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Category Archives: Fantasy Drafting
2013 NHL Fantasy Draft Guide
It’s pool time, poolies. Time to ridicule friends, work colleagues – basically anyone – for their foolishness as they reach for yesterday’s flash-in-the-pan, playoff heroes while passing on tomorrow’s rising stars. In a nutshell, it’s mocking someone who drafts Bryan Bickell over Vladimir Tarasenko. Someone is bound to do it – make sure he hears about it.
Each year TSN (Scott Cullen), Yahoo (Greg Wyshynski), The Hockey News, and several others of note publish their expectations for the coming fantasy year. For fantasy dabblers who don’t feel like doing their own research, they are good resources. However, just as with predictions of the NHL standings, I find that even experts base their predictions too heavily on what happened last year, rather than taking a wider view of things and considering a few years worth of data.
With that in mind, I looked at the last 3 years worth of basic stats (G, A, P) for the top-60 forwards. I didn’t bother with defencemen or goaltenders because things change much more quickly for those positions, since they are more dependent on their teams for their stats. (More on this later). But before we get down to the meat and potatoes, I want to share a few thoughts on draft strategy.
DRAFT STRATEGY
In my experience, you rarely win a draft in the first few rounds, but you can easily lose it. For instance, taking an injury-prone player like Marian Gaborik – who was very popular about 5 years ago when he first joined the Rangers – is a big risk. On the other hand, their are always a few steals in the late rounds – usually unexpected starting goalies, like Tim Thomas back in 2009, or Brian Elliot in 2011. But that’s not where the draft is won or lost either. The winners are determined in the middle rounds, and the key to victory is to load up on guys that aren’t valued by your competitors. For anyone who only looks at Yahoo rankings – based primarily on last year’s stats, it’s a great opportunity for you to take an established guy coming off a sub-par year – perhaps due to injury – or an up-and-comer who hasn’t increased his stock enough with the majority of fans.
Here are some other important factors to consider when looking for undervalued players:
- Breakout Age – I’ve noticed a trend with non-elite NHL prospects, i.e all the guys EXCEPT Crosby, Ovechkin, Stamkos, etc. While the very elites tend to put up huge stats by the time they’re 19 or 20, most everyone else tends to take a few more years. For whatever reason, I’ve noticed that age 24 is a particularly productive year for many young players, and is the most common time for a player to have their first big offensive season. That isn’t to say that a player can’t break out sooner, but typically, most valuable fantasy players have shown you what they’ve got by the time they’re 24 or 25. The most common exception to that rule is a pure complementary player who finds himself on a great line – guys like Chris Kunitz, Mike Knuble, Scott Hartnell, etc, who play a gritty, net-based game and depend on good linemates for their stats.
- Powerplay Time – this is particularly important for defencemen. You’d be hard-pressed to find a valuable fantasy d-man who doesn’t play on his team’s first pp unit. Go to NHL.com in the first 5 or 10 games of the season and check out which available defencemen are getting lots off pp time – regardless of whether they’re posting good stats. (There’s a log which breaks down ice time into even-strength, powerplay, pk, etc). You’ll probably find that a guy like Carolina’s Justin Faulk – who may not leave the ice on the PP – could be just as valuable as Chicago’s Brent Seabrook, yet Seabrook will be picked in virtually every pool, while Faulk will probably be free in half of them (at least to start the year). The powerplay ice-time rule goes for forwards too – it’s the reason why Boston isn’t necessarily a great team to draft from, since they have a weak powerplay, and they split the ice-time quite evenly between the Krejci line and the Bergeron line. Again, no one is going to draft Cam Atkinson anywhere near Milan Lucic, but assuming the pool doesn’t use PIMs, Atkinson may end up being within 5 points of Lucic at year-end.
- Team Popularity – This one is pretty obvious. Players from Canadian teams, original-six teams, and recent NHL powerhouses (Pit, Lak, Was, etc.), will have well-known players as compared to less successful teams in the south and mid-west US, i.e St. Louis, Columbus, Carolina, Dallas, etc. As a result, most fans won’t think about Brandon Dubinsky when they’re making their last forward pick, but will opt instead for Mason Raymond, despite the fact that Raymond may play on the 3rd line in Toronto, while Dubinsky mans the top-line in Columbus (with Gaborik). Similarly, if you’re familiar with a team’s fantasy depth chart, you could take a #1 offensive d-man on an unpopular team – say Alex Goligoski in Dallas – rather than taking the #3 from a Canadian roster, i.e Kevin Bieksa. Since you’re probably not overly familiar with fantasy depth charts, I’ve provided one for you. It includes all the forwards and defencemen for each team, and an approximate order of where they should be taken within that team. I.e you take Kevin Shattenkirk after Alex Pietrangelo, but before Jay Bouwmeester. (Bouwmeester plays top-pairing with Pietrangelo, but Shattenkirk will get more time on the powerplay).
