Tobias Enstrom has been spectacular this season and I had no clue that would be the case. If you take a look at his splits last season with and without Kovalchuk, it seemed Enstrom severely missed the Russian sniper. Coming into a full season without Kovalchuk and without a real sniper to play with on the PP, I did not think Enstrom would reach even 40 points. Boy was I wrong. He put up 2 goals (one on the powerplay) and 2 assists and was a +3 on the night. That gives him a spiffy line of 5-22-27 +8 through 34 games. He's got 3 PPG, 11 PPA and he's even thrown in a SHA for good measure. Is there anything behind Toby's already immensely successful campaign? I think so. Two words: Big Buff.
Dustin Byfuglien is a beast. We saw that during the 2010 Stanley cup playoffs. He delivered huge goal after huge goal for the Blackhawks. How did they repay him? They traded him to clear cap space. When the Thrash announced he'd be playing D for them, we all snickered. Well, we were all wrong. With his 2 assists and +3 tonight, Byfuglien is sporting a 11-24-35 +11 through 34 games. A defenseman not named Mike Green scoring at a goal per game pace? Are you kidding me? Nope. And Enstrom is reaping the benefits.
If you are lucky enough to be rostering either one of these two high scoring defensemen, chances are you're somewhere in or near the top 3 in your league because you probably only had to spend a 10th-12th round pick on them. The best part is they've shown no signs of slowing. They will continue to feast on goaltenders throughout the NHL. Don't sell high. Don't sell, period.
Monday, December 20, 2010
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Biggest Disappointments at LW
I don't think it's any secret that LW is the shallowest of the forward positions this season. In my opinion, the top 5 are Ovechkin (12g, 25a), D. Sedin (16g, 22a), Heatley (14g, 17a), Datsyuk (11g, 26a), and Sharp (18g, 14a), in no particular order. After them, the next tier of players doing well might surprise you. Guys like Milan Lucic (16g, 11a), Andrew Ladd (11g, 19a), and Ryan Clowe (9g, 21a) certainly never would have been picked to be in the top 10. While there are always pleasant surprises, are there always this many disappointments? Let's go through some of them.
Ilya Kovalchuk (8g, 10a, -21): Here lies the biggest bust so far this season by leaps and bounds. During pre-season we saw the elite line of Parise-Zajac-Kovalchuk. This no doubt bumped Kovalchuk up a spot or two in our pre-draft rankings. That line obviously didn't last with Parise getting injured after 12 games. Fast forward to the present day and Kovalchuk's minus 21 is the worst in all of the NHL. It's tough to figure out what's going on with Kovalchuk. With Parise out, he became the obvious focal point of the Devils. It could be that teams are focusing on him and taking him out. But that was the case in Atlanta and he still flourished. Is it the losing? Well, his team has always been a loser. He may just be unhappy. Whatever it is, he has just looked bad. He hasn't shown any signs of life and neither have the Devils, for that matter. I don't think there are good times ahead for Kovalchuk; not this season at least. My advice is that you look for a sucker in your league who is gaga for the name. The player is not the same.
Patrick Marleau (11g, 13a, -15): Another huge LW disappointment. What exactly is going on with Marleau? We all remember his disappointing 07-08 campaign but after two straight outstanding seasons including 44 goals and 83 points last season, we all figured this guy was a lock for another excellent season. Surely, playing on the same line and PP unit as the greatest passer of this generation, Thornton and fellow sniper, Heatley would yield fruitful returns. Well, his PP numbers are actually on pace with previous seasons. It's his dreadful even strength play that's killing his owners. While last year Marleau-Thornton-Heatley were together basically all year, that certainly isn't the case this year. With Logan Couture in the mix, there has been plenty of juggling between the 1st and 2nd line. Marleau may be struggling to find consistency which is not easy when your linemates are constantly changing. I would expect him to get it together at some point. By the end of the year he should be near 70 points.
