By JIMMY D / Wild defense, early goalie and plus/minus stats | Jimmy's archive

Just 11 goals in five games should be enough to sink your team to the bottom of the standings this early in the NHL season.

Look at the poor Thrashers who have just nine goals in five straight losses.
But over in Minnesota, 11 goals is enough for a perfect 5-0 mark for one simple reason – the Wild have allowed just four goals in five games.

That’s right folks. It’s a wild stat, but it’s true. Minnesota boasts three shutouts already, two from Niklas Backstom and one Sunday night from Josh Harding - on the road at Anaheim, no less.

They play twice on the road this week (Los Angeles and St. Louis) and backup Harding figures to get another start with a third home date this week against Colorado. If you are looking for goalie wins and average or plus-minus from your skaters, Minnesota is the place to look at the moment.

This is a deep squad with a nice mix of youth and experience. Local product James Sheppard is scoreless so far in three games.

Jackals smucked in NHL Week 2

After an easy Week 1 win in his head-to-head puck league, Jimmy’s Jackals were hammered 7-2 last week. Some ugly minus stats and the fact his opponent had Buffalo Sabres – who erupted for goals aplenty last week – were factors in the rout.

Jimmy is predicting the Sabres have shaken off the uncertainty of how they will play minus Briere and Drury and are now set for a stretch of solid play. This is still a deep team with plenty of young speed and Brian Campbell appears ready to push for Norris consideration. He’s got nine points in four games.

Some other early surprises from the blueline include Predator Dan Hamhuis (six points in five games), Sabre Jaroslav Spacek (four goals, three on the power play, six points in four games) and Panther Cory Murphy who is a point-per-game while running the power play in Miami. 

Murphy’s production has come at the expense of Mike Van Ryn and Jay Bouwmeester, who have both struggled. Van Ryn is rumoured to be trade bait.

Queasy at QB

Hands up everyone who is cursing the QB situation around the NFL with injuries and backups…

This week saw Cleo Lemon, Vinny Testaverde, Sage Rosenfels, Tim Rattay and Kerry Collins see at least part-time duty due to injuries or ASQID (Acute Starting Quarterback Incompetence Disorder, sometimes known as JoeyHarringtonitis.)

Of them, relic Vinny – fresh out of semi-retirement - produced a scoring strike and was efficient at the control in a 25-10 Carolina win over Arizona. Those Cardinals lost Kurt Warner (after losing Matt Leinart last week) and turned to Rattay, who turned the ball over three times and led the Cards to nine first downs. Yikes.

Lemon replaced injured Trent Green and ran for two scores (Ronnie Brown owners ranting and raving session will be held Tuesday night at 7 p.m.) and three for two more. But can he repeat that production against a defense not wearing Cleveland Brown uniforms?

Rosenfels was effective in relief of Matt Schaub and Collins may get the Week 7 nod if Vince Young is still hurting.

And for everyone – present company included – who turned to Gus Frerotte in the belief that the Rams were improving, you have already enough ranting after his five-INT, zero-TD performance against Baltimore.

Jimmy doesn’t even want to guess what will happen in Week 7, but watch the NFL injury reports midweek for the initial pronouncements of ‘in’ or ‘out’ on the QB front.

Marathon of hoops

The NBA tips off in two weeks and your draft planning and preseason research should already be in full swing. There are a few experts polls online that have pegged Kevin Garnett as the No. 1 pick, although Jimmy is not sold on this strategy yet.

KG brings his game to Beantown, where running mates Ray Allen and Paul Pierce will bring excitement – and wins – to the Celtics. But all three of these players have broken down in recent years.

Keep an eye on things for the next week or two and Jimmy will check in with his draft analysis in the next column or two.

In the meantime, stay busy, stay lucky.

Jimmy D