Forgettable 2009-10 Fantasy Seasons: Part 4/5
It’s always a difficult process making player projections at the start of a fantasy season but what happens when we think the world of a player and he falls completely short of his lofty expectations? When making preseason projections, analysts take everything into account – past trends, a previous season’s playoff performance, their team, their age, and anything else we can justify. We’re defining a disappointing season as a player who finished at a final season ranking about 100 off of their Yahoo! O-Rank. Here are the notable ones:
Alexander Frolov
O-Rank: 72; Final Rank: 169
After this past season, Frolov has seen four straight seasons with declining point totals, setting himself up for a paycut and likely departure from the Kings. He couldn’t build off of his solid September and instead found himself demoted to the third line for much of the year. Don’t expect much more than 50-60 points from Frolov again next season and treat anything more than that as gravy.
Michael Frolik
O-Rank: 73; Final Rank: 170
Not quite the breakout year everyone was expecting but Frolik’s 43 points were fairly inline with his 2008-09 45 points. Hopefully this hurts his O-Rank going into next season and you can grab a late-round steal because there’s no signs suggesting Frolik won’t reach his offensive potential. Roll the dice again next season with confidence as not only Frolik, but the rest of the Panthers young front-six mature even more.
Brad Boyes
O-Rank: 78; Final Rank: 272
On pace for a decent year, it’s as if Boyes and interim-coach Davis Payne didn’t mesh at all and he only finished with 14 points in the last 32 games of the year. A lack of consistency was a major contributor to Boyes’ lowest point total in his career as 19 of his 42 points came from multi-point games. Keep a close eye on Boyes in the offseason to see if this was just an aberration or a trend.
Sheldon Souray
O-Rank: 81; Final Rank: 578
It seems like Souray’s brittleness and age seem to go unnoticed in fantasy drafts this year but if his last four season are any indication of what this year will be like, he could be a solid fantasy contributor. Injuries limited Souray’s season to just 37 games, the second time he missed the majority of a season with the Oilers and sources indicate that he’s requested a trade. Being traded could actually hurt his stock next season as the Oilers are set to be stacked with offensive talent and Souray would easily quarterback that powerplay. This season marked the first time Souray didn’t register a powerplay goal since 2000-01.
Milan Michalek
O-Rank: 83; Final Rank: 367
Breakout year turned worst season of his career, Michalek didn’t seem to generate any chemistry with his new club. 18 points in 24 games to start the season quickly turned into a dismal 16 points in his remaining 42 games. The Sens have a lot of money invested in Michalek and hopefully we’ll see something more out of him next season depending on how the Sens do over the summer. For now, Michalek is a sell high candidate if you see the same rate of production at the start of next season.