Zach Parise (3g, 3a, -1): This is based almost solely on his injury. Parise was picked a 1st round pick staple this season after putting up 94 and 82 points the last two seasons. His injury was the type that usually breaks your fantasy team. Even through the 12 games he played, he only put up 6 points. Reports have him returning in early February, but that's best case scenario. He may be able to help you for the stretch run, but the better idea may be trying to trade him for help now.
Simon Gagne (3g, 3a, -12): Another injury riddled player, at least Gagne is currently playing, if that's what you want to call it. Drafting teams were dreaming of Gagne playing with any one of Stamkos, St. Louis, or Lecavalier. Let's just say, it hasn't seemed to matter who he's played with. Anyone who can manage a -12 rating in the span of 14 games has got to be doing a whole lot wrong. He did have a PPG last night, so there's a glimmer of hope here, but there's no denying that you definitely didn't have this in mind if and when you drafted Gagne.
Bobby Ryan (14g, 13a, +11): Some may be surprised by this pick. In all honesty, Ryan has not been much of a disappointment. That's unless you took him sometime after the 3rd round. Teams who spent their 2nd and 3rd round pick's on Ryan are surely a bit disappointed. This is based SOLELY on his PP production. Just 2 PPG and 1 PPA have owners wanting more from this young stud. With the Ducks ranking 9th in the NHL on the power play hitting at a 20.6% clip, it's hard to understand why Ryan's PP stats are so poor. I believe it is somewhat of an anomaly and he'll start raking in the PPP sooner rather than later. He's shooting more than he did last year, and fantasy owners always love to see that.
Ilya Kovalchuk (8g, 10a, -21): Here lies the biggest bust so far this season by leaps and bounds. During pre-season we saw the elite line of Parise-Zajac-Kovalchuk. This no doubt bumped Kovalchuk up a spot or two in our pre-draft rankings. That line obviously didn't last with Parise getting injured after 12 games. Fast forward to the present day and Kovalchuk's minus 21 is the worst in all of the NHL. It's tough to figure out what's going on with Kovalchuk. With Parise out, he became the obvious focal point of the Devils. It could be that teams are focusing on him and taking him out. But that was the case in Atlanta and he still flourished. Is it the losing? Well, his team has always been a loser. He may just be unhappy. Whatever it is, he has just looked bad. He hasn't shown any signs of life and neither have the Devils, for that matter. I don't think there are good times ahead for Kovalchuk; not this season at least. My advice is that you look for a sucker in your league who is gaga for the name. The player is not the same.
Patrick Marleau (11g, 13a, -15): Another huge LW disappointment. What exactly is going on with Marleau? We all remember his disappointing 07-08 campaign but after two straight outstanding seasons including 44 goals and 83 points last season, we all figured this guy was a lock for another excellent season. Surely, playing on the same line and PP unit as the greatest passer of this generation, Thornton and fellow sniper, Heatley would yield fruitful returns. Well, his PP numbers are actually on pace with previous seasons. It's his dreadful even strength play that's killing his owners. While last year Marleau-Thornton-Heatley were together basically all year, that certainly isn't the case this year. With Logan Couture in the mix, there has been plenty of juggling between the 1st and 2nd line. Marleau may be struggling to find consistency which is not easy when your linemates are constantly changing. I would expect him to get it together at some point. By the end of the year he should be near 70 points.
Zach Parise (3g, 3a, -1): This is based almost solely on his injury. Parise was picked a 1st round pick staple this season after putting up 94 and 82 points the last two seasons. His injury was the type that usually breaks your fantasy team. Even through the 12 games he played, he only put up 6 points. Reports have him returning in early February, but that's best case scenario. He may be able to help you for the stretch run, but the better idea may be trying to trade him for help now.
Simon Gagne (3g, 3a, -12): Another injury riddled player, at least Gagne is currently playing, if that's what you want to call it. Drafting teams were dreaming of Gagne playing with any one of Stamkos, St. Louis, or Lecavalier. Let's just say, it hasn't seemed to matter who he's played with. Anyone who can manage a -12 rating in the span of 14 games has got to be doing a whole lot wrong. He did have a PPG last night, so there's a glimmer of hope here, but there's no denying that you definitely didn't have this in mind if and when you drafted Gagne.
