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dearlazerbunny · 6 years

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La Caballero

Pairings: Rafael Barba x You Genre/Warnings: Canon-appropriate violence, mentions of rape and non-consensual sex acts Words: ~10,000 - Summary: “The Knight”: After decades apart, you appear as a victim in SVU’s protection to be defended by DA Barba, your former best friend and one-time lover Note: Chapter 4 of 11. Click HERE for Chapter 5!

“Avery Firlie, fourty-two, recently found dead via gunshot wound to the chest in a nearby suburb. It looks like the place is a rental, there wasn’t much there. But we found ties on the bed in the master, as well as other implements apparently used on Ms. Y/L/N. His fingerprints are a match on all of them; her DNA is on the ties and the receiving end of the tools, but never the handles.”

“Thank you, Amanda.” Olivia sat back in her chair, “So, we’ve got a textbook battered woman case.”

“Courts aren’t going to be in favor of her.” Carisi leaned on the edge of his desk, sipping a mug of coffee. “Past ten cases of domestic violence resulting in death of the abuser has led to a guilty sentence for the woman. And that’s just here in New York.”

“Which is why we have Barba.”

“Of course that’s why you have me.” DA Rafael Barba swept into the room in his customary manner: I am here to solve the issue, never fear, frightened detectives. It was annoyingly endearing, in a way. Not that SVU had a choice in keeping him around. “So, woman gets beat, woman shoots man, and now we’ve got a potential murder on our hands..?”

“Well, she didn’t just get beat once. We’ve got hospital records dating back over a decade for her. Bruises, broken bones, a couple concussions. Guy was rough on her.” Amanda looked a bit sick as she paged through the file.

“What’d she shoot him with?”

“9mm Glock, registered to Firlie.”

“So, could have been premeditated? Did she know he had a gun?”

“I saw the look on this woman’s face, there’s no way this was premeditated. She came in and admitted she shot the man. She was in shock, she could barely speak.”

“Wouldn’t talk to me,” Carisi interjected. “Firlie is a tall man with blonde hair; I might have looked too much like him for her to be comfortable with me. Typical battered woman.”

“All this sounds like speculation, where’s the victim? Have you talked to her?”

“The hospital is keeping her for observation. And yes, but we haven’t got much out of her. She’s cooperating, but she’s shellshocked. It might be a while before we get any details.”

“Well tell her she hasn’t got a while, his murder is already being processed. Yes, I looked into it, thank me later,” Barba quipped, looking at the sergeant with a raised eyebrow. “Homicide is moving a lot faster than her, so I suggest she gets her act together so we can build an actual case.”

“Precedent says-”

“Thank you, Fordham, I’ll take it from here.” Barba looked around the room. “Get her talking, fast. We’ve got our work cut out for us.”

..........................................................................................................................

“Hey, Y/N. This is Detective Rollins. The nurses said you’ve been feeling better?”

You nodded, taking another tiny bite of the plate that had been placed in front of you. “The food really helps. And they’ve given me something for the pain while the bruises heal.”

“That’s really good, Y/N. I’m Amanda, it’s nice to meet you.” The blonde held out a hand and you shook it weakly.

“Y/N, if it’s alright with you, Amanda and I would like to go over some details of what happened to you, okay?”

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

“I understand, but the problem is, Y/N, we can’t put together a case to help you unless you give us your side of the story.”

Oh. You should have expected that, honestly, when you dropped a murder weapon in front of a policeman. “O-okay. What do you need to know?”

“When did you and Avery first meet?”

“High school… he had a crush on me, but I wasn’t interested. But he followed me home from school all the time, told me he was ‘walking me home’, even when… well, it was clear I liked someone else.” Don’t think about it don’t think about it don’t think about it. “Then a very close friend of mine moved away… suddenly. And Avery was there when Rafi wasn’t.” You shrugged, trying to keep the embarrassment out of your voice. “I was lonely. And he was kind, at first, not like- what he is now.”

“Do you mind giving us a full name for your friend, Y/N? If we could get in contact with him it may really help our case.”

No. No you can’t, I buried his name a long time ago. “His name- was Rafael. Rafael Barba.” You looked down at your hands clutching the sheets of your bed. “He was a college student, and a neighbor. We were… friends.”

The two detectives exchanged a look that you caught. You weren’t stupid. “What is it? Did I say something wrong?”

“No, no, Y/N. You haven’t done anything wrong. I just need to step out and make a phone call.” Olivia stood. “Amanda will stay with you and keep talking with you, okay?”

Once she safely had a few hallways’ distance between your room and herself, Olivia whipped out her phone, staring at the contact name she had pulled up. Rafael Barba. It could be a coincidence. Probably was. After all, Barba would’ve recognized the client’s name, right?”

“Olivia, what do you need? I’m waiting for a jury.”

“Have you looked at the victim’s name in the Avery Firlie case?”