To sum up, here are some quick tips while you’re making your draft picks:
- Make safe picks early – established top-liners who don’t have an injury history
- Look for undervalued players in the middle rounds – guys coming off a down year
- Look for upside late – usually younger players (<25)
THE LISTS
For anyone who didn’t know, I’m a list maker. I like to rank, order, and predict. Here’s the first list for your perusal. It includes the past three years of data for most of the top-60 forwards in the NHL – or at least the 60 forwards I found to be most relevant. I separated a few younger players at the bottom from the rest of the pack because I don’t feel that their stats are representative of what they will achieve this year, or in the years that follow, but I left young players like Stamkos and Tavares in the main group since they are already sublime talents.
Quick legend
P/82 takes the total points, divided by games played, and then pro-rates the total to an 82 game season. I.e, if Sidney Crosby had the same average points-per-game, and had played the full season (82 GP), he’d be averaging 132 points a year.
AGP is average games played
GM is games missed
3-YEAR POINT TOTALS – 2010-2013 | |||||||||||
Rank | Player | Team | Age | Pos | GP | G | A | P | P/82 | AGP | GM |
1 | Sidney Crosby | PIT | 26 | C | 99 | 55 | 104 | 159 | 132 | 38 | 113 |
2 | Evgeni Malkin | PIT | 27 | C | 149 | 74 | 105 | 179 | 99 | 58 | 63 |
3 | Steven Stamkos | TBL | 23 | C | 212 | 134 | 111 | 245 | 95 | 82 | 0 |
4 | Martin St. Louis | TBL | 38 | RW | 207 | 73 | 160 | 233 | 92 | 80 | 5 |
5 | Daniel Sedin | VAN | 33 | LW | 201 | 83 | 128 | 211 | 86 | 78 | 11 |
6 | Claude Giroux | PHI | 25 | C | 207 | 66 | 151 | 217 | 86 | 80 | 5 |
7 | Henrik Sedin | VAN | 33 | C | 212 | 44 | 176 | 220 | 85 | 82 | 0 |
8 | Pavel Datsyuk | DET | 35 | C | 173 | 57 | 118 | 175 | 83 | 67 | 39 |
9 | Alex Ovechkin | WSH | 28 | LW | 205 | 102 | 104 | 206 | 82 | 79 | 7 |
10 | Jason Spezza | Ott | 30 | C | 147 | 57 | 89 | 146 | 81 | 57 | 65 |
11 | Jonathan Toews | CHI | 25 | C | 186 | 84 | 97 | 181 | 80 | 72 | 26 |
12 | Patrick Kane | CHI | 25 | RW | 202 | 73 | 121 | 194 | 79 | 78 | 10 |
13 | Henrik Zetterberg | DET | 33 | C | 208 | 57 | 140 | 197 | 78 | 80 | 4 |
14 | Eric Staal | CAR | 29 | C | 211 | 75 | 124 | 199 | 77 | 82 | 1 |
15 | Ryan Getzlaf | ANA | 28 | C | 193 | 45 | 137 | 182 | 77 | 75 | 19 |
16 | Corey Perry | ANA | 28 | RW | 206 | 102 | 92 | 194 | 77 | 80 | 6 |
17 | Nicklas Backstrom | WSH | 26 | C | 167 | 40 | 117 | 157 | 77 | 65 | 45 |
18 | Anze Kopitar | LAK | 26 | C | 204 | 60 | 131 | 191 | 77 | 79 | 8 |
19 | Phil Kessel | TOR | 26 | RW | 212 | 89 | 109 | 198 | 77 | 82 | 0 |
20 | John Tavares | NYI | 23 | C | 209 | 88 | 107 | 195 | 77 | 81 | 3 |
21 | Patrick Sharp | Chi | 32 | LW | 176 | 73 | 87 | 160 | 75 | 68 | 36 |
22 | Mike Ribeiro | Phx | 33 | C | 204 | 50 | 133 | 183 | 74 | 79 | 8 |
23 | Thomas Vanek | BUF | 29 | LW | 196 | 78 | 97 | 175 | 73 | 76 | 16 |
24 | Joe Thornton | SJS | 34 | C | 210 | 46 | 141 | 187 | 73 | 81 | 2 |
