Top 10 Slow Starters
Tom Collins
2014-10-20
10 players you want to be patient with in your league.
Fantasy hockey managers probably make more bad decisions in the first two weeks of the NHL season than any other time of the year.
A player who starts the season on a hot streak is seen as the next big thing, and GMs will overpay to get them. Meanwhile, a star that starts off slow is traded for peanuts, all because a GM lost his first matchup of the season, or finds himself in ninth place in a points only pool when they were expecting to be competing.
My theory is this comes from football, where a typical fantasy football season lasts 14 weeks, so a bad start can have a major impact if your fantasy team makes the playoffs.
Below are 10 guys who are off to slow starts with whom you need to be patient.
I also can't stress these three words enough: small sample size. Most players have played four to seven games this season. If a guy went scoreless for four games in February, you wouldn't worry about it, so there's no need to worry about it now.
10. Marian Hossa
On the bright side, Hossa hasn't missed a game yet because of injury. But his only goal so far has been a shorthanded marker against the dreadful Sabres. One of the reasons is the fact that Andrew Shaw has taken his place on the top power play unit (Shaw plays with Kane, Toews and Sharp, while Hossa is stuck with Bickell, Richards and Saad). Surprisingly, Hossa is only seventh on the Blackhawks among forwards for power play ice time per game. However, there are some encouraging signs: Hossa is averaging the second most even strength ice time among Hawks forwards, and has fired an average of 3.5 shots a game. He'll be back to a 60-point pace before you know it.
9. James Neal
Every poolie expected Neal to suffer fantasy-wise once he was dealt to Nashville in the offseason, but many were still optimistic that Neal could be a 30-30 guy in Nashville. But he's off to a pretty slow start, scoring one goal in five games. Worse, he's been a minus-player in four of the five games so far. There's still plenty of hope that Neal can rebound: He's on the top power play unit, averaging 3:40 ice time per game. And he's still shooting the puck, averaging 3.2 shots a game. He also has a shooting percentage of just 6.2 per cent this season, about half his career average (his worst ever season was 11.3 per cent last year). After all, someone on Nashville has to score, and he's getting the best opportunity to do so.
Despite a 33-save shutout last night, Lundqvist doesn't have great numbers. But he also has a history of starting slow, and this is the third year in a row he's done this.
2014-15: 3-2 record, .892 save percentage, 3.21 GAA, one shutout
2013-14: 2-5 record, .895 save percentage, 4.43 GAA, one shutout
2012-12: 3-5 record, .900 save percentage, 2.83 GAA, zero shutouts
Right around the eight game mark, Lundqvist starts to pick it up. In each of the last two seasons, he's finished with a save percentage in the .920s, a GAA of 2.36 or less, 35-plus wins and five shutouts (prorating the 2012-13 shortened season) So there's no reason to worry when it comes to King Henrik.
7. Milan Lucic
This one was a tough one to include, as Lucic is still contributing in the peripheral categories (his 26 penalty minutes is tops in the league). But in one-year leagues, since you can draft solely PIM guys late, Lucic was drafted higher up because he could also score. So far, he has just two assists in seven games (both of those coming against Montreal last week). There is a worrisome trend for Lucic that he is averaging just 16:19 of ice time this season, his lowest since 2009-10.
Related Posts
UPCOMING GAMES
| Dec 23 - 13:12 |
 N.J
| vs |
 NYR | |
| Dec 23 - 14:12 |
 TOR
| vs |
 WPG | |
| Dec 23 - 19:12 |
 DET
| vs |
 STL | |
| Dec 23 - 19:12 |
 CBJ
| vs |
 MTL | |
| Dec 23 - 19:12 |
 BOS
| vs |
 WSH | |
| Dec 23 - 19:12 |
 FLA
| vs |
 T.B | |
| Dec 23 - 19:12 |
 PIT
| vs |
 PHI | |
| Dec 23 - 19:12 |
 NYI
| vs |
 BUF | |
| Dec 23 - 20:12 |
 NSH
| vs |
 CAR | |
| Dec 23 - 20:12 |
 MIN
| vs |
 CHI | |
| Dec 23 - 21:12 |
 UTA
| vs |
 DAL | |
| Dec 23 - 21:12 |
 VAN
| vs |
 S.J | |
| Dec 23 - 22:12 |
 VGK
| vs |
 ANA
| |
Starting Goalies
Top Skater Views
OTT
CGYTop Goalie Profile Views
COL
L.A
LINE COMBOS
| Frequency |
CAR Players
| |
|---|---|---|
| 19.5 | JACK ROSLOVIC SETH JARVIS SEBASTIAN AHO | |
| 14.7 | ERIC ROBINSON MARTIN NECAS JESPERI KOTKANIEMI | |
| 11.9 | ANDREI SVECHNIKOV JORDAN STAAL JORDAN MARTINOOK | |
DobberHockey Podcasts
Fantasy Hockey Life: FHL/DPR WJC20 Crossover Draft Part 1
The World Juniors Championship is mere days away. Today Fantast Hockey Life and Dobber Prospects Report features a special crossover draft. Peter Harling, DPR producer James Iacovone, Victor and Jesse draft the first five of nine rounds of WJC players. Check out the second half of the draft with post-draft analysis on the Dobber Prospects […]
Keeping Karlsson: Matchup Maximizer Week 12
Elan looks at the schedule for the upcoming week of NHL action and recommends some players with good schedules that you should consider streaming in to win your head to head matchups.
Keeping Karlsson: Short Shifts – EBUP (Emergency Backup Podcaster)
Elan comes in to save the day and records with Shams to bring you all the fantasy news you need to know as we near the Christmas break. They cover the fantasy impact of the Kaapo Kakko trade and the nearing return of Alex Ovechkin and Rasmus Dahlin from injury. After that, they cover many […]
Keeping Karlsson: Back To Blackwood
Elan and Brian host a special matinee edition looking at an avalanche of impact in Colorado’s crease and depth chart, distinguishing performers from posers, and asking “how high?” for an upper echelon of performers in Tampa Bay and Boston.
Fantasy Hockey Life: X Gamers
X gamers returns – where we talk about some prospects starting to make an impact. We talk Simon Edvinsson, Calum Ritchie, Jackson Blake, Emil Andrae, and Marco Kasper. Polls from Mason Black, the NHL Rank King. Have a listen! Our show is part of the Dobber Podcast Network and sponsored by Fantrax.com. Email [email protected] and […]