“Um…” She could hear the lawyer pulling up notes on his screen. “Y/N? Y/N something? Honestly, Olivia, does it matter?”

“It’s Y/N Y/L/N.”

There was a pause.

“I- excuse me.?”

“Y/N Y/L/N. That’s her name. And she says she knew a Rafael Barba when she was in high school and he college. They were friends. So I was just wondering…”

“She said that.”

“Yes. Is there another Rafael Barba out there? Or is that you?”

The phone went dead on the end of the line.

“Barba? Hello?” ………………………………………………………………………………………… Y/N. No. It couldn’t be.

He waited all throughout the sentencing, then practically flew back to his office, locking the door behind him and pulling out your file. He hadn’t taken a close look at it yet. There were photos of you, from the hospital, and he stared at bruised arms and raw wrists. And your face. You had a black eye, and red rings around your neck, but…

Oh, god. Y/N. What happened to you.

Avery…

Avery Firlie. The creep from high school that had plagued you for years. A semi-recent mugshot showed him scruffier and heavier, but something about him was distinctive enough to make the lawyer fumble for his chair.

Oh, god. Y/N.

I am so sorry.

#rafael barba #rafael barba x reader #rafael barba x you #law and order svu #law and order: special victims unit #law and order svu fanfic #svu fanfiction #svu fanfic #svu fic

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doubledrivel-blog · 6 years

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08. Warriors Struggle - Bobby ‘One-Punch’ Portis - Lonzo Ballin’ - Hornets & Jazz Update - Hashmojis