25 | Marian Hossa | Chi | 34 | RW | 186 | 71 | 94 | 165 | 73 | 72 | 26 |
26 | Brad Richards | Nyr | 33 | C | 200 | 64 | 113 | 177 | 73 | 77 | 12 |
27 | Patrik Elias | NJD | 37 | LW | 210 | 61 | 115 | 176 | 69 | 81 | 2 |
28 | Rick Nash | Nyr | 29 | LW | 201 | 83 | 84 | 167 | 68 | 78 | 11 |
29 | Loui Eriksson | Bos | 28 | RW | 209 | 65 | 108 | 173 | 68 | 81 | 3 |
30 | Mikko Koivu | MIN | 30 | C | 174 | 40 | 103 | 143 | 67 | 67 | 38 |
31 | Chris Kunitz | PIT | 34 | LW | 196 | 71 | 90 | 161 | 67 | 76 | 16 |
32 | Alexander Semin | Car | 29 | RW | 186 | 62 | 90 | 152 | 67 | 72 | 26 |
33 | James Neal | Pit | 26 | LW | 199 | 83 | 79 | 162 | 67 | 77 | 13 |
34 | Vincent Lecavalier | Phi | 33 | C | 168 | 57 | 78 | 135 | 66 | 65 | 44 |
35 | Max Pacioretty | MTL | 25 | LW | 160 | 62 | 66 | 128 | 66 | 62 | 52 |
36 | Patrick Marleau | Sjs | 34 | LW | 212 | 84 | 84 | 168 | 65 | 82 | 0 |
37 | Marian Gaborik | Clb | 31 | RW | 191 | 75 | 76 | 151 | 65 | 74 | 21 |
38 | Zach Parise | Min | 29 | LW | 143 | 52 | 61 | 113 | 65 | 55 | 69 |
39 | Matt Moulson | NYI | 30 | LW | 211 | 82 | 84 | 166 | 65 | 82 | 1 |
40 | David Krejci | BOS | 27 | C | 201 | 46 | 111 | 157 | 64 | 78 | 11 |
41 | PA Parenteau | Col | 30 | RW | 209 | 56 | 107 | 163 | 64 | 81 | 3 |
42 | Joe Pavelski | Sjs | 29 | C | 204 | 67 | 91 | 158 | 64 | 79 | 8 |
43 | Patrice Bergeron | Bos | 28 | C | 203 | 54 | 99 | 153 | 62 | 79 | 9 |
44 | Bobby Ryan | Ott | 26 | RW | 210 | 76 | 82 | 158 | 62 | 81 | 2 |
45 | Daniel Briere | Mtl | 36 | C | 181 | 56 | 77 | 133 | 60 | 70 | 31 |
46 | Andrew Ladd | WPG | 28 | LW | 211 | 75 | 80 | 155 | 60 | 82 | 1 |
47 | Martin Erat | Was | 32 | LW | 180 | 41 | 91 | 132 | 60 | 70 | 32 |
48 | Teddy Purcell | TBL | 28 | RW | 210 | 52 | 100 | 152 | 59 | 81 | 2 |
49 | Blake Wheeler | Wpg | 27 | RW | 209 | 54 | 95 | 149 | 58 | 81 | 3 |
50 | Mike Richards | Lak | 28 | C | 203 | 53 | 89 | 142 | 57 | 79 | 9 |
51 | Paul Stastny | Col | 28 | C | 193 | 52 | 82 | 134 | 57 | 75 | 19 |
Under-25 | |||||||||||
1 | Taylor Hall | EDM | 22 | LW | 171 | 65 | 80 | 145 | 70 | 66 | 41 |
2 | Jamie Benn | DAL | 24 | LW | 181 | 60 | 92 | 152 | 69 | 70 | 31 |
3 | Jordan Eberle | EDM | 23 | C | 195 | 68 | 88 | 156 | 66 | 75 | 17 |
4 | Logan Couture | SJS | 24 | C | 207 | 84 | 74 | 158 | 63 | 80 | 5 |
5 | Matt Duchene | COL | 22 | C | 185 | 58 | 80 | 138 | 61 | 72 | 27 |
6 | Jakub Voracek | Phi | 24 | RW | 206 | 54 | 87 | 141 | 56 | 80 | 6 |
7 | Evander Kane | Wpg | 22 | LW | 195 | 66 | 67 | 133 | 56 | 75 | 17 |
8 | Derek Stepan | Nyr | 23 | C | 212 | 56 | 84 | 140 | 54 | 82 | 0 |
9 | Tyler Seguin | Dal | 21 | C | 203 | 56 | 65 | 121 | 49 | 79 | 9 |
If you’re looking for players to take in the later rounds…
Here is a little chart which gives you a very general idea of where a player might rank on his team in terms of fantasy-worthiness. It’s tough on teams like Boston and St. Louis since all of them have been packed in like sardines over the last few years in terms of scoring, but it’s a decent approximation for most other teams.
