We managed to hit on quite a few of our profiled players this year, but for the purposes of this article (and with all due apologies to Dustin Byfuglien, Johnny Boychuk and Nick Bjugstad) I wanted to keep it to my favorite three – all of whom were waiver wire adds for me:

Nick Foligno

I got in early on Nick Foligno, with my article published way back on October 26. Foligno had started out hot and there was much doubt as to whether he could keep it up, but I cited his increased opportunity along with his elite peripherals as a reason that he needed to be acquired. I added him from the waiver wire for nothing.

Foligno finished the season with a whopping 71 points in a year where point output was down across the board. He also chipped in with 50 PIM and 193 hits, which is the reason I identified him as valuable to begin with. Here's how Foligno's value ended up in the league I grabbed him in:

Foligno's always solid peripherals combined with his massive offensive outburst led him to being the 22^nd most valuable own in that ENTIRE league this season! Remember, I picked him up off of the waiver wire for NOTHING!! I hope that you were able to do the same.

A little buyer beware for next season: 31 goals on 182 shots is not at all sustainable, so Foligno is sure to take a dip. His peripherals will always make him a valuable own in leagues with penalty minutes and hits, but look for him to be more of a 20-goal, 55-point player next season.

Anders Lee

In the preseason, I had Anders Lee as my breakout fantasy stud. Using Fantasy Hockey Geek and importing Dobber's predictions, I was able to see that Lee stood to be about the 151^st most valuable player in the league I was looking at. We had him for 40 points, 219 shots, and 165 hits. In the end, he amassed 41 points, 197 shots and 169 hits. How's that for accuracy??? Here is how Fantasy Hockey Geek calculates his actual year-end value:

Again, you can see that the prediction was pretty much bang on here. This exemplifies another huge advantage to using FHG: All of the Dobber goodness is preloaded into the FHG site prior to each season. This is the only way I was able to find Lee. Now, 165^th overall isn't exactly the best value in the world, but for a guy who you could get for free, it's not bad. The more impressive thing with Lee though is how he ended, as evidenced by his value since January 1:

Since the calendar turned to 2015, Lee is the 76^th most valuable player in this league, right up there with some pretty big names. Hopefully you were patient with Lee as I was, and you were able to capitalize on his late-season production during a championship run.

Keeper leagues take notice: This guy is a keeper as of today. Look for his value to go into the top 50 in most leagues next season as he continues to get more time with John Tavares.

Buffalo Soldiers

This is my #1 favorite article because it is a real-life story that won me my championship in my main keeper league. In my original article, I talked about how I added three Sabres for my championship match in light of the recent high value they were showing on Fantasy Hockey Geek as well as their favorable schedule. These three players came through in spectacular fashion for me:

Zach Bogosian was a guy I picked up for peripherals, and he amassed 14 shots and 17 hits for me that week. FHG calculates that he was the 84^th most valuable guy in the league that week despite his zero points.

Johan Larsson was a player that I admittedly knew nothing about without FHG's help. I took a flier on him, and he came through with one goal, one assist, eight shots on goal, nine hits, and two power-play points for me. Not bad for a guy I would have walked right by on the streets a week prior.

Brian Gionta was hot for an extended period of time to end the season and I showed in my article how he would be a huge help to most teams in that final week. All he did was come through for me with one goal, four assists, ten shots on goal, six hits, one power-play point, and one shorthanded point.

In my article, I speculated that I may get six points, 30 shots and 20 hits from these scrubs on this terrible team. They exceeded my expectations and piled up two goals, five assists, three power-play points, one shorthanded point, 32 shots on goal, and 32 hits, leading me to my first ever title in the WFHL. I won the match 6-4, but only won by one goal, three assists and 28 hits. If I hadn't subbed out the players who I couldn't get into my lineup for these three Sabres, I would have lost the match 7-3. Needless to say, my opponent (a good friend of mine) was adequately fuming with each Sabre point as I sat back and laughed a little. I probably went a bit overboard when I bought a Gionta jersey the following week…

So with that, I will sign off for another season. It was a pleasure being able to use the awesome power of Fantasy Hockey Geek to bring some of these players to the forefront. Hopefully you got in early on some of the players we profiled to take advantage of their underrated nature. Even more so, I hope that everybody was able to learn a bit from these articles to then go into Fantasy Hockey Geek and find some more of these gems that are specific to your league. Enjoy the playoffs and happy pooling!

Geek of the Week – Biggest Misses

Geek of the Week – Buffalo Soldiers

Geek of the Week – Anders Lee Take Two