Greg: Hello and welcome to another episode of Double Drivel. We are a weekly podcast offering a fan's perspective on the news and issues surrounding the NBA. Thank you for joining, us my name is Greg and I am joined as always by my co-host JT. You can find us on twitter @doubledrivelers or email us at [email protected]. JT what up my friend? JT: Not too much Greg, having a great week. My favorite time of the year, just a few days away from my birthday. Did you know that? Greg: I was quite aware. It's not just that I have you in my calendar like I always have, it's every social media platform on Earth that tells you your birthday is coming up.You really really can't miss it these days if it's a friend of yours. JT: Things are good, and the NBA season is in full swing. It's so great already. It's been fantastic. Greg: It has been very good. We got some great stuff to talk about. We got Golden State struggling, Lonzo Ball and his progress so far, we're gonna check on the Hornets and the Jazz and how they are doing, we have the NBA Twitter hashmojis, and we got a bunch more. We're gonna start with Mr. Bobby One-punch Portis. I know you were really excited about this story. Why don't you talk about what happened with Bobby Portis? JT: At Chicago Bulls practice Greg, not even during a game, Bobby Portis apparently- Greg: as the great Iverson would say, “we're talking about practice man.” JT: He fucking cold cocked his teammate Nikola Mirotic and fractured his orbital bone Gregg. The bone setting that holds the eyeball of your face, which is in your head. It's cracked. He cracked this part of his team mates’ face bone. Greg: And gave him a concussion right? JT: Yeah. With that kind of trauma you're talking concussion no doubt. Greg: What is going on at Chicago Bulls practice? Do you think Fred Hoiberg has any control of what's going on? Are there any assistant coaches? What exactly is happening that this can actually escalate to this point? JT: I have a take that is of course 100% speculation. Greg: The best kind. JT: You don't see this type of injury too much in the NBA. You do see this, I won't say often, but more regularly, in mixed martial arts. Those guys are punching each other in the face with four ounce gloves. I don't think this type of injury happens if two guys are squared up with each other in the NBA setting flapping their gums, pushing, and throwing a little shot. I think Portis sucker-punched him. Greg: Wow, that's a hot take. JT: I don't think Mirotic saw this coming at all. I think Portis loaded up with the big dominant hand, came up from from behind, and blasted him. Greg: You're obviously assuming he had his guard down. What if he’s assuming because he's at practice and he's with his teammates he can let his guard down a little bit? JT: Well my idea is that you don't receive a shot like this without seeing it coming, at least a little bit. There's gonna be some type of build up. Greg: Oh there was build-up. They said were going at it. JT: If two guys who are building all this tension towards this one event you would think that they're also on the defensive a little bit. They’re not going to let their guard down completely. Maybe Portis snuck up on him and gave him a haymaker from Hell. Greg: With all the build-up it got to the point where they're punching each other. You don't feel like anyone should have jumped in at that point and realized things were escalating? No one got between them before this happened. That's where it's completely out of control. JT: That's a less fun avenue to talk about.You would think there's plenty of fucking handlers and assistant coaches monitoring these millionaire athletes making sure they don't get caught up in this petty shit. What's going on in Chicago I have no idea.Who knows what's really going. It could be anything. Greg: For real. It's a mess. The Golden State Warriors are one and two right now. I don't think anyone expected them to have two losses at this point. Everybody blew smoke up their asses all summer. They told them how great they were, how they weren't going to lose anygames next year, and how they’re gonna get handed another title. I was skeptical of that. It looks like there was a reason that they don't seem to have their shit together. Curry and Durant ejected together last night in a loss against Memphis. Curry threw his mouthpiece like a little bitch. There's no other way to put it. He threw his mouth piece like a little bitch. JT: He threw it at the ref Greg! Greg: Did you see Steve Kerr and his sarcastic reply, “They need to you get rid of him for 10 games for doing that.” That's fucking bullshit. Everybody else in the league can keep themselves under control and not throw their mouthpiece, none the less in the the the direction of an official. It's insane. You can't let that shit go down. You can't let them get special treatment. Their heads are getting big. You can see how it's going. Durant thinks he is unbelievable. Curry does too. They're not playing that great. They're losing. JT: Something's up there. Something is up in Golden State. This is not the way it felt or looked last season. I think something's up with Durant, something having to do with the way the team views the way he spent the off season with his silliness on on Twitter. Greg: He spent too much time and that Cole Cashwell guy. It's been nothing but an anchor at his neck. JT: If you think there's only one Cole Cahswell, and there's gotta be more- Greg: There’s probably a Colisha Cashwell. There's at least one female that was defending him. JT: They're not playing great basketball. They're losing to Memphis and getting their best two players ejected in the process at the end of the game. Getting ejected at the end the game is the worst you could do in that type of situation. Sometimes like a coachwill purposefully say something to a ref to get himself ejected to you motivate his team. That's a tactic, but for your two stars, you're gonna check to the end the game. You're not in control there. It's spiraling a little bit. It was starting to derail. Greg: This was a very "me too" way of getting kicked out. It was tag-along. It made no sense. JT: That's exactly what you don't want someone like him to do in that situation. You would want that other heavy-duty offensive power to be there. They need to check themselves a little bit. This isn't what you want. Greg: It's one thing for Draymond to act like that, but when Durant's responding that way, that's not cool. To flip off or flash his ring finger to the crowd on the way out? Other people have titles. LeBron doesn't handle himself that way. As they say, act like you've been there before. Get your shit together. Act like a man. Flashing your ring at the crowd in in Memphis? Those people have nothing. They have some barbecue, and they have Fed Ex. What more do those people have? You need to shit on them and show them a ring? JT: That team needs to settle a little bit. They need to settle into being who they are, which was is mostly a super team. Everyone was talking about them being a dynasty and it hasn't showed up yet. Straighten up boys. Deflate those heads a little bit. I don't think Steve Kerr helps. He looks like he's just enabling it with his replies. If they want to keep losing games, keep going that way. Greg: Did you see the Lakers at all? Have you watched Mr. Lonzo Ball play any of the two games? JT: I haven't watched them play live. I've just caught up in the highlights. Greg: We all saw the highlights on opening night when Patrick Beverley tore him up, but Patrick Beverley is an unbelievable defender. I couldn't judge the young man by that. JT: I can judge Patrick Beverley, and I would say that he is an animal. That guy played defense like you want people to play