FANTASY DEPTH CHARTS | |||||||||||||||
Pit | Was | Chi | Tbl | Ott | Phi | Edm | Det | Sjs | Col | Bos | Stl | Tor | Lak | Ana | |
1F | Crosby | Ovechkin | Kane | Stamkos | Spezza | Giroux | Hall | Datsyuk | Couture | Duchene | Krejci | Oshie | Kessel | Kopitar | Getzlaf |
2F | Malkin | Backstrom | Toews | St. Louis | Ryan | Voracek | Eberle | Zetterberg | Thornton | Parenteau | Eriksson | Backes | Lupul | Carter | Perry |
3F | Neal | Grabovski | Hossa | Purcell | Michalek | Hartnell | Nugent-Hopkins | Franzen | Pavelski | Stastny | Bergeron | Roy | Kadri | Brown | Palmieri |
4F | Kunitz | Johansson | Sharp | Drouin | Turris | Schenn | Gagner | Weiss | Marleau | Landeskog | Lucic | Berglund | Van Riemsdyk | Williams | Silfverberg |
5F | Dupuis | Erat | Saad | Filppula | MacArthur | Simmonds | Perron | Aflredsson | Burns | O’Reilly | Marchand | Steen | Bozak | Richards | Koivu |
6F | Jokinen | Brouwer | Bickell | Killorn | Zibanejad | Lecavalier | Yakupov | Nyquist | Havlat | MacKinnon | Iginla | Stewart | Clarkson | Frattin | Selanne |
7F | Bennett | Laich | Kruger | Malone | Conacher | Read | Hemsky | Abdelkader | Kennedy | Tanguay | Paille | Tarasenko | Bollland | Stoll | Penner |
8F | Sutter | Perreault | Shaw | Couturier | McGinn | Schwartz | Cogliano | ||||||||
1D | Letang | Green | Keith | Hedman | Karlsson | Streit | J. Schultz | Kronwall | Boyle | E. Johnson | Chara | Pietrangelo | Phaneuf | Doughty | Fowler |
2D | Martin | Carlson | Seabrook | Carle | Wiercioch | Timonen | Petry | Smith | Vlasic | Barrie | Hamilton | Shattenkirk | Ranger | Voynov | Beauchemin |
3D | Leddy | Krug | Bouwmeester | ||||||||||||
Nyr | Min | Car | Mtl | Van | Wpg | Phx | Nyi | Dal | Clb | Buf | Fla | Njd | Cgy | Nas | |
1F | Nash | Parise | E. Staal | Pacioretty | H. Sedin | Wheeler | Ribeiro | Tavares | Benn | Gaborik | Vanek | Huberdeau | Elias | Cammalleri | Wilson |
2F | Stepan | M. Koivu | Semin | Plekanec | D. Sedin | Kane | Vrbata | Moulson | Seguin | Horton | Hodgson | Fleischmann | Zajac | Stempniak | Fisher |
3F | Brassard | Pominville | Skinner | Galchenyuk | Kesler | Ladd | Doan | Okposo | Whitney | Dubinsky | Ennis | Versteeg | Ryder | Hudler | Legwand |
4F | Richards | Heatley | J. Staal | Briere | Burrows | Little | Boedker | Bouchard | Eakin | Atkinson | Stafford | Kopecky | Jagr | Glencross | Hornqvist |
5F | Callahan | Granlund | Tlusty | Gallagher | Hansen | Setoguchi | Hanzal | Bailey | Peverley | Johansen | Leino | Barkov | Henrique | Baertschi | Stalberg |
6F | Hagelin | Coyle | Ruutu | Eller | Higgins | Frolik | Vermette | Nielsen | Cole | Foligno | Foligno | Matthias | Clowe | Stajan | Bourque |
7F | Pouliot | Niederreiter | Scheifele | Korpikoski | Grabner | Chiasson | Umberger | Backlund | Cullen | ||||||
8F | Zuccarello | Nichushkin | |||||||||||||
1D | Del Zotto | Suter | Faulk | Subban | Edler | Byfuglien | Yandle | Visnovsky | Goligoski | Johnson | Ehrhoff | Campbell | Zidlicky | Giordano | Weber |
