Dropping the Gloves: A Look Ahead
Dropping the Gloves is a new series in which Cameron Chase and Alexander Monaghan share their weekly thoughts on fantasy hockey via email. The main purpose of the article is to entertain so keep in mind that the contents may, or may not, be factual. Feel free to gripe in the comments.
—–Original Message—–
From: Cameron Chase <hattrickswayze@hotmail.com>
To: Alexander Monaghan <brozefstumpel22@geocities.com>
Subject: Dropping the Gloves — A Look Ahead
Mornin’ Alex,
It’s beautiful day, ain’t it? The sun is shining, the birds are chirping and Pittsburgh fans everywhere are pumped to see the kid get back in the line up.
If you’re cable happened to go out yesterday and you thought you’d stay home in a closed off room; then you may not have heard about that. Indeed, after months of hockey fans wondering if Sidney Crosby would make his second debut of the season before the playoffs; they can now rest easy knowing they’re likely to pick up (at least) a few more points for their fantasy team. That is unless you were one of the non-believers (or realists as I would call them at the time) who dropped him in the past month or two. Which brings up my most recent hockey dilemma. A gentleman in one of my leagues is a member of that group of people who pre-maturely dropped
Crosby, but unlike probably most of that group, he did it days before the big announcement of his return.
What a shame. But with his (possible, but more than likely) mistake comes my opportunity. Although I have burned my acquisitions in this league, a big Leafs fan in my league has offered me what appears to be a beauty trade. He’d burn one of his last add/drops in order to grab Crosby from free agency and trade him to me for Phil Kessel. Losing Kessel as this point in the season wouldn’t do much damage, compared to what Crosby can possibly, but again more than likely, do for my fantasy team.
So I’ll probably go for the trade….what’s the worst that could happen? Well, Crosby could injure himself–now that would be a disappoint usually reserved for mothers of male cheerleaders.
Speaking of disappointment, around this time of the year it’s always a “hoot” to see who was projected to be one of the league’s highest scorers of the year, but fell well short of those projected numbers. Take Ryan Getzlaf (seriously, just take him), luckily I didn’t draft him any of my pools and I feel sorry for anyone who did. The Anaheim Ducks have been up and down all season and riding shotgun in that rollercoaster of emotion is el capy-tan, Mr. Getzlaf. Checking the projected numbers from the pre-season and comparing them to his current numbers; I feel like someone must have split coffee on the computer while it was calculating Getzlaf’s end-of-season totals. Originally he was favoured to be within the top 10 scorers in the NHL with a total of 82 points (20G/62A) but current sits with a lame 46 points. I found that projected number be a bit of a stretch, even back then, considering they placed him in front of Malkin who was
only supposed to have 80 points (39G/41A). Boy, were they off their mark.
Other players such as Matt Duchene, David Krejci and even Rick Nash have all fell well short of their projected numbers. You could chalk those three player’s performances up to injury, playing on Columbus and I have no idea what Krejci’s issue is…
Well now that I’ve had my fun picking on the season slackers (I just came up with a great name for my team next year) I can now take out my pad of paper and pen and write down a few names to pick up as possible sleepers in next year’s draft. Like Joffrey Lupul, although his injury came late here in the season, which only saved him from the embarrassment that Toronto has had to endure over the past few weeks. Their collapse alone will probably prevent him from being drafted early next year.
Next, we have Carl Hagelin. I won’t say that isn’t going to be picked up within the first few rounds, but if your fellow drafters aren’t up-to-date with their rookie status’, this beauty might be overlooked and could be drafted in the 4th or 5th round…maybe even later.
Picking up players that are on shady team is usually…well “shady”…especially if your leagues take into consideration plus/minus ratings, but players like Matt Moulson and Vinny Prospal have tried, what appears to be their best, to get their team to the playoffs. Look for these guys for those sleeper picks, unless you do take into consideration plus/minus in which case I would go with depth players that have made an impact on the 3rd or 4th lines, like Brandon Prust (NYR), Tyler Kennedy (PIT) and Ryan O’Reilly…who you can tell from the pic below, is a big fan of me.
Sure he can score goals, but he’s a terrible golfer…
Now let me here it amigo; who are your duds of this season and who are your picks for studs next season?