defense. Greg: Before the game standing outside the locker room screaming that he wanted a piece of him? He was a little bitch. He didn't say exactly who it was, he just referred to him as the guy he wanted. JT; I think that's really great. If you're gonna get things going that's how you do it. That's the kind of stuff I would expect from Patrick Beverley. That was wonderful. I loved that. He did get things flipped around against Phoenix, which is an awful team, an absolutely terrible team. He was one assist away from a triple double. Greg: Phoenix might be the worst team in the league. It seems like watching them play the one game, and then seeing some highlights, they're not doing well. They're disgusting. JT: They're pretty terrible. Do you remember they were one of the teams Kyrie was meeting with, and there was a chance he was going there? Could you imagine? Greg: What the hell kind of reporting is that? Did he really ? Was there a possibility? JT: There's no way. Maybe he got a phone call. If he did take a phone call I guess it's fair game to report that. Why not? It's not going that much better for him in Boston than it would be in Phoenix. Greg: You're really down on Boston, we should talk about that a little bit. JT: They had the horrific injury. Kyrie left the court the other day, when they were playing the76ers, and a fan was yelling something about him and LeBron. Kyrie told the guy to suck his dick. What are these people? They never responded to fans. We've talked about how many things so far? Three different things. We've talked about multiple people responding to fans or interacting with fans somehow. That's insane. Kyrie told that guy to suck his dick, the guy got it on video, and the league find him $25,000. It's the second game of the season. What do you think every fan's gonna be screaming at this guy for480 more games? Have you been to Philly? Those are the biggest bunch of assholes on Earth. That's their job. I haven't decided which game I'll be going to this season, but if I might have to yell that myself. Greg: If he's gonna get it from anybody it might as well be from you. You know the people around you high five your ass if you're right by the tunnel. If you're screaming at him on the way out, that's beautiful. Don't give us any ammunition man. That's something you're sensitive to. They come on thin-skinned. Little bitch. That's him man, that freaking guy. All right, after the break we will check in on the Hornets and the Jazz, and we got the NBA hashmojis. We're gonna go through some of the best and worst of those. JT what do you have a Utah Jazz update? JT: At three games into the season we stand at two wins and one loss. Last night we won an upset victory versus OKC, and the defense Greg was amazing. Stifling defense. Greg: Though to be the Jazz. JT: What's that supposed mean? Greg: It means you guys are weak in other places, like offense. You have to stand up on defense. JT: We did, and we won a game that people thought we wouldn't. The Jazz are developing this identity. They don't have a superstar per se, but it's turning into a balanced offensive effort. We got four guys all averaging about 14 points a game, which is kind of okay as long as the defense is amazing, which it has been. Things are good. Greg: That's what we said was gonna have to happen in the West. There are some high scoring teams out there, and Oklahoma City is one of them. If you guys kept them down then that's your first test and looks like you passed it. JT: Yep, and kept Westbrook cranked to six points. That's pretty damn good. Not a lot of people did that last year. No six points on two for 11 shooting, which we'll take that all day. Greg: If there's any other questions I could ask, whether the Utah Jazz, I don't know- JT: Don't be a shithead Greg: Did anyone have the poops possibly? Anything like that happen? Any sort of issues with any players that miss any games for any reason? JT: I think I know what you're talking about. We did have a player who missed a little bit of playtime with some gastric distress. Greg: It's just slightly important who that player is. Who was that player? JT: Rodney Hood Greg: Rodney I don't show up for the playoffs but I show up for this toilet seat Hood. What is up with this guy? What is going on? What is up with Rodney Hood? You need him. All we talked about is the lack of offense on your team, and this guy does this to you? Was Michael Jordan ever out with the poops? Michael Jordan had something called the flu okay? What is this guy doing? Was eating at the same sandwich place Gordon Hayward ate last season? What is going? JT: Better for it to happen right now in October, than for them to have these issues in the spring. He has an emotional stomach okay? I can relate to this. It's not his fault Greg. He just cares so much that it affects his body. Yes he had the poops, and he couldn't play this- Greg: You know, there's nothing better than saying the poops. It may be the most juvenile thing on the planet, but you know that's why he was out. One of the tweets we saw said that, and it made me laugh. It's still making me laugh. JT: We will not fault him for this. He will come back stronger because of this/ Greg: We'll move on to Charlotte. They are one-on-one at the moment, and they lost to a decent team. I'm telling myself Detroit Pistons is decent. They won against a very bad team, the Atlanta Hawks, and watching them play they're a middle team. I'm staring at the most middle of teams, and I can't imagine that they're gonna be anything higher than an eighth seed. A lot of these teams are better, especially in the East. I've watched Orlando beat the Cavaliers, that was a great game. They tore up the Cavaliers. They beat them. The Magic are better than people expected. There's a lot of teams in the East that are gonna be sleepers. The Hornets are not one of them. JT: What does that mean Greg? Greg: Sleepers? Did you expect Orlando to be good? To make the playoffs in the East, I don't think that makes you good/ JT: You keep saying that. These are decent teams. They're not just gonna be walkover teams like everybody thought. They play reasonable teams. They're gonna get wins like they always would have. I don't think they're automatic w's if you play the magic. The magic look good, they look solid. Last night I was impressed. Greg: They're not that good. JT: They scored many more points than I ever thought they could possibly score. They look pretty alright. Greg: We'll see. Also not impressed with the Hornets. Buzz City, not where I want to be. That's what happens, highs and lows. That brings us to the hashmoji. The Charlotte Hornets have their hashmoji. I'm not sure if the team's pick these or the NBA. The teams must have submitted them. I'm sure the NBA reached out to them and said you need a hashtag name. I think they started this last year. Some of them still seem to be the same as last year, but some of them have changed. There are some lazy ones on this list JT, and it is pretty bad. There's teams that just put no imagination to this at all. The Celtics, Knicks, Rockets, and Pacers, it's just their names. It's just Pacers, Rockets, and so on. That's completely lazy. Why do that JT? JT: Yeah tag me in on this one. I got the fire. This is a Twitter thing. When you type it, the hash tag and then whatever the phrase or word is, your team's logo pops up right alongside of it. I love that. I think it's cool. It looks great. A lot of these fuckers just mailed it in. Some of these teams have really clever things that speak to a larger picture, and some of these teams just use their name. Yea man, so that is weak but it gets way worse. What if you couldn't even think of something as plain as your name and you wanted to have something