2D | McDonagh | Spurgeon | Sekera | Markov | Hamhuis | Enstrom | Ekman-Larsson | Hamonic | Gonchar | Wisniewski | Myers | Kulikov | Larsson | Wideman | Jones |
3D | Diaz | Garrison | Bogosian | R. Murray | Josi |
FANTASY FORWARD PROJECTIONS
Here’s how I rank the top-150 forwards in the NHL. It’s based largely on opinion.
Rank | Player | Team | Proj | Injury Notes |
1 | Sidney Crosby | PIT | 105 | |
2 | Evgeni Malkin | PIT | 95 | |
3 | Steven Stamkos | TBL | 95 | |
4 | Alex Ovechkin | WSH | 95 | |
5 | John Tavares | NYI | 90 | |
6 | Martin St. Louis | TBL | 90 | |
7 | Nicklas Backstrom | WSH | 90 | |
8 | Patrick Kane | CHI | 85 | |
9 | Claude Giroux | PHI | 80 | |
10 | Matt Duchene | COL | 80 | |
11 | Ryan Getzlaf | ANA | 75 | |
12 | Corey Perry | ANA | 75 | |
13 | Jonathan Toews | CHI | 75 | |
14 | Phil Kessel | TOR | 75 | |
15 | Taylor Hall | EDM | 75 | |
16 | Jordan Eberle | EDM | 75 | |
17 | Daniel Sedin | VAN | 75 | |
18 | Henrik Sedin | VAN | 75 | |
19 | Jason Spezza | Ott | 75 | Day-to-day |
20 | James Neal | Pit | 75 | |
21 | Bobby Ryan | Ott | 75 | |
22 | Pavel Datsyuk | DET | 70 | |
23 | Henrik Zetterberg | DET | 70 | |
24 | Eric Staal | CAR | 70 | |
25 | Jamie Benn | DAL | 70 | |
26 | Anze Kopitar | LAK | 70 | |
27 | Joe Thornton | SJS | 70 | |
28 | Chris Kunitz | PIT | 70 | |
29 | Zach Parise | Min | 70 | |
30 | Matt Moulson | NYI | 70 | |
31 | David Krejci | BOS | 70 | |
32 | Logan Couture | SJS | 70 | |
33 | Ryan Nugent-Hopkins | Edm | 65 | IR till November |
34 | Rick Nash | Nyr | 65 | |
35 | Mikko Koivu | MIN | 65 | |
36 | Tyler Seguin | Dal | 65 | |
37 | Patrick Sharp | Chi | 65 | |
38 | Thomas Vanek | BUF | 65 | |
39 | Patrick Marleau | Sjs | 65 | |
40 | Joe Pavelski | Sjs | 65 | |
41 | Blake Wheeler | Wpg | 65 | |
42 | Evander Kane | Wpg | 65 | |
43 | Mike Ribeiro | Phx | 65 | |
44 | Marian Hossa | Chi | 60 | Day-to-day |
45 | Nail Yakupov | Edm | 60 | |
46 | Alexander Semin | Car | 60 | |
47 | Marian Gaborik | Clb | 60 | |
48 | Paul Stastny | Col | 60 | |
49 | Derek Stepan | Nyr | 60 | |
50 | Teddy Purcell | TBL | 60 | |
51 | Loui Eriksson | Bos | 60 | |
52 | Vincent Lecavalier | Phi | 60 | |
53 | Max Pacioretty | MTL | 60 | |
54 | PA Parenteau | Col | 60 | |
55 | Patrice Bergeron | Bos | 60 | |
56 | Andrew Ladd | WPG | 60 | |
57 | Mike Richards | Lak | 60 | |
58 | Jason Pominville | Min | 60 | |
59 | David Perron | Stl | 60 | |
60 | Ryan O’Reilly | Col | 60 | |
61 | Derek Roy | Stl | 60 | |
62 | Ryan Kesler | Van | 60 | |
63 | Jeff Skinner | Clb | 60 | |
64 | Jakub Voracek | Phi | 60 | Day-to-day |
65 | Gabriel Landeskog | Col | 55 | |
66 | Martin Erat | Was | 55 | |
67 | Jonathan Huberdeau | Fla | 55 | |
68 | Tyler Ennis | Buf | 55 | |
69 | Brad Richards | Nyr | 55 | |
70 | Daniel Briere | Mtl | 55 | |
71 | Chris Stewart | Stl | 55 | |
72 | Brad Marchand | Bos | 55 | |
73 | Jarome Iginla | Bos | 55 | |
74 | David Backes | Stl | 55 | |
75 | T.J Oshie | Stl | 55 | |
76 | Milan Lucic | Bos | 55 | |
