Fantasy Guide, Brandon Sutter trade, and possible injured player bounce-backs. 

First off, congratulations to Dobber for getting through the site redesign. It’s never an easy task, particularly when the fantasy guide is happening at the same time. As I (and many of you) attempt to get used to the new layout, you’ll notice that there’s a whole lot more color on the site now. For someone whose day job is working with a computer program that is mainly in black and white, it’s nice to see.

Speaking of the fantasy guide, you can get yours here. It’s hot off the presses as of yesterday. As someone who used to publish a competing product for the now defunct fantasyhockey.com, I’m very impressed with the quality and detail of the Dobber fantasy guide. Plus, it has now been published for ten consecutive years, so it was a thrill for me to get to contribute to it for the first time.

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The special project that I was working on for Dobber this week was his fantasy hockey previews of each team on Puck Daddy. I covered both the Western Conference and the Eastern Conference in separate articles. These articles were fun to write, as I attempted to throw some humor in to appeal to the Puck Daddy audience. At the same time, this type of article helps me to learn more about what is going on with each team as I research.  

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One news story that kept me busy this week as well was the recent Vancouver/Pittsburgh trade. I was the lucky guy who got to cover it for the Fantasy Take, but that’s absolutely no problem because I’m a Canucks fan. In his Ramblings a few days ago, Dobber hit the nail on the head when he said that the Canucks got fleeced. So I took that word and wrote an article about the trade from the Canucks’ perspective for Today’s Slapshot. I hope Dobber didn’t trademark the word “fleeced”; otherwise, I might be in a lot of trouble. :)

The latest on Brandon Sutter is that he and the Canucks are close to a contract that could be as long as five years at $4.4 million per season (NHL.com). Those of you in true salary cap formats obviously will steer clear of Sutter, whose career high of 40 points was set back in his sophomore season of 2009-10. But if ice time and faceoffs are important categories in your league, expect Sutter to grab high numbers in both with his new team.

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I usually try to cover at least some news, but there isn’t a whole lot happening right now. Other sports seem to have a lot happening right now (how about those Blue Jays!) Fortunately, I’ve been able to start offseason activity in my serious keeper league. What that’s allowed me to do is to start thinking about possible projections for certain players, particularly players that I have to decide about keeping.

One particular area that can be tricky is predicting the performance of players who spent significant time on injured reserve the previous season. On one hand, the injury might be enough to slow the player so that he is not as effective as he was pre-injury (a concussion is an example for certain players). But on the other hand, you might be able to find a solid player deep in the rankings that everyone else may have forgotten about.

This is not a comprehensive list of players who were injured last season – just a few in particular that I’ve encountered on or around my fantasy team. But here are a few names that you might have forgotten about, along with their chances of a bounce-back.

Mikkel Boedker

Boedker’s 2014-15 season ended in January after getting his spleen removed, an operation that was only supposed to sideline him for 4-6 weeks. Prorated over a full season, Boedker would have reached the 50-point mark for the second consecutive season had he stayed healthy.

Over the past two campaigns, Boedker has scored at a pace comparable to Evander Kane, a player who seems to be much more highly regarded in fantasy drafts coming into this season. Sure, Kane has more long-term value given the possibility that he plays alongside future star Jack Eichel. However, Boedker himself will probably find himself on the Coyotes’ first line with all the minutes that go with it. Another 50-point season is a definite possibility. Just don’t reach for him if your league counts plus/minus.

Tanner Pearson

Because of a broken leg, Pearson’s 2014-15 season also ended in January. By that time, he had fallen off the map with just five goals over his previous 34 games after racing out of the gate with seven goals in eight games. The fast start was assumed by many to be his true breakout after he scored 12 points in 24 games as a member of That 70s Line during the Kings’ Stanley Cup run of 2013-14.

Because of the prolonged slump last season, don’t get fooled into thinking that Pearson is a proven commodity. He should be a fixture on the 70s Line again this season, but we’re talking about a player that averaged just 13 minutes of icetime per game prior to the injury. If you’re still enamored by the goal totals, Pearson has recorded just eight assists over his 67-game regular season career. Don’t overrate him.

Johan Franzen

Franzen is a third player whose season ended in January because of injury (concussion). A red danger flag appears next to your name when you’re 35 years old and the number of concussions you’ve suffered has gotten into the double-digits (Detroit Red Wings website).

Franzen is still a productive player when healthy, having scored 63 points over 87 games the past two seasons. In addition, there hasn’t been any news suggesting that Franzen won’t be ready for training camp. He is under contract until 2020, which means he should come back if he can come back. For now, it’s probably best to avoid him as anything except a late-round flier in deep league drafts, given the amount of risk here.

Pascal Dupuis

Here’s another player who has already celebrated his 35^th birthday. But before you say “quit wasting my time”, remember that Dupuis’ best seasons actually happened after he turned 30. Dupuis is a deserving Masterton Trophy nominee, having missed significant time over the past two seasons because of torn ligaments in his knee and blood clots in his lung.

Despite the career-threatening blood clots, Dupuis is expected to be ready for training camp. But before you think I’m going to try to talk you into drafting him… I won’t. The Penguins will boast a very deep top 9 of forwards, so there’s no reason for them to lean heavily on Dupuis. On the other hand, a possible Penguins’ third line could include Dupuis, Chris Kunitz, and Nick Bonino – a potential line that could be one of the best third lines in the league (Pens Labyrinth). This Penguins team is going to be interesting to watch nonetheless.

Olli Maatta

Maatta is at the other end of the age scale (only 20), but he has already accumulated quite a list of injuries. Last season was particularly disastrous because of a diagnosis of mumps, a cancerous tumor that was removed, and season-ending shoulder surgery.

Once Maatta is finally settled in, the Penguins will have big plans for him. More of a second-unit power play guy, Maatta actually found himself killing more penalties (2:22 SH TOI) than contributing on the power play (1:18). Given his age, though, he still has plenty of time to peak, although it’s possible that Maatta’s real-life game turns out to be better than his fantasy game. In fact, the young Penguins’ defenseman that I’d prefer to own is Derrick Pouliot, who has more offensive upside.

Thanks for reading, and enjoy your Sunday and long weekend (if you’re in Canada!)