that was way worse than that? Some of my favorite teams want us to hate our hashtag. Heat culture? I don't know what that means. what the fuck does it mean? is it a Pat Riley thing? should I be slicking my hair back? I'm not sure. I don't know what heat culture is. Is this like a warm-blooded group of people that think about things that make them hot? Don't tell me it's a Miami thing, because then it has to be like Cubano sandwiches and meth. Greg: I thought they were more bath salts. JT: You think more people do bath salts in Miami than meth? Greg: I thought so JT: We'll get Mitch on that. We didn't even factor cocaine in but whatever. Other especially shitty hashmojis: #doitbig Greg. Who do you think that's for? I don't like it. Without knowing anything, what city or region does that spark in your mind? Greg: I don't know. JT: It doesn't make any sense for who it is. You shouldn't know because it's stupid and it makes no sense. Greg: I don't know. I don't know who that is. Which one is it? JT: It's the pelicans. You didn't automatically put that together? Do it big and the pelicans, come on. Greg: I thought for a minute was this other stupid hashtag we got, the stupid Brooklyn Nets one. JT: it was also the hashtag of several porns that were released last year. That's two letters away from we get hard which is very awful. One of these is far above the biggest piece of shit. I had to google this, which I don't like to do. Hashtag capital letters MFFL. What the fuck does that mean? What does it mean? Greg: I wouldn't even look it up. I didn't even want to. I'm gonna tell you, I'm here to hate it. I got banned for life from the Mavericks. JT: It is indeed Mavericks. Greg: I solved the fucking puzzle. That's great. JT: No, that's really bad. Who in the world thought of this, said it was okay, and convinced a bunch of other people that it was okay? This is stupid marketing. Genius Mark Cuban has this as his hashtag. How would Mark Cuban think this is okay? Greg: I can't imagine it's the worst one. JT: it's the worst one by far. Sacramento proud is on that list too. We didn't even bring that one up go Spurs. They put no effort in. It says go Spurs go, and MFFL is still worse than that. Give me anything to work with. Just tell me something about you and your story. But just letters? MF is motherfucker right? Greg: Yeah, and FL. Motherfucker for life. It looks like motherfucking Florida. That's what it looks like. JT: Whatever Texas, sucks for them. We've been very negative. We took a shit on this pretty hard. So far anything positive you like there's two great ones that are better than the others, no, there's three. You put one on here that's not good. Greg: Don't tell me you don't like pure magic. I thought that was pretty good. What else are they gonna put? I thought that was fairly slick. Pure magic. Pure fucking magic boom! JT: That's not good. What does that mean? That that's just your name again. You're saying you are indeed the team you said you were. Greg: I am confirming that we are indeed the magic. JT: To me it almost makes me think that up until now you were not in fact the team you said you were. Greg: I don't think that's true at all. That doesn't imply that in any sort of way. It's just a word or two. JT: They have a pretty big definition. That one sucks. It's pretty bad. Greg: Compared to the rest of the list that one actually bubbled to the top, because there's some really bad ones on here. JT: Yeah I'll give you that. It's not terrible, but some of the ones that are great, and maybe even in competition for the first place lot is Milwaukee with hashtag fear the deer. I absolutely love it. Fear the deer, the best one, hands down. Greg: Yeah it's cool. JT: The Jazz who have hashtag take note. That's a reference to their jazz note symbol which is their logo. They use it usually based around that singular Jay note. I like a nice pun. I like your team's also Greg. I like buzz city. Greg: I think buzz city works because a little pun works in there. There's rip city for a Portland. That was actually named that. They get to use that, and it works very well for them. JT: There were two things that I wasn't aware of. I knew that Toronto claims some sort of ownership of the north as it were, and they have the we the north. I've seen that the past couple playoffs when they got eliminated. The Timberwolves also have one, all eyes north. Greg: That makes no sense to me, because Toronto is the north as I've been told. I'm very confused. There seems to be some ownership issues of the northern section of things. JT: I always liked we the north for the Raptors because they are in Canada, and a bit isolated. They have this kind of Game of Thrones house stark tie-in, which is like the most popular show that you don't watch Greg. Greg: Yeah, makes me sleepy. I don't like it. JT: Minnesota slipped in the back door and I don't think it works for them. They had this cool thing, I don't remember exactly what it was last year. The herd or the pack or something? That made more sense, the wolf pack kind of thing. If they don't have a wolf reference they fail. Greg: This is another example of piggybacking. The idea doesn't quite suit you, so suck an egg Minnesota. Get your own hashmoji. There were too many assholes in the room trying to make a decision. That's a groupthink answer right there. We are going to do predictions right now. What do you got JT? JT: Do you think the professional basketball team from Boston will make the playoffs? Greg: The Celtics? Of course they are gonna make the playoffs. I don't think that you really you think- JT: You were battling me before saying there weren't good teams in the East. You were telling me that the Orlando Magic, that I know are good because I've seen them play- Greg: I was there. I watched them play, and they're good, but they're not better than the Celtics. Celtics are gonna play hard. Kyrie is obviously pissed off. He's telling fans to suck his dick and shit, that guy's fired up. if he doesn't get injured maybe he can keep shit together. He was the one who I thought was gonna get injured. JT: You felt an injury coming? Greg: There's too many people in the league. I've been watching football this year, people have been getting injured left and right. We had this in the first week of basketball. We had some season enders right off the bat, with some big people, and you're playing the numbers. If you have a bunch of superstars on your team and everybody's playing like they're playing, especially in Boston, they're playing hard. Somebody's gonna get injured. I didn't think it was gonna be anything like that. I'm not gonna act like I saw something like that coming, but Kyrie's knees have always been a problem. I thought they would've been the first thing to act up, almost like Chris Paul. He played the one game for the Rockets, and now he's like old man Chris Paul. He's got to sit out a couple weeks, and get his shit together. JT: That whole thing in Huston, I don't know if that's gonna workout. I'm right on the fence with Boston. I'm gonna go way to the other end of the spectrum. I don't think they're gonna have what it takes to pull together and make the playoffs. If they do, seventh eighth seed maybe. Greg: I don't think there's any way. Even if there are better teams in the East, I don't think there's any way they drop below fifth. JT: It's on tape now so, it's on like Donkey Kong. We can always jump back and say we're gonna see what's up a couple months from now. Greg: We're gonna be back next week with another episode. In the meantime you can follow us on twitter @doubledrivelers, you can email us at [email protected], subscribe to the show on iTunes, Podbean, or GooglePlay, and until next week, see you on the Internet