77 | Pascal Dupuis | Pit | 55 | |
78 | Mike Cammalleri | Cgy | 55 | Day-to-day |
79 | Nathan MacKinnon | Col | 50 | |
80 | Nazem Kadri | Tor | 50 | |
81 | Alex Galchenyuk | Mtl | 50 | |
82 | Patrik Elias | NJD | 50 | Day-to-day |
83 | Scott Hartnell | Phi | 50 | |
84 | Bryan Little | Wpg | 50 | |
85 | Wayne Simmonds | Phi | 50 | |
86 | Tomas Plekanec | Mtl | 50 | |
87 | Justin Williams | Lak | 50 | |
88 | Joffrey Lupul | Tor | 50 | |
89 | Dustin Brown | Lak | 50 | Day-to-day |
90 | Derick Brassard | Nyr | 50 | |
91 | Ray Whitney | Dal | 50 | |
92 | Jordan Staal | Car | 50 | |
93 | Johan Franzen | Det | 50 | |
94 | Kyle Turris | Ott | 50 | |
95 | Cody Hodgson | Buf | 50 | |
96 | Travis Zajac | Njd | 50 | |
97 | Milan Michalek | Ott | 50 | |
98 | Mikhail Grabovski | Was | 50 | |
99 | Brayden Schenn | Phi | 50 | |
100 | Stephen Weiss | Det | 50 | |
101 | Brent Burns | Sjs | 50 | |
102 | Jiri Tlusty | Car | 50 | |
103 | Marcus Johansson | Was | 50 | |
104 | Tyler Bozak | Tor | 50 | |
105 | David Desharnais | Mtl | 50 | |
106 | Sam Gagner | Edm | 45 | IR till December |
107 | Ryan Callahan | Nyr | 45 | IR till November |
108 | Troy Brouwer | Was | 45 | |
109 | Jaromir Jagr | Njd | 45 | Day-to-day |
110 | Tomas Fleischmann | Fla | 45 | |
111 | Valtteri Filppula | Tbl | 45 | |
112 | James Van Riemsdyk | Tor | 45 | |
113 | Radim Vrbata | Phx | 45 | |
114 | Teemu Selanne | Ana | 45 | |
115 | Brandon Saad | Chi | 45 | |
116 | Matt Read | Phi | 45 | |
117 | Daniel Alfredsson | Det | 45 | |
118 | Gustav Nyquist | Det | 45 | |
119 | Alex Tanguay | Col | 45 | |
120 | Patrik Berglund | Stl | 45 | |
121 | Alex Steen | Stl | 45 | |
122 | Vladimir Tarasenko | Stl | 45 | |
123 | Kyle Palmieri | Ana | 45 | |
124 | Kris Versteeg | Fla | 45 | |
125 | Brandon Dubinsky | Clb | 45 | |
126 | Kyle Okposo | Nyi | 45 | |
127 | Dany Heatley | Min | 45 | |
128 | Mikael Granlund | Min | 45 | |
129 | Colin Wilson | Nas | 45 | |
130 | Mike Fisher | Nas | 45 | |
131 | Lee Stempniak | Cgy | 45 | |
132 | Alex Burrows | Van | 45 | |
133 | Adam Henrique | Njd | 45 | |
134 | Nathan Horton | Clb | 40 | IR till January |
135 | Bryan Bickell | Chi | 40 | |
136 | Patric Hornqvist | Nas | 40 | Day-to-day |
137 | Brendan Gallagher | Mtl | 40 | |
138 | Curtis Glencross | Cgy | 40 | |
139 | Sven Baertschi | Cgy | 40 | |
140 | Josh Bailey | Nyi | 40 | |
141 | Frans Nielsen | Nyi | 40 | |
142 | Mikkel Boedker | Phx | 40 | |
143 | Jannik Hansen | Van | 40 | |
144 | Jussi Jokinen | Pit | 40 | |
145 | Devin Setoguchi | Wpg | 40 | |
146 | Mark Scheifele | Wpg | 40 | |
147 | Cam Atkinson | Cbj | 40 | |
148 | Pierre-Marc Bouchard | Nyi | 40 | |
149 | Martin Hanzal | Phx | 40 | |
150 | Jakob Silfverberg | Ana | 40 |
TOP-25 DEFENCEMEN
Rank | Player | Team | Injury Notes |
1 | Erik Karlsson | Ott | |
2 | Kris Letang | Pit | Day-to-day |
3 | P.K Subban | Mtl | |
4 | Mike Green | Was | |
5 | Alex Pietrangelo | Stl | |
6 | Duncan Keith | Chi | |
