Top 10 Fantasy Hockey Duds Of The Season
Tom Collins
2015-03-16
These 10 guys really disappointed fantasy hockey owners this year.
The end of the season is one of my favourite times of the year. Because as fantasy managers, it's a good chance to look back and think of your draft day and where you screwed up.
7. Marty St. Louis
I'm not sure what it is, but players go to New York, and their offensive numbers suffer (you can add Keith Yandle to that list now). St. Louis, who won the Art Ross two seasons ago, seemed to fall into the same boat last season after he was dealt to the Rangers from Tampa Bay, when he had just one goal and eight points in 19 games. He started to turn it around in the playoffs. But this season, he's been a shadow of his former self, with just 47 points in 67 games. Remember, he was pretty much a point-per-game player with Tampa. Many may blame his age, but he may have fallen to the curse of the Rangers.
6. Matt Duchene
No matter how good or how bad the Avalanche have been over the years, Duchene was the offensive juggernaut of the team. He's hit 65 points twice (three times if you pro-rate the lockout-shortened season), but this season, he'll be lucky to hit 55 points. He has 44 points in 69 games, and is being outscored by teammates such as Tyson Barrie and Alex Tanguay. Not a great season for the former first round pick.
5. Patrick Sharp
There was a big debate on the forums last year on whether Sharp could be a top-10 point producer after 2013-14's breakout season, when he had a career-high 78 points. He's battled injuries a little bit this year, but he still has just 34 points in 54 games. In Yahoo pools, he was selected 27th overall on average, ahead of guys like Joe Pavelski, Max Pacioretty and Zach Parise. In cap leagues, his drop in production hurts even more.
4. Nathan MacKinnon
Talk about a sophomore slump. After finishing with 63 points as rookie last year, most people thought the sky was the limit for MacKinnon. Last summer, many fantasy owners were encouraged not to deal him for any package unless someone like Malkin, Crosby or Giroux were coming back in the deal. Well, MacKinnon and fantasy general managers fell hard back to earth this season. MacKinnon has 38 points in 64 games, and thanks to a season-ending broken foot, he won't even hit 40 points.
3. Anze Kopitar
There used to be three sure things in life: death, taxes and a 70-point season from Anze Kopitar. Even when you pro-rate the lockout shortened season, Kopitar has hit 70 points five seasons in a row and six of the last seven. Unless he goes on a crazy tear to end the season, that streak will come to an end this year. Kopitar has just 52 points, and is on pace for 63 points. He's also a minus-two, which is his worst season in that category since 2008-09. The craziest stat for Kopitar is when it comes to shots. He's on pace for just 128. His next lowest full season was his rookie year, when he had 193 shots.
2. Phil Kessel
How good was Phil Kessel before this season? Despite playing on a team with bad defence and being a perpetual minus player, many poolies still took him in the first round this year. And for the first half of the season, he rewarded those managers, as he notched 41 points in 41 games. But once Randy Carlyle was fired, and Peter Horachek became the new Leafs coach, the offence dried up and the whole team suffered. Under Horachek, Kessel has just 12 points in 29 games, and for the season, he has 53 points in 70 games. And of course, he's a minus-32.
1. Taylor Hall
For the last two seasons, Hall has finished in the top 10 scoring and was a point-per-game player. Many poolies thought the same thing would happen this year, as this was finally going to be the year the Oilers put it all together. Instead, the opposite happened. The Oilers seem to be worse than ever, and Hall, when healthy, wasn't able to get it going at all. He had just 30 points in 42 games before getting injured, and there's some doubt as to whether he will play another game this season.
Top 10 Yahoo Pickups (2015)
Top 10 Trade Candidates (2015)
Top 10 Fantasy Duos (2014-15)