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thrashermaxey · 6 years

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Ramblings: Kadri Hurt, Who Benefits If He Misses Time? (Dec 29)

If you scooped up Anton Forsberg to fill in for Corey Crawford you got smacked by Brock Boeser, Sam Gagner and Thomas Vanek who combined to score all five of Vancouver’s goals. Forsberg was not and is not an option I’d run with in goal unless forced to do so out of desperation. Any goalie can go on a run, but he has been bad running his record to 1-5-3. I wonder if we hear from Jeff Glass. The Blackhawks need another option.

Vanek’s five-point night gives him 10 points in the last four games. He has a four-point game and a five-point game in that stretch. Exposure to the Brock Boes Monster has helped, but we know that Vanek can score in bunches. I doubt that he is a sustainable solution, especially with the Canucks’ upcoming schedule offering challenges. They have a seven-game road swing coming up in January. While it is broken up by their bye week, it will still be a rough stretch.

If you can find a way to get Vanek to fit into your regular lineup use him, but I suspect that with only two games between now and next Saturday, you’d get better volume from another waiver wire option.

Nazem Kadri left last night’s game and did not return. You have to figure we’re talking about a head injury considering the video evidence:

{source} <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Slow mo and new angle on the Lawson Crouse hit on Nazem Kadri. This doesn't look good at all. He's not out for the second period; broadcast said that he didn't go through concussion protocol despite an elbow to the head. Crouse was not penalized. <a href="https://t.co/iEJ5KfJ9Tt">pic.twitter.com/iEJ5KfJ9Tt</a></p>— Jeff Veillette (@JeffVeillette) <a href="https://twitter.com/JeffVeillette/status/946579436111048705?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 29, 2017</a></blockquote>

The post-game speculation is that this may not be all that serious, with Kadri merely suffering a neck injury. He may not miss any action. Stay tuned.

Patrick Marleau awakened from quite the slumber with two goals and three points. He had previously scored two points in 10 December games. This ups his ratio a bit. Marleau benefitted from Kadri’s absence, jumping onto the top PP unit and could go on a nice little run. That being said, Kadri has yet to score in December, going 11 straight without a point so those top PP minutes are no guarantee of points.

Jakob Chychrun was Arizona’s top minute muncher last night leading the team in overall ice time (25:05). Chychrun also received 6:10 on the PP, more than Oliver Ekman-Larsson. He piled up seven SOG and recorded his third assist in the past four games. He has stumbled into modest relevance since returning from injury, but probably won’t be consistent enough to provide universal value. Put him on your watch list.

Some line juggling for the Capitals last night. By the end of the game this is what they were rolling out:

{source} <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">So reshuffled Caps lines this period are:<br>Ovechkin-Backstrom-DSP<br>Vrana-Kuznetsov-Oshie<br>Connolly-Eller-Wilson<br>Burakovsky-Beagle-Chiasson.</p>— Tom Gulitti (@TomGulittiNHL) <a href="https://twitter.com/TomGulittiNHL/status/946557967041785857?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 29, 2017</a></blockquote>

That third line has had some success, and Andre Burakovsky is further harmed by getting bounced to the fourth line. He skated just 8:42, a team low. He is still getting back to speed coming off injury. You should expect him to get back into the 14-minute range, but that may not be enough for fantasy relevance.