7 | Drew Doughty | Lak | |
8 | Ryan Suter | Min | |
9 | Shea Weber | Nas | |
10 | Dustin Byfuglien | Wpg | |
11 | Justin Schultz | Edm | |
12 | Kevin Shattenkirk | Stl | |
13 | Niklas Kronwall | Det | |
14 | Oliver Ekman-Larsson | Phx | |
15 | Zdeno Chara | Bos | |
16 | Keith Yandle | Phx | |
17 | Slava Voynov | Lak | |
18 | Tobias Enstrom | Wpg | |
19 | Alex Edler | Van | |
20 | Dan Boyle | Sjs | |
21 | Andrei Markov | Mtl | |
22 | Brian Campbell | Fla | |
23 | Dion Phaneuf | Tor | |
24 | Mark Streit | Phi | |
25 | Jack Johnson | Clb |
25 MOST UNDERRATED SKATERS
Pos | Player | Team |
F | Matt Duchene | Col |
F | Jamie Benn | Dal |
F | Logan Couture | Sjs |
F | Mikko Koivu | Min |
F | Paul Stastny | Col |
F | Tyler Ennis | Buf |
F | Teddy Purcell | Tbl |
F | Jakub Voracek | Phi |
F | P-A Parenteau | Col |
F | David Perron | Edm |
F | Mikhail Grabovski | Was |
F | Brandon Dubinsky | Clb |
F | Nick Palmieri | Ana |
F | Gustav Nyquist | Det |
F | Matt Read | Phi |
F | Brandon Saad | Chi |
F | Vladimir Tarasenko | Stl |
F | Cam Atkinson | Clb |
F | Jaden Schwartz | Stl |
D | Kevin Shattenkirk | Stl |
D | Oliver Ekman-Larsson | Phx |
D | Slava Voynov | Lak |
D | Justin Faulk | Car |
D | Justin Schultz | Edm |
D | John Carlson | Was |
GOALIE RANKINGS
Team Quality | |||||||
Rank | Starter | Team | Split-Time | Playoffs | Defensive | Back-up | Notes |
1 | Rask | Boston | YES | 1 | C. Johnson | ||
2 | Quick | Los Angeles | YES | 1 | Scrivens | ||
3 | Lundqvist | New York R | YES | 1 | Biron | ||
4 | Anderson | Ottawa | YES | 1 | Lehner | ||
5 | Crawford | Chicago | YES | 2 | Khabibulin | ||
6 | Fleury | Pittsburgh | YES | 2 | Vokoun | ||
7 | Howard | Detroit | YES | 1 | Gustavsson | ||
8 | Niemi | San Jose | YES | 2 | Stalock | ||
9 | Holtby | Washington | YES | 2 | Neuvirth | ||
10 | St. Louis | Halak-Elliot | YES | 1 | |||
11 | Rinne | Nashville | MAYBE | 1 | Hutton | ||
12 | Bobrovsky | Columbus | MAYBE | 1 | McElhinney | ||
13 | Luongo | Vancouver | YES | 2 | Lack | ||
14 | Price | Montreal | MAYBE | 2 | Budaj | ||
15 | Smith | Phoenix | NO | 1 | Greiss | ||
16 | Backstrom | Minnesota | MAYBE | 2 | Harding | ||
17 | Dubnyk | Edmonton | MAYBE | 3 | Labarbera | ||
18 | Lehtonen | Dallas | MAYBE | 2 | Ellis | ||
19 | Pavelec | Winnipeg | MAYBE | 3 | Montoya | ||
20 | Varlamov | Colorado | MAYBE | 3 | Giguere | ||
21 | Nabokov | New York I | MAYBE | 3 | Poulin | ||
22 | Ward | Carolina | NO | 3 | Khubodin | ||
23 | Miller | Buffalo | NO CHANCE | 3 | Enroth | ||
24 | New Jersey | Schneider-Brodeur | NO | 2 | |||
25 | Anaheim | Hiller-Fasth | MAYBE | 2 | |||
26 | Philadelphia | Emery-Mason | YES | 3 | |||
27 | Toronto | Reimer-Bernier | MAYBE | 3 | |||
28 | Tampa Bay | Bishop-Lindback | MAYBE | 3 | |||
29 | Thomas | Florida | NO CHANCE | 3 | Markstrom | ||
30 | Ramo | Calgary | NO CHANCE | 3 | MacDonald |
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That’s it for now. If you have questions, complaints, abuse, etc, leave a comment.
