Hello all, I guess I never formally introduced myself to you all since joining the DailyFaceoff crew, I kind of just rapid fired a few articles at you without letting you know who I was. My name is of course Ryan Epperson, my short bio (who really cares about who I am) is that I am twenty-two and originally from a little town in North Western Pennsylvania when I joined the Air Force at the age of eighteen. I am *gasp* a Pens fan writing for the Capitals, reason being is I get to watch most of their games since I am stationed in Maryland and have a good amount of respect for them. I am also married and have an eight month old son.
Anywho, being that the Capitals are a very offensive-minded team they of course have some very good fantasy players on their team that you may just not be aware of. Sure, you have Ovechkin, Green and Semin (when hes not injured) but there are other viable fantasy options on the Caps that may be able to help your team. So, without further delay heres a list of Capitals players ranked by myself in order of highest value to lowest value.
NO BRAINERS
- Alex Ovechkin – A no brainer here, with only one season where he did not total over a 100 pts on the season.
- Mike Green – I considered putting Green above AO since good defenseman are harder to acquire than wingers, but come on, you can not rank anybody above King Alex. Scoring 31 goals last year, Green, although not getting as many goals as he (or fantasy owners) would like, he is contributing with assists and is a top defenseman.
SOLID CONTRIBUTERS
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Mike Knuble – Although he is on the IR now, he should be ready by mid December and if he continues to play on AO’s line he should be able to contribute 60+ points and some solid PIMs. If he ends up getting bumped off Ovie’s line look for a 40 to 50 point season.
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Nicklas Backstrom – Bursting onto the scene in 2007, Backstrom impressed just about everyone by delivering incredible passes to AO and being his centerman. He won`t score a ton of goals but he is good for about 60 assists. Anyone who plays on AO`s line should put up decent stats.
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Semyon Varlamov – Not many people (atleast in my leagues) consider goalies to be the most important position in fantasy hockey but they net the most amount of fantasy points. With Varlamov quickly becoming the no. 1 in Washington and continuing to post solid numbers ( 9-1 , 2.35 GAA, .922 SV%) he is right now a solid no.2 goalie in fantasy with a chance to be an average no. 1 starter.
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Brooks Laich – Laich is just hot right now, 21 points over 25 games, he is on pace to 29 goals, 38 assists, breaking his season highs in both. The question is can he keep it up? Better play him now while he is hot and dump him when hes not.
SLEEPERS
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Mathieu Perreault - Everyone loves a good sleeper and I believe Perreault is one of the better sleepers in the NHL this year. He only has two goals and four assists in eleven NHL games, but Perreault has shown in the AHL that he can be a competent scorer and a decent set-up man in this league. Keep an eye on if he sticks in the NHL, if he does, add him to your scout list and wait till he hits a hot streak and pick him up.
IF THEY COULD ONLY STAY HEALTHY
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Alexander Semin - If he could only stay healthy, he could very well may be a decent #1 winger and a very good #2, but, as Caps fans know Semin has a tendency to get injured. With not even hitting the 70 game mark for the last two years Semin is always a high risk/high reward type player. Right now as it stands, Semin, through 18 games has 9 goals and 8 assists.
Well there ya have it, I look forward to the comments I hopefully get for this and if any Caps fans have any info I missed (like I said, I’m a Pens fan first and foremost but I do follow the Caps, kind of the keep your friends close, and your enemies closer frame of mind) please chime in. Happy belated Thanksgiving everybody!