Tom Wilson managed an assist, but getting knocked down to the third line should safely push him back to the waiver wire unless of course you are in a deep multi-category league where his PIM and hit contributions keep you afloat and the scoring is just a bonus.

James Reimer is in the zone. His full-season stats are junk, but he has won four straight and has a quality start in six straight. I scooped him up as a replacement for Roberto Luongo and am no longer as afraid of using him as I was before. Mind you, this hot run has not exactly come against a murderer’s row. His winning streak is comprised of victories over Arizona, Ottawa, Philadelphia and Minnesota. But you want your guys to beat up on bad teams. He has done so effectively.

The schedule ahead for the Panthers doesn’t look to shabby. They’ve got a struggling Habs team on Saturday before heading on the road for five straight. They certainly benefit from playing in the weak Atlantic Division. Detroit is also looming in the next week.

Nick Bjugstad is flirting with fantasy relevance. He is on pace for over 200 SOG, which will always excite me. I also like that he gets you exposure to Aleksander Barkov and Jonathan Huberdeau on Florida’s top line. No top PP minutes, however. He has strung together a run with 10 points in the last 14 games, which is relevant in a lot of leagues.

Evgenii Dadonov’s production has taken a hit with Bjugstad riding shotgun on the top line. Dadonov has three points in seven games since returning from injury and seven in 18 games since the start of November. He has just one point from the power play in that stretch. Some of that is because the Panthers’ PP stinks. Some of it is from getting bounced in favour of a two-defenseman look. Some of it is just flat out struggles. He’s looking like waiver fodder in shallower leagues.

David Rittich continues to intrigue as the Flames’ backup. He posted great numbers in the AHL and is now doing so in the show. He took a shootout loss last night, but stopped 30 of 32. All four of his starts have been of the quality variety. Mike Smith is entrenched and playing well so Rittich is no threat at this stage, but I wonder about using him as a spot starter going forward. The Flames’ schedule is light on back-to-backs, but we could see more of Rittich if Smith starts showing signs of fatigue.

It hasn’t been a gloriously productive season for Mikael Backlund, but he has strung together a run with points in three straight games. He continues to be a force for the Flames driving the play forward, despite a heavy dose of tough matchups and defensive zone starts. His 4.93% on-ice shooting percentage suggests that he has been a bit unlucky. Backlund is on pace for 48 points, but should get to 50.

Kevin Labanc continues to be a go-to daily fantasy option for me. He has clicked on a surging Sharks PP scoring 11 points in his last eight games, including five PPP. The overall minutes aren’t exceptional as he’s averaging under 15 minutes per game, but he and Tomas Hertl are being deployed heavily in offensive situations and providing results.

Rough news for Chris Kreider:

{source} <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">NYR announce Chris Kreider has a spontaneous blood clot. Out indefinitely. Arm felt strange and got worse after 1st period, so they pulled him and sent him to the hospital.</p>— John Shannon (@JSportsnet) <a href="https://twitter.com/JSportsnet/status/946418503355166720?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 28, 2017</a></blockquote>

The timeline for this is more likely months than weeks. As mentioned yesterday, your direct fill-in is Rick Nash.

The Rangers also recalled Vinni Lettieri who has done well with 12 goals and 21 points in 31 games at the AHL level. Presumably, Lettieri won’t fill a big role, but offers some upside in deep leagues. The DobberProspects gang had some further notes on him earlier this month.

The timeline for Mark Scheifele is 6-8 weeks with an upper-body injury. I discussed the fallout in yesterday’s ramblings. The Jets’ line at practice yesterday shook out as follows:

{source} <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NHLJets?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NHLJets</a> practice has started– Blake Wheeler is playing centre. <br><br>Connor Wheeler Laine <br>Ehlers Little Perreault <br>Copp Lowry Tanev<br>Matthias Hendricks Armia</p>— Sara Orlesky (@saraorlesky) <a href="https://twitter.com/saraorlesky/status/946441937829220352?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 28, 2017</a></blockquote>

Indeed, it seems that Blake Wheeler can do it all. Your big winner right now is Mathieu Perreault.

It does not appear that Jack Roslovic well get recalled yet.

Johnny Boychuk has been placed on IR with a lower-body injury, so he’ll miss at least a week, but will likely be out longer. The other Sebastian Aho has been recalled. I presume that Aho wasn’t recalled just to sit, but the Islanders have a lot of mouths to feed. They have carried eight defensemen all year regularly rotating Ryan Pulock, Dennis Seidenberg, Thomas Hickey and Scott Mayfield through two spots in the lineup.

Pulock stands as a direct replacement for the big shot that Boychuk provides and should lap up the secondary PP time that comes with that spot.