What Line Does So-and-So Play On?
***UPDATED OCTOBER 14***
Complete NHL line-ups updated on a weekly basis
Confirmed Line-Up’s
Winnipeg
(LW-C-RW)
Ladd-Little-Wheeler
MacLean-Burmistrov-Antropov
Kane-Scheifele-Wellwood
Glass-Slater-Thorburn
IR: Fehr Continue reading
Fantasy Hockey Rankings: Defencemen
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Before reading this, you should take at least a passing glance at my main fantasy hockey article since many of the factors which apply to a forward’s fantasy ranking also apply to defencemen. Continue reading
Fantasy Hockey Preview: Goaltenders
Main article on Fantasy Hockey can be viewed here
Here’s a link to another relevant article on NHL goalies
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A quick run through of the primary factors that determine a goalie’s value Continue reading
2012 Fantasy Hockey Preview (Forwards)
Projected League-Wide Forward Lines
Fantasy sports are a wonderful thing. Not only do they create an electronic world which affords us a small sense of control over our favourite athletes, but they also allow us to mock, harass, and ridicule our friends and colleagues when our fantasy roster overwhelms the competition. Fantasy hockey is the main reason I’m a big hockey fan now. I got into it 8 years ago knowing little-to-nothing, but gradually began researching players and teams more and more extensively. I’ve noticed a few things over that time, and I’m going to share those observations here. I hope they are of use to you. If anything needs clarification, or if you simply disagree with a particular statement, please leave a comment. Chances are we’ll all come to a greater understanding through constructive disagreement, though senseless name calling may ultimately prevail. Continue reading
Fantasy Playoff Drafting
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A quick look at the stats below shows that the top 7 scorers from last year’s playoffs all came from Stanley Cup finalists. (Refer to stats at the end of this post). Interestingly, only 1 of the 7 (Kane) was in the top 30 in scoring during the 2009-2010 season. If you’re involved in a playoff pool, this underscores the need to shift your drafting focus from top players to top teams. Now this doesn’t come as much of a surprise for experienced playoff poolies, but does serve to reinforce conventional wisdom. The following should provide further clarity.
Last year’s final four included Chicago, Philadelphia, San Jose, and Montreal. In all, these teams accounted for 23 of the top 30 scorers in last year’s playoffs! The only other players who managed to get into the top 30 were from Detroit (Franzen, Zetterberg, Datsyuk), Vancouver (Samulesson, Sedin, Sedin), and Pittsburgh (Crosby…). All of those teams made it into the second round, while Boston, who also made it into the second round (and played 13 games in all) didn’t have a single scorer in the top 30. Continue reading