecavalier.  His 64 points leads all centers as does his 29 goals.  His 35 assists are fourth best and his plus 3 is offset by his seven power play goals and one shorthanded goal.  His 189 shots on goal are surpassed only by Olli Jokinen and his shooting percentage of 15.3% is seventh among centers that have played in more than 45 games.

Left Wing: The pick here is Washington’s Alex Ovechkin.  Ovechkin has really come alive thus far and although trailing Atlanta’s Ilya Kovalchuk by one point, he dominates in other categories that puts him over the top.  His 38 goals is tops by left wingers and his 24 assists is fourth only to Kovalchuk, Zach Parise and Ray Whitney.  He leads all left wingers with 16 power play goals and 263 shots on goal.  Ovechkin’s plus nine is second best and his shooting percentage of 14.4% ranks fifth among left wingers who have played 43 or more games.

Right Wing: Ottawa’s Daniel Alfredsson is the choice.  If you examine Alfredsson’s stats, you will see that they are very close to teammate Dany Heatley’s.  Alfredsson’s 60 points leads all right wingers and his 29 goals are four better than Heatley.  His 29 assists are second only to Martin St. Louis and his 161 shots are second to Marian Hossa and 24 better than Heatley.  His 18.0 shooting percentage is right behind Heatley’s 18.2% and Alfredsson has the advantage in power play goals with seven.  The stat that puts Alfredsson over the top is his 5 short handed goals to none for Heatley.

Defenseman: Our choice for Wales Fantasy All Star defenceman is Washington’s Mike Green.  Green has come out of nowhere to lead all Wales defencemen in goals with 14 and is in the top five in defencemen scoring with 30 points.  His 115 shots on goal are tops among Wales d’men and his six power play goals are tied for the top with Montreal’s Andrei Markov, who was likely selected rounds ahead of Green.  His shooting percentage of 12.2 is good for fourth in the conference among defencemen who have played more than 40 games.

Goaltender: Very close here between New Jersey’s Martin Brodeur and the Rangers Henrik Lundqvist.  Both players give the fantasy player games as both have started over 40 games but it is Brodeur’s wins, save percentage and goals against average that seal the deal.  His 25 wins are tops among Wales goaltenders and his 2.10 goals against average leads the conference as well.  And although Lundqvist has six shutouts to Brodeur’s four, Brodeur has a much better save percentage of .921, second only to Tim Thomas among goaltenders that have played more than 30 games.

WHO’S HOT/WHO’S NOT (For games played January 14-20)

Burning it up