The time has come to tally up all of those Fantasy 3 Stars polls that have been going on throughout the year. It was a tight race that came down to the final day of the year. I have decided to separate it into skaters and goalies because thanks to the high value voters placed on shutouts, the goalies really cleaned house.
The Goalies
First Star – Martin Brodeur (22 points – 5 first, 3 second, 1 third)
Brodeur won his fifth Jennings this year, tying him with Patrick Roy for the most all time. Brodeur obviously still has a lot left in the tank, and should be hungry to take the Devils a long way in the playoffs after a disappointing personal showing in the Olympics.
Second Star – Craig Anderson and Ryan Miller (21 points – 4 first, 4 second, 1 third)
Anderson held onto second spot after a ridiculously hot start, and snuck the Avalanche into the playoffs where they will challenge the playoff-win adverse Sharks. Miller was consistently excellent for the entire year, and five shutouts helped him rank second among our 3 stars.
Third Star – Ilya Bryzgalov (20 points – 3 first, 5 second, 1 third)
Like Anderson, Bryzgalov carried a team into the playoffs that most pundits thought had no chance being there. Voters were obviously a fan of his 8 shutouts.
The Skaters
First Star – Alex Ovechkin (21 points – 5 first, 3 second)
No surprise here, as the Gr8 One tops our poll following a 50 goal, 109 point campaign. That goal total ranked third best in the league, despite only playing 72 games, and he recorded an astounding 35 multi-point games.
Second Star – Sidney Crosby (20 points – 4 first, 3 second, 2 third)
A share of the Rocket Richard trophy with 58 assists tacked on for good measure will probably rank you pretty high in the 3 stars department. Crosby tied a career high with 81 games played, and tacked on his first two career SHG.
Third Star – Henrik Sedin and Nicklas Backstrom (14 points – 3 first, 1 second, 3 third)
Henrik won his first career Art Ross Tropy with 113 points, and leading the league with 83 assists (14 more than Joe Thornton) despite his brother Daniel missing considerable time. Backstrom submitted another excellent season as Ovechkin’s set-up man, recording 101 points, good for 4th in the NHL.
Other Notes
Brodeur, Anderonson, Miller, Bryzgalov and Crosby each earned a spot on the nightly 3 Stars on nine occacions.
Brodeur and Ovechkin led the league with 5 First Stars.
Bryzgalov had the most Second Star appearances with 5.
The embattled Carey Price had the most Third Stars with 3.
Fantasy stud Evgeni Malkin recorded only 2 points, which he received for finishing as the Second Star on the final day of the
season.
10 of the top 20 point getters were goalies.
Rookie Tyler Myers led all defenceman with six points thanks to 2 First Star performances
Thank you to everyone who voted, it was a great year.