Bobby Ryan (14g, 13a, +11): Some may be surprised by this pick. In all honesty, Ryan has not been much of a disappointment. That's unless you took him sometime after the 3rd round. Teams who spent their 2nd and 3rd round pick's on Ryan are surely a bit disappointed. This is based SOLELY on his PP production. Just 2 PPG and 1 PPA have owners wanting more from this young stud. With the Ducks ranking 9th in the NHL on the power play hitting at a 20.6% clip, it's hard to understand why Ryan's PP stats are so poor. I believe it is somewhat of an anomaly and he'll start raking in the PPP sooner rather than later. He's shooting more than he did last year, and fantasy owners always love to see that.
1st Post - Intro
Fantasy Hockey is somewhat of an obsession for me. I would enter any league I heard about. I've been in as many as 4 per season. Unfortunately, this year I only managed to be in 2. I run one of them. I don't do keeper leagues, though I'd love to meet a group that is interested enough and dedicated enough to do one. I'm sure I will one season.
This brings me to why I've chosen to start blogging about fantasy hockey. It's partially because I can only stare at the pages for my two fantasy hockey sites (both are on Yahoo! this season) for so long. It's also because I feel like it's not very easy to find sites that give advice about Fantasy Hockey. I know two sites that are dedicated to letting you know who's starting in net. One is http://goaliepost.com/ which is a paid site. It's a flat fee of $10 for membership for the entire season. Well worth it in my opinion. The other is a free site called http://nhl.poolnotes.com/. They both do a good job, though I believe goaliepost is a bit quicker and more accurate. While these sites are great, they never help me when I'm considering dropping a struggling Sergei Gonchar or when I'm contemplating jumping off a cliff because Alex Ovechkin just can't score. If you take a look at the so called "Yahoo! Fantasy Experts" on the side of the Yahoo! Fantasy Hockey page, you'd feel embarrassed for Yahoo! They have one guy, Scott Pianowski who has not made a post since November 16th. That's well over a month at this point. Is advice really that hard to come by?
This is my goal. To give advice. If I help some people along the way, I would be elated. If it turns out no one reads this then that's ok, too. At least it will be therapy for my overwhelming fantasy hockey addiction. I will make at least one post per day, but I will try to make more. Everything will be from my opinion, which is not biased at all. I am a Ranger fan. I have no fantasy allegiance to anyone on the team. I own Brandon Dubinsky in one league and I consider dropping him every day. I owned Alex Frolov in my other league, but I dropped him long ago. I have something to offer. I just need to be heard.
This brings me to why I've chosen to start blogging about fantasy hockey. It's partially because I can only stare at the pages for my two fantasy hockey sites (both are on Yahoo! this season) for so long. It's also because I feel like it's not very easy to find sites that give advice about Fantasy Hockey. I know two sites that are dedicated to letting you know who's starting in net. One is http://goaliepost.com/ which is a paid site. It's a flat fee of $10 for membership for the entire season. Well worth it in my opinion. The other is a free site called http://nhl.poolnotes.com/. They both do a good job, though I believe goaliepost is a bit quicker and more accurate. While these sites are great, they never help me when I'm considering dropping a struggling Sergei Gonchar or when I'm contemplating jumping off a cliff because Alex Ovechkin just can't score. If you take a look at the so called "Yahoo! Fantasy Experts" on the side of the Yahoo! Fantasy Hockey page, you'd feel embarrassed for Yahoo! They have one guy, Scott Pianowski who has not made a post since November 16th. That's well over a month at this point. Is advice really that hard to come by?
This is my goal. To give advice. If I help some people along the way, I would be elated. If it turns out no one reads this then that's ok, too. At least it will be therapy for my overwhelming fantasy hockey addiction. I will make at least one post per day, but I will try to make more. Everything will be from my opinion, which is not biased at all. I am a Ranger fan. I have no fantasy allegiance to anyone on the team. I own Brandon Dubinsky in one league and I consider dropping him every day. I owned Alex Frolov in my other league, but I dropped him long ago. I have something to offer. I just need to be heard.
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