—–Original Message—–
From: Alexander Monaghan <brozefstumpel22@geocities.com>
To: Cameron Chase <hattrickswayze@hotmail.com>
Subject: Dropping the Gloves — A Look Ahead
There’s nothing better than a crappy story dragging itself out over an entire year. Crosby was hurt in January of 2011 yet it seems like the last two years have been simply devoted to him by the media. Prior to Sidney’s return last night, his opponents, the New York Rangers, were interviewed almost exclusively on how they will play against them. Clearly, there aren’t two of the premier Hart Trophy candidates on either team. There also isn’t the Atlantic Division on the line. All there is to focus on is Crosby’s first game back in which he will begin centering the third line.
Mike Rupp didn’t like the questions; neither did John Tortorella. The media can clamor all they want about respect and guiding the story but it seems like they are the only people not sick of the hype. The Kid is back, let the Kid play; let the rest of hockey play for the matter.
When it came to fantasy, I only took the risk in one of my leagues. The draft, which was an auction format, really gave me no other option. About halfway through, Sidney Crosby flashed in large neon letters and the bites were reasonable. After a modest bidding war, I was able to wrangle him away for $15 — which, honestly, is not worth the money in a league that counts 21 skaters. Considering I already had both Evgeni Malkin and Alex Ovechkin, the gamble was worth the risk. But I surely wasn’t one to take him in the first round, or really anywhere in single digits. There just wasn’t enough stability for me to grab him. And no, nobody in all eight of my fantasy hockey leagues had the nerve to drop them. I guess that’s what you get for being in mostly ‘industry’ formats.
The biggest bust for me this season has to be Corey Crawford. I mean, the guy doesn’t even have a shutout this season. And while the 23 wins aren’t really painting the picture of just how bad he is, the .901 save percentage should fill your imaginary canvas. Playing on what looks like a strong Chicago Blackhawks team, it is hard to see where he went wrong. The elite tandem of Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook have looked mortal this season, leading to extra scoring chances. Having said that, Crawford hasn’t been the game stopper he was just a season ago. Inconsistency has led to losing starts to Ray Emery, which, thankfully, looks like it is coming to an end tonight. However, most players wound up picking him in the top five rounds making him your number one goalie. With those peripherals, you were likely destroyed in rotisserie while hanging on by a nail in head-to-head. I also drafted Semyon Varlamov and Mike Smith while holding onto Emery and couldn’t find a way to win.
So thanks for nothing, Crawford. In fact, that entire draft for me deserves a mulligan. Picking late in the first round, all of the elite options were taken, as were the steady ones — no Datsyuk, Toews, even Luongo. My first four rounds yielded Bobby Ryan, Jarome Iginla, Crawford and Ryan Getzlaf. I’m sure you can predict where my team is. So next season, if presented with a similar dilemma, I think my entire approach will change. Instead of going after high-end goal scorers like I did this year, I will look for the best player I can get at a given position. If I used this sort of hindsight to draft, I would be looking at Claude Giroux or Henrik Zetterberg — both of which I was too scared to reach for in the first round and were taken by the third.
As far as next season, I always want to start with the first overall pick. So expect me to take Nail Yakupov or Mikhail Grigorenko in a later round as a starting points. While most top picks have some growing pains, they usually are good for some goals off the bench. They also prevent a rival team from getting a potential superstar for nothing. That pick, however, might be a little too easy.
Personally, I would love to see what David Perron can do over a full season. He’s ultra-skilled and is playing on a potential dynasty. Years ago when the Backes, Perrons, and Pietrangelos were drafted by the Blues, so many predicted they would eventually evolve into a powerhouse. Now with Ken Hitchcock behind the bench, their fate is a reality. Take advantage while you can.
Another guy to keep an eye on is Nick Foligno. The two-way winger is wrapping up his fifth NHL season and has yet to hit the 20-goal plateau. However, what he has done this season is build great chemistry with future cornerstone Kyle Turris. Playing mainly on the second line, Foligno scored 14 goals and 41 points in 71 games. What I find more impressive is his ability to produce while playing so much less minutes than the rest of his team. For every 60 minutes Foligno plays, he registers over 2.5 points. That is more than Johan Franzen, Scott Hartnell, and Martin St. Louis. Next season, alongside Turris for an entire year, I bet he hits 50 points with over 100 PIM and 200 hits. Not too shabby for a guy that probably goes undrafted in standard leagues.
Anyways, busy week covering Crosby and all so unfortunately we’ll wrap this up in a truncated edition. You can now resume your extracurricular activities with the rest of Clinton, Ont. And Cameron, next time, step up your golf game — one colour really doesn’t cut it out on the course.