As for Aho, he has excelled in the AHL with 20 points in 29 games as a 21-year-old defenseman. There doesn’t seem to be much room for him at this juncture, but it’s good to know he is only an injury away from joining the Islanders. Read more about Aho here.

Some injury news out of Pittsburgh:

{source} <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Coach Sullivan’s injury updates:<br><br>-Bryan Rust is longer-term with an upper body injury.<br>-Chad Ruhwedel is week-to-week with an upper body injury.<br>-Matt Murray is day-to-day but will not play tomorrow.</p>— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) <a href="https://twitter.com/penguins/status/946443771994148864?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 28, 2017</a></blockquote>

Looks like you’ll get some use out of Tristan Jarry this week.

It was also noted that Kris Letang will be out once again with a nagging injury. Olli Maatta got top PP minutes with Letang and Justin Schultz out.

It sounds like Tyler Bertuzzi is getting a shot on the Red Wings’ PP displacing Anthony Mantha.

This is likely just a short-term thing. Mantha is still the most talented winger that team has. He has been practicing Downer December with just two points in 10 games and no power-play points. You can understand why Mantha would get pushed down. He’ll be back in the mix soon enough, but he has done enough damage to work his way off many a fantasy roster.

Robin Lehner has a conspiracy theory about NHL reviews going against the Sabres:

"I know Toronto already made up their mind it was a goal before they shot the puck. It's just how it works in this League," Lehner said after the Sabres' (9-20-8) 3-2 overtime loss to the Islanders (20-13-4). "Everything is predetermined against us. It's not to be sulking or anything. We're not where we want to be or anything like that. It's just how it is. The Islanders are in a playoff spot, and you know, it is what it is."

I sincerely doubt that there is any conspiracy afoot. I would however love to hear more conspiracy theories from Lehner. Could they make this a weekly show?

Fredrik Claesson isn’t relevant in many leagues, but received a two-game suspension for a hit the other night against Boston. I suppose this could mean more minutes for Thomas Chabot.

In World Junior talk I have been absolutely smitten with Martin Necas through two games of tournament play. Check out the sauce on this cross-seam pass:

{source} <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Great pass from Martin Necas sets up Filip Zadina <a href="https://t.co/IUGAza5rW5">pic.twitter.com/IUGAza5rW5</a></p>— Pete Blackburn (@PeteBlackburn) <a href="https://twitter.com/PeteBlackburn/status/946509373093875713?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 28, 2017</a></blockquote>

Most impressive about Necas, he makes plays at high speed, which is how players are excelling in the NHL. I still advise selling high on players after the World Juniors, but I’d be confident in Necas making an NHL impact very soon. He damn near cracked the Hurricanes’ lineup as an 18-year-old.

A couple of juicy nuggets to unpack in Elliotte Friedman’s latest 31 Thoughts:

7. Sounds like Arizona is working to find Anthony Duclair a fresh start. At 22, have to think someone takes a shot.

Duclair scored 2.0 points/60 at 5-on-5 through his first 99 games in the NHL as a 19-20 -year-old. Impressive stuff, but he has fallen off in the last two seasons with Arizona. How much can we attribute to growing pains, and a bad environment? Last season was a total write off. This season, he’s up to 1.56 points/60, which is okay. He is shooting at the highest rate of his career. I definitely think there’s potential for Duclair, but I want to see him get back to 2.0 points/60 before considering him truly intriguing.

If he can’t score at a good rate as a lower-line player, he doesn’t stand much chance of getting elevated to a spot in the lineup where he can gain relevance, so we are talking two hurdles here, not one.

8. I worry about writing this kind of sentence because things change and it blows up in my face, but it doesn’t seem like there’s an Edmonton-Ottawa match for Mike Hoffman – curious to see if a Carolina or a St. Louis looks at him.

There’s no situation more intriguing than a player on a struggling team getting top minutes potentially moving to a strong team where his minutes could decrease. Hoffman hasn’t been all that bad for Ottawa. He has been one of their more consistent scorers. The offense has dried up with no goals and just four points in the last 11 games as things have spiralled out of control, but he’s still on pace for 56 points. He is seeing career highs in minutes (18:28 per game), and PP time (3:34 per game), but is also being tasked with JG Pageau and Tom Pyatt as his most common linemates.

We have seen Hoffman excel in a secondary roll before. He could benefit moving to a better team where he sees fewer minutes but better linemates. Bottom line for Hoffman, he’s a career 11.0% shooter currently shooting 7.5%. Obviously, the Sens playing so poorly is helping to drive that down, but he should still regress towards his career rate, which would mean more goals in the second half regardless of if/where he gets moved. He should score at least 25 goals on any team with any linemates.

Thanks for reading! You can follow me on Twitter @SteveLaidlaw.

from All About Sports http://www.dobberhockey.com/hockey-rambling/ramblings-kadri-hurt-who-benefits-if-he-misses-